Tag: Blum

The ESCAPE? More on the Blum Family

Today I’m going to share with you a bit more info on the Blum Family.. If you remember from the previous post on the Blums there was mention of a Carl Schurz….that little bit of information will come into play in this post.

During the Baden Rebellion, my great grandmother, Louise Moesinger Blum closely followed all news about Carl Schurz. She told her son Martin (my great uncle) that her father, George “Carl” Moesinger (b 21 Mar 1826, Germany d. 8 Jul 1866 Baden Germany) had escaped to America or South America. All of the succeeding years, Martin researched for more information about his grandfather. He scanned Schurz’s auto biography (three volumes) in hope to find a trace of him.  He felt perhaps he might find him among the civil war veterans as he was a lieutenant in the Prussian Army.

In 1983 Martin visited Germany with his brother William resolved to continue his research. He visited kin of his mother. They too believed that Carl had escaped to America, and knew nothing of grandfather.  Carl had escaped the battle ground and returned to the native village of Kondringen. Mum was the word in the village. He could carry on the business of innkeeper. His father, Johann George Moesinger was innkeeper before him and stayed on as butcher. They were relatively well to do and prosperous.

The  Inn still stands. It was built in 1550 and Rebstock was it’s name. Within a stone’s throw was the Blum home. It was built in 1814 by Andreas  “Andrew”  Blum who was born Nov 28,  1782 in Kondringen, Germany. A.B. 1814 is carved above the door. His grave stone is in the wall around the cemetery though the year of his death, April 14 1847 was not legible.  The house at that time was occupied by Martin’s first cousin Fritz Blum, his son Alfred and Alfred’s wife Emmi.

While there, in Germany, Martin visited the parsonage next to the Rebstock. There all records were complete. The parson had adequate forewarning and Martin had made clear that he wanted to know what happened to his grandfather George “Carl ” Moesinger. He had met with the preacher early in his visit and found him fully prepared. This is the day Martin learned that his grandfather was buried July 8, 1866.

“Impossible!” he exploded

Many thoughts raced through his mind as the preacher reread from the church records. ” Carl Mossinger—Rebstock innkeeper was buried July 8, 1866.

Between 1866 and 1881 were very trying years for the Mossinger (pronounced Maysinger) family. That included Martin’s grandmother Caroline (Jenne) Mossinger (b 16 Aug 1822 Germany d. 4 Jun 1905 South Bend, Nebraska) , great grandfather, perhaps his uncle Adolf who was 18 years of age in 1866, and successively the younger children, Aunt Minnie, Aunt Caroline, Uncle Gustav, Uncle Emil and his mother , Louise, who was six years old.

The family was literally held hostage. The Rebstock was commandeered for the purpose of spreading the net for the capture of Carl. At Carl’s disappearance his wife  most fervently hoped and prayed for his successful escape. It would have been simple to escape into Switzerland as many other had escaped before including Carl Schurz of whom I have written earlier. It was even possible to escape into France which required crossing the Rhine River.

In 1866 Prussia was at war with Austria. Carl could have reached Austria through Wurttemberg whose provincial king sided with Austria.

The family hated and mistrusted the military people who occupied the whole second floor of the Inn. They made the second larger room upstairs a court room. It is reasonable to expect that the family may not have believed reports that Carl was slain.

Profits fell from the first floor of the inn and also from the slaughter house and meat market. This property was adjacent to the inn and operated by Carl’s father Johann. Taxes were immediately raised as the grand duke was out to confiscate the property obviously.

In 1867, foreclosure was begun. Naturally, court house records make the foreclosure appear like an ordinary foreclosure. Those records unmistakably reveal the occupation of the inn entrance and the second floor by the military.

In 1870, Prussia was at war with France. The proximity of the Rhine, the border between the two countries, caused all people on both sides constant fear and concern.

In 1881, a buyer was found for all the property including that of Johann Mossinger. Louise at the age of 21 emigrated from Germany.

The first chapter of our Blum/Mossinger family history may be concluded at this point.

However one point is missing…how did Andrew Blum get to America? He never dwelt on the past. His was a three word slogan, “ALWAYS STRAIGHT AHEAD.” Hence, he never dwelt on the past. Martin looked at records kept by the Mormon Church for clues.  All he could offer was a guess that his dad boarded a steamer in Europe and stoked coal in those fires that generated the steam for motors to propel the ship. We much recall that Andrew had a strong well muscled back.  Polk’s city directories list him as a maltster for breweries in Council Bluffs and Omaha. (since Martins visit to Germany ship records have been found)

He had worked in Cincinnati brewers and New York as he migrated westward. That he was physically able to fire steamer engines we are certain.

In 1900 Andrew saw an 80 acre farm near South Bend, Nebraska. The plentiful water, the fruit trees, the grape vinyard, even the hills were too much for him. Nostalgia and sentiment carried him back to his native Baden home. He had always claimed South Dakota was too like a soap bubble. You could have a bumper crop in the fields to be “burst” by hail, drought and grasshopper. He parted with his sheep, two 160 acre tracts in South Dakota, at a loss,  and brought his family to Nebraska.

In the summer of 1935, at the age of 84, he still hoed his vineyard. He used a nigger hoe which was heavier and larger than our common hoe. That hoe derived it’s name because purportedly slaves were forced to use them in cotton and tobacco fields.

The day that Martin and his brother William “Bill” were in the parsonage, Martin mentioned that according to legend Carl Schurz had frequently visited the Rebstock. The pastor instantly recognized that he had a newsworthy story. Carl Schurz is now propagandized as a heoic ‘freedom fighter.” We are told that military establishments are now named after him.

As a result, Bill and Martin were photographed on the steps to the parsonage. A newspaper article was written in the Freiburg newspaper with their pictures.

Blum Brothers in Germany

The paper reads:

In the years from 1852 till 1875 the population of Kondringen has dropped about 120 people. The miseries in the country , the people’s wishes of adventure, and political aspects were the reasons why many men and women left their home and went to the USA. Tow of the people who wanted to find a happines in the USA were Andreas Blum and Louise Mosinger. They went to the USA in 1876. Two of their sons were in Germany recently to visit their relations and to look for the home of their parent; William Blum, 85 years old (left side) farmer in Plattsmouth, Nebraska and Martin Blum, 78 years old, a trader of houses and fields in Omaha, Nebraska. In spite of being very old the two men have a very good health. During their holiday they visited the house of the Parson to look in the old books of the church to see if they can find some dates of their relations. Both are speaking more or less good German lanuage. As they told, their mother lived in the Rebstock. Their parent told them from the famous “fighter for liberty” Carl Schurz who visited the Rebstock very often. Carl Schurz was together with Hecker and Sturve one of the main famous people in the revolution of 1848/49.

(translation of Martina from Kondringen)

Martin Blum
1905–1989
BIRTH 8 MAR 1905 • South Bend, Nebraska
DEATH 7 JAN 1989 • Omaha, Nebraska

Special Thank You to my great uncle Martin Blum for having the foresight to save what he knew about the family and hand it down to someone who cares to keep the History alive for generations to come.

I hope you are all enjoying the history. If yes, leave me a message. If you have information that I’m not aware of please share with me as I share with you!

Thanks for reading!

Happy Hunting!

Your Pierce (and Blum) family Historian

Susan Pierce Holmes!

 

 

A Genealogy Trip to South Dakota: researching your family tree

When researching your family tree one of the most exciting things to do is to visit the places that your ancestors lived. To stand on the soil that they stood, travel the same roads that they traveled and imagine what how different those areas were while they were living.

South Lake SD 2018

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I recently took a little genealogy trip to South Dakota to do a bit of exploring in the area that my grandmother Marie Blum Pierce was born. My goal was to search out the homestead where she was born. Though I’m pretty sure we were in the area we were unable to locate it from the old platt map that I had. I did take the opportunity to visit the cemetry at White Lake and located the graves of several ancestors, namely William Blum who was the brother to my Great Grandfather Andrew, and Caroline Moessinger (pronounce maysinger) Blum (Williams wife) and sister to Andrews wife, Louise Moessinger Blum.

 

Karl Wilhelm “William” Blum
1848–1922
BIRTH 22 MAR 1848 • Köndringen, Emmendingen, Baden-Wuerttemberg, Germany
DEATH 20 SEP 1922 • White Lake, South Dakota
Caroline Mossinger
1853–1928
BIRTH 13 SEP 1853 • Koendringen, Germany
DEATH 22 AUG 1928 • South Dakota

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Located in White Lake, South Dakota

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Blum family history begins with the Baden Rebellion of 1848. Baden was ruled autocratically by an individual. Wurttemberg was ruled by a king. People had nothing to say about political appointees. Taxes were levied partially. There was unrest all over central Europe and real hardship in Baden.

The largest flow of German immigration to America occurred between 1820 and World War I, during which time nearly six million Germans immigrated to the United States. From 1840 to 1880, they were the largest group of immigrants.

German Immigration to America increased significantly following the European Revolutions of 1848 within the German states in which rebels fought for unification of the German people. The failure of the revolutionists led to a wave of political refugees who fled to the United States, who became known as the Forty-Eighters. The Forty-Eighters helped to developed the beer and wine making industries in the US.

 

Andrew Blum
1851–1936
BIRTH 13 AUG 1851 • Landeck, Emmendingen, Baden-Wuerttemberg, Germany
DEATH 11 MAR 1936 • Trinity Cemetery, Murdock, Cass, Nebraska
great-grandfather

 

ANDREW BLUM

Andrew was born August 18, 1851 in Kondringen, Baden, Germany, to Karl and Marie Barbra (Schiller).  He lived in the home of his parents and aided them in their struggles until the age of twenty.  He then obtained work in a brewery where he remained until the year 1876, when he secured passage on a frieghter at the French Port of LeHarve at the age of 25. He shoveled coal for the boilers to produce steam to propel the ship.  The ship traveled by way of Africa before landing in New York City. Polk’s city directories list Andrew as a maltster for breweries in Council Bluffs and Omaha.  Andrews well muscled back aided him in getting work as a maltster in breweries.  A maltster, as explained by Andrew, is one who observed one of the brewing processes. It meant that even at 2 or 3 in the morning on occasion to move by scoop brew to prevent it from getting too hot. Visualize mounds of barley mixed with hops and moisture to start the fermentation process.  Andrew worked in breweries in New York, and Cincinnati as he migrated westward.  He worked in the Anheuser-Bush breweries in St. Louis, Missouri from the years 1876-1880.  He then traveld to the Omaha-Council Bluff area where he worked in the breweries as a maltster.

In 1880, when Andrew arrived in the Omaha/Council Bluffs area, He stayed at a boarding house where he met a man by the name of Adolf Storz.  Andrew taught him the fundamentals of the brewing business, with the use of malt, hops, barley, yeast, and water. From this friendship and the advice of Andrew, Adolf Storz started his own brewery which was named after him, the Storz Brewing Company.

 

WILLIAM AND CAROLINE (MOESSINGER) BLUM

In 1880 Andrew  sent money to Germany for his brother, William and his wife, Caroline (Moessinger), and their four children, Charles, Mary, Fred, and Lena, to come to America. Andrew purchased them a home in Omaha and helped William gain work in the brewery as a laborer.

Louise, Minnie, and Caroline

LOUISE MOESSINGER

In 1881 Andrew once again sent money to Germany.  This time  it was for Caroline’s sister, Louise Moessinger.  When Louise arrived in Council Bluffs, Iowa there was no one at the depot to meet her.  The slave traders offered to help her but instead took her to the auction block to sell her as domestic help.  Can you even imagine the releif she must have felt when Andrew arrived with the steamship ticket he had paid for to New York, and the rail passage ticket from New York to Council Bluffs?  Can you imagine being a young girl in a new country with a language barrier standing between you and your destiny?  I myself would have sit down and cried and perhaps she did.

Andrew and Louis were married 27 June 1881 in Council Bluffs, Iowa. Their first child, a daughter, Ida was born 23 Jan 1882 in Omaha, Nebraska.

THE MOVE TO SOUTH DAKOTA

In 1882, Andrew and Louise, and his brother, William and Louise’s sister, Caroline, were among the first homesteaders to settle in Aurora County, South Dakota.  Andrew on a 160 acre tract of land.  William on another.  Subsequently Andrew acquired another 160 acres of land through a timber claim.

GUSTAV AND FREDRICKA (HODEL) BLUM

Successively in 1883 Andrews brother, Gustav Blum, to come to America. Gustav married Fredricka Hodel, 22 August 1883 in Council Bluffs, Pottawattamie, Iowa.

Gustav and his wife resided in the White Lake, South Dakota area until the summer of 1889, when they moved to Franklin, Kentucky.  In 1892, they relocated to Galena, Illinois, and resided there the rest of their days.

The winters were rough on the plains of South Dakota in the 1880’s.  Andrew and Louise returned to Omaha, Nebraska many winters where Andrew would work in the breweries as a maltster.
Andrew and Louise welcomed their second child, Ernest Blum who was born in Omaha, on March 1, 1884.  The family was boarded at the European Hotel, and Andrew was a maltster at the Metz Brewing Company.
Jacob Martin “Martin” Blum
1855–1919
BIRTH 17 MAY 1855 • Köndringen, Emmendingen, Baden-Wuerttemberg, Germany
DEATH 17 OCT 1919 • Galena, Jo Daviess, Illinois, United States
2nd great-uncle
MARTIN BLUM

In 1885, Andrew once again sent money to Germany for his brother Martin Blum and his wife Caroline (Hodel), a sister of Fredricka (Gustuv’s wife). Martin and Caroline were married 10 Feb 1881 in Kondringen, Baden, Germany. Andrew procured work for Martin at the Storz Brewing Company  in 1886 and Martin became a successful brewmaster at the plant.

Martin Blum Family

In 1886 and 1887 Andrew worked as a carpenter and lived at 2501 Center Street, Omaha.

Louise Blum with Sister Wilhemina (Minnie) Huber
MORE FAMILY ARRIVES
Again Andrew sent money to Germany for the sister of his wife Louise and William’s wife Caroline, (this is where things get confusing, as the two of the Blum brothers married two of the Moessinger sisters, and two Blum brothers married two Hodel sisters) Wilhelmina (known affectionately as Minnie) , her husband, John Geroge Huber, and their children, George (Wilhelmina’s son born 1870 before she was married to John), and Anna (born 1882). With them this time was the mother of Louise, Caroline, and Wihelmina, CAROLINE ‘JENNE’ MOESSINGER (pronounced ‘maysinger”), born August 16, 1822.

Though I never found the homestead we enjoyed searching the countryside for it. If you are a relative and get the chance to do some exploring..here is a map that was given to me. If you zoom in on it you will see that all of the brothers had homesteads in the area.

Crystal Lake Homestead Map

More on the Blum History to be continue.

Thanks for stopping in. Please leave a comment before you go, or questions if you have them.

Happy Hunting.

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