I must have missed the bicentennial birthday of Jacob Conrad Heinrich Seibel back in 2017. Since he was born on December 21, 1817, we will be discussing the 205th birthday of this man who also happens to be one of my great-great grandfathers. As it turns out, this GG grandfather is a connection that I have to the New York Group that joined with the Stephanite Group in East Perry County in 1839. There were 2 Seibel’s that were part of the New York Group, Jacob and Johann Seibel. It is very likely that they were related to one another, but I found no concrete evidence of that. Johann was about 8 years older than today’s birthday boy and arrived in the United States 2 years before Jacob. When he came, he was already married to a woman named Elizabeth (Theiss) Seibel. Jacob came here as a single man and only got married after his arrival in Perry County. It even looks like Jacob and Johann came to this country on the same ship, Favorite, but not at the same time.

There is a church record that states Jacob’s father was named Immanuel, but I am not aware of a name of his mother. Jacob is shown on the Favorite passenger list in the image below. He was traveling by himself and called an 18 year-old farmer, even though Zion on the Mississippi calls him a tailor. This ship landed in New York in 1836.

Perhaps Jacob, during his 3 years in New York, got a job as a tailor and learned that trade before moving to Missouri in 1839. Both Jacob and Johann Seibel are 2 of not many New York Group names that remained in Perry County the rest of their lives, and because of that, we still have Seibel’s living around here today. Jacob would get married prior to the 1850 census, so let’s take a look at the woman who would become his bride.

Christiane Friedericke Caroline Rabold was born in Germany on April 13, 1823. She was the daughter of John and Eva (Stark) Rabold. The Rabold family came to this country in 1842, and, believe it or not, they came aboard the ship, Favorite. However, they arrived in New Orleans, not New York. Caroline is shown on the passenger list below as an 18 year-old.

Jacob Seibel married Caroline Rabold on July 9, 1843. The marriage record for this couple is found in the books of Trinity Lutheran Church in Altenburg. However, this event took place before Trinity’s first permanent church was dedicated in 1845, so it could have taken place in the Rabold home, although it also may have been held on the second floor of Pastor Loeber’s parsonage where church services were being held in those days. After all, July 9th was on a Sunday in 1843. We can take a look at the church record for this wedding.

A civil record is also available to view.

Actually, there were two marriages that took place on July 9, 1843. Hartmann Grebing married Justina Goethe on the same day. I do not know if this was a double wedding or not, but I can tell you that Hartmann Grebing was another person that was part of the New York Group. There is a really good chance that Jacob and Hartmann became friends during their time in New York. The fact that these two weddings took place on a Sunday might support a double wedding taking place in the church parsonage.

Our German Family Tree lists 9 children born to Jacob and Caroline. We find the Seibel family in the 1850 census with their first 3 children. Jacob was a tailor. The 4 year-old girl called Frederica was my great grandmother, only she mostly went by the name Wilhelmine.

The 1860 census shows a larger Seibel household. This time, Jacob was called a farmer.

I found a Civil War military record for Jacob, although it states on the form that he was “over age”.

Next, we find the Seibel’s in the 1870 census. The last of the Seibel children had been born in 1865. I cannot understand why Wilhelmine is listed in this entry because she married my great grandfather, Gottwerth Schmidt in 1865, and she shows up in the same pages as his wife in another entry in the 1870 census.

The last census in which we find Jacob was the one taken in 1880. The census taker for that year was Great Grandpa Gottwerth.

Jacob Seibel died in 1886 at the age of 68. His church death record says he died of pneumonia. Caroline Seibel is found in one more census entry in 1900. She was living by herself at the age of 77..

Caroline Seibel died in 1905 at the age of 81. Both Jacob and Caroline Seibel are buried in the Trinity Lutheran Cemetery in Altenburg. However, only Jacob has an entry on Findagrave.com. Since Caroline died in 1905, I figured I might have a good chance of locating her gravestone in our cemetery, so I made a trip there this morning. I did find her grave site and will include a photo of her gravestone here. Maybe our Findagrave expert, Diane Anderson, can add an entry for her on that website. I also discovered that about one month after my GG Grandma Seibel died, my Great Grandma Wilhelmine Schmidt died. Her gravestone is just a matter of steps away from GG Grandma Seibel’s grave. Below are both photos of Jacob and Caroline’s gravestones.

The more I look into the surnames, Seibel and Theiss, the more connections I find between them. There are Seibel’s who were baptismal sponsors for Theiss children, and there were Theiss’s who were baptismal sponsors for Seibel children. Also, the other Seibel in the New York Group was married to a Theiss. Now, after writing this post, I put the pieces together to discover that the Rabold surname is more glue that holds the Seibel’s and Theiss’s together. Caroline Rabold married Jacob Seibel, and her sister, Wilhelmine Rabold married Johann Theiss. Both of those couples qualify to be called my great-great grandparents. The Seibel’s are from my grandfather’s side of the family, and the Theiss’s are from my grandmother’s side of the family.