Posted by Kathleen Whitcomb on November 14, 19102 at 03:30:35:
: My mother's maiden name is Gertz. Her grandfather (americanized to Henry Gertz) met her grandmother (Amelia Frier) on the boat from the old country at around the turn of the century, fell in love and were married. The Friers were Germans in Russia - I'm not sure about the Gertzs. Henry Gertz settled in the southwest part Michigan along with a great number of Friers. Here he was a farmer, which he had apparently been in the old country. Henry fathered two children (my Grandpa - Wilhelm Adolph Gertz, or William A. Gertz, born in 1902, and Alma Gertz) and died at a young age. Amelia remarried a man whose last name was Kwast and had four more children.
: I would like to hear from more Gertzs, particularly those whose ancesters may have migrated here around the turn of the century or who may have old country links with my family.