Asbahr Family History

The Asbahr family emigrated to the United States in the 1800s from Germany, though "Asbahr" is not a German name, presumably they came into Germany from farther east. There is some evidence that the name used to have an "a" at the end, spelled Asbahra. It also appears there are some Asbahrs in South America as well. My line settled in rural Kansas and received a land grant for our ancestral farm. My grandfather Marvin was an Asbahr, but my grandmother Patricia is from England. My grandparents moved to Texas in the mid 1950s and there we've been ever since. My mother April met my father Gordon in Houston and had me there. My father passed away when I was very young. I currently live in Austin, TX, and my sister Shannon, mother April, and grandmother Patricia live in Houston, TX.

Here's a record of my great great great Grandfather in Oberlin County Kansas, where our family farm is: Naturalization Record, 1880 - 1894, Certificate of Declaration of Intention to become a citizen

Here's an entry that suggests an even stranger spelling of the name, in the list of Homesteading records for the family farm itself: Abahara[Asbahr] Henry, 6-30-1884, 2-8-1892, Sherman township, section 11. I guess this would have been governed under The Homestead Act signed into law by President Abraham Lincoln on May 20, 1862 (thanks, Wikipedia!).

Decatur County Kansas 1895 Census from the Decatur County Last Indian Raid Museum showing my great great grandparents: Henry Asbahr, 32, Tilde Asbahr, 23, and their son Harry Asbahr, 5.

Another listing: Asbahr, Harry H., Farmer, S. 11, T. Sherman, P.O. Danbury, Neb. Born in the County, 1890, from the "PATRONS REFERENCE DIRECTORY" taken from the Standard Atlas of Decatur County Kansas.

Alphabetical List of Landowners from the 1949 Atlas of Decatur County Kansas showing Harry and Mildred Asbahr, my grandfather's father and stepmother.

Here's an entry from the Sherman cemetery:
Asbahr Edith L. [6-18]-1893 [1-21]-1936 1st wife of Harry
Asbahr Harry H. [3-25]-1890 [2-13]-1965 father of Marie Beard
This shows my grandfather's biological mother, who died in a shooting accident. Harry's second wife, Mildred, was something of an evil stepmother to my grandfather. There is a story of his beloved harmonica thrown down the well, very Grimm's fairy tales to my ears.

If I'm reading this satellite map correctly, the region is extremely managed. All those little squares!


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