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Reunion Program
Participants Map Family History Slide Shows
Leonardville UMC Cemetery [pdf]
Family timelines [pdf] |
Seventy-seven people participated in all or part of the 20th biennial Zeisset Family Reunion, July 27-29, 2012, in the Leonardville and Clay Center, Kansas vicinities. Most attendees were descendants of Jakob Friedrich Zeisset and Margarethe Mueller Zeisset. Their six children immigrated to Riley County, Kansas, from Germany between 1883 and 1893. The focus on Saturday was on Bertha Zeisset Nanninga, the second oldest of the six immigrant siblings. She came to Kansas in 1885, living briefly at Alida with the family of a cousin, Henry Baer. She moved to Leonardville to work for one of Leonardville’s earliest residents, merchant Richard Burk. That same year she joined the German Evangelical Church and worked for a time at Winkler’s mill north of Leonardville. On March 26, 1886, she married Juergen Nanninga at the home of his parents, and Bertha and Juergen moved to the farm 1 mile south and 1/2 mile east of Leonardville (now owned by the Merlin Potts family) where they lived the rest of their lives. Between 1887 and 1911 Bertha became the mother of 15 children, all of whom survived early childhood. Her descendants now are the largest group of Zeisset descendants. The 2012 Zeisset Reunion began with an informal gathering at the El Puerto Mexican Restaurant in Clay Center Friday evening. The venue for Saturday’s activities was Life’s Finer Moments Lodge, southwest of Clay Center. Loretta Hoerman of Topeka made a presentation on Nanninga history. Richard Cott and Kyle Cott of KeeOtt Farms gave an illustrated description of farming today in contrast to farming practices at the time the immigrants came to Kansas. Following the presentations, attendees had the opportunity to visit parts of the Cott farm operations. Afternoon and evening activities included Clay County Historical Museum, informal visiting, a catered dinner, a short talent show, and a review of the group’s 2006 visit to ancestral sites in Germany. Sunday’s events began at the Leonardville United Methodist Cemetery, where five of the six immigrants and many of their descendants are buried. A brief memorial service was led by Ray and Carolyn Zeisset of Lincoln, NE, that included the playing of “Amazing Grace” on the trombone by their grandson, Alex Hoffman of Omaha, NE. The group then gathered at the Leonardville United Methodist Church for visiting, attending the morning service, and sharing a catered and potluck dinner. The Sunday afternoon program featured Loretta Hoerman, who reviewed known history of the Zeisset family since 1718, with particular focus on Jacob Friedrich’s siblings, including the two uncles who took in four of the six eventual immigrants after they were orphaned in 1884. The oldest family member at the Sunday program was Una Weller of Leonardville, who celebrated her 100th birthday shortly after the reunion. The youngest was Sophia Robbins-Palmer, 6, of Omaha, NE. Family members came from 12 states and from as far away as Alabama, Virginia, Michigan, and New Mexico. Ethel and Sam Smoots of Gig Harbor, WA, came the farthest distance. The largest group in attendance was 16 descendants of Bertha Zeisset Nanninga. Other families included 14 descendants of Bettie Zeisset Hoerman, 14 from the Louise Zeisset Swart family, 12 from the Jacob Zeisset family, 10 from the Henry Zeisset family, and 9 from the Elizabeth Zeisset Weller family. Two descendants of Johann Zeisset (great-uncle of the six immigrant Zeissets) attended the reunion from Illinois. Like the Riley County immigrants, they are descended from Johannes Zeisset (born in 1794). The program concluded with singing Blest Be the Tie That Binds. Ray Zeisset, Secretary |
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Updated 11/13/13
