Ozaukee County Documents

The following is information summarizing Michael John Niederkorn's current research into all the orginal Prussian Ozaukee Niederkorn immigrants,

The Original Prussian Ozaukee Niederkorns

1. Henry [1819-93] & wife Anna Maria Boesen [1818-1913] emigrated in June 22, 1847 from Prussia. Appears first in 1850 WI census. He has 4 known American sons. Son John Jacob (Kate) takes over this farm. They have 10 children: 5 sons + 5 daughters. Anna Maria lives with them until age 95.5 !

2. Nick [b. 1836] emigrated in June, 1847 with Henry and is living with him in 1850 & 60 and then disappears from the Ozaukee census in 1870 and 80. Not likely Henry's son.

3. John [1830-1917] immigrated in March 6, 1854 from Prussia. On 1-8-1857, he married Johanna Wellenstein [1829-1904]. Appears first in 1860 census with his wife and daughter. He is a farming with his father-in-law in Belgium Twp. He has two daughters [Johanna Rock of PW, WI and Maria Schlitz - Melrose (Stearns), MN] in the 1880 census and has no surving sons - thus his line can not propogate the Niederkorn name. His obit says he has several brothers and a sister.

4. Nick [1811 -82] & wife Barbara Klein [1809-80] emigrated in May 16, 1854 from Trier, Rheinland - Plaz, Germany (Prussia). Appears first in 1860 census with his mother Anna (1780-1863) living with them. He has four known American sons - all born in Prussia. Son Matthew & his first wife Cecilia, take over this farm and Nick & Barb live on the farm until their deaths. Cecilia dies in 1877, Matt then marries Katherine (Katie) in January 1879, but tragically Matt dies in 1891 due to a farm accident forcing the sale of this farm. Matt has 8 children: 5 sons + 3 daughters. Millionaire Bill [1887-1976] of Port was his youngest son; but he marries late (1928) to Myra C. Larson [1891-1986] of Port and so is childless.

5. Jim [b.1831] emigrated in May, 1854 with Nick and Barb. He does not appear in the 1860 Ozaukee census so may not have come to PW. Like Nick [b.1836] above, Jim is not believed to be Nick's son. But John [1830-1917], Jim [b.1831], and Nick [b.1836] could all be brothers?

1. Nick and Henry are living and farming across the Green Bay Road from each other 2 miles north of PW, Ozaukee Co, WI. Is that a mere coincidence when the elder arrives seven years after the younger? What is the relationship of these two men? How are the early Ozaukee Niederkorns related? Henry's house is actually sitting on Nick's half quarter section of §15 and it appears as though Henry sold all of his farm W of the Green Bay Rd. to Nick.

2. Identify the main early progenitors of the Niederkorn name in America. So my focus is on the grandsons of these two principle immigrants all born from about 1870-99. Potentially, we are talking about 25-30 grandsons total for these two immigrants.

1. Nick [1811-82] & wife Barbara Klein [1809-80] and their four American sons:

1. John Matthew [1842-1920] > 8 sons: 4 Ozaukee sons + 4 Dakota sons (TC Niederkorns).
2. Matthew [1844-91] > 5 Ozaukee sons - takes over Nick's farm, but dies in 1891 and his widow Katie soon sells this farm and moves to PW. Millionaire Bill's [1887-1976] father.
3. Henry [b. 1846] > ? sons - moved to Milwaukee (Milwaukee Niederkorns).
4. Michael [1850-1932] > no sons - 1 dghtr - followed older brother to Dakota, MN.

2. Henry [1819-93] and wife Anna Maria Boesen [1818-1913] and their four American sons.

1. Frank b. 1846/5 > 1+ sons - moved to Madison Co., IL, near St. Louis. (Madison Korns)
2. Michael b.1852 > 3 sons - moved with his older brother to Alton, Madison Co., IL.
3. John Jacob [1853-1931] > 5 Ozaukee sons - takes over his Henry's farm but sells at retirement.
4. Jacob [1856-87] > no sons - dies while studying for priesthood.

Niederkorn - Etymology - What's in Our Name?

The use of family names evolved during the late Middle Ages [1000 - 1300]. Surnames arose where concentrated populations occurred because single names for individuals became insufficient to identify them among so many.

Many family names have characteristic features of the dialect of the region where they originated. Both given and family names are language specific and their spelling and pronunciation reflect regional dialect differences.

Their origins are generally classified into four distinct groups:
1. given, baptismal names,
2. occupations,
3. personal traits (nicknames) and
4. places - geography and regions

Our family name has two distinct parts to it and that is key to understanding its possible origins and meanings. German family names are one word, but often have two parts (compounded) as is the case for Niederkorn. These two parts are classified as the root word and the descriptive word (defining modifier). So for example, the city name Karlstadt, the root is stadt (city) and the descriptive modifier is the name Karl - literally Karl's city.

Niederkorn is just such a name with two German words making up the compound name - the root, Korn and the descriptive modifier, Nieder. It is unusual for a family name to have both parts in the German dictionary and our name only occurs in German. So our name leaves little doubt we are German in our ancestry.

This is a prefix modifier (adj. and adv.) and means lower, down, beneath, or below and is used often in spatial descriptions and geographical names. Hence, its common geographical use. Any German map of any German lands [Germany, Austria, Luxemburg, Switzerland etc.] are going to be loaded with this prefix in place and regional names. It is the same root as the Dutch and English word nether by which the Dutch refer to their country as the Netherlands. Nether was derived from Nieder and not vice versa.

This prefix reveals our name is undeniably of German origin and identity. If we had any doubts about whether we are German in ancestry the name alone settles that and everyone in Europe knows this - its common knowledge over there. Nieder- is often used with the prefix ober - . Any two places referred to using these two prefixes, nieder- will be lower than ober-. This most often describes their position geographically on a waterway / river. Hence, Oberkorn is upstream from Niederkorn, and thus, would also be on higher ground. So the most common use of Nieder by Germans is in proper place names and not in common vocabulary words. So that gives us a real clue as to origin of our family name.

EUROPEAN GEOGRAPHY 101
Another good example of this is in Austria there are two adjacent provinces in the northern Austria one named Ober - Öster-reich [Upper - Austria] and the other Nieder - Öster-reich [Lower - Austria]. Of course, Öster [Eastern] is also a German geographic term and Austria literally means Eastern Realm [Reich] / Kingdom / Empire. So Austria was the eastern realm of the German Kingdom / Empire and that is how that land got its name. Both of these afore mentioned provinces are on the Great Danube River and Ober - Öster-Reich is upstream from Nieder-Öster-Reich.

But the use of ober- is not necessary with nieder-. One prefix is enough to do the job and when only one is used it is most often nieder- and not ober- being used. Hence, the modern N German state of Nieder-Sachsen [Lower-Saxony] is lower in elevation than the E German states of Anhalt Sachsen and Sachsen [Saxony]. And Der Niederlande [The Netherlands] is lower lying land than the adjacent West Germany and of course literally means - the lower lands. The Dutch [from Gr. Deutsch] language is derived from low German.

So, because there are these two small towns, Oberkorn and Niederkorn in the Differdange Commune in SW Luxemburg - both on the Chiers River [Gr. Die Korn Fluß] - I believe our name is undeniably geographic in its origin. Oddly, its tiny Luxemburg, not Germany where this geographical naming custom was most prevalent. Despite its size, I have found seven instances where pairs of little towns in Luxemburg are so named Nieder- and Ober-. There are atleast a dozen towns in Luxembourg that begin with the prefix Nieder.

But why name a place Niederkorn. It is true that both people and places derive there names from each other. But the existence of Oberkorn village argues against Niederkorn village being named after a founder, like Johann Niederkorn. No, the situation on the ground indicates our family most likely got its name from the town and not vice versa, so more likely our ancestor lived in Niederkorn and became known as Johann von Niederkorn when he moved to a much larger town where expanded names were being used because there were lots of Johns already living there.

So the town and name predates our use of it as our family name and it comes first historically. So without the Village of Niederkorn there are no Niederkorns - right? Importantly the towns of Oberkorn and Niederkorn date back to atleast 1200 in historical documents in the region. So Niederkorn Village is old enough to be the origin of our family name and it is small enough that not many ever chose to use it as a family name. Knowing this, lets now look at the second part of our name: KORN

This is the root word in our name. The K is a very distinctive feature, like nieder, of our name's German origin, even if some cousins allow the spelling to be with a C, that does not refute the fact our name and heritage is undeniably German. Germans do not use a C to begin words, or syllables, but rather they use K, just as the French and English use C and not K. The German consonant sound K and the English and French C are phonetic equivalents.

Thus, French and English speakers do not have any trouble correctly pronouncing this part of our name - the problem is what they write when hearing it - they think C not K. All NiederCorns were originally NiederKorns. It is a spelling variant of our family name - most Niederkorns would say its a corruption of the German spelling - it is the same name and the spelling difference does not correlate to genetic difference. For sure some NiederKorns are more closely related to some NiederCorns than they are to other NiederKorns. So you can't assume anything from the spelling alone.

The meaning of Korn in German is the same as in English [corn] with little difference, so I won't go thru all the details, but remember our name comes from a place, a town on the Chiers River [Gr. Die Korn Fluß]. So the root part of our name comes from what the Germans named this little stream. It is not a translation but a different name entirely which needs further explanation.

MAKING NO ASSUMPTIONS
I have verified that the Chiers River was indeed called the Die Korn Fluß by the Germans who settled these towns near its headwaters in SW Luxemburg. I was able to do this from info on the web site for Differdange, Luxembourg in 2008.

Very few people have ever heard of Die Korn Fluß and very few people ever lived near it. Its headwaters are in the rugged Red Rocks Region in SW Luxembourg. It is a small river indeed [112 km] and starts out as just a brook.

Over 90% of this river's course is in N Central France. So clearly, it is the French people living along its lower courses who are going to give this small river its name and not a tiny few German settlers living at its headwaters. Most of the people who live along this river are Frenchman. Just look at the town names along the river.

The Chiers River vs Die Korn Fluß?
Which brings us to another point of interest. It wasn't the early settlers around Lake Itasca, Minnesota who named the mighty Mississippi River was it? Who did that? The early French explorers and settlers of Louisiana who took it from the Indians. In the same way the Chiers River gets its name from the French and not the Germans who settled near its headwaters and unbeknownst to the French started calling it the Korn River - without French approval I might add.

So I think we all now can understand why our name isn't Nieder-Chiers - right? Or more precisely Baschiers.

The question is why name this river KORN anyway? Maybe the better we know and understand the nuances of all the meanings and uses of the German root word KORN and also the geographic uniqueness of this area - it may become more clear in time. The German root word KORN has the following uses:

1. noun - meaning a grain, a granule; korn of salt [Gr. salzkorn], a korn of sand [Gr. sandkorn], or a korn of pepper [Gr. pfefferkorn]. The proper German word for our English word grain is korn.

2. verb - meaning to feed fodder to livestock; I corned the horses, hogs, etc.

3. adjective - meaning to preserve with salt, or brine; corned beef

4. adverb - to granulate; when snow melts and refreezzes, it corns up (into grains of ice).

5. adjective - meaning granular; Gr. kornig

Also, there is are a few wild flowers that go by the common name of cornflower (Die Kornblume). So the river may originally have gotten its name from a species of wild flower growing in the fields nearby like the rich blue Bachelor's Button, or the pesky Corn Cockle which grows in grain fields and grasslands. So the answer may lie in the unique history, flora, and geology of the Red Rocks region of SW Luxembourg.

The naming customs of early settlers can be a bit qwerky - so we may not want to rack our brains too much over this. Its best to leave the naming of places to educated folks - like Jesuit priests. I am very glad I am from S. St. Paul and not S. Pigs Eye. Thank the Jesuit missionaries that the capital of MN is so named after the church they founded there patronizing the great apostle to the Gentiles and not the crude notions of the early Mississippi River trappers and frontiersmen - a most uncultured folk.

Contributed by: Michael John Niederkorn
Last revised: January, 2009