Paul Germanos

Paul, please contact me when you have a chance. I suspect your old email address is no longer in use. You can get to me at h.laubis@gmail.com . I do see that this page of yours is occasionally being looked at by someone, perhaps another Germanos! Best Hubert Laubis 

Folks, here is another great find on Ancestry.com. I, as well as many others, did one of those ‘swab’ samples to see if I could connect with some lost relatives. Well only vague responses showed up for a while and then all of a sudden a few months ago, I came across the name Paul Germanos. On the Ancestry site you have the ability to contact those who show up being possibly related. Here is what I wrote to Paul!

“There can’t be too many Germanos names out there. Your mother’s name is Carol and your grandfather name was Emil who was a cousin of my Father August Laubis. Both came from high black forest of Germany. I have lots of pictures of your family. You can contact me on my email address h.laubis@gmail.com and visit my family website at http://www.hughlaubis.com. Always wondered what happened to Carol. Thanks Hubert Laubis 941-484-4222”

Well almost instantly I got a great answer back Here is what Paul wrote!

Sun, Mar 24

“Hello cousin Hubert, and thank you for contacting me. Yes, I am Carol’s son. And I am too Emil Maier’s grandson. Emil emigrated from Bernau in the Black Forest, passing through New York before settling in Chicago. Emil passed in 1985. And my mother, Carol, nee Maier, passed quite recently: October 17, 2018. I miss both of them tremendously.
The Laubis name is familiar to me. And I’ll pass along your website’s URL to my two younger sisters, Erika and Andrea, as well as Carol’s older brother, Richard. He, Richard F. Maier, is alive and well in Muscoda, Wisconsin, though he’s not one to spend much time on-line.” Best wishes, Paul E. Germanos

The exchange continued:
“Paul thanks for your note. I have lots of pictures and when I get some time to scan them in you will get some . I will put you up as friends and family on the website where they all will go. Help me please I cannot remember your grandmothers name???”
Best Hubert
From Paul Germanos:       478 S. York Elmhurst, IL 60126
(630) 832-0195  paulgermanos@msn.com

” Hubert -My grandfather Emil Maier married Louise Albertine Ledebuhr, the daughter of Ernst Ledebuhr and Bertha Laske. The Ledebuhr family hailed from northeast Germany, and historic Prussia. “Laske” is an archaic region of Sweden; there was a military division called “the Laske Company.”

The Ledebuhr and Laske families tended to be tall, fair, blonde, and Lutheran, whereas I knew my grandfather to be rather short, very broad, with somewhat darker features, and a Roman Catholic faith. Emil and Louise were said to have met at a German-American dance at the Aragon Ballroom on Chicago’s North Side. They had two children: Carol, my mother, and Richard, my uncle. Their home was located at 2255 W. 119th Place, in Blue Island, IL. Throughout his life, Emil was employed as a baker; he was a trade union member. Emil passed away in May of 1985, quite unexpectedly, on his way to visit his grandchildren, while riding in the family car driven being by my mother. He was a good man: kind, hard-working, and independent; he deserved a gentle end, free from suffering.”  

I sent Paul the following pictures taken in New York and in Chicago. We visited each other for the first time in the 1950’s. My father and Emil had not seen each other since teen agers in Bernau Black forest Germany.

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I also sent some later pictures to Paul as well and he helped me identify the one of the Germanos and Maier families which I had never met. Thanks Paul!

Paul identifies the family for me.

“There are seven people in the second photo, below. Left-to-right, they are:

(1) Erika Germanos, age 11 (now her name is Erika King)
(2) Lisa Maier, age 16
(3) Andrea Germanos, age 9
(4) Emil Maier, age 80
(5) Paul Germanos, age 13
(6) Louise Maier, age 77 (nee Louise Ledebuhr)
(7) Rick Maier, age 13

That photograph was taken on the Maier family dairy farm in (population 75) Yuba, Wisconsin.

Thanks for sharing, Paul”

Exchanges went a little further with more pictures of us and our mutual relatives:

“Karl Herr, my pop and mom and Lynn and Paul Streit, who was owner of the resort Albtalblick in St. Blasian. Karl was the forester in that section of the black forest. If you have not already looked all the way through Chapter 2 which covers much of our Herr relatives.” Here is the link ===> Chapter 2 German Lifestyles

“Here is a picture of my family in a home in Bernau 1966
Next is one of the treasures. You can see us in this picture but on the left is your mother’s first cousin Fritz, son of Alfred & Theresal Schellshorn. In the middle is Alfred Schellshorn, husband to your grandfather’s sister Theresal at the right also taken in Bernau in 1966. Note the resemblance. Their other son was Werner who owned a store down in the village.”

“In addition, my parents took a retirement trip back to Germany including Bernau.
So here is a ‘piece’ of video my father took on that visit back in ’66. If you look through and past some of that which does not apply to you, you will see some Bernau stuff. It is historic,  have fun!”
1966 visit back home after retirement

We are looking forward to more exchanges with the Maier and Germanos families!

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