The Ludwig Family record group covers a period of time from the 1850s to the 1980s. The collection of information documenting the history of the Ludwig family includes family histories, ancestral charts, and a large collection of photographic materials. The diaries and scrapbooks included in the collection describe everyday life during the periods covered. The collection is particularly strong in documenting the lives of Claud Cecil Ludwig and Frederick E. Ludwig.
The Ludwig Family Papers document the lives of members of the Ludwig family since the arrival of Michael and Daniel Ludwig in Philadelphia in 1733. They immigrated to the American colonies from the Palatinate region in Germany. In order to save enough money to bring other family members to America, the brothers established a paper mill and farmed.
Few documents relating to the Ludwig family's experiences in the eighteenth and early part of the nineteenth centuries exist in the collection at the Bentley Historical Library. Fuller documentation begins in 1884 with the birth of Claud Cecil Ludwig on a farm in Sunfield, Michigan. His parents were Warren Edwin Ludwig and Lucinda Sweitzer Ludwig. Claud's early childhood was spent on a farm in Lake Odessa, Michigan. Later the family moved to Portland, Michigan, where Warren Ludwig opened a variety store. Claud worked in the store and attended the Ferris Institute where he studied commercial law. During this period, he also married Ruby Newman. They had three children. In 1911, Claud bought the store which his family had established. Another merchant offered to buy the store in 1913. Claud sold the store and moved to Lansing, Michigan. There he entered the real estate business. He joined the Lansing Real Estate Board and in the following years served as its president. Claud Ludwig also served on the Lansing Chamber of Commerce and the city's Planning Committee. Both he and Ruby Ludwig were active members of their community. They established and taught Sunday School classes for the Baptist Church. During this time, Claud also served on the Y.M.C.A. board at both the city and state level.
Throughout his life, Claud Ludwig was interested in the study of bird life. He spent a considerable amount of time with his family banding birds in the state of Michigan. This interest was passed on to Frederick Ludwig, one of Claud and Ruby's children. He was born in Portland, Michigan, in 1909. Sharing his father's interest in ornithology, Frederick began banding birds while he was in high school. He studied medicine at the University of Michigan, graduating in 1935. Ludwig opened his first office in Port Huron, in 1936. During the same year, he married Genevive Pinson. They had two children, Frederick E. Ludwig II and James Pinson Ludwig.
During World War II, Frederick Ludwig served in the Naval Medical Corps. While stationed in the South Pacific, he developed an odorless method for the treatment of burns. He also collected exotic bird specimens for the University of Michigan Museum.
In 1946, he returned to the United States. He and Genevive started the Birch Creek Orchards in 1947. Over the next five decades, Ludwig continued to practice medicine and to band birds. He banned an average of 2, 000 birds per year.
