The Gobernatz Family
In 1929 Francis (Frank) Gobernatz and his brother Andrew emigrated from Germany to the United States. At that time, the law required immigrants have a U.S. sponsor before they could move to the United States. Their sponsors were farmers in Spring Green, Wisconsin who they worked for until their sponsorship debt was paid off. Frank then moved to Milwaukee and got a job at a cookie factory and sent for his wife Walburga and their two small children, Ann and Johnny, who had stayed behind in Germany.
By late 1929, Walburga with her two young children, made the long voyage by boat to the United States. When they arrived at Ellis Island in New York City, they were quarantined for at least a week because another child on the boat had come down with measles. When they were finally allowed to leave, they had yet to take the long train ride to Wisconsin before they would again meet up with their father and husband.
Ann soon began first grade at a Catholic school in Milwaukee but couldn’t participate with the other students because she knew only German. However she listened intently to her classmates and the teacher and before long she could recite her lessons as well as the others.
The Great Depression hit the newly emigrated family extremely hard and they moved often. Frank and Walburga had three more daughters after becoming U.S. citizens; Mary in 1932, Hildegard (Hildy) in 1936, and Irmengard (Immy) in 1938.
In 1942, Andrew married Katie who had also emigrated from Germany. They had no children.
John Gobernatz died from a heart attack in 1959, two weeks before his 32nd birthday. He was not married and did not have children. His sisters all married and stayed in Wisconsin. Most of their 29 children have also stayed in Wisconsin to raise their families.
This website is for the Gobernatz sisters –-
Ann Acker, Mary Havey, Hildy Boor, and Immy Kalmon.
- Francis Gobernatz
- Born - March 5, 1898
- Died - Oct. 17, 1993
- Walburga Gobernatz
- Born - July 28, 1898
- Died - Jan. 8, 1956
- Andrew Gobernatz
- Born - June 3, 1907
- Died - Sept. 6, 1981
- Katharina Gobernatz
- Born - April 16, 1904
- Died - Nov. 11, 1994
- John Gobernatz
- Born - April 18, 1927
- Died - April 3, 1959
- Allen Kalmon
- Born - Feb. 7, 1932
- Died - Nov. 10, 1975
- Raymond Acker
- Born - Nov. 19, 1920
- Died - July 11, 1999
- Ann Gobernatz Acker
- Born - March 14, 1923
- Died - Nov. 2, 2010
- James Joseph Havey
- Born - February 21, 1928
- Died - May 31, 2011
- Hildegard Gobernatz Boor
- Born - December 8, 1936
- Died - September 19, 2016
- Robert Boor
- Born - December 20, 1932
- Died - December 27, 2019
