Fred Eggers is the author of today’s post. His offer to submit a post to our blog is perfectly timed because once again, I am not in Altenburg for a few days. It will be a little more difficult for me to write a post without causing family strife. Fred is an amazing researcher who has much more skill at going back into Germany’s records to find information on people’s lives before they immigrated to America and settled in our area. You will soon discover that this is the case with today’s post. Enjoy. And many thanks to Fred.
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Johann Miesner was born on 23 April 1789 in Westervesede, Scheeßel and died on 7 March 1852 in Deepen, Scheeßel. He was the son of Hinrich and Anna Catharina Weseloh Miesner. He sometimes went by the name Jochim. This information is found in the Fritsche/Miesner Family Tree created by a friend of our Museum Lori Fritsche Adams and the auswanderer (emigrants) Family Tree created by Hartmut Mensendiek of Bremen, Germany. Hartmut is a descendant of several families in the Scheeßel area and has been corresponding with our research staff for the past six months.
Johann Miesner is the ancestor of all but a few of the Miesners in our German Family Tree. I will attempt to document all of his children that came to America including their birth and immigration records. The German Family Tree at the Museum documents all of their records in our area after their arrival. I have outlined on the map the Deepen area, southeast of Scheeßel, where the Miesner family lived.
On today’s date, 29 May 1831, Johann married Sophie Viets. She was the daughter of Claus and Anna Viets and was born of 26 April 1808 in Stemmen, northeast of Scheeßel. She died on 29 January 1891 in Bartlesdorf just south of Scheeßel. We have a copy of that marriage record.
This was Johann’s second marriage. He had previously married Adelheit Brunkhorst on 15 November 1815. She was the daughter of Jurgen and Marie Lage Brunkhorst of Deepen and was born on 20 July 1792. She died on 12 March 1831 in Deepen. The church records document both that marriage and her death.
Johann and his first wife had five children:
- Margaretha Catherina born on 15 August 1817. She died on 1 February 1818.
- Maria Margaretha born 30 October 1819. She married Peter Mahnken, the son of Johann Mahnken on 23 July 1852. Just a brief note on Peter Mahnken – he was a brother to Hilmar Mahnken the father of Johann, Friedrich, and Hinrich Mahnken who all immigrated to Perry County.
- Hinrich Miesner born 19 January 1922. He married Maria Bellmann on 15 April 1853. I do not have a copy of that marriage record, the date comes from Hartmut Mensendiek’s Family Tree.
- Johann Heinrich Miesner born 5 January 1825. He immigrated to Perry County, Missouri in about 1854.
- Friedrich Miesner born 10 October 1827. I found no further records for him.
Johann and his second wife had six children, giving Johann a total of eleven children:
- Jochim Miesner born 13 January 1833. I found no further records for him.
- Anna Catherina Miesner born 7 July 1834. She married Nicholas Zerbst in 1862 and immigrated to Jackson County, Illinois in 1885. These dates come from Lori Fritsche Adam’s Family Tree.
- Margaretha Miesner born 16 October 1836. She married Dederich Holst on 9 September 1855 and died 20 March 1913. This information comes from Hartmut Mensendiek’s Family Tree.
- Engel Miesner born 6 June 1839. She married Cord Hollmann on 17 May 1867 and after his death she married Johann Karl Franz Lindemann in 1882. She immigrated to Jackson County, Illinois in June 1892. This information comes from Hartmut Mensendiek’s Family Tree.
- Claus Caspar Miesner born 19 February 1842. He immigrated to Perry County, Missouri in 1866.
- Catharina Miesner born 17 April 1848. I found no further records for her.
Immigration Records:
Johann Heinrich Miesner was the first member of this family to come to Perry County. I could not find a record of his immigration; however he did purchase land a little west of Frohna in 1854 and on 29 December 1855 he married Anna Margaretha Eggers. They appeared in the 1860 census near Frohna. The next family listed was that of his sister Maria and her husband Peter Mahnken, who often used the surname Mahnke.
At some time between that census and 1866 he returned to Scheeßel and returned to Perry County, Missouri with other members of his family on the Ship Carl, which I will document later.
Peter and Maria Miesner Mahnke(n) arrived in New Orleans on the Ship O Thyen on 16 November 1857. They traveled with their son Johann and three children from Peter’s first marriage. The passenger list notes that Johann (age 4) and Heinrich (age 7) died on the trip; however, I suspect that this an error. It appears to me that Peter, the 17 year old son died, and Heinrich who was actually 11 years old survived the trip. Henry Mahnke(n) was confirmed at Concordia, Frohna in 1860.
Hinrich and Maria Bellmann Miesner and their sons Johann Heinrich (born 1854), Johann (born 1857), and Friedrich (born 1861) arrived in New Orleans on the Ship Carl on 22 October 1866. This Ship Carl voyage has been included in several previous blogs as it included nearly seventy people that settled in Perry County, Missouri and Jackson County, Illinois. It included Johann Heinrich Miesner returning to America and Claus Caspar Miesner, a half-brother to Hinrich and Johann Heinrich. Note that U.S. is recorded as the country to which he belongs for Johann Heinrich.
Nicholas and Anna Zerbst arrived in New York on the Ship Hermann on 15 May 1885 and settled in Jackson County, Illinois.
Thanks to the great genealogy work by Lori Fritsche Adams and Hartmut Mensendiek, we are now able to document the Johann Miesner family records prior to their arrival in the United States. The German Family Tree at the Lutheran Heritage Center and Museum in Altenburg has comprehensive records for his descendants that lived in our area. The next project of this family’s history is to research the family members that moved from our area.
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Yesterday, after a morning shower, the construction workers managed to get plenty of concrete poured. It took 12 1/2 truckloads of concrete to get the job done. I was not there, so I did not get to witness the use of the impressive machinery used to accomplish this task. Thanks to Lynn Degenhardt for the photograph.
This is about my family line as well. Claus Caspar was my 3rd great grandfather (Friedrich C Miesner (2nd great grandfather), Esther Mienser Koenig (great grandmother, Willard Koenig (grandfather)
Tanya – I remember your great grandmother and your grandfather. My mother was Adelma Miesner Mueller, from Farrar. We lived in St. Louis and my brother and I went to Holy Cross Lutheran School. Your mother was a Harmon – I went to school with a Darlene Harmon, relation?
Thank you for the information. Casper Claus was my great-grandfather. I didn’t have any information beyond him so this is great information. In your information you record his name as Claus Casper but when I look at his birth record, it’s recorded as Casper Claus. In our family records sometimes the “C” in Claus and Casper shows as a “K”, but according to records you show it should be a “C”.
Thanks Fred! Very interesting as this is my Father’s family. Now to get out my notes and connect the dots. Appreciate your research and sharing.
Stay safe
The Johann Miesner Family in Scheeßel Church Records