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Marianna was born Maria Anna Trefzger in Wehr, Baden. She was the 7th child (5th daughter) of Julianna and Simon Trefzger(Sr.).
When Marianna was in her late 20's there was much discussion in the family, weighing the pros and cons, the descission was made. Simon would go to the Grand Duke's represenative in town and request permission to leave. The request was granted. Permit number 356 was issued for Maria Anna, Anton, Simon Trefzgerand his wife and 2 children, Maria Luisa and Emma Lina, all born and residents of Wehr with the destination, America, with the purpose to settle there.
The date was March 31, 1855.
There was much hurried last minute packing. There was the sad last day with last meals with the family and sad farewells with Mother and Father and siblings. And of course, the last instructions from Simon(Sr.). The little group was to leave Baden at Grossherzogthum on April2, 1855. Then they had to get their Permit stamped at 3 Franch towns. They cleared the first one on April 4, the second on April 7, and finally the reached LaHarv. Then on April 29, 1855 they had their Permit
stamped for the last time and were able to board their ship.
The little group, with all their luggage, made their way to the port. They boarded a sailing ship as steerage passengers. The trip took about 30 days.
After a long and difficult voyage they finally arrived into New York’s harbor. What an exciting time, they had made it to America. Then they went on to Cincinnati, Ohio where they had friends, the Bergers.
Marianna, Simon, and Simon’s family stayed in Cincinnati while Anton went on to St. Louis believing St. Louis held more oppertunities.
Before 1861 Marianna met and married William Georg. William had been married before.
William was born on July 8, 1823 in Cincinnati. On April 15,1845 William married Mary H. Graham in Muskingum, OH. William and Mary had 4 children in the late 1840s. We do not know what happened to Mary.
William was a farmer. He witnessed the naturalization papers of Simon Trefzger (Marianna's brother) on 9/1/1860.
Mariana and William had 2 daughters: Emma and Mary Louise. William died on January 27,1894 in Tell City, IN. He is buried in St. Murin Catholic Cemetery, Tell City, IN.
Marianna moved to Peoria after William died and lived with her daughter Emma. In the 1900 census Marianna is still living with her daughter Emma and family in Peoria Ward 6. Marianna died September 14, 1905. She is buried in St. Joseph Catholic Cemetery in the Trefzger family plot.
Genealogy:
The Grawey Family Tree was first started in 1940 by Williams F. Grawey, who gathered information from the Family Bible and
directly from family members. In 1967, it was updated by cousins Leo and Edith Grawey with information provided again by direct family
members, often as a result of he annual family reunion. In 1994, an update was again done by cousin Martha Grawey Groeper, this time on a
computer program for the first time.
The information in the Family Bible was written in the German script by John Grawey (1859-1933). Additions to the Bible were continued
by his son, William F., in English for a short time. The German script was translated by Bertha E. Grawey, wife of William F. Grawey.
Son, Walter Grawey, has the Bible in his possession.
Other sources of information used were current information from family members and the Peoria Census books from the Peoria Public
Library. Wedding invitations, birth announcements, death notices, newspaper and publication articles that were saved over the years by
cousing Edith Grawey were also used. There is very little true documentation (licenses and certificates, etc.) on file. The master copy of the
Family Tree along with all the above information and more is on file at the home of Martha Grawey Groeper and is open to anyone who
would like to see it.
Study of Marianna:
Our family records of Simon Trefzger and his descendants were very complete but I could find almost no information about Simon’s sister Marianna.
Marianna's birth record and a the record of Albert (a son of Marianna) were found in the records from St. Martin's Church in Wehr. Albert was born on April 17, 1853 and died on July 17, 1853. See the link to records above.
On a visit to Peoria I asked Aunt Florence Bourscheidt about Marianna. All she could tell me was that she marriad a man named George. She couldn't tell me any more.
Finally on May 29,2003 I received an e-mail for Mike Mooney. He told me Maria Anna was his mother's great-grandmother. I was so happy.
Mike shared all of the above information about Marianna's descendants. A special thanks to Mike and those members of his family who gathered all of this genealogy.
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