Both the Reams and Hetzel families arrived in the USA from Germany about 1831. Both families settled in Boonville, N.Y., and when the township was divided in 1846 were located in the section which became Ava, N.Y. Both families lived in log cabins until about 1860 when these were replaced by frame houses.
All records found thus far merely state that the Reams came from Germany. The Hetzels came from Baden, which was a dutchy. No village is mentioned for either family.
The Reams were headed by John Reams, Sr. who was born c. 1773. He came with two sons, Andrew (1801) and John, Jr (1818). No mention is made of his wife. Andrew was married to Lana ____ and John, Jr. to Margaret _____.
Andrew and Lana had two children at the time of arrival, Lewis (1827) and Charlotte (1828). Five additional children, John (1834), Louisa (1835), Andrew (5 Aug 1839), Henry (1840) and Margaret (1842), were born in Ava, N.Y.
John Christian Hetzel, a wagonmaker, (1777) and his wife, Christiana B. _____ (1777) brought four children, including a son, Frederick Johann (1819). The others are not listed by name in the census of 1835.
Frederick Johann Hetzel and Charlotte Reams were married about 1847. Frederick and Charlotte had eleven children. The nine oldest were born in Ava. The two youngest were born in the state of Iowa.
About 1865, Frederick and Charlotte moved to Boone County, Iowa and then to Stratford, Iowa in Hamilton County.
Most of the children of Frederick J. Hetzel and Charlotte Reams moved to Nebraska. In Sept, 1890, Frederick Johan, Jr. died of dropsy of the heart. John George died the following month on 27 Nov. 1890 of typhoid fever. John's death occurred in Rushville, Nebraska, but he was buried at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Omaha.
John George Hetzel had homesteaded a plot of land in Sheridan County, Nebraska. This farm was inherited by Frederick, Sr., and Charlotte. They moved from Iowa to farm in Nebraska until the farm was sold on 4 Nov. 1899 to Frank Weber for five hundred dollars.
Frank J. Hetzel and his wife Lucille had opened a grocery store in Omaha in 1890 in cooperation with L.G. and others in the family. The store was known as Hetzel Brothers' Grocery. Charles A. Hetzel, my grandfather worked in the store until about 1895. After the death of Lucia, he left Omaha to live with his parents in Gordon City, Sheridan County, Nebraska. Although the farm had been sold in 1899, they were still there at the time of the census of 1900.
The Omaha City Directory of 1897 indicates that Frank and Lucille left Omaha to go to Cripple Creek, Colorado. However, by 1900, he had moved to Oak Park, Cook County, Illinois.
Sometime after the census of 1900, Frederick Johan, Sr. and Charlotte moved to Illinois. Frederick died there in 1900 and Charlotte in 1908. They had probably gone to live with Frank.
Frank and Lucille are shown in the census of 1910 and 1920.
Charles A. Hetzel does not appear in the census of 1910, but in 1920, he was living in Gordon City, Sheridan County, Nebraska, and had married Carrie Kudler. They had two young children.
At any rate, Frederick, my father, the son of Charles A. Hetzel and Lucia Damas grew up in Opelousas. The only record of him there is his religious confirmation in 1901.
He is not shown in the censuses of 1900 or 1910. It is not known when he left Opelousas to work as a hotel waiter.
He married Letitia Leona Duvernay on 11 Dec. 1912. They had two children, Audrey Mae (20 Sept 1914) and Frederick J., Jr. (23 Feb. 1916)