Wisconsin is well known for its German heritage. Kraemers are a prominent name in that heritage with Kraemer descendants engaged today in road building, bridge construction, building construction, and construction-related businesses such as heating and air conditioning, lumber, plumbing, carpentry, electrical, and masonry; as well as many small businesses (such as farming and cheese making) and professions (such as medicine, law, and education) throughout the state of Wisconsin. The Kraemer heritage extends back to 1649 in Tiefenbach, Bavaria, Germany where the first known Kraemer (Johann or "Hans") married Barbara Leonhard at St. Vitus Catholic Church in Tiefenbach. Johann Kraemer was not in construction or the professions, but was a humble weaver who eked out a living by weaving linen. He and his wife died at age 33 leaving a son, age nine, and a one-year old daughter. How then did the Kraemers end up in Wisconsin? "Wisconsin Kraemers: I. The Old World of Bavaria" tells the remarkable story of six generations of these Kraemers as they struggled with the devastation of hand-weaving caused by the industrial revolution and how they had to shift to peasant farming under a manor lord. Although they gained freedom from serfdom and could own land by the early 1800s, their hard life and small patchwork farms were no match for the promise of free land and boundless opportunities in America. The Paul Kraemer family became a bridge to America as they joined others in the post-Civil War rush to the newly opened territory of Wisconsin. They were encouraged by other Kraemers and neighbors who had preceded them to Wisconsin and Minnesota. "Wisconsin Kraemers: I. The Old World of Bavaria" is part I of a two-part book. The two parts cover the 360-year-history and genealogy of the Kraemers of Irlach and Tiefenbach in Bavaria, Germany, and the Kraemers in Plain, Sauk County, Wisconsin, from the years 1649 to 2000. Part I tells the story of each generation from 1649 to 1866 when Paul Kraemer emigrated from Irlach, Bavaria to Wisconsin just after the Civil War ended. The book includes translated copies of original documents in Latin and German from historical archives in Germany, maps of the area and Kraemer property, photos of buildings and sites, and a narrative that ties all these things together. It ends with Paul and Walburga Stangl Kraemer's hurried preparations to emigrate and travel with their children to the port of Hamburg in Northern Germany for their immigration journey to America. Part II of the two-part book will address the Kraemer family in America after 1866. It covers family lore such as whether Paul Kraemer had a brother who also emigrated to America, whether Paul was a carpenter, why he spent a year in Fredonia Township, Ozaukee County from 1866-1867, what led him to Sauk County, and how he and his children and grandchildren children fared thereafter. Overall, these two volumes are a story about what can be accomplished with entrepreneurship, hard work, and a little luck - from Johann (Hans) to Johan Christoph to Paulus Kraemer in Bavaria - and to Paul Kraemer, Edward Kraemer, and the Kraemer Brothers in Wisconsin. It also explores the families that Kraemer women married into - the first generations of the Weidner, Laubmeier, Meister, and Ruhland families. The first volume in the "The Kraemer Series" books is "Kraemer in Amerika: History and genealogy of the Kraemers from Tiefenbach, Bavaria, Germany, who immigrated to Stearns County, Minnesota, and to Los Angeles, California" published in 2014 by Debra Blau and Kenneth Kraemer. "Kraemer in Americka" focuses on the "Minnesota Kraemers" - those who immigrated from Tiefenbach to Stearns County, Minnesota, and later to Los Angeles, California. "Wisconsin Kraemers: I" is the second volume in the series. Part II is the third volume in the series.
About the Author: Kenneth L. Kraemer is a tenth generation Kraemer and native of Wisconsin. He has lived in California for more than 50 years and is Professor Emeritus at the University of California, Irvine in Orange County. His interest in family history and genealogy began when his father, Leo Kramer, visited California and saw a freeway exit called "Kraemer Boulevard" and wondered if they might be relatives. Research showed that these famous Anahiem Kraemers were not related, but it led to further research. A break in the research occurred when a colleague, Professor, Dr. Heinrich Reinermann in Speyer, Germany went to the Catholic archives in Regensburg and found the Paul Kraemer lineage back to Johan Michael Kraemer (1726). In February 1983, Ken and Prof. Dr. Reinermann visited the property tax office for the Tiefenbach area and found the location of Paul Kraemer's farm in the small town of Irlach at house number 2. Ken took pictures of the Kraemer house and stable and wrote a report of his visit and the lineage in March 2003. He continued researching and updated the report in 2006. He has continued researching for the last ten years and now has produced this comprehensive family history and genealogy of the Kraemers in the old world of Bavaria. He has previously published two other related works. The first is a DVD with Debra A. Blau, published in 2011 and entitled "Genealogies of families that immigrated to Sauk County, Wisconsin, from Bavaria, Germany." The DVD can be purchased from the Old Franklin Township Historical Society, P.O. Box 218, Plain, Wisconsin, 53577 or http: //www.townoffranklinhistoricalsociety.com/id16html. The second is a book published in 2014, also with Debra A. Blau, entitled "Kraemer in Amerika: History and genealogy of the Kraemers from Tiefenbach, Bavaria, Germany, who immigrated to Stearns County, Minnesota, and to Los Angeles, California." It is available from CreateSpace.com at: http: //www.createspace.com/4638000. It can also be obtained from the Old Franklin Township Historical Society, P.O. Box 218, Plain, Wisconsin, 53577. Ken Kraemer can be contacted at kkraemer@uci.edu.