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THE TRIBE-DESCHAMPS-WEDEKIND
generations 1-3 for everybody
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The Clans
surnames you will find on this page
ADAMS,BROWN,DESCHAMPS,HEIDELBURG,LUDWIG,SHOEMAKER,WEDEKIND
ADAMS GORFF BRAUNE BROWN NAGEL
We've traced our tribe back to the height of the French Revolution. At that time, the King and Queen
and all the Nobility were exempt from taxation, only the poor and merchant classes paid
any tax. This led to widespread deprivation among the poorest,and much of the
population was unable to provide for their families, while the King and Queen and some
of the Nobility openly flaunted unlimited extravance. An attempt to further increase the
tax burden on the citizens led to a violent revolt.
JOHN P. DESCHAMPS was born in 1789, the year the French stormed the Bastielle in Paris.
He was a militry man and a scholar, fluent in several languages. He was for a time
the provost marshall at the fortress at Metz, France.
MARIE HEIDELBURG was born in 1793, the same year that the King and his Queen ,Marie
Antoinette were beheaded. About the only gains that women obtained from the revolution at that
time was the freedom from tightly laced corsets , hoop skirts, and high powdered
wigs as clothing styles became more relaxed.
John and Marie Deschamps came to the United States in about 1842 and lived in New
York City. They are the matriarch and patriarch of our tribe.
They had seven children.
1. Peter Deschamps , born: 1815 in Metz, France. Peter was also a military man and had
served in the French military before comming to the US where he was also in the military.
He fought in the Mexican War of 1848, He suffered from serious exposure and was
discharged, but died shortly after in New York City.
2. Franz Deschamps, born: 1817 in Metz, France. Franz remained in France where he was
a secretary to Napoleon III. He retired from government service in Paris with a pension.
3. Josef Deschamps,born 1819 in Metz, France. Josef also remained in France and lived in
Paris.
4.Katherine Deschamps, born 1821 in Metz, France. It is believed she also remained in
France.
5. Jeannette Lizzette Deschamps, born 1823 in Metz, France. She came to the United States with her
parents, but nothing is known of her life.
6. Sophie Heidelburg Deschamps ,born March 12, 1825 in Metz, France and died
January 9, 1900 in Nashville, Tennessee. Sophie is the mother of all the following clans.
7. George Deschamps, born: 1830 in Alsace-Lorraine France. He had a saloon in Nashville,
Tennessee on Church street. He died in 1920 in Nashville and is buried at Mt. Olivet cemetery there.
George also had at least one son, also named George.
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the second generation
SOPHIE HEIDELBURG DESCHAMPS (Marie Heidelburg) was born March 12, 1825
in Metz, France. FREDRICK WEDEKIND, a tailor, was born in Hannover, Germany
on November 15, 1823. He had two brothers, Heinrich and Wilhelm and a sister,
Wilhelmina.
Sophie and Fredrick married in 1853 in New York City and had two daughters there.
Jeanette, born in 1854 and Hortense Katherine born in 1855. They then moved to Macon,
Mississippi where their third daughter Adelheide Irene was born in 1858.
When their fourth and fifth daughters were born, Martha Eddins in 1859, and Geneveive Isabelle in
1861, they were living in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
They spent the Civil War Years in Alabama and Mississippi. About the only thing the family did not do without was
the taste of "real" coffee. Fredrick often slipped across the lines to trade Southern Tobacco
for Northern Coffee but life was still very hard on a young family.
Fredrick was an abolitionist.
Family stories (not yet verified) say he suffered some prison time for it
during the civil war.
Reconstruction was an especially
difficult time for all families in the South.
Farms had been destroyed, supply lines disrupted and the political system was in chaos.
Federal ocupation troops provided some order, but
still, there was rampant lawlesness and much need among the population. I am
sure Fredrick's ability to make a living for his family was much affected. Sophie told stories to
her grandchildren about the miseries of Reconsruction.
I don't know when they returned to Macon, Mississippi, but the family was in Macon
for the 1870 census ,and until Fredrick's death on
December 18, 1879.
he is buried in Macon in an unmarked grave in the Oddfellows Cemetery there.See his 1878 will
Sophie died in Nashville, Tennessee on January 9, 1900 and is buried at Mt. Olivet
Cemetery.
Sophie and Fredrick had five daughters.
WEDEKIND
1. Jeannette Wedekind,(Sophie Deschamps, Marie Heidelburg) born 1854 in New
York City.
2. Hortense Katherine Wedekind,(Sophie Deschamps, Marie Heidelburg) born February 11,
1855 in New York City.
3. Adelheide Irene Wedekind, (Sophie Deschamps, Marie Heidelburg) born June
26, 1858 in Macon, Mississippi.
4. Martha Eddins Wedekind, (Sophie Deschamps, Marie Heidelburg) born
October 20, 1859 in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
5. Geneveive Isabelle Wedekind, (Sophie Deschamps, Marie Heidelburg) born
February 11, 1861 in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
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the third generation
The five daughters of Sophie Deschamps and Fredrick Wedekind gave them thirty-five
grandchildren. By the 1880's this generation covered the United States from New York to
California, north to Montana, and south to Tennessee and Alabama.
Each daughter became the mother of a Clan and all of their
families.
ADAMS
JENNETTE WEDEKIND, born 1854 in New York City, was an opera singer. She married her
singing coach, John Adams in New York. She traveled the country with concerts and did
not keep in close touch with her family. There is not much known about her decendants.
She died in New York City.
Jeannette and John Adams had three children.
1. Beatrice Adams,( Jeannette Wedekind, Sophie Deschamps, Marie
Heidelburg)
2. Marian Adams,( Jeannette Wedekind, Sophie Deschamps, Marie Heidelburg)
3. Son( given name unknown) Adams ,( Jeannette Wedekind, Sophie Deschamps, Marie
Heidelburg)
BROWN
Martha W. and Ezra Brown
MARTHA EDDINS WEDEKIND (Sophie Deschamps, Marie Heidelburg) was born in Tuscaloosa, Alabama on
October 20, 1859. Martha traveled alone by covered wagon from Mississippi to Montana Territory To visit her sister Geneveive. There she
married Ezra Jackson Brown on February 8, 1882 in Cascade, Montana. Ezra was born in September 1859 in Fleetwood, Pennsylvania.
They had seven children. Ezra died in 1924. Martha died
in 1951 at the age of 92.They are buried together in Chestnut Valley Cemetary in Cascade, Montana. Martha Wedekind Brown in Montana
the children of Martha Wedekind and Ezra Jackson Brown are:
1. Geneveive Brown (Martha Wedekind, Sophie Deschamps, Marie Heidelburg)
born April 15, 1884 and died in 1907 in Cascade, Montana
2.Elsie Eddins Brown (Martha Wedekind, Sophie Deschamps, Marie Heidelburg)
born August 28, 1886 in Cascade, Montana Elsie married Frank Shoemaker. They were Montana ranchers.
Elsie and Frank celebrate their 50th Anniversary
3. Benjamin Wedekind Brown (Martha Wedekind, Sophie Deschamps, Marie Heidelburg)
born December 11, 1888 and died June 1968 in Cascade, Montana
4. Ruth Brown (Martha Wedekind, Sophie Deschamps, Marie Heidelburg)
born Cascade, Montana. Ruth's married name was Ludwig
5. Ruben Arnot Brown(Martha Wedekind, Sophie Deschamps, Marie Heidelburg)
born August 16, 1892 and died in 1964 in Cascade, Montana
6. Ezra Jay Brown (Martha Wedekind, Sophie Deschamps, Marie Heidelburg)
born November 22, 1894 and died in 1897 in Cascade, Montana
7. Claude Deschamps Brown(Martha Wedekind, Sophie Deschamps, Marie Heidelburg)
born March 10, 1896 in Cascade, Montana He died January 1977 in Great Falls, Montana
GORFF
BRAUNE
NAGEL
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last update: 10-1-98
