Surname Saturday: MASSMANN

Massmann was my paternal grandmother's maiden name. Her grandfather, Carl Massmann, 1847-1929, was born in Hanover, Germany, and came to the United States with his wife, Minna Freicke, and their five surviving children in 1884. Those children were:

• Frances, 1874-1958, who never married;
• Frederick Henry, 1875-1948, who is my great-grandfather;
• George Herman, 1877-1963, who married and had three sons but only one Massmann grandson (Thomas, born in 1938);
• Minnie Clara, 1878-1938, who married twice but had no children; and
• Charles William, 1880-1946, who was married twice and had only daughters.

This photograph is from the wedding of Frederick Henry Massmann and Elizabeth Camilla Dienes (1877-1946) on June 5, 1900, at St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church in the Lincoln Park area of Chicago, Illinois. They are pictured on the left. The man standing to the right is George Herman Massmann. The woman seated to the right is probably Elizabeth's sister Clara Dienes, because according to the parish records, she was the other official witness:

Frederick and Elizabeth Dienes Massmann had two children, Alfred John (1901-1964) and Elizabeth Florence (1902-2000), my grandmother. Alfred had five children, four girls and one boy, Alfred John Jr. (1926-1999). The latter had seven children, including two boys.

© Amanda Pape - 2010