Jan 10

Tombstone Tuesday–Rev. John G. Burger

Rev. John G. Burger, Zion Lutheran Cemetery, Schumm, Ohio

This is the tombstone of Rev. John G. Burger, located in row 5 of Zion Lutheran Cemetery, Schumm, Van Wert County, Ohio. The marker is inscribed, Rev. John G. Burger, 1815-1847, First Resident Pastor, Zion Lutheran Church.

Johann Georg Burger was born 4 July 1816 in Nördlingen, Bavaria. He passed away 26 March 1847 in Van Wert County at the age of 31 years, 8 months and 25 days. He died of pneumonia and was buried on 27 March.

The Schumm area was settled in 1838. Despite all the problems of pioneer life their faith was very important to the settlers. In 1839 Pastor Friedrich Wynekin, a traveling minister from Fort Wayne, Indiana, traveled to the area and preached to the new settlers. In the early years they worshiped in their cabins. In 1840 the Schumm pioneers area erected a log church.

During this time there was a shortage of Lutheran pastors in this area. It is said that when Pastor Wynekin arrived in Fort Wayne in 1838 the only Lutheran pastor in Indiana had just passed away. Appeals for ministers of the Gospel were sent to Germany over the next few years.

In southern Germany Rev. Johann Konrad Wilhelm Löhe was particularly interested in mission work and the spiritual state of German immigrants in America. He recruited young men to become ministers and sent many pastors to North America and other countries. In 1841 Rev. JKW Löhe trained Johann George Burger as a teacher. Burger was Löhe’s second student. John Burger and fellow student Adam Ernst were two of the first future ministers to be sent to America by Rev. Löhe.

John Burger and Adam Ernst sailed to America together on the ship Philip. They arrived in New York on 26 September 1842. They were both 27 years of age.

Ship Philip passenger list, 26 Sep 1842, New York

John Burger continued his studies at the Theological Seminary in Columbus, Ohio. He was ordained by Dr. Wilhelm Sihler on 18 September 1845 in Cleveland. Dr. Sihler founded Concordia Theological Seminary in Fort Wayne in 1846.

After his ordination Rev. Burger served as the pastor of Zion Lutheran Church, Hancock County, Ohio. On 14 June 1846 he was called to be the pastor of Zion, Schumm. While at Schumm he also ministered to the congregations of St. Thomas Lutheran, Ohio City, and St. Paul Lutheran, Liberty Township, Mercer County.

One of the first things Pastor Burger did at Zion was to write a constitution for the congregation. The congregation adopted the constitution on 18 September 1846 and it was signed by twelve founding members. Included in the constitution was the congregation’s financial support of a proposed new synod.

Rev. Burger played an active role in the formation of a new Lutheran synod in America. He met with other pastors in Cleveland on 13-18 September 1845 to make plans to form a new synod. In July 1846 Pastor Burger was one of sixteen pastors who met at Fort Wayne to complete the preparatory plans. The new synod was to to be organized at Chicago the next year, 1847.

Pastor Burger had planned to go to Chicago in 1847 and report that he and his congregation were ready to join the new synod. But on 26 March 1847 he died of pneumonia at the young age of 31 years.

The German Evangelical Lutheran Church Missouri, Ohio and Other States, now known as the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod, was formed on 26 April 1847 in Chicago, Illinois. Twelve pastors representing 15 German Lutheran congregations met to form the new church body. I am sure Rev. Burger would have been there to represent Zion if he had been able.

According to a report by Dr. Sihler in Der Lutheraner, Rev. Burger’s last words to his congregation were, “God now has given you a pastor, but He can also take him away again. Only remain firm in the confession of the truth and be agreed among yourselves… I have a desire to depart and be with Christ, yet I would like to abide in the flesh a little longer for your sake, but as God wills.”

Rev. Burger performed 15 baptisms, 2 confirmations, 1 marriage and 5 burials during the nine months he served as Zion’s pastor. He performed the first recorded baptism at Zion, baptizing John Edward Roedel on 28 June 1846. He performed the first recorded marriage when he united Casimir Leikhart and Catharine Haller on 5 November 1846.

Rev. John G. Burger was laid to rest next to John Georg Schumm, the founder of the Schumm community.

Sources:

  • Cyclopedia LCMS, Burger, Johann Georg.
  • “Hundreth Anniversary of the Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church, Schumm, Ohio, 1846-1946.
  • Year: 1842; Microfilm Serial: M237; Microfilm Roll: M237_50; Line: 32; List Number: 826; Ancestry.com. New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1957 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010; accessed 9 Jan 2012.
  • Church records of Zion Lutheran Church, Schumm.
  • History of Van Wert and Mercer Counties, Ohio (1882; reprint, Mt. Vernon, Indiana: Windmill Publications, Inc, 1991), 423.

 

Jan 06

2012 Genealogy Goals

2012 Goal: Keep office organized and neat.

It is here–another New Year and the time to make those dreaded resolutions. After all these years I am not going to stress out about making New Year’s Resolutions that I probably won’t keep anyway. I basically have the same resolution each year: to lose weight. Some years I succeed while the opposite happens other years.

Last year about this time I made some lofty Genealogy Goals. How did I do? I accomplished the following:

  • Regularly journaled, using prompts from “52 Weeks of Sharing Memories” from Olive Tree Genealogy Blog
  • Backed up my data every month
  • Digitized many photos with my Flip Pal portable scanner
  • Blogged every week
  • Went to a national genealogical conference (FGS in Springfield, Illinois)

The following goals didn’t happen and are still on the to-do list:

  • Digitize old home movies
  • Digitize documents I have in binders
  • Join Sons & Daughters of WWII Veterans
  • Review and write conclusions from information I have in binders
  • Discover when Isaac Huey died and where he is buried

I succeeded with 50% of my goals. That’s not too bad. This year I will make goals that are more modest:

  • Digitize those old home movies from the 1950s (repeat goal from last year)
  • Try to be more organized and keep my office neater (constant problem for genealogists)
  • Keep writing and journaling
  • Collect old family stories
  • Photograph all the tombstones in Zion Lutheran Cemetery, Schumm
  • Continue journaling with “52 Weeks of Sharing Memories”

In addition, I have two on-going goals that I have had for many years: Discover when Isaac Huey died and where he is buried. Discover who Jackson Brewster’s parents were. Maybe I will have success in 2012.

I am a list maker and always have many lists going at once. I have the long-term list (things to accomplish in a year), the medium-term list (to accomplish within a couple months) and the short-term list (to accomplish within a week). I keep my lists on the ColorNote Notepad app on my phone. ColorNote is an Android app that also syncs with my Kindle Fire. I keep shopping lists on that app, too. It is very handy and easy to use.

I also do low-tech. I have many little pieces of paper with to-do items on them. I am always writing down things while at work and stuff the paper in my pocket. This system works well until a list goes through the laundry. Is that what they call a laundry list?

I can now check off one item on my short-term list since I have finished Friday’s blog.

Happy New Year!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jan 03

Tombstone Tuesday–Catharina Heinz

Catharina Heinz, Zion Lutheran Cemetery, Chattanooga, Ohio

This is the tombstone of Catharina Heinz, located in row 5 of Zion Lutheran Cemetery, Chattanooga, Mercer County, Ohio. The gravemarker is inscribed: Catharina, Ehefrau von [wife of] of Christ. Heinz, geb den [born the] 25 June 1828, Gest den [died the] 18 May 1888, Alter [age] 59y, 10m, 23t [days].

I featured the tombstone of Catharina’s husband Christian last week. His marker is next to hers. The spelling of their surname was not consistent in the records. It was spelled Heintz, Heinz, Hines and other ways. The name is even spelled differently on their tombstones. His is spelled Heintz and hers is spelled Heinz.

According to Zion’s records Catharina was the daughter of Philipp and Charlotte (Baus) Oberkircher, born 25 June 1828 in Altstadt, County Homburg, Rheinpfalz, Bavaria. She was baptized and confirmed there and came to America in 1852. She was the wife of Christian Heinz. Catharina died 18 May 1888 after lingering and severe suffering. She was aged 59 years, 10 months and 23 days. Burial was on the 20th.

Christian and Catharina were married in Franklin County, Ohio, on 19 June 1853. (Franklin County Marriages, Vol 6:42). They were living in Hamilton Township, Franklin County, PO Columbus, in 1860 and were enumerated in the census there as ‘Hines”. The value of Christian’s personal property was $600. (1860 US census, Hamilton, Franklin, Ohio, M653_963:223) They had one child that died at a very young age.

Christian Heintz & Catharina Oberkircher marriage record, 19 June 1853, Franklin County, Ohio, Vol 6:42

Lorren Caffee remarked that he remembers Christian Heintz’s large tombstone. He asked if there was any information about what Christian did for a living or the extent of his land holdings. I was glad he asked the question. It prompted me to do more research and I discovered some interesting things.

The Heinz family was a little difficult to locate in census records, probably because of the spelling variations of their name.  I did find their farm on the 1876 and 1888 maps of Blackcreek Township. Christian Heinz was a farmer. His 80 acre farm was the north half of the southeast quarter of Section 17 in Blackcreek Township, Mercer County, Ohio. His farm was just a few miles north of where I grew up. Rockford West Road borders the north part of what was his property.

The 80 acres to the south of them was owned by A.M. [Andrew] Kallenberger. But I remember the Kallenbergers living on Rockford West Road and the boys getting on the school bus there. That was the north part of the section 17. I decided to take a trip to the courthouse to look up some land deeds.

Christian Heinz bought the NW ¼ of the SE ¼  of Section 17 [40 acres] from Jacob Heller/Holley on 1 October 1862 for $335. (Mercer County Deeds, Vol: 4:374) He purchased the NE ¼ of the SE ¼ [40 acres] from B & I RR Co [Bellefontaine & Indiana Rail Road Company] on 8 January 1865 for $300. According to the deed, B & I RR consolidated with the Indianapolis, Pittsburgh & Cleveland Rail Road Company on 22 December 1864. (Mercer County Deeds, Vol 9:42) Evidently someone had plans for a railroad there. Maybe that was the same train that was supposed to go through Chattanooga at one time.

Christian and Catharina “Heintz”, as enumerated in the 1880 census: Christian, 50, born in Bavaria, works on farm; Catharina, 51, born in Bavaria, keeping house; Rosetta Walker, 14, born in Ohio, servant. (1880 US census, Blackcreek, Mercer, Ohio; Roll 1048:328D, ED 179)

Christian sold his 80 acres to Andrew Eichler on 24 January 1889, about nine months before Christian passed away. Andrew Eichler passed away in 1894 and the land went to Leonard Eichler. Leonard sold the land to Laura Musselman in 1897. Maggie (Rueck) Kallenberger, wife of Mike [son of Andrew] purchased the land in 1910. That is how the Kallenbergers came to own the whole southeast quarter, which includes the land along Rockford West.

Christian Heintz farm (red), Kallenberger farm (yellow), Jacob Miller farm (green), Blackcreek Twp, Mercer County, 1888.

Don Caffee said that his parents, Howard and Caroline (Miller) Caffee, lived in the house on the north 80 acres when they were first married. They married in 1914. Howard and Caroline’s son Vernon was born there in 1915.

Andrew Kallenberger purchased his south 80 acres from William Foreman on 30 August 1864. (Mercer County Deeds, 7:471) The Kallenbergers lived in house on the south 80 acres for many years. After the 1920 tornado destroyed that house Mike and Maggie Kallenberger moved into the house on the north 80.

And that is how the bus came to stop at the house along Rockford West to pick up the Kallenberger boys, Mike and Maggie’s grandchildren. The Kallenbergers had lived in the north house ever since.

My connection to all this: Caroline (Miller) Caffee was the sister of my grandfather Carl Miller. Their parents were Jacob & Christine (Rueck) Miller. Caroline and Carl were half-siblings to Maggie (Rueck) Kallenberger. Maggie was Christine’s daughter, born in Germany.

While in Celina I also stopped at the Mercer County Library to look at the 1880 Agricultural Census. This is what the Christian Heinz farm was like in 1880:

Land: owned 80 acres, 50 acres tilled, 5 acres of meadow, 30 acres of woods.
Value: $2500, including buildings; $150, machinery; $260 livestock.
Farm labor paid in 1879: $150.
Value of all farm products sold in 1879: $450.
Horses: 3
Cattle: 3 milk cows; 8 other, 1 calf dropped, 1 cow purchased, 2 cows sold.
Milk products: 900 gal milk sold in 1879, 300 lb butter made on 1879.
Crops: Hay, 8 acres; Indian corn, 24 acres/700 bushels; oats 4 acres/100 bushels; wheat 11 acres/240 bushels; Irish potatoes ½ acre/ 50 bushels; 1 acre apple orchard, 20 bearing trees/30 bushels.
Forest Products: 30 cords of wood cut in 1879, $30.

Heinz/Heintz was not a common surname in Blackcreek Township. Although Christian and Catharina had no descendants their story lives on.

Dec 30

The 6th Day of Christmas

Candle Nativity, Zion Lutheran, Chattanooga, Christmas Eve 2011.

Even though all the Christmas services are over and most families have had their Christmas gatherings, it is still the Christmas Season.

These are The Twelve Days of Christmas, the time from Christmas Day until the beginning of Epiphany. It is from 25 December through 5 January. Epiphany Day is 6 January. Today is the Sixth Day of Christmas. From the song The Twelve Days of Christmas: “On the 6th day of Christmas my true love gave to me, six geese a-laying.”

There is a very good article about The Twelve Days of Christmas and how the song  relates to Christianity and the Bible at The Voice.

We had a very busy Christmas weekend. We do not have a pastor at Zion, Chattanooga, right now but we continue to have services. Lay members are stepping up to help with the services. However, things don’t always go smoothly or as planned. Here is how our service went last Saturday evening.

I got the idea for this year’s Christmas Eve service on the Internet. The service involved a lot of candles that made up a “Candle Nativity.” Each candle symbolized a character in the Nativity and each candle was to be lighted as the Nativity story was read and hymns were sung. Jesus was the small white votive candle. The other candle colors: Mary: light blue; Joseph: dark blue; angel Gabriel: gold; angels: yellow; three kings: purple and the shepherds: green. I set up everything on a small table and hoped that the candles wouldn’t fall over and catch the church on fire.

The main participants in the service were as follows: My husband Joe led the service and our son Jeff “volunteered” to light the candle Nativity. Sophia was the acolyte and her dad Lynne read some of the readings. Lynne also makes and prints our bulletins. Kendra was at the piano and I was at the organ. Kendra happens to be the wife of Lynne and the mother of Sophia.

I printed out a detailed script for the main participants. In it I included all of the scripture readings, using the NIV (New International Version) of the Bible. I did not know that Lynne was going to print out all of the scripture readings in the bulletin.  He did not use the NIV version. He used a different version.

Kendra and I played some pre-service Christmas duets. I lost my pianist at the end of Coventry Carol. All sound from the piano ceased as I turned to the last page. The arrangement is not difficult at all and Kendra was not likely to get lost in that song. Luckily I had the major part on the last page and finished the song as a solo.

Karen, Christmas Eve 2011

Later I found out what had happened. Kendra did not have that particular book with her and she copied the music from my book before the service. But she forgot to copy the last page of the song! Another point to add for a successful duet performance: Make sure both musicians have all the pages to the music! All in all it was not our best performance. Kendra and I agreed afterward that we had peaked the week before at our concert.

Before the service began Sophia lit the candles and all of the candles in the Advent Wreath except the Christ Candle. The Advent Wreath was supposed to be lit later in the service, after a prayer. That was not a big deal. Joe just adjusted the prayer from “tonight we light” to “tonight we lit.”

Then the time came to light the large white Christ Candle that was in the middle of the Advent Wreath. Joe thought that Jeff was supposed come forward to light it. Remember: Jeff was to light the candle Nativity on the little table later in the service. This led to a Bennett power struggle up front. From in front of the altar Joe was motioning for Jeff to come forward. At the organ I was waving Jeff back to his pew and telling him “not now”. This went on, back and forth, for several long moments until I got Jeff to sit down again and gave Joe “the look”. I then motioned for Sophia to light the Christ Candle. We sang some Christmas hymns.

Meanwhile, back at the altar, Joe discovered that he was missing the center section of his bulletin. He was frantically trying to find his place while trying to read smoothly and keep the service going all at the same time. He had to switch over and read from the script I had given him. But he had a hard time finding his place because the scripture verses were not the same. Remember, Lynne used a different version of the Bible for the bulletin.

Up in front Joe was really sweating it. Literally. They had a spotlight shining on the large beautiful Nativity that was off to the side of the altar. The same spotlight was also shining on Joe. Add to this the fact that the church was warmer than usual that evening.

Zion Lutheran, Chattanooga, Christmas 2011

After the offering was our candle-light service. The church lights were dimmed and everyone was to hold a candle while singing Silent Night. The Song of Simeon was to be read by the congregation while the ushers took lighted candles to each pew. The Song of Simeon never happened. Joe overlooked it while shuffling through all the papers he was holding. I didn’t have the heart to wave at him from the organ and remind him of the prayer. We continued on.

Jeff had neglected to pick up a candle to hold during Silent Night and he made us aware of that at the last minute. Thank you, Kevin, for giving Jeff your candle.

We finally came to the end of the service. Despite everything, it was a very nice service. The scripture readings and hymns were perfect for Christmas Eve. The church was beautiful with all the candles. Most of the congregation probably didn’t realize how much we were struggling to make it all happen. Afterward I wasn’t quite sure how to take Farrel’s comment, “I have never seen a service like that before.”

I guess I will take it as a complement.

I want to thank everyone that helped in any way with our Christmas Eve service.

We stopped at the Mercer County Courthouse this week and it was beautifully decorated for Christmas.

Decorations around the Bicentennial Bell, Mercer County Courthouse, Christmas 2011.

 

Mercer County Courthouse, Christmas 2011

 

Have a safe and Happy New Year!

 

Dec 27

Tombstone Tuesday–Christian Heintz

This is the tombstone of Christian Heintz, located in row 5 of Zion Lutheran Cemetery, Chattanooga, Mercer County, Ohio. The gravestone is inscribed: HEINTZ, Christian Heintz, Died Sept. 1, 1889, aged 59 Y [years], 8 M [months], 21 D [days].

Christian’s death and burial record as it was recorded in Zion’s church records: Christ Heinz, born 10 December 1829 in Hamburg Germany, died of diphtheria on 1 September 1889 in Celina, Ohio. He was buried in Chattanooga, Ohio, on 3 September.  Rev. Christ Reichert, Evangelical  Lutheran Pastor here.

The following information is also in Zion’s records: Christian Heintz was the son of Friederich Heintz and his wife Elisabetha, born Bach. Christian was born 10 December 1829 in Erbach, County Hamburg, Rhein–Bavaria. He was baptized there and raised in the Roman Catholic Church.  However on 17 October 1863 he was confirmed in the Lutheran faith and was received as a member of Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church, Mercer County, Ohio. Christian traveled to this land in the year 1852 and married Catharina Oberkircher in June of the same year. She was the daughter of Philipp and Charlotte Oberkircher, born Baus.  Catharina was born 25 June 1828 in Altstadt, County Homburg, Rhein–Bavaria. She was baptized and confirmed there. She traveled to this land in 1852. Both spouses lived a few years near Columbus, Ohio, and then moved to this neighborhood.

They had one known child, Catharina, born 12 August 1852. She died in the same year.

His wife’s tombstone is next to his.