Difference between revisions of "John Frederick"

From MouserAncestry
Jump to: navigation, search
(biography & page link to complete biography)
(wedding & Bible pages photos)
Line 1: Line 1:
 
__NOTOC__  
 
__NOTOC__  
 
[[Image:John Frederick.jpg|150px|left]][[Image:John Frederick 2.jpg|150px|left]]
 
[[Image:John Frederick.jpg|150px|left]][[Image:John Frederick 2.jpg|150px|left]]
−
In August of 1822 John Frederick was born when his mother was thirty-seven and his father thirty-eight.  He was no doubt one of the youngest children in the family, and may not have known his grandparents.  The Friedrich grandparents died shortly before he was born; his Speck grandfather had died fifteen years earlier.  Perhaps he knew his maternal grandmother; her death date isn't known. <br<His father, a wagon driver, died when he was nine years old. <br>John Frederick's father, grandfather, and great-grandfather were "drovers", wagon drivers.  He, however, is listed in the church record as a farmer. This may mean nothing more than he took care of the farmland at home, while some older brother took up the wagon routes.  <br>  He did not marry until his twenty-ninth year.<br>He met Anna Catherine Kuhnemuth who lived in the village of Frankershausen, some five miles to the north, and in 1851 they were married. (The Frederick Bible says that they were married in Hitzerode.  This was his home town, not hers, which seems curious.)  Anna Catherine was twenty-four. Johannes' mother, Anna Margarethe Speck,was still alive at that date.
+
The story of John Frederick has long fascinated his descendants, and provoked much speculation.  The kernel of information was that he had been forced to leave Germany and could not return, so his wife met him in England for the trip to America.  She was pregnant with their first child at the time. It was joked that "Aunt Mary" crossed the ocean but never saw it; Mary Frederick was born in August not long after they arrived in America in 1852.  The theories for why he had to leave included having hunted deer in the forest of the local noble landowner, a crime for which the penalty could be severe. (Hitzerode belonged to the noble of Eschwege until 1823; Frankershausen to the noble of Doernberg.) It seems doubtful however that this was the reason.  John Frederick's grandson, Fred Kline, said he knew the reason but wouldn't tell it; shooting a deer would surely not have caused such reticence.  Another theory put forth was that the church forced him to leave because Anna Catherine was pregnant but unmarried.  Church records have however been found for their marriage in 1851, before they came to America in 1852. Unless he was involved in a brawl and caused physical injury to another, the most likely explaination for his trouble is that he was simply avoiding the military draft.   [[John Frederick Biography|(See complete biography)]]
−
The story of John Frederick has long fascinated his descendants, and provoked much speculation.  The kernel of information was that he had been forced to leave Germany and could not return, so his wife met him in England for the trip to America.  She was pregnant with their first child at the time. It was joked that "Aunt Mary" crossed the ocean but never saw it; Mary Frederick was born in August not long after they arrived in America in 1852.  The theories for why he had to leave included having hunted deer in the forest of the local noble landowner, a crime for which the penalty could be severe. (Hitzerode belonged to the noble of Eschwege until 1823; Frankershausen to the noble of Doernberg.) It seems doubtful however that this was the reason.  John Frederick's grandson, Fred Kline, said he knew the reason but wouldn't tell it; shooting a deer would surely not have caused such reticence.  Another theory put forth was that the church forced him to leave because Anna Catherine was pregnant but unmarried.  Church records have however been found for their marriage in 1851, before they came to America in 1852.   <br>Unless he was involved in a brawl and caused physical injury to another, the most likely explaination for his trouble is that he was simply avoiding the military draft. The lords and cities of un-unified Germany were constantly warring and in need of soldiers. [[John Frederick Biography|(See complete biography)]] This theory is strengthened by the family tradition (from Judy King of the Kennemuth descendants) that he escaped "out the dung hole".  Even though the farms were outlying, the farm houses were built in town, in three parts: the living quarters, the hay & feed storage section, and the animal quarters.  This latter included a low doorway out which the manure was shoveled to the outside.  If John Frederick felt compelled to run through the barn and crawl out the dung hole, someone was actually at the door to draft or arrest him.  <br>He successfully made his escape and left Germany, but without Anna Catherine. He sailed for America, and the apparent suddenness of his leaving suggests he or his family had surplus funds sufficient for ship passage readily at hand.  Subsequently, he returned for Anna Catherine, but couldn't return to Germany, so met her in England, and they returned to America together.  Anna Catherine's role is unclear.  She may have known at the time, or only after he had gone, that she was pregnant.  They may have already planned to immigrate together once they were married, or the precipitous event, whatever it was, may have forced them into spur of the moment decisions and a year of anxiety.  It was said John Frederick earned enough money in America to pay for his passage back to England, and then at least four passages back to America, as Anna traveled to England with a sister and brother who came on to America with them. She was accompanied probably by Anna Elisabeth who was five years her junior, and by her brother Conrad who was ten years younger than Anna Catherine.  The three of them setting out for England would have been aged twenty-five, twenty, and fifteen. They could not have stayed long in England; just sufficient time to meet John Frederick and book passage to America.  <br>The timing of the three ocean crossings by John Frederick is rather amazing, given the weeks it took to cross the ocean by sailing ship.  He left Hitzerode sometime after being married on 20 October 1851. He spent an unknown length of time in America, undoubtedly trying to renew his funds, possibly meeting with familiar families from the Berkatal valley now living in Pennsylvania. It is doubtful he had time to go as far as western Pennsylvania to look for land.  He returned to meet Anna Catherine and her two siblings in England, and the four of them booked passage back to America.  They landed shortly before the birth of John and Anna Catherine's first child, Mary was born on 13 August, 1852, nine months and two weeks after the wedding in October the previous year.<br.They settled in Ashland Twp., Clarion County, Pennsylvania, and John took up farming. <br>Five years later Anna Catherine's parents and most of her siblings left for America as well.  It is said that John Frederick paid for all these passages. Whatever his earlier transgressions, he managed later to be solvent, and generous. <br>The original Frederick farm consisted of 86 acres.  An additional 56 acres was purchased from a neighbor, Leu Liebrum, a parcel that became known as "the Liebrum" to the family. John and Anna Catherine raised a family of seven children, six of whom survived to adulthood.  Their first daughter, Mary, and their oldest son, Frank, both married children of the Dietrich family who also had immigrated from Hitzerode. Their youngest son Jacob died at age twenty, before marrying, and their youngest daughter, Josephine, died in infancy or early childhood.  The three remaining children also married from among the German community there, either from other newly immigrated families like themselves, or as their daughter Anna Elisabeth Frederick did, married into the older established German families migrating westward from eastern Pennsylvania.  The second son, John Valentine Frederick, married Leu Liebrum's daughter, Dena.  The Bible is now in the possession of a descendant of John V. & Dena Liebrum Frederick.  The original Frederick homestead still stands, owned by another descendant of John V. and Dena Frederick.  "The Liebrum" section is across the road.  In the Liebrum Cemetery are buried various Frederick, Dietrich and Liebrum family members, including John Frederick and Anna Catherine Kennemuth. Their immigration to America began in turmoil, but because they undertook the journey, they have bequeathed to their descendants a life of opportunity.  We consider the details and mysteries of their story with curiosity and compassion; we realize their hardships and their successes with gratitude.  <br>Coda:  Among the great-great-great-great-grandsons of Andreas Frederick, his son and grandson, all wagondrivers, are several men employed in the trucking industry.  The more things change....
+
−
 
+
−
It is still unknown what the date of John Frederick's first trip to America was.  It is presumed to have been in 1851 after the wedding, but that is not known for sure.  It is doubtful that he went to America at age 15 (1837), as the 1900 census indicates. He was 78 at the time of that census and probably confused the date.  Or perhaps the census taker misunderstood his gutteral German.  <br> John Frederick never learned more than a few phrases of English.  Ella Beals Wilson was his great-granddaughter.  She remembers him  keeping hard candy in his pocket for the kids, saying "Bissel candy, Huh?".  He said he was from "Hesse Kassel", and it took deciphering the Frederick family Bible in the 1990's to find that Anna Catherine was from Frankershausen, a tiny town near Kassel.  Further searches in the records of churches in the area around Frankershausen located John Frederick and earlier Frederick generations in Hitzerode and Kammerbach. Once those locations were known, Hitzerode could also be deciphered in the family Bible record.
+
 
<br style="clear:both;"/>
 
<br style="clear:both;"/>
  
Line 69: Line 66:
 
|}
 
|}
 
= Photo Gallery =
 
= Photo Gallery =
 +
[[Image:John Frederick & Anna Catherine Kennemuth.jpg|270px|left|thumb|John Frederick and wife Anna Catherine Kennemuth]][[Image:Frederick Bible birth & death records.jpg|150px|left|thumb|Frederick Bible, birth & death records]][[Image:Frederick Bible, marriage record.jpg|140px|left|thumb|Frederick Bible, marriage record]]
 +
<br style="clear: left"/>
 +
Wedding photograph of John Frederick and Anna Catherine Kennemuth. <br> Date/photographer unknown. Provided by Della Frederick Francisco.
 
[[Image:John Frederick at doorway.jpg|190px|left]][[Image:John Frederick in yard.jpg|200px|left]]<br style="clear: left"/>
 
[[Image:John Frederick at doorway.jpg|190px|left]][[Image:John Frederick in yard.jpg|200px|left]]<br style="clear: left"/>
 
These two photos of John Frederick appear to be at the home of John Abram Kline and Elizabeth Frederick Kline. The photo at left shows him by the side porch before it was converted to a closed-in porch. Some of the stone steps used at this house were found down nearer the woods, the remains of the first house built on the property. The woman in the doorway could be his granddaughter Annie Kline.  The photo at right shows the front yard and a bit of the front vegetable garden, then plum trees to the left
 
These two photos of John Frederick appear to be at the home of John Abram Kline and Elizabeth Frederick Kline. The photo at left shows him by the side porch before it was converted to a closed-in porch. Some of the stone steps used at this house were found down nearer the woods, the remains of the first house built on the property. The woman in the doorway could be his granddaughter Annie Kline.  The photo at right shows the front yard and a bit of the front vegetable garden, then plum trees to the left
Line 96: Line 96:
 
*Hitzerode, Germany is about 20 miles SE of Kassel, in Hesse.
 
*Hitzerode, Germany is about 20 miles SE of Kassel, in Hesse.
 
* Lieberum Cemetery (land donated by the Lieberum family), also known as the "Dutch" (ie German) cemetery, is near the old Frederick farm.  The cemetery is possibly at the site of the former St. Johns Reform Church.
 
* Lieberum Cemetery (land donated by the Lieberum family), also known as the "Dutch" (ie German) cemetery, is near the old Frederick farm.  The cemetery is possibly at the site of the former St. Johns Reform Church.
−
 
+
* It is still unknown what the date of John Frederick's first trip to America was.  It is presumed to have been in 1851 after the wedding, but that is not known for sure.  It is doubtful that he went to America at age 15 (1837), as the 1900 census indicates. He was 78 at the time of that census and probably confused the date.  Or perhaps the census taker misunderstood his gutteral German.
 
=Conjecture=
 
=Conjecture=
 
*The 1900 census reports John Frederick as immigrating in 1837, when he would have been only 15 years old. This date may be erroneous. It is believed that he did come to America once, before returning and immigrating with his wife in 1852.   
 
*The 1900 census reports John Frederick as immigrating in 1837, when he would have been only 15 years old. This date may be erroneous. It is believed that he did come to America once, before returning and immigrating with his wife in 1852.   
 
=Research Wishlist=
 
=Research Wishlist=

Revision as of 21:12, 19 April 2007

John Frederick.jpg
John Frederick 2.jpg

The story of John Frederick has long fascinated his descendants, and provoked much speculation. The kernel of information was that he had been forced to leave Germany and could not return, so his wife met him in England for the trip to America. She was pregnant with their first child at the time. It was joked that "Aunt Mary" crossed the ocean but never saw it; Mary Frederick was born in August not long after they arrived in America in 1852. The theories for why he had to leave included having hunted deer in the forest of the local noble landowner, a crime for which the penalty could be severe. (Hitzerode belonged to the noble of Eschwege until 1823; Frankershausen to the noble of Doernberg.) It seems doubtful however that this was the reason. John Frederick's grandson, Fred Kline, said he knew the reason but wouldn't tell it; shooting a deer would surely not have caused such reticence. Another theory put forth was that the church forced him to leave because Anna Catherine was pregnant but unmarried. Church records have however been found for their marriage in 1851, before they came to America in 1852. Unless he was involved in a brawl and caused physical injury to another, the most likely explaination for his trouble is that he was simply avoiding the military draft. (See complete biography)

Date Location Notes Sources
Birth 17 Aug 1822
Marriage 20 Oct 1851 Hitzerode, Ger. To Anna Catherine Kennemuth
Death 12 Apr 1912 Ashland Twp., Clarion Co. PA
Burial Lieberum "Dutch" Cemetery

Ancestry chart segment 

 Generation 4           Generation 5          Generation 6
 
                                                     +-- Johannes Friedrich
                                                     |   (~1784-1831)
                            +-- John Frederick ------+
                            |   (1822-1912)          |
 Elizabeth Anna Frederick --+                        +-- Anna Margarethe Speck
 (1865-1921)                |                            (1785->1851)
                            +-- Anna Catherine Kennemuth
                                (1827-1889)

Sources:

Children

(all children with Anna Catherine Kennemuth

Name Gender Date of Birth Birthplace Spouse Notes Sources
Mary Frederick F 13 Aug 1852 William "Will" Dietrich
Jacob C. Frederick M 31 Oct 1854
Frank J. Frederick M 6 Nov 1856 Louisa Dietrich
Emma B. Frederick F 1858 1) Unknown Lintz
2) John Henry Jury
John Valentine Frederick M 14 Feb 1862 Dena C. Lieberum
Elizabeth "Ella" Anna Frederick F 13 Feb 1865 John Abram Kline Direct line
Josephine Frederick F (died young)


Places of Residence

Location Dates Notes Sources
Hitzerode, Germany b. 1822
possibly Frankserhausen, Ger by ( married)1851-1852
Fern, Ashland Twp., Clarion Co. PA 1852-d. 1912


Photo Gallery

John Frederick and wife Anna Catherine Kennemuth
Frederick Bible, birth & death records
Frederick Bible, marriage record


Wedding photograph of John Frederick and Anna Catherine Kennemuth.
Date/photographer unknown. Provided by Della Frederick Francisco.

John Frederick at doorway.jpg
John Frederick in yard.jpg

These two photos of John Frederick appear to be at the home of John Abram Kline and Elizabeth Frederick Kline. The photo at left shows him by the side porch before it was converted to a closed-in porch. Some of the stone steps used at this house were found down nearer the woods, the remains of the first house built on the property. The woman in the doorway could be his granddaughter Annie Kline. The photo at right shows the front yard and a bit of the front vegetable garden, then plum trees to the left

John Frederick & George M. Sheffer with grandchildren (possibly Hazel or Ailene Sheffer), Branfield & Dorothy Sheffer.
Family of John A. Kline, with John Frederick at far right

The family of John Abram Kline poses with John Frederick in front of the Kline farmhouse. From left to right are Beulah Gladys Kline, James Elgie Beals, Winnifred May Kline, J. Austin Sheffer, Anna Catherine Kline, Frederick Edwin Kline, John Abram Kline, Mary Philistia Kline, Elizabeth Anna Frederick, Sarah Elenore Myers Sheffer (Mrs. George M. Sheffer) in white blouse, and John Frederick.
Photo of John Frederick & George M. Sheffer with grandchildren provided by Ed Barry.
Remaining photos probided by E W Williams, from collection of Winnifred Kline Beals.

Sources

Ref. Num. Description Image of original
1 1900 United States Federal Census,Ashland Twp., Clarion Co. PA District 1 pg 5, ln. 84-89. Date of census: 11 June 1900.
John Frederick born Aug 1822, age 77,married, (length of marriage not recorded; was actually widowered), born Germany, both parents born Germany, year of immigration 1837,number of years in the US 63, naturalized, farmer, owns farm free of mortgage.
John V. Frederick, son, born Feb 1863, age 37, married 6 yrs, born PA, parents born Ger.
Denie Frederick, daughter-in-law, born Dec. 1875, age 24, married 6 yrs, mother of 3 children, all 3 living.
Dellie Frederick, g-dau. born Oct 1894, age 5, she & parents born PA
William Frederick, g-son, born Oct 1895, age 4, all born PA
Harvey Frederick, g-son, born May 1898, age 2, all born PA.
1900 census pa clarion ashland dist 1 pg 5.jpg
2 Frederick Bible, published in Philadelphia 1882.
Marriage record: "12 October 1850 in Hitzerode John Friederich Anna Catharina Kuhnemuth Franckersausen
Birth records: "Johannes Friederich geboren 17 August 1822 fon Hitzerode. Anna Catharina Kuhnemuth 27 February 1827 in Franckersausen. Sie is gestorben 1889 Junie 26. John Friederich Efrau. Sie war alt 62 yer 4 monat 7 day. Tauf (wahr) irh." John Friederich born 17 Aug. 1822 in Hitzerode. Anna Catharina Kuhnemuth 27 Feb. 1827 in Franckersausen. She died 26 June 1889. Wife of John Friederich. She was 62 years 4 months & 7 days old. She was baptized.


Source notes

  • Hitzerode, Germany is about 20 miles SE of Kassel, in Hesse.
  • Lieberum Cemetery (land donated by the Lieberum family), also known as the "Dutch" (ie German) cemetery, is near the old Frederick farm. The cemetery is possibly at the site of the former St. Johns Reform Church.
  • It is still unknown what the date of John Frederick's first trip to America was. It is presumed to have been in 1851 after the wedding, but that is not known for sure. It is doubtful that he went to America at age 15 (1837), as the 1900 census indicates. He was 78 at the time of that census and probably confused the date. Or perhaps the census taker misunderstood his gutteral German.

Conjecture

  • The 1900 census reports John Frederick as immigrating in 1837, when he would have been only 15 years old. This date may be erroneous. It is believed that he did come to America once, before returning and immigrating with his wife in 1852.

Research Wishlist

Retrieved from "http://mouser.org/projects/genealogy/index.php?title=John_Frederick&oldid=5494"
Personal tools