Da Choe und da Chon

When we were kids, mom said that two brothers came here from Germany and settled in Minnesota--Joseph and Johannes Janson (Choe & Chon).  One of the first things Larry and I discovered when we started looking was that they were not brothers, but cousins, and that actually, THREE Janson families came here that year.

In genealogy, you talk about the "common ancestor", or what person, how far back, connects all of us?  In this case, it's Georg Valentin Janson and his wife Eva Kathrina Reissfelder.  Georg was born in 1773, Eva in 1781, and they had ten children, two of whom were

JOHANNES (b 1803)

and

DANIEL (b 1816)

in Horrenberg, Heidelberg, Baden, Germany

Johannes Janson and his wife Maria Juliana Bayer had ten kids, one of whom was JOSEPH JANSON (1844), the immigrant who became our great grandfather.

Daniel Janson and his first wife, Regina Schweigert had at least three kids, one of whom was JOHN JANSON (1845), the immigrant who arrived with our great grandparents.

Daniel Janson and his second wife Maria Anna Helfinger, had at least one son,

DANIEL JANSON (1850), who arrived in the US a few months later 

and settled in Rice, Minnesota.

(OK, now that's clear.  Commit it to memory, cuz there'll be a quiz at the end of the blog).