Joseph Herkert SCHEUERMANN

Baptismal Record dated 29 April 1843 from St. Stephan's R. C. Church in Laudenbach on the Main in Book IV, Page 44, states that Joseph Herkert is the first born child of Regina Herkert , a Miller's daughter, and that Joseph Ripp, son of Georg Ripp, District Forester, is the unmarried Father of Joseph Herkert. He was born on 28 April 1843.

Joseph Herkert immigrated to America with his mother Regina Herkert Straub arriving in New Orleans, Louisiana on 16 June 1854. They came on the Ship Otomoc from St. Thomas, Virgin Islands to New Orleans. There were other Emigrants from Laudenbach that traveled with them. They settled in the rural community of Hardin, Illinois (IL) in Calhoun County. Calhoun County is an isolated peninsula bordered on the east by the Illinois River and on the west by the Mississippi River, and to the south is the confluence of the two rivers. Hardin is a small town on the Illinois River (similarly situated as the town of Laudenbach is on the Main River) approximately 75 kilometers northwest of Saint Louis, Missouri (MO).

According to the civil records in Calhoun County, IL, Regina Herkert (spelled Harget in the record) married Francis J. Scheuermann (spelled Shireman in the record) on 17 April 1854. Joseph was 11 years old at the time of his mother’s marriage to Francis Scheuermann and apparently took the family name of Scheuermann at that time. No records have been found to indicate whether Joseph Herkert was legally adopted by Francis Scheuermann or just took the name of his mother’s husband for whatever reasons. According to an affidavit in the Civil War pension records of Joseph Valentin Mathein, he states that he worked for Francis Scheuermann , the step-father of Joseph Scheuermann, in Calhoun County from 1854 to 1860 making stairs and cordwood.

Joseph Scheuermann and his mother Regina moved from Calhoun County to St. Louis, MO sometime in late 1860 or early 1861. They have not been found in the U. S. Census of 1860, which was conducted in June 1860.

On 19 September 1861, Joseph Scheuermann, then 18 years old, enlisted in the Missouri Infantry Volunteers (Army), Company “C”, Fifth Regiment, and fought in the U. S. Civil War (1861-1865). Joseph was discharged from the Army on 22 Nov 1862. Also in the same Army unit was Joseph Valentin Mathein (born 14 Feb 1821 in Laudenbach). In 1895, both of these men provided affidavits on behalf of each other describing their experiences during the period that they were in the Army, in order to obtain a Civil War Veteran’s pension from the American government

Joseph Scheuermann married Catherine Klein on 24 January 1867 at St. Joseph Catholic Church, a German Jesuit Church on the north side of what is now downtown St. Louis. They had 7 children, of which 4 survived to adulthood. Their oldest child, John Joseph Scheuermann married and had 4 children and 3 grandchildren. Their second child, a daughter Mary married and had one son, and he married but had no children. The next son Francis died at age 2. The next son, also Francis married but had no children. The next son, Joseph Henry lived to age 2 ½, and the next son, Charles died as a newborn infant. The 7th and last child, a daughter Anna, was mildly retarded and never married. After her parents died, she lived with her sister Mary until she died, and then lived in the poor house until she died at the age of 86.

Joseph Scheuermann worked as a painter in St. Louis. At age 42, he fell off a ladder painting and broke his arm. With this disability and the disabilities of diseases of the eyes and ears, he applied for a Civil War veteran’s pension in 1895. He was awarded a pension of $12.00 per month in 1902. In 1908, his disabilities and failing health sent him to a Veteran’s Home in St. James, MO (approximately 160 kilometers away) for care. His wife Catherine died of pulmonary disease on 1 October 1909 in St. Louis, MO. She was buried in the family cemetery plot with Regina Wagner and two of their children. Joseph’s health continued to deteriorate and he was sent to a Veteran’s Hospital in Danville, IL (approximately 340 kilometers from St. Louis) in 1910 where he died on 21 June 1912. His body was shipped to St. Louis where he was buried in the family cemetery plot at Calvary Cemetery with his Mother, Wife and 2 children.

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