Fredrich W. Holzgrafe
 |
| Figure 1 Evansville, Indiana c1856 |
Fredrich W. Holzgrafe
was born around 1828 in Prussia, a part of the German Confederation at the time.
He immigrated to the United States in 1845 at the young age of 14 with his
older brother, Henry August,
who was just 21 years old. They set off on their adventure to America to escape
the difficult conditions of the German Confederation.
Their travels landed them in a town on the banks of
the Ohio River which means they probably traveled up the Mississippi River from
New Orleans. The town, known as Evansville in Vanderburgh County, Indiana, was flooded
with massive German Immigration around this time which must have helped Henry
and Fredrich to feel at home in such a strange land.
 |
| Figure 2 Evansville and Lamasco City 1852 |
The first known records of Henry and Fredrich in
America come from their marriage records in 1850. On 5 September 1850, Henry
married a German woman named Caroline
Baker and Fredrich married a German woman by the name of Caroline G. Kahle on 19 November 1850. Both
Fredrich and his brother were married to their wives in the Trinity Lutheran
Church in Evansville, Indiana by Reverend Andrew Saupert who served as Pastor
of that church for 48 years.
 |
| Figure 3 Marriage Record of Fredrich W. Halzgrove to Caroline Ghale? 19 September 1850 and Trinity Lutheran Church |
Henry and Fredrich quickly learned the skill of brick making
and by 1860 Henry had his very own brickyard. With so many clay deposits along
the Ohio River, Henry became one of the greatest brick manufacturers in a
rapidly growing city. Henry built his first permanent home from his own brick.
The structure, located at 312 W. Virginia Street stood for almost 160 years
before the property was ultimately purchased by the Deaconess Hospital.
 |
| Figure 4 Henry Holzgrafe Home c1865 |
Together, Fredrich and Caroline had five children: Louis (1853), William Ferdinand (1854),
Mathilda (1858), Henry Louis (1859)
and Karoline Marie (1864) with one
on the way. They raised their family in the Trinity Lutheran Church in
Evansville until they moved with a part of the congregation to the Trinity
Lutheran Church in Darmstadt a few miles to the north. Many of his descendants
today still belong to this faith. It is still unclear as to why the family
moved to the Darmstadt area in Scott Township. Perhaps Fredrich wanted to try
his hand at farming. He purchased a small strip of land as soon as 1865 where
the family lived for a few years.
Unfortunately, Fredrich did not live in Scott Township
for long before he passed away in early 1867 at the young age of about 39. He
must have died in Evansville for he is buried there in the Lutheran Cemetery
and his death is not on the church records in the Trinity Lutheran Church of Darmstadt.
 |
| Figure 5 Head stone of Fredrich Holzgrafe in Lutheran Cemetery |
He left his pregnant wife, Caroline, with their five
very young children. He was the first of the family to be buried in the
Evansville Lutheran Cemetery. Perhaps due to her progressing pregnancy or due
to the recent loss of her husband, Caroline was unable to care for her children
the way she wished she could. On July 10, 1867 at 10:00 am, her 3 year old
daughter, Karoline Marie, died. The next day, at about 4:00 in the afternoon,
little Karoline Marie was buried in the Church cemetery. One half hour later,
at 4:30 pm, Johann Anton Heinrich Holzgrafe
was born. The poor child's health waned quickly. Karoline had her newborn son
baptized in her home on July 21, 1867. Johann Anton Heinrich Holzgrafe passed
away the following day at 11:00 am and was buried alongside his sister on the
24th of July at 4:00 in the afternoon (The Worst Year of a Mother's Life).
Following the devastating death of her husband and two
children, Caroline Holzgrafe remarried to a widower named Henry Shurmeier on February 18, 1868, in Evansville (The Great Merger). Caroline moved
with her young children to live with the Shurmeiers in their home in Johnson,
Indiana in Gibson County and a neighbor in Scott Township by the name of
Fredrick Kohlmeier helped sell Fredrich Holzgrafe’s property in Scott Township.
 |
| Figure 6 Marriage Record of Henry Schurmeier and Caroline Holtzgrafe 18 February 1868 |
Henry Schurmeier immigrated
to the United States in 1850. He was formally married to Wilhelmine Slotboom of Holland. Together they had five children: Louise (1855), Henry H. (1856), John
(1859), Hannah (1862), and Wilhelmine (Minnie), (1865). To the new
marriage of Henry and Caroline were born two more children: Fred Schurmeier, who settled in Elgin,
Illinois and became a doctor, and Benjamin
Schurmeier, who later went into the ministry and lived in West Salem,
Illinois. This made a total of eleven children to handle at once earning
Caroline the title of “Mother” as inscribed on her tomb stone. Henry Schurmeier
was a farmer from Prussia and had lots of help. The three Holzgrafe boys all
helped out on the farm before they left the home. Mathilda married a Frederick Bertram in 1876 and lived
close by.
Caroline Holzgrafe
Schurmeier continued to live in the area with her family, raising her children
in the Evangelical Lutheran Church. That the family was quite faithful in their
religious activities seems evident by the lives of the children. At least two
of them went into the ministry, Henry Louis Holzgrafe and Benjamin Shurmeier,
half-brothers. It does seem as though William Ferdinand, known as Ferdinand or
Ferd, did, however, become a Quaker when he moved to Santa Anna, California.
Having seen her
children all grow up, most of whom began families of their own, Caroline passed
away on June 21, 1899. Henry Schurmeier continued farming till he was too old
and rented out his property to his grandson, Eli F Bertram, and his wife. He then moved to Gray, Illinois where
he stayed with his daughter Hannah Griesemer who had married Ishmael Griesemer,
a Methodist Minister. Henry passed away on April 13, 1915 and is buried near
Caroline “Mother” Schurmeier in the Mount Tabor Cemetery in Johnson County, Indiana.
 |
| Figure 7 Headstones of Caroline and Henry Schurmeier in the Mt. Tabor Cemetery |
No comments:
Post a Comment