Please if you would like more information, or if some of these people look familiar to you.
The farmer Joseph Kraus and his wife Katherine (Katie) nee Fischer came in 1857 from the area of Chodau (var. Kodau, now Chodov) in the Eger (now Ohre) valley of Bohemia (then part of the Austrian Empire) with their children Franziska (1848-1918), Anna (1852-1942), and Theresia (1855-1913). They first settled in Rubicon (Dodge Co.), WI, where their daughter Mary (1858-1912) was born. They subsequently moved to Greenville (Outagamie Co.), WI, and had two more daughters: Josephine (1864-1932), and Agnes Mariana (1866-1947). The family was Roman-Catholic. Passage: ship Ahlers, arrived in New York on October 9, 1857, from Bremerhaven. The father of Katherine Fischer also immigrated to Wisconsin, possibly with a new wife (Franziska Ebert?).
Among the daughters, Franziska Kraus married Anton Becher (1842-1931, of Bohemia). Anna married William Nussbaum (1847-1910, of Dom-Esch, Rhine-Prussia). Theresia married Peter Schweitzer (1840-1900, first cousin to William Nussbaum, husband of Theresia's sister Anna). Mary married Josep Mayer (1858-1941, of Germany). Josephine married Wenzel Goerl (1864-1940, of Reichenau, Bohemia). Agnes married Joseph Schreiter (1864-1947, born in Outagamie Co., WI, to Bohemian parents).
I have recently hired a professional genealogist to trace this family and have obtained several generations of ancestors for Joseph Kraus and his wife. for details — not all the dates and places are on this webpage.
At the time of their emigration, Unterchodau was part of the Elbogen dominion (Czech: Loket) in the district of the same name. Other Bohemian Fischer immigrants to Outagamie Co., Wisconsin, originated from the area around nearby Falkenau (Sokolov) but at this time it isn't clear if these families are related.
BECHER, BIALK, BOEHM, DEPPMANN, DOERFLER, DUNLEAVY, DUTZ, FISCHER, GOEHRL, GRIESBACH, GÜNTNER, HAMMER, JOCHMAN, KLATT, KNOBLA or KNOBLE, KRAUS (alt. CROUS), KREUTZBERG, LEEB, LOCHSCHMIDT, MAYER, NUSSBAUM, PIERCE, RECHNER, SCHEITLER, SCHREITER, SCHULTZ, SCHWARTL (alt. SCHWARDL, SCHWARTLING, SCHWERTLING), SCHWEITZER, SMITH, STARK, STEIDL, STINGL, STOEHR, TREMMEL, UNGER, WICKESBERG, WIENER, WÜRCKHER.
Most of these links are to Google maps, but some are to a Czech map service, http://mapy.atlas.cz/, which shows more detail.
Mary Hobein, Woodridge, IL, USA. E-mail:
This page prepared by Urs Geiser. Last updated April 26, 2007