One thing about genealogy is that the family history you think you know may not be entirely complete or accurate. Your family history may change as records become available and are analyzed. As more records become accessible we may be able to add information to our family history. Sometimes we learn new revelations. At a minimum, we may get a better understand of our ancestors’ lives.
Having said that, I am going to revisit some Schumm history, beginning with our immigrant ancestor John George Schumm’s grandfather. Most of the information I am using comes from the Ruppertshofen church records, the church the Schumm’s attended. Images of their church records are available to view on Ancestry.com.
Ruppertshofen and church.
That’s the good news. The bad news is that these are German records, written in the old German script. Searching through the records for Schumm names is a long, challenging process. Thank goodness I had a lot of help with this project.
JG Schumm I children; JG Albrecht Schumm death, 1813
John George Schumm (1777-1846) is one of the best-known ancestors in our Schumm family. John George immigrated to America in 1833 with 5 of his children and founded the village of Schumm and Zion Lutheran Church there.
I am going to begin two generations before our immigrant John George Schumm was born and start with his grandparents.
For clarification, because John George Schumm’s father was also named John George, I am going to call our immigrant ancestor John George Schumm II and call his father John George Schumm I.
John George Schumm I was born 1 December 1738 to Wilhelm Melchior Schumm (1713-1777) and Anna Regina (Fischer) Schumm (1713-1745). Wilhelm Melchoir and Anna Regina (Fischer) married in 1733 and had 3 children:
Johann Michael (1734-1799?)
Johann George I (1738-1791)
Anna Maria (1742-?)
The mother Anna Regina (Fischer) Schumm died in 1745, when John George I was only 7 years old. It must have been a challenge for the father Melchior to raise his 3 young children without their mother.
At the age of 35, John George Schumm I married Anna Margaretha Franz, age 26, married 22 November 1774. They also had only 3 children:
Anna Maria Schumm (1775-1785)
Johann George Schumm II (1777-1846), our immigrant ancestor
Johann George Albrecht Schumm (1789-1813)
The father John George Schumm I died 2 September 1791. Yet another generation to lose a parent early, leaving a spouse with 2 young children. Daughter Anna Maria had passed away six years before, at age 10, so just two children remained, our Johann George II, age 14, and JG Albrecht, age 2. Widow Anna Margaretha had to raise and support her two children by herself.
However, I now have some additional information about this family from the church records.
Widow Anna Margaretha (Franz) Schumm, widow of John George Schumm I, remarried. She married Johann Martin Stapf 23 October 1792. Their marriage is recorded in the Triensbach church records.
Our John George Schumm II and his younger brother JG Albrecht Schumm had a stepfather.
Staph, Schumm marriage 1792, Triensbach
Johann Martin Stapf was born in Lobenhousen 12 December 1760 and was 12 years younger than Anna Margaretha (Franz) Schumm. It appears they did not have any children of their own. After all, Anna Margaretha was near the end of her child-bearing years.
It is good to know our Johann George II and his brother JG Albrecht had a father figure growing up and a means of support for the widow and her two children.
Our John George Schumm II married Anna Maria Fischer in 1807 and they started their family.
A few years later John George II’s brother JG Albrecht Schumm went off to war. He may have been conscripted into military service. A good portion of Germany was under French rule, under Napoleon’s rule and the Germans and Austrians were fighting to end the French rule.
JG Albrecht Schumm, age 24, fought in the Battle of Leipzig, which was fought 16-19 October 1813. He was wounded in that battle and died from his wounds on 1 November 1813.
The battle of Leipzig was one of the worst battles in the Napoleonic Wars and there were many casualties on both sides. However, it was a decisive battle and Napoleon was defeated. The battle of Leipzig marked the end of the French Empire in Germany and Poland. It was the beginning of the end for Napoleon and in 1815 the German Confederation was formed.
There is more newly-discovered Schumm information to come! I will continue with this in future blog posts.
I want to give a big thanks to my Schumm cousin Ken, who can read the old German script very well, for discovering this information in the old German church records and alerting me to its availability on Ancestry.com. Thank you, Ken!
3 comments
Karen, this is great. I will update Johann George Schumm I wikitree profile: https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Schumm-137
I look forward to you sharing other new discoveries for the Schumm family.
Thanks,
Dave
Author
You are welcome! And thank you for your work and keeping the Wikitree current.
Thanks for the updated Schumm history. Look forward to hearing more. My cousin, Paul E. Shaffer married Dorothy Louise Schumm, daughter of Ferdinand William Schumm.