[Note: Click HERE for a very large presentation of Neal Wagner's experiences in Germany.]

Introduction:

John Wagner spent the 1999-2000 year in Germany as a high school student. The picture at the right shows him outside his school (the Gymnasium in Werder) during the Spring of 2000. Later he went back to Germany, where he now lives in Berlin with his wife Sarah Rieseberg. John's great-great-grandfather, Christian Wagner, was born in Germany in 1836 and immigrated to America as a young man. John's father, Neal Wagner, spent the year 1962-1963 as an exchange student in Hamburg. (See the link above for Neal Wagner's experiences in Germany.) In 1963 Neal visited Krickenbach where Christian Wagner was born and lived. Krickenbach is a tiny farming town near Kaiserslautern. Recently new residential housing has gone in. In 2015 John's uncle Ron Wagner made a trip to Krickenbach and visited with various relatives.

John's German Genealogy: This is only the paternal German line. On his father's side there are also Swiss and English ancestors, and on his mother's also Irish and Norwegian ones. For example his father's mother was Lydia Emma Richard, and her mother was Katharina Beer, whose direct ancestors were all Swiss (the Beers were wrestlers and barrel makers).

The information below mostly came from records in a city near Krickenbach. It was written in French, using what is called German script.

Wagner Family Line Nathanial John Wagner B. Sept 12, 1983 P: Philadelphia, PS, USA | | v Neal Richard Wagner B. May 4, 1940 P: Topeka, KS, USA | | v Ralph Richard Wagner B. July 12, 1907 D. June 23, 1967 | | v Albertus Christian Wagner B. August 15, 1874 P. Canton, Ohio | | v Christian Wagner B. Nov 2, 1836 D. Approx May 1923 R. Krickenbach, Ohio | | v Jacob Wagner B. May 7, 1812 P. Krickenbach D. Sep 5, 1884 M. Nov 25, 1835 | | v Johann Jakob Wagner B. May 26, 1783 P. Krickenbach D. Aug 30, 1841 M. Mar 28, 1804 | | v Jacob Wagner

Partial genealogy of Albertus Christian Wagner (Below "B"="Date of Birth", "P="Place of Birth","D"="Date of Death","M"="Date of Marriage","R"="Residence") Jacob Wagner +----------------- | Johann Jakob Wagner | +----------------------+ | B. May 26, 1783 | | P. Krickenbach | | D. Aug 30, 1841 | | M. Mar 28, 1804 | | | Maria Elisabetha Muller | +----------------- | R. Krickenbach Jacob Wagner | +--------------------+ | B. May 7, 1812 | | P. Krickenbach | | D. Sep 5, 1884 | | M. Nov 25, 1835 | | | Jakob Hensel | | +----------------- | | | | | Anna Eva Hensel | | +----------------------+ | B. Oct 1, 1781 | | P. Heltersberg | | D. Feb 19, 1842 | | R. Krickenbach | Anna Maria Werle | +----------------- | R. Heltersberg | | | Christian Wagner | +---------------------+ Adam Zimmer | B. Nov 2, 1836 | +------------- | P. Krickenbach | | D. Before Nov 25, 1835 | D. Approx May 1923 | | | R. Krickenbach | | | Ohio after 16 | | | | Barbara Zimmer | | +--------------------+ | B. Mar or Apr 1811 | | P. Krickenbach | | D. July 24, 1886 | | R. Krickenbach | | | Barbara Michel | +-------------------- | D. After Nov 25, 1835 | Albertus Christian Wagner +---------------------------- | B. August 15, 1874 | P. Canton, Ohio | | | Martha Eckert +----------------------

The sons were named after uncles in Germany. (For larger image click.)

Christian (standing behind). Schuyler (standing at left). Lydia Wagner (nee Richard), Albertus (seated middle). Clarissa (standing at right). Ralph Wagner (baby in lap). Lillian (seated in the middle at front). (For larger image click.)

Christian was born in Krickenbach on November 2, 1836. He learned the blacksmithing trade from his father Jacob Wagner. Christian lived in Krickenbach until he was (age uncertain, 16 to 24 years) old, when he immigrated to America, settling in Canton, Ohio.

In 1860 he married Martha Eckert. In 1861 when he was 25 he was drafted to fight for the North in the American Civil War. He sent letters to his wife worrying about finances and asking for clean clothing. In the letters he spelled words as they sounded to him, for example to say there was plenty of food: "There is blandy of food."

His father removed him from school to work more in the blacksmith shop, so he did not get a good education.

The Wagners have always been strong-willed, having difficult relationships with their children. Such difficulties with his father Jacob was supposedly one reason Christian went to America.

In 1963 Neal Wagner got to visit the stone house where Christian was born, and visited with descendants of Christian's brothers. (Christian's children were named after their uncles in Germany.)

Albertus Christian Wagner (John's great-grandfather):

Albertus: second from right. Others are 3 of his 4 brothers. (For larger image click.)

Albertus: second from right. Others are 3 of his 4 sons: Ralph, Jim, Schuyler (For larger image click)

Albertus was born on August 15, 1874 in Canton, Ohio. Just as his father Christian had been treated, Christian in his turn also removed Albertus from the sixth grade to work in the blacksmith shop. For this reason, Albertus was always intent on having his own children get a good education.

At some point Albertus moved to a small town in southeast Kansas named Buffalo. Here he set up a large and sophisticated blacksmith shop. As was common then, a small town would have one blacksmith, who did many things: fix farm machinery and other broken items, make horse shoes and help put them on horses, sharpen knives and even razors for shaving. Regularly a fair would come to town with rides and other attractions, including a challenge to strike a round spot with a large wooden hammer and ring the bell. As the town strongman, Albertus always rang the bell. He told his children the real secret was to his the spot exactly square. Tremendously stout and strong as he was (especially the arms and hands from hammering all day), he could take on any two of his large male children in a wrestling match.

Later in his career there were more cars and fewer horses, so less work in Buffalo for a blacksmith, with seven children to feed. He then went to work in Emporia, Kansas as a blacksmith for the Santa Fe Railroad Company, in particular working on the huge brakes used to stop trains. As he retired the whole profession of blacksmith was disappearing.

In retirement he wasn't happy, with nothing to do. His sons set up a small blacksmith shop in his garage, with a small forge, but one that could get iron and steel white hot to hammer into shapes. At some point he started sharpening hand saws and the larger circular saw blades. The word spead and workmen brought him saws all the time. There were machines to sharpen saws, but they didn't do nearly as good a job as he did by hand. By the hours he sat with a triangular file, doing two long strokes between each pair of teeth. It was also necessary to correctly "set" the teeth, that is, to make sure they alternated with the proper left and right bend. He sharpened dozens of saws each week.

He was clever and resourceful. For example, to help sharpen the saws he constructed a beautifully designed vice to hold them just right.

Ralph Richard Wagner (John's grandfather):

Ralph. (For larger image click.)

Alberta Ruth Wagner (nee Hetzer): Ralph's wife (For larger image click)

Ralph was born in Buffalo, Kansas. He got a degree in Architecture from Kansas State University. In the early 1940s he worked for the WPA, but for the rest of his career he worked for the Santa Fe Railroad.

Neal Richard Wagner (John's father):

See Neal's web page HERE.

Extra Pictures:

   

Family, 1985-1987	Family, February 1990	Family, 1984

(Revision date: 2025-11-29. Use ISO 8601, the International Standard.)