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Köster Family Homepage

This Köster Genealogy web site presents the history and genealogy of a branch of the Köster family that emigrated from Germany perhaps as early as the 1840s. We know family members emigrated in the 1860s and 1880s and settled in the states of Illinois and Iowa. After arriving in America, several of our Köster ancestors changed the spelling of their surname. Köster, Koster and Koester surnames are found on this web site.

The records in the “Kirchenbüch” for Berge begin in 1690. However, many years of records are missing or very incomplete. The earliest Köster in the records is Johannes Köster, born say 1650 and married to Catharina Sieffers in about 1679. This couple likely had nine or ten children born between 1679 and 1694. They are very likely our ancestors, but we are not able to trace all of their descendants and confirm a link to our known ancestors.

For this web page, we are reporting the early Köster information and not making a specific connection. Our research is collected on the History page, under the section titled “Early Köster Records from Berge”. We continue to look for information to find the descendant path to our first proven ancestors.

The oldest proven ancestors of this branch of the Köster line are Johan Heinrich Köster, born in about 1712, and Agnes Kramer, likely born about 1720, who lived in the Kingdom of Hanover . They likely had at least five children, Anna Alheid Elsabein Köster, born in 1742, Johan Herman Köster, born in 1749, Johan Henrich Köster, born in about 1750, Johan Theodor (Dirk) Köster, born in 1752 and Johan Hermann Köster, born in 1764. We believe Johan Henrich married Catharina Wobbe, but we continue to search for information about them. We believe Johan Hermann married twice, first to Phenemia Adelheid Krümpelman and second to Phenemia Angelbecke.

One son of Johan Hermann Köster and Phenemia Angelbecke, Herman Gerhard Köster, was born July 3, 1783 in Dalvers bei Berge, Kreis Bersenbrück. We believe Herman Gerhard Köster married three times. He married Anna Catharine Maria Marcus on October 12, 1811. They had at least two children, Herman Bernhard, born January 15, 1812 and Johan Gerd, born March 20, 1815. We believe these oldest sons emigrated to America , perhaps though New Orleans , and arrived about 1844.

After the death of his first wife, Herman Gerhard married Maria Catharina Kreiling and they had at least two children, Hermann Henrich, born March 9, 1817 and Catharina Elisabeth, born 1820. Both of these children emigrated to America in the 1860's.

We believe Herman Gerhard's second wife also died and he married a third time, to Maria Catharina Elisabeth von der Haar. We know their three children were born at Dalvers bei Berge, in what is now Niedersachsen.

Two of Herman Gerhard and Maria Catharine Elisabeth von der Haar's grandchildren, William Köster (1853-1933) and Anna Köster (1863-1933) emigrated to America in the 1880's and they married and raised families. William changed the spelling of his name to Koester and Anna changed her name to Koster and later to her married name – Nieland.