Augusta SCHMERSE

Eigenschaften

Ereignisse

Eltern

Ehepartner und Kinder

Notizen zu dieser Person

Augusta and George started farming in 1889 on a farm in Washington Township, just south of the Purcell school, where Ida and Louise attended school. In 1900 they moved to a farm in Monroe Township next to the Charles Goecks farm. The children attended the Argus school on what is now Co. Trunk N. After George passed away Augusta and her family moved to a small farm on the corner of what is now State Hwy. 81 and Co. Tr. N, which is west of Pleasant View Nursing Home. While living there, Augusta married Peter Jenny. George immigrated to the United States around l880, and was apparently not included in the l880 census. He was apparently naturalized as a U. S. citizen sometime between l892 and l906. His German homeland was Schwaben (Swabia), Germany. The marriage certificate (Green County Records) of George Buehl and Augusta Schmerse is from Monticello, the German Reform Church. George's occupation was listed as farmer and his home residence is noted as Town Washington. George and Augusta began farming west of Washington Center, in Green County, on a small farm which still contains the barn that George constructed. The farm sits in a valley cut by a small creek. According to family stories, as George was preparing to build the barn, heavy rains swelled the creek running through the valley and the farm. The creek overflowed, carrying much of the lumber for the barn downstream, where it had to be retrieved and hauled back to the farmstead. The Schmerse family, Herman and Louisa, farmed nearby. George Buehl died on December 24, 19107). Significant because Uncle George remembered very clearly that it was Christmas Eve. Made Uncle George promise to take care of the family; appeared to be a very solemn and forceful promise. Willis notes what a heavy burden this was for a l9-year-old kid; Uncle George took this promise very literally. George Buehl died either of cancer or blood poisoning; he had apparently removed some corns from his feet with a razor blade. Willis confirmed that George spent much of his time at the Junction House, the neighboring country tavern. Uncle George had to go there on many occasions to fetch him home. One gets the feeling that he was not terribly reliable for arriving home in time for chores or milking. How did all this sit with Augusta, apparently a woman with a sharp tongue and difficult demeanor? Was it merely longing for German drafts or was it a more comfortable existence away from home that drew George to the frequent respites at the Junction House? Willis has found no evidence that either George or his brother John communicated in any way with family back in Germany once they arrived in the United States. No one in George's family, to Willis' knowledge, knows of the existence of any letters, much less names of relations back in Germany. Why? Was there family indeed left behind? How does Barbara Gottstatter fit into this family picture? Sister? The family lore holds that George and John stowed away on an America bound ship in order to escape Otto von Bismarck's call to join the newly consolidated German army. So was the motivation escaping the German draft? Was there any family here when they arrived? Family lore also holds that when George and John were discovered on board, they were required to wait on tables and provide dinner entertainment by yodelling. Does anyone in the family recall anyone mentioning George yodelling, out there in rural Green County? The story is not necessarily improbable, considering that Grandpa and Uncle Billy did yodel. Willis searched some small towns in southern Germany this summer but found nothing. He did say that the family was Buhl, with an umlaut over the u. George himself Americanized the spelling to Buehl. Buhl means something like "under the mountain" so virtually any small town in a valley with buhl connected to it could be the home town of George and John. Willis has not been able to come up with the name of any town or village in Germany, only southern Germany. This same information lists recollections from Edwin Buehl on his father. According to Ed, George J. Buehl, Sr. and a friend were sold in indenture after escaping the Prussian army around l880. They stowed away on a freighter after working to help load the ship's cargo. The two of them went several days without eating, and then were discovered by a crew member who heard them yodelling. They were said to be yodelling to keep their minds off their hunger, a questionable technique for remaining hidden on a ship, to be sure. Also a pretty weird story. At any rate, as this story goes, the captain was so impressed with their yodelling that he let them earn their passage to America by entertaining the crew. Upon arrival in New York (was New York the port of entry?) the captain arranged for them to make some records of their yodelling. I'm not all that sure about this. For instance, when was the technology to make records developed? Wasn't our old buddy Edison discovering this business somewhat later than l880? Does any family member ever recall hearing such records or what may have happened to them? Ed also notes that when the two friends, George and his buddy, went west to Wisconsin, the friend assumed the name Buehl as well. The friend then continued on to settle on the west coast. George then saved up enough money to send for his brother John. Was John all that was left of George's family in Germany? Ed notes the family was from Bavaria, from a town or area known as Schwabeland. Information on John Buehl may be helpful. I have him as born on January l9, l865, in Schneldorf, near Oberampfrack, in Mittelfranken District, Bavaria, Feuchwangen County. John William Buehl lived until l954 and was naturalized as an American citizen on April l6, l906. Was this the same date that George Buehl was naturalized? It may seem so. John returned to Germany after living in America for about ten years. He brought Caroline A. Hafacker (Carrie) back with him. Carrie Buehl lived from November l5, l875 until l958. John's returning to Germany could mean that he did not indeed accompany George to America in the first place. A draft dodger probably could not have returned to Germany as John apparently did. My original geneology chart also lists Barbara Schwenn as a half-sister to George and John. She is listed as marrying Adam Gackstatter (or Gottstatter). Did she live in America as well, or was she still living in Germany? Do any family members recall her? Where she lived? Any children? Why was she a half-sister? What does anyone know about her and her connections? (This chart also lists John's wife as Cary Eckstead; which is correct?) George moved from the Washington Township farm to the 220 acre farm outside of Monroe that was where most of the kids were born and raised initially. The farm was really a huge operation in those days and represented a substantial accomplishment for a German immigrant who arrived in the country at eighteen years of age and reportedly penniless. None of the original buildings are still standing. Ed remembers George as an excellent farmer (the size of the spread would have to indicate much industriousness), a gentle man ("he was always good to me") and a very hard worker. He also drank alot toward the end of his 49 years. There was some feeling that Augusta drove him to drink, or at least some of the family felt so. She could be quite unpleasant and "a nag." The older children, especially George and Louise, were apparently quite embarrassed with George's drinking. Ed recalled one drinking story, which involved some considerable imbibing at the Junction House. George got thoroughly plastered, staggered out to his lumber wagon, and started the team home. But he was far too drunk to control the horses, who took off in a dead run toward home, dragging George and the lumber wagon behind them. The reins were dragging on the ground behind the wagon, and George sat drunkenly on the seat, hands clenched on either side of him on the edges of the seat, facing the wind as the horses lurched on toward home. He managed to hang on and the rambling wagon soon arrived to greet the family at the farmstead. Ed hinted that the booze may have contributed to George's death of cancer (possibly stomach cancer). He had had the farm nearly paid off when he died. Those last couple of years the older children, Uncle George and Uncle Billy, pretty much ran the farm, at least the milking part of the operation. Ed does note that George would only teach yodelling to him and Uncle Billy. Why not any other of the children? Ed was seven when George died, so his recollections of his father are not all that clear and lack much in the way of specifics.

Datenbank

Titel	Familien Klein, Landgraf und Reichenbachs
Beschreibung	Für Ergänzungen und Korrekturen wäre ich dankbar!  Meine Homepage: http://ahnenklein.com/
Hochgeladen	2023-03-27 05:16:05.0
Einsender	Michael Klein
E-Mail	daredevill@gmx.de
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