My Freese's are from Illinois. The farthest I've been able to trace back is my 4th great grandfather, R. Eden Freese (1820-1866). R. Eden's son was Edo Reinhart (1845-1938), and Edo's son was Reinhart Martin (1873-1922). Reinhart's daughter Althea was my grandfather's (Vernon Diercks) mother.

R. Eden came to the U.S. aboard the ship "Alfred" in 1854 with his wife Helene Behrens(1804-1883) and their children Wilhelmine(1836-1917)Hayen, Maria(1839-1930)Plagge, Edo(my 3rd great grandfather)Friedericke(1847-1933)Harms and Gerhard(1849-1868)

I've found that many Freese's came from a region in Germany called Osterfriesen, which is located in the NW corner of Germany, bordered by The Netherlands and the North Sea.

The Osterfriesen Genealogical Society has been the source of a lot of good information http://www.ogsa.us/

I'd love to be able to find any more info on R. Eden Freese, and I'd be happy to help anyone else working with FREESE!
Rachel White