My Family History Research
What started as an extra credit project in history class
many years ago when I was in high school has turned into a full-time hobby for me. We were studying about immigration and the role that our immigrant ancestors
played in the development of the United States of America, and all of a sudden, history became interesting to me. Now, over 30 years later, I'm still hooked!
While some people collect stamps and other objects, I collect family historical records and information.
Most of what I had learned about my family's past back then had primarily come from information provided by some of my older relatives, and when I had trouble accessing certain records for different reasons, the research ended up being set aside. I tried to get back into researching several times over the years, but then in 2007, I obtained a membership at Ancestry.com. Finally, I had access to many of the records I needed. I have since managed to grow my family tree to over 4600 people, past and present, both my maternal and paternal branches.
Surnames and Places
There were three branches of the Dohme family who came from Obernkirchen, Germany and settled in Ohio during the 1800's. My branch settled in Cincinnati,
Hamilton Co., Ohio by 1846 after immigrating in 1843. A second branch, which branches off of my line, settled in Richland Township, Darke Co., Ohio, and the
third branch settled in Dayton, Montgomery Co., Ohio.
The surnames associated with my branch of the Dohme family are Plumhoff, Von Nida, Russ, Schroer, Johann, DeYoung, Thomas, Sharon, Kothe, Rhodes, Haught, Gross, Bogard, Lyons, Kaper, Kretschmer, Walden, Smith, and Hamilton.
My branch of the Hamilton family originally settled in Chester County, Pennsylvania, and by 1800, they were living in Bracken Co., Kentucky. By 1850, they were in Pendleton County, Kentucky, and by 1900, had moved to Clermont Co., Ohio. The surnames connected my Hamiltons were Elrod, Mains, Woods, Wiley, Robb, McElfresh, Davis, Young, Feagans, Foster, Black, and Hutchinson. There are more surnames I can't think of at the moment, but as I continue to do my research, my list of surnames keeps growing.
My Smith family originated from Hawkins Co., Tennessee with their different branches residing in Jefferson, Grainger, and Washington Counties of Tennessee. By 1913, they had moved to Liberty Township, Butler Co., Ohio where my grandmother was born. The surnames associated with this line were Simmons, Housewright, Maples, Bowles, Brown, Hagood, Cox, Gray, Haile, Felkner or Feltner, and Ammon.
My Aufderheide family immigrated from Dinklage, Germany in 1867 and settled in Dayton, Montgomery Co., Ohio. With the help of a cousin who spent nine years researching this line, I have this branch back to 1568 in Uptloh, Essen, Germany. The surnames connected to my line were Owell, Shoemaker, Marcus, Hermes, Brockmann, and Vonderheide. There are other surnames that tie into this line as well, but those are the main ones.
Hopefully, I can do a better job in maintaining this website than I have in the past. As I find more nformation, I will add it.