Charles "Charlie" John Roggerman or Roggermann was born February 1855 in Germany on Rügen Island. He emigrated to America in 1881 or 82. 

He married Louise S. Rehman or Rheman on November 5, 1885 in Adrian, Michigan. Louise was born on September 13, 1863 in New Jersey.

They had four children.

  1. Leonard Roggerman

  2. Huldah E. Fitzpatrick

  3. Ralph R. Roggerman

  4. George B. Roggeman

Charles died at the age of 86 in 1941 of burns he suffered when he apparently fell asleep while smoking while sitting in a living room chair. He was living with his son, Leonard, in Dundee, Michigan at the time.

Although we have done a fair amount of searching, Charles is the most distant ancestor we have discovered in our Roggerman line. His wife was born in New Jersey and raised in Pennsylvania as far as we know. Somehow, Charles came to America around 1881 or 82 and ended up marrying Louise in Adrian, Michigan in 1885. There are other Roggermans in New Jersey and New York but so far, we have not been able to make a definite connection to Charles.

He listed his birthplace as Rügen Island, Germany on a U.S. Census form but we have not been able to find definite relatives of his in the records for that location. Once this website is up and running, we will continue to look for our Roggerman (or Roggeman or Roggermann) relatives.
 

Grandparents

Charles and Louisa were living in Dundee Township with their 4 children and working a 26 acre farm they owned. They had 3 horses and 2 cows and a telephone.

Note: The number of children must have been mistakenly reported. All four of them were adults and off on their own by 1916.

Living in Dundee Township were Charles (45), Louisa (35) and their children Huldah (13), Ralph R. (12) and George (10). Their last name was spelled Roggermann. Louisa was shown as born in Pennsylvania and her mother was born in New Jersey.

Charles (55) was listed as living in Dundee Township with his wife, Louisa (45) with their son, Leonard (25). At that time, their daughter, Hulda Fitzpatrick (23) was also living with them along with her daughter, Signoa I. (1)

Note: George might have been living as a boarder at this time. He got married to Floss Getty in 1911.

In this census, Charles was listed as Charlie (64) and Louise (54) living in Dundee Township. He had his papers submitted to become a U.S. citizen. His birthplace was Is. Ruegen, Germany

Two children, Alma R. and Elmer E. Ellsworth were listed as boarders with them. Alma was listed as having been born in New York while Elmer was born in Michigan.

At this time 75 year old Charles and 66 year old Louisa were living on Laskey Road in Dundee Township. Charles' birthplace was listed as Pomerania/Pmmern, Deutschland. Louisa's birthplace was New Jersey.

Charles (85) was living at 650 Pearl Street in Dundee with his son, Leonard and his wife Sarah.

Note: Charles died from burns suffered in a home fire in 1941.

Roggerman or Roggeman or Roggermann? In U.S. Census forms, the name is listed as either Roggerman or Roggeman. With the exception of Charles Roggerman's (right) youngest child, George who chose to use the name Roggeman without the "r", the rest of the family regularly used Roggerman.

In some German records it is spelled Roggermann and that is how it appears on the headstone for Charles, the ancestor who came from Germany although he used Roggerman during his life in America... from what we can tell.

The wife of Charles Roggerman is listed as Louisa Rehman or Rheman in some records and Raymond in others including her obituary. Similarly, her son Ralph's middle name is usually listed as Raymond, however, his daughter, Mildred Heiden said that it should have been Rehman.