The Ochs family came to America in the same year as the Gesselschaft in 1839. Rev. Martin Stephan arrived with his group at the very beginning of that year, and the Ochs arrived a bit later. Included in the Ochs family was a baby boy who had been born in March of that year. I will attempt to tell the story today of that baby boy.

Johann Peter Ochs was born on March 31, 1839, the son of Michael and Christiana (Stuebinger) Ochs. Peter was born in Langenstadt, Germany. I have no exact date for the arrival of the Ochs family in the United States, nor do I have the name of the ship upon which they made the voyage. What I do know is that they arrived in Baltimore in 1839. The passenger list for the Ochs family shown below indicates that Peter was 1 year old, but he was not even that old. You can actually see 2 Ochs families on this image, one headed by Conrad Ochs and the other by Michael Ochs, Peter’s father. Conrad and Michael were brothers. These 2 families showed up on the same census pages so they must have lived near one another.

The Ochs families settled in Perry County, Missouri near what would become called Friedenberg. The first census entry for Peter is the one taken in 1850. The census taker spelled their name as Ogs. Peter was 11 years old, and his father was a tailor.

Next, we find Peter in the 1860 census in his 20’s. He was still living with his parents, but this time, his brother, John Conrad, was the head of the household. Peter was farming with his brother, and his father was still a tailor.

Peter was a soldier during the Civil War, serving in the Union Army. He started in the Simpson’s Six Months Militia under Captain Dinkel, and then in the 64th Regiment under Captain Ochs, who happened to be his brother, Johann Conrad Ochs. Peter had the rank of corporal.

After the war, the Ochs families made a move. The father, Michael, had died at some point in time, and when the 1870 census was taken, we find John Conrad, who is called Frantz in this entry, as the head of a household made up of his family, along with Peter and his mother, Christina. Both Conrad and Peter were coopers in Darmstadt, Illinois.

This move made it possible for Peter to meet his future wife. Her name was Elisa Wilhelmine Gausmann, who was born on November 25, 1855 in Engter, Germany. She was the daughter of Johann Heinrich and Anna Maria Wilhelmine (Schepmann) Gausmann. I am able to display Elisa’s German baptism record from the Engter parish.

I am not able to display any immigration information or prior census entries for Elisa, so the first evidence of her being in America is her marriage record. Peter Ochs married Elisa Gausmann on July 28, 1874, so today would be their special 150th wedding anniversary. They were married in Darmstadt, Illinois. An Illinois marriage record for this couple is pictured here.

I have mentioned in a previous blog about someone in the Ochs family that several children of Peter and Elisa Ochs were born in Darmstadt, but they were brought back to Perry County to have the babies baptized. By the time of the 1880 census, there were 3 children in the Ochs household. Peter was still a cooper in Darmstadt.

Another child was born in Darmstadt in 1882, but in 1887, another baby was born in Perry County and baptized at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Perryville. Our German Family Tree lists 7 chiildren born to Peter and Elisa. In the 1900 census, the Och’s family was living in the Central Township. Peter was not given an occupation in this entry, but he had a son who was doing farm labor.

Peter Ochs died in 1903 at the age of 64. An article was published in the Perry County Republican when he died. I have to display it in 2 images. You may have to click the image to read it.

Elisa Ochs died 2 years later in 1905 at the age of 49. Her obituary can be read below.

Peter and Elisa Ochs are each buried in the Immanuel Lutheran Cemetery in Perryville.

I find it a bit interesting that yesterday, I wrote about a family making a voyage on a ship named, Darmstadt, and today you read about a couple that was married in an Illinois town named Darmstadt.

There are plenty of folks around this vicinity who either carry the surname, Ochs, or can trace their ancestry back to the Ochs families that first arrived in 1839. I discovered that we have an Ochs family binder in our research library, but it only includes the family tree that originates from Johann Conrad Ochs and does not include any information about his brother, Peter. That binder is rather large by itself. It would be even larger if it included Peter’s branch of the Ochs family tree. I cannot resist asking if that family tree came from an acorn.