Uncle George writes:
The early records of the Loeffler family are substantiated by Gregor’s birth certificate [I have not found a birth certificate but have included his baptism certificate], Gregor’s and his wife’s [Christina Hiller] passports from Germany to the United States, and Gregor’s naturalization certificate. The only descendents of Gregor and Christina, following their own children, who actually met either of them (and that would only be Christina) would be Josiah Conrad Loeffler and possibly one of the Weber Children. In any case, they were infants and would not have recollected the experience. The further Loeffler family record as here given is substantially from the experience, memory, and records of George J. Loeffler, which reconcile with data or memories of brother John Loeffler and sister Mary (Loeffler) Wiberg as of 1973.
According to his “State Church” baptismal record, Gregor was born in 1827 and baptized on March 12, 1827, by Minister Glokle. Gregor, his wife Christina Hiller, and his parents were natives of Konigreich Württemberg (Kingdom of Wittenberg), Germany; Gregor was from Horb and Christina from Nagold. Gregor and Christina were married after they arrived in The United States; I do not know the date. Gregor was nine years older than Christina. Gregor’s occupation while in Germany was school teacher.
In November, 1865, Gregor and Christina obtained passports and emigrated by way of Hamburg to New York and from there to Newark, New Jersey, where they resided on Lewis Street. Gregor [Lefler is the way it’s written on the naturalization certificate and as Löffler on the Emigration Document; I have always seen the name spelled Loeffler. It’s no wonder genealogists have trouble tracing ancestors.] was naturalized a United States citizen on October 10, 1871, in the court of common pleas at Newark, Essex County, New Jersey, attested to by Henry T. Dusenberry, court clerk. There is no record of Christina ever being naturalized. Gregor died August 21, 1885, and Christina Hiller Loeffler died November 24, 1892. Both are buried in the cemetery of The Holy Sepulchre in the Vailsburg section of Newark, New Jersey. They were practising Roman Catholics and brought up their children in that faith.
In the 1977 interview I had with Mom, she explained why Gregor and Christina came to America:
they wanted to get married in Germany and they were not allowed to because one was a Protestant and one was a Catholic - and they were not allowed to marry - he met her - her father was a miller - his father was a school teacher - but he had to take grain to the miller to be ground and he met the lady who became his wife, but one was Catholic and one was Protestant and they just didn’t mix - they couldn’t marry - so they decided they would leave Germany and come to America and be married here - and that’s what they did. They lived in one area - one area was a Catholic community and one area across this little river that they had to cross to go to the miller’s - that was another - either Catholic or Protestant, ya see. Now I think it was my Grandmother who was the Catholic.
I think Mom was correct about Christina being Catholic. I found someone on the web who looked up Christina Hiller in a Lutheran church book for the 1865 period. There were some Christina Hillers, but they all stayed home in Nagold. My son Aaron and his friend Kirsten Sindt visited Nagold and Horb (at my request) in 1966 and took the pictures at the end of this document for me. As you can see, my Great Grandparents came from (in my opinion) the most beautiful spot in Germany - The Black Forest. I myself visited the Black Forest in about 1960 and was enchanted by the countryside. At that time, however, I had no interest whatsoever in family history!
Gregor Loeffler
1827 - 1885
1