The Brandenburg Ancestors and Descendants

The earliest individual that we have been able to identify in our family's Brandenburg ancestry is Dietrich von Messien III, who was born in Meissen in the Saxony Province of Germania (later, Germany) in 1162. His family name became Brandenburg when his great-great-great-grandson, Friedrich I von Brandenburg was born in 1371. The name changed because early inhabitants of present-day Germany used the name of their Province as their surname, preceded by the prefix "von." The family became very wealthy and developed and ruled over the very large Province of Brandenburg, which surrounded the city of Berlin.

Friedrich von Brandenburg's descendants married into the Hohenzollern family in the 1500's and they became the wealthiest and most powerful family in present-day Germany. Many of their descendants were Kings, Emperors, Queens, Princes, Princesses and military leaders in Prussia in later years. (Their home, the Hohenzollern Castle, is one of the largest and most beautiful in Europe.)

Friedrich's 10th great-grandson, Prince Matthias "Tice" Brandenburg (1740-1806), was born in Brandenburg and emigrated to America in 1752 with his parents and several siblings. The family settled first in Maryland before moving on to Virginia. Their descendants then moved to West Virginia, Kentucky, Missouri and Montana in the 1800's.

Matthias' great-great-granddaughter, Carrie Jerusha Brandenburg (1869-1960), married Eli Ayer Vickery in 1889 in Big Timber, Montana, and one of their daughters, Mary Alverda Vickery, married James Joseph O'Shea in 1914 in Billings. One of Mary's granddaughters, Nora Belle O'Shea married Walter Crawford "Buck" Robertson in 1943, and one of Nora's daughters, Susan Vickery Robertson, married Duaine Lester Griggs, in 1964.

Created 9 February 2026 with RootsMagic Genealogy Software