The Lowe Family Tree

Philip Sterneveld was born on 04 July 1812 in Zutphen, Gelderland, Netherlands to parents Samuel David Sterneveld, 64, and Rebecca Politz, 21.

Philip was the oldest of 7 children between Samuel and Rebecca. Philip had 2 younger brothers (Jacob and Samuel), and 4 younger sisters (Judith, Bettjen, Saartje & Rachel). Of his siblings, we know Judith and Jacob did not survive.

Father Samuel was a hostel owner, providing reasonable accommodations to others either passers by or members of the community without a home of their own.

Based on discovered records, Samuel David Sterneveld (as he would later be known) was born in Buttenheim, Bamberg, Bavaria, Germany in the year 1748 (1751 per marriage).¹ His father was David Heijman,² yet his mother was not documented in record. Samuel and his family were Jewish and based on tradition Samuel's actual birth name was Samuel David, or Samuel, son of David.

John is currently assumed to have been born in Sigmaringen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany in 1824 under the name Justus Betzikofer.

While research is still underway, this is all we know of John's early life at this current moment.

Even less is known on his wife Emily Zimmerman. She was born in the region of Bayern, Germany about 1828 and seems that her birth name was Apolonia even though she frequently went by Emily and Emma.

UPDATED 05/1/2020: On top of the previous update from 2017 that made use of Ancestry.com's transcribed Württemberg parish registers to identify Rauch birth, marriage and death records, I have added additional footnotes to the bottom of the page to address a few old Rauch family stories that keep appearing. I combed the parish registers for Rauch family members to identify occupations and relationships that hopefully answer some of these longstanding questions.

Born in southern Germany to what was by all accounts a fairly prominent farming family (father was said to be town mayor), Catherine was raised in the town of Vöhringen until the age of 5. At that time, the family sailed to America aboard the ship Charlotte and landed in New York on 22 July 1833. They immigrated to Liverpool Township in Medina, Ohio where Catherine married Levi Schnell at 24. The couple lived in Beebetown on the edge of Liverpool their entire lives and raised 5 children. She died a widow at her daughter's home in Berea, Ohio at the age of 74.

Our Schnell immigrant ancestor was born in Germany. Our only account of Levi's early life comes from his immigration manifest that says he was from Hanover, Germany. His childhood and origins beyond that are a mystery. Even his actual birth name is up for debate as he has been written under many different variations of Christoph Levin Schnell. He originally married in Cuyahoga County, Ohio to Mary Richardson at the age of 30, less than a year after arriving in America. They lived in Liverpool Township, Ohio where he worked as a carpenter and farmer and had 4 children together before Mary died. Levi remarried Catherine Rauch at 46 and moved to Beebetown where they had 5 more children together. Levi died in Beebetown at the age of 74.

Born and raised in Gunzendorf, Bavaria to parents currently unknown, Kunigunda met her husband and had her first child in Germany before they boarded the ship Waesland at the age of 23 and headed for America. 4 months after their arrival, she married husband Henry in New York City. In all they raised 8 children together in Manhattan. Kuni lived to be 78 years old.

Born in Zutphen, Netherlands, the son of a Jewish baker, Samuel relocated to Germany at 13 years old where he learned his father's trade. After marriage he would immigrate to New York City in hopes of a better life in Manhattan, where Sam would take up work as a news dealer and raise five children before his untimely death at the age of 48.