Louisa Sophia (Rehmann) Roggerman was the paternal grandmother of Mildred (Roggerman) Heiden.

Louisa, who was born on September 13, 1863 In New Germany (now Egg Harbor), New Jersey. She married Charles John Roggerman in Adrian, Michigan on November 5, 1884.

The earliest person we have found in this family so far is Wilhelmus Rehmann or Rahmen who was born in 1737 in Lower Saxony, Germany. In 1852, his grandson, Carl "Conrad" Rehmann (1796-1877) came to America and landed in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Future generations would live in that area and to the east into New Jersey. Louisa was one of Wilhelmus' great, great granddaughters.

Many of them lived in a place called New Germany which was a place where recent immigrants often settled and where German customs and society were maintained. It is now called Egg Harbor City, New Jersey. Quite a few of the extended Rehman family still live in that area or in Philadelphia itself.

Much of the information we have on this family came from a genealogical document prepared by Jacqueline R. Harrington, a fourth great granddaughter of Wilhelmus Rehmann. It was provided to my sister, Kay Dushane, by Beverly Tamanini who is also in the Rehmann family. She and Kay both took DNA tests through Ancestry.com and were shown to be distant cousins.

From that document and other sources, we have around 800 people who are directly descended i.e. share DNA, with Wilhelmus Rehmann. These are all listed in the Direct Descendants Lists. Click on the names below for more information.

Wilhelm vs Wilhelmus - According to several sources on the internet, Wilhelm is the standard German given name, while Wilhelmus is a Latinized, formal, or archaic variant derived from the same Germanic roots. Wilhelmus as a form of Wilhelm is often used in older church records or formal documents. It is also a name associated with Dutch history.

The Rehmann family originated in the region of Lower Saxony, Germany. The other German families included in this website came from the Mecklenburg Schwerin region. The Roggermans emigrated from Rügen Island just off the northern coast and the Heidens, Rambows, Milhans, Kanseyers and Dreiers lived in small villages in the middle of the region.