Heinrich & Catharina's descendants at Legacy Day pre-party in Fort Loramie onAugust 10, 2019
Poeppelman Descendants to Honor the Pioneer Families
The descendants of Johann Heinrich and Catherina Maria Poeppelman, the original pioneer immigrants to west-central Ohio, celebrated their journey and legacy on Poeppelman Legacy Day on September 8, 2019, more than 180 years after their arrival. This has been a life-long dream for family members to learn about and share the journey of the German pioneers who made the difficult journey to the United States during the 1830’s.
Poeppelman Legacy Day on September 8, 2019 began with a meal at St. Michael’s Hall in Fort Loramie with doors opening at 11:00 am and a luncheon celebration at noon. Following lunch there was a live feed with a group of more than 30 Americans traveling to the Poeppelman homestead located in Holdorf, Germany and extended German Poeppelman family members. During the presentation, we learnt historical information about the conditions in Germany, the journey to America and the dangerous trip from Baltimore to West Central Ohio. In Germany, the event was held at the family farm which had been in the family name since the 1200’s. The German Poeppelman’s are blessed in that despite all of the wars and turmoil during hundreds of years the records are intact and the farm continues in the family name today. Poeppelman’s on both sides of the Atlantic had the opportunity to ask questions and learn a little about family members from different countries.Several descendants from the United States have visited the farm in recent years. After a question and answer session the group had the opportunity to visit the six legacy farms of Heinrich, Catherina and their six children. The original homestead, located southeast of Egypt is owned today by Tim and Carol (Poeppelman) Will. Carol is a great great granddaughter of Heinrich and Catherina who immigrated to the United States in 1837. Finally, at the end of the afternoon, a reception was held at the Arrowhead Golf Course in Minster, Ohio which was originally a farm owned by Heinrich’s daughter Josephine and her husband Bernard Drees.
The event has been a life-long dream for Diane (Poeppelman) O’Connor who originally traveled to Germany as an exchange student in 1974. According to Diane, “During that trip, I was able to obtain a document of Poeppelman family history dating back to the 1200’s when our ancestor, who was a serf was involved in saving the Archbishop of Osnabruck’s life when he was attacked by highway robbers. For his bravery, he was granted his freedom and was able to own land and build a life for himself. This history has piqued a life-long love for family history and genealogy and years later my husband John and I were able to visit the farm and meet the present day Poeppelman’s who live there.”
Years went by and in 2008 Diane’s brother Mark became the Executive Director of The Columbus International Program which hosts visiting professionals and dignitaries from other countries. He had the opportunity to host Rita Kessing from Germany who lives near the Poeppelman homestead. He expressed the desire to some day visit with a group of Poeppelman family members from the United States to visit northwest Germany where most of our ancestors originated from. Rita offered to help coordinate this as she can speak the local language and coordinate the activities in Germany. Mark has added that “I have always wanted to visit northwest Germany as all of my ancestors from both sides of my family are from this part of Germany so this is not just a Poeppelman history it is the family history from most people with German blood living in west central Ohio today.” The trip to Germany was from September 4-12, 2019 an open to anyone who is interested in the history and legacy of the pioneers who traveled from Germany to the United States.
The process to plan this trip and legacy day began in earnest over a year ago (2018) when Diane and her siblings Bill Poeppelman and Karen (Poeppelman) Batty, Mark Poeppelman and Diane’s daughter Tiffany O’Connor began the local research in discovering where not only the original farm was located but where Heinrich’s six children settled during the 1860’s. Not surprisingly, they all established homesteads near Fort Loramie, Minster and Egypt. The intrigue became even greater when coincidentally it was found that the majority of the six legacy farms are still owned today by descendants of Heinrich through different lines of the family.Heinrich and Catherina had six children, 63grandchildren, and 311 great grandchildren. It is estimated that today there are over 3,000 descendants which includes other surnames including Hilgefort, Drees, Baumer, Bornhorst and many other common local names.