Ernest Kuhlmann found that his maternal great-grandfather, Gerhard Schroeder, served in the military in Prussia (Germany).  In 1888, he was a porter for King Friedrich III of Prussia for a very short time.  The King died after only a few months and 1888 became known as the "year of three kings."

The year 1888 is commonly called Year of Three Emperors (Dreikaiserjahr) in Germany. It is learned by German schoolchildren with the mnemonic "three eights, three Emperors".

On March 9, the first German Emperor, Wilhelm I, died. He was succeeded by his son, Friedrich III, who however, already suffered from terminal cancer and died after only 99 days of rule on June 15. He in turn was followed by his son, Wilhelm II, the third and last Emperor, who was to reign until the end of the Empire in 1918.

See: European Royalty: Germany

Ernie's dad, Ernst Kuhlmann writes about that year in Gerhard life history - "Gerhard was five years old and became an orphan along with his two brothers."  So, you can see most of Ernie's family history comes from Germany.  However, Ernie's, dad's mother traces her roots back to Netherlands (nee Dyck). Ernie was named  after his father, but spelled it the American way, Ernest.