Very early in the history of this blog, a post was written titled, A Seelitz Wedding. That post was a mere 3 paragraphs long and included just one image of a church record. I am returning to that story today because much more can be said about the couple that resulted from that very early wedding. This post will also give me the opportunity to recognize a very important character in the history of our research library at the Lutheran Heritage Center & Musuem. Ken Craft began what was called the Zion Roots Research Project many years ago, providing the necessary funding and experience for that effort. Ken is an incredible genealogist who also has a personal interest in the East Perry County history because his wife is a descendant of today’s couple. In the photo below, which includes folks who I would describe as our museum’s “research rock stars”. Those folks are from left to right…Gerard Fiehler, Lynn Degenhardt, Ken Craft, and Fred Eggers.
Now, on to today’s story. I tell this story in more detail today because it is the birthday of the groom in the Seelitz wedding. His name was Gottfried Noennig, who was born on August 7, 1808 in Germany. Gottfried was a Junior. His parents were Gottfried and Susanna (Hemmann) Noennig. He was likely baptized at the Nischwitz parish in Ronneburg, Germany. I did not find a record of Gottfried’s baptism in Germany, but I did find records for 3 of his younger sisters, Justine, Christine, and Rosine.
When Gottfried was 30 years old and still single, he came with his Noennig family to America as part of the Gesellschaft in 1838-1839. Most of that family came to America aboard the ship, Copernicus. That was the first of the ships that were part of the Gesellschaft to arrive in America. It got to New Orleans on the last day of 1838, December 31st. The Noennig’s are found on the passenger list shown below.
One daughter, Christine, is not found on the above list. That does not mean that she did not come to America. She married Gottlieb Wunderlich in Germany, and her family came later in 1839 as part of the Gruber Group aboard the Johann Georg. Here we see her on that passenger list.
The baptism record of Martha Wunderlich gives more evidence that Christine is indeed Gottfried’s sister. It gives her maiden name as Noennig, and Gottfried is one of the sponsors.
Another passenger aboard the same ship as Gottfried was a 26 year old girl by the name of Johanna Rosine Maria Poppitz. Johanna Rosine was born on April 9, 1817, the daughter of Christian and Sophia (Hoffmann) Poppitz. The Poppitz family is shown on the passenger list for the Copernicus below.
That leads us to the Seelitz wedding that took place on June 8, 1840. The record for that marriage is found in the books of Trinity Lutheran Church in Altenburg. The record is in Rev. Gotthold Loeber’s handwriting, but since Rev. Ernst Moritz Buerger was still in Perry County until after the Altenburg Debate, I am thinking that Rev. Buerger performed this wedding.
Here is a translation of the above record into English.
This was not the only marriage between a Noennig and a Poppitz. On August 24, 1842, Justina (Noennig) Knoll married Christlieb Poppitz. That marriage record states that Justina was divorced. It looks as if she came to America using the Poppitz surname, not that of Knoll. By the time of this marriage, Rev. Buerger had left, and Rev. Loeber would have performed this wedding.
The translation of this record shown here is how I know it says that Justine was divorced and previously married to a Knoll.
In 1843, Gottfried bought some land in the Brazeau Township. The land record shown here documents that purchase of property.
The above form says his land was found in section 15. We see a piece of land in a later plat map for Perry County that shows Noennig land in section 15. This Gottfried Noennig must have been his youngest son, Gottfried Paul Noennig.
The German Family Tree lists 9 children born to Gottfried and Johanna Noennig. Not all of them lived to adulthood. We find the Noennig household in the 1850 census with 4 children. One of those 4, Anna, was a character in yesterday’s story.
The 1860 census shows the following Noennig household. No more children were born after this census entry.
The 1870 census shows that the household had diminished to 5 children.
The last census in which Gottfried and Johanna appear is the one taken in 1880. This is the entry displayed yesterday that demonstrated that Anna Grebing was living near the Noennig’s after her husband had died in 1876.
Gottfried Noennig died in 1885 at the age of 76. He died at a time when Perry County was recording deaths. We have such a form for Gottfried.
Johanna Noennig died in 1896 at the age of 79. Both Gottfried and Johanna were buried in the Trinity Lutheran Cemetery in Altenburg. However, Findagrave.com only has an entry and a photo for Johanna, not Gottfried. That led me on yet another trip to the cemetery. I found Gottfried’s gravestone right where it should be, and it was quite readable. There doesn’t seem to be any reason that this gravestone didn’t make it on Findagrave when Trinity’s cemetery was documented years ago. I am hoping that Diane Anderson will read this and add Gottfried’s information on that site along with his gravestone photo.
It was Gottfried and Johanna’s youngest son, Gottfried Paul Noennig, who operated an appliance store and orchard in Altenburg. Their story was told in the post, Apples and Appliances. A few days ago, I displayed a couple of photos of part of the old store being demolished. I took a few more photos this morning that are displayed below along with an old photo showing that store back in its prime.
lutheranmuseum.com 