John Frederick
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 shot a deer in the forest of the local noble landowner (Hitzerode belonged to the noble of Eschwege until 1823; Frankershausen to the noble of Doernberg.) It is doubtful 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 was that the church forced him to leave because unmarried Anna Catherine was pregnant.(However, church records have been found for their marriage in 1851, before they came to America in 1852.
John Frederick, unlike his father and grandfather who were "drovers", wagon drivers, was a farmer. It is thus doubtful that he went to America at age 15, as the 1900 census indicates. The most likely explaination for his troubles might be that he was simply avoiding the draft. The lords and cities of un-unified Germany were constantly warring and in need of soldiers. 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.
If he came to America at that point, it was early enough that he later confused the date to be 1837, or perhaps he said in his gutteral German 1847, and the census taker wrote down 1837...He never learned more than a few phrases of English. How the marriage in 1851 was accomplished is a mystery, perhaps a quiet brief slip back into town with the complicity of the church official, a wedding at home, and then money left with his wife to cover her travels to meet him in England. Or his escape could have been after the wedding but before the 1852 trip to America. He is said to have come to America once, then gone back to England to meet Anna, so the latter explaination, though possible, does crowd the schedule. Anna Catherine traveled with a sister and brother to England and then to America. Five years later her parents and most of her siblings left for America as well. It is said that John Frederick paid for all these passages. Whatever his transgressions, or perhaps because of them, he managed to be solvent, and generous.
Ella Beals Wilson was his great-granddaughter and remembers him as 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 area churches located John Frederick and earlier Frederick generations in Hitzerode and Kammerbach, nearby.
| Date | Location | Notes | Sources | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Birth | 17 Aug 1822 | |||
| Marriage | 20 Oct 1851 | Hitzerode, Ger. | To Anna Catherine Kennemuth | |
| Death | 12 Apr 1912 | |||
| 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
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
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. |
|
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 across from the old Frederick farm. The cemetery is possibly at the site of the former St. Johns Reform Church.
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.
