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I have researched the current members of the Zaehring family in this country and have traced the family tree back to Wilhelm & Auguste Zaehring and their children Otto, Margaret, Max, Franz (Frank), Ernst(Ernest)and perhaps a Helena who may have died as an infant. Auguste was allegedly Auguste Reicho(Reichow?) from Memel. Wilhelm immigrated from Bremem aboard the SS Saale, arriving on July 11, 1893 with his son, Max, age 15. Auguste, Margaret, Franz and Ernst immigrated to the US on October 6, 1894 through Ellis Island aboard the "Columbia", originating in Hamburg. Hamburg emigration records indicate they came from Memel in East Prussia. They lived in Brooklyn during the 1900 census.
The spelling changed to "Zaehring" upon arrival, replacing the "ä" ("a umlaut")of the original German. This spelling, while regularly seen in modern day Germany, apparently was used in the United States only by descendants of this couple. There are only 86 known persons in the US from 1900 with the legal surname of Zaehring for at least some portion of their lives. Only one was not a descendant(or married to one). That exception, Werner Zaehring, was born in Berlin in 1910 and died in Stuttgart in 1978, after having resided in the US for some time.
Dan Zaehring, Friday Harbor, WA.
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