1844 - 1984
Worthington
Mairose - Jaeger Family Origins
From Bamberg and Oldenburg to Ohio and Iowa
Jaeger (Jäger) - Thën
Mairose - Krämer
Jaeger -Mairose
In Memory of my Grandparents
John and Elizebeth Jaeger
Compiled by
Fr. Clarence Engler, M.M.
New United Nation Bldg., 12F-3
3 Lane 55 Fu An Road
Taichung 407 Taiwan
September 11, 1984
Jaeger (Jäger) - Then (Thein)
From Stettfeld and Eschenbach (Bamberg) to Wisconsin and Iowa
Sebastian Jaeger (b. 16 Mar 1835, d. 5 Oct 1920)
SEBASTIAN JAEGER, was born in Eschenbach, Bavaria, a tiny village on the south bank of the Main river about eight miles northeast of Bamberg. The dominating feature of the village is not a parish church, like in so many small German towns, but a good-sized brewery, the Eschenbacher Wagner-Brau, built directly on the bank of the river. Behind the brewery, on the surrounding hillsides, is a cluster of about seventy or eighty neat, brightly colored homes. A small brook flows out of a ravine and through the town into the Main river. As the Main flows west through this section of farm country to the Rhine, it forms a long wide fertile river bottom flanked by low-lying hills. The valley has a railroad and highways running down each side of the river.
Across the river valley from Eschenbach is Stettfeld, the birth place of Kunigunde Then, our great grandmother. Our cousin, Julie Jaeger Mroch, suggested that I begin looking for family records here. On my first visit to Stettfeld (June 1983), I meet some people by the name of Then as I was looking through the tombstones of the parish cemetery. (“Then” is pronounced Taine and sometimes also written Dehn.)They invited me to their home, found neighbors who could speak English, and helped me find the birth records of Sebastian Jäger in Eltman, the town in which the parish church of Eschenbach is located. Eltman is a town of two or three thousand people about four miles west of Eschenbach on the Eschenbach side of the river.
On top of a hill overlooking Eltman are the remains of a castle which was destroyed during the Thirty Years War. In the center of town is the courthouse (rathaus), the church, a fountain and a number of small shops and restaurants. The streets are narrow, steep and winding. First, we looked for birth records at the courthouse and discovered that only recent personnel records (from 1876) are kept there. At the church we found the baptism records of Sebastian, his brothers and sisters and previous generations of the Jäger family. The postal address of this church is Pfarramt, 8729 Eltman, Bavaria, Germany.
The pastor looked through many old books and records at the rectory for us. Eventually we found the baptism registry for Eschenbach for the year 1835. While we were looking for the records, the pastor pointed out in the registry that the name Jaeger is spelled Jäger and in German means hunter. Some families in the States also spell the name Yaeger.
We found Sebastian's name in the baptism registry as well as these names of his brothers and sisters: BRIGETTA (b. 22 Dec 1833), JOHN (b. 14 Oct 183?– lived in Worthington and Cresco), SEBASTIAN (b. 16 Mar 1835), ELIZABETH (b. 21 Feb 1840, died an infant 12 Apr 1840), another ELIZABETH (b. 29 Apr 1841), JOSEPHA (br. 15 Oct 1845), KONRAD (b. 21 Jan 1850) and MARTIN (b. 24 May 1852– buttertub factory in Dyersville). There may be other brothers and sisters in the family. I did not want to take time to make a complete search of the books for the names of all possible brothers and sisters. The pastor was looking through the books for us and I did not wish to impose upon his good will more than necessary. This could wait for a future visit.
Sebastian's Parents and Grandparents
My curiosity, instead, turned to previous generations, their names and occupations. We found the marriage record of Sebastian's parents: Martin Jäger (b. 6 Apr 1807) and Kunigunde Reüter (b. 20 Oct 1810). They were married locally in Eschenbach some time before their marriage was recorded officially in the Eltman parish records on 3 Feb 1835. Martin's parents were Michael Jäger and Kunigunde Bott. The parents of Kunigunde Reüter were John Reüter and Elizabeth Hauck. The Jägers, the Reüters and the Botts all were farming families from Eschenbach. There is more information about previous generations of the Jäger family in the books at Eltman but finding it takes a long time.
Eschenbach, Hofheim, Goβmanndorf and Ostheim
The Martin Jäger Family
Through oral history that she had collected from a number of relatives, Julie was able to direct me to three additional villages where the Jäger family had settled. Julie says that according to oral history, Michael and Kunigunde Jäger farmed most of their lives in Eschenbach, then, after the older boys grew up, Martin and Kunigunde bought a farm and built a house near Gossmanndorf. The younger members of the family moved with them, but Sebastian and John remained in Eschenbach until coming to the U.S. in the early 1860s.
Hofheim is a town of two to three thousand people located about 15 miles northwest of Eschenbach. To the east about a mile off the road which runs north through Hofheim, is Gossmanndorf, a smaller town. A little to the south, forming the third point of a triangle with Hofheim and Gossmanndorf, is Ostheim, the smallest of the three towns. Gossmanndorf is rather unique in that it's church is surrounded by ancient walled fortifications.
Konrad Jäger, Sebastian's Brother
At the Hofheim parish church I found the marriage record of Konrad Jäger, Sebastian's brother. On 27 Oct 1873 at Gossmanndorf, he married Maria Hauch from Dippach, another village on the south bank of the Main river, east of Eschenbach. Oral history relates that Konrad lived the remainder of his life at Gossmanndorf. There are many records of the Jager family at Hofheim parish church rectory from the 1850s to the present. I could find no marriage records there, however, of the older boys, Sebastian and John. Neither could I find them at Eschenbach or Stettfeld.
Michael Jäger, Konrad's Oldest Son
Again, according to oral history (which most likely could be verified with a little additional searching at Hofheim), Konrad had five children, the oldest being Michael. When Michael married, he moved to his wife's farm near Ostheim. Michael died and is buried in this area, according to oral history. I checked the cemetery at Hofheim, but could not find Michael's grave stone. Nevertheless, he may be buried at Ostheim or Gossmanndorf where I haven't had the opportunity to look yet.
Emma Jaeger, Michael's Daughter, U.S.A.
Michael had a daughter named Emma. Julie says that Emma (Mrs. Emma Jaeger Kirsch, 1007 Montgomery Ave., Conshohocken, PA), now an elderly lady, and widow since 1948, is the source of much of the information we have about the Jaegers. Julie also told me that Msgr. Ernest Ament visited Emma's parents while in Europe during the mid-1920s and Msgr. Leo Jaeger also visited Europe shortly before World War I, but his visit was cut short because of the war. Emma worked for Theodore Ament, Msgr. Ament’s father, when she lived in Worthington.
John and Martin Jäger, Sebastian's Brothers
Sebastian's brother, Martin (17 years his junior) came to the U.S. much later than Sebastian, according to Julie, and settled first on the east coast.
Later he moved to Iowa and founded a butter tub factory in Dyersville. Sebastian and his other brother, John, evidently came to the U.S. together, first bought land in Wisconsin and then moved on to Iowa. Julie says that 1900 census records indicate that Sebastian arrived in the U.S. in 1864 and Wisconsin land records show that both he and John, as well as a George Jaeger, owned property near Ridgeway (Iowa county) in 1865.
Sebastian and Kunigunde
We have not been able to verify when and where Sebastian and Kunigunde were married. They may have been married in Wisconsin but we can't verify this because the parish church in Ridgeway, along with its records, were destroyed by fire in 1925. The diocesan record office in Madison said that they have no records and referred Julie back to Ridgeway. There is no record of their marriage in the state vital records at Madison. (Wisconsin may keep older marriage records in its State archives in addition to census records.) They were most likely married in the States rather than in Germany because my grandfather, their oldest child, was born in Wisconsin in 1867, three years after the 1900 census records indicate Sebastian arrived in the States. Also, since he was born in Mineral Point, perhaps their marriage record may be found in the church there.
In Europe, I looked through the parish marriage records at Eschenbach, Stettfeld, Hofheim, Gossmanndorf and Ostheim. I didn't find the marriage record of John or Sebastian, although I found Konrad's in Hofheim. Since Sebastian and Kunigunde are from the same area, they may have been married in Germany before emigrating to the States. If not, Kunigunde's parents mostlikely emigrated to the States with their tamily and there should be some record of this in the U.S. census. There is a slight possibility that Sebastian and Kunigunde were married at Deusdorf, a small village east of Stettfeld. Some of Sebastian's in-laws are from Deusdorf.
Kunigunde Thën (b. 15 Aug 1839, d. 2 Feb 1896)
KUNIGUNDE THEN, is buried in the cemetery at Worthington, Iowa. Julie sent me a photo of a quite large grave stone with an inscription chiseled in German. The stone indicates that Kunigunde is from Stedtfeld (Stettfeld), Bayern (Bavaria) and was born in 1839. The length of Kunigunde's life inscribed on the stone is 56 years, 5 months and 18 days. The number of these days, months and years when subtracted from 2 Feb 1896, the day Kunigunde died, seems to indicate 15 Aug 1839 as Kunigunde's date of birth. The name of the town, Stedtfeld, inscribed on her grave stone in Worthington probably is misspelled because there are no Thëns in the one Stedtfeld in Germany which I found.
There are many families by the name of Thën living in the town by the name of Stettfeld near Bamberg. Julie wrote to the pastor of this Stettfeld (Kath. Pfarramt, 8601 Stettfeld) and received a copy of a record certifying that a Maria Kunigunde Then was born there on 3 Apr 1837. But the date of birth indicated on the certificate differed too much from the date of birth inscribed on Kunigunde's grave stone in Worthington. At the same time, Julie had received copies of records certifying the birth of Maria Kunigunde's brother, Martin Ferdinand, on 16 Oct 1839 and of Johann Augustin, born 28 Aug 1859. The parents of Maria Kunigunde and Martin Ferdinand were listed as Johann Stephan Thën and Kunigunde Habermann and the parents of Johann Augustin as Johann Thën and Margrethe Korner.
In September, 1984, I visited the pastor of Stettfeld, who lives in Ebelsbach, to see if I could find records more accurately corresponding to our great grandmother's date of birth. Stettfeld has its own church, but no resident pastor (Eschenbach has neither church nor resident pastor). With the pastor of Ebelsbach, I looked through the Stettfeld parish records. Some times the name Thën would be written Theen and in some records it would looklike it were written as Dhen. They all seemed like variant spellings of thesame name, but most of the time it appeared clearly as Thën (pronounced Tain).
We found the Maria Kunigunde Thën (b 3 Apr 1837) whom Julie already knew about and, in addition, we found a younger sister, Marianna Kunigunde (b. 26 Feb 1843). But both their dates of birth differed by at least three years from the date of birth, 15 Aug 1839, calculated from the inscription on our great grandmother's grave stone. This presented a problem.
Since there are three or four other locations in Germany by the name of Stettfeld, I wrote to the pastors of these places. I found out that no Thëns live in these other Stettfelds. Meanwhile, the pastor in Ebelsbach found yet another Kunigunde, Anna Kunigunde, oldest daughter of Johannes Thën and Margaretha Weis and mailed this information to me in Rome. Because this Kunigunde was born 14 Aug 1840 it is more probable that she is the Kunigunde Thën who is our great grandmother, since her date of birth differs by only one year to the day from the date inscribed on her grave stone at Worthington.
Kunigunde Thën's Relatives
My mother remembers a Joe, Mary and Agnes Thën who were related to Kunigunde, our great grandmother. Mom doesn't recall too much more about theThëns except that they would visit the Jaeger farm when they were young and that Joe, while still very young, was killed by a horse. Julie relates that Joe Thën had been married only six month when hegot killed by a team ofhorses on 11 Aug 1920, and that Nora, his wife, never remarried after Joe’s death. She died only recently (1984) in Placidaccording to my aunt Dora who was working there at the time. Nora was living there with Joe Urban, Agnes’ son. Agnes, Joe's sister, married someone by the name of Johnson and is still living (1985) in a nursing home in Dubuque. She has a son whose name is also Joe.
Ferdinand Thën
Agnes' son, Joe, relates through Julie that his grandfather, Ferdinand Thën married Theresa Doelling in 1888 or 1889. They had six children: John, Joseph, Mary (Neins – Dubuque), Agnes (his mother), Peter and Henry. Ferdinand had a bachlor brother, Augustine, who died in 1894 at the age of 35. Family tradition is that Ferdinand and Augustine were brothers or half-brothers of Kunigunde Thën, our great grandmother. Also, according to family folklore, there was a set of triplets related in some way to Kunigunde. Agnes' son, Joe Thën may be able to give more information to help verify the actual Thën family from Stettfeld of which our great grandmother is a member.
Johann Augustin and Anna Kunigunde Thën
The parents of Anna Kunigunde (b 14 Aug 1840) are listed in the registry as Johannes Thën and Margaretha Weis. The parents of Johann Augustin (b 28 Aug 1859) are listed as Johann Thën and Margrethe Korner. The home address in both records is the same location, Stettfeld No.2, affirming evidence that Johann Thën and Johannes Thën are the same person.
If this is true, then Johann Augustin is the half-brother of Anna Kunigunde as our family oral history relates. Julie says that records in Worthington indicate Augustine Thën died there June 10, 1894 at the age of 35. His birth date would then be 1859 which coincides with the year listed in the record (28 Aug 1859) which Julte received of his birth from the pastor of Stettfeld. This, again, seems to verify that he is Anna Kunigunde’s half-brother and that this Anna Kunigunde is our great grandmother. The Martin Ferdinand mentioned above would have to be a cousin of Anna Kunigunde if he is actually the Ferdinandrelated to her and Augustine.
Children of Sebastian and Kunigunde “Kuni”
1. John (b. 3 Apr 1867, d. 18 Aug 1946)
JOHN JAEGER, oldest child of Sebastian and Kunigunde, was born in Wisconsin at Mineral Point according to a hand-written note in my grandmother's Bible. Shortly after John's birth, the family moved from Wisconsin to a farm southwest of Worthington which became the Jaeger homestead where our cousin Jerome is still farming (1985). In Worthington, Iowa, on 23 Feb 1892, John Jaeger married Elizabeth Mairose. On the same day, in the same ceremony, Elizabeth Mairose's brother, Joseph married Amalia Jaeger, John's sister. The names of John and Elizabeth's children are: Lawrence, Laurine, Sylvarius, Dora, Emil, Salome, Marcella and Mildred. Two more children, Ernest and Julitta died in infancy. They retired in 1927, 16 years before their 50th wedding anniversary and moved to Worthington. They had 40 grandchildren. More about the family of our grandparents later.
2. Amalia (Mairose)(b. 4 Apr 1868, d. 2 Aug 1924)
AMALIA “AUNT MOLLY”, the oldest daughter of Sebastian and Kunigunde, was born in Iowa. As stated above, she married Joseph Mairose, “Uncle Joe”, on 23 Feb 1892. For a while they farmed near Worthington and later lived in a stone house on the Jaeger homestead where they farmed with John and Elizabeth until they moved to South Dakota in 1906. My mother remembers Aunt Molly especially as her godmother (sponsor at baptism).
3. Mary (Tobin)(b. 23 Mar 1871, d. 14 Aug 1944)
MARY, second oldest daughter, married Thomas Tobin (b. 5 Oct 1868, d. 28 Aug 1912) probably in Worthington. Tom and his family ran a produce store in Worthington. Tom andMary’s children (as Mom recalls) are Ida, Fred, Zita, Magdalen, Joe, Carl, Tom, Helen and Leo. I remember washing and crating eggs to take to the Tobin store to sell when I was young and then watching how eggs would be graded at the store by holding them in front of a light bulb, covered except for an egg-sized hole where the egg was held. After we sold the eggs we would shop for food and clothes in other parts of the store.
4. Kunigunde Ann (Soppe)(b. 22 Feb 1874, d. 2 Jun 1940)
On 6 Feb 1900 in Worthington KUNIGUNDE “Cuni” married John Henry Soppe (b. 13 Aug 1873, d. 2 Feb 1952). Their children are: Leo John (b. 24 Dec 1900; married Rose Ellen Polt on 7 Aug 1929; d. 15 Apr 1975 in Plankinton, SD), Martha Elizabeth (b. 16 Apr 1902 at Worthington, IA); Colletta Marie Anderson (b. 12 Aug 1903 at Worthington, m. 26 Nov 1928 at Kennebec, SD. d. 14 Feb 1982); Ludmilla Sabina Streeck (b. 21 Mar 1906 at Worthington, m. Walter Streeck 25 Feb 1933 at Plankinton, SD); Sebastian John "Shorty" (b. 7 Sep 1907 at Worthington, d. 19 Mar 1979 at Manchester, IA); Amalia "Molly" Besler (b. 18 Sep 1909 at Worthington); Zeta (b. 28 Feb 1911, d. 9 Apr 1919); Marie Sedella Anatasia Ahmann (b. 19 Sep 1912 at White Lake, SD, m. Clemens John Ahmann on 1 May 1934); and Anthony Joseph (b. 27 Jun 1914 at White Lake, m. Marie Gunertin 30 Jun 1938 at Des Moines, IA, d. 6 Jun 1977). Most of the Soppes moved to the South Dakota with the Mairose families, but Sebastian later returned to live near Manchester, Iowa. The youngest son, Anthony, spent most of his life with the military according to Rose Soppe, Mrs. John Soppe, and is buried in the Fort Riley Military cemetery at Junction City, Kansas.