How three Hodgden brothers married three grandaughters of Henry and Mathilda Gade and what that says about the" theory of relativity". It all starts with three daughters of Henry and Mathilda. Alma Gade married Henry Otte and they had a daughter named Emma who married Floyd Hodgden. They had Delbert and Diane. Alvena Gade married Charles Burmeister and they had a daughter named Leora who married Charles Hodgden. They had two children, Janis and Wendy. Clara Gade married John Burmeister and they had a daughter named Luella who married Wayne Hodgden. They had 5 children, Larry, Carolyn, Dennis, Gary and Nancy. All perfectly normal, more or less.

Of course there's more to this story including "The Honeymoon Farm". Vernon and Sophie lived on this farm located 2 miles northeast of Massillon in 1934 after leaving Elijah's farm near Clarence. When Floyd met and married Emma Otte in Feb 1935, Vernon moved to another farm and Floyd and Emma( the honeymooners...

Our story in america began with Nicholas Hodsdon who came to america from England in the early 1600s and settled in Hingham, Massachusetts. While there he was received as a "freeman" in 1636 and later was granted a house lot and owned two meadows. In1639 he married Esther Wines who bore him six children. After Esther died on Nov 29, 1647, Nicholas married Elizabeth Needham, widow of John Needham, in 1649. In 1650 he purchased land at Cambridge Hill, now Newton, Mass. Sometime before 1656 he had moved to Kittery, Maine, most likely as a result of a religous dispute with the Massachussetts Colony. In 1659 Nicholas was ordered to Boston where he was admonished for entertaining Quakers. Nicholas and Elizabeth had six children with Timothy 1652-1719 being the first son. In 1679, Nicholas deeded 40 acres to Timothy . Nicholas was killed in a battle with indians in 1704.

Several generations later Charles Hodgden and brother, Richard moved to Delaware County, Ohio in 1814 ...

John Carl Krutzfeld was born May 29,1854, in Mecklinberg Germany and was baptized at the Church in Lubsee. Marie Christinana Kruse was born on March 20, 1857 and was baptised in the Lutheran church at nearby Recknitz, one of many small villages in the area. Near there was a castle called Rossewitz which was completed in 1682 by Joachim Heinrich von Vieregge. When the Vieregges went bankrupt in 1780, the castle became the property of the Duke of Mecklinberg. Most families in the area depended upon the "Lord of the Castle" for their livlelihood and many worked directly in the castle. Marie's aunt, Sophie Ida Kruse worked there in 1840 when she had a baby by Wilhelm Schroeder. The Krutzfeld and Kruse families livied and worked in these small villages which were connected through the castle.

John's father, Gottlieb, died in 1866 and by the time John was 13 he was working for a living as a "Horseman" caring for horses, cleaning the barn, driving the coa...

Heinrich and Katherine Krueger Gade arrived in America from their home in Metzingen, Germany on May 11, 1869 with Henry Gade, Larry's great grandfather, who was four years old. They settled at Proviso IL near Chicago but when Henry's father died in 1871, Katherine moved her family to Lowden. In 1885 Henry married Mathilda Lietz and they raised a large family on a farm one mile west of Lowden. Their children were William, August, Helena, Fred, Alma, Alvina, Louis, Walter, and Clara who was later to marry John Burmeister and become Larry's grandmother.

Mathilda Lietz's father Wilhelm(William) Lietz and his wife Albertine came to America in 1866 with his sister, Wilhelmina. William had married Albertine Milbratz in 1860 in Germany and their first child, Mathilda was born in Elmhurst, Ill on July 21, 1867 and was raised on the farm northeast of Lowden. She was joined by brother Henry who married Alma Lendt, sister Emma who married August Siebel and sister Helena ...

The Burmeister family, Johann and Catherine along with John P. migrated to america from Germany in 1873. Larry's great grandfather John P. was 15 at the time. They settled in the Lowden area where John P. married Elizabeth Dettman in 1884. They had six children, Henry, Emma, Eliza, Charles, Anna and John H who was Larry's grandfather. All except Emma married and raised families in the area. In 1908-09 John P. helped build a new school in Lowden and a 12 year old John H.( Larry's grandfather) was photographed sitting in the schoolhouse window with his dog(see Burmeister photos). John and Elizabeth farmed near Lowden, exactly where is yet unknown, as the story goes that the Burmeisters had some sheep on the farm and the boys, Hank, Charlie and John liked to tease them with a basket of grain. One day Hank and Charles bet Johnny, as our grandpa was known, that he could not ride one of these sheep and sure enough he had to try. As the sheep ran through the gate with Johnny ...