#30 - German-American Day 2020

German-American Day 2020

In 1983, President Ronald Reagan proclaimed October 6 as German-American Day to celebrate and honor the 300th anniversary of German immigration and culture to the United States.  Presidents since then have continued to make proclamations to observe German-American Day.

For German-American Day 2020, I would like to highlight my German Ancestors on my Gillen family line which is through my grandmother Anna Marie Gillen Summers.  My grandmother is ⅞^ths German and ⅛^th Swiss.  But today, we are going to look briefly at her German heritage.  

On her maternal side, both of her grandparents immigrated from Germany.  US Census records for Peter Schmitz and Catherine Piron identify them as having arrived in the US in 1886 for Peter and either 1883 or 1886 for Catherine (she indicates different dates on the 1900 and 1910 US Census).  We do not know where in Germany Peter or Catherine are from as the census records only indicate Germany.

Three of my grandmother's great grandparents on her paternal side are also from Germany.  

Both Jacob and Katherina Goellner identified their birthplaces on multiple US census records as Hesse-Darmstadt, Germany and they both arrived in the United States in 1850.  Jacob Kraher, in multiple US census records, identifies his birthplace as Bavaria, Germany and he arrived in the United States in 1850.  

In the map of the German states below, you can see the German states of Hessen (Hesse) in brown and Bayern (Bavaria) in teal.  

Map of German States downloaded fromhttps://i2.wp.com/www.germanguide4u.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/German-map.gif?fit=472%2C637&ssl=1

While as a family we don't really celebrate our German-American heritage in a specific way, there are few things that I recall that remind me our heritage.

• My grandmother had a collection of German Beer Steins in her basement that had belonged to my Great, Grandfather, Edward Gillen.  My brother currently has the collection.
• In my grandparents' dining room, there was a cuckoo clock.  A cousin currently has the clock.
• Some German foods that were common:
• Spritz Cookies at Christmas
• German Cucumber Salad with sour cream dressing
• not that it was a favorite of mine, but sauerkraut

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References: 

•  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German-American_Day
• https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/proclamation-german-american-day-2020/