August Friederich Schott and Martha Hamann – Immigrant Ancestors

My granddaughters’ 4th great-grandparents on their mother’s maternal line…

On December 30, 1872 (exactly 144 years ago as I write this) August Schott married Martha Hamann in the German Reformed Church in Hoboken, New Jersey. 

They were both German immigrants and at the time of their marriage August was probably living across the Hudson River in New York City.  He had settled there after his immigration in 1859 when he was 25 years old.  August and Martha spent the rest of their lives in the city, living in tenement buildings that likely held other immigrants and their American-born children.  On the 1880 census they are living on Ludlow Street with sons August (8) and Paul (3) and daughter Martha (6).  In 1900 the census notes that Martha had 7 children and that three were living.  The family is living on East 96th Street with son Adolph (16), daughter Martha (27) and her son Andrew (2).  Son Paul had married and was living on East 74th Street.  In 1905 the family was on West 68th Street with son Adolph (21) and grandson Andrew (8).

[Click here to see larger map]

August likely died around 1907, for it was then that Martha filed for a widow’s pension based on his service during the Civil War.  Martha has not been found after that date.  Sons Paul and Adolph and their families were still in the city in 1910.  August was buried in Lutheran All Faiths Cemetery in Middle Village, Queens, New York.

Not much is known about August’s life in New York City. Piecing together information from census records and city directories, he most likely moved from job to job as they became available.  Those listed include clerk, porter, and laborer.  Both he and Martha could read, write and speak English. August had filed for an invalid pension in 1892 so that probably impacted his ability to work.  One research goal is to obtain a copy of the pension files to fill in some of the gaps.  There could also be church records to be explored.

               

As noted earlier, August had immigrated to the US from Germany in 1859.  He is found on the passenger list for the ship Gutenberg that sailed from Hamburg and arrived in New York December 20th.  Less than a year later he filed his intent to become a citizen.  Then, in April of 1861, he enlisted in CompanyF, 8th NY Infantry and spent two years serving in the Civil War.

“First came the Regiment of German Rifles from New York over 1000 strong sturdy fine looking fellows… their dress is entirely of grey trimmed with red, serviceable and handsome, They are armed with the minie rifle and sabre bayonet, revolvers and all the required fixing for effective warfare, on which business they have come expressly.” From Washington, Detroit Daily Tribune, June 1 1861, p. 2, col. 3.

8th Infantry Encampment

On October 22, 1864, August signed his oath of allegiance to the United States, renouncing all allegiance to the Duke of Mecklenburg and became a naturalized citizen.

The 1900 census notes that Martha immigrated in 1871 so she would have been a recent immigrant when she married.  Since the marriage took place in the German Reformed Church, she could have been a member of that faith.  But no other information has been found about her immigration or first year in America.

So where did they come from?  Luckily, the church record of their marriage is available and gives the birth dates and places for each.

August was born 10 February 1934 in Groß Salitz, Mecklenburg-Schwerin; Martha was born 8 March 1846 in Stargard, Mecklenburg-Strelitz

At the times of their births, Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Mecklenburg-Schwerin were independent duchies but later became part of Germany.  They were poor states, conditions were harsh and people most likely left for economic reasons.

There are church records that show Joachim August Friederich Schott was baptized in the Evangelische Kirche Groß Salitz (Lutheran Church) on February 14, 1834.   

There are probably records for both families that are not online.  More research to be done…

Indian Raid in Decatur County

When Hans and Margaretha Westphalen immigrated to America in 1855, they were probably looking for better economic opportunities for their children and grandchildren.  They came from Holstein, a region with a large group of Germanic people, but one that was ruled by Denmark.  Though there was political instability, the opportunities for land ownership and self-determination were more likely reasons to emigrate.  They could not have imagined that one of those children and a grandchild would die during an Indian raid in northern Kansas.

Hans and Margaretha settled in New Holstein, Calumet County, Wisconsin.  The family had sailed from Hamburg  - the passenger list shows they were from Deichshörn - on April 16 and landed in New York on May 28.  One son, my husband's 2nd great-grandfather, had come the previous year. New Holstein had been founded by German immigrants in 1848. By 1855 there were about 150 households.  Hans and Margaretha remained in New Holstein, but between 1870 and 1873 at least three of their sons moved to Dodge County, Nebraska.  They would have been among the first settlers in the area and though the area was reportedly good for farming, there would have been many challenges.  A history of the county notes:

While the fertile lands of the Elkhorn Valley provided early settlers with much of what they needed for farming, it was neither simple or easy. During the grasshopper-plague years, from 1873-78, farmers paid 60 percent interest on money needed for purchasing seed.

Perhaps that is the reason that Peter and Ferdinand Westphalen decided to move their families 300 miles to Decatur County, Kansas, a land described as "well wooded and well watered...Springs are numerous...The soil is of good depth, a rich black loam."

Decatur Farm in the 1880s

It is not known exactly when they moved.  Unfortunately, both families were there in September of 1878.

The previous years had been hard ones for the Indians of the Northern Plains.  Prospectors found gold and the US government ordered the Indians off of their reservations destined for Oklahoma.  Those who did not go were attacked and war was declared. According to a 2008 article in the McCook Gazette:

In May, 1877, the government forced about 960 Northern Cheyenne men, women and children from their northern homelands in Montana onto the Darlington Reservation in Indian Territory in what would become Oklahoma. Many died in the unfamiliar lowlands, hunting was limited to restricted lands and rations did not arrive as promised.

A year later 300 of the survivors left the reservation and began their journey back to Montana.  Along the way they passed through Decatur County, Kansas.  

According to the above article and one in the October 17, 1878 issue of The Telescope, a newspaper in Belleville, Kansas, Ferdinand Westphalen and his son were approached by Indians on September 30.  They gave them food and went on about their work.  The next day the Indians returned and killed them.  The Telescope article states that Mrs. Westphalen was wounded by an arrow in her left side. Daughter Anna's obituary provides a more personal recollection:

During the Indian uprising in Kansas, her father Ferdinand and his son John were killed and her mother was shot in the back by Indians, just as they were ready to start on a trip with their team of horses and wagon.  The horses were also killed and the Westphalen home was burned to the ground. The remainder of the family, taking the wounded woman with them, managed to escape, and reaching a nearby river, rendered first aid to the mother.

The McCook Gazette article reports that after the raid, Peter Westphalen took his own family, Ferdinand's widow and her seven children back to Nebraska.  It goes on to say that "The sister-in-law, with no possible way to earn a livelihood, was forced to give her children away." 

By 1880, Ferdinand's widow, Dora, was living in Everett Township, Dodge County, Nebraska, with 5 of her children ranging in age from 2 years to 17 years.  In 1882 she was awarded $800 "for damages sustained by reason of the raid made in Kansas by the Cheyenne Indians in September, 1878".  By 1905 she was living in Seattle, Washington as were several of her children.  She remained there until her death in 1931.

The Wichita City Eagle, April 20, 1882

Monument to Those Killed during the Indian Raid - Oberlin Cemetery

The family pedigree...

ps...Peter Westphalen and his family are the focus of two previous posts, A Sad Story and Perished in the Snow.