The Thomsen/Thompson Family
(and related families)
Polli Jost Turner, Editor

Our great-grandmother was Anna Margaretha Marie Thomsen, or Marguerite, who came with her first husband to the United States in 1861. She was born in the city of Sønderborg, which is on the island of Als, on the southern border of Denmark. At the time, Sonderburg was in the German state of Schleswig, which was a Danish duchy. Many of the people were German, and German was the official language at that time. After an election of the people, the area was given to the country of Denmark.

Marguerite, or Maggie, (as cousin Zoe Erickson and I call her) spoke German at home, as we know from a letter we have from her sister Marie. Her father was mostly of Danish origin, while her mother was German!

 

 

First Generation—
Hans Thomsen fathered a son by Johanna Sophia Thortzen, born Nov. 8, 1784; died before 1836. Apparently they never married. Hans was a sailor from Skive in Jutland (now known as Juylland), a portion of Denmark to the north of Sønderborg. The church records show that our ancestor Johann had an older half sister, also illegitimate.
1. Cecilia Charlotta Amalia Beeker,
born Oct. 22, 1807. Her father was Samuel Becker (or Beeker, or Beeken) a store clerk from Hamburg.
2. Johann Christian Thomsen,
born March 6, 1810, in Sonderburg. Also confirmed there.

 

 

Second Generation—
Johann Christian Thomsen, born March 6, 1810, in Sonderburg. Married (May 20, 1836, in Sonderburg) Maria Sophia Müntmeier, born ca. 1809, probably in Hundslev.
George Barker, an old-timer from my hometown Banning, remembers something his mother told him. Marguerite once told her (half in jest) that she didn’t know what her nationality was--her parents were Danes, but she was born on board a ship, and the ship landed in another country! But her childhood home was on the island of Als, in the city of Sonderburg. At that time Sonderburg was in the German state Schleswig, which was then under Danish rule. Sønderborg is now in Denmark.
1. Peter Mathias Christian Thomsen,
"Pete," born June 28, 1837 , in Sonderburg; died Jan. 2, 1928, in San Bernardino, CA; 90 years old. Married Bridgett Henery, born Feb. 4, 1847, in Clair Co., Ireland; died Oct. 8, 1933, in San Bernardino, CA; 86 years old. Their whole family is buried in Mt. View Cemetery in San Bernardino. Bridgett came to the US about 1870. Peter came to the US about 1860, about the same time as his sister Marguerite. He was naturalized Aug. 16, 1875, in San Diego Co., CA. Peter was a carpenter and farmer, and was constable in the Pass area for a time. His daughter's obituary reported that he owned the Owens mine in Julian (what is now a ghost town near San Diego) at one time, but that information has not been confirmed yet.
2. Anna Margarethe Marie Thomsen,
born May 27, 1840, in Sonderburg, Denmark; died Jan. 21, 1917, in Banning, CA; 76 years old. The record of her marriage to Chris Jost gives her name as "Margaret, Maggie, or A.M." Married Christopher Francis Jost.
3. Johanna Sophia Marie Thomsen,
"Maria," born Jan. 22, 1843. Married, had children. We have a Christmas letter she wrote to Marguerite, written in German, from the city of Sonderburg, using the German spelling. In the letter Marie says she will be 70 something (it’s hard to make out) years old on the 22nd of Jan. (the date of the letter has been cut off, but it was probably in December), and mentions her false leg and the trouble it is giving her! She also expresses her sorrow that Marguerite has been ill, and hopes she will recover and live much longer. The spelling and grammar in the letter are bad, and the script is old, so that the letter is difficult to translate. It’s very possible the letter was written in Dec. 1916, making her 73 years old, to be 74 the following month. If so, it was written just before Marguerite’s death.
?. Catharina Maria Thomsen,
born March 17, 1846, in Sonderburg. Could she be the same as Christiane below? Catharina was found in the 1855 census, but Christiane was not!
4. Christiane Thompson,
"Jane," (pronounced Yahnuh, short for Christi-ana, as her name was pronounced) stayed in Denmark. Married Husman. They had two children. We have a picture of her with her son and daughter and grandson (see below). An address on the back of the picture is, "Jane Husman, Chr # Grade 1#, Sonderburg, Denmark". The information was written in German.

Maggie's sister Christiane Thomsen Husman with her grandson Dieter, her daughter Marie and her son Christian

 

 

Third Generation—
Anna Margarethe Marie Thomsen, "Marguerite," or "Maggie," born May 27, 1840, in Sonderburg, then Schleswig, now Denmark; died June 21, 1917, in Banning; 77 years old. Married (1858, in Hamburg, Germany) George Christiansen, who was born in Denmark in 1830. It appears that she and her new husband headed for Australia in the days of their gold rush, where their son Chris was born. When the rush slowed there (it would seem), they left for California in March 1861, on board the ship Iconium. Their daughter was born in San Francisco in November of the same year. George died in California between 1861 and 1863.
Marguerite soon married Mr. Stubbe, who died sometime between 1866 and 1870. (Her son Burt claimed that both of her first two husbands were in the army, and were killed escorting settlers over the pass into California. He also mentioned that she may have lived in the Donner Pass with one of the husbands. Another time he said they were killed by Indians.) Mr. Stubbe left Maggie with one more children, the second having died in infancy.
Maggie married for the third time, to Hans Briand de Crevecoeur. They ran boarding houses in San Francisco before moving the family to the Pass area in 1872, perhaps to help Maggie's asthma. They lived in Dunlop Canyon, and Morongo Valley before settling on the ranch in the Potrero, an area in the foothills to the northeast of Banning. Shortly after that, her husband Hans was shot and killed by William Gates, a relative who had been living with the family. Hans left Maggie with three more boys. She was alone again, and raising six children.

She married now for the fourth time, (Jan. 7, 1878, in San Bernardino) Christopher Francis Jost, born June 12, 1846, in Guysborough, Nova Scotia, Canada; died Oct. 31, 1936, in Banning, CA, of cerebral thrombosis and arteriosclerosis; 90 years old. About 1876, Chris left the Jost family home in Nova Scotia and headed for California. Riding a freight train from San Pedro with a carload of merchandise, he arrived at Summit Station (Beaumont) on March 6, 1877. He was to be storekeeper and paymaster for Rev. Winfield Scott’s fluming project in the canyon. In Jan. of the next year, after leaving the store, he married the widow de Crevecoeur.
Chris and Maggie had four more sons, bringing the total number of her children to 11. They ran their ranch together until the government disposessed them to form an Indian reservation there, after which they moved into Banning, where their children could attend the local schools, and Maggie again ran a boarding house. Chris and Marguerite were buried in the Banning Cemetery, now known as San Gorgonio Memorial Park.
1. Christian C. Christensen,
"Chris," born Jan. 28, 1860, in Amhurst, Victoria, Australia; died Dec. 25, 1942, in San Bernardino, CA; 82 years old. Married (March 29, 1888) Ella Barrett, who died June 1895. Both were buried in Sunnyslope Cemetery, Beaumont. Chris, like his step-father Chris, raised bees and sold the honey. He was also disposessed from his ranch in the Potrero. They had three children, 9 grandchildren, 12 great-grandchildren, at the time of his death. According to mortuary records, Mrs. Lorraine Noren and Mrs. T. H. Leary contributed to the costs of his funeral—probably his two daughters!
2. Mary Christensen,
born Nov. 26, 1861, in San Francisco, CA; died Aug. 30, 1890, in Banning, CA; 29 years old. Married (Dec. 30, 1880, in San Bernardino—he was 35, she was 19!) Reznor Perry Stewart, "R.P.," born Nov. 3, 1845, in Illinois; died Nov. 12, 1933; 88 years old. Mary died a few days after the birth of her son, R.P. Stewart, Jr.
3. Henry G. Stubbe,
born June 25, 1864. Married Bertha, died Dec. 3, 1897; 31 years old. She was buried in Banning—her marker says a child was buried there, too, perhaps Andrew. Henry worked for the ice company in Hollywood, Aunt Florence (Lee) remembers.
4. Lula Stubbe,
born June 25, 1866. Died in infancy? Nothing is known about her. Marguerite’s obituary mentions that eight sons survived her, so we know that Lula had died at least by 1917. Although the fact that Aunt Florence never heard her name before seeing it in the family Bible indicates that she most likely died as a small child before the family came to Banning.
5. Waldemar de Crevecoeur,
"Wal", born Jan. 20, 1871, in San Francisco, CA; died Oct. 23, 1938; in Riverside Co., CA; 67 years old. Not married. Buried in Banning, with no marker. Except for a brief service as deputy sheriff, he was a rancher all his life. Operated a ranch near Beaumont. Assisted brother Ben in the Willie Boy manhunt.
6. Jefferson de Crevecoeur,
"Jeff", born Sept 13, 1873, in Dunlap Canyon; died 1889; 16 years old.
7. Benjamin Barton Briand de Crevecoeur,
"Ben", born May 14, 1875, in Banning; died March 21, 1949; 74 years old. He was said to have been the first white child born in the Pass. Married (1896) Sarah E. Johnson. They had three children, of whom only one lived to have children of his own. Second marriage (1932), Florence Bennett, "Flossie".
As constable of San Bernardino, Ben led one of the posses in the famous Willie Boy manhunt. The story of the manhunt was made into a movie in the 1970’s, entitled "Tell them Willie Boy Was Here"—Robert Redford played the part of Ben deCrevecoeur!
Ben was buried in the Banning cemetery. When I was at the Banning cemetery, I was surprised how quickly the worker there was able to point out Ben’s grave, and I commented on it. His reply, "That’s easy! He’s famous!"
8. Francis Christopher Jost,
"Frank", born Sept. 7, 1878, in Banning; died Jan. 2, 1937; 58 years old. Married (May 1909) Jeanette F. Turnbull, "Jenny," born Jan. 28, 1880; died Spril 26, 1921; 41 years old. They had no children. Both were buried in Banning, but there is no marker for Frank.
Second marriage, Bertha, they lived in the Jost Hotel. After she died, he married Margaret. No children.
9. Burton Cranswick Jost,
"Burt", born June 19, 1881, in Banning; died Nov. 15, 1972, in Banning; 91 years old. Married Agnes Sophie Petzoldt.
10. George Marshall Jost,
"Marsh", born Oct. 26, 1883, in Banning; died May 17, 1938, in Banning; 54 years old. Married (Oct. 26, 1911) Emma Augusta Metze, "Aunt Emma," born Jan. 22, 1885 (1882 on her grave marker), in Cape Giradeau, MO; died April 1972; 87 years old. After Marsh’s death, she married Louis Thornberg. Both Marsh and Emma were buried in the Banning cemetery, but Marsh’s name is given as Marshall G. Jost on his marker.
Marsh was named for a cousin who had been a merchant in Guysboro for some years, and grew quite wealthy from that and his interest in stocks and bonds. He died worth about $900,000, but his fortune was wiped out by the stock market crash in 1929, and his will was settled for a fraction. He was very generous, leaving money to several institutions, including the Guysboro church, the Bible Society, as well as to friends and relatives. The family still in Guysboro have a copy of his will, but it is long and dull. An item of interest to us is bequeath #5: "I give and bequeath to Marshall Jost, the son of Christopher Jost formerly of Guysborough now of California, named after me, the sum of six thousand dollars." That would have been quite a lot of money in those days! Unfortunately, after the stock market crash, and Canadian taxes, there was no money left to pay the bequests! Apparently, Marsh didn’t get a penny
11. John Jefferson Jost,
born March 24, 1886, in Banning; died May 29, 1946, in Banning; 60 years old. Married Elfrieda Dorothy Krueger, born March 13, 1886 (1886 on her grave marker); died Feb. 27, 1922; 36 years old. Both were buried in Banning, there is a marker for Elfrieda, but none for John.
Second marriage, Della Schultz.

 

The Müntmeier Family of Sonderbørg

First Generation—
Mathias Hennings (?) Müntmeier, born ca. 1720, of Flensburg, Germany; died before 1803. He was a shoemaker. Married Anna Catharina Führman.
1. Paul Johann Müntmeier,
born ca. 1749; died March 8, 1803, in Sonderburg; 54 years old. Married Maria Hinrichsen Schultz.

 

Second Generation—
Paul Johann Müntmeier, of Sonderburg, born ca. 1749; died March 8, 1803, of tuberculosis, in Sonderburg; 54 years old. He was a master butcher. Married (Oct. 9, 1778) Maria Hinrichsen, born ca. 1726 (?? acc. to age at time of death??); died Feb. 25, 1811; 85 years old.
Maria’s father was Andreas Hinrichsen of Maasbüll (near Flensburg), a boardman (whatever that is!), who died before 1811. Her mother was Christina Cordtsen, who died before 1811. One record mentions something about Angel--perhaps a place? Paul Johann and Maria had only one living child.
Maria was married previously (July 4, 1765), to Peter Schultz, a widower, also of Sonderburg. Peter was also a master butcher. One record says Maria was "of Kilschau"--perhaps she and Peter lived there before moving to Sonderburg. Another record (as far as I can read it) says that Maria was the daughter of Peter’s wife’s brother. Which means that Andreas Hinrichsen had a sister who first married Peter Schultz. She married her aunt’s widowed husband?
1. Sophia Schultz,
born Jan. 1, 1767, and died shortly after birth, on the same day.
2. Andreas Schultz,
born Oct. 4, 1768.
3. Peter Matthias Müntmeier,
born Jan. 11, 1779, in Sonderburg. Married Anna Maria Johannsen.

 

Third Generation—
Peter Matthias Müntmeier, born Jan. 11, 1779, in Sonderburg. He was a butcher. Married (Jan. 22, 1809, in Sonderburg) Anna Maria Johannsen, born ca. 1780. Her father was Johann Key, of Hundslev, who died before 1809--he was a cottager. Her mother was Dorothea Sophia Jensen, who died after 1809.
1. Maria Sophia Müntmeier,
born ca. 1809. Married Johann Christian Thomsen. Possibly born in Notmark, but confirmed in Sonderburg.
2. Paul Johann Müntmeier,
married Anna Dorothea Nielsen.
3. Cecelia Müntmeier,
born April 26, 1819. Married (May 2, 1852, in Sonderburg) Hans Heinrich Griem.
4. Jakob Peter Müntmeier,
born May 25, 1822 (confirmed in 1838). Married (July 16, 185?, in Sonderburg) Christina Elizabeth Ströh, from Kiel. The engagement was made in Kiel. Jakob was a day laborer.
5. Maria Müntmeier,
born Jan. 1824; died March 26, 1836, in Sonderburg; 12 years, 3 months, 4 days.
6. Anna Margarethe Müntmeier,
born May 23, 1826. Married (Jan. 11, 1852, in Sonderburg) Christen Hans Christensen.
 

 

The Thortzen Family of Sonderbørg

First Generation—
Andreas Thortzen, born 1720, of Sonderburg; died Sept. 3, 1782, of a stroke; 65 years old. His parents were Thor Andersen and Anna Maria Andersen (acc. to Andreas’ death record, Andersen was also her maiden name), of Gothenburg (may be the city now called Göteborg, now in Sweden). He was a sailor. Married first (March 28, 1747, in Sonderburg?), Anna Christina Hallern (or Kall, Kallern, or Hausern), born 1720; died Nov. 16, 1766; 46 years old. Their marriage record tells that he was a sailor, and she was "Christina, daughter of Karmus Petersen."
Second marriage (Jan. 22, 1767, in Sonderburg), Sophia Amalia Meyer, born ca. Oct. 1739; died March 31, 1803; 63 years old. Her parents were Nicolay Mayer (or Meyer, or Meier) and Christina Schultz. Nicolay was a master shoemaker.
First marriage:
1. Anna Elina (or Magdalena) Thortzen,
born Oct. 9, 1747; died Oct. 25, 1747; 16 days old.
2. Thomas Andreas Thortzen,
born Oct. 17, 1748; died April 29, 1859; 10 years old.
3. Johann Thortzen,
born Sept. 4, 1750, in Sonderburg; died March 8, 1803, of a stroke, in Sonderburg; 60 years old. Married (Jan. 22, 1779) Anna Margaretha Hansen.
4. Cathrine Maria Thortzen,
born Dec. 8, 1752.
5. Peter Thortzen,
born Feb. 13, 1757.
6. Anna Christina Thortzen,
born Dec. 11, 1760; died March 31, 1763; 2 years old.
Second marriage:
7. Thomas Thortzen,
born Oct. 12, 1767, in Sonderburg; died March 7, 1809, of a sore on his neck; 41 years old. A sailor. Married Anna Maria Thomsen. They had no surviving children at the time of his death.
8. Nicolay Thortzen,
born Sept. 8, 1769; died Oct. 11, 1803, of epilepsy; 34 years old.
 

Second Generation—
Johann Thortzen, born Sept. 4, 1750, in Sonderburg; died March 8, 1803, of a stroke, in Sonderburg; 52 years old. He was a church custodian. Married (Jan. 22, 1779) Anna Margaretha Hansen, born Oct. 2, 1755; died Aug. 26, 1819; 64 years old.
1. Helena Christina Thortzen,
born Oct. 24, 1779. Married (Nov. 6, 1809, in Sonderburg) Johann Hinrich Hauschildt, from Lüptien, near Preez, in the Holstein section of Germany. He was a master weaver in Sonderburg.
4. Margaretha Thortzen,
"Gretchen," born March 30, 1782. Married (June 3, 1824, in Sonderburg) Georg David Peter Hübner. He was a coppersmith. His parents were Christian Hinrich Hübner, an infantryman, and Catharina Sophia Cicilia. She was sponsor for the baptism of her niece, Cecilia Charlotte Amalia Beeker.
2. Johanna Sophia Thortzen,
born Nov. 8, 1784; died before 1836. She had two illegitimate children. Her birth record gives her father’s occupation as sailor, and her mother’s maiden name as Johannsen, rather than Miang or Hansen. Among her godparents were her aunts Anna Maria (Ohlsen) Miang and Sophia Margaretha Miang. For both, their last name was given as Johannsen! Also, her future uncle Hans Larsen was another of her godparents.
3. Johann Thortzen,
born Oct. 31, 1786. Married Sara Sophia Sieburg, in Hamburg, Germany. They had no children by 1819.

 

 

 

The Hansen Miang Family of Sonderbørg

The people of Denmark used to use "patronymic" names. That is, they would use their father's first name as their last name, adding "-sen" for son and "-datter" for daughter. My husband Randy would have been "Randy Eliesen", I would have been "Polli Elwoodsdatter". This becomes very confusing when searching backwards through church records, because the last names change with each generation!
The last name, Miang, puzzled me at first--it doesn’t sound either German or Danish. I have read that in the case of a very common name (like Hansen was) sometimes the person added the name of their home village, or their occupation to the end as an extra surname, to distinguish them from others of the same name. I finally found that Miang is a small town to the northeast of Sonderborg, in the state of Horup. Apparently the family was originally from that town, and added the name of the town to their name to indicate that they were the "Hansens that came from Miang".
In some records, the name Johannsen was used in place of Hansen (often Hans was a nickname for Johann) or Miang! Talk about confusing!

First Generation—
Johann Miang, married ?.
1. Davidt Miang,
born Nov. 25, 1683.
2. Catharina Miang,
born Sept. 16, 1688.
3. Maria Miang,
born March 24, 1691.
4. Hinrich Miang,
born May 28, 1695.
5. Johann Miang,
born March 28, 1697; died Sept. 20, 1762; 66 years and one month old. Married (ca. 1720) Catharina, born 1699; died July 24, 1761; 61 years, 11 months old.
6. Hans Miang,
born Aug. 1, 1700.

 

 

Second Generation—
Hans Miang, born Aug. 1, 1700; died before 1775. (I don’t find a death record for him.) Hans was a sailor. Married (ca. 1726) Sophia Margaretha Dethlefsen, born Dec. 4, 1702; died June 22, 1775; 73 years old. Her parents were Dethlev Jensen and Sophia Jürgensen. Her death record gives her father’s name as Detlev Detlefsen, which is explained by the patronymic names which were more common at the time of her birth.
1. Johann Hansen Miang,
born Jan. 22, 1727; died March 29, 1793; 66 years old. Married Anna Margaretha Sörensen.
2. Sophia Margaretha Miang,
married Christian Koppelgard. She was a baptismal sponsor for nephew Hans.
3. Hans Miang,
married Maria Dorothea Cordtsen. Hans was a sailor.
4. Margaretha Dorothea Miang,
married Christian Michelsen.

 

 

Third Generation—
Johann Hansen Miang, born Jan. 22, 1727; died March 29, 1793, in Sonderburg; 66 years old. Married (Dec. 3, 1751, in Sonderburg) Anna Margaretha Sörensen, "Margaretha," born 1726; died May 14, 1805; 79 years old. Johann was a sailor. In the death record of his son Hans, his name was given as Johann Johannsen. His daughter’s death record, a year earlier, gave him as Johann Hansen Miang. Sometimes Hans was used as a nickname for Johann.
Anna Margaretha Sörensen’s parents were: Jürgen Sörensen, died before 1805. Married Anna Margaretha Sörensen (Sörensen was given as her maiden name in her daughter’s death record), born ca. Oct. 1690; died June 4, 1750; 59 years old. Jürgen was a ship’s carpenter in Sonderburg. In the marriage of her record to Johann Hansen (the Miang was omitted in the record) the witnesses were Christian Detlevsen who was a sailor (her uncle?), and Peter Sörensen (her brother?).
1. Hans Johannsen Miang, born Nov. 3, 1753; died Dec. 9, 1820, 66 years old. Married Anna Maria Ohlsen; died Oct. 6, 1791, just 16 hours after the birth of their stillborn son; 35 years old. They had one surviving child, Ulrich. Second marriage, Cecilia Charlotta Amalia Harboe, born Feb. 24, 1762; died Aug. 17, 1822, 60 years old. Hans was a bridge overseer. He was a sponsor for the birth of Jürgen Hansen Lind, on Nov. 27, 1801.
2. Anna Margareta Hansen Miang,
born Oct. 2, 1755; died Aug. 26, 1819; 64 years old. Married (Jan. 22, 1779) Johann Thortzen. Her daughter's birth record gives her father’s occupation as sailor, and her mother’s maiden name as Johannsen, rather than Miang or Hansen. Among the godparents were aunts Anna Maria (Ohlsen) Miang and Sophia Margaretha Miang.
3. Johann Christian Miang,
born March 22, 1758; died before 1805. Married Cicilia Jebsen, also died before 1805. They had one child. Second marriage, Cicilia Brigitha Krabbe.
4. Jürgen Miang,
died before 1805. Married Margaretha Jessen.
5. Sophia Margaretha Miang,
Married (after 1784) Hans Lassen, a shoemaker. Both were godparents for niece Johanna Sophia Thortzen.
6. Anna Miang,
died before 1805. Married Hans Hinrich Berendsen, a shoemaker.
7. Cecilia Miang,
born Aug. 30. 1765. Married Christian Berendsen, who died before 1805. Children were all born before that date.
8. Christian Miang,
born Oct. 26, 1768; died Nov. 1, 1770; 2 years old.

 

 

Sources:
Family information
Lutheran parish records, filmed by the LDS church, available through Salt Lake City
Zoe de Crevecoeur Erickson

Links:

Zoe de Crevecoeur Erickson's page dedicated to Maggie:
http://www.alecsancestors.com/maggie.htm

Allan Jost's gedcom of our Jost family:
http://jostfamily.tk/

March 1, 2013
Polli Turner