John Nefzger

    Grandma was from Hamburg, Germany. She was born in 1881. My only memory about her background was that she worked as a domestic for a public official. I don’t know how she met grandpa. I know she followed him to the U.S. She spoke very little English and suffered with arthritis. My mother told me she had difficulty adjusting to her new country. She was always kind to my sister and when we visited her and Grandpa in their Union City apartment in the 1950’s. She was a great cook of German food which my sister loved and I didn’t. The apartment was cramped and hot and I was always glad when our visit ended. Grandma passed away on around 1965. She had a  tremendous influence on my father as I will discuss next.

Hans Nefzger, hereinafter referred to as “Dad”, was born on January 26, 1910 in Hoboken NJ. Since Grandpa was away on ships, Dad spent his infant years alone with Grandma. 

     Adolf and Dorothea Nefzger were born in the latter part of the nineteenth century. They immigrated from Germany to the United States in the early nineteen hundreds.  Adolf, my grandfather was born to an unwed mother in 1884. He took the name of his mother, which was Nefzger. The little known about his youth was related to me by my father. He evidently had to go out on his own early in life. I know he learned something about landscaping and joined the German Navy as a reservist around 1904. He was assigned to duty on the Kaiser Wilhelm’s yacht, the Hohenzollern. I am in possession of old photos, which depicts his class on the ship. My Dad indicated that Grandpa’s job on the ship involved dining room duties, such as setting and decorating tables. Dad also said that Adolf met the Czar of Russia when the Kaiser’s yacht met his ship at sea. The is that the crew had seamanship contests. Grandpa, the story goes received a commemorative medal from Czar Nicholas, which he later lost in a card game! 

  After serving in the Navy, Adolf went to on German passenger liners. I do not know what he did on those ships, but my guess is that be worked in the dining rooms. I do not know why he decided to immigrate to America, but he probably felt there was more economic opportunity here. Grandpa continued to work on ships for some time. My father, Hans, who was born in 1910, related to me that his early boyhood was spent alone with his mother while his father worked at sea.

   World War I was a traumatic time for the family.  Anti-German feelings ran high. Grandpa evidently could no longer work on German Liners and started working at home. I know he ran a delicatessen in Jersey City, NJ. Hans was active in the boy scouts when he was a teenager. He became an Eagle Scout and I still have a display of his badges. Evidently, education was important to my grandparents, because Hans enrolled in Stevens Institute of Technology after going to Dickinson High School in Jersey City. Grandpa passed away in 1963. I will return to Hans after a few brief notes about my grandmother Dorothea.

     It is important, in my estimation, that future generations be provided with some information about their ancestors.  Accordingly, I will attempt to provide a summary which will hopefully bring life to the folks upon whose shoulders we sit.  My sister Dorothy and I happen to be the last links on our side of the family who personally knew the first Nefzger arrivals to America.  So I will start with the Nefzger-Raith story first, to be followed by the Williams narrative, which goes back to the pioneers in Kentucky and the American Revolution.  Some of what is to be stated is factual and based on memory and some is based on anecdotal information which may bring these folks to life!  Hopefully this story will not get to boring.  Some things will be left out, because of the need for brevity. The high points will be hit.  So here we go!