About Otto Emil Ruhnke (from Ruhnke Family Tree by Louis R. Ruhnke, with some corrections) -     Germany, 1883 - Otto Von Bismark is the ruler. The country has been in turmoil for years. Young men are required to join the army to support the whims of the leader.    18 year old Otto Emil Ruhnke decides to disrupt his life to avoid the army by moving to America. To this end in 1884, he leaves Berlin for Bremen to board the ship "America" for the long voyage to a new life. Upon arriving in New York harbor on May 9, Otto finds that immigrants are being returned if they have problems with their eyes. He could not take this chance since he had bad eyesight. He arranged to leave the ship in a rowboat and entered the country through New Jersey. Two brothers also came to America and settled in the west. However, Otto needed to stay in New Jersey, for he could not be found to be an illegal immigrant. Within two years he had met and married Wlhelmine Musille with her 5 year old son. Otto and Emilie had five children over the next seven years.    After the death of Emilie at the age of 35, Otto finds himself alone with six children ranging in age from 18 to 4. Otto united with Lucy (Ludoviac) Staudt of Hungary and her one year old daughter. This union yields 7 additional children. Ultimately they had 29 grandchildren and at least 69 great-grandchildren.

About Johann (John) Henrich Blanken - 
    Johann H. Blanken Jr. was born in 1856 to Johann Blanken Sr. and Margareth Blohmen in Hannover, Germany. In 1874 at the age of 18, Johann Jr. left his home in Hannover, Germany and arrived in New York Harbor. Within a few years after arriving in New York, he likely changed his name to John and married Minnette Dorothea Sophia Kruse, who had immigrated to the United States from Hannover, Germany in 1872. They were married in Manhattan but soon settled in Jersey City, NJ, where he worked as a baker. They had seven children, all born within twelve years of each other. By 1910, with most of his children grown, he and Sophia moved to Trenton, NJ to live with their son Frederick, where he worked as a apiarist (bee keeper).

About George Ludwig Lehr - 
    George Lehr was born in the Bavaria state of Germany in 1859. In 1883, he arrived in New York City. In 1893 he married Emelia (or Emilie) Hafner, who had immigrated to New York in 1884 from Switzerland. After a year of marriage, their first child Bertha was born. Sadly, she would die only a few months later. Their second child Frederick was born the next year. Frederick was an excellent pianist, but he died by drowning at the age of 20. Their third and final child was Anna Rose Emily Lehr, who later married Howard Blanken. According to the 1900 census and 1910 census, George Lehr worked as a shipping clerk and a clerk at a brewery in Manhattan. Sometime before 1920, the family moved to Jersey City, where George worked as a laborer in a shipyard.

About Aquilm Schneider - 
    The Schneiders of this family tree are believed to be descended from the Schneiders of Hohst im Odenwald, which is 15 miles east of Darmstadt in the state of Hessen, Germany (map and photos at http://tinyurl.com/24nclec). This region was likely the birthplace and home of Aquilm Schneider, who was born around 1847. We do not know when Aquilm immigrated to the United States, but it was most likely between 1865 and 1880. He settled in Newark, NJ with his wife Catherine, who was from Bayern, Germany. In 1880 he was employed as a blacksmith. The couple had four children.