Steven Greenwood

Ancestors

Son of [private father (1950s - unknown)] and [private mother (1960s - unknown)]

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Steven Greenwood [send private message]

Biography

Background

Steven Greenwood is an three-year editor of this wiki site (Greenwood-3667), having joined on 23 Jul 2020. He may appear on social media under his handle Realgar.

Starting in February 2024, he became the Coordinator of the Tanzania Project, which is a subproject of the Global Project.

Starting 11 Jan 2023, he is the Team Leader of the Germany Project's Categorization efforts.

From 26 Jan -July 2022, he was the Team Leader of Lower Saxony Team within Germany Project (it has since been restructured).

Greenwood has also worked on other wikis including:

• Wookieepedia, the Star Wars Wiki, which he co-founded in 2005, and still represents.
• Futurepedia, the Back to the Future Wiki, which he founded in 2007.
• Wikipedia, which was founded by Jimmy "Jimbo" Wales in 2001.

He believes he has a thorough understanding of wiki markup.

Greenwood currently resides in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and has been making occasional trips to Sauk County, Wisconsin for some first-hand research.

He had 376 connections with 7 degrees as of 30 Jul 2022, 390 as of 16 Aug 2022, 405 as of 26 Aug 2022, 423 as of 13 Sep 2022, 427 as of 16 Oct 2022, and 428 as of 5 Nov 2022 (WikiTree Day). His degrees to QEII decreased by one after making a new connection to the tree through the Pope surname. It was 434 at the beginning of the January 2023 Connect-a-Thon, down from 441 a week earlier. This was likely due to some changing along the Alwin/Raedel line. After the January Thon was over, when Greenwood was actively working on his CC7, that number increased to 455. After the April Connect-A-Thon, it jumped slightly to 458. By October 2023 due to the occasional branch improvement over the year, it has increased to 476. After a Elfmas Wish was granted in early January 2024, the CC7 increased to 512. After making some Wisconsin connections during the January 2024 Connect-A-Thon, it jumped to 527, mostly in the 6th and 7th degree circle.

Space Pages Managed

• Sauk County, Wisconsin
  • Ableman-Rock Springs, Wisconsin One Place Study
  • Saint John's Cemetery, Rock Springs
  • A County Named Sauk
  • Good Old Golden Rule Days : A History of Sauk County Wisconsin Country Schools (to create)
• Landkreis Uelzen, Niedersachsen
  • Röbbel, Niedersachsen One Place Study
• Milwaukee, Wisconsin
• Clarksville, Tennessee
  • Montgomery County, Tennessee Photograph Descriptions
• German inventors and discoverers
• German One Name Studies
  • Klitzke Name Study
  • Ripke Name Study
• Eponyms and Namesakes Project (ENP)
  • Namesakes of United States Counties
  • Namesakes of United States Municipalities
  • Eponyms and Namesakes: Villes
• Ripley's Encyclopedia of the Bizarre

His personal category is accessible at Category:Greenwood-3667, which includes his brick wall ancestors and multiple maintenance categories.

Genealogical Interests

Steven Greenwood is a member of the Germany Project.

Steven Greenwood has German Roots.

Steven Greenwood has roots in the region now known as Niedersachsen, Germany.

Steven Greenwood has roots in the region now known as Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany.

Steven Greenwood is a member of the Klitzke Name Study Project.

Steven Greenwood is a member of the Ripke Name Study Project.

Steven was featured in a Meet Our Members Post on the G2G Forum!

WikiTree Day Attendee: 2022

Steven Greenwood participated with Germany Genies during the 2021 Source-a-Thon, adding sources to 30 previously unsourced profiles.

Steven Greenwood participated with Germany Genies during the 2022 Source-a-Thon, adding sources to 8 previously unsourced profiles.

Steven Greenwood participated with Germany Genies during the 2022 Connect-a-Thon, and added 36 connections.

The Genies placed 16th out of 30 teams with 1,725 connections and had a normalized score of 157.

Steven Greenwood participated with Germany Genies during the January 2023 Connect-a-Thon, and added 36 (again!) connections.

The Genies placed 3rd out of 35 teams with 5,596 connections and had a normalized score of 295.

Steven Greenwood participated with Germany Genies during the April 2023 Connect-a-Thon, and added 79! connections.

The Genies placed 3rd out of 34 teams with 5,221 connections and had a normalized score of 326, the highest!

Steven Greenwood participated with Germany Genies during the January 2024 Connect-a-Thon, and added 21 connections.

He tied with 556th place out of 704 total participants. The Genies placed 4th out of 37 teams with 5,331 connections and had a normalized score of 254.

Steven Greenwood was a RAWKER in the We Will RAWK You Event.

To-Do List

His research is predominately focused on his pedigree. The paternal surnames include GREENWOOD, RIBBKE/RIPKE, WIATROK/WIATRICK, SCHIEFELBEIN, MITTLESTADT/MITTELSTEADT/MITTELSTAEDT, KROLL, POST, STOLTE, SCHULZ, GAUSE, MAAHS/MAAS/MAAß, PERLEBERG, MÜLLER, OETZMANN, GLEASH, and KLITZKE. The maternal surnames include SPROLL/SPRAUL/SPROUL, SAUER, and HUBER (clearly more underdeveloped).

The families of paternal origin largely started in Landkreis Uelzen, Hanover, Prussia (now Lower Saxony, Germany) and Pomerania/Posen, Prussia. Both groups emigrated to America and ended up in Sauk County, Wisconsin in the United States, an area apparently with a similar farming capability to that of the Luneberger Heide or the Central European Plain (See projects). His maternal ancestors appear to be confined to southern Germany (Rheinland-Pfalz/Baden-Württemberg) and stayed in Germany until the last generation.

In addition, he is interested in the distribution of KELSNER around the world. Per Forebears, the surname only appears in Germany (100% in North-Rhine Westphalia) and the United States. Overall it appears as a ratio of 1:331,233,388 people (effectively the population of the United States in 2010).^[1]

Recent knowledge from Y-DNA results in late 2021 are pointing to a strong paternal origin of Scotland through the father of Leo Greenwood. If said father was an Armstrong, it would be consistent with that of Clan Armstrong's placement overseas. The results state a Haplogroup of R-M269, consistent with Armstrong research, and one match is of the Glasgow surname, which incidentally leads to Glasgow, Scotland through Northern Ireland.

mtDNA matches also appear to point in a Scandinavian direction, but how it gets there is currently unknown. His maternal lines need to be expanded to confirm this connection.

Greenwood is concerned that mental illness in his family lineages plays a big part in his own experiences. There may be an attempt to understand the conditions his ancestors faced and the troubles they endured in their lives. If anything, it would be in the hopes to generate more awareness of mental health in America and end the stigma.

Acknowledgments

Greenwood has to acknowledge the previous research already performed by Donna Lange (Sauk County and Germany specialist who may have been responsible for much of the ground truth regarding his ancestry and adjacent families to his own that emigrated to America), Eberhard Behnke and Heinrich Porth (German genealogists of the Uelzen area), Heather Abrahamson (genealogist with a strong focus on the families of Sauk County), Kathy Waddell (transcriber of many cemeteries in Sauk County to Interment.net), the late Oscar Sandstrom (gravestone photographer who documented many sites in Sauk County to Find A Grave), and his first cousin twice removed Kathy Janzen nee Ribbke.

The Germans: WikiTree genealogist (and WikiTreer of the Week for Feb 1-7, 2021) Dieter Lewerenz has been incredibly helpful in regards to translating documents and acquiring information from the area of Landkreis Uelzen, Niedersachsen (more below). My ninth cousin once removed and WikiTreer of the Week for June 5-12, 2023 Oliver Stegen has also been integral to unlocking the structure of the Gause family of Bienenbüttel, through his access to long out-of-print books, and was able to break my first brick wall! Later thoughout 2022 and 2023, WikiTreer of the Week for Mar 1-8, 2022 Florian Straub was able to communicate with locals in Rheinland-Pfalz and acquire documents for individuals on my maternal side.

Surnames as of 12 May 2023

For earlier surname charts, see the Research subpage.

Click on Surname to view EKA - Earliest Known Ancestor

Paternal Grandfather , Paternal Grandmother vs Maternal Grandfather , Maternal Grandmother ancestors

Abbot (Abbott) , Abbott , Alyngham , Andrews

Bausche, Behn , Benedict , Betke , Birdsall , Bock , Braithwaite , Bridgham , Brüggemann , Buchholz , Burmeister , Burmester , Bülow , Bünstorff

Carstens, Cherrye , Clement , Cook

Dreyer, Dreyer

Eacre, Ebeling , Elithorpe

Fletcher, Friedrichs

Gade, Gause , Gifford , Gleash , Goche , Grasmeyer , Greenwood

Hagelberg, Hahn , Hallensleben , Hamborg , Harms , Harriman , Hartig , Hilmer , Huber , Hull

Ives

Kempe, Klinge , Klitzke , Koch , Koosen , Kroll

LeMonte (Sproll) , Linde , Lübbe , Lückenbach

Maahs (Eickhoff) , Maaß , Mallory , Markham , Meier , Mennerich , Merriman , Messenger , Meyer , Meyer , Meyer , Meyer , Meyer , Meyer , Meyer , Meyer , Miles , Mittelstaedt , Müller , Müller , Müller

Niebuhr, Niemann

Oetzmann (Ötzmann)

Parker, Perau , Perleberg , Ponz , Post , Preston

Rebek, Ribbke , Riekmann , Riggert , Ring , Ring

Sale, Sander , Sander , Sauer , Schiefelbein , Schlickau , Schmets , Schröder , Schröder , Schulz , Schulz , Schütte , Scott , Shepard , Stegen , Steinhauer , Steinmetz , Stephinson , Stolte

Teldau, Tiedemann

Vertein

Warfer, Wellmann , Wiatrok , Winchester

Yale

Ziesemer, Zilmer

Öhlrichs

Surname meanings

• Behn/Behne = 1) An unusual name of Low German and Flemish origin, one of the diminutive forms of the medieval male personal name "Benedict", adopted from the Latin "Benedictus", "Blessed". 2) from a short form of the personal name Bernhard. in some cases, perhaps a variant of Bein, from Middle Low German ben ‘bone’, ‘leg’.^[2]
• Burmester/Burmeister = Derived from the German words bur or bauer, meaning "farmer," and meister, meaning "master;" thus, the name literally means "master farmer." Alternatively, the Low German term Burmester refers to the town elder who held a position just below that of the mayor.
• Eickhoff = from Middle Low German eke + hof 'farmstead', 'manor farm'. Topographic name from Westphalia for someone who lived at or owned a farm or estate that was marked by oaks.
• Friedrichs = Patronymic name from Friedrich,^[2] derived from the root frid meaning "peace" and ric meaning "ruler" or "power".
• Gause = Of geese or like a goose.
• Horstmann = "Man of the wood".
• Huber = Derives from the German word hube meaning "hide", a unit of land a farmer might possess, granting them the status of a free tenant. It is in the top ten most common surnames in the German-speaking world.
• Klitzke = "Klitz" from Old Germanic klotz meaning "awkward, clumsy" + ke = son of = son of awkward or clumsy one.
• Kroll = from Middle High German krol = "curly hair".
• Maas = Dutch and North German patronymic name, archaic short form of Thomas and possibly a toponymic name from the river Maas (Meuse)
• Maahs = Americanization of Maas, highest concentration in Wisconsin.
• Mennerich - Unknown, the highest concentration in Niedersachsen.
• Mittelstadt/stedt/staedt = Habitational name of Mittelstädts or Mittelstedts in Bavaria or Baden-Württemberg, effectively "Middle town".
• Müller = also Mueller, Muller, an occupational name for "miller", one who works at a mill, the most common surname in Germany, Switzerland, and some French départements.
• Oetzman - Unknown. Either original to Germany or an Americanization from Oetzmann. There is a large population of Oetzmans in Sauk County, Wisconsin.
• Oetzmann - Unknown, the highest concentration in Germany, in America it is Minnesota
• Perau = Possible variation of Anglo-Saxon Pereau which comes from Peter.
• Ribbke = Americanization of Ripke, unique to Central Wisconsin though family members have since spread out.
• Richers = Derived from the name Richard, which is composed of the elements ric, meaning "power", and hard, meaning "hardy" or "brave".
• Riggers = 1) North German: Frisian patronymic, a variant of Ricker.^[2] 2) Derived from the Middle High German words reigel or reiger, both meaning "heron".
• Riggert = Derived from the name Richard, which is composed of the elements ric, meaning "power", and hard, meaning "hardy" or "brave".
• Ripke = Germanized form of Slavic Ripka ‘fish’ (see Czech ryba). from a pet form of the personal name Riepe, Ribbe or Rippert, a compound of ric ‘power(ful)’ + berht ‘bright’, ‘famous’.^[2]
• Sander = patronymic name, meaning son of Alexander. The name derives from the abbreviation xander, with Alexander deriving from the Greek "Ἀλέξανδρος" (Aléxandros), meaning "Defender of the people".
• Sauer = from Middle High German sur = sour", nickname for an embittered or cantankerous person.
• Schiefelbein = Habitational name of Schievelbein, Pomerania.
• Schulz = Occupational name for a person of authority such as sheriff, magistrate, overseer, from the Middle High German schulteize = the person in charge of collecting payments on behalf of the lord of the manor.
• Steinhorst = "Rock wood".
• Stolte = from Middle Low German stolt = "proud", magnificent".
• Tiedemann = "Man of the people".
• Wiatrok/Wiatrick/Waitrok - Unknown, Polish in origin.
• Zimmer = "Room".
• Zimmermann = "Man of the room", effectively "carpenter".

Ancestor Table

"I've seen this a few times (i.e. Robinson-27225, Langholf-2), and I wanted to recreate one of my own."

There are 2046 total possible ancestors within 10 generations without pedigree collapse. Changes are before and after March 2021 Gause Brick Wall Breakthrough.

New data available from the Tree App Ahnentafel which actually automatically calculates percentages is available here, as of 3 Mar 2024:

• Parents 2/2 = 100%
• Grandparents 4/4 = 100%* one grandparent is unknown beyond name.
• 1GG 6/8 = 75%
• 2GG 12/16 = 75%
• 3GG 16/32 = 50%
• 4GG 19/64 = 29.69%
• 5GG 22/128 = 17.19%
• 6GG 17/256 = 6.64%
• 7GG 21/512 = 4.10%
• 8GG 37/1024 = 3.61%
• 9GG 49/2048 = 2.39%
• 10GG 41/4096 = 1.00%
• 11GG 33/8192 = 0.40% (1 duplicate)
• 12GG 31/16384 = 0.19%
• 13GG 19/32768 = 0.06%
• 14GG 22/65536 = 0.03%
• 15GG 16/131072 = 0.01% (0.012207%)
• 16GG 8/262144 = 0.00% (0.0030517%)
• 17GG 4/524288 = 0.00% (0.0007629%)
• 18GG 1/1,048,576 = 0.00% (0.0000953%) (John Atte Stone-7360)
• 19GG 2/2,097,152 = 0.00% (0.0000953%) John's parents (Walter Atte Stone and Elizabeth Empson) - current only "sources" for Elizabeth, after GEDCOM dump, is Ancestry tree and Rootsweb link
• 20GG 2/4,194,304 = 0.00% (0.000047683%) (William Atte Stone and Unknown Unknown (1369-1409))
• 21GG 2/8,388,608 = 0.00001192% (Unknown Stone (b. abt. 1330)) and UNKNOWN-58112
• 22GG 2/16,777,216 = 0.00001192% (Walter Atte Stone) and UNKNOWN-58113
• 23GG 1/33,554,432 = 0.000002980% (Phillip Stone)
• 24GG 1/67,108,864 = 0.000001490% (Walter Stone)
• 25GG 1/134,217,728 = 0.0000007450% (Philip Stone (1220-1250)) - current only "source" is an Ancestry tree....

Cousins on WikiTree

Greenwood is related to the following Wiki Genealogists:

• 1st cousin once removed of Roger Ribbke Jr. (via Herman Ribbke (1900-1962) and Leona Margaret Lucille Maahs (1909-1954)) (4°)
• 2nd cousin of Roger Ribbke III (via Herman Ribbke (1900-1962) and Leona Margaret Lucille Maahs (1909-1954)) (5°)
• 2nd cousin once removed of Pamela Horstman Speich (via Heinrich Friedrich Ribbke (1868-1945) and Anna Catherina Marie Dorothea Gause (1870-1938)) (6°)
• 2nd cousin once removed of Robert Henry (via Heinrich Friedrich Ribbke (1868-1945) and Anna Catherina Marie Dorothea Gause (1870-1938)) (6°)
• 3rd cousin once removed of Jori Lyon (via August Ferdinand Fredrick Klitzke (1847-1915) and Johanna Caroline Perleberg (1847-1929)) (8°)
• 3rd cousin twice removed of Nancy Mildebrandt (via Johann Heinrich Eickhoff Maaß (1819-1887) and Catherine Margaretha (Meyer) Hahn (1838-1899)) (9°)
• 4th cousin twice removed of David Alwin (via Erdmann Raedel (1787-1875) and Catharine Schmeer (1792-1848)) (16°)
• 5th cousin twice removed of Burghard Wellmann (private) (via Anne Elisabeth (Riggert) Maaß (1767-1834))
• 6th cousin once removed of Henning Saucke (via Hans Jürgen Ripke (1741-1813) and Margarethe Elisabeth Schütte (1744-1797)) (14°)
• 7th cousin of Erin Brown (via 6GG Heinrich Christoph Wilhelm Maaß (1757-1833) and Anne Elisabeth (Riggert) Maaß (1767-1834)) (15°)
• 7th cousin once removed of Dennis Fischer (via Andreas Richers (1700-1744) and Ilsabe Margarethe Meyer (1702-1759)) (14°)
• 8th cousin once removed of Karin Hoyer (via Andreas Richers (1700-1744) and Ilsabe Margarethe Meyer (1702-1759)) (16°)
• 9th cousin once removed of Arndt Krüger (12°) and Laurie (Snook) Hughes UE (20°) (via Carsten Sander (1644-1701) and Magdalena Tiedemann (1648-1715))
• 9th cousin twice removed of Steven Weinert (via Christoffer Richers (abt.1637-1716) and Anna Dorothea Behn (1647)) (15°)
• 10th cousin of Oliver Stegen (via Carsten Sander (1644-1701) and Magdalena Tiedemann (1648-1715)) (16°)
• 10th cousin once removed of Christian Asseburg (17°), Sheryl Cain (17°) and Karen Cain (17°) (via Helmke Müller (d. 1694))
• 10th cousin twice removed of Nicola Wenhold (17°) and Helga (Behrens) Nordhoff (17°) (via Simon Behn (?-aft. 1697) and Catharina Schröder (abt.1625-1697))
• 11th cousin of Nancy Fast (via Helmke Müller (d. 1694)) (18°)
• 11th cousin once removed of Stefan Nordhoff (via Simon Behn (?-aft. 1697) and Catharina Schröder (abt.1625-1697)) (18°)
• 11th cousin twice removed of Poland Project Coordinator Skye Sonczalla (via Richard Miles Jr. (1598-1667) and Catherine Elithorpe (1605-1688)) (21°)
• 11th cousin twice removed of WikiTree leader Azure Robinson (via Richard Winchester (abt. 1570-bef. 1628) and Ellen Martin (abt. 1575- aft. 1628)) (19°)
• 11th cousin three times removed of John Scaife (via my 13th GG and his 10th GG Matthew Harriman (b. 1583)) (20°)
• 13th cousin twice removed of Gregory Jonason (Johnson) (via John Hayward (abt. 1550-?) and Margery unknown (bef. 1563 - ?)) (17°)
• 13th cousin three times removed of Sarah McKissick (via John Thayer (abt. 1535-1584) and Mary unknown (Cooke) (1535-1611) (22°)
• 14th cousin once removed of Tricia Payne via Thomas Myles (b. abt. 1536) and Elizabeth Eacre (b. 1540) (21°)

mtDNA results imply a relationship to Declan Thornton (genetic distance 2) and a 1:1 GEDmatch comparison shows a shared segment 7.1 cM on Chr 9. 594 SNPs. 70.038 Pct SNPs are full identical. Total Half-Match segments (HIR) 7.1cM (0.197 Pct). Estimated number of generations to MRCA = 7.5 (approximately a seventh cousin).

mtDNA results imply a relationship to Cindy Cotton (genetic distance 2) however there does not appear to be any considerable shared DNA through a 1:1 GEDmatch comparison.

Y-DNA results and theory to the paternal family of Leo Lane Greenwood led to a possible match with three people via Francis Armstrong Jr (abt 1695 - 1783) though distant:

• Susan Harding (later Reeves): 1:1 GEDmatch comparison shows 3 shared segments when reducing threshold to 3 cM, including largest segment = 4.5 cM. Total Half-Match segments (HIR) 11.5cM (0.32 Pct). 51.466 Pct of 199716 SNPs used for this comparison are fully identical.
• Kenneth Harding: 1:1 GEDmatch comparison shows 2 shared segments when reducing threshold to 3 cM, including largest segment = 5.2 cM. Total Half-Match segments (HIR) 8.2cM (0.229 Pct). 51.589 Pct of 199319 SNPs used for this comparison are fully identical.
• Louis Parker: 1:1 GEDmatch comparison shows 4 shared segments when reducing threshold to 3 cM, including largest segment 5.1 cM. Total Half-Match segments (HIR) 16.2cM (0.45 Pct). 51.254 Pct of 200348 SNPs used for this comparison are full identical. Comparing Kit T657339 (*Lou Parker) [Migration - F2 - F] and Kit XX4022213 (*SMG) [FTDNA]

Using Daniel Armstrong (abt. 1794 - 1864), two people come up for comparison:

• Jan Lamoureaux (later Klatt): 1:1 GEDmatch comparison shows 1 shared segment at full analysis = largest segment 8.3 cM. Total Half-Match segments (HIR) 8.3 cM (0.232 Pct). 51.018 Pct of 178362 SNPs used for this comparison are fully identical. Estimated number of generations to MRCA = 7.1. When reducing threshold to 3 cM, comparison shows 6 shared segments. Total Half-Match segments (HIR) 28.7cM (0.801 Pct)
• Her daughter Nicole (Dull) Lacko: 1:1 GEDmatch comparison shows 8 shared segments when reducing threshold to 3 cM, including largest segment = 4.8 cM. Total Half-Match segments (HIR) 32cM (0.893 Pct). 51.617 Pct of 210598 SNPs used for this comparison are fully identical.

Another person with a close connection via a One-to-Many DNA comparison is Scott Luther Byrd, showing 4 shared segments, including largest segment = 22.8 cM. Total Half-Match segments (HIR) 64.4cM (1.795 Pct). Estimated number of generations to MRCA = 3.9. 51.239 Pct of 200997 SNPs are fully identical.

Fellow Uelzen project member Dieter Lewerenz does not immediately appear to be a cousin, but who knows given future connections.

After a connection was made into a different part of the World Tree during the January 2023 Connect-a-Thon, where Greenwood finally made the connection of his paternal line to the Lanes, which led to the Yales, and then the Ives... well let's just say he has a bunch of new notable cousins like Winston Churchill, Burl Ives (5th 2R), and Taylor Swift (10th 2R). Now comes the verification of these lines through genetics. The Armstrong line is still unverified.

DNA confirmation

• Relationship is confirmed by FamilyTreeDNA test match between Greenwood-3667 and his father Greenwood-3668. Largest segment (longest block): 284.04 cM. Sharing 3567 cM.
• Relationship is confirmed by a GEDmatch test match between Greenwood-3667 XX4022213 and his grandmother Ribbke-1 AM2970285. Largest segment: 132.6 cM. Estimated number of generations to MRCA = 1.4, based on sharing 1925.3 cM (53.682 Pct) across 35 half-match segments.
• GEDmatch test match between Greenwood-3667 XX4022213 and Lyon-6103 AG7740033. Largest segment = 38.3 cM. Estimated number of generations to MRCA = 3.9, based on sharing 64.3cM (1.794 Pct) across 3 half-match segments.
• GEDmatch test match between Greenwood-3667 XX4022213 and Stegen-15 JR2069839X when reducing cM threshold to 3 cM. Largest segment: 5.3 cM and 67.859% of the 474239 SNPs are fully identical. It determined that we have 12 shared segments and 47.6cM (1.326 Pct) of Total Half-Match segments (HIR). I would estimate the generations to MRCA to be around 10-12.
• GEDmatch test match between Greenwood-3667 XX4022213 and Mike Gates A397094 when reducing cM threshold to 3 cM. Largest segment: 6.1 cM and 51.422% of the 197842 SNPs are fully identical. Klitzke is a common ancestral surname and I surmise that his 3GG Carl Ferdinand Klitzke (2 Feb 1802 Borntin, Pommern? - 12 Sep 1869 Stewardson, Shelby County, Illinois) and my 4GG August Ferdinand Klitzke (Apr 1813 Prussia (Borntin, Pommern?) - 1881 Sauk County, Wisconsin), both brick walls, are brothers.

Notable cousins

In leadership: Of the Presidents of the United States, currently, three of them have been identified as cousins:

• 17° #13: Millard Fillmore - 5C 7R (via Andrew Messenger (bef. 1618-bef. 1681) and Rachel unknown (bef. 1621 - 1688))
• 17° #4 James Madison - 7C 8R (via 14GG Thomas Myles (b. c. 1536) and Elizabeth Eacre (b. 1540))
• 22° #43 George W. Bush - 10C 3R (via Richard Miles, Jr. (1598-1667) and Catherine Elithorpe (1605-1688))

Their first ladies:

• Lucy Ware Hayes (Webb) - 5C 6R (via Samuel Cook (1641-1703) and others)
• Mary Todd Lincoln - 5C 7R (via 11GG Nathaniel Merriman (abt.1613-abt.1694) and Joan unknown (abt. 1628-1709))
• Nancy Reagan (Robbins) - 7C 3R (via Joseph (1674-1755) and Esther Benedict (1679-1752))
• Florence Mabel Harding (Kling) - 8C 4R (via Thomas Benedict, Sr. (bef. 1617 - aft. 1690) and Mary Bridgham (abt. 1618-abt. 1719))

Wisconsin Governors:

• 19° Lucius Fairchild, 10th Governor - 6C 6R (via Peter Mallory Sr (abt. 1630-bef. 1701) and Mary Preston Mallory (1629-1690))
• 19° Cadwallader Colden Washburn, 11th Governor - 6C 7R (via Ellis Barron (abt. 1605-1676) and Grace Unknown Barron (abt. 1604-bef. 1643))
• 20° Leonard James Farwell, 2nd Governor - 8C 7R (via John Hayward (abt. 1550-?) and Margery Unknown Hayward (bef. 1653-?))
• 19° Harrison Ludington, 13th Governor - 8C 8R (via 15GG John Thayer (b. c. 1535-1584) and Mary unknown Cooke (1535-1611))
• 21° Philip Fox La Follette, 27th and 29th Governor - 9C 3R (via 11GG Unknown Bassett (b. abt. 1620))
• 18° William Henry Upham, 18th Governor - 9C 7R (via Nicholas (Ruggles) Ruggle (1522-1617) and Catherine Hewitt Stone (1484-1544))

Other leaders:

• General Russell Alexander Alger - 6C 6R (via Henry Cook (abt. 1615-1661) and Judith Birdsall (bef. 1611-1689))
• 20° James Monroe Bingham - 6C 7R (via Robert Abbott (1604-1658))
• Winston Churchill - 7C 5R (via 11GG Nathaniel Merriman (abt.1613-abt.1694) and Joan unknown (abt. 1628-1709))
• Major Jewett William Adams, 4th Governor of Nevada and Superindendent of Carson City Mint - 8C 5R (via 12GG William Preston (bef. 1591-bef. 1647) and Elizabeth Sale (1590-1634))
• General George Patton - 11C 4R via (via 14GG Thomas Myles (b. abt. 1536) and Elizabeth Eacre (b. 1540))

In music:

• Burl Ives - 6C 5R (via John Ives (1644-abt. 1681) and Hannah (Merriman) Benham (1651-abt. 1702))
• Chester Bennington of Linkin Park, Dead By Sunrise, Grey Daze - 10C 3R (via Richard Miles, Jr. (1598-1667) and Catherine Elithorpe (1605-1688))
• Taylor Swift - 10C 2R (via Thomas Benedict Sr. (bef. 1617-abt. 1690) and Mary Bridgham (bef. 1618-abt. 1719))
• Jim Morrison of the Doors - 10C 3R (via Richard Miles, Jr. (1598-1667))
• Linda Ronstadt - 11C 2R (via Robert Abbott (1604-1658))
• 19° June Carter Cash - 13C 2R (via 14GG Thomas Myles (b. abt. 1536) and Elizabeth Eacre (b. 1540))
• Naomi Judd - 14C 1R (via 11GG Thomas Merriman (1510-1559) and Joan unknown (b. 1505))
• Loretta Webb Lynn - 14C 1R (via 14GG Thomas Myles (b. c. 1536) and Elizabeth Eacre (b. 1540)) who herself is a 4th cousin to June Carter Cash.

In acting:

• Humphrey Bogart - 7C 3R (via Joseph Ives (1674-1755) and Esther Benedict (1679-1752))
• Marjorie Armstrong Post "Markie Ross" of Night Court - 9C 3R (via Henry Cook (abt.1615-1661) and Judith Birdsall (bef. 1611-1689))
• 22° Lucille Desiree Ball - 9C 3R (via 11GG Nathaniel Merriman (abt.1613-abt.1694) and Joan unknown (abt. 1628-1709))
• Christopher Lloyd and Anthony Perkins (Norman Bates) - both 9C 3R (via my 11GG Henry Cook (abt. 1615-1661) and Judith Birdsall (bef. 1611-1689) and via William Ives (abt. 1607-1648) and Unknown Bassett (b. abt. 1620)) (for Perkins)
• 22° John Frederick Cygan (voice of Dash Rendar and Solidus Snake) - 9C 3R (via 11GG John Miles (1644-1704) and Elizabeth Harriman (1648-1675))
• 19° Robert Charles Bentley (American humorist with the New Yorker) - 9C 4R (via 12GG Ellis Barron (abt. 1605-1676) and Grace unknown (abt. 1604 - bef. 14 Dec 1653) of the Great Puritan Migration)
• Dick Van Dyke and Elisabeth Shue - both 10C 3R (via my 12GG/9GG Roger Billings (abt. 1620-1683) of the Great Puritan Migration)
• Ted Danson - 10C 3R (via Robert Abbott (1604-1658))
• 26° Janet Vivian Hooks (SNL) - 11C 3R (via Puritans and 13GG William Hammond (bef. 1575- 1662) and Elizabeth Paine (bef. 1586-1670))
• 22° Dallas Frederick Burrows (Orson Bean) - 12C 1R (via 12GG Richard Winchester (abt. 1570- bef. 1628) and Ellen Martin (abt. 1575- aft. 1628))
• Clarence Nash (voice of Donald Duck) 12C 3R (via 14GG Thomas Myles (b. c 1536) and Elizabeth Eacre (b. 1540))
• Johnny Depp - 14C 1R (via 11GG Thomas Merriman (1510-1559) and Joan unknown (b. 1505))
• Woody Harrelson (Tobias Beckett in Solo) - 15C 2R (via 14GG Thomas Myles (b. c. 1536) and Elizabeth Eacre (b. 1540))

In sports:

• Michael Phelps - 15C (via 14GG Thomas Myles (b. c 1536) and Elizabeth Eacre (b. 1540))

In science and technology:

• 17° Thomas Alva Edison - 6C 6R (via 11GG Thomas Merriman (1510-1559) and Joan unknown (b. 1505))
• 18° Douglass Houghton, the first state geologist of Michigan - 7C 8R (via 14GG John Hayward (abt. 1550-?) and Margery Unknown Hayward (bef. 1653-?))
• 20° Fisk Holbrook Day, Amateur geologist and physician that discovered Schoonmaker Reef in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin - 11C 6R (via 16GG/10GG David Stone (c. 1483-1543))
• 20° William Sanford "Bill" Nye the Science Guy - 12C5R (via 16GG/11GG David Stone (c. 1480-1543))
• 23° Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia and Week 1 2022 WikiTree Challenge focus - 15C (via Thomas Merriman (1510-1559) and Joan unknown (b. 1505))

In authorship:

• Margaret Atwood - 14C 2R (via 15GG John Thayer (b. abt. 1535-1584) and Mary unknown Cooke (1535-1611))

Other notables:

• Emma Hall Bidamon, the first wife (of many) of Joseph Smith, Jr., the founder of Mormonism - 5C 7R (via Peter Mallory Sr (abt. 1630-bef. 1701) and Mary Preston Mallory (1629-1690))
• Henry Eugene Abbey (1846-1896), American theatre manager and producer that brought a group of Spanish performers, known as the Spanish Students, to the United States - 5C 7R (via 11GG Nathaniel Merriman (abt. 1613-abt. 1694) and Joan unknown (abt. 1628-1709))
• Robert Pershing Wadlow (1918-1940), The World's Tallest Man at 8 ft 11.1 inches tall - 8C 4R (via Samuel Belcher (1637-1679) and Mary Billings (Niles) (bef. 1645-1683))
• Susan Brownell Anthony (1820-1906), American suffragette/women's rights advocate - 8C 8R (via 15GG John Thayer (abt. 1535-1584) and Mary unknown Cooke (1535-1611))

Friends, family, and colleagues

He has convinced a few people he knows to join WikiTree. Most tend to have German and Polish roots and a majority are the first representing their surnames: Some entries have the number of degrees of separation or the relationship noted.

• Anger-489 Unconnected
• Bauer-7633 Unconnected
• Braun-5621 Unconnected
• Carpenter-24003 Unconnected
• Ellis-28009 Unconnected
• Fields-8266 Unconnected
• Garber-Pearson-1 Unconnected
• Gazinski-1 (25°)
• Grant-22336 Unconnected
• Johnson-136184 (17°, 13C 2R)
• Innis-225 (27°)
• Kelsner-1 (34°)
• Lucas-10809 Unconnected
• Marszalkowski-4 Unconnected
• McFadden-3885 Unconnected
• Mildebrandt-1 (9°, 3C 2R)
• Piehl-134 (2°)
• Pietz-139 Unconnected
• Raymond-6197 Unconnected
• Reep-216 Unconnected
• Ribbke-1 (2°, G)
• Ribbke-16 (4°, 1C 1R)
• Ribbke-17 (5°, 2C)
• Roepsch-2 Unconnected
• Ross-27421 Still Unconnected
• Ruechel-1 Unconnected but GEDCOM uploaded
• Seifried-113 Unconnected
• Skrobis-1 Unconnected
• Stueland-6 Unconnected
• Thalhamer-1 Unconnected
• Upp-259 (25°)
• Wilson-100707 Unconnected

His friend Walker-17311 (Connected as of 15 Jul 2023, 27°) had joined in 2015 before Greenwood had any knowledge of their sign-up.

His friend Beard-5746 (36°) had also joined in December 2020 but it is unclear if it was inspired by Greenwood.

Ongoing recruitment for individuals Brockman (North Carolina), Hurtado (California, Columbia), Fields (Tennessee), and Kuecker (Wisconsin).

Research

Important links and spaces

• Dieter's German-English Glossary
• German territorial structure in the course of history
• Germany Project Location Field Guidelines
• List of members with Familienbücher
• The Zero Date Loophole, awareness of a problem created by GEDcoms and being tackled by Friday Date Nights.
• Help:Challenge Hangouts
• Help:15 For 15, and the 15 for 15 Tracker, a handy mission-based checklist to perform certain tasks on WikiTree over the course of 2023, WikiTree's 15th Anniversary.

Current Projects

Greenwood has a project for Sauk County, Wisconsin, the location where many of his ancestors lived. In June-July 2021, he visited the county to obtain research materials and photographed headstones across five cemeteries:

• Oak Hill Cemetery, North Freedom
• St. John's Cemetery, Rock Springs
• Walnut Hill Cemetery, Baraboo
• St. Peter's Cemetery, Reedsburg
• Green Wood Cemetery, Reedsburg

He is in the process of splitting up the Sauk County page into different villages and townships as he acquires more information.

He also started one for Landkreis Uelzen, Niedersachsen, where many of his ancestors originated, now that a majority of the place name categories for that Landkreis have been created. The concern on WikiTree, however, is that there may be some misunderstanding about the naming of the categories, as categories representing collective municipalities have been shifted to those of either towns or villages, Bevensen in particular.

"Historically, the collective municipalities were larger than the individual municipalities and within those individual municipalities were the villages themselves. This nesting should really be represented within the category structure, from Kreis to collective to individual municipality to village, for example: Niedersachsen [German state] --> Kreis Uelzen [county equivalent] --> Bevensen (or now Bevensen-Ebstorf) [collective municipality] --> Bad Bevensen [municipality] --> Gollern [village]. Those profiles that are unclear on the exact village should go in the higher tier of category. The project hopes to clear up this confusion and/or inconsistency. In the near future, we hope to address the historical changes of this area and create the appropriate categorical structure for that."

Because of his work on this Landkreis, he was chosen to lead the Lower Saxony Team.

A third project is German inventors and discoverers, a space to corral famous German scientists and discoverers with Wikipedia articles into the WikiTree.

Other projects and peoples

2020

Greenwood created the page for Wisconsin scrap sculptor legend Dr. Evermor (25 deg) on 12 Aug 2020 and wrote its biography.

On 17 Sep 2020, Greenwood came across the mysterious German performance artist "Thea Alba", who supposedly could write with all ten fingers at once, with not much background information on her. Yet he figured out who Thea Alba (unconnected) was thanks to a book published in July 2020 on the descendants of Martin Luther.

In December 2020, Greenwood focused on building and formatting profiles of geologists and collectors, such as Thomas A. Greene (21 deg) and Fisk Holbrook Day (21 deg), and profiles of those involved with the Star Wars franchise, to the extent of creating categorization for it. At that time he hoped to have both geologists and Star Wars actors as upcoming weekly themes and connections, the latter did occur (see below).

2021

January and February 2021, he took on additional tasks of assisting personal friends and colleagues with their trees and history (see Friends, family, and colleagues).

He took over Namesakes of United States Counties on 20 Feb 2021 in the hopes to reactivate and complete that project.

For May the Fourth 2021 Connections, Greenwood helped recommend and expand some of the Star Wars profiles he had worked on, including Grant Imahara (27 deg), Peter Mayhew (25 deg) and Christopher Lee (25 deg).

Later May 2021, Greenwood was tasked with helping build Team Prussia on WikiTree, and created the page for Posen, Prussia Team.

From July-August 2021, he transcribed names from A County Named Sauk to assist with Sauk County research.

In October 2021, he participated in his first Source-a-Thon where he sourced 30 profiles. In January 2022, he participated in his first Connect-a-Thon where he tied for 366th place out of 660 participants with 36 points and his first WikiTree Challenge (for Jimmy D. Wales, founder of Wikipedia, 24 deg 15C). In Jimmy's Challenge, he contributed over 80 edits, created profiles for four direct ancestors (Prander-1 which became Normann-61, Levenicht-3, Both-225 and Both-226), one first relative (Levenicht-20), and four additional relatives (Hargrove-1337, Pralow-15, Thielman-38, Lorenzen-412), and claimed ten bounty points for a total of 28 points! Additionally some other non-connected profiles were made in affiliation with the project (Penny-2634, Normann-73, Kimpel-177, Kimpel-178, and Kimpel-179, and Nerdenholtz-1 and Nerdenholtz-2).

2022

January 2022 was also the month when he was (finally!) approved for a One Name Study of the Klitzke family.

From 31 Jan to 7 Feb 2022, Greenwood was featured as the WikiTree Member of the Week.

He participated in a Cemetery Connectors Challenge, having created 11 profiles (22nd out of 55 contributors), though unfortunately was not able to connect them to the tree during the challenge.

The death of Ghostbusters and Ghostbusters II director Ivan Reitman OC (29 deg) on 12 Feb 2022 led to a push to have his profile featured on the Main Page, in addition to either other directors and/or producers, or people associated with the Ghostbusters franchise (maybe for Ghostbusters Day on June 8?).

His second WikiTree Challenge to participate in was for Adrienne Wilkinson (Challenge 4: 17 Feb-24 Feb 2022) (22 deg) where he scored 12 points for creating that many nuclear relative profiles, including Kreyling-14, Kreyling-15 and the wife (Bitner-449) and children of Rhodes-4766.

On 4 Mar 2022, the 17th birthday of Wookieepedia, Greenwood started .. something not Star Wars-related: a sequel to the Namesakes Project, Namesakes of Municipalities.

On 16 Mar 2022, he built a biography for wrestler Scott Hall (21 deg) after the profile was opened up. On 24 Mar 2022, he created the profile for computer scientist Stephen Wilhite (unconnected), the creator of the GIF, and on 26 Mar 2022, he created the profile for Foo Fighters drummer Oliver Hawkins (23 deg) and connected him to the world tree.

1 Apr 2022 was the day that the 1950 United States Census was released to the public both for research and for transcribing, to which Greenwood performed both tasks as part of the The WikiTree 1950 Census Indexers Group. You can help transcribe the census here once you search for a county and district.

By 27 Apr 2022, the Ripke Name Study was first available and edited.

On 18 May 2022, he created a profile for living science communicator Bill Nye (20 deg) in preparation for WikiTree's science week. Profile privacy needs to be overridden by Notables Project to be viewable.

For Ghostbusters Week (week of 8 Jun 2022), Greenwood provided the majority of the list of featured connections, with Ivan Reitman being the main focus.

On 30 Jun 2022, Azure set up the Röbbel, Niedersachsen One Place Study for Greenwood.

In early August 2022, he helped set up a document for the WikiTree Day Scavenger Hunt (to be continued in 2023).

On 15 Aug 2022, he created the profile for Wisconsin business owner Ralph Charles Ehlenbach (30 deg) and added to his local German branches.

In early Sept 2022, he placed 10th in contributions to the WikiTree Challenge for Olivia Newton-John (26 deg), having focused heavily on the Ehrenberg family.

On 30 Sept, he contributed to the 7th Annual Source-A-Thon, riding with Team Germany Genies once again! He was only able to contribute 8 sources this year though.

Greenwood also looked to assist with the Mark Hamill (16 deg) Challenge of early Oct 2022. However, many of the profiles were outside of his area of expertise and real-world issues prevented full participation.

On 15 Oct 2022, Greenwood was able to finish up documentation of Sections 6, 7, and 8 (as well as 10) of Saint John's Cemetery.

2023

In January 2023, Greenwood contributed 36 connections during Connect-A-Thon, and made the connection between him and the Great American Bottleneck population, allowing him to finally see the relationships to American cousins (see above).

In early February 2023, he helped contribute to the WikiTree Challenge working in tandem with One Place Studies, particularly in the Monksfield and Vick lines, and recommended the creation of the Shoreditch, Middlesex, England OPS.

In April 2023, for the second Connect-A-Thon of the year, Greenwood contributed 79 profiles alongside Germany Genies, helping his team remain in 3rd place overall and 1st place normalized! This also allowed him to expand the genealogy of his LEGO Master counterpart Dawn.

For May 2023, Greenwood created a weekend-long Star Wars pop-up challenge featuring Christopher Sean (Friel), the voice of Kazuda Xiono in Star Wars: Resistance.

In July 2023, Greenwood contributed ever so slightly to Connect-A-Thon in terms of profile creation (13), however, he was able to attend EIGHT Connect-A-Thon hangouts via Streamyard for the first time, cheering on Team Germany Genies!

In August 2023, he created the profile for Paul Reubens, best known to the world as Pee-wee Herman, in the wake of his death, followed in September 2023 by Steve Harwell, vocalist of Smashmouth. In October 2023, he created the profile for the late Shawna Leavell Trpcic, Hollywood costumer that worked heavily with Lucasfilm projects in recent years.

In January 2024, Greenwood sought to gather all the German One Name Studies into one place, since categorization was for all One Name Studies, and it could assist Germany Project. Also in January, he once again joined Germany Genies for Connect-A-Thon.

Wisconsin name studies

These are not mine but others in the state that I reside in.

• Category:Wisconsin, Babcock Name Study
• Category:Wisconsin, Klapperich Name Study
• Category:Wisconsin, Langenfeld Name Study
• Category:Wisconsin, Pulvermacher Name Study
• Category:Wisconsin, Viles Name Study
• Category:Wisconsin, Zanzig Name Study

The following Name Studies don't have a Wisconsin category yet, but have profiles in Wisconsin:

• Category:Zalewski Name Study (Milwaukee)

Contributions

• 2000 - 17 Dec 2020
• 2500 - 10 Apr 2021
• 3000 - 23 Jul 2021
• 3500 - 8 Jan 2022
• 4000 - 10 Feb 2022
• 4500 - 3 Apr 2022
• 5000 - 16 Sep 2022
• 6000 - 9 Feb 2023
• 6666 - 7 May 2023
• 7000 - 10 Aug 2023
• 7500 - 17 Dec 2023
• 7777 - 11 Feb 2024
• 8000 - 15 Apr 2024 (with large update to Klitzke Name Study page)

Thank Yous

My third cousin once removed Jori Lyon gave me my 1000th Thank You on 23 Jan 2024. It was for specifying the burial place for a Mr. "Dutch" Pfaff.

Wiki-Will

"The COVID-19 pandemic had made me very aware of my mortality. I feel it responsible to state what should occur in the event of my demise. If I pass, my Landkreis Uelzen profiles should be handed over to my tenth cousin Oliver Stegen, my Sauk County, Wisconsin profiles to Ribbke-16, the profiles attached to Kelsner-1 to them and all other profiles to Gazinski-1" -- Greenwood-3667 21:35, 3 April 2022 (UTC)

Sources

1. ↑ Kelsner on Forebears
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3} Dictionary of American Family Names ©2013, Oxford University Press

• First-hand information. Entered by Steven Greenwood at registration.
• Cousins derived using WikiTree Connection Finder and My Cousins.