American Feicks come full circle

On this blog early on I blogged about the numerous Feicks I had discovered in Ohio whose ancestors had immigrated in the mid 19th century, WHOAA A KAZILLION FEICKS IN OHIO . I felt certain that those Feicks were related to our small Chicago Feick family. Thanks to a Feick 5th cousin in Ohio and a Hindel first cousin by marriage once removed in Germany the link has been made.

With the permission of MBaughman (my hubby's 5th cousin) I show the following letter and family group sheets.

This account in German of the life of Martin Feick was sent from Johannes Feick b. 1867, a schoolteacher in Germany, to the Feick family which had emigrated to Sandusky, Ohio. It was sent around the turn of the 20th century along with the family pedigrees of founders of the Feick Family back in Germany. Through the "Shakey Leaves" on Ancestry.com I first saw these documents. They appeared to come originally from M Baughman who generously posted them in her public family tree.  She stated they were in possession of her mother and I post them here with her permission.

Circled in red are the Feicks from which we are descended. Johann Adam is the 5th great grandfather of my husband and also the direct ancestor of the Sandusky Feicks of Ohio.

Johann Jakob is the 4th great grandfather of my husband and also the direct ancestor of the Sandusky Feicks of Ohio.

Johann Conrad Feick is the 3rd great grandfather of my husband and also the direct ancestor of the Sandusky Feicks of Ohio. As the oldest son in their respective generation, Johann Adam, Johann Jakob and Johann Conrad all inherited the family property in Steinau (see above photo). Here is where our and the Sandusky Feicks separate. The eldest son of Johann Conrad, Johann Georg, inherited the family property. It appears that the Feicks were a prolific bunch. What were the additional sons to do? Johann Philipp's sons left for America to seek a better life in Ohio. Johannes, Phillipp's younger brother, moved to the small town of Groß-Bieberau where he set up a woodworking and carpentry business carried on by his son, Johann Georg, and grandson Johann Friedrich. 

My first cousin by marriage once removed, B Huenecke, was kind enough to go to the Groß-Bieberau archive and verified that Johann Friedrich was the father of Georg Ludwig, my husband's grandfather.

Can you follow that? My family is Scandinavian and I thought the patronymic naming system was difficult? But the Germans? Did they really have to baptize so many of their sons with the name Johann?

My father-in-law before his death once told me that "all the Feicks are related somehow". Well, after plowing through all those Johanns it seems he may have been correct. Yet my husband grew up in Chicago never knowing any Feick relations beyond his own immediate family. 

Some of the Feicks, in both Germany and the US have gone by the alternate spelling of Feik or Fike but it would seem we are all descended from good old Martin born in 1621.

Martin Feik → Hans Merten Feick → Johann Velten Feick → Johann Adam Feick → 

Johann Jakob Feick → Johann Conrad Feick → Johannes Feick → Johann Georg Feick → 

Johann Friedrich Feick → Georg Ludwig Feick → Walter Feick → us☺

Thanks again to

M Baughman (5th cousin in Ohio)

B Huenecke (1st cousin once removed in Groß-Bieberau, Germany)

J Hindel (great aunt in Groß-Bieberau Germany)

*click on documents to enlarge for easier viewing*

**Are you a Feick? Please contact me through this blog with your email address and 

I will have Ancestry.com send you an invitation to view my private family tree.**