Johann Gottfried Hemmann was one of the most prolific patriarchs who was part of the 1839 immigration.  He arrived in late 1839 with the Gruber Group.  He had at least 20 children with two wives (a recent discovery indicates his wife may have had another baby who died right away which also caused the death of his wife right before the immigration).

One of J.G. Hemmann’s sons, Julius Hemmann, had 15 children with two wives.  His second wife was Gesche Hesse, and it is a child born to her that is today’s birthday boy.  He was born on July 11, 1891.  That boy was given the name of his grandfather, Johann Gottfried Hemmann.  His church baptism record from Salem Lutheran Church is shown below.

As you can see, this baby’s given name was Johann Gottfried Hemmann.  As time went by, he became known as Gottfried, whereas his grandfather appears to have gone by Johann or John.

Gottfried’s family lived in the area near Farrar.  We find that family in the 1900 census, but that is the year the Salem Township entries were almost impossible to read, so I will not show it.  I will show the 1910 census for that family when Gottfried was 18 years old.  I will only show the page on which Gottfried is found.  He was described as a farm laborer.

Gottfried’s future wife was born on December 28, 1889 making her a year or so older than Gottfried.  Her name was Emma Franke.  She was the daughter of Edward and Anna (Eggers) Franke.  Emma was baptized at Grace Lutheran Church in Uniontown.  Here is her baptism record.

I will show two census entries in which we find Emma before she was married.  First of all, here is the one from 1900.  Her family lived not far from Uniontown.

Next, we see Emma in the 1910 census.  You can see that Emma is the oldest child in a family of almost all girls.

On September 27, 1914, Gottfried Hemmann married Emma Franke at Grace Lutheran in Uniontown.  We have their marriage license.

We also have this church record for that marriage.

When we find this couple in the 1920 census, they are living in the Union Township.  I included a few other family names who were probably their neighbors.

Now let’s take a look at the land map from 1915 which shows where Emma’s Franke family had property.

You can see there were Bock and Brandes names in that neighborhood, and those names correspond with the names near Gottfried and Emma in the 1920 census.  Emma’s father, Edward, died in 1917, and her mother, Anna, died in 1919.  I have reason to believe that Gottfried took over farming the land shown in the above map as belonging to Edw. Franke.  It was also the case that Gottfried’s Aunt Maria (Hemmann) was married to a Brandes, and I believe they lived in that neighborhood also.

Gottfried and Emma had just two children, both daughters.  You might think that no future descendants would carry the Hemmann name, but one of their daughters married another Hemmann, so the name continued.

Gottfried had his World War I form filled out in 1917.  He indicated on the form that he did not want to be drafted because he was supporting his wife.  As it turns out, he did not have to serve.

I was unable to find Gottfried’s family in the 1930 census, but we do find him in the one for 1940.

Gottfried had to have a World War II draft card completed.  It is shown below.

As you can see, when forms like this were completed, he gave Gottfried as his first name and John as his middle name.  His birth year was incorrect on the above form, and then it was changed.  They still got it wrong.

Gottfried died in 1950 at the age of 58.  He died at Southeast Hospital in Cape Girardeau.  Here is his death certificate.

One year later, Emma died in 1951 at the age of 61.  She died in Perry County.  We also have her death certificate.

Gottfried and Emma are buried together in the Grace Lutheran Cemetery in Uniontown.

Another branch of the J.G. Hemmann family is going to be in the neighborhood this weekend for a family reunion.  They descend from Wilhelm Hemmann, J.G. Hemmann’s oldest son.  They will be gathering at Trinity Lutheran Church in Shawneetown.  I have been asked to make a presentation at that event, so I have been getting a very heavy dose of Hemmann history lately.  There is certainly plenty of Hemmann history to keep me busy for a long time.