Treasurer’s Book of the German American Brothers of Sandusky, Ohio

Donated by a member of the Armbruster family, the Treasurer’s Book from the German American Brothers of Sandusky, Ohio covers the years 1927 to 1942. (Due to the ongoing war in Europe, the organization stopped meeting in 1942.) The book contains a yearly listing of the names of members, as well as the amounts of dues that they paid. The original organization was known as the Plattdeutsch Verein, sometimes spelled Platduetscher Vereen.

The German American Brothers of Sandusky, Ohio was a group of men that were all from the Low German speaking area of Germany and neighboring countries. Frequently they had celebrations of dancing and drinking, which were sometimes held in the upper level of the I.O.O.F. (Odd Fellows) building in Sandusky. In the membership listing seen below are the names of Adolph and Martin Brodersen, who operated a grocery store at 1506 McDonough Street in the 1920s and 1930s.

The obituary of Carl Gast, whose name is also on the page above, stated that he had been a member of the German and American Brothers of Sandusky, Ohio. He also had been a member of Zion Lutheran Church, which had many members of German descent in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. You can see the name of Richard Lorenz on page 7 of the treasurer’s book, pictured below.

Eventually Richard changed his name to the Americanized version of his surname, Lawrence. Visit the Sandusky Library Archives Research Center to browse through the Treasurer’s Book of the German American Brothers of Sandusky, Ohio.