Gee connections to Germany
I recently received a Christmas card from my nephew Howard. He has a German exchange student living with him. This got me thinking about our connections to Germany. So, I endeavored to list all of our connections to the country of Germany.
To start off with I will list my personal connections and then that of our family. I served a mission to the East German mission from July 1954 until January 1957. I served in four cities: Hildesheim, Berlin, Flensburg, and Goslar.
Alice and I served in the Frankfurt area living in Dortelweil and Heilsberg from May 1997 to July 2000.
Our son Clark was assigned to the Zurich Switzerland mission. Because of visa regulations, he spent time in Germany in Lahr and Freiburg.
Our daughter Mary Ellen did a study abroad in Vienna and spent some time with some friends of ours in Hildesheim. I taught the gospel to the Jensen family when I was on my mission in Hildesheim.
Our son-in-law’s Brother Dennis Dixon served a mission in Germany as well.
Our son John's family lived a year in Heidelberg while he was on a sabbatical. His daughter Rebecca is now serving as a missionary in Cologne Germany.
Our son Joseph served his mission in Germany and lived in the following cities; Luebeck,Wilhelmshaven, Hildesheim, Geestacht (including Lauenburg and Lueneburg). Kiel, Norderstedt, Hamburg-Altona. For that matter, on his mission when he was in the Norderstedt ward, he lived in Henstedt-Ulzburg.
He worked for Daimler Chrysler and spent two and a half years, from January 2005 to June 2007 in Germany. The family lived in Holzgerlingen and went to church in Tuebingen.
We too have had German exchange students in our home. The first one was Abigail Schretzman. She was from Karlsruhe and later married an American serviceman and had a little boy. Just prior to our arrival in Frankfurt in 1997 she died of a cerebral hemorrhage.
Our next exchange student was Marcus Eumann. He was from Erkrath which is in the neighborhood of Dusseldorf.
Joseph has had a German exchange student in his home his name was Marcus Mund.
My brother Martell spent two years in Germany working in information technology for the church from 1995 to 1997 in Frankfurt.
My uncle Merrill Gee went to Germany and lived there for two years. He was involved in the Nuernberg war crimes trials. They lived in Wiesbaden for two years.
His son Merrill Kay Gee later served a mission in the West German mission laboring in:
Now we will go into some other family ties to Germany. I don't know if these people never got to Germany. My uncle Wendell served a mission in Switzerland and his son Rodney also served there as well. Great grandfather John Ulrich Stucki was born in Canton Thurgau Switzerland and lived for a time in Shaffhausen. He later was called To serve twice as mission president in Switzerland and part of Germany.
Our German blood.
Johann Heinrich STOLTS [LZKC-7HZ] is the 7th great-grandfather of Ivin Laurence GEE. He was born in Germany and came to the United States and died in Lawrence Brook, Middlesex, New Jersey, United States. His great granddaughter Elizabeth Stolts (an early convert to the church) married a Standley and their son was Alexander Scoby Standley the father of Cyrene Standley Merrill. Elizabeth’s mother was an Altgelt/Outgelt.
Frederick OUTGELT [LZX5-HMR] is the 7th great-grandfather of Ivin Laurence GEE. He was born in Germany and died in New York City. We have traced his ancestry back to Henne Altgelt born in 1404 in the town of Siegen (a town in the Rhein region). You will notice the Americanization of the name Altgelt to Outgelt. It is also rendered Outcalt or Outcault.
