Patrick Blau, a descendent of the Blau Four Mile House family, e-mailed us some great historical information pertaining to his family. (Please see below.) He would love to hear from you if you have details and photos to share. Patrick can be reached at blau.patrick@yahoo.com.

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My 3x great grandfather was Nicolaus Blau (1801-1858), the one who came over with his family from Prussia in 1843. His son, Joseph M. Blau (1850-1889), was his youngest son/child, and was born there in Camp Springs. (If I'm remembering rightly, it was called Indian Springs until a later date, when at some point or another they changed the name to Camp Springs) After the death of Joseph's mother/Nicolaus' wife, Anna Kramer-Blau (1809-1863), Joseph was taken in by his eldest brother Stephen along with some other siblings of his who were minors at the time. A cousin shared with me the document showing where Stephen was appointed as the legal guardian of his siblings after Anna died. So to that end, I have to believe that Joseph lived in Blau's Four Mile House itself, figuring that that was where Stephen lived with his wife and family.

I have often wondered, though, whether the house which stands next to Blau's Four Mile House, the address of 6753 Four Mile Road right next door, was built by Stephen or his family to house the extra siblings.

The records I found for that house show that it was built in 1865, so maybe Stephen built it because Blau's Four Mile House couldn't contain all of his family after Anna died? I would imagine that's a plausible idea, anyway. But, I have no proof. I find that before I make big assumptions and add them in as Blau Family Facts I need to have verifiable proof. Frustrating, but I suppose necessary.

My Dad was a family history nut, and it wasn't until he died in 2018 that I actually started to become interested in our roots. I took whatever information Dad had accumulated and started my own research, which was probably a whole lot easier than Dad had it seeing as how I have computers at hand. I found cousins who were into this genealogy thingy like me, even moreso (case in point, Jan Lester), and started making my own discoveries to add to Dad's files. After a few years I took it all and turned it into a book, including whatever verifiable facts I had concerning my direct line ancestors into the story. Sure, at some points I had to kind of create certain things to keep the story flowing, but whatever I had to fabricate was only included if it had at least a large, big, huge chance of being correct. I published it through Amazon in July 2022. A bestseller it will more than likely never be, but I wrote it more for those who come after me than any hope of becoming rich through it. I continued researching even after the book was published and have found that some of the details in the book are actually incorrect now. For example: Anna Kramer has always been assumed to be the sister of Mathias Kramer, the one who established Camp Springs Tavern. Come to find out that they were cousins, not siblings, and it's been confirmed by a guy who has actual Family Books from Germany in his possession.

I've included a document that was shared with me by another found cousin, Don Swift. He sent me a copy of the Blau family 'Reissepass' that Nicolaus got when he determined to leave Prussia to get to Le Havre, France to set off for America. Jack Recker shared with me a copy of the original deed for the 118 acre land purchase Nicolaus closed with Richard Southgate. I would one day absolutely love to know where that original property was located, and see it outlined on a current day map. But that will have to stay a hope for the future, for the time being.

One of my goals has been to find verifiable photos of Joseph M. Blau and his siblings, the children of Nicolaus and Anna. I've found quite a few, but there are still quite a few I haven't found yet. I put them all up on Family Search so that anyone else can see them, too. Like I said, I really enjoy sharing whatever information I have with others. I've tried to track down descendants of the ancestors whose photos I don't have, but haven't had any luck. The ones I have tracked down don't seem interested in sharing whatever information they have, for whatever reason. Very frustrating, that. Not uncommon, sadly. But frustrating. Mary Fran Blau-Breiling sent me some photos she had of her ancestor Johan Blau (1848-1898), along with one photo that was simply labeled 'Blau Brothers', and for which she has no idea who they could be. Maybe you or someone in your group will recognize them? I've attached that photo to this email, too. It's a mystery I would love to solve! I suspect that the brother standing could be Joseph M. Blau, only because his face resembles Joseph's son, and he is all legs and no torso like my grandfather. Normally it's the younger brother who would be standing while the older brother is sitting. Who the sitting brother is........no idea on that, either. Yet another frustration. But I enjoy the chase.

If anyone in your group would like to share family history stuff, or if somewhere in their respective collections they have old photos which may include my family, I'd be way more than grateful for that.

Patrick Blau - blau.patrick@yahoo.com