http://home.swbell.net/mgoyen/felberhistnotesmusings.htm The Latest Information on the Earliest Felbers Hans Jakob Felber was born about 1780 in Switzerland. He married Rosina Baumgartner on March 24, 1805 in Boezberg, Aargua, Switzerland. THE FIRST GENERATION Their son Samuel Jakob Felber was born November 17, 1805 in Boezberg, Aargua, Switzerland. Samuel married Elizabeth Neier about 1849. They had three children. Daniel, a daughter and another son, Abraham who was born on December 9, 1865.. How the Swiss came to St. Helena, NE. In the publication, St. Helena 125th Anniversary, September 04, 1983, on pages 10 and 11, it tells of a Swiss Society located in 1858 in St. Louis, Missouri. This group was looking for a suitable place to locate a colony for its 1000 members. Lewis E. Jones and several other men had acquired the land known as the "St. Helena Townsite". Jones had the land surveyed and proposed to the Swiss society that they move there group to this site. The Swiss society named themselves the "Missouri Colonization Society" and made arrangements to locate at St. Helena. In 1860, John Becker and Anton Betz, his brother-in-law, settled on land 1 � miles south of St. Helena. It is not known if this Becker is any relation to Mathias Becker, Anna's father. In 1861, in the town of St. Helena, Henry Felber built "Felber House" later known as "Felber Tavern" for his family to live in. It was completed in March of 1862. THE SECOND GENERATION Daniel Felber was born in Windish, Switzerland on January 20, 1851. About 1872, Daniel Felber immigrated to the United States from Switzerland. Anna Becker and Daniel Felber were married on May 28, 1878. The information on the marriage certificate is the first we have of Daniel and Anna. Daniel was 27 and "Anney" was 23 years old. This certificate also listed their parents first names. Daniel's were Samuel and Lisey; Anna's were Mathias and Barbara. This certificate is located in the Cedar County Courthouse. Anna Becker was born in Alsenhausen or Otzenhausen, Rheinprovinz, Germany, on February 14, 1856, and immigrated to the United States with her parents Mathias Becker and Barbara Reiland Becker. Their 5th child John was born in Germany in 1864 and their 6th child Michael was born in Cedar County in 1869. The actual date of immigration is not known. In November 18, 1878, Daniel Felber became a citizen of the United States. This was recorded in St. Helena. In April 1879, Frank Peter Felber was born in St. Helena. During this period Daniel and Anna lived at the Felber Hotel in St. Helena. In the 1880 U.S. Census of St. Helena, Henry Felber, age 60 years (relationship to Daniel is unknown) is listed as "Head of Household and Postmaster". Daniel Felber is listed as "Hotel Keeper" with wife Anna and son Frank. There is also a young boy named John Felber, born in 1864 in Switzerland listed as a boarder. It is quite possible that Daniel Felber is related to Henry Felber (no records have been found to prove or disprove this) and located in St. Helena because of this relationship. It is possible that John Felber is Daniel Felber's younger brother shown in the family picture that was taken in Switzerland. This family picture taken about 1870 in Baden, Switzerland, shows Daniel, his mother Elizabeth Neier Felber, his brother and his sister. No record of his sister has yet been found.. It is possible that she was married and stayed behind in Switzerland. Daniel Felber died on December 21, 1910. His death certificate sights a weak heart and asthma. He was just one month short of his 60th birthday. He was buried at the Holy Trinity Cemetery in Hartington. The following is the December 22, 1910 Cedar County News article on his death. ABOVE is the obituary: THE THIRD GENERATION Daniel and Anna had 5 children. Frank was born in St. Helena, April 18, 1879, while they were living at the Felber Hotel. The next child to come was John born in 1882. John lived only ten short years. He was kicked in the head by a horse and did not survive his injuries. He died on June12, 1892. He was buried at the Holy Trinity Cemetery in Hartington. Bertha was born in 1883. As a young woman, Bertha was a baby sitter for the Barnhart family. She cared for their two young children. There was an accident one morning that caused a fire at the home and Bertha was burned. She did not survive. The children also died. The Hartington Herald, Friday, October 21, 1904, issue explains that Bertha was attempting to light the stove with the help of kerosene and there was an explosion. In 1885 Mary was born and in 1889 their last child Martha arrived. Mary never married. She was a nurse. She died in Yankton, SD on January 16, 1971. Martha married Norbert Reinders. They had one son, Roman Reinders. Daniel and Anna were also fosters parents of Thomas Kane Felber. Thomas was born in June , 1901 in New York City. It is not clear how he came to them. Thomas married and left the area. He died in Portales, NM on Aug 22, 1972. THE FOURTH GENERATION Frank Peter Felber married Elizabeth Anna Marie Dendinger on May 31, 1904. Elizabeth was the daughter of Frank Dendinger and Mary (Marie) Derler Dendinger. Elizabeth was born on August 1, 1879 in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. Frank Dendinger was born in Germany, but the year is unknown. He was the sixth born of eight children to Michael and Maria Magdalena Dendinger. Frank came to Wisconsin with his family in 1862. Mary Derler's history is unknown before she married Frank. They were married in 1868 in Buffalo, NY and came to Nebraska in 1883. Elizabeth was 4 years old. Born to Frank and Mary Dendinger were six children: Frank Jr., Henry, (twins) Julius and Julia, and (twins) Charles and Elizabeth. F.P. and Elizabeth had nine children. (This is where writing all of this down gets to be too much fun.) Marriage notes are the next to tackle and the newspaper account of their 50th Wedding Anniversary is located here. It will make a great introduction to just what these two were responsible for. The list of family is certainly impressive. The newspaper accounting of their 50th anniversary, gives the count of grandchildren at 21, and the count of great-grandchildren at 16. Today that list is quite impressive. If they were alive today, F.P. and Lizzie would now have 26 grandchildren, 82 great-grandchildren, 84 great-great-grandchildren and 4 great-great-great-great grandchildren as of July 2000. The bare bones list is next. Just F.P. and Lizzie's children. The rest of the information can be found in the Descendant Outlines. 1) LEO DANIEL born 16 Apr 1905 Hartington, NE died 11 Jan 1977 Osmond, NE. 2) JULIA MARIE born 15 Jun 1906 Hartington, NE died 12 Mar 1995 Orlando, FL. 3) RAYMOND MATHIAS born 06 Dec 1907 Hartington, NE died 06 Mar 1983 Coleridge, NE. 4) FRANCIS PETER born 13 May 1909 Hartington, NE died 23 May 1909 Hartington, NE 5) LEONARD FRANCIS born 22 May 1910 Hartington, NE died 02 Jul 1981 Shreveport, LA. 6) NORBERT CARL born 06 Apr 1912 Hartington, NE died 23 Oct 1971 Tulsa, OK. 7) ANNE CECILIA born 10 Oct 1913 Hartington, NE 8) BERTHA CATHERINE born 07 Feb 1916 Hartington, NE died 19 Jul 1996 Lincoln, NE. 9) HUBERT HENRY born 03 Nov 1918 Hartington, NE died 21 Mar 1970 Fordyce, NE. This fourth generation is very dear to us all. Without the help from the memories of my Grandmother Julia, my Mom or Phyllis, this wouldn't be. Phyllis and her daughter Sheryl R. Kraack tackled this job first. They are responsible for giving me the core to work with. Having that original book made all of this possible. My Grandmother Julia had a mind like a steel trap. She also kept notes upon notes about her family. I inherited all of her things to do with family. It was a treasure trove of memorabilia. My mom and I had one hell of a good time in the summer of 1996, traveling around, snooping into places, finding things. She showed me and I showed her. She drove all over (especially all of those gravel and dirt farm roads) and found towns not on maps, churches and old homesteads that don't exist; and I showed her where the marriage licence was with the name of her great-great-grandfather Samuel Jakob Felber. That was a hard one. It was in the courthouse in Hartington, the same one she worked in as a young woman. I have included direct decendant information for Michael & Maria Dendinger, Frank & Mary Derler Dendinger, and Mathias & Barbara Reiland Becker. All of them are related to us also in some way. It is quite amazing! I thought you might enjoy looking through them. Michael Dendinger is Grandmother Lizzie's grandfather, Frank is her father. Mathias Becker is Grandpa F.P.'s maternal grandfather. I do have pretty complete family trees for these families as well and they are in the data bases at Roots Web (see link for Hegert, Lorge, Haberer, Felber). There is one more thing I would like to share with all of you. During the last reunion, it was discovered that HEMOCHROMATOSIS is in the Felber Family. Briefly, it is the body's inability to rid itself of excess iron. Therefore, you suffer what is called iron overload. It damages the liver. This can be tested for and controlled, but it is hereditary and all of the Felber Clan needs to be aware of it. There is a link to information about Hemochromatosis. It will give you a better understanding of the problem.