The Lowe Family Tree

John Betzikofer

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.

Tobias Rauch

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.

Ane Christensdatter

Born in Aarestrup, Denmark, Ane was the daughter of local farmer Christen Jensen Ræbild. Ane married Peter Nielsen Munkholm at 29 and the two of them raised their children and grandchildren in Aalborg. The couple immigrated to America at the age of 59, following their children who immigrated in the years prior. They spent a couple years in Racine, Wisconsin, before they ultimately decided to move up into Alberta, Canada where Ane passed away in 1909.

Sarah Short

Sarah was born in 1818 in Ivinghoe, England. It's in Ivinghoe where she grew up. Sarah lost her mother at the age of 2 following the birth of her younger sister and her father at 17. She met her husband George Simons within the next 2 years and the couple was married at St. Mary's Church in 1837. Five years later they immigrated to America and settled in North Royalton, Ohio where they raised their 6 children. In 1860 the family picked up again and headed west into the wild frontiers of Iowa. They settled down in Dehli, Delaware County, Iowa where Sarah died of heart failure in 1881 at the age of 63.

George Simons

George Simons was born 25 Dec 1817 to parents Jesse & Mary in Buckinghamshire, England.1 His parents operated Vicarage Farm in Ivinghoe. He married Sarah Short in 1837, immigrated to America with his sister in 1842 and settled in Ohio for 18 years. In 1860, the family moved to Delhi, Iowa. George joined the Union Army and fought in the Civil War where he was wounded 3 times. After his wife died in 1881 and his health started to fail, he returned to England where he died.

Maria Simons

Maria was born in 1841 in the area of Great Gap in Ivinghoe, England. At 10 months old, her family immigrated to North Royalton, Ohio aboard the ship Philadelphia. Here she was raised with her five siblings. At 16, Maria met a local tailor named Ed Christian from the village of Berea who was also an immigrant from the British Isles. The couple married in 1857 and Ed became a prominent figure in the community (and thus Maria did as well). The couple had 9 children together during their 53 years of marriage. Maria died in Berea in 1911 at the age of 70.

Edward Christian

Born in the parish Rushen on the Isle of Man, Ed was the youngest son to an agricultural laborer. As a teenager he apprenticed with a tailor and immigrated to Berea, Ohio at the age of 19. He set up a tailoring and furnishing store on the historic Front street section of the Berea "Triangle" which he operated for 56 years. Ed was also a councilman, township treasurer, founding member of the masonic lodge, president of the Board of Education, and held the office of Mayor while somehow finding time to marry and raise 9 children with his wife Maria.

Magdalena Krenger

Magdalena "Mattie" Krenger was born on 24 Jun 1853 in Thurnen, Bern, Switzerland to parents Albert Krenger and Barbara Kunzi. Mattie married Johannes Beyeler in 1876 in Switzerland. Supposedly, John left for America ahead of Mattie in 1882 and she followed a year later. The couple changed their last name to Beieler and settled on farmland in Wooster, Ohio. The couple naturalized in 1888 and retired in the nearby village of Smithville where Mattie died in 1924 at the age of 71.

Johannes Beyeler

Johannes Beyeler was born on 03 Sep 1854 in Schwarzenberg, Wahlern, Bern, Switzerland1 to parents Christian Beyeler and Magdalena Hostettler.2 Johannes, better known as John, is listed under multiple last names in his lifetime. Originally, John states his last name as "Beyeler", after immigration he changes it to "Beieler", common misspellings have listed "Beiler" & "Beichler", and finally some children adopted "Beeler" and their records applied that spelling to John.

Elizabeth Collier

Born to a saddler and farmer father at Amerton farm, Lizzie, as she was known, was raised on the outskirts of Stowe-by-Chartley. She married Samuel Rogers in Stowe in 1887 and five years later at the age of 30, they immigrated to Columbia Township, Ohio where they would live out the rest of their lives. Lizzie gave birth to 9 children and they were always very poor, struggling to provide for their children. Lizzie died in Berea, Ohio at her daughter's home.

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