Gerald Seiflow 1998
P R E F A C E
This website is primarily concerned with the family relationships of the forebears of the children of Max and Emma Seiflow (of whom I am the youngest). They are shown in alphabetical order page by page by families, that is by parents and their children. Since the children include the parents of the next generation (printed in blue where appropriate), there is overlapping, but I have tried to avoid excessive repetition.
The primary source of information has been the collection of family papers, initially I think put together by my grandfather Ludwig Andreas Seifloh (as the surname was spelt until the 1890s and who had died in 1872), and I assume taken over and added to by Max from 1884 when he was 21. Among the papers is the pair of Reuleaux family trees created by Major Oskar Reuleaux in 1920, hugely detailed and beautifully presented. These and other sources of information, such as the "Birthday Book" and the family Bible, are described elsewhere on the site..
The first publication of the family Archives was in 1988. At that time, home computers were only just coming in, and the document had therefore to be photocopied (a massive undertaking by Patrick and Marlene Seiflow - 25 copies each of 112 pages!). The copies were bound and distributed among members of the family. It was realised however that these copies would eventually be lost, and with the advent of home computing the text, revised where necessary, was rewritten and stored on disk. It was then considered that the document should be made readily available for future generations, and the rewritten text (with additions) was copied onto a website. It has now been extensively edited, a continuing process..
N B: "our" and "my" refer throughout to my siblings and me.
Gerald
Seiflow
Swanage (Dorset) and Whetstone (Leicester)
1988-2003
ERRATA - October 2006
It has been brought to my attention that because of a misreading of an inaccurate document, the section labelled "Johann Heinrich and Dorothea Graeser" needs to be corrected. Johann Heinrich was married, not to a Dorothea Mussezage (who seemingly did not exist),
but to Maria Philippine Boltz, on 10 November 1802. Sally Long (neé Hyde) has pointed out that she was born in 1945, not 1943. These and other errors elsewhere are being, or will be, corrected in due course, together with other less critical information.