If you are descended from a pioneering Ficke or Luebbe, you’ll want to save this date: Aug. 17, 2025.
That’s when a combined reunion of Ficke, Viets and Luebbe families will take place from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Milford High School. The families began annual reunions in the 1930s. Covid 19 derailed them.
Now, a joint celebration will be held with a day of food, fun and family history. It’s a chance to renew acquaintances, meet cousins and keep family stories alive.
Ficke and Luebbe stories start with 1869 Seward County homesteaders Johann Ficke and Wilhelm Luebbe. Their descendants populated Seward County, starting churches, farms and businesses.
Every Ficke relative in Seward County descends from Claus Ficke (1795-1844) and Anna Katharina Albers (1804-1857). They farmed near Ahlerstedt in Germany. The first Ficke in Seward County was their son, Johann Conrad Friedrich Ficke. He found work in a quarry at Thiensville, Wisconsin, and on July 27, 1862, he married Margaret Caroline Viets.
In 1869, Johann and his friend Crist Dankers walked to Seward County and homesteaded just west of what became Pleasant Dale. Johann and Margaret had six children.
Every Luebbe relative in Seward County descends from Heinrich Johann Luebbe (1798-1858) and Wilhelmine Christiane Nordhorn (1800-1837). They farmed near Nendorf in Germany.
The first Luebbe in Seward County was their son, Wilhelm F. Luebbe. He married Sophia Charlotte Schroeder on Oct. 4, 1866, in New York. They lived for a short time in Indiana. In 1869, they homesteaded in Seward County and helped to found Immanuel Lutheran Church at Middle Creek. Their six children also had large families.
Over the next 60 years, Ficke and Luebbe siblings, nieces, nephews and cousins left Germany for Seward County. Descendants populated the county and spread through America. Marriages between Ficke and Luebbe descendants further deepened family ties.
Female descendants married men with last names Ahlschwede, Bulgrin, Eberspacher, Gade, Hackbart, Herpolsheimer, Idhe, Katt, Kracke, Mullally, Mundhenke, Richert, Schnoor, Schweitzer, Stauffer, Tiffany and many more. Male descendants married women with last names Barker, Baumbach, Bertke, Eggerling, Heidtbrink, Lohmeier, Mueller, Pool, Sieck, Schmersal, Stillahn and many more.
Ficke and Luebbe descendants have visited relatives in Germany and hosted German relatives in Seward. Those visits forged friendships and insights into genealogy. For instance, distant cousins Claus and Annegret still live and work the family farm near Ahlerstedt, Germany. It’s been in the family since the 1600s.
Among those organizing the reunion are Don Ficke of Pleasant Dale, Connie Stauffer of Lincoln, Nyla Helge of Pleasant Dale, Wayne and Jo Ann Ficke of Lincoln, Duane Kracke of DeWitt, Kate Young of Seward, Margie Fougeron of Houston, Texas, and Stan Linhorst of Syracuse, New York.
More details are at the existing “Ficke Family Reunion” page on Facebook. To attend, email Stan at StanLinhorst@gmail.com or Nyla at nkah57@aol.com.
