History of the Wiemann Family 

Although our branch of the family started in Iowa with Arnold Wiemann and Carrie Riepe, the family originated in Alsace. This area is right on the border of France and Germany, and has been passed back and forth between the 2 countries. It was annexed by France in 1648, then by Germany in 1871, returning to France after WW I. Because of close economic ties to Germany, Alsatians spoke mostly a dialect of German, and observed mostly German customs at home, although most people were probably bilingual since official documents were in French.

 

Thanks to Aunt Mary's genealogy research, we were able to look a bit further back and determine that Andrew Wiemann, the ancestor that migrated to the US, actually started life as Jean-Andres Weymann. He was born in Ribeauville, Haut-Rhin (Upper Rhine) in what was then part of France. He appears to have changed his name on his journey, first to Andreas, then to Andrew Wiemann. His father was also Jean-Andres Weymann. Perhaps Andrew wanted to sound more American, or to differentiate himself from his father. We think that he and Catherine arrived in the port of New Orleans on The St. Petersburg, but it could possibly also have been New York. They made their way to Burlington, and started the Wiemann dynasty in America.