This chapter begins with the Bange family in the St. Vitus parish records at Bokeloh and the later account of Henry Bange’s journeys between Germany and America.
The family line
The St. Vitus parish register at Bokeloh records Bernard Heinrich Bange’s birth on September 9, 1827, and his baptism the following day. Entry 36 names his parents as Heinrich Bange and Maria Bruns. The family’s residence is provisionally read as Helte, the village near Bokeloh that is now part of Meppen; the handwriting still merits another review. At the time, this area belonged to the Kingdom of Hanover. The original entry corrects the September 8 birth date repeated in some later accounts.
An earlier St. Vitus marriage register records Bernard Heinrich Bange and Maria Bruns marrying on July 9, 1822. This is the parental couple identified in the current research, with the father recorded under the shorter name Heinrich in the 1827 baptism. The marriage record supports the next generation of the Bange line, but its difficult parent column has not yet yielded a secure extension to older ancestors.
People, places, and stories
Henry Bange’s 1919 obituary says that he first immigrated to America in 1850 with his brother Bernard, returned to Germany in 1856 to visit his parents, and later came back to America. Read alongside that account, the 1857 D. H. Watjen passenger-list transcription is interpreted as a return voyage. It lists Hein Bange as a 30-year-old Hanoverian farmer bound for Illinois. The ship for his first crossing in 1850 remains unidentified.
Photographs and documents
Joseph and Wilhelmina Widmer Bange, identified by the handwritten caption on this mounted studio portrait. Photograph undated. The mount bears the studio imprint “Chas. A. Miller, Moberly, Mo.”
Source: Family photograph with handwritten identification on the mount. The mount bears the Chas. A. Miller, Moberly, Mo. studio imprint. Date unknown.
Joseph Bange and Wilhelmina Widmer Bange, identified on the reverse of this wedding portrait. The reverse gives 1893; the wedding date has not been independently verified.
Source: Family photograph with identification and the year 1893 written on the reverse. The owner confirmed the front and reverse are the same original; the wedding date remains unverified against an independent record.
People’s stories can be linked to photographs and documents, with names, dates when known, captions, and the source of each item. Uncertain identifications will be labeled clearly.
Newspaper stories
A planned section for newspaper clippings and stories connected to a particular person or family.
Contributors will be asked to identify the person or family, newspaper name, publication date, page number when known, and the source or link.
An upload form is not available yet. Submissions will be reviewed for identification, privacy, and permission to share before publication. An uploaded clipping will not be treated as permission to republish it.
Sources and confidence
Sources and how to read them explains how records, recollections and unresolved questions are presented.
B1. St. Vitus, Bokeloh, baptism register, 1827, entry 36. The original register supports the September 9 birth and September 10 baptism. Helte is the current reading of the residence; a small handwriting uncertainty remains. Parish catalog and context.
B2. St. Vitus, Bokeloh, duplicate marriage register, July 9, 1822. The older parental names in the difficult handwriting have not been accepted as a further generation.
B3. Henry Bange’s 1919 obituary, Illinois GenWeb transcription. The 1850 first arrival and 1856 visit to Germany are attributed to this later account.
B4. D. H. Watjen passenger-list transcription, 1857. Read with the obituary, this is interpreted as a return journey rather than the first immigration.
Research questions
Can a second reading resolve the residence and the difficult parent column in the parish records? Which ship carried Henry on the first crossing reported for 1850? What additional original records can connect the German and American stages of the family’s story?
Privacy
Personal details about living relatives are left out of this draft.