This blog has included stories about Gottfried Schmidt, Gotthilf Schmidt, and Gottwerth Schmidt (my great grandfather). So, when I saw the name Gottlob Schmidt pop up as a potential character for a blog post, I thought that I had likely already told his story. However, that is not the case. I will attempt to tell his story today.

Our German Family Tree says that Gottlob Schmidt was born “c. 1808”. However, it also says the Gottlob was from Paitzdorf, Germany. I am going to skip ahead and tell you that Gottlob was part of the Stephanite group that arrived in Perry County in early 1839. That would put Gottlob at around 31 years old when he made his voyage aboard the Copernicus. We see his name listed with some other Schmidt’s and some Kramer’s. I am using an image I included in a previous post about some Schmidt’s. Gottlob is found just above the top red arrow, and it says he was a 30 year-old “smith” from Paitzdorf.

Gottlob was the son of Gottfried and Maria (Kramer) Schmidt. His father died in Germany before 1838. Gottlob’s mother, Maria Schmidt, is on the above list at the age of 62. Gottfried Kramer, also shown as being 62 years old on this list, was likely a brother of Gottlob’s mother, Maria. The Kramer’s were also from Paitzdorf.

Since I knew approximately when Gottlob was born in Paitzdorf, and I knew we have the books of the Lutheran parish in Paitzdorf, Germany, I decided to see if I could find Gottlob’s baptism record. I did not have high hopes because those records are so difficult to read. However, I am relatively sure I found his baptism record. I will tell you why. First of all, I found an alphabetical list that has names that are fairly easy to read, and this list included dates around 1808. I think it is an index of some baptism records that was produced at a later time to help people locate certain records in these books. On this list, you find the name, Gottlob Schmidt, which has the date, 1808, behind it. Then it has the notation, “5 – “35”. I was not sure what that meant.

Then, I ran across some records in those books that were dated 1808, and I thought they might have been baptism records because almost every one had a numbered list at the bottom which I figured may have been a list of sponsors. I noticed one in which I could read the name, Gottlob. Then I saw it. At the top right of the page, it had a page number of 35. And then I saw that the record with Gottlob in it was the 5th record. That matches the “5 – “35” note in the index. I now believe that I have found Gottlob Schmidt’s baptism record.

Here is an enlarged portion of this page that displays this record. Perhaps someone with some skill at reading this German script can confirm this. If this is his baptism record, I think Gottlob was born in February, and there is also a 5 in the record. Was Gottlob born on February 5, 1808? I think so.

Not long after his arrival in America, we find Gottlob in the 1840 census prior to his marriage. His name is given as Goodlove Smith. There is only one mark behind his name, so he was living by himself.

In the Zion on the Mississippi book, we find a listing saying that Gottlob Schmidt and his brother, along with Gottfried Kramer’ were given some land in Altenburg.

Now, we will take a look at the woman who would become Gottlob Schmidt’s wife. Her name was Eva Nitsche. Our German Family Tree says she was born “c. April 1816” in Heukewalde, Germany. The map below displays the fact that Paitzdorf and Heukewalde were just a mile or two away from each other.

Not much is known about Eva, except that we know her father’s name was Andreas. Eva and George Nitsche were also original immigrants. They came with the Gruber Group in 1839 that arrived in New Orleans in November of that year aboard the ship, Johann Georg. I believe that George Nitsche was Eva’s brother. Eva’s father has a death record in the Trinity, Altenburg books, so I think he must have come to America a bit later.

It was not long after Gottlob and Eva arrived in Perry County that they got married. Their wedding took place on May 16, 1841, so today would be this couple’s 183rd anniversary. Their church marriage record is found in the books of Trinity Lutheran Church in Altenburg.

I thought it might be helpful if you saw this translation that accompanies this record in our Trinity church books.

We are also able to view 2 other civil marriage records for this event. They both indicate that the pastor who performed this wedding was Rev. Gotthold Loeber.

Next, here is another record in 2 images.

Gottlob and Eva had no children of their own. When the 1850 census was taken, we find them living in the Brazeau Township where Gottlob was a blacksmith. And their surname is spelled Smith again.

Next, we find the Schmidt’s in the 1860 census. There were two additional members of their household. One was 10 year-old, Franz Kermse, and the other was an older woman, Juliane Graf (or Grass). This time, Gottlob was called a farmer. Gottlob had purchased some land in 1854. According to his later will, Franz Kermse was a foster child of Gottlob and Eva.

The last census in which we find Gottlob was the one taken in 1870. The other Schmidt household above that of Gottlob was that of my great grandfather, Gottwerth. In Gottlob’s family was a 9 year-old named George. Based on a document I will show later, that was George Voerster, who was another foster child.

There is no death record for Gottlob in the Trinity, Altenburg books, likely a result of the “Koestering Hole”. However, I did locate his will, and it is dated June 1, 1874. He must have been 66 years old when he died. It is in his will that we see that he leaves some money to two foster children, Franz Kermse and George Voerster. There is also language in his will that leaves some money to Concordia Seminary and efforts to help orphans.

Eva is found in the 1880 census as a widow. Once again, we see Franz Kermse living with her.

Eva Schmidt died in 1900 at the age of 86. She does have a death record in the Trinity, Altenburg books. Both Gottlob and Eva Schmidt are buried in the Trinity Lutheran Cemetery, but they do not have entries on Findagrave.com. I took a trip to the cemetery. The locations of gravestones from 1874 deaths are difficult to locate, and they are also mostly unreadable. I did think I might have a chance to find Eva’s gravestone, but I did not. The photo below shows where the gravestones are for people buried in 1900. As you can see, there are a few empty spots, and I can tell you that a few of the stones are unreadable.

Since this Schmidt couple was made up of 2 original immigrants, and they also had no children listed in our German Family Tree, I thought this would be a short story. But between the fact that I found an interesting document in the Paitzdorf books and the fact that the Schmidt’s had a few foster children, it turned out to be longer than I thought. It also turned out to be more interesting than I thought.