The Walter P. Chrysler Family
Lineage of Walter P. Chrysler, Auto Baron:
Generation 01:
Johann William Kreussler was born in 1560 and died prior to 1621. Johann was the chief magistrate or mayor in Niederhadamar, a little town north of Limburg-on-the Lahr.
Generation 02:
Hans (Johann) Casper Kruessler was the mayor of Neiderneisen-on-the-Aar during the Thirty Years War. The Kruessler family fled to the fortified town of Dietz. Hans Casper, in Dietz, of the plague, on June 12, 1635. His wife, Catherina, died in August 1635 after she had seen three of their children die of the plague.
Generation 03:
Hans (Johann) Friedrich Kruessler survived the plague of 1635 but was left an orphan. His older brother, Hans Daniel, a Landhauptman, was thought to have raised Hans Friedrich. They lived in Nassau-Dietz. Strangely enough this is the time period when the House of Nassau Counts also ruled Nassau-Dietz. Could they actually have relatives there from the Counts?
Researched and compiled by Margaret Odrowaz-Sypniewska
Hans Friedrich was chief magistrate of Flacht-on-the-Aar. Hans had twelve children by two wives. Hans died on September 26, 1685.
Generation 04:
Johann Phillip Kruessler, was the eighth born son od Hans Daniel Kruessler. He was born in Niederneisen and was baptized on January 26, 1679, in Flacht-on-the Aar. In 1708, fifty people of the Lower Palatinate petioned the British government to transport them to the American Colonies. Johann Phillip and his wife Anna Catherine Kruessler were among these travelers. They took their sons Johann George and Johannes.
In the spring of 1710, they set sail for Plymouth. Of the 3,200 passengers, 470 died before reaching the New Amsterdam (New York) in June 1710.
The British never honored their promise of forty acres of land and five pounds of money, clothes, utensils, tools, etc. The people then learned to trade with the Native American Indians along the Schoharie River and then moved there with their families. Johann Phillip and his son Hieronymus moved again after June 1737. They settled on a large tract in Breakabeen near Fultonham, in Fulton Township.
Generation 05:
Hieronymous was born on March 6, 1713, in West Camp, New Amsterdam. Johann Hieronymous was a loyalist as were his brothers: William, John, Philip. and Adam.
Another son of Johann Phillip was named Johannes. He was born in Lahnthal in 1703. Their name evolved from Kruessler to Kreisler to Greisler.
Generation 06:
Johannes' son was named Heinrich. He was born and baptized in 1739, at Theerbol in Greene County. Heinrich was a private in the Eighth Regiment of the Albany County Militia/First Claverack Natalion in Niagara-on-the-Lake. Henry moved to Canada by 1787. Phillip and John served in the King's Royal Regiment at Fort Stanwix. Adam and William were lietenant and private respectively, in the Butler's Rangers" of Fort Niagara. Everything they owned was confiscated before they could leave the U.S.A., since they fought on the side of the English. John Graves Simcoe, Upper Canada's first lieutenant governor, was in charge of giving land to the Loyalist troops, who fought in the Revolution.
Henry received a grant of 200 acres of land.
Generation 07:
.... Henry's son, was called Henry, junior. Henry, Jr. requested a lot next to his father's land, in Ancaster Township.
.... William, his brother was born in 1777. Wiliam was a surveyor in 1792. William received land in 1794 on Dundas Street. William's deed was confirmed in 1797. Later William also obtained land in Kent County, Ontario, Canada. In 1820, William Chrysler and his sons James and Henry moved to what is now Chatham, Ontario, Canada. They raised tobacco. They sold 2,000 pounds of tobacco in 1822. William then built a new house of King Street.
Generation 08:
...James Chrysler established the first private school in Chatham, Ontario, Canada, in 1826.
...Henry Chrysler (b. 1799)was the eldest son of William, was the great-grandfather of Walter P. Crysler. Henry married Martha Dolsen, a descendant of Teunis van Dolsen, the first white male to be born in New Amsterdam, in 1820. Henry was Superintendant of Schools, Chief of the Board of Health, and Dispenser of Charities.
Henry and Martha had eight children.
Generation 10:
1 -
2 -
3 - John Matthews Chrysler was born in 1829, in Chatham, Ontario, Canada. John was the grandfather of Walter P. Chrysler. John Matthew Chrysler married Hannah Ludy. Hannah died giving birth to their third child. John Matthew Chrysler's second wife was Isabella Clapperton. Isabella bore him four daughters.
Generation 11:
1 - Teresa Chrysler married Robert Blythe on January 14, 1858.
2 - Henry Chrysler was born September 17, 1850, in Chatham, Ontario, Canada. Henry moved back to the United States, shortly after the death of his mother, Martha. Henry moved to Wyandotte, Kansas. Henry then went to Armourdale, Kansas and joined the Union Army on March 12, 1863. He was in Company I, Twelfth Regiment, of the Kansas Volunteer Infantry, under Captain Joseph T. Gordon. He was a drummer boy.
Henry was a locomotive engineer. He married Anna _____.
3 - Sarah Chrysler
Generation 12:
...Walter P. Chrysler was born April 2, 1875, in the northeastern Kansa town of Wemego and grew up in Ellis, Kansas (on the western side of the state). While living in Ellis, Walter began to work as a machinist's apprentice with the Union Pacific Railway. He was only 17 years old, but he would work for the railroads for the next twenty years. He got engaged to Della Forker in 1896. Her father was not thrilled with this. He married Della Forker, daughter of George Forker and Sarah Catherine Wesse (married in 1867 in Pennsylvania, on June 6, 1901, in Ellis, Kansas, Della's hometown. They were married in the Methodist Church by Reverand J. F. Johnson. Walter was only age 26, at the time of their marriage. Walter P. Chrysler wouldn't enter the auto business until 1912.
On May 26, 1938, Walter P. Chrysler suffered a stoke at his King's Point home on Long Island, New York. On August 8, 1938, Della Chrysler had a cerebral hemmorage and died at 7 p.m.. She was buried in Sleep Hollow Cemetary in Tarrytown, New York. Soon after her daeth Walter began building their Greek-styled mausoleum. On August 18, 1940, Walter P. Chrysler died as a result of his second stroke on August 15th. His funeral was held on Wednesday, August 20, 1940. at 11 p.m. He was buried in their mausoleum, in Tarrytown, New York.
Walter;s sister Irene Harvey attended his funeral. Walter's home is now a U.S. Merchant Marine Academy.
Walter P. Chrysler's gross estate was $9,844,394.00 with a net worth of $8,854,761.00.
Generation 13:
....Thelma Irene Chrysler was born in 1902, and died August 20, 1957 of leukemia.
....Bernice was born in 1906, and died in Cambridge.
....Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. was born May 27, 1909. He married Margaret "Peggy" Sykes. They divorced in October 1939.
....Jack Forker Chrysler, son of Walter P. Chrysler, was born on January 7, 1912 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He married on November 26, 1941 to Edith Helen Backus, daughter of Frederick C. Backus and Helen C. Fichtel.
...........Helen and Jack had a daughter named Helen Chrysler. Helen was born February 2, 1944 ...........Jack Chrysler Jr. was born May 31, 1946. Jack died November 7, 1958.
Sources:
Curcio, Vincent. Chrysler, The Life and Times of a Automotive Genius New York: Oxford Press, 2000.
Hilliker, H. Crysler. Crysler, Chrysler, History and Family Tree. Bloomfield Hills, MI.
Louda, Jiri and Michael Maclagen. Lines of Succession: Heraldry of the Royal Families of Europe. New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 2002.
van Oostrom, Frits Peter. Court and Culture, Dutch Literature, 1350-1459 (translated by Arnold J. Pmerans). Berkeley: University of California Press, 1992.
