Luxembourgers and descendants of immigrants from Luxembourg have contributed, and continue to contribute greatly to the fabric of the United States of America. Early, US-born descendants of immigrants from Luxembourg could be identified with a certain ease as they were themselves aware of their parents or grand-parents' nativity. Today's fifth or sixth generation descendants are more difficult to ascertain, unless they achieve some very notable deed or high office, such as J. Dennis Hastert, (Speaker of the House) or Paul C. Lauterbur (2003 Nobel Prize winner), enticing genealogists and historians to scrutinize their particular ancestry. Professor Paul C. Lauterbur's ancestor, Michel Lauterbour (Lauterborn) was born in 1798 in Assel, municipality of Bous, Luxembourg, in 1825 he married Anne Heber from Dalheim, Luxembourg. The family immigrated in 1846 to the United States and settled first in Seneca County, Ohio later in New Vienna, Ohio.
Many immigrants from Luxembourg and their descendants have been, and continue to be, active in their local communities as town mayors, council members, commissioners, sheriffs, postmasters, justices of the peace, etc. helping shape the nation at the county, city and village level. To mention a selected few Luxembourg-Americans active on the national level:
National Politics
François Baasen |
First Secretary of State (1858-1860) |
Minnesota |
John Dolibois |
U.S. Ambassador to Luxembourg (1981-1985) |
Born 1918 Bonnevoie (Luxembourg) |
Dennis Hastert |
Speaker of the House (1999 - ) |
United States of America |
Paul O. Husting |
United States Senator (1917) |
Wisconsin |
Richard F. Kneip |
State Governor (1971-1978) |
South Dakota |
Nicholas Muller |
Member of U. S. Congress (1877-1881/1883-1887) |
New York |
Phil Rock |
State Senate President (1971-1993) |
Illinois |
Bernard J. Cigrand |
Flag Day Activist |
Born Wisconsin 1866 |
Matthew Woll |
Vice President AFL/CIO |
New York, Born Luxembourg 1880 |
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Science & Education
Many Luxembourgers opt to pursue higher education studies in the United States while others immigrate to pursue research projects. Educators and scientists with Luxembourg roots have served or serve on the faculties of many US universities and institutions. It is in this category that we find the 'new immigrants', nowadays, internationally, referred to as 'expats' (expatriates).
In the nineteenth century we find many Catholic educators of Luxembourg-nativity, such as Rev. Alexander Kirsch, C.S.C., a professor of zoology at Notre Dame, Clay Township, County of St. Joseph, Indiana . He was born in 1855 in Clemency, Luxembourg. The Rev. Alexander Kirsch, C.S.C. Award is presented annually by the College of Engineering 'to a senior geological sciences student who has evidenced high qualities of personal character, scholarship, and leadership.'
The Marie-Joseé Southworth Award for Achievement in Foreign Languages and Literatures at the Southern Illinois University (SIU) at Carbondale is named for Luxembourg-born Marie-Joseé Southworth, née Clesse, (1928-1977), a Ph. D. graduate from the University of Pennsylvania, a SIU French professor.
Jim Kellen, now retired catalogue librarian, whose ancestors hailed from Schweich/Beckerich catalogued the Luxembourg Collection at St. Thomas University's O'Shaughnessey Frey Library (Minnesota.), an outstanding collection of Luxembourgensia in the United States.
To access, click on: St. Thomas Bach-Dunn Collection
| Steve Befort |
Professor of Law, Author |
University of Minnesota, Law School |
Suzanne L. Bunkers |
Professor of English. Author |
Minnesota State University, Mankato, Minnesota. |
Marie-José Deutsch |
Physicist |
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Los Angeles, California. |
François Elvinger |
Dr. Med. Vet. PhD. |
Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine. |
Robert L. Even |
Professor Emeritus |
Northern Illinois University, College of Visual and Performing Arts, DeKalb, Illinois. |
| Dorothy Feigl |
Professor of Chemistry/Administrator |
St. Mary's College, Notre Dame, Indiana |
Michel Hack |
Computer Scientist |
IBM Research Division, Hawthorne, New York. |
Georges Jacquemart |
Adjunct Professor of Planning |
Pratt Institute. New York University.
Buckhurst Fish & Jacquemart Inc (BFJ) |
Pierre Joris |
Professor of English. Poet |
University of Albany. Albany, New York. |
Elaine S. Katz |
Professor. Author |
University of Alabama. Tuscaloosa, Alabama. |
Martine Kraus |
Director, Regulatory Affairs |
Gilead Sciences, Inc., Foster City, California. |
William J. Kroll |
(1889-1973) Scientist. Researcher
Metallurgist (Titanium, Zirconium) |
University of Oregon. Eugene, Oregon. |
Joseph Lahr |
Professor. Director, Institut Superieur de Technologie (Luxembourg) |
NATO Science Committee Member. |
Paul C. Lauterbur |
Professor of Chemistry, Biophysics and Computational Biology and Bioengineering, etc. |
University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois.
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (2003). |
Christiane Linster |
Assistant Professor, Department of Neurobiology and Behavior |
Cornell University, Ithaca, New York. |
Robert Mackel |
Professor, Neurosciences |
Rockefeller University, New York |
Arno J. Mayer |
Professor Emeritus. Historian & Author |
Princeton University, New Jersey. |
François Mergen |
(1925-1989) Dean of the School of Forestry |
Yale, New Haven, Connecticut. |
Marc Meyers |
Professor of Materials Science |
University of California, San Diego. |
Laurence Mignon |
Research Associate |
University of California, Los Angeles. Geffen School of Medicine. |
Jean Paul Muller |
Obstetrics-Gynecology |
Gessler Clinic PA, Winter Haven, Florida. |
| Mary Niles |
Professor of
American Literature & English, Author |
City University
of New York |
Roger Pauly |
Asst. Professor of History |
University of Central Arkansas. |
Emmanuel Petit |
Associate Professor ( of Architecture) |
Yale, New Haven, Connecticut. |
Michel Regenwetter |
Professor of Psychology and Political Science |
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Champaign, Illinois . |
Margot Seitelman |
(1900-1961) Executive Director |
American Mensa Ltd. |
Roger Schock |
Psychiatrist / Forensic Psychiatry |
Los Angeles, California. |
Jeanny Shammas (nee Knaff) |
Medical Doctor |
Ann Arbor, Michigan. |
George N. Schuster |
(1910-2003) Scholar. Teacher. Founder Catholic Authors Press |
St. Louis, Missouri. |
Louis Schuster |
Scholar. Artist. Teacher. (Passed 1989) |
Distinguished Piper Professor and Professor Emeritus, St. Mary's, Texas. |
Félicien M. Steichen |
Cardiothoracic Surgeon, General Surgeon |
New York Medical College, Valhalla, New York. |
James B. Steichen |
Clinical Professor, Orthopaedic Surgery.
Associate Professor Plastic Surgery |
Indiana University & University of Kentucky. |
Jean J. Steichen |
Professor of Pediatrics |
Medical Director, Health Alliance Newborn Services and Cincinnati's High Risk Follow-Up Clinic, Cincinnati, Ohio. |
Ralph A. Ulveling |
Director, Public Library |
Detroit, Michigan. |
Religion
Traditionally Luxembourgers are Catholics in faith. For many families serving the church has been a long-standing, revered tradition. Descendants of immigrant couple John Feidt (1833-1923) and Anne Marguerite, nee Huberty (1836-1891), from Hespérange (Luxembourg) who settled near New Trier, Minnesota, count no less than four sons who have opted for Priesthood and twelve daughters who joined the Sisterhood.
Larochette, Luxembourg born John Theodor Comes (1873-1922) settled in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He had a distinguished career as a Gothic Revival church architect and architectural critic in the early 20th century.
Chicago-born Henry N. Prost (1915-1994), whose family hailed from Niederdonven, Luxembourg, was ordained a bishop in Chicago on November 1, 1962. Rev. Bishop Tadeu Henrique (Jude ) Prost, O.F.M. served as Bishop of Belem do Para, Brazil and Titular Bishop of Fronta.
James Schwebach |
1847-1921 |
Bishop of La Crosse, Wisconsin |
Peter William Bartholome |
1893-1982 |
Bishop Emeritus of St. Cloud, Minnesota |
| George Albert Hames |
1911 - 1993 |
Bishop of Superior, Wisconsin |
George Henry Speltz |
1912-2004 |
Bishop Emeritus of St. Cloud, Minnesota |
Sylvester William Treinen |
1917 |
Bishop Emeritus of Boise, Idaho |
| John Joseph Paul |
1918 - 2006 |
Bishop of La Crosse, Wisconsin |
John Lawrence May |
1922-1994 |
Archbishop Emeritus of St. Louis |
Raymond Emil Goedert |
1927 |
Auxiliary Bishop of Chicago, Illinois |
Maria Catherine Josephine Moes (Mother Alfred) |
1829-1899 |
Founder, St. Marys Hospital, Rochester, Minnesota |
Joseph J. Pierron |
1875-1949 |
Boys Town, Omaha, Nebraska.
"The Ave Maria Hymnal, A collection of Catholic hymns and tunes for church use" |
Francis Schmitt |
|
Boys Town, Omaha, Nebraska.
Musical Director & Conductor Boys Town Choir 1941 to 1975. |
Culture & Entertainment
Contributions of Luxembourg-Americans to the American cultural scene are many. To mention a few outstanding individuals.
Joan Wester Anderson |
|
Author & Biographer, Arlington Heights, Illinois, Born 1938. |
Nicolas Becker |
1842-1920 |
Poet. Compiled list of Luxembourg Names in Ozaukee County, Wisconsin (1908). |
Nicholas Gonner |
1835-1892 |
Publisher. Chronicled Luxembourg immigrants. |
Joseph P. Birren |
1864-1933 |
American landscape painter, Chicago, Illinois. |
Victorine Hinger |
|
Abstract Painter. Port Hueneme, California. |
Edward Steichen |
1879-1973 |
Master photographer. Curator New York Museum of Modern Art. |
Hugo Gernsback |
1884-1967 |
Radio & TV pioneer, inventor and science fiction writer. |
Jean Noerdinger |
1895-1963 |
Painter, Lake Forest, Illinois. |
Robert Weimerskirch |
|
Painter & Sculptor. Wimberley, Texas. |
Gypsy Rose Lee |
1911-1970 |
Rose Louise Hovick. Actress & Entertainer. |
June Havoc |
|
Ellen Evangeline Hovick. Actress & Dancer. |
Wally Wingert |
Current |
Artist/Impersonator |
Loretta Young |
1913-2000 |
Actress, Hollywood, California. |
Sports
Sports being a 20th century phenomenon, we encounter only few (known) Luxembourgers in US sports record books.
Josy Barthel |
Olympic Track & Field Gold Medalist,
Helsinki 1952 - 1500 meters |
Harvard graduate. US 1954 indoor mile champion. |
James Bausch |
U.S. Olympic Gold Medalist |
Decathlon, Los Angeles 1932. |
Chris Evert |
Tennis player extraordinaire |
Tennis Hall of Fame inductee. |
'Red' Faber |
Urban Clarence Faber |
National Baseball Hall of Fame inductee. |
Keith Gledhill |
Tennis Player, Stanford |
1931 NCAA Individual Champion
1932 NCAA Doubles Champion
1933 US Davis Cup Team
1986 National Senior Hard Court Doubles
(Guinness Book of Records - Longest Career)
[Mother: Caroline Even, Peru Illinois]
|
Marc Habscheid |
Ice Hockey Player, Coach |
Head Coach Canada's National Men's Hockey Team. |
| Rick Majerus |
Basketball Coach and Analyst |
Head Coach at Marquette University (1983-1986), Ball State Univesity (1987-1989) and University of Utah (1989-2004).
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