Families that left Mecklenburg and settled in Pecatonica Township, Winnebago County Illinois included: Anders, Glaeve, Kasch, Laabs/Loobs, Meyer/Meyers/Meier, Rapean, Ritter, Sass and Schwartz/Swartz
Today the province of Mecklenburg where my ancestors lived is called Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. The modern state formed after World War 2 has much different boundaries. It takes in many of the old Mecklenburg duchies as well as a portion of the western part of Pomerania (the rest is now Poland)
The Railroad between Rockford and Freeport Illinois was completed in 1853, a distance of about 31 miles. Bancroft's location was equidistant from both. Some of the families that came from Mecklenburg with a destination of Bancroft stayed on in Rockford while others traveled on to Freeport.
contemporary highway map of the route from Rockford to Freeport
Friederich Albert Anders was born in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany on the 30th of
January 1843. He was married in Mecklenburg to Maria Schwartz of
Lübeck, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. They emigrated in October of 1872 and arrived in the Port of New York on 26th of November. In 1872 they are residing in Pecatonica, Illinois when the birth of their son, Albert Anders, is reported. They stayed for the rest of their lives and are buried in Thompson Cemetery.
Great Grandfather Frederick "Fred" Glaeve was born in 1841 in Beestland, Demmin, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. He was married to Maria "Mary" Fredericka Neberman in 1874. Birth of daughter Wilhelmina Marie "Minnie" Glaeve on 15 Dec 1875 in Freeport, Stephenson County, Illinois. Birth of Son Frederick Carl Glaeve on 02 Apr 1878 Ridott, Stephenson, Illinois. Birth of daughter Martha Lydia Fredricka Glaeve on 18 May 1888 Freeport, Stephenson, Illinois. He died on December 11, 1907, in Winnebago County, Illinois, at the age of 66. Mary died on July 11, 1919 and is buried beside him in Winnebago Cemetery on Westfield Rd. in Winnebago, Illinois.
Frederick Christian Theodor Kasch Sr. was born in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany on the 3rd of November 1842. He married Sophia Christiana Dorothea Roeder in 1869. They arrived in the USA in 1874 and resided in Burritt, Winnebago County, Illinois. Sophia died in 1876 and in 1881 he was married to Catharina Dettwiller at St. John's Lutheran church in Pecatonica. He died in 1927 and was buried in Pecatonica Cemetery. Catharina died in 1929 and is also buried in Pecatonica Cemetery.
Charles Carl Kasch was born in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany on the 2nd of May 1838. He married Mary Diedrich in 1860. They emigrated to the USA in 1871 and took up residence with their children William, Charles, Georgiana, and Mary in Pecatonica, Winnebago, Illinois. Charles died in 1921 and his wife Mary in 1914. They are buried in Thompson Cemetery.
Christian Kasch was born in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany on the 9th of May 1850. He emigrated to the USA in 1872 at the age of 22. In the early1880's he moved to Pecatonica, Illinois and was married to Wilhelmina "Minnie" Dettwiller when birth's of children Albert and Laura are announced. They later moved to Burritt Township, Winnebago County, Illinois where he was employed as a "farm laborer". Minnie died in December of 1913 and Christian died in December of 1918. They are both buried in the Pecatonica Cemetery
Charles Carl Laabs was born in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany on the 1st day of March 1826 and was married to Caroline Wilhelmina Lentz in 1854. They arrived in New York in 1857 and soon set up residence in Granville, Milwaukee County, Wisconsin. In ca. 1868 they moved to Pecatonica, Illinois where their son Louis "Lewis" Albert Laabs and his wife Sophie Dettwiller were living.
John Rapean Sr. was born in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany on 6th of February 1831. In 1855 he was married to Sophia Elisabeth Anna Mellendorff and they emigrated to the USA the same year with their first daughter, Katherine, being born in New York in July of 1856. They lived in Brookfield, Waukesha County, Wisconsin until later moving to Ridott township, Stephenson County, Illinois. One more move found them living in the late 1890's in Pecatonica, Winnebago County, Illinois.
John Rapean Jr. was born in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany on the 21st of October 1854. He was an infant when he emigrated to the USA with parents John Sr. and Sophia. In the 1870 Federal Census, at the age of 16, John is working as a "farm laborer" in Pecatonica, Illinois. He married his first wife Johanna "Anna" Laabs in 1879 and they had a son, Ernest. Anna died in 1883 and he remarried Louisa Dettwiller with whom he had 6 more children. John died in 1905 at the age of 50 and is buried in Twelve Mile Grove Cemetery Pecatonica. Winnebago, Illinois.
Henry Carl Ritter was born in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany on the 8th of August 1862. He emigrated in 1884 and married Marie Bertha Wernicke in Rockford, Winnebago County, Illinois in 1891. Henry Carl was employed as a farmer on his own farm in Winnebago Township, Winnebago County, Illinois. In 1935 they moved to Rockford, Illinois. Henry died in 1951 and was buried in Willwood Burial Park, Rockford. Marie died in 1960 and is buried with Henry.
Their daughter Caroline Marie Ritter married Joachim Frederick Wienk on the 28th of December 1881 in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. They emigrated in July 0f 1888 and settled in Pecatonica, Illinois where they raised their family.
Their son Frederick Carl Ritter also continued to live in Rockford and followed the trade of a carpenter. He married Vera Eleanor Patrick in 1921. Frederick's parents and he and his wife were all buried in Willwood Burial Park, Rockford.
Henry Fredrick Sass was born in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany on the 1st of November 1853. He emigrated at the age of 15 in 1868 to Pecatonica, Illinois. He was married to Sophia Elisabeth Anders on the 26th of December 1877. They lived there for the rest of their lives and are buried in Thompson Cemetery, Winnebago County, Illinois.
Johann "John" Friederich Schwartz Sr. was born in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany on the 21st day of June 1812. He was married to Marie Reinschottel in 1843.
Marie died in Pecatonica. Illinois in 1896. He continued to live in Pecatonica until his death in 1913 at the age of 101.
30 Jan 184
Pecatonica Main Street North
Roy Louis Swartz was born on June 12, 1920 in Manchester Township, Kingsbury County, South Dakota. He enlisted in the US Army on the 20th of May 1942 and was discharged on the 4th of November 1945 and was married to Hannah Isabella Hay in Santa Barbara, California. According to the 1950 Federal Census they have moved to Cedar Falls Township, Black Hawk County, Iowa, where their daughter Barbara Helen Swartz is born. About 1958 they moved to Hot Springs Township, Fall River County, South Dakota. Roy died there in 1986 and is buried as a veteran in Black Hills National Cemetery in Sturgis South Dakota. Hannah died in 1994 and is buried next to him. 
