Charles Lindemann was born in Günterode, a village near Heiligenstadt in the State of Thuringia, Germany in July 1847. The Lindemann family has deep ancestral roots in Thuringia. The earliest known ancestor in the village of Teistungen was Charles' great-great grandfather, Johann Georg Lindemann (c.1700 - 1767). His great grandfather, Johann Wilhelm was born in 1735 and lived until 1808 in the same village. His grandfather Johann Heinrich lived there as well from his birth in 1777 to his death in 1847. Charles' father, Jacob was a schoolteacher who moved to neighboring Günterode from his hometown of Teistungen.

St. Georgs Church built in 1713, where Charles was baptized in Günterode

His brother Theodor moved to Heiligenstadt and exchanged letters with his brother Charles and nephew Theodore into the 1920's.

Charles' brother Theodor Lindemann - 1923

Susan Beissel's great grandfather Paul Beissel was born about 1735. He married Magdalena Schlosser in February 1759. Their son Johann was born in Kleinmacher, Luxembourg in 1775.

Heinrich was a vintner in Kleinmacher. He married Marie Weissen on January 29, 1834. She was the daughter of Peter Weissen and Marie Hoffman and was born in 1808 in Wecker, Luxembourg .

Charles and Susan abt 1872, shortly after she arrived and around the time they married

Susan was the tenth child of Heinrich and Marie and was born Klienmacher in 1853. Her mother died in 1861 and her father followed in 1866. The family split up and Susan followed her older brother John to America in 1872.

North America

Susan's eldest brother John (b. 1835) sailed to America in 1855. He settled in Detroit, Michigan before 1863 and began using the name Bissell. He worked for the Michigan Central Railroad for many years. He married Katherine Bower and had at least four boys, Charles(1867), Henry(1868), John(1874) and William/Edward (1880).

Susan's grandson Clarence knew this family as as he always claimed Susan's maiden name was Bissell.

Several of Susan's siblings left Luxembourg for France. Peter born in 1842, became a Christian brother under the name Fère Arèse, and settled in Reims. Catherine (b. 1852) went to France and became a nun. Magdalena (b. 1839) was married in Metz, France.

Jean Pierre was born in 1886, and married Elisabeth Moll in 1906. They had two daughters, Alice and Yvonne. Jean Pierre died in Clausen in October 1963.

Anna Marie Beissel and Peter Schmit

Yvonne, Elisabeth and Alice Schmit in Clausen, Luxembourg, 1955

50th Wedding Anniversary of Jean Pierre and Elisabeth (nèe Moll) Schmit - August 16, 1956

Susan and her descendents wrote to Anna Marie and the Schmits for several generations. Contact was lost but re-established at least a couple of times. Family news and photographs have been exchanged across the Atlantic for over 135 years. 

Michel & Mathias Schmit

The families were finally reunited when the granddaughter of Anna Marie Beissel and great-great-grandson of Susan Beissel met in Luxembourg in November 2009.

Heinrich's first cousin, Hubert Beissel, the son of Johann Beissel's brother Nicholas was born in Kleinmacher in 1800. Hubert married Barbe Sandt in 1827 and they had seven children, three of whom died in childhood. Barbe died in 1852 and Hubert sailed to America with at least two of his children, John (b. 1833) and John Bartholomew (b. 1835) in 1855, same year as John (Beissel) Bissell.

Susan's brother John and her cousins probably knew of each other's immigration. Otherwise, it would be an extraordinary coincidence that they would both travel thousands of miles from Klienmacher in the same year and end up within a few miles of each other in Michigan. Most Luxembourgers settled farther west in Chicago, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa.

They had three children; Theodore (1875), Celia (1877) and Marie (1882). Susan kept house while Charles worked as a clerk for the American Express Co. They lived at 131 Laurel Street prior to the turn of the century.

Theodore was educated at the St. Mary's Seminary in Baltimore in the late 1890's where he suffered from typhoid. He finished his religious studies in Sandwich, Ontario and was ordained a Roman Catholic priest in Detroit in 1900. Consequently, he had no children.

Four Generations - Susan (Beissel) Lindemann, Marie (Lindemann) Miller, Clarence Miller and Jeanne in 1933

Charles and Susan moved to Fowler, Michign when Theodore was assigned to the Most Holy Trinity church there in 1906. They returned to Detroit with him in 1917. Charles died in Detroit on December 8,1926. Susan lived with her daughter Marie until she died on June 12, 1935.

Fr. Ted, c. 1900

Fr. Ted, c. late 1930s

Theodore performed his first mass at St. Boniface in Detroit in 1900. He left shortly thereafter for Kalamazoo to become assistant pastor at St. Augustine's. He was only there for a short time before he was transferred to St. Joseph's in Detroit to be the Assistant Pastor. He transferred in 1906 to Fowler, Michigan to act as Pastor at Most Holy Trinity. His parents went with him and lived in the Rectory there. Ted was popular with the German-speaking congregation in Fowler as he spoke and wrote fluent German, thanks to his parents. Father Ted built a new church in Fowler that was completed in 1917, after he had been reassigned. He returned to celebrate the first Mass there with the Bishop. Some of the donated stained glass windows bear the names of the Miller's, Sheehan's and Lindemann's, as well as Father Ted.

In 1917, Father Ted was transferred back to Detroit to become Pastor of St. Joseph's Catholic Church on Jay Street. He was made the last irremovable pastor in the Diocese where he remained until he died there in 1940. As the pastor of St. Joseph's Father Ted rated a biographical entry with photo in Volume III of "The City of Detroit 1701- 1922" (S.J. Clarke Pub. Co. 1922). Strangely, the article claims that his mother was from Clausen, Luxembourg, the error was repeated on her prayer cards after her death. Father Ted is buried in the family plot at Mt. Olivet.

The Lindemann-Miller-Sheehan family plot at Mt. Olivet includes the original immigrants from Europe, their three children and their two grandchildren. Below is a photo of that plot with Charles and Susan Lindemann, Father Theodore Lindemann, Celia and Jeremiah Sheehan, Clarence F. Miller and Marie Miller and Clarence C. and Marie Miller and Carl Sheehan.