My search for a story started this morning by noticing that Johann Christian Poppitz died on this day, May 12, in 1855.  One of the places this led me was to the first page of the passenger list of the Copernicus that landed in New Orleans on December 31, 1838.  Once I discovered this page, I also discovered a whole pageful of stories.

We start with the family listed at the top:  the Buergers.

Ernst Moritz Buerger was one of the pastors in the immigration.  He would become the pastor of the settlement in Perry County called Seelitz, named after the town in Germany where Rev. Buerger had left.  This family did not stay in Perry County very long.  In 1840, a baby girl was born dead to this couple, and just a matter of days later, Rev. Buerger’s wife, Johanna, died as well.  Rev. Buerger became very discouraged and left the community not long after that event.

Next we move down to the Schneiders and the Seidels.

T. Ehregott Schneider was a medical doctor.  Franz Seidel was a town councilor.  The author of Zion on the Mississippi lists both of these families as ones who left the immigration society after arriving in America.  Not much is known about what happened to them.

Next we find the Kluegels.

Georg Kluegel was a farmer from Paitzdorf.  Most of the immigrants that came from Paitzdorf traveled over with the Gruber group that came later in 1839.  One wonders why this Paitzdorf family came on an earlier ship.  Also, there was another Gottlob Kluegel who came on the Olbers who is listed as being from Dresden, but there is some indication in some people’s family research that both of these Gottlob’s may have been from the same family.  The Kluegel that came on the Olbers was a Candidate of Theology.  We are still working on verifying that he was in the same family.

Next comes an interesting pair which just so happens to be listed together.

Emilie Buenger is listed first.  Emilie was one of eight children of the widow Christiane Buenger who came in the immigration.  Christiane is the person who I refer to as Mama Buenger in the book I have written, “Mama Buenger: Mother of a Synod”.  Five of her children came on the Olbers.  Mama Buenger, along with two other children, were temporarily detained in Germany as a result of a custody dispute regarding the Schubert children.  The Schuberts were a niece and nephew of the Walther brothers.  They had to come to America on a later ship and became part of the New York group.  And then we see poor Emilie who traveled without any other family members aboard the Copernicus.  I have no idea why she traveled on this ship by herself.  We do know that Emilie Buenger became the wife of Rev. C.F.W. Walther.

Underneath Emilie’s name is Georg Schieferdecker, who is listed as a Candidate of Theology.  He would later become the second pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in Altenburg.  Because of a theological controversy in the 1850’s, Rev. Schieferdecker left that congregation and started Immanuel Lutheran Church in Altenburg.

What is a blog post like this without some Muellers?

The Mueller family listed here is what the Research Crew here calls the “Frohna Muellers”.  This family settled in the Seelitz area, but it wasn’t long before they sold their property there and bought a place in Frohna.  One notable member of this family is the 15 year old Rosina.  She would later become the wife of Rev. J.F. Buenger.  He was another of Mama Buenger’s children.  He also helped build the Log Cabin College.  He was a pastor in St. Louis when he married Rosina.  C.F.W. and Emilie Walther were also living in St. Louis.  I cannot help but think that Emilie may have gotten to know Rosina on the voyage to America and later suggested Rosina as a potential spouse for her unmarried brother.

Now we come to the Poppitz family.

Johann Christian Poppitz is the one you can blame for this post because he died on this day.  His wife, Sophia, died in 1843, leaving Johann a widower.

Finally we get to some Schlimperts.

Gottlob and Sophia Schlimpert are listed on this page.  Nine of their children are listed on the next page of the passenger list.  Gottlob was one of the first ones to die in the Seelitz community.  He died on August 12, 1839.  There was a recent post about the many early deaths among the two Schlimpert families in Seelitz.

That brings us to the end of the page.  There are days when I have no clue what story I will share on this blog.  I can tell you one thing though.  There always seems to be a story to tell……sometimes several.