When researching the ancestry of the Peschong family we soon found that immigration from Luxembourg presented a somewhat confusing history. Since Luxembourg had French and German influence, plus a Luxembourg language of its own,many names have been spelled differently thought the years. This included city names, family names, even given first names. Many names often were spelled phonetically and then upon settling here many first names were "Americanized", i.e. Jean becomes John, PIerre becomes Peter, Katherine could be spelled with "C" or Katherina.
We also found that dates and ages were not documented correctly. This could be error or there may have been reasons for not representing accurate birth-dates. Often on manifests names, ages, and even relationships were not accurate. With all of this as factors in mind, we still were able to develop a family History starting with Reinhard Peschong witnessing the birth of Peter Peschong in a birth register found in the Clemency, Luxembourg city hall..
We made two trips to Ozaukee County Wisconsin. The first to visit a number of churches, cemeteries, and court houses. The court houses didn't provide much information because records were not enforced until, the beginning of the 1900's. The cemeteries provided a lot more information. A large number of Peschongs, Pierrons, and Krells are buried in Ozaukee County and the adjacent city of Newburg, WI. We also found an archive of early church records at the Archdiocese of Milwaukee. There is a new Luxembourg/American organization called Luxembourg American Cultural Society, Inc. which has a very impressive building center in Belgium, Wisconsin. We are members. Their objective is to provide awareness of Luxembourg immigration and their history in the USA.
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