CHAPTER FOUR 
Margaret Mans and John Peter Ney were Luxembourg immigrants who came to the United States as children with their families in 1854 and 1867, respectively. They later met and married in Belgium, Ozaukee County, Wisconsin and raised a large family of eleven children. Today, their many descendents live throughout the United States, remain largely Catholic and are proud of their Luxembourg heritage.
Margaret Mans was born on 3 October 1854 to Anton Mans and Catherine Plier in the town of Redange, in the canton of Redange, along the Belgian border of Luxembourg. [1] Anton Mans and Catherine Plier had been married in Redange 7 January 1846 and Margaret was their fourth child and third daughter. [2] Two years prior to her birth her paternal uncle Henry Mans and his family had emigrated and settled in Ozaukee County, Wisconsin. Margaret Mans' birth may have delayed her parent's emigratation, but regardless they left soon after her birth. When she was just six months old when her family traveled to Antwerp to embark for the United States. Together with her parents, two older sisters and older brother, Margaret Mans arrived at the port of New York 12 June 1854 aboard the Elizabeth Denison. [3]
Before leaving, emigrants would sell their land and many personal belongings to pay for their passage to America. These notarial records are available in Luxembourg but have not been researched to determine if Anton Mans owned property. In 1854 when the Mans family emigrated, seven other families also left the local community. The Mayor of Redange of reported that "they emigrated in order to improve their situation hoping to buy enough land with the few hundred franks left after their voyage to feed their families free from care." [4]
The Mans family traveled immediately to Wisconsin and were well-established by the time of the Wisconsin state census taken in June of 1855. Anton Mans also received reimbursement of $25.00 in 1855 for caring for the poor. [5] In Luxembourg Anton Man's occupation was given as "day-laborer" on the birth certificates of each of his children, but like many others, he became a farmer in Wisconsin. His ten acre farm was in Belgium township (Section 13, Township 12 North of Range 23 East) located east of the town of Belgium, near the shore of Lake Michigan.
John Peter Ney was born on 24 March 1851 in Elvange, in the southern canton of Remich, the oldest child of Nicholas Ney and Josephine Hemmer. [6] His father, Nicholas Ney, the youngest child of a very large family, was born in the village of Contern just east of Luxembourg City. He was a teacher and taught in the villages of Elvange, Kayl, Peppange and Roeser. Presumably Nicholas met his future wife, Josephine, as a result. They were married 8 April 1850 in the village of Roeser, where Josephine was born and raised. [7] Nicholas Ney and Josephine Hemmer had two more children, Nicholas George and Mary Catherine, both born in Kayl in the canton of Esch-sur-Alzette. Nicholas Ney died, reportedly of cholera, 29 April 1856. [8]
Following the death of her husband, Josephine Hemmer was left with three children under the age of five to raise. She married Jacob Wester on 3 February 1858 in Contern. [9] It is conjecture, but perhaps she moved to Contern following the death of Nicholas Ney to be supported or aided by her late husband's family. Jacob Wester was fourteen years older than Josephine Hemmer and no evidence has been found suggesting he had been married previously. They did not have any children together as a couple, but family recollections indicate he was a loving step-father and grandfather.
The largest numbers of Luxembourgers immigrated to the United States between 1845 and 1860, a time when many people were pouring out of Europe, particularly Germany and Ireland. Later the U.S. Civil War slowed immigration. So why did the Wester-Ney family immigrate in 1867? One possibility was the rising power of Otto von Bismarck and Prussia. Although by this time Luxembourg was officially independent, it seemed unlikely the country's neutrality would be honored in a time of war. Perhaps the family was motivated by the two teenage boys in the family facing possible conscription into a German or Prussian army.
Josephine Hemmer's older sister Maria had immigrated with her husband Nicholas Ronk and family in 1849. Shortly after her arrival Maria died and her children were fostered with other families. Nicholas Ronk eventually remarried and had twelve children with his second wife but there is no evidence to suggest that his older children returned to live with him. It seems tenuous to think that the Wester-Ney family immigrated on the strength of that bond, eighteen years later, long after Josephine's sister had died. Perhaps other unknown relatives or neighbors had emigrated who provided incentive to immigrate.
Another possibility is the family had intended to come sooner but were stopped by the Civil War. Contern's economy was more diversified that some of the smaller more agriculturally-oriented villages because of its proximity to Luxembourg City and its location on the road to the German city of Trier. Possibly the town did not experience the hardships of other areas until later.
One Luxembourger in five emigrated in the nineteenth century, but the Wester-Ney family's reasons for emigrating were likely different from those of the Mans family. Their experience also differed in another way, nearly all Luxembourgers departed Europe via Antwerp, Belgium, while the Wester-Ney family departed from Le Havre, France. Perhaps travel was quicker to the United States from Le Havre, despite the fact that it was farther from Luxembourg. The reason for choosing Le Havre may also have been a reflection of the constantly changing political environment in Europe. Luxembourgers also occasionally left via other European ports such as Hamburg, Rotterdam and Amsterdam.
The Wester-Ney family arrived in New York aboard the Arago 28 May 1867. [10] On the ship's manifest they were listed as Jacques Wester, Seraphine Heimes, Pierre, Nicholas and Marie Neo. Family tradition also has it that they traveled directly to Ozaukee County by train, via Chicago, whereas previous immigrants, including the Mans family, had taken water routes, a sign of the advancement of the railroad during the previous decade.
By the time the 1870 census was recorded, both the Mans and Wester families were living not far apart on farms along the shore of Lake Michigan. This area of Wisconsin is largely dairy now, but then farmers raised a variety of fruits, berries and cherries, wheat, oats, barley and rye. The census entry for the Wester-Ney family includes Jacob Wester, Josephine Hemmer and two children: a son J. Nicholas Ney and a daughter Mary Ney. [11] There were two sons, John Peter and Nicholas. Attempts to locate another Ney son in the census were unsuccessful. It also seems possible both could have still been residing with their parents. After extensive searching for the second son, a possible conclusion is the census taker recorded the information incorrectly. The entry for the son listed is "J. Nic." and perhaps the census taker inadvertantly combined the names of the two sons together. One of the young men could also have been working as a hired laborer on another farm, but no likely census entries have been found to confirm that.
Letzebërgesch was primarily spoken amoung Luxembourgers and according to the census many early immigrants didn't speak English. Four Catholic churches with German-speaking priests had been built and funded by the immigrants, Holy Cross in Holy Cross, St. Nicholas in Dacada, St. Mary in Port Washington and St. Mary by the Lake in Belgium. St. Mary by the Lake, or "Lake Church" as it is more commonly known, was the nearest parish to the Mans and Wester families and this is where John Peter Ney and Margaret Mans were married on 2 December 1876. The Ozaukee County civil record indicates they were married at Lake Church, but no parish record has been found. [12] The fact that there is no parish record of John Peter Ney and Margaret Mans' marriage possibly suggests that one priest was traveling a circuit, serving several parishes and records were being haphazardly kept.
Their first child Josephine was born in 23 July 1877 and by the time of the 1880 census the family had grown to three daughters; Josephine, Katherine, born 8 September 1878 and Caroline Rose, born 23 December 1879. All three were baptized at Lake Church, although curiously Josephine's is recorded as an addendum to her sister Caroline's. [13] Accurate baptism records are particularly important in the Catholic Church and it seems likely records were either lost or not recorded because of some extenuating circumstances during this time period.
Immigrant Luxembourgers followed the Old World tradition of naming their children after their godparents; sons were named for their godfather and daughters for their godmother. For example Josephine Ney was named for her godmother (and grandmother) Josephine Hemmer. This naming convention led to the recurrence of names such as Nicholas, John, Peter, George, Maria, Katherine, Margaret and Anna. Even within the same family it is possible to find children with the same name. This tradition was very strictly followed among the first generations of immigrants but by the turn of the century had become much more relaxed and middle names had also become much more common.
Margaret Mans' father Anton died early in 1880, at the age of 76, from what was listed as a "bowel obstruction" in the 1880 mortality census and his entire estate was left to his widow Catherine Plier. [14, 15] An obituary appeared for Anton Mans in the German-language newspaper The Luxemburger Gazette, on 6 April 1880. [16]
At the time of the 1880 census, the Ney family was living in Holland, a small town just north of the Ozaukee County border, located in Sheboygan County. [17] The family's location in the 1880 census is of particular interest because in 1878 and 1879 John Peter Ney registered his daughters Josephine and Katherine's births in Ozaukee County, reporting that both children had been born in Belgium, Wisconsin. [18, 19] In June of 1880, John Peter Ney registered his daughter Caroline's birth in Sheboygan County and at the same time again registered Josephine and Katherine's births in this time Sheboygan County. [20, 21, 22]
The Ozaukee County registrations were recorded closer to the actual births of Josephine and Katherine, but the location of the family during the period of 1877-1879 is still unresolved. In later documents Josephine indicated she was born in Belgium, Wisconsin and Katherine gave Holland, Wisconsin as her place of birth. The distance between these two towns is several miles and it is likely that the family traveled frequently between Belgium and Holland and the proximity of the County Courthouses may have influenced where the births were recorded.
In 1884, after seventeen years in the United States, John Peter Ney together with his step-father, Jacob Wester, became citizens, according to Ozaukee County Naturalization records.
John Peter Ney purchased seventy eight acres of land just south of Holy Cross in 1884. (Section 31, Township 12 North of Range 22 East.) By 1885 the family had moved a new home in Holy Cross. Prior to this move, three sons had been added to the family: Emil, born 8 March 1881; Nicholas, 12 March 1883; and Edward, 22 May 1884. All six of the Ney children were baptized at Lake Church. (Lake Church Baptism Records.)
In 1885, Margaret Mans' mother Catherine Plier died in Chicago at the home of Margaret's sister, Catherine Thiltges, and according her obituary her body was returned to Ozaukee County, where she was buried next to her husband Anton Mans in the Lake Church Cemetery. Most graves at that time were marked with iron crosses and reportedly those of Anton Mans and Catherine Plier were originally as well. Fortunately for their descendants at some point they were replaced with a stone marker. [23] Many of the original crosses are still standing but all indication of whose grave they mark has long ago been erased.
From 1885 to 1891 the Ney family grew by five more children; Mary Katherine, born 13 August 1885; Anna Marie, 29 November 1886; William, 28 May 1887; Rose, 9 January 1890; and Joseph, 27 June 1891. (Holy Cross Baptism Records) The Ney farm was very close to the Holy Cross Parish and all of the children attended the parochial school there. According to Nicholas Gonner "parochial schools were an absolute necessity in a situation characterized by a public school system which most Luxembourgers clearly disdained." [24] Whether public schools were disdained in Ozaukee County is not known but all of the Ney children did attend the Holy Cross Parish school through the eighth grade. As they children grew older they boarded with their paternal aunt Mary Catherine Ney Hafeman and her family in Sheboygan to attend the public high school there, as evidenced by the 1900 census when Nicholas Ney is enumerated with his aunt.
By 1891 both of Margaret Mans' parents had died, but John Peter Ney's mother and step-father were both living nearby. Like his father, John Peter Ney was a schoolteacher in addition to farming, and later an insurance agent. Not much is known about this later occupation but around the turn of the century various Luxembourg organizations had sprung up, including the Luxembourg Brotherhood a combination religious, fraternal and economic association. John Peter Ney may have been a representative for one of these ethnic organizations. Farming was the primary means of support for the large family but the amount of income provided by acting as an insurance agent has yet to be explored.
In the first fifteen years of her marriage Margaret Mans bore eleven children, at a rate of one birth every eighteen months. After the birth of Joseph in 1891, Margaret had four additional children, none of whom survived infancy. Twins Margaret and Matilda wore born 17 July 1894 and lived three weeks until August 5 and 6, respectively. The cause of death given on the death certificate was "inanition", which according to the Oxford English Dictionary is a "condition resulting from want or insufficiency of nourishment." The birth records do not suggest the twins were premature, but their failure to thrive in nineteenth century terminology suggests they starved. The following year, 1895, in September, Margaret bore a stillborn daughter and then on 23 April 1897 she delivered a son, Henry Marcus Ney. Henry died in of the fourth of June and there is no death certificate available to suggest why. It is interesting that after having eleven healthy children, Margaret Mans and John Peter Ney's four youngest children did not live. By the time the twins were born Margaret Mans was already forty-one and she was forty-four when her last child was born. It is certainly plausible that reproductively, she was worn out.
Life continued on the Ney family farm in Holy Cross, the children grew up, attended school in Sheboygan and later several moved to Milwaukee and Chicago. Oldest daughter, Josephine, married in 1900 and the family began to spread. The farm, seventy-eight acres near Holy Cross was "successful" according to a newspaper account published in the Port Washington Zeitung, recounting the experiences of early teachers of the Belgium. [25]
Despite their deeply held religious beliefs, which according to Nicholas Gonner "gave them as immigrants to North America a sense of belonging" the family reportedly was not happy when daughter Caroline decided to become a nun in 1904. [26] Some orders expected families to provide a level of support for their family members in religious orders. Whether financial concerns or more personal reasons were involved, their hesitancy cannot be explained. Caroline joined the Sisters of Providence in Racine and later became a teacher, which took her throughout Wisconsin and Michigan.
John Peter Ney's mother Josephine Hemmer died at the home of her daughter, Mary Ney Hafeman, in Sheboygan, on 27 November 1905 and she was buried in Holy Cross Cemetery in Belgium. Her husband, Jacob Wester died just a few weeks later on 13 December 1905 and was buried at Holy Cross, as well.
The children continued to marry and leave Ozaukee County, Josephine settled in Sheboygan; Katherine, Emil and Edward in Kansas; Caroline became a nun, Nicholas went first to Chicago and later Idaho; Anna, William and Joseph all moved to Milwaukee. Only Rose and Mary stayed permanently in Ozaukee County. John Peter Ney died after a day of threshing on 9 October 1920. After Margaret Mans died in 1926, the farm was sold by the Ney children to Robert Thill, who owns it to this day. Both Margaret Mans and John Peter Ney are buried in Holy Cross Cemetery, in Holy Cross, Wisconsin.
While visiting the farm, Mr. Thill pointed out that John Peter Ney had a particular talent for tree grafting and many of the trees still standing on the property bear several varieties of fruits or nuts. Whether this was a unique talent of his or an example of nineteenth century efficiency and ingenuity it is a wonderful legacy to be able to look upon those trees and wonder. Many aspects of the lives of John Peter Ney and Margaret Mans are unknown. What kinds of music they enjoyed, what they ate, what skills were necessary to maintain a household for a family of eleven children, etc., all these and the answers to many other questions would contribute to an even richer understanding of the immigrant Luxembourger experience.
NOTES - CHAPTER FOUR
1. Birth record, Redange, Redange, Luxembourg.
2. Marriage record, Redange, Redange Luxembourg.
3. U. S. National Archives Microcopy M-237, Roll , Manifest .
4. Muller, Jean-Claude. "Luxembourgers in the New World" Voila Luxembourg, April 1992, pg. 145.
5. Krier, Beatrice Wester. Tapestry of Luxembourgers : The Making of Belgium. Belgium, Wis. : B.W. Krier, 1987, pg. 173.
6. Birth record, Elvange, Remich, Luxembourg.
7. Marriage record, Roeser, Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg.
8. Death record, Kayl, Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg.
9. Marriage record, Contern, Luxembourg, Luxembourg.
10. U. S. National Archives Microcopy M-237, Roll , Manifest .
11. U. S. National Archives Microcopy M-593, Roll 1731, Belgium Township, Ozaukee County, Wisconsin, page 4.
12. Marriage record, Ozaukee County, Wisconsin, 1:209.
13. Baptism records, Lake Church, Belgium, Wisconsin.
14. 1880 Mortality Schedule
15. Probate records, Ozaukee County, Wisconsin.
16. Obituary, Luxemburger Gazette, xx xxx 1880, page .
17. U.S. Naitonal Archives Microcopy, Roll, Holland, Sheboygan County, Wisconsin, page .
18. Birth record, Ozaukee County, Wisconsin, 2:975.
19. Birth record, Ozaukee County, Wisconsin, 2:1121.
20. Birth record, Sheyboygan County, Wisconsin, 1:402.
21. Birth record, Sheyboygan County, Wisconsin, 1:404.
22. Birth record, Sheyboygan County, Wisconsin, 1:403.
23. Mans, Lloyd R. One Family of Mans: The Family Story
of Heinrich and Elisabeth (Loesch) Mans. Blooming Prairie, Minn: L. R.
Mans, 1991, pg. 13.
24. Ensch, Jean. Muller, Jean-Claude. Owen, Robert E.
Luxembourgers in the New World : a reedition based on the work of Nicholas
Gonner "Die Luxemburger in der Neuen Welt", Dubuque, Iowa, 1889 :
published with a complete index ... Esch-sur-Alzette, Grand Duchy of
Luxembourg : Editions-Reliures Schortgen, 1987, pg. 159.
25. Krier, pg 72.
26. Ensch, pg. 253.
