Rob Vance’s Gildermeister family (potentially originally spelled “Gildemeister” in Pomerania) arrived in Chicago just before the Chicago Fire. He states that his site is “about my Prussian paternal lines, with surnames they and others had a hard time spelling consistently.”

From DNA research and the history of First Bethlehem Lutheran Church, he believes his family originated from the area around Lauenburg. He is also researching his Radtke family, which appears to be connected with the Rettke family from Charbrow as well.

Follow his family history and see where yours intersects. He has put together a wonderful website to trace his ancestors back and share his genealogy.

Visit his ChicagoGildermeisters page on Google Sites. It’s chock full of sources from his family tree, ranging from census records and obituaries to outward links to charts and maps. His other site, GildemeisterRadtkeProject, is based around his ancestors in the U.S.

Rob Vance

Rob Vance is a genealogy buff from Southern California. He had the good luck to have a leg up on his family tree from his mother's cousins at an early age. Then he had a 40 year brick wall on his dad's side which broke through in 2017 with help from DNA testing at Ancestry. It's been quite a ride since then to catch up on lost time. My Pomeranian relations are the last piece of the puzzle and have they been challenging! Surnames of interest from Prussia/Pomerania are Gildermeister and Radtke and location is Lauenburg/Lebork.