Michel Jean Bredimus
Born 12 October 1813 Bous, Remich, Luxembourg
Died 24 February 1898 Des Moines.
His wife was Mary Dolma Bredimus
Born 1815 in Bous and died in 1902 in Des Moines
Our brother, Mike, was named for our great-great-grandfather.
The couple arrived in America in 1867 making them the first of the family to arrive (see Ellis Island manifest). There is a mystery regarding Magdalena Berg listed on the manifest just below Michel and above the children, Anna and Nicholas. She was the same age as Mary. I’ve also seen Berg spelled as Kerg. We may never know the answer. Michel was listed as a farmer.
We don’t have an arrival date for Francois and Henriette who Harriett credits for bringing the family here. We know Adele was in France for the siege of Paris in 1870. The Suez canal opened in 1869. Harriette wrote they departed from Egypt and were blown off course. Maybe they arrived in some port in America that did not record immigrants. In any case, I’m assuming our great-great-grandfather was the first to migrate.
Adele, also known as Fanny Adelle Bredimus Rees. See Fanny’s photo from much, much later in life.
Michel’s father was Nicolas Bredimus, born in 1776 in Bous and died in Bous 1840. The prior two generations are also named Nicolas. The first Nicolas Bredimus was born in 1695 in Mondorf Les Bains, Luxembourg (a spa town near Bous). I’m very pleased to know there was such a long line of ancestors named Nicolas. It is possible there are records from before 1695 and I will attempt to find them someday.
Does anyone have a copy of the high-definition group photo with captions? I can’t locate my large blowup.
On another note, I find myself correcting the grammar of our family here and sometimes correct perfect strangers. Dad always corrected us. Do you know where this predilection originated?
