Early in the history of Peace Lutheran Church in Friedenberg, there were 2 men named George Bergmann. One was given the nickname, Siding George, and the other was referred to as Creek George. I am not aware why these two men were given those monikers. Siding George was born in 1814, and Creek George was born in 1800. Siding George came to America and found his wife here, and Creek George was married in Germany prior to coming to this country. Today, you will read the story of Creek George. I found this story because today would be his 200th wedding anniversary.

Before I get too far, I would like to take a moment to thank Timm Yamnitz for providing some documents that I was unable to find. He so graciously and quickly found exactly the documents I wanted and sent them to me. Timm has amazing research skills and is familiar with resources that I do not know about.

George Ernst Bergmann was born on November 10, 1800, the son of Johannes and Brigitta (Schwarz) Bergmann. George was baptized at Wonsees, Bavaria, Germany. Below are photos of the exterior and interior of that church that are found in the Friedenberg Remembrances book.

George’s baptism record from that parish is shown here. If you are like me, about the only thing you can decipher on this document is George Ernst in the left column.

We can find George’s future wife in the records of the same parish. Her name was Kunigunda Margaretha Bergmann, who was born on June 21, 1801. Margaretha was the daughter of Johann and Katharina (Pirner) Bergmann. Her baptism record from the Wonsees parish is displayed below. To me, this looks like a different person may have written this document. The name, Kunigunda Margaretha, is found in the text on the right.

The marriage of George Ernst and Margaretha was a Bergmann/Bergmann wedding. I know I have written a few previous posts about Bergmann/Bergmann weddings, but this is the first one that I found that took place in Germany. This wedding took place on January 17, 1826 at the Wonsees parish, and we can view this pair’s marriage record. Today would be this couple’s bicentennial wedding anniversary.

This Bergmann couple had several children in Germany before their migration to America. When this family came to America in 1839, they brought 3 children with them. They arrived in Baltimore, but it is not possible to name the ship on which they came. I do know that there were several other people on this passenger list that ended up settling in Perry County, Missouri.

The Bergmann’s are found in the 1840 census for Perry County, but I choose not to show it. Another child was born to this couple in America, so when the 1850 census was taken, we find this entry for the Bergmann’s. Three unmarried children were found in this household. Their daughter, Margaret, had married Albert Fassold, and that couple and their young son were also in this entry. George was a farmer, and Albert Fassold was a cooper in the Cinque Hommes Township.

Margaretha Bergmann died in 1851 at the age of 49, leaving George as a widower. I was unable to find George in the 1860 census. That is probably because he was taking a trip back to Germany during that year. We can take a look at this passport application that George completed during that year in New York.

Next, we find George as a widower in the 1870 census. He was living in the Albert Fassold household. Albert’s family had gotten considerably larger.

The last census in which we find Creek George is the one taken in 1880. At the age of 79, he was still living with the Fassold’s. This time, their entry is found in the pages of the Central Township.

George Bergmann died in 1884 at the age of 83. Both George and Margaretha Bergmann are buried in the Peace Lutheran Cemetery in Friedenberg, but neither of them has a gravestone photo on Findagrave.com.

The Bergmann surname must have been common in Germany, especially around the region from which today’s couple came. The Bergmann surname also became common in the Friedenberg area in Perry County because there were some more Bergmann/Bergmann weddings that took place here. I will also state that is a rare day when I get to write about a 200th wedding anniversary on this blog.