Wenkels on the Ship Iris

Johann "Conrad" Christoph Wenkel married Henriette Bierwirth in 1822 in Großwenden (now part of Großlohra), which today is in the German state of Thuringia (Thüringen). The Wenkel family lived in Ebeleben, southwest of Sondershausen. According to family stories the Wenkel family emigrated to America between 1843 and 1846, traveling up the Mississippi River to Monroe County, Illinois. A new database of immigrants arriving at Castle Garden shows that the Wenkel family did in fact come to America in 1846 on the ship Iris, stopping first in New York City on their way to Illinois.

Castle Garden, located at the tip of Manhattan, was the first official immigration center in America, and operated until the opening of Ellis Island in 1892. The Castle Garden database includes ship passenger lists from 1830-1913.

A search of the database reveals that the Wenkel family arrived in America aboard the ship Iris on July 13,1846:
Name_______________Occupation_________________Age Sex
CONR.______WENKEL Brick Maker / Manufacturer__46 M
HENRIETTE__WENKEL Unknown_____________________45 F
FREIDRICKE_WENKEL Unknown_____________________16 F
WM.________WENKEL Unknown_____________________14 M
AUGUSTA____WENKEL Child, Youngster____________10 F
AMELIA_____WENKEL Child, Youngster_____________8 F
MINA_______WENKEL Child, Youngster_____________5 F
HENRIETTE__WENKEL Child, Youngster_____________3 F

How do we know this is the correct Wenkel family?

1. The ages are generally correct:
- Johann "Conrad" Wenkel was born in May 1800 (age 46)
- Henriette (Birwirth) Wenkel was born August 1804 (age 42 - in handwritten record a 2 can look like a 5)
- Friedericke Henrietta Wenkel was born in December 1830 (age 16)
- William - Conrad Wenkel (our ancestor) was born in January 1832 (age 14)
- Auguste Wenkel was born May 1836 (age 10)
- Friedericke "Emilia" Wenkel was born about 1838 (age about 8)
- Wilhelmine "Mina" Wenkel was born in February 1841 (age 5)
- Henriette Wenkel was born in March 1843 (age 3)

2. Conrad Wenkel's occupation is reasonable:
According to some sources, Conrad Wenkel was a linen weaver in Germany*. However, according to those same sources, Conrad's father, Johann Friedrich Wenkel, was a brickmaker in Lohra, and may have owned a brickyard. It is not unreasonable to think that his son also learned brickmaking (perhaps in addition to linen weaving).

3. A further search of the database shows that that Heinrich and Henriette (Wenkel) Mundt, with their daughter Mina were on the same ship.
Henriette (Wenkel) Mundt was the sister of Conrad Wenkel. The Mundt family (shortened to Mund) also settled in Columbia, Illinois. (note that they were later joined by Andreas Christoph Mund and family. Andreas was son of Heinrich Christoph and Juliane Dorothea (Wenkel) Mundt, making him a likely cousin of both Heinrich Mund and Conrad Wenkel).

Taken together, it looks like this is our Wenkel family on the Iris. After arriving in New York, they probably continued on to New Orleans, either on the Iris or a different ship.

I have not found a picture or description of the Iris, which was the name of a number of different 19th century ships. Iris was probably a "bark" (or "barque").

It should be noticed that the three oldest Wenkel children were not found on the passenger list: Caroline "Lena" Wenkel (born 1824), Friedrich "Fritz" Wenkel (born 1826), and Johanna "Dorothea" Wenkel (born 1827). It is unclear if they are simply indexed incorrectly (the database does not allow you to view the entire list, just to search) or if they took a different ship to America. We know that both Lena and Dorothea were in Monroe County by September 1846.

*Information about Johann "Conrad" Wenkel in Ebeleben from "Wenkel/Wenkle Cousins", Update #2, Christmas 1983

MAPS
•map of the Nordhausen region, showing Grosswenden, Sondershausen and Ebeleben
•Thuringian States in 1848 (Ebeleben is in the principality of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen, in purple).

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Emigrants from Michelbach, Hessen: the Eckert Family

Our ancestor Margaretha Eckert, born August 7, 1848 in Michelbach, Hessen emigrated to America some time before April 1862, when she was confirmed at St. Paul's Evangelical Church in Columbia, Illinois. Five years later she married Daniel Krauss.

Several other Eckert emigrants also settled in the Columbia area. Emigration records from the Hessen archives help us sort out the relationships between these families.

Leonard Eckert and Family
The Hessen archives list the following family in their emigrant data:

Eckert, Leonhard, 54 years old, Ackerer (farmer), Lutheran
Herkunft (origin): Fränkisch-Crumbach.
Auswanderungsdatum (emigration date): 1856-02-22
Ziel(goal): Amerika, USA.
Ehepartner (wife): Margaretha, geb. Schäfer (44 years old)
Kinder (children): Johannes (17), Valtin (14), Margaretha (5)

A second set of records shows the family actually originated from Michelbach near Fränkisch-Crumbach. Map showing Michelbach just southeast of Fränkisch-Crumbach.

The family probably came from Hessen to America on the Ship "Saratoga" (Liverpool to New York, arriving May 2, 1856. (Germans to America Vol. 10).

Leonard Eckert and family have not yet been found in the 1860 Census. It is possible that they did not immediately settle in Illinois after arriving in America.

It appears that Leonard and Margaret had twin daughters Margaret and Elisabeth, born in 1856 and confirmed at St. Paul's Evangelical in Columbia in May 1870.

In 1870, Leonard Eckert, his wife Margaret, son Valentin and son John with his wife Julia (Bergman) Eckert and their children were living together in Columbia.

So, is this our Margaretha's family? Probably not.
- Leonard's daughter Margaret who came with the family from Hessen was born about 1850, about two years later than our Margaretha. No record of Margaret has been found in America, and it is possible she died as a child.

- Leonard's daughter Margaret, born in 1856, married Adam Harres.

- Most importantly, our Margaretha's confirmation record (1862) indicates that her parents were "J. Eckert and Johanna Dahmer".

Margaretha and Phillip Eckert

The Hessen archives list other Eckert emigrants from Michelbach:

Eckert, Marg.,
Herkunft: Michelbach
Auswanderungsdatum: 1854-10-07
Ziel: Amerika, USA
Bemerkungen: Route über Havre.
The source of these records was the Erbach district rather than Frankische Crumbach.
On the same date a "Ph. Eckert" also emigrated from Michelbach.
Unfortunately, no age is given for either "Marg." or "Ph."

We know that a Phillip Eckert, born March 29, 1828 in Michelbach married Julia Bergmann in about 1860, probably in Monroe County, Illinois. They had four children: Phillip, Margaret "Grettchen", Elisabetha, and Margaretha. Phillip died in 1868. Julia then married John Eckert, son of Leonard, described above. Julia and John had six children: Daniel, Valentin, George and two sons and a daughter who died young.

Margaretha Eckert was confirmed at St. Paul's Evangelical in Columbia in April 1862. She married Daniel Krauss at St. Paul's Evangelical in Columbia in November 1867.

Is our Margaretha the sister of Phillip? Probably.

- In 1854 she would have been 6 years old. It is unlikely that she could have travelled to America alone. However, if the Phillip listed is the one that settled in Monroe County, he would have been 26, certainly old enough to accompany her.

- Ida (Kraus) Schmidt, granddaughter of Margaretha (Eckert) Krauss wrote in a letter to Mrs. Viola (Wenkel) Meier and Mrs. Emma (Schroeder) Mann, that “Haberlah family, their father was a brother to Grandma Eckert Kraus”. Elisabeth "Lizzie" Eckert, daughter of Phillip Eckert and Julia Bergmann married William Haberleh in 1886.

Is our Margaretha the one the emigrated in 1854? unclear

- We have no hard information about Margaretha's immigration date. The 1900 census indicates that she immigrated in 1856. The 1910 Census indicates that she immigrated in 1863 (which is clearly wrong).

- We have no information at all about Phillip Eckert's immigration date, except that it was before 1860.

It looks like research in the original Michelbach records may be necessary to clear up the relationships between these Eckert families.

Links
•1848 Map of Hessen (Fränkisch-Crumbach is just northeast of Erbach in southeastern Hessen-Darmstadt).
•Hessisches Archiv-Dokumentations- und Informations-System (Hessen archives - in German)

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Emigrants from Gross Zimmern, Hessen - George and John Stumpf

Our ancestor Johann Georg "George" Stumpf was born November 18, 1804 in Gross Zimmern in the Starkenburg region of Hessen, Germany. This was formerly in the Grand Duchy of Hessen-Darmstadt. We know that George arrived in Monroe County, Illinois by April 1836. However, emigration records from the Hessen state archives suggest that he emigrated with his brother John in 1834.

There are two entries for George in the Hessen archives "Auswanderungsdatum" (emigrant data). The combined information:
Stumpf, Georg
Herkunft (Origin): Groß-Zimmern.
Auswanderungsdatum (Emigration Date): 1834-12-10
Ziel (Goal): Amerika, USA.
Bemerkungen(Remarks): Ediktalladung vom 10.12.1834.
Bemerkungen (Remarks): mit (with) Johannes Stumpf, Groß-Zimmern

The information for Johannes "John" Stumpf is the same. John is almost certain George's brother, who was born in Gross Zimmern in 1809. The biography of Fritz Stumpf, John's son confirms that John emigrated in 1834 (Portrait and Biographical Record of Randolph, Jackson, Perry and Monroe Counties, IL, 1894, page 351).

The Stumpf brothers may have initially stopped in Pennsylvania after arriving in America. The birthplace of George's eldest son, John, born 1835, is sometimes shown as Pennsylvania, and no record of George's marriage to Elizabeth Keim has been found in the Illinois marriage records*.

The first record of the Stumpf brothers in Illinois is the December 1836 purchase of 40 acres in Monroe County by George and 80 acres by John. At the time of their purchase they were living in neighboring St. Clair County.

* There was a marriage of a George Stump to Elizabeth Keim at St. James Evangelical Lutheran Church, Gettysburg, Adams, Pennsylvania on March 3, 1833. Record. If this record IS our George and Elizabeth, the immigration date is obviously incorrect.

Links
•1848 Map of Hessen (Gross Zimmern is a short distance east of the the city of Darmstadt in Hessen-Darmstadt).
•Groß-Zimmern information
•Hessisches Archiv-Dokumentations- und Informations-System (Hessen archives - in German)
•Previous post: Land owned by George Stumpf and William Wenkel in Monroe County, Illinois

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Emigrants from Oppenheim, Hessen: the Lepp Family

Wilhelm "William" Lepp was born in 1828 in Oppenheim. Today Oppenheim lies in the state of Rheinland-Pfalz, but in the mid-19th century, it was in the state of Hessen-Darmstadt. William emigrated from Oppenheim with his mother, stepfather and two brothers and stepbrother in 1849.

The Hessen archives list the following family in their emigrant database:

Date: 1849-02
Ziel (Goal): Amerika, USA
Origin: Oppenheim
Reitz, Johann Gottfried (age 29) with Ehefrau (wife) Johanna geb. Leip und Sohn (son) Ludwig 3 J. (years) sowie Stiefsöhnen (stepsons) Friedrich Lepp, Wilhelm Lepp, Johann Lepp.

The rest of the family:
Reitz, Johanna nee Leip (age 44)
Lepp, Friedrich (age 24)
Lepp, Wilhelm (age 21), Bäcker (baker)
Lepp, Johann (age 15)
Reitz, Ludwig (age 3)

According to William's death record, he arrived in Waterloo November 21,1849. Not surprisingly the Reitz-Lepp family was living in Waterloo, Monroe County, Illinois when the 1850 Census was taken (p.85b):

NAME_________AGE SEX BORN OCCUPATION
Reitz John ___30 M Germany Farmer
Reitz Johanna 45 F Germany
Lepp Wm ______23 M Germany Baker
Lepp John ____15 M Germany
Reitz Louis ___4 M Germany

Friedrich was living in nearby St. Louis where he worked as a potter.

William lived in St. Louis for a year, then returned to Monroe County. He eventually settled in Columbia with his second wife, Pauline nee Wehinger and their children.

Links
•1848 Map of Hessen (Oppenheim is in southern Hessen-Darmstadt).
•Hessisches Archiv-Dokumentations- und Informations-System (Hessen archives - in German)
•History of Oppenheim with pictures in German. Includes Wappen (coat of arms), Geschichliches (history), Stadtrundgang (region, including history and photos of churches), Bauwerke (buildings), and Historische Ansichten (historical drawings). Translate text here
.Geschichtsverein Oppenheim (Oppenheim Historical Society - in German)
•Things to see in Oppenheim

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