Ida (Edith) Seega Rivers Gozemba

Ida Seega was the youngest of the five daughters. In those days it was customary for a father to give a dowery to the new son-in-law upon the marriage to his daughter. By the time it came to Ida to get married, there was no money left for a dowery. Poor Ida was left to find a husband who would marry her with out a dowery.

Ida left Siemienau, Prussia in April 1923 and came to Philadelphia. Her sponsor Emma Anussek (born Braun) wanted a German bride for her son. When she arrived, the son already had a girlfriend. She was unhappy and wrote to her Uncle Frederick, who picked her up and brought her to Troy, New York. Ida met and married Charles Alexander Rivers, Jr. They soon had a son Charles Hermen Rivers. The marriage didn't work out. She divorced Charlie in 1924. Because her English was poor and was working as a cook for some rich people the court didn't feel that she could raise a child. Her son Charles was awarded to his father to raise. Ida would visit her son on his Dad's farm. Her son remembers her arriving in a chauffeured car when she came to visit. (The car belonged to her employers.) While working Ida was able to sponsor two of her sisters, Emma and Martha, so they could come to America.

Ida kept in touch with her family in Siemienau,Prussia. Through them she found out that her childhood sweetheart, whom she was unable to marry without a dowery, had married and lost his wife and now had a two sons. In 1936, the wife of Ida's childhood sweetheart, Paul died and Ida took advantage of a special Olympic travel promotion to return to Berlin. There she attended the 1936 Berlin Olympic Games for four days and saw Jessie Owens compete. She returned to Siemienau to visit her parents and reconnected with the widower, Paul Gozemba.

A year later, Ida married Paul and became the stepmother of Paul's two children, Gerhard and Paul. Ida and Paul had four children together. In 1939, when Paul was 36, the German army was recruiting soldiers and he was conscripted into the military. In the beginning of the war he served in the military police MP in France and came home on leave periodically. During these leaves, three more children were conceived and they were born in his absence.

East Prussia was settled by the Teutonic knights (ex-crusaders) in the 1200's. East Prussia was in habited (at this time) by German speaking people for 700 years until World War II, when it was ceded to Poland and 12.4 million Germans were forced to evacuate, including Ida and the 5 children. At this time she had no idea where Paul was. Ida left Siemienau in January 1945, ahead of the Russian army, reached Osterode and was forced to return home. In September 1945 they left Siemienau for good. They found their father on his birthday, September 13th 1945 in Allenstein. He had been in a Russian concentration camp from March 1, 1945 until September 1945 and weighted 87 pounds.

The family lived in a camp in East Germany until they moved to Gladebeck. They lived in Gladebeck from July 1956 to August 1950 waiting to join their family in America. Thousands of Germans wanted to come to the US and there was a very long waiting list. Ida convinced the family to go to America and wrote to her sister, Martha, for sponsorship. Martha had to declare $10,000 in assets for each person sponsored ($70,000). Charles, Ida's son by her previous marriage wanted to sponsor them but he was not yet 21 years old. On his 21st birthday, June 17, 1950, Charles signed the papers and the family was able to depart Europe on Aug 8, 1950, and arrived in Hobken, New Jersey on August 19, 1950.

In August of 2000 the family had a 50th reunion of their arrival into the U.S. with a lot of Aunts, Uncles and Cousins. There were 24 of us who visited Ellis Island in memory of Grandma and her arrival in the US. Of course, the highlight of the trip was to see Ida Seega Gozemba's name on the wall of honor!

 

 Index of Families: Chittenden, Rivers, Seega, Tupper

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Resa Rivers
Email me at: resa@omnipages.com

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This page web page was update 5/14/2002