Any one have any ideas?
click here

I found a rose posted on the Texas Rose Rustlers site that appears to be very much like the Tegge family's rose. Joseph Head Cooper received his with the local name of 'Noah's Rose'. He has recently discovered it may be 'Shailer's Provence', introduced before 1799 and advises that there is a description of the SProv in the ARA Modern Roses #10. Now we're getting somewhere!
Mr. Cooper maintains the Rustler's site and has the 'Noah' and a bouquet of other 'unknowns' posted there for more fascinating detective work.

Visit his photos of Noah and other mystery IDs page,
click here
and let us know what you think about the look-alikes.

Our new visitor, Juergen Tegge, has entered the following message in our guest book. I have posted his dear note here, to join the Tegge trail.

"I stumbled across your beautiful website, looking up our family name of TEGGE. I had never heard of the rose, but love the idea. Our branch of the Tegge family originated from the island of Usedom off the coast of Pomerania. Incidentally, many of my ancestors seem to have been fascinated with growing roses!"
> Juergen Tegge
> Tangstedt, Germany

[Perhaps this new contact will lead to even more paths towards Tegge's Euro identity. maggie]

Ann, a 'Tegge-rose' descendent and family historian, has been introduced to Mr. Juergen Tegge of Germany, in hopes of finding a distant family connection. So now, the trail has led us back to its homeland that was once known as Prussia.

We grew an unidentified rose for several years and when the Heritage Rose Foundation held their meeting here in '98 our rose was indentified as Shailor's Provence. I do not believe this is the same rose but the growth description is very similar. Shailor's Provence has a very distinctive heart-shaped petal with white at the base. We are no longer growing this rose but did give a plant to the Antique Rose Emporium. It is a very common rose found across the South. Eva

OK, I went to the Rose Rustler site and looked at their rose...it looks like the one we had identified as Shailor's Provence. Color seems darker than your Tegge...perhaps it is the difference in the film,equipment,lighting,etc. eva

Thanks Eva. If the Tegge and the Noah were eventually decided to be the same as Shailor's Provence, it would be fascinating to learn if Jergen's family grew the Shailor in the mid 1800's, when Ann's Tegge relatives immigrated to America. I look forward to hearing about any connections the two might find.

Here are some Tegge family details from Ann:

"Our ancestor who first immigrated from Prussia to Texas, Johann Joachim Henry (Heinrich) Frederick Tegge, was born in Kusei, Kreis Gardelegen. Other Prussian geographical names that I have regarding the Tegges are: Magdeburg, Bremme (or Bromme), and Wurtemburg.
> The family arrived in Galveston on January 1847, on the B.Bohlen."

*****
Where's Prussia? I had to dig to find out and this is the best I can figure:
The Tegge's homeland that was once known as 'Prussia' was originally within Russian borders, which evolved into Polish Territory, that is now within modern Germany ... all of which is the result of the last century's wars.

... and I am open to any corrections! ... maggie

Juergen Tegge has been sleuthing away, comparing his and the American descendant's geographical records - not an easy task considering the area's intricate histories, where borders and locale names have often changed since the 18th century. His current progress cites specific dates, places and people with fascinating detail. At this point, further relations must be found before a definite connection will link the emigrant Tegges and his line in Germany, but the indications suggest a very likely possibility. The latest clue is from data compiled from old church records, by Juergen's grandfather in the late 1930's, recording an ancestor married a Tegge in 1807. This this couple owned an inn located only 5 miles from the American relation's town of origin. !!!
Now consider this; the wife of the couple died the year the Tegge emigrants left for America.

This is all a very concise edition of Juergen's on-going research, edited with his approval for sharing with our readers. I shall close this latest update with the most intriguing piece of my cherry-picking from his accounts:

The TEGGE family have a coat-of-arms = three leaves (rose leaves?) growing from some sort of three-layered soil or rock.

I live in Northwest Oklahoma and have been trying to identify a rose in my yard. It has been here at least thirty years and probably more like sixty. This was my husband's granparent's house. The roses look like the one you have. Almost a purple-pink. Smells great on the bush but when I tried to dry them they smell HORRIBLE! The flowers all come on within a week, last about two or three weeks, depending on the wind, then all fall off. Over the years it has been mown down, run over and burned but it just keeps on growing. My husband says his grandmother called it a Homestead rose. Have you ever heard it called that?

No, GG, I haven’t heard of that name, but it sounds to me that your family might just have either the ‘Noah’ or the ‘Tegge’ there, or something very similar. It was traditional for the Tegge family members to take a piece of the rose with them, whenever they moved to a new home, and I am sure they shared it with many others, as they homesteaded across the country, as ‘Noah’s’ rose was too.

I went out to the garden in hopes of finding one last bloom on mine, to collect for drying – to see if it also had a weird smell when dry. But they are all gone now. Our roses prob begin and end bloom earlier here than in your neck of the US.

And it sounds as if yours is as tough as the Tegge! I dug up a sucker of it in Feb, meaning to pot it up. But instead, tucked it in a tub of water and forgot about it for two months. The water went black and smelly - most plants would have rotted, but it put out new leaves in the muck and is now doing fine in soil!

Does your family’s plant make seed pods, or do the hips just dry up and drop off? That is the one difference that I have found between the Tegge and the Noah.

Joseph Head Cooper sent me these images of his plant that goes by the local name of 'Noah's Rose' - possibly 'Shailer's Provence'.

I have confirmed with the Texas Tegge family that none of their plants produce seed pods, which continues to distinguish the 'Tegge' from its look alike.

and a clear leaf illustration

Stephen Tegge, a Texas resident, has come across our site’s mystery rose in his cyber search for the family name. His contact has inspired me to publish the latest installment of our heirloom rose intrigue.


The following photos take us to the remote German village of Steimke, where Juergan Tegge went to look for traces of his and the Texan Tegge ancestors. Juergan kindly shares his experience with us through these photos that I have captioned with details from his descriptive written accounts.

In conjunction with documented records, graveyards usually make excellent genealogy resources, but Juergan discovered that the Steimke burial ground had long ago been moved from the village churchyard to an unknown location. The present gravesites only date from the 1860s. Nearby, he discovered some older broken headstones piled up in neglect - some dating back to the late 1700’s. Unfortunately, he found no remnants of Tegge family markers in the pyre.

Then he noticed that a stone wall around the Steimke churchyard had been assembled from thin stone slabs as seen in this photo next to Juergen’s then-6-year-old daughter, Lana. They had once been ground marker headstones of the ancient cemetery. Unfortunately, none of the inscription fragments offered any clues.

He tells of some remarkable old trees in the village:
“One oak must be some 800 or more years old. It and a copse of old oak trees in the village center is protected and marked as a natural heritage.”
Juergen kept an eye out for any sign of the Tegge rose bush, but unfortunately, the roses were only in tight bud, as it was still too early in the year for any open blooms.

From Steimke, they drove to the town of Hohenlangenbeck, where his ancestor Margaretha Dorothea Tegge had operated the local inn with her husband. At the church grounds, they found that once again, all the old grave markers had been leveled or moved to another unknown location. The locals would or could not offer any information about it.

But, there was one single headstone remaining close to the church wall, inscribed: "Here rests in God my beloved wife BERTHA TEGGE, nee
Tennerich, born 28, March 1870, died 7, October 1905, Rest in Peace"
At last, a remaining record of the Tegge line.

Juergen’s family then drove further around the Altmark district, passing through more villages and hamlets whose names were familiar to him from old birth certificates and similar documents he had acquired during his earlier research.

Tracking down the family roots had begun with a rose and grew into an adventure that made for a pleasurable family excursion and satisfying jaunt.

Juergan ended his coverage of the trek with the line:
“All in all it has been a pleasant and interesting outing…”

Thank you Juergan, for allowing me the privilege of sharing your ancestral rendezvous with our visitors.

Now I've been to Germany today! Isn't the internet wonderful Thanks Maggie and Juergan.

I loved seeing the landscape and architecture too MK. thanks
Interesting to learn that Stephen Tegge's immediate family is from Wisconsin, rather than Texas, making for a longer line for every one to follow.

Hello
I was delighted when I stumbled across your site while researching my family tree.
My ancestors too were from Prussia, from the town of Fredersdorf or Friedersdorf.
I was fascinated to find there has been a rose named after the family and wonder if it is available here in Australia.
I have completed the Australian Tegge family tree and would welcome any contact from anyone in the US (or anywhere else!) with the same surname to see if we can tie our families together.
Many thanks and best wishes
Rod Tegge
Sydney
Australia

Hello Rod, Wonderful to have another Tegge find us through the family rose - and this time from Australia! It is not registered or grown commercially over here - so far, has only been a passalong. I hope our rose story continues to reunite many more Tegges. Oh the power of flowers! Thanks so much for contacting us. I will e you further info.