Since I have become more familiar with Perry County names since writing for this blog, I have realized something about the surname, Lorenz. There are two major clans of Lorenz’s who ended up more or less in different areas of this county. One of the Lorenz clans is what I call the “Altenburg Lorenz’s”, and the other I call the “Farrar Lorenz’s”. The Altenburg Lorenz’s arrived as part of the Stephanites who arrived in Perry County in the spring of 1839. The Farrar Lorenz’s arrived later that year in December as part of the Gruber Group. What makes this more confusing is that both of the men who arrived at that time at least sometimes went by the name Gottfried Lorenz. In the 1840 census for Perry County, you find both of the Gottfried Lorenz’s very near one another on the same page. One is called Godfrey Lorentz, and the other is called Godfrey Laurence.
Today, I will be writing the story of the man who originated the Altenburg Lorenz’s. I discovered this tale for today because the Lorenz’s first wife has a birthday today.
Johann Gottfried Lorenz was born in 1810 in Germany. His death record in the books of Trinity Lutheran Church in Altenburg tells how many years, months, and days that he lived. Using those numbers, it is calculated that John was born on February 14, 1810. A few resources give the towns of Lunzenau and Kolkau as his place of birth. The map below shows that these two towns are located near one another and also in the vicinity of Mittelfrohna.
According to a Lorenz family book, John was the son of Johann Gottlob and Johanne Christiane (Mueller) Lorenz. John’s parents did not come to the United States, but 3 of their children did. We see John and 2 of his sisters on the passenger list for the ship, Copernicus, below. John is called a shoemaker.
John must have settled for a while in Perry County, but his sisters got married in St. Louis in the early 1840’s, so they must have stayed there and become members of Old Trinity Lutheran Church in St. Louis. John would get married in Perry County not long after his arrival, so we will now look at the woman who became his bride.
Johanna Christiana Amalia Mueller was born on November 24, 1817, so today would be her 208th birthday. Johanna Christiana was the daughter of Johann Christian and Maria Christiana (Wolschendorf) Mueller. That means she was the sister of Rev. J.A.F.W. Mueller, who has been mentioned in many posts on this blog. We can look at a German baptism record for Johanna below. It is found in the books of the Zaschwitz parish.
The Mueller family came to America aboard the ship, Republik, as part of the Gesellschaft. The passenger list from that ship says this family was from Planena, which is not far from Zaschwitz. Today’s birthday girl is called Amalia on this list.
Johann Lorenz married Johanna Mueller on September 19, 1841. This couple’s marriage record is found in the books of Concordia Lutheran Church in Frohna. The pastor who performed the wedding was Rev. Keyl, who was once the pastor of the parish in Mittelfrohna. Perhaps the Lorenz’s and Pastor Keyl were well acquainted with one another in Germany. The church marriage record for this pair is shown here.
Our German Family Tree lists 7 children for this couple, and almost all of them lived to adulthood. Apparently, this Lorenz couple moved to St. Louis shortly after they married. Their first 3 children, starting with a daughter born in 1842, were baptized at Trinity Lutheran Church in St. Louis. When the 1850 census was taken, the Lorenz’s were living in St. Louis where John was a shoemaker. There were 2 children in their household.
Not long after the above census was taken, the Lorenz’s moved back to Perry County. Starting with a child born in 1851, the rest of the Lorenz children were baptized at Trinity Lutheran Church in Altenburg. In the 1860 census, there were 6 children in the Lorenz household. John was still a shoemaker.
Johanna Lorenz died in 1865 at the age of 47. Her death record is found in the books of Trinity, Altenburg, but it looks to have been added at a later time by someone other than Rev. J.F. Koestering. It gives a birth year for Johanna that is not correct. It should be 1817, not 1847.
John would get married again in 1867. His second wife was Friedericke Christiane Wilhelmina Stockmann, who was born on October 24, 1834, the daughter of Henry and Charlotte (Beckmann) Stockmann. Christiane’s baptism record from the Lamstedt parish in Germany can be viewed below.
Christiane’s mother died in 1845, and his father came with 2 of his daughters, including Christiane, aboard the ship, Bank Edmund, in 1853.
Christiane Stockmann married Christian Wunderlich in 1855, and that couple had 3 children before Christian died sometime in the 1860’s. Then on April 23, 1867, John Lorenz married Christiane Wunderlich at Trinity Lutheran Church in Altenburg. This marriage took place when Rev. Koestering’s marriage records were either not written down or they were lost, but I am able to display 2 different civil marriage records for this event.
No more children were born to this couple. When the 1870 census was taken, we find this Lorenz household. Two children from John’s first marriage were included in the family. The boy named Henry was one of Christiane’s sons from her first marriage. He should have been called Henry Wunderlich. This time, John was called a farmer and shoemaker.
The last census in which we find John is the one taken in 1880. Only Henry Wunderlich was still living with his mother and stepfather.
John Lorenz died in 1889 at the age of 71. His death record is found in the books of Trinity, Altenburg. This is the record that gives how many years, months, and days that John lived.
Christiane is found in the 1900 census living with her son, Henry Wunderlich, and his wife. Henry was a farmer in the Union Township.
The last census in which we find Christiane is the one taken in 1910. She was still living with Henry and his wife, Mary.
Christiane Lorenz died in 1912 at the age of 77. The informant on her death certificate below is Henry Wunderlich.
Christiane’s death record is found in the books of Salem Lutheran Church in Farrar. That means that a death record for a woman who married an Altenburg Lorenz is found in the Farrar books where you find mostly Farrar Lorenz’s.
John Lorenz and his first wife, Johanna, because their death records are found in the books of Trinity, Altenburg, are likely buried in that congregation’s cemetery. However, Trinity’s Findagrave.com site has no entry for either of them. John’s second wife, Christiane, is buried in the Salem Lutheran Cemetery, but Findagrave.com has no gravestone photo for her.
The Altenburg Lorenz clan, beginning with John Gottfried, fills up 26 pages in our German Family Tree. Plenty of stories on this blog have been told about characters who can be found on those 26 pages, and I am likely to do more as time goes by.