Hi Shannon, that would make you my 2nd cousin 1x removed. I would love to learn more about your family! The birth record I found for Vincent shows him as Ditzenbach, no father listed. Same with his sister Eva. They immigrated with Frances Joseph Kappes (who went by Joseph) and Katherina (Ditzenbach) Kappes. I was unable to find their immigration but assume it was late 1857 or early 1858 based on the childrens’ birthdates and places. Eva and Vincent are listed Kappes’ in all American records. As noted in my post, we can only speculate and based on the following article I found, I suspect they were Josephs children: “In the early 1800s, an economic depression and over-population caused restrictions on marriages and attempts to limit growth in poor areas of the south and central Germany. Young couples in these areas often emigrated separately or together, often with illegitimate children.”

Hi Dorothy, So sorry for the delayed response. It’s so good hearing from you. I would love to obtain the information on the County home system that Katie was in and any other information about why she was there. I do have the Bodensteiner book, but the pictures are very faded. By the time I wanted to contact Lorraine she had already passed. Any information you can share would be greatly appreciated. You can contact me at my email address pat at zpat dot com. (hope you can figure that out). Thanks again for reaching out.

I love reading about our families history. Do you have the family tree info from the Bodensteiner side? I have a copy I got many years ago before Grandpa died.

Hi Sue, I sent you an email so you can contact me privately. I look forward to hearing more about the Kappes family and appreciate your reaching out.

Pat 🙂

Thanks Clarence. That’s really interesting. I would love to hear any other stories from your family. I’d like to know more about the Kappes line. Most of what I have picked up are from genealogy books written by other family members, census records and other trees. I’ve gone through census records and pieced together this ‘story’, but there is so much I don’t know.