Getting Started with the Rusch Family
We started our journey to research the Rusch family knowing very little family history or ancestry—particularly any family members that had not immigrated to the United States. As of 2013, to our knowledge, no one in the family had ever attempted researching the Rusch family ancestry before, and we were looking forward to learning more about our roots for the first time.
We want to thank the following family members for their contributions toward the Rusch ancestry research and for making this possible:
We want to thank the following family members for their contributions toward the Rusch ancestry research and for making this possible:
- Susan Jankowski (née Becker)
- Charles Ralph Becker
- Trisha Flavin
- Mark Philip Gibboney
Brief Summary of Findings
Through our research, we have concluded that there is a long family history of Rusch's located in Dornbirn, Austria. The Dornbirn city archives are filled with our family line dating as far back as 1570. We also believe that Josef Anton Rusch was the only member of the Rusch family to have immigrated to the United States.
Additionally, as of 2013, we believe it is possible that there are other living Rusch family members. Specifically, Maria Herlinde Sieber, living in Alstatten, Switzerland, who is a descendant of Rosina Katharina Rusch (sister to Josef Anton Rusch). She would be age 93 as of 2013, and at this time, no one has made contact with Maria or been able to locate her successfully. Unfortunately we do not know if she has any children or grandchildren either. Aside from Maria, we do not know of or speculate any other living descending family members.
It is important to note that there is still a wealth of family history and information to be discovered and interpreted—this is simply a starting point for our very long family history.
Additionally, as of 2013, we believe it is possible that there are other living Rusch family members. Specifically, Maria Herlinde Sieber, living in Alstatten, Switzerland, who is a descendant of Rosina Katharina Rusch (sister to Josef Anton Rusch). She would be age 93 as of 2013, and at this time, no one has made contact with Maria or been able to locate her successfully. Unfortunately we do not know if she has any children or grandchildren either. Aside from Maria, we do not know of or speculate any other living descending family members.
It is important to note that there is still a wealth of family history and information to be discovered and interpreted—this is simply a starting point for our very long family history.
Sources Used
We primarily used five sources of information to drive our research. The first source we used was personal accounts from living family members. The remaining four sources included: U.S. Census documentation, legal inheritance documentation from Irma Rose Becker (née Rusch), Ellis Island immigration records, and the city archives from Dornbirn, Austria (Dornbirn Lexikon) to fuel our research on the Rusch family. In addition to these sources, we uncovered an old Rusch Family Tree that was prepared by Anton Rusch many years ago. Because we had already completed so much research, we used the document to validate our findings. To no surprise, our research and the Family Tree Anton prepared have an exact match.
Using all of these these sources, we were able to successfully gather a great deal of information about the Rusch Family to construct a "Rusch Family Tree" and develop some basic "Biographies" of family members.
The Rusch Family Tree shows the relationships between family members, important dates, locations and marriage information where possible. In addition to this illustration, we developed family member Biographies. The Biographies are based on our personal knowledge (when possible), on information we discovered directly from a document source, on information we deduced from a variety of document sources, and in some cases the descriptions have generic assumptions. We did our best to appropriately cite the sources used and to cite when we made assumptions.
Using all of these these sources, we were able to successfully gather a great deal of information about the Rusch Family to construct a "Rusch Family Tree" and develop some basic "Biographies" of family members.
The Rusch Family Tree shows the relationships between family members, important dates, locations and marriage information where possible. In addition to this illustration, we developed family member Biographies. The Biographies are based on our personal knowledge (when possible), on information we discovered directly from a document source, on information we deduced from a variety of document sources, and in some cases the descriptions have generic assumptions. We did our best to appropriately cite the sources used and to cite when we made assumptions.