The surname PLOSCHENTZ has been a very difficult one to research. One reason being the numerous spellings I have found. Note the spellings found on the census records. Another reason is that as far as I have been able to tell, John & Mary Ploschentz only had one child; my great-grandmother, Hannah Ploschentz Amelang.
Johan "JOHN" G. PLOTSCHENTZ was born in Aachen,Germany in 1829 and died March 26 1893 in Davis County,IA. He married Mary E. Unknown. Mary was born 1822 in Prussia and died October 25, 1891 in Davis County,IA. John & Mary Ploschentz are buried at Shaul Cemetery, Wapello Co., Ottumwa, Iowa.They had one daughter, Hannah, born in Prussia March 10,1851.
1860 Census Lick Creek Twp., Davis Co., Iowa
Cutleap PLUSHERS 32 M Farmer PRUSSIA
Mary E. PLUSHERS 37 F PRUSSIA
Hannah PLUSHERS 8 F PRUSSIA
1870 Census Lick Creek Twp., Davis Co., Iowa
John G. PLOUSHIRE 42 M W Farmer PRUSSIA
Mary E. PLOUSHIRE 47 F W Keeping house PRUSSIA
Hannah PLOUSHIRE 19 F W None PRUSSIA
1880 Census Lick Creek Twp., Davis,Co., Iowa
G. PLUSCHENTZ Self M M W 50 GER Occ: Farmer Fa: GER Mo: GER
Mary E. PLUSCHENTZ Wife F M W 58 GER Occ: House Keeper Fa: GER Mo: GER
William Embry Grandson M S W 6 IA Occ: At School Fa: GER Mo: GER
Matthias PLOSCHENTZ was listed in 1728 in Schonfeld, Department Crossen Tax List. Crossen is near 52 N Longitude & 15 E Latitude (Eastside from the river Oder). When my ancestors left, it was known as Prussia and is now Poland.
Pomerania was originally a land in northeast Germany. It stretched along the Baltic Sea from Mecklenburg on the west to almost Danzig (now Gdansk, Poland) on the east. Pomerania was divided into two sections: Vorpommern which was west of the Oder River, and Hinterpommern which was east of the Oder River. At the end of World War II in 1945, the two sections of Pomerania, Vorpommern west of the Oder-Neisse Rivers, and Hinterpommern, the lands east of the Oder-Neisse Rivers, were divided by the powers who won the 2nd World War. Vorpommern became part of East Germany at the end of World War II and then, in 1990, part of the combined Germany. It was included in the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. Hinterpommern became part of Poland at the end of WW II and remains part of Poland today.
Genealogists with ancestors in Hinterpommern, those lands east of the Oder-Neisse Rivers, must look to the country of Poland for their genealogical records and help. In 1938 all of this territory was German Pomerania.
"Viadrus" is the Latin name for the Oder river, which now forms the border between Germany and Poland. "Viadrina" (located on the Oder) is the name of a remarkable new European university with a tradition that goes back for several centuries.Originally founded in 1506, the Viadrina already served as a bridge to the East in its earliest phases. Until its faculties were relocated to Breslau in 1811, 55.000 young people from both East and West had studied here. The names von Hutten, Bach, von Kleist, and Humboldt are among the famous students who have studied at the university. In 1727 the first Chair of Economics was founded in Frankfurt (Oder).
Farming was the principal occupation in Pomerania, especially in K�slin County. Stettin was Pomerania's main commercial and industrial center. The great majority of Pomeranians were Lutheran (evangelisch).
Aachen Pronounced As: �khn, Aix-la-Chapelle eks-l�-sh�pel, or Bad Aachen b�t �khn , city (1994 pop. 246,570), North Rhine-Westphalia, W Germany, near the Belgian and Dutch borders. One of the great historic cities of Europe, it is now chiefly important as a rail and road hub and as an industrial center. Almost every branch of the iron and steel industry is represented in the area. Its manufactures include textiles, electrical goods, food (chocolate and candy), glass, machinery, rubber goods, metal products, and furniture. The city's hot mineral baths, frequented by the Romans in the 1st cent. A.D., are still used to treat gout, rheumatism, and skin diseases. Aachen is the site of a technical university and numerous other educational institutions. There are several cultural institutions, notably the Ludwig Art Forum, which exhibits modern art.
Charlemagne, who was probably born in Aachen in 742, made the city his northern capital and the leading center of Carolingian civilization. He built a splendid palace and founded the great cathedral, which contains his tomb. The cathedral, which has an octagonal nucleus modeled on the Church of San Vitale in Ravenna, Italy, received extensive Gothic additions in the 14th-15th cent. From 936 to 1531, German kings were usually crowned at Aachen. Treaties ending the War of Devolution (1668) and the War of the Austrian Succession (1748) were signed there . It was occupied (1794) by French troops and later annexed (1801) by France. It passed to Prussia in 1815. At the Congress of Aix-la-Chapelle (1818) Czar Alexander I of Russia unsuccessfully proposed that the Holy Alliance be tightened. From 1918 to 1930 the city was occupied by the Allies as a result of Germany's defeat in World War I. During World War II approximately two thirds of Aachen was destroyed by aerial bombardment, and the city was the first major German city to fall (Oct., 1944) to the Allies.
MY GRANDMOTHER
MAP OF ODER RIVER ROUTE
PICTURE OF ODER RIVER
ENTERING PRUSSIA
MAP OF AACHEN