I am certain that you will not consider today’s tale to be the standard, run-of-the-mill post that is typical. I am the first to admit that the stories of real German Lutherans who had their roots in Southeast Missouri do not often contain much excitement. Today’s post will contain some real adventure, including a saloon shoot-out in California. So, hang on. I think it’s going to be a thrilling ride…compared to most posts.

If that is not enough hype for this story, let me tell you that it contains a character who would be celebrating his 200th birthday today. Joseph Berkbigler was born on August 10, 1826 in Germany. I have seen several spellings of this surname, but I am going to use the spelling that is used by our friend and researcher, Kathy Berkbigler. It really won’t matter much because it would not take long for Joseph to change his name, shortening it considerably to Bigler. He was the son of Joseph Johann and Maria Eva (Gib) Berkbigler. I am not sure when Joseph and his sister, Sibille, came to America, but we find these two in the 1850 census living in the Stephen Winkler household in the Brazeau Township. Joseph is called a laborer, probably on the Winkler farm.

A year after that census was taken, Joseph got married, so let’s take a look at the woman who would become his bride. Her name was Margaretha Kester, who was born on February 9, 1832 in Germany. Margaret was the daughter of Conrad and Elisabeth (Buss) Kester. The Kester family came to the United States in 1838 aboard the ship, Elise. They can be seen on the passenger list for that ship shown below. It said Margaret was 4 years old when she made the trip.

Margaret is found in the 1850 census at the age of 17. She was living with her parents in Cape Girardeau County, likely near Friedheim. Her father was a farmer.

Joseph Berkbigler married Margaret Kester on October 2, 1851 at Trinity Lutheran Church in Friedheim. The church record for this wedding can be seen here.

I am also able to display 2 different civil marriage records from Cape Girardeau County for this couple. You can see that it was Rev. Franz Julius Biltz, one of the original students at the Log Cabin College, that married this pair.

Joseph and Margaret had 2 children while still in Missouri. Their first child was baptized at Trinity, Friedheim. Then, in 1854, the adventure begins. It was that year that Joseph, Margaret, and their family, plus Margaret’s brother, John Kester, and his family, along with a group adding up to 40 people, decided to move to the gold fields of California. Some vivid details about this trip can be read in images I will display later. The group traveled across country and arrived in Mariposa County in California in October of that year.

It was about this time that Joseph must have decided to use the name Bigler. Once in California, Joseph became a saloon owner and operator in the town of Bear Valley in Mariposa County. I will add that when I read a short history of that location, it included the fact that John C. Fremont once owned the land around Bear Valley when the Gold Rush began in 1849. In October of 1857, a fight broke out in Joseph’s bar in Bear Valley, and according to reports, Joseph tried to break it up and was shot and killed by one of the participants. Joseph was only 31 years old at the time of his death. Some of the accounts of this story say that Joseph was murdered. The man who shot Joseph was also killed in that fight, and a another man happened to be in that bar, but not involved in the fight, named Maurice Newman. Before I continue with the story, let me say that Margaret must have been pregnant with her next son when her husband was killed. That son was born in April of 1858. However, that child died at the age of 1. That means that Joseph and Margaret had 3 children, but one of them was born after Joseph had died.

Margaret would get married again, and her second husband was Maurice Newman, who was born on April 6, 1830 in Poland. I was unable to determine the names of his parents. He managed to make his way to America, and all I know about him is that he was reportedly in the Bigler bar when Joseph was killed, and that he married Margaret Bigler on October 18, 1859. I located this California certificate of marriage for this couple.

This Newman couple is found in the 1860 census with 2 of Margaret’s Bigler children from her first marriage. Maurice was a baker in Bear Valley, but according to some information I will show later, Margaret had established a bakery in the building in which Joseph had operated his saloon.

I feel compelled to display what is found toward the bottom of this census page. We find a list of miners, all of which were from China. Most of them were given just a single name. It provides evidence that there were plenty of immigrants of different nationalities who participated in the Gold Rush.

When the 1870 census was taken, we discover that 2 children had been born to Margaret and Maurice. Margaret’s oldest daughter had gotten married in 1869, so we see 2 Newman children and 1 Bigler child in this entry. This time, Maurice was called an express agent.

The 1880 census would turn out to be the last one in which we find Maurice. Just the youngest Newman daughter was living with Maurice and Margaret. Maurice was a county tax assessor.

Maurice Newman died in 1895 at the age of 65, leaving Margaret as a widow. After Maurice’s death, we find Margaret living in San Francisco. In the 1900 census, we find Margaret living with her daughter, Emily Newman, who never married. Neither Margaret nor Emily were given occupations.

I failed to locate Margaret in the 1910 census. When the 1920 census was taken, Margaret was still living in San Francisco. This time, in addition to her single daughter, Emily, another daughter, also named Margaret, was included in this household. Margaret had married John Goodwin, but he had died in 1901, so the 2 Margaret’s in this entry were both widows. Just Emily had an occupation, and she was a nurse.

Margaret Newman died in 1925 at the age of 93. I find the place of the burial of Margaret and her 2 husbands and the arrangement of their grave sites interesting. In the photo below, I can tell you that the husband’s gravestones are on the outside, with Margaret’s gravestone in the middle. They were buried in the Mariposa Masonic Cemetery in the city of Mariposa. I think that after Joseph was buried in this cemetery, Margaret and Maurice made arrangements to also be buried in this location, and Margaret chose to be buried between her 2 husbands. It also looks as if these graves were once in a shaded area, and someone may have had a real challenge digging those graves amidst all those tree roots.

Below, we can see individual gravestones for Joseph, Maurice, and Margaret.

I found several narratives from different sources that give additional insight into the stories of the characters in this story. I will include them here so you can read them. First, I will include 3 items that are found on Margaret’s Findagrave.com site.

The 3rd narrative shown below was placed on Findagrave.com by our friend, Timm Yamnitz.

Next, I will display 2 additional narratives that can be found on Joseph’s Family Search site.

The last narrative is long enough to require me to display it in 2 images. It was probably written in some sort of journal by one of the Bigler daughters who were along on the trip to California.

Also found on Family Search is this photo of Margaret (Kester)(Bigler) Newman.

When Margaret arrived in California, she entered a world that was dominated by men. One of the above narratives even says she was the first white woman to appear in the Bear Valley vicinity. I figure that Margaret and her daughters would have been strong females to survive such a male-dominated environment during their early years in California. I also think that Joseph Bigler was pretty brave to open a saloon in that type of environment.