The SASSE name, is a fairly wide-spread name across Germany. I have found several possible meanings for the name. One book said it could refer to a person from Saxony. Another suggestion came from a German-speaking genealogist who said that in older times a Sasse meant an inhabitant or an owner of immobile goods, such as houses, sheds and stables, and also farmland. He added: "Many German words were connected with -sasse, such as Landsasse, etc. Sasse meant (many years ago) in German sitzen (= sitting). Today hunters like to say 'the hare is sitting in his Sasse.'"
Because the name was so wide-spread across Germany, there are many Sasse families in the United States that are not related to the others. This page is an attempt to organize the SASSE families who lived in Fayette county, Illinois. It seems reasonable to assume that they are connected, if only by originating in the same town in Germany. Some of these families, those who came before 1868, immigrated first to Wisconsin, and later moved to Fayette county, Illinois. Those who came later seem to have headed straight to Fayette County as soon as they entered the US.
Sasse families are recorded in church books at Koenigsberg, the "county seat" of the area where Nahausen is, as early as 1584, when Michel Sasse, son of Jacob Sasse and Barbara Wendtland, was baptized there. Early records of Nahausen show that Sasses were farmers there by 1718.
The earliest ancestor that we can identify is Martin Sasse who married Rebecca Loest. He was probably the son of Martin Sasse and Sophia Berckner, born 17 November 1767. There are several Martin Sasses in the records, and the parents' names were not given in the marriage record. The godparents of Martin and Sophia's son were: Joh. Mich. Badicke; Christian Oricke; Martin Warnei; Mrs. Joh. Albrecht, nee Schmidt; Joachim Diedrich's mother; Mrs. Christian Loest nee Stangen; the widow Platen, Mrs. Berckner, nee Albrecht; Mrs. Hans Loest, nee Warnei.
Several of the children of Martin Sasse and Rebecca Loest immigrated to the United States and settled in Wisconsin in the 1840's.
Martin Sasse, Gerichtsmann and Schulzer, (Justice of Peace and Mayor)- married
Rebecca Loest, daughter of Christian Loest & Maria Elisabeth Schwartz.
- born 8 September 1768, Nahausen,
- baptized 8 September 1768.
CHILDREN
- Martin Sasse, born 24 November 1790, Nahausen,
- married Dorothea Maria Fellwock, daughter of Friedrich & Maria Fellwock
- Maria Christina Sasse, born 4 August 1795, Nahausen; died 24 May 1859, Wisconsin
- married Johann F. Fellwock, son of Friedrich & Maria Fellwock
- Michael Friedrich Sasse, born 29 September 1797, Nahausen,
- died 5 July/August 1875, Fayette County, Illinois.
- married Maria Juhr, step-daughter in the Fellwock home.
- Carl Gottlieb Sasse
- born 13 December 1799, baptized 22 December 1799, Nahausen.
- Dorothea Louise Sasse
- born 26 October 1802, baptized 31 October 1802, Nahausen.
- Charlotte Henrietta Sasse
- born 31 December 1804, baptized 6 January 1805, Nahausen.
- Henrietta Anna Charlotte Sasse, born 31 December 1804, Nahausen
- married Michael Friedrich Fellwock, son of Friedrich Fellwock & Maria Warnei.
- Wilhelmine Carolina Sasse
- born 12 January 1808, Nahausen, baptized 17 January 1808.
- Rebecca Sasse, born 22 May 1810, Nahausen, died 1894 in Wisconsin
- married Martin Machmueller, born about 1820, died 1883 in Wisconsin
They farmed in Dodge County, Wisconsin.
- Carl Friedrich Sasse, born 4 August 1813, died 1889 in Illinois
- married (1) Sophia Breitag and (2) Dorothea Maria Mueller, widow of Michael Oertwig
Another group of Sasse families who immigrated to the United States and settled in Fayette County, Illinois, are the children of Friedrich Sasse and his wife Dorothea Louise Oertwig. They also lived at Nahausen, and were undoubtedly acquainted if not related to the Sasse family shown above. Because of the later dates of the births of the children in this family (compared to the family above), they are not included in the Nahausen church books that are available to us. Therefore, there is some speculation about the parentage of the children named here.
Friedrich Sasse son of Carl Gottlieb Sasse and his wife Louise born Sasse
- born 06 Sep 1802, baptized at Nahausen
- married 26 May 1831 in Nahausen to
Dorothea Louise Oertwig, daughter of Martin Fr. Oertwig and Dorothy M Timmen
- born 24 Sep 1803, baptized at Nahausen
- died 13 Jan 1864 in Nahausen (Death date noted on baptism record.)
CHILDREN:
- Dorothea Marie Sasse, born 22 Apr 1832 in Nahausen,
- died 24 Jan 1892 in Fayette County, Illinois
- married 1852 in Stettin, Germany, to Carl Frederick Kruenegel
- Christian Fr. Sasse, born 1836.
- Martin Sasse, born 07 Feb 1839, died 30 Dec 1929, in Fayette County, Illinois,
- probably the son of Frederich & Louise Oertwig Sasse
- married 06 Oct 1864 to Louise Wilhelmine Oertwig
- Henriette Sasse, born 1843, documented as the daughter of Fred and Louise.
- married before 1887 to 1) Carl Ferdinand Hinze, born about 1836, died 15 Sep 1887, in Kaskaskia twp.
- married on 23 Sep 1888 in Fayette county, Illinois, to 2) Hermann Marzahn
- Gottlieb Sasse, born 25 Jun 1845 in Brandenburg, died 01 Feb 1927 in Fayette county, Illinois
- married about 1872 to Margaret Schultz - Ernestine Sasse, documented as the daughter of Fred and Louise
- born 1846, died 18 May 1926
- married (1) (Martin Fr.) Oertwig; and married (2) John Henry Weber
- Michael Sasse, b 1844, might also be the son of this couple. Early family records are sketchy, but it was said that his father was named Fred, and that his mother was an Oertwig. He immigrated in 1868 with his bride-to-be Henrietta Oertwig and they were married in Fayette County, Illinois in October 1868. Michael and Henrietta Sasse Family
Back to Nahausen Families | Our Family
Layout and HTML coding © 1999 - 2008 MJH