Herman Fredrick and his wife Wilhilmina immigrated from the Posen Province around the turn of the 20th century. Ellis Island Shipping Records from New York indicate that the town of origin was Debenke, Posen Provice, West Prussia (Lat (DMS) 53° 13' 0N, Long (DMS) 17° 26' 60E, Altitude 112 meters, near "Lobens"). That town is also known as "Debenke, Kreis Wirsitz", or "Benkenau" or "Debionek". According to http://www.birchy.com/GenWiki/index.php?title=Protestant_parish_of_Debenke the town had a population of 657 in 1905, 529 of whom were protestant and 72 Catholic. This region was in Prussia from 1871 to 1918, and became part of Poland after World War One.

Protestant Church records in the 19th century were kept in Debenke while other county records were stored in Lobsens (Polish name Lobzenica). Lobsens is a few miles northwest of Debenke and is the only town listed on the copy of the 19th century map of the Posen Province I have on this site.

While Herman August Fredrick was born in Debenke, it appears that his father, Friedrich Fredrich may be from the little town of Kazmierowo (Lat (DMS) 53° 7' 60N Long (DMS) 17° 46' 0E Altitude 73m), a few miles to the East of Debenke (see links below). I'll have to check to see if the other Fredrich relatives listed on the church records for Debenke have origins in Kazmierowo -- if so, there may be a signficant clue for going back one more generation.