Sanilac County Michigan - Honeysuckle Farm, LLC

Karl August Brumm and Wilhelmina Ida Fischer

This blog post celebrates the anniversary of the marriage of Bart’s 3rd great grandparents, Karl August BRUMM and Wilhelmina Ida FISCHER (who went by Mina, pronounced like Mena). They were married on this date (20 January) in 1861. I’ve written about this family here and here.
Before I get into their story I do want to say something about Wilhelmina’s last name. I have found a number of different last names for her. While I think FISCHER is her maiden name, I can’t be 100% sure. I have seen the following last names for her: BRUMM, FISCHER, HOFFMAN, WAGNER, WAHLER/WOLLER, and WISCHMAN. The BRUMM and WISCHMAN surnames are her first and second married names. I’m not sure where the HOFFMAN, WAGNER, and WAHLER/WOLLER names come in but I think FISCHER is her maiden name.
Karl was born on 17 February 1834 in Saxony, Germany. (I’ve offered links for you to learn more about Saxony in this blog post.) Mina was also born in Saxony on 20 September 1838. They married on 20 January 1861 in Netzschkau, Vogtlandkreis, Saxony, Germany. (I would love to provide you with their marriage license or some kind of record but I don’t have one and haven’t been able to locate one. The date I have is one that has been given to me by other researchers.) Here’s a map of the area:

(Microsoft Maps)

The map above shows the city of Zwickau which is the capital of the district of Zwickau (#1), the town of Mylau where Karl was born (#2), and the town of Netzschkau where Mina was born and where Karl and Mina were married (#3). Karl and Mina lived the first decade or so of their marriage in Germany. While in Germany, they had their children including Pauline, Theresa (Bart’s maternal 2nd great grandmother whom I wrote about here), Charles, Clemens, Emma, Anna, Ida Bertha, Oliver, Clara, Albert, and George. (Researchers and records differ on Albert and George. Some say the boys were born in Germany and some say they were born in Michigan.)
I’m not familiar enough with this family yet to say for sure, but it appears that both Karl and Mina made multiple trips between Germany and the United States. I think possibly I’ve found the 1892 naturalization record for Karl but again, I’m not familiar enough with the family to say for sure. In any case, I did find an interesting story on Ancestry.com. It was posted by Doris Shumaker in 2011. The story goes like this. Clara, the youngest daughter of Karl and Mina, arrived in the United States at age 2. The family settled in Forestville, Sanilac County, Michigan. Before the family arrived though, Karl came over first. He began a bakery and then brought the rest of the family over. That would explain why Karl was not with the family on this Immigrant Passenger List:

1874 Hamburg-to-New York passenger list found on Ancestry.com. The family resided in Crimmitschau, Zwickau, Saxony, Germany before coming to the United States.

There is one story that I learned about the family that I want to share before I end this blog post. About 6 years after their arrival in the U.S., their grandson was shot and killed. Their grandson was Fredrick A. BRUMM. Fred was the son of Karl and Mina’s son, Charles. Fred was a patrolman in Detroit, Wayne County, Michigan. He was on patrol when he surprised 3 people who were in the process of robbing a cigar store. Fred was shot in the abdomen and died a week later. He shot one of the robbers twice in the face during the encounter. The three men got away but I believe they were later caught (although I’m not sure since I could only access one of the articles). Here is a copy of the one article I could access on newspapers.com:

31 Mar 1928 The News-Palladium (Benton Harbor, MI)

I wanted to make sure that this police officer was remembered by all for his sacrifice.
I plan to write more of Karl and Mina’s stories throughout the year as I celebrate and honor their lives on their birth and death dates. I hope you’ll join me for those stories.
Until next time,
Lisa @ Days of Our Lives

Karl August BRUMM, Woolen Mill Laborer

I don’t know much about Karl but I will share what I have about him. Karl is my husband’s maternal 3rd great grandfather. Like Bart’s other maternal immigrant ancestors that I’ve written about, Karl is from Saxony- the same area of Prussia (now Germany) that his other immigrant ancestors were from (the ones that I’ve written about so far, that is). The information I’m giving you today is from the 1880 census because that is one of the few documents I have that I feel certain belongs to Karl.
On this date in 1834, Karl August BRUMM was born. He married at the age of 26. He and his wife, Wilhelmina, were married in Saxony. On the 1880 census, Karl was 46 years old. Living with him were his wife, Mina, and his daughters- Pauline, Rosa (Therese Rosa- Bart’s 2nd great grandmother whom I wrote about here), Emma, Anna, and Clara- and his sons- Clemens, Oliver, and George – all of whom were born in Saxony. All of the children attended school except 4-year-old George. In 1880 they were living in Delaware Township, Sanilac County, Michigan.
The story in this census record that is begging to be told is the story about Karl’s occupation. He gave his occupation as “Farmer & works in wool mill”. There were not very many woolen mills in Sanilac County in 1880. In fact, the only woolen mills I found in Delaware Township, where the BRUMM family was living, were the mills in Minden. (This information is from the book, Atlas of Sanilac County, Michigan : containing maps of every township in the county, with village and city plats, and outline map of the county, also maps of Michigan, United States and the world, by E. R. Cookingham, J. S. Randall, J. L. Smith, and L. D. Cookingham found at University of Michigan Library’s digital archives.)

This is a map of the village of Minden from the book mentioned above.

Enlarged portion of the Village of Minden map showing the woolen mills.

This is an enlarged portion of the map showing the woolen mills.

Business ad for Minden City Woolen Mills.

Business advertisement for Minden Woolen Mill. There were no other ads so I’m assuming that Mr. Leavenworth owned all the woolen mills in Minden. I found no information about how many woolen mills there were but they were all in one place on the map so possibly there were only 2.
I don’t know what job Karl did at the woolen mill but I did find a great video from a woolen mill in Frankenmuth, Michigan that is still in operation. It’s very interesting. I hope you’ll watch it. It talks about how they process wool.
Frankenmuth Michigan woolen mill video.
If you ever get a chance to visit Frankenmuth or Delaware Township in Michigan, you definitely should go. It’s a wonderful summer trip and a beautiful area. I’ve so enjoyed introducing you to Karl and the wool milling process. Be sure to check back on Saturday for the weekend wrap up where I give you any additional information that didn’t make it into the weekly blog posts and on Sunday for next week’s schedule. Happy Friday!!

Until tomorrow,
Lisa @ Days of Our Lives

Colony Saxonia and Heinrich Wolhelm WOLF

Heinrich WOLF is Bart’s maternal 3rd great grandfather. Heinrich went by Henry.

Portrait of Heinrich "Henry" Wolf. — Portrait of Heinrich “Henry” Wolf.

Henry immigrated from Prussia in April of 1874. He departed Hamburg, Germany, traveled through Liverpool, England, and on to New York, USA. He brought his son, Ernst, with him. They sailed together on the ship Minerva with Captain BLOHM. The shipping clerk was, once again, M. Otto W. MöLLER. Henry’s residence in Prussia was in Crimmitschau – a place I blogged about last week when talking about other Prussian immigrants in my husband’s family. On the passenger list, Henry gave his occupation as shoemaker (Schuhmacher, in German). Henry was 46 years old and Ernst was only 8.

Hamburg Passenger List showing entries for Heinrich and Ernst Wolf.

I’m not completely certain but I think this is the ship Minerva:

Possibly the ship 'Minerva'. — Possibly the ship ‘Minerva’.

This ship was much more difficult to find information about online than the other ship was. If this really was the ship they came over on it seems awfully small to take out on the ocean.
I am certain that this next piece of information really is the ship Minerva that the WOLF’s sailed on:

Information about the ship 'Minerva'. — Information about the ship ‘Minerva’.

This information comes from The Ships List website.
Heinrich (who went by Henry) and Ernst (who went by Ernest) came to American in April of 1874. If you remember back to last week, Henry’s wife Christiana (who went by Sophia) and two of their children- Charles (who went by Carl) and Ferdinand (who went by Fred) made the journey later that same year in October.
It would be natural to assume that Henry came over first to get a place ready for the family although I’m not sure why he would bring the youngest son with him as opposed to the oldest who could help clear land and build a home. In any case, I believe Henry came over with a group called Colony Saxonia. I’m still trying to find out information about Colony Saxonia but here’s a snippet from the Joint Documents from the State of Michigan for the Year 1872, Vol. II:

1872 Joint Documents from the State of Michigan, Vol. II. Government documents discussing the recruitment of Germans to Michigan.

This was a group approved by the government that recruited Germans to come to Michigan. Once here, the German families were given the opportunity to buy 40 acre pieces of land from the group. This land was in Forestville, Sanilac County, Michigan. Many Germans did move into Sanilac County, Michigan but many decided to stay in the Detroit area where they first disembarked in Michigan.
You can read a little more about Colony Saxonia here and here.
I still don’t know much about Henry and Christiana but just the little bit I’ve learned while searching today is more than I knew before. I hope you’ve enjoyed learning a little more about the immigration experience for these Michigan ancestors. I know I’ve enjoyed letting you in on a little more of their story. Uncle Bob sent me some photographs but I’m going to save those for the next few posts I write about Henry and Christiana later this year.

Until tomorrow,
Lisa @ Days of Our Lives

CLARA TURK WOLF: First Generation American

Clara TURK is Bart’s maternal great grandmother. She passed away on January 13, 1968 in Deckerville, Sanilac, Michigan. Today we’re celebrating her life. I never knew Clara and I haven’t heard any stories about her so this post will probably be short and full of facts.
Clara was the first generation of the TURK family to be born in America. Her parents, Michael and Catherine KOSLOWSKI TURK were both born in Germany. Clara had 8 or 9 siblings that I know about. She grew up in Sanilac County, Michigan in the “thumb” of the Michigan mitten. In 1894 Clara’s mom passed away. Clara was about 6 years old then. About 8 months later, Clara’s dad married again. Clara’s stepmom, Wilhelmina BRANDT, raised her for 16 years.
Clara was 21 years old when she married William Charles WOLF and William was 24 years old.* Clara was working as a dressmaker (possibly in Cuyahoga County, Ohio) and William was farming in Fort Hope, Michigan. Like Clara, William was a first-generation American in his German family. William had also lost his mom about 3 years before the couple married. After marriage, they lived in Huron County, Michigan. At the time of the 1910 census, Clara and William were living in Bloomfield Township, Huron County, Michigan. They had only been married about 4 months and two of William’s brothers- Albert (age 15) and Wallace (age 13)- were living with them. Albert was helping William on the farm and Wallace was still in school.
Clara and William seemed to be the family’s caregivers from the get-go. In 1920 they were living in Wheatland Township, Sanilac County, Michigan. They were in their early 30’s and had their own family- two girls and two boys (the youngest boy being Bart’s grandfather). Living with them was William’s 56-year-old uncle, Ernest WOLF.
In 1930 they were still in Sanilac County, Michigan but they were living in Delaware Township. One daughter had moved out and another son had been born so there were still four children living at home. Clara and William reported having been married 21 years. This time, though, there were no other family members living with them. By 1940 their other daughter had moved out but the three boys were still at home. William’s uncle Ernest was living next door to the family.
Here is a photo of Clara and William in their later years together.

Portrait of William and Clark (Turk) Wolf.

This photo was taken in 1959- about 9 years before Clara’s death.
Clara and William are buried at St. John’s Lutheran Cemetery in Minden City, Sanilac County, Michigan. I wish I knew more about Clara’s life. I did find one thing online that I would like Bart’s family’s input on. I found a photo of a “Mrs. William Wolf [Clara]” and one of the women vaguely resembles Bart’s great grandmother Clara but I don’t know her well enough to say one way or the other and I only have one photo to compare it to. The photo is dated 16 January 1961 and was labeled as a “cruise party”. It was sent to a “Mrs. Fred Schmidtt”. It’s currently housed at IUPUI University Library Special Collections and Archives in Indianapolis, Indiana. I’ll include the caption and a link to the online photo so family can try to evaluate it:
Link to photo of a Mrs. William Wolf [Clara]” in the Damenverein Collection, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis Library.

Caption information for photo of "Mrs. William Wolf (Clara)" Damenverein Collection photo. — Caption information for photo of “Mrs. William Wolf (Clara)” Damenverein Collection photo.

Photo caption to linked photo.
I’ve enjoyed sitting down with a hot cup of tea to tell you a little about Clara. I hope you’ve enjoyed reading about her and if you have stories about her I’d love to hear them. You can comment the stories below or send them to me in a message.

Until tomorrow,
Lisa @ Days of Our Lives
*As a side note, on the marriage license application, Clara gave her mom’s name as Laura KOZLOWSKI.

Category: Sanilac County Michigan