LINEAGE
Members of the Cincinnati Kanis Family are the descendants of four European blood lines; Kanis, Bertke, Corcoran and Kottig. The Kanis Family originated from the Saxony, Germany. The Bertke Family originated from Kettenkamp-Ankum area located in Lower Saxony in the southern-most part of Germany. The Corcoran Family originated from County Cork located on the Atlantic Ocean in the southwestern most part of Ireland. The Kottig Family originated from the Village of Epe located in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, near the northern border with the Netherlands.
EUROPE
Going back over six centuries, early European Kanis family research has identified three large Kanis families all originating from the Netherlands. One Kanis family comes from Kampen, another from The Hague and the third from Nijmegen. At the time of this writing no connection has yet been made between the three families. Descendants of these families are now widely dispersed throughout Europe, North America and North Africa. Well known European Kanis family members include Pieter Kanis (St. Peter Canisius), born in Nijmegen in 1521 and Hendrik Kanis, the founder of Kanis and Gunnink Coffee, born in Kampen in 1837. Kanis European family research points to John Kanis I of the Cincinnati Kanis Family likely being a descendant of this, the Kampen Kanis family.
GERMANS COMING TO AMERICA
In the 19th century, worsening opportunities for farm ownership, persecution of some religious groups and military conscription were all driving a mass exodus from Germany. By the mid 1800's there was a flood of Germans emigrating to America. Farmers were hearing about inexpensive land in places like the agriculturally rich Ohio Valley. Emigration agents traveled throughout Europe recruiting on behalf of American localities needing labor. America was eager for immigrants to come and work in their country. Immigrating to America was costly including transportation, provisions and months of travel. To finance their transit, many German immigrants became “redemptioners,” working for a set term once they arrived in America to pay for their provided travel costs. Others worked for relatives who migrated earlier to pay for their family’s transit costs.
LAST STOP... CINCINNATI
At the time of the American Civil War, Cincinnati was a bustling river town of 100,000 people. However, soon after the war the city's population began to explode. Immigrants began coming by the droves. By late in the 19th century the population of the city had tripled to more than 300,000 people making Cincinnati the third largest city in the United States at the time, right behind New York and Boston. By 1895, the more influential German population of Cincinnati made up a third of the city's total occupants with the working class Irish being the second largest group. There were German-language newspapers, shops, street names and schools. Catholic churches held German festivals and banquets. Some favorite activities of German Americans included marksmanship competitions at shooting clubs called Schützenverein. Besides farming in the Ohio River Valley, German immigrants in Cincinnati found work on the railroads and in the building trades, both of which were booming. Others were shopkeepers and craft workers. Some also worked constructing the new Miami-Erie Canal, a major project that eventually would link the Great Lakes to the Ohio River. German immigrants brought their culinary traditions with them as well. Besides popularizing beer drinking, Germans introduced Cincinnati to Cottage Ham and Goetta, a sausage-based dish which was made of seasoned ground pork and pinhead oats. Since there was no refrigeration, cured meats such as Cottage Ham and the pork in Goetta lasted much longer than fresh meat. Interestingly, Cottage Ham and Goetta are still popular in Cincinnati to this day.