Henry Peter and Eva Catherine (Gravius von Medard) Simmon [ca. 1870]
Henry Peter and Eva Catherine Simmon were married in the vicinity of Meisenheim, Germany (about 30 miles west of the Rhine river) in 1813. Twenty years later, fearing the ravages of revolution and war in their homeland, Peter and Catherine packed up their seven children and left Europe forever. Sailing from the port at Le Havre, France, the family arrived at the Port of Baltimore on November 26, 1833.
Once in the U.S., the couple bore two more children, for a total of nine. The family spent a few years in Pennsylvania and then Ohio, but ultimately settled in the vicinity of Rock Island, Illinois. The family is recognized as one of the original European settlers of that area and descendants of Peter and Catherine remain in the county to this day.
Seven of Peter and Catherine’s nine children had children of their own, ultimately resulting in 39 grandchildren. Those 39 grandchildren had something like 86 great grandchildren. Today, great-great grandchildren, great-great-great grandchildren and great-great-great-great grandchildren (and quite probably great-great-great-great-great grandchildren) live throughout the U.S. and abroad. Direct descendants of Peter and Catherine could number in the thousands.
Starting in the 1920s, the Simmons that remained in the Rock Island area began holding annual family reunions. These were usually held on a summer weekend at a family member’s home and featured a picnic dinner and a program of readings, information about family history, song (usually patriotic and/or religious in nature), and shared correspondence from other family members, not in attendance. These reunions continued uninterrupted through the late 1980s, before stopping due to waning enthusiasm.
This website (and corresponding Facebook group and mailing list) is an attempt to rekindle the living legacy of these original settlers and for long lost cousins to find each other again.
If you are a direct descendant of Peter and Catherine Simmon (or a spouse or former spouse of a direct descendant), or think you may be, please reach out! We’d love to hear from you!