Johanna Geisel

22-Feb-2018

Hello - Geni just sent me a "Smart match notification" from your tree to my email.

We've communicated before, but it's been awhile. Hope you find this useful or interesting:

This is the information that I have on Johanna Geisel, wife to George Anton

1. I believe that the correct spelling of Johanna's maiden name is Gröll, that uses an "o with the German double-dot umlaut on top." Often the o-umlaut is substituted by œ or oe, depending on the capability of the keyboard. Often the spelling changes due to keyboard limitations Hence, we might see the name Groll, which is actually a misspelling.

2. It seems to me that when the name is mispronounced, or passed down through oral history, or written down in murky penmanship, we'll see many variations or mutations- I've experienced this repeatedly on many of my family tree entries,

3. For Johanna, I have seen the the following surnames for this same person: Crowl, Grall, Groell, Grolla, Gruel, Grves and maybe Grant? I feel sure that the name is Groell.

Other info on Johanna:

born March 1859 somewhere in Germany, perhaps Bavaria

died 8 Oct 1903 Dayton

interred Woodland Cemetery in Dayton - there is a modern gravestone over what had been an unmarked grave, thanks to Dale Geisel, her great grandson

Immigrated to the USA 28 Sep 1877 on SS Weser from port of Bremen

Marriage to George Anton Geisel took place 17 Dec 1881 in Clark County Oh, by Rev. John M. Schuchardt, Rector of St. Bernard's Church, Springfield. There might have been a family connection between Johanna and Rev. Schuchardt, which would explain why they traveled from Dayton to Springfield to get married.

Prior to this marriage, Johanna was a recent widow to Jospeh Zeidler, with a very young son also named Joseph Zeidler; his name would be changed to George Joseph Geisel, he drowned at the age of 12 at a limestone quarry, now the site of the Lakewoods Apartments on Wilmington in Dayton.

this has been a welcome diversion from work, now I need to get back to work. Wishing you well

Gary Geisel geisel@ameritech.net