Don & Jeanette

Don and Jeanette (Laubenstein) DeFere.
Taken April 14, 1946.

One of Two Brothers

This has to be one of two brothers.... Ferdinand or Hugo DeSombre. Dad isn't sure at all but I think he is leaning towards Ferdinand. My money is on it's his dad Hugo.

Dad had told me...and it seems to be true from pictures... that Ferdinand parted his hair in the middle his whole life. The photo of Hugo in the previous post where he is dressed up I think looks similar. Both also have a tie tack thingy being used too.

Unfortunately, the picture was not labeled.

Emma, Hugo and Ev

Emma DeSombre and her son Ev DeSombre.





Emma (Hagel) DeSombre (L), Ev DeSombre (C) and Hugo DeSombre (R)



A young Ev DeSombre.



Hugo DeSombre holding his son Ev.


Ev DeSombre and an unknown young lady holding him.



All these photos are taken in the late 1920s. Probably all are taken in Pennsylvania.

Group Photo 02

Another group photo of relatives taken in front of George DeSombre's home in Sheboygan. The picture was taken sometime in the first half of the 1940s.


1. Thought to be a boyfriend of Jeanette Laubenstein (#4), name unknown
2. Ella (DeSombre) Pfeiffer
3. Anna (DeSombre) Laubenstein
4. Jeanette Laubenstein
5. Alma DeSombre (Charles' wife)
6. Charles DeSombre
7. Ferdinand DeSombre
8. August Pfeiffer
9. Andrew Laubenstein
10. Kenneth DeSombre
11. Meta DeSombre
12. Viola DeSombre
13. Eugene DeSombre
14. Clemawelle DeSombre
15. George DeSombre

This is the only photo of Charles and Alma DeSombre that I have found so far.

Party & Christmas

Julianne DeSombre and her boyfriend Don Kemmer came to Sheboygan to visit relatives the day after their high school prom. They were King and Queen of their prom and wore their attire when they came to visit.

Vacation Time

A movie clip of my family on vacation in the mid 1960s. It was a cabin rental on Metonga Lake near Crandon, WI. Thr trip was taken with Ede & Lena (Emma Hagel DeSombre's sisters from Pennsylvania - not relatives on the family tree) and Ella DeSombre-Pfeiffer.

The second part of the movie is at a nearby petting zoo. The critter at the end that is hard to see is a fawn laying down.

The School House

The photo is a scan of a photocopy of a newsprint photo ... so the quality is not the best.

The school is Stokes School (District School #2) that was on the west side of the intersection of Hwy 57 and O in southern Door County, Wisconsin. The school was torn down in the 1970s.

Some Carl DeSombre's children attended the school. I know Anna, Ella, Lydia, August and George all went to the school. I am not sure if the older children (Charles, Reinardt, Ferdinand, William and Hugo) went to the school also.

They lived near the school between 1894 and about 1920 before returning to Sheboygan.

Group Photo 01

This group photo was taken in front of George DeSombre's home on April 14, 1946. It was his son Ken DeSombre's confirmation.


Ken by himself on that same day.


Identification of the group. I will edit this post later when I find out who the people are that I don't have names for.


01 - Walter Schmidt
02 - August Pfeiffer, Sr. (not part of family tree)
03 - Helen Schmidt (Walter's (#1) wife)
04 - Viola (Schmidt) DeSombre (1906-1992)
05 - August Pfeiffer (1901-1960)
06 - Meta (Gartman) DeSombre (1893-1994)
07 - Richard DeSombre
08 - Lester Engelhardt (1913-1990)
09 - Donald DeFere
10 - Clemawelle (DeSombre) Engelhardt (1911-1990)
11 - Ferdinand DeSombre
12 - Anna (DeSombre) Laubenstein (1895-1970)
13 - "Grandpa Schmidt" (Viola Schmidt DeSombre's father - not part of family tree)
14 - "Grandma Schmidt" (Viola Schmidt DeSombre's mother - not part of family tree)
15 - Ella (DeSombre) Pfeiffer (1902-1987)
16 - George DeSombre (1905-1961)
17 - Julianne DeSombre
18 - Kenneth DeSombre
19 - Eugene DeSombre

40s Movie 2 ID

00:01:33
Meta DeSombre (L) and Julianne DeSombre (R)


00:02:05
Oliver and Alice DeSombre


00:02:18
Ferdinand DeSombre (L), Clemawelle DeSombre (C) and Julianne DeSombre (R)

40's Movie 2

Another black and white movie from the 1940s. The beginning is the start of a parade. I believe the entire clip takes place in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

One of the floats has a sign "Gertie the duck that made Milwaukee..." on it. Gertie the duck's story began in April of 1945.

Her story according to Wikipedia is: "Gertie the Duck is a world famous mallard and an icon of Milwaukee history. The story of her heroic efforts to hatch six ducklings became an inspiration for many Americans near the end of World War II. Gertie's story unfolded as a daily serial in the local newspaper for 37 days, captivating the residents of Milwaukee, the state and eventually the country."

The second half is a gathering of relatives. My father remembers Ferdinand DeSombre fondly. He had passed away before my birth, so I only got to know his wife Meta. He appears in this clip.

Cool Wedding Photo

The photo is of Ferdinand Bahr and Sara Eisold's wedding. There is only one relative in the photo, Clemawelle DeSombre. She is the bridesmaid standing on the far left of the picture. All of the remaining folks are not part of the family tree.

Lynn's 4th Movie Clip ID

00:00:03


00:00:13


00:00:22
Emma is not a relative on the family tree. She and her family were close friends of my family. She was also my proxy sponsor (godparent) along with her husband Al.


00:00:30


00:00:40


00:00:45

There are also two other women towards the beginning of the clip that I will have to identify.

Lynn's 4th

My sister Lynn DeSombre's 4th birthday party. The film was taken at our family home on North 9th Street in Sheboygan during August of 1966.

Party 3

Yet another movie clip that I cannot identify many of the people. I do see Lester and Clemawelle (DeSombre) Engelhardt, George and Viola DeSombre and August and Ella (DeSombre) Pfeiffer. At least part of the movie appears to have been taken at August and Ella's home. It may be their 25th wedding anniversary celebration.

Charles and Roderick

Christian and Johanna (DeSombre) Huebner's son Charles Huebner (1884-1965) holding the flag on the right side of the photo and his son Roderick Huebner (1927-1980) holding the flag on the left side of the photo.

It was a flag dedication ceremony at St. Paul's Lutheran School in Sheboygan in October 1941.

Party 2 Movie Clip ID

Oliver DeSombre standing....August Pfeiffer sitting (Ella DeSombre's husband).
00:00:03


George DeSombre
00:00:11


Alice DeSombre throwing a ball to her daughter Julianne DeSombre
00:00:21


Anna (DeSombre) Laubenstein
00:00:31


Ken DeSombre (L), Eugene DeSombre (R) and Julianne DeSombre sitting in front
00:00:37


Meta DeSombre (L) and her daughter Clemawelle (DeeSombre) Engelhardt (R)
00:00:59


Seated...Ella (DeSombre) Pfeiffer (L), Alice DeSombre (R) and Meta DeSombre standing
00:01:01


Left to Right.... Ella Pfeiffer, Alice DeSombre, Anna Laubenstein
00:01:37


The mystery guests. I have to find out who they are. They may be related to Viola?
00:02:07

Party 2

I think this is one of the best clips so far. It has quite a few DeSombres in it.

I'll have to confirm it with Ken DeSombre once he watches the movie....I think it is a movie of his parents George and Viola DeSombre's anniversary.

The event took place outside George and Viola's home on North 10th Street in Sheboygan.

Note: Milk in a glass bottle with a paper cap.

Party 1 Movie Clip ID

0:00:11
Meta DeSombre (L) and Clemawelle DeSombre-Engelhardt (R).

Party 1

I am uncertain what this party was held for. The majority of the people are Engelhardt relatives and not DeSombre relatives. The party was held at Meta DeSombre's home. Meta and her daughter Clemawelle are in the clip.

50s Home Decor

Inside of Clemawelle and Lester Engelhardt's home sometime in the 1950s. As you can see, Clemawelle took pride in her home. That's Clemawelle sitting down at the end of the clip.

Lots of reds, lots of big floral patterns and a cool desk set-up.

1940s Movie Clip

I haven't shown this newest batch of movies to my father or Ken DeSombre to help and identify people. I'll get that done and post those results later on.

This clip is probably from the mid to late 1940s.

The first part is Clemawelle DeSombre being caught shoveling snow. It's taken outside of her mother's house (Meta DeSombre). See....women aren't suppose to be barefoot, pregnant and in the kitchen....they have to shovel snow too! (Just kidding)

The second part with a lady playing with a dog. Dad thought she was Lester Engelhardt's niece from his family (not a DeSombre relative).

The last part is of Lester Engelhardt in uniform getting ready to report for military duty.

Movie Clips

The movie clips I am posting are from 8mm films from my family's collection and Lester and Clemawelle (DeSombre) Engelhardt's collection. I tried to select films with different family members on them. There were movies of every year of Dee Renee Engelhardt's birthdays and many others that were redundant, so I did not have them transferred. I still have about 40 3" reels that I will have transferred to dvd in the future. I have taken the dvds and ripped them to small avi files to post here.

Unlike photos, I do not think you can download copies of the movies from the blog for your own personal collection. Feel free to email me and I can email the movies to you.

I think these movies are the coolest thing since sliced bread! So many other families and genealogy projects only have still pictures of folks prior to camcorder days. I think it's great to see these folks moving around and smiling. Some have brought back memories of some of the older generations that have passed away. Others it was great to see after hearing so much about them but they had passed away before I was born or shortly after.

DeSombre Family Tree

For folks stumbling across this blog and would like to see the Family Tree (a PDF file), please contact me at DeSombreHistory@gmail.com. For anyone that may not be/is not on the Family Tree, kindly state a reason why you would like to see it. I may not honor all requests from folks not related.

I only use that email address for Family Tree requests and I do not check it that often.

William Schramm

So many of the photos on the blog come from Carl DeSombre's descendants and not too much on his three sisters' family tree branches. I am keeping a careful eye out for any pictures of his sisters and/or their spouses. I was able to find a picture of his sister Wilhelmina's husband William Schramm.

This article with his picture is from May of 1941. He passed away 5 months later on 10-19-1941.

The article is easier to read if you click on it so it opens in a window by itself. Or right click on the photo and choose Open Link In New Tab from the drop down menu.

Early 1960s

Before my sister was born.
June & Dick DeSombre
Tom & Mark DeSombre

Norman & Vernetta

Norman and Vernetta (DeSombre) Leibham.
I think it's cool to find pictures of folks at different stages of their lives!

Vernetta DeSombre's Wedding

Norman Leibham and Vernetta DeSombre's Wedding May 12th, 1945. I believe the young girl in front is Sandralee DeSombre. I do not know who the young boy is.

Wedding Movie

00:00:04 Julianne's parents.


00:00:57 The Bride and Groom.


00:01:17 Eugene and Don.


I wasn't able to find very many relatives from the Kemmer-DeSombre Wedding. Julianne told me that Edwin and Marcella Schwerin attended. I think I noticed Edwin but he is only in one or two frames of the movie. I couldn't pause it on the right spot to create a picture file.

Julianne's Wedding

This video is of Julianne DeSombre and Donald Kemmer's wedding on 04/12/1958.

I will create still pictures from the movie and work on identifying some of the people in the video in the near future. I think I noticed Eugene DeSombre in the movie. I'll have to get my father to verify it.

Home Movies

My family has about 50 8mm home movies from the 1940s through the 1960s. They are movies taken by my family and by Les and Clemawelle Engelhardt.

I selected one and had it transferred to DVD. I then ripped the dvd to avi files to post here for folks to see. Please don't try to adjust the volume. These movies are all silent.

This one is the second half of the dvd. It is of Dee Renee Engelhardt. The lady in the first half with her may be her mother or grandmother. Her father, Les, is in the second part blowing bubbles.

Les and Clem had a room set up as a playroom off their dining room for Dee Renee. I remember visiting them often when I was young. All us kids would head for the playroom shortly after we arrived. I was surprised to remember the seal with the red nose that Dee is sitting on in the movie. It was fun to see Les looking younger than I had remember him also.

Dad Babysitting

Richard "Dick" DeSombre feeding Thomas "Tom" DeSombre. Mark DeSombre behind bars and Candy in the foreground. Taken about late 1960 or early 1961.

William DeSombre

Vernetta DeSombre, Milton DeSombre, their father William "Bill" DeSombre and Bill's granddaughter Sandralee DeSombre.



Milton DeSombre, his father William "Bill" DeSombre and Bill's granddaughter Sandralee DeSombre.

Our German Connection

Based on death records, obituaries, marriage records and church records our German ancestors are from a region of Germany called Uckermark in the Northeast part of the state of Brandenburg. See map at left.

The capital of the Uckermark is Prenzlau. The Uckermark is a forest and lake-rich landscape between the rivers Havel and lower Oder. Main branch of economy was always agriculture.

Since two of the earliest DeSombres took up farming in America, I believe that they may have farmed while in Germany as their source of income.

Our ancestors grew up when the country was still Prussia. It became Germany in 1871, about nine years before they began to come to America.

With the edict of Potsdam 1685 Friedrich William “the Great Elector” invited the Huguenots from France into his country (Prussia). Could it be around this time or thereafter when our ancestors came to Prussia from France?

Our European History

Ferdinand DeSombre told my father that the DeSombres left Germany for America because of religious persecution. He said they were well off financially and that the money came from providing lodging in Germany. Prior to Germany, the DeSombres were in France. Prior to that, the DeSombres began in Holland with the name Von De Sombre (or a variation of that).

I do not believe they left Germany due to religious persecution. Germany was hardly the place for Lutherans to be persecuted. The actual reason for their departure may never be known.

Michael and Augusta DeSombre Mueller were the first from the family tree to come to America. That makes Augusta the first DeSombre from our family tree to be here. One of her decendants told me that a family story states that the couple had seven children that passed away in a fire in Tantow, Germany. Since Mueller is a common name here in Sheboygan, could Michael have known someone here and they both decided to start a new life and leave behind their tramatic loss?

If that is the reason, then the others that followed shortly after with Augusta being the connection to Sheboygan. America could have offered them new and possibly better opportunities than if they stayed in Germany.

There are quite a number of DeSombres (spelled Desombre) living in France today. There may be even more DeSombres there than in America and definately more than in Germany. Since the surname is obviously French, I do believe that our ancestors were in France prior to Germany. They may well have been French Huguenots.

The Huguenots were French Protestants most of whom eventually came to follow the teachings of John Calvin, and who, due to religious persecution, were forced to flee France to other countries in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. It's possible that this is where the religious persecution happened that Ferdinand mentioned in his story and not in Germany as was thought.

I have found nothing to suggest that our country of origin was Holland and that our surname began with 'Von'. I'm inclined to believe that that part of the story is not true but is something to remember being said when doing further research.

Bill & Helene

William DeSombre (1889-1964) and his wife Helene Schmidt DeSombre (1891-1921). Date of pictures unknown.