Yesterday, I was going to write a blog post even though I knew I had two museum meetings in the afternoon. Then, yesterday morning, Altenburg and its surrounding area lost power, making it impossible to write that post. Long story, short…you are going to read yesterday’s story today. Here we go.

A young woman and a young man were listed right next to each other on the passenger list of the ship, Olbers, when that ship arrived in New Orleans in 1839. The Olbers was the last of the Gesellschaft ships to arrive in America, and it was also the ship on which the leader of that immigration society, Rev. Martin Stephan, was traveling.

Both of these passengers, Louise Voelker and Julius Biltz (spelled Pilz in the above document) were from Niederfrohna in Germany. Both of these characters became quite famous around here.

Louise Voelker did not start off well. She, along with other young single women traveling aboard the Olbers, became one of the notorious “maids” for Rev. Martin Stephan. Later, some of these women, including Louise, confessed that they had inappropriate relationships with Pastor Stephan. In Louise’s case, she confessed that Rev. Stephan had seduced her, but she had not submitted. Partly because of Rev. Stephan’s alleged improprieties, he was kicked out of the community and placed into exile in Illinois.

Not long after the German Lutherans settled in Perry County, Louise Voelker married Christian Adolph Bergt in 1841. That became a famous couple because the Bergt farm would later become the Saxon Lutheran Memorial, our sister historical site located just down the road from us in Frohna, Missouri.

Franz Julius Biltz would become one of the members of the inaugural class of the Log Cabin College when it opened in December of 1839. In the book, Zion on the Mississippi, there is a footnote that gives some information about Franz Julius. It refers to his “escape”from the home of his guardian to become part of the immigration. It also refers to Franz Julius as being the half-brother of Louise Voelker. That explains these two traveling together aboard the Olbers.

Several posts on this blog have mentioned how Franz Julius Biltz became one of the first graduates of Concordia Seminary in Altenburg, serving as a Lutheran pastor, and spending many years as president of the Western District of the Missouri Synod.

There is an entry on Ancestry.com for a woman whose maiden name was Johanna Sophie Ebertin. It comes from the family tree developed by our friend, Lori Adams, so I have a great deal of confidence in its reliability. Another family tree tied together to Nancy Abbott, who is a descendant from the Biltz family, agrees with this assessment.

Johanna’s first husband was Christian Louis Voelker, and that couple’s child was Louise Voelker. Johanna’s second husband was Christian Friedrich Biltz, and that couple’s child was Franz Julius Biltz. That would verify Louise and Franz Julius as being half-siblings. Johanna had yet another husband, Johann Gottfried Lindner. That couple had 2 children, Friedrich Reinhold and Emilie. In 1839, when the Stephanites left for America, Reinhold would have been about 10 years old, and Emilie would have been just 8. It would make sense that those two would have been too young to be making a trip to America without their parents.

In a record for Louise Voelker in our German Family Tree, it says that she was a foster daughter of Johann Gottfried Lindner. If the above family tree is correct, Louise was actually a step-daughter of J.G. Lindner

Today’s main character is Friedrich Reinhold Lindner because yesterday would have been his birthday. He was born on April 25, 1829, making yesterday his 194th birthday. I debated whether to call him Friedrich or Reinhold because both of those names are found on documents for him. I decided to go with Reinhold. When Reinhold was about 24 years old, he also came to America and settled in Perry County. He came to this country aboard the ship, Julius, in 1852. We see his name on the passenger list for that ship here.

For the record, the remaining child of Johanna Ebertin, Emilie Lindner, married Wilhelm Weinhold in Germany and that couple came to the United States in 1860 aboard the ship, Magdalene. That passenger list is shown below. Wilhelm was the original member of the “Dirt Weinhold’s” that have been mentioned on this blog before.

Back to Reinhold Lindner. He would get married before he is found in his first American census, so we will take a look at the woman who would become his bride. She is another person who came to this country as part of the Gesellschaft. When she came, she was only 2 years old. Her name was Johanna Maria Christiane Boehme, who was born on June 13, 1836. She went by the name, Mary. Mary was the daughter of Wilhelm August and Johanna (Weinek) Boehme. The Boehme family joined the Gesellschaft and made their way across the Atlantic Ocean aboard the ship, Republik. We see this family on that ship’s passenger list below.

The passengers from the Republik, after arriving in New Orleans, then traveled up the Mississippi River to St. Louis on the steamboat, Knickerbocker. That boat arrived in St. Louis on January 30th. Not even one month later, before the immigrants went to settle in Perry County, Mary’s father died, leaving her mother as a widow with the 4 young children in the image above, including the very young Mary. In 1840, the 42 year-old Johanna Boehme married the 25 year-old Johann Darnstaedt. The amazing Darnstaedt story was told in the post, Widows and Widowers Abounded. That means Mary was one of those children that was raised in the tiny Darnstaedt Cabin located in Seelitz.

Mary is found in the 1850 census at the age of 14. Her stepfather was a farmer in Seelitz.

Reinhold Lindner married Mary Boehme on September 11, 1856. The church marriage record for this event is found in the books of Trinity Lutheran Church in Altenburg. This marriage was performed by Rev. Schieferdecker while he was still at Trinity. An image of that record is pictured below.

We can also view a Perry County marriage record for this pair.

We find this couple in the 1860 census before they had any children of their own. Mary’s younger brother, Louis, was living with them, as well as a 7 year-old Henry Bogenpohl. Henry was likely an orphan. Interestingly, Henry would later marry Amalia Kaufmann, who was another child who spent part of her childhood being raised in the Darnstaedt Cabin.

Two daughters were born to the Lindner’s in the 1860’s. Their first child died before she was even 2 years old. In the 1870 census, we see the following Lindner household. The 2 year-old Sarah is the only child of Reinhold and Mary in this list that is found in our German Family Tree. Henry is probably Henry Bogenpohl. I have no idea who Stephen is, but he was born before Reinhold and Mary got married.

The 1880 census is the last one in which we find this Lindner couple. Just their daughter, Sarah was living with them. Reinhold was a farmer.

Reinhold Lindner died in 1886 at the age of 57; Mary Boehme died in 1888 at the age of 51. They each died during a short period of time when Perry County kept death records. First, here is the death record for Reinhold.

Next, here is the death record for Mary. The undertaker on both of these records was Charles Boehme, Mary’s brother.

Each of the above forms say that these two were buried in the Altenburg cemetery. That would have been the Trinity Lutheran Cemetery, but Findagrave.com does not list them as being buried there. I am guessing that their gravestones are unreadable.

As you can see, there would be no more Lindner’s coming from this branch of the Lindner family tree. Even Sarah, their daughter, died in 1890 at the age of 22 before she would have the chance of getting married. There are other Lindner’s to be found in our German Family Tree, and you can find other posts on this blog that have been written about them.

The next few days, my wife and I will be playing our roles of Grandma and Grumps. I may or may not be able to write new stories, but perhaps I will share some previous posts to keep the blog alive and well.