|
|
Kerschens: Spreading out into Europe
|
Many Kerschens still live in Luxembourg, and nearby in France, Germany and Belgium. There are Kerschens in Great Britian, Switzerland and maybe others all over Europe.
Kerschens of the United States appear to have moved from Luxembourg in at least two groups that stayed here.
The majority of Kerschens in the United States are descendants of Michael Kerschen, born October 21, 1810 in Schifflinge, Luxembourg. Michael Kerschen had 3 sons, Jacob, John and Frank, who moved to Kansas where many of their descendants still reside. Charles Kerschen and his son Nicholas (born April 29, 1869) also moved to Kansas from Luxembourg, at about the same time (1873).
A smaller group of Kerschens, of which your webmaster is a member, are descendants of Joseph Kerschen, born in Tetange, Luxembourg in 1819. Joseph Kerschen moved to Argentina with his son Nicholas, and probably the entire family, where they were farmers. Joseph Kerschen died there. Some of the family returned to Luxembourg and in 1896, at least two of Joseph Kerschen's sons (Nicholas and Jean-Baptist) moved to Michigan along with several of his daughters. Joseph is buried somewhere near Buenos Ares (probably at San Antonio de Iraola, a Luxembourg farming enclave near Benito Juarez). The descendants of Joseph Kerschen spread out and can be found in many places including Arizona, New Mexico, Illinois, Georgia and Texas. Some still remain in Michigan. There are Kerschens living in Argentina today that may be descendants of Joseph. In 1953, Nicolas Kerschen of Dudelange, Luxembourg, wrote an article for the Lutzeburger Journal: "San Antonio. Ein Luxemburger Dorf in der Pampa. Erinnerungen von N. Kerschen" or San Antonio: A Luxemburg village in the Pampas, Recollections of Nicolas Kerschen. When we get a copy of this article about the migration to Argentina, we will include it here at Kerschen.org.
The relationship between the Kansas Kerschens and the Michigan Kerschens has now been resolved! Michael Kerschen and Joseph Kerschen are both great-grandsons of Joannes Balthasarius Kerschen, born around 1700. Michael Kerschen descends from Joannes Balthasarius' first wife Magdalena Klensh and Joseph descends from his third wife, Elizabeth Zeitgen.
Check out the current Ancestral File or Family Tree of Joannes Balthesarius Kerschen. Both these family trees have living Kerschens names protected.
There was another Kerschen before the descendants of Michael or Joseph Kerschen arrived in the US. Frederick Kerschen reported to a New Orleans hospital on September 25, 1851 that he had already lived in New Orleans for 8 years. Born in Brunswick, Germany in about 1829, Frederick, his wife Anne and their two infant children appear in the 1860 census in Louisiana. No Kerschens appear in the census data in 1870. John Kerschen, from Prussia, and family appear in the 1880 census in Illinois but by 1890, there are no Kerschens listed again. Kerschen's are known to have lived in Kansas from the 1870s onward. By 1900, suddenly there are 43 Kerschen's mostly in Kansas, Iowa and New York.
What happened to Frederick Kerschen and family from Brunswick, Germany?
What happened to John Kerschen and family from Prussia?
If you know the answers to these questions, or can add more pieces to the Kerschen puzzle, Let Us Know!