Friedrich Ernst Yamnitz was born in Germany on December 31, 1839, making today his 184th birthday. Ernst was the son of Johann and Johanna (Lindner) Yamnitz. A note on his father’s Findagrave.com site is shown below.

“Along with the family of his brother-in-law and sister-in-law, Johann Gottlob Mehner and Juliana Lindner, his family set sail from Hamburg on 1 September 1855 aboard the Emma Lincoln and arrived in New Orleans on 3 November 1855. They soon proceeded up the Mississippi River to join Lutheran friends and relatives from Saxony, who had begun immigrating to southeast Missouri in 1838 under the leadership of Rev. Martin Stephan.”

The Yamnitz family can be seen on the passenger list for the Emma Lincoln shown here. Ernst was 16 years old at the time. The family name is spelled Jamnitz on this list. Their name was “Americanized” to Yamnitz later.

The Yamnitz’s purchased land in the Union Township of Bollinger County and also became active members at Trinity Lutheran Church in Friedheim after their arrival. Let me point out that Lynn Degenhardt, the creator of our German Family Tree, is presently working on the project of getting the Friedheim records indexed into that document. Once he is done, our GFT will have a much larger listing of people with the Yamnitz surname. I am placing a map here that shows the relative locations of the Union Township (the highlighted square), Friedheim, Yount, and Perryville.

A later plat map for Bollinger County shows that the F E Yamnitz farm was not only located in Union Township, but also way up in the northeast corner of that township, making it not that far from Perryville. By the time this plat map was made, there were several other nearby farms owned by people named Yamnitz.

The first American census in which we find Ernst Yamnitz is the one taken in 1860. He is called 19 years old, but I think he was 20+.

When the Civil War broke out, Ernst spent some time in the Union Army serving in Tacke’s Company out of Cape Girardeau.

It was not long after the Civil War that Ernst got married, so we will now look at the woman who would become his first wife. Her name was Carolina Wilhelmine Bangert, who was born on February 19, 1852. Carolina was the daughter of Wilhelm and Catherine (Eichmeier) Bangert. She is found in the 1860 census at the age of 7. Her father was a farmer in the Union Township of Bollinger County.

That would be the only census entry in which we find Carolina as a single person. On September 13, 1868, Ernst Yamnitz married Carolina Bangert. Carolina must have been only 16 years old when she got married. We can view a civil marriage record for this wedding shown below. The pastor who signed this document was Rev. Wilhelm Bergt, who was the pastor at Grace Lutheran Church in Uniontown. However, a church marriage record is not found for a Yamnitz/Bangert wedding in that congregation’s books. The wedding took place in Cape Girardeau County.

I have to rely on family trees on Ancestry.com to come up with a number of children for this couple. It appears that they had 6 children. Their first child, born in 1869, died as an infant, so when the 1870 census was taken, we find this couple with no children. I expanded the image from their census page to demonstrate that there were several Yamnitz households that must have been living near one another.

The 1880 census for the Yamnitz family is pictured here. There were 4 children in their household.

When this couple’s last child was born in September of 1881, it resulted in the death of Carolina. The baby would also die shortly after being born. Ernst married again in 1882. His second wife was Johanna Maria Brickhaus, who was born on February 5, 1864. Maria was the daughter of John and Hanne (Zoellner) Brickhaus. She is found in her first census in 1870 at the age of 7, although I think she was 6. Her father was a farmer in the St. Marys Township in Perry County.

Next, we find Maria in the 1880 census at the age of 17. This time the Brickhaus family was living in the Cinque Hommes Township.

Ernst Yamnitz married Maria Brickhaus on June 13, 1882. That means Maria was 18 years old at the time of her wedding. This may be the first time that I have told the story of a man whose two wives were both teenagers. The church record for this wedding is found in the books of Trinity Lutheran Church in Friedheim.

The Missouri marriage license for this couple is displayed here.

It appears that 10 more children were born to Ernst and Maria, 9 of which lived to adulthood. That means Ernst fathered 16 children with his 2 wives, 13 of which lived to adulthood. We have to wait until the 1900 census to view this couple and their family. The first 3 children in this listing were from Ernst’s first marriage. There were 9 total children in the household at this time.

The 1910 census indicates that 2 more children had been born to the Yamnitz’s in the previous decade. Ernst was 65 years old when the last child was born in 1905,

The last census in which we find Ernst was the one taken in 1920. He was still farming at the age of 80.

At a later time in Ernst’s life, a photo of his family was taken which included all 13 of his children that lived to adulthood.

Ernst and Maria also had this photograph taken.

Ernst Yamnitz died in 1923 at the age of 83. His death certificate says he died of influenza.

An obituary for Ernst was published in the Perry County Republican. I have to display it in two images which can be clicked to enlarge.

Maria Yamnitz is found in the 1930 census as a widow with a few children still living with her.

The last census in which we find Maria is the one taken in 1940. She was living with her daughter, Emma, who had married Addison Schrumpf.

Maria Yamnitz died in 1945 at the age of 81. Her death certificate can also be viewed.

Ernst’s first wife, Carolina, is buried in the Trinity Lutheran Cemetery in Friedheim. Ernst and his second wife, Maria, are buried in the Immanuel Lutheran Cemetery in Perryville.

I felt the need to write this story today, but I daresay that our museum’s friend, Tim Yamnitz, who lives in Germany but was born and raised in Perry County, would have been much more qualified to write this story.