Re: DUERRE, Wilhelm 1840 Alsace-Lorraine

I am married to a Duerre and have found an interesting history of the family.I have about decided that any Duerre in the world probably has some family history since it is a unique name with a unique spelling.The Duerres to whom I am related by marriage are from the Kenmare, North Dakota area.The father was Charles F. and the mother was Eva C. Reischke.My father-in-law, Franklin C. Duerre, was the eighth of ten children.Eva died in the birth of the tenth child and the 10 children were taken care of by their maternal grandmother and aunts for a good part of their lives.Charles, seemingly, could not care for them and left the area to set up a blacksmith shop in southern North Dakota, returning home occasionally.When the older sisters became more independent they took on the care of the younger children and the 10 siblings have remained very close since then (7 have now died).Charles died in the 60's, but my father-in-law hardly knew him and rarely spoke of him.
There were many Duerre brothers and sisters in Charles' family.In fact, three Duerre brothers married three Reischke sisters, so the two families are very interwoven.I certainly can't keep them all straight.The 10 children of Charles and Eva were:Lawrence (who died in his 30's of leukemia), Hazel, Mabel, Ruben, Leslie, Arlene, Esther, Franklin, Evangeline, and Evan.Esther, Arlene, and Evangeline survive.Franklin just died March 3, 2001.
We have always heard that the Duerre name came from the Alsace-Lorraine area and that some German got mixed up with a Frenchman--or some such thing--which resulted in the French-looking name which is pronounced in a German manner.We pronounce the name as "Hurry" or "Murray".My children have become masterful at anticipating the mis-pronunciation of their name by teachers and call out the correct pronunciation:Duerre--rhymes with Murray, hurry, worry.
I'm interested in hearing if this family is in anyway related to yours.Most of the Duerres have remained in the North--ND, SD, Minnesota, etc.