Maria Dorothea St?hle

Notes:

On "January something" in 1983, Bonnie Jacobs wrote "A search for some years has finally yielded information for me. As you have probably heard, the last of the 10 Benkelman children to emigrate from Germany were the four girls and their mother [Dorothea, age 52, and daughters Dorothea age 23, Catharina, age 21, Maria, age 13, and Lena, age 7]. We had heard from family legends that the mother died at sea and I have pursued that information for years. I have finally retrieved it. It is a painstaking process to get the facts, but I finally found an obituary that identified the port of entry as Baltimore---a stroke of luck since Baltimore was one of the few American ports of entry that did have a Customs passenger list. I have retrieved the film from the Archives in Washington--but it has brought a new mystery. It is remarkable that finding the answer to one question almost always raises another. Missing from the party of four daughters and the mother is the second eldest daughter, Catharina. She was released from the Empire with the others on 20 September of 1853--but there is no record of her having arrived in Baltimore!

At least I have a death date on the mother now. She died at sea on 22 October, barely a month into the voyage. The ship arrived in Baltimore on December 15. Can you imagine being packed into one of those filthy sailing vessels for six to nine weeks? Try to imagine the day to day living with no privacy, no way to bathe or attend to personal needs and only buggy, dried food to eat! Our ancestors suffered much. I will go and try to retrieve the Captain's actual report now that I know the ship and the Captain--to see if a cause of death is listed. Cholera was rampant that year, but I think it was not the cause since the part of the list I have seen shows only one other death during the voyage."

BonnieMargaret Jacobs shows her, on her transcription of the familienregister page of the Benkelmann family, as a daughter of George Friedrich St?hle and Anna Maria REIK or RECH. However, Anna Maria REIK is actually the mother of Dorothea's daughter-in-law Catharina Schaufele, who married Dorothea's son Adam Benkelmann. Kathy Bonnell, on her transcription of G?ppingen church records, shows her mothers maiden name was LEINS. BonnieMargaret appears to have been simply confusing the two Anna Maria's. Additionally, the family register for the family of Georg Friedrich St?hle, listing his wife and children, shows his wife Anna Maria was born to Georg Friedrich Leins, a farmer.

On the Oberant Welzheim Emmigrants list, 1818-1891, She is listed as Maria Dorothea, Witwe (widow) des Bauers Johann Leonhard Benkelmann von Schneiderhof, Gd. Waldhausen geb. den 5ten Januar 1800. Their guarantor was Johann Georg St?hle, Bauer von B?rtlingen.

(BonnieMargaret's full source citation was: Staatsarchiv Ludwigsburg, "Verzeichnis der Auswanderung aus dem Oberamt Welzheim 1818-1891" F 214 B?schel 91 Fortlaufende Number 42 [or possibly 47] ).

Maria married Johann Leonhard Benkelmann on 20 Nov 1822 in Schneiderhof, Waldhausen Parish, Welzheim, Jagstkreis, W?rttemberg, Germany. Johann (son of Johann Jakob Binkelmann, III and Maria Catharina Baur) was born on 6 Feb 1796 in Schneiderhof, Waldhausen Parish, Welzheim, Jagstkreis, W?rttemberg, Germany; died on 24 Feb 1848 in Schneiderhof, Waldhausen Parish, Welzheim, Jagstkreis, W?rttemberg, Germany. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Married:
BonnieMargaret and her husband Bruce visited Germany in September, 1980. In a letter to Ben and Avis dated October 13, 1980, she shared the following information "Then we were on to B?rtlingen, where Adam and Catherine were married. The church there was built in 1484 and is one of the most beautiful we saw anywhere. I decided to see the village of Breech--for no particular reason except I that I'd heard Elsie Anthes speak of it and it had turned up in various records. WE had no real family association there--but it was nearby. What a stroke of dumb luck! Without that decision we might never have found the Schneiderhof, where Adam and his siblings were born and lived until they emigrated. The Schneiderhof is not a town and is not on any map. It's just a cluster of about 4 houses and supporting buildings, just down and across the road from Breech, and if you were looking away for just a second, you'd miss the sign to it.

I cannot tell you my excitement! ...There is nothing new there. Adam would recognize it as if he had never left. The tools and equipment are there as they have been for who knows how long. It is surrounded by orchards (apples) and small plots of vegetables. B?rtlingen is on a hill and is lovely with good views. The Schneiderhof is on top of the world, looking out on miles of hills and valleys and villages. It is incrediably beautiful. Again I found myself out in some cabbage patch, trying to explain to some farmer that this was my family heimat (home)...Clearly Americans are accepted as eccentric and harmless!...Vocabulary doesn't reach the beauty of that hilltop and its vistas out over hazy valleys, looking at other hills where red tiled houses form little villages. I can just imagine it at night--looking out over perhaps two dozen sparkling little villages on other hills around. One climbs from B?rtlingen to the Schneiderhof. But going down the back side of the mountain, through dense forest, the trail winds back and forth across the mountain into Waldhausen--which the Schneiderhof also looks down upon. This is the trip the family took to get to church, and probably to work."

In her 1981 unpublished manuscript, BonnieMargaret noted that only the top floor of the Benkelmann home shows from the road leading in. The house is three stories high on the back side, two stories high in the front. It was built in 1733, by the state, to provide housing for state licensed artisans who were not allowed in the town as guild craftsmen. Apparently it gained its name from its first inhabitants, since the name literally means "the place of tailors." The official state description of the Schneiderhof in 1845 states that it was a place with 22 Evangelical residents, lying on the mountain top about one-half an hours walk from Waldhausen. The rents were paid to the city of G?ppingen, in 1845 twelve of those residents would have been Leonhard and Dorothea and their 10 living children, others would have included Leonhard's widowed mother and some of her children by Herr Heller, and likely their families. The land was described as rocky and and lying on a mountainside, "even today it is impossible to use machinery to work the land" and that the "people who lived there would have to have outside work." The house itself lies on the very crest of the mountain, with the house built on the downside of the mountain, overlooking Waldhausen. A very small patch of is on the level crest at the top of the mountain. When BonnieMargaret visited the home in 1981, she said it had four or five dwellings in all, and barns and sheds nearby the house and in the orchards. Just west of the house stands the old Bauernhaus, perhaps the homestead of Leonhard's maternal grandparents. The fields to the south were planted in potatoes and turnips, the high production crops that all of southern Germany turned to in the early 1800's. Beyond the westernmost buildings were apple orchards, beautiful and well tended. (pp. 68, 69 and accompanying photos).

BonnieMargaret also noted that German life centered in the family. Even today we're told that day to day life included few close relationships with people outside the family. Certainly they were cordial and friendly with neighbors and cooperating artisans, but the joy of living was carefully protected within the walls of the home. Country people had no protection but each other, and the trusted "other" were kinsmen. Unlike the towns that were structured to protect the citizens from difficult times, the country folk were on their own, in good and bad times. Parents carefully nutured the bonds of affection and caring, and though they may have experienced the sibling rivalry that modern children do, it was not expressed in the German home, where only mutual caring and consideration were approved and encouraged.

Names and birthdates for this family were from the Waldhausen Parish Kirchlichen Familienregister Band I, Blatt 244, Dekanat Welzheim, Schw?bisch Gm?nd. BonnieMargaret noted that all the family information shown on pages 95 and 96 of her book were certified by Pastor Rau of the Ev. Pfarramt Waldhausen to be the complete record of the family of Johann Leonhard Benkelmann, with the exceptions of the dates of death, which were included by BonnieMargaret from other sources. They had one stillborn child, neither name or sex listed, on 4 July 1838. She also noted that they were married on November 20, but the year was illegible.

The family register for the family of Georg Friedrich St?hle and wife, Anna Maria Leins shows that Maria Dorothea was the fifth of their 15 children. She was married at the Schneiderhof on 20 Nov 1822, approximately 10 months after the birth of eldest son Friedrich.

1. Johann Friedrich "Fredrick" Benkelman was born on 6 Jan 1822 in Waldhausen Parish, Welzheim, Jagstkreis, W?rttemberg, Germany; died on 28 Aug 1897 in Cass City, Tuscola County, Michigan; was buried on 29 Aug 1897 in Elkland Township Cemetery, Cass City, Tuscola County, Michigan.
2. Leonhard Benkelmann was born on 22 Dec 1823 in Waldhausen Parish, Welzheim, Jagstkreis, W?rttemberg, Germany; died on 18 Jul 1824 in Waldhausen Parish, Welzheim, Jagstkreis, W?rttemberg, Germany.
3. Johann Adam Benkelman was born on 13 Feb 1825 in Waldhausen Parish, Welzheim, Jagstkreis, W?rttemberg, Germany; died on 30 Dec 1897 in Cass City, Tuscola County, Michigan; was buried on 2 Jan 1898 in Elkland Township Cemetery, Cass City, Tuscola County, Michigan.
4. Maria Dorothea "Dorothy" Benkelman was born on 13 Jul 1826 in Schneiderhof, Waldhausen Parish, Welzheim, Jagstkreis, W?rttemberg, Germany; died on 5 Jan 1888 in Cass City, Tuscola County, Michigan.
5. Johann Georg Benkelmann was born on 7 Aug 1827 in Schneiderhof, Waldhausen Parish, Welzheim, Jagstkreis, W?rttemberg, Germany; died on 19 Sep 1827 in Schneiderhof, Waldhausen Parish, Welzheim, Jagstkreis, W?rttemberg, Germany.
6. Johann Leonhard "Leonard" Benkelman was born on 5 Jul 1828 in Schneiderhof, Waldhausen Parish, Welzheim, Jagstkreis, W?rttemberg, Germany; died on 25 May 1913 in Manitowoc, Manitowoc County, Wisconsin; was buried in Evergreen Cemetery, Manitowoc County, Wisconsin.
7. Johann Georg "George" Benkelman was born on 25 Jun 1830 in Schneiderhof, Waldhausen Parish, Welzheim, Jagstkreis, W?rttemberg, Germany; died on 16 Jan 1908 in Denver, Denver County, Colorado; was buried in Fairmount Cemetery, Denver, Denver County, Colorado.
8. Maria Catharina Benkelman was born on 16 Aug 1831 in Schneiderhof, Waldhausen Parish, Welzheim, Jagstkreis, W?rttemberg, Germany; died on 9 Dec 1883 in Cass City, Tuscola County, Michigan; was buried in Elkland Township Cemetery, Cass City, Tuscola County, Michigan.
9. Anna Maria Benkelmann was born on 18 Oct 1832 in Schneiderhof, Waldhausen Parish, Welzheim, Jagstkreis, W?rttemberg, Germany; died on 25 Nov 1832 in Schneiderhof, Waldhausen Parish, Welzheim, Jagstkreis, W?rttemberg, Germany.
10. Luise "Louisa" Benkelman was born on 14 Sep 1833 in Schneiderhof, Waldhausen Parish, Welzheim, Jagstkreis, W?rttemberg, Germany; died on 22 Oct 1910 in Cass City, Tuscola County, Michigan; was buried in Elkland Township Cemetery, Cass City, Tuscola County, Michigan.
11. Johannes "John" Benkelman was born on 3 Apr 1836 in Schneiderhof, Waldhausen Parish, Welzheim, Jagstkreis, W?rttemberg, Germany; died on 18 Jan 1917 in Portage, Columbia County, Wisconsin.
12. Anna Maria "Mary" Benkelman was born on 22 May 1839 in Schneiderhof, Waldhausen Parish, Welzheim, Jagstkreis, W?rttemberg, Germany; died on 4 May 1913 in Cass City, Tuscola County, Michigan; was buried in Elkland Township Cemetery, Cass City, Tuscola County, Michigan.
13. Magdalena Benkelmann was born on 13 Sep 1840 in Schneiderhof, Waldhausen Parish, Welzheim, Jagstkreis, W?rttemberg, Germany; died on 22 Sep 1840 in Schneiderhof, Waldhausen Parish, Welzheim, Jagstkreis, W?rttemberg, Germany.
14. Rosine Benkelmann was born on 10 Mar 1842 in Schneiderhof, Waldhausen Parish, Welzheim, Jagstkreis, W?rttemberg, Germany; died on 25 Nov 1844 in Schneiderhof, Waldhausen Parish, Welzheim, Jagstkreis, W?rttemberg, Germany.
15. Maria Magdalena "Aunt Lena" Benkelman was born on 31 Aug 1845 in Schneiderhof, Waldhausen Parish, Welzheim, Jagstkreis, W?rttemberg, Germany; died on 22 Jan 1926 in Cass City, Tuscola County, Michigan; was buried in Elkland Township Cemetery, Cass City, Tuscola County, Michigan.

Notes:

The family church registry records indicate he was a bailiff.

Georg married Anna Maria Leins on 4 Nov 1794 in B?rtlingen, G?ppingen, Donaukreis, W?rttemberg, Germany. Anna (daughter of Johann Georg Friedrich Leins and Eva Herb) was born on 7 Aug 1769 in B?rtlingen, G?ppingen, Donaukreis, W?rttemberg, Germany; died on 24 Dec 1846 in B?rtlingen, G?ppingen, Donaukreis, W?rttemberg, Germany. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Married:
May have instead been married in December. They had 15 children in all.

Christoph married Barbara Fritz about 1752 in Donaukreis, W?rttemberg, Germany. Barbara was born about 1732 in Donaukreis, W?rttemberg, Germany; died on 1 Mar 1788 in B?rtlingen, G?ppingen, Donaukreis, W?rttemberg, Germany. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Kathy Bonnell shows Frey, but a scan of the actual record appears to read "Fritz."

Notes:

He was a farmer. On birth and death records he is listed as Johann Friedrich and on the marriage record he is listed as Georg Friedrich. But no other Friedrich Liens is listed between 1784 and 1826, so it is assumed they are the same person.

Email from Dot Williams, dated May 23, 2005:

A belated Thank you for mailing me the German Family Church Records. Several years ago you forwarded some of these that you had received by e-mail (I think it was) from a man in Germany. I took my copies with me when I went to Salt Lake City that year, and asked for help reading them from a lady who worked in the International Department. The Old German was very difficult to read, but she did it as if she was reading the morning paper. I was amazed. Anyway, I compared what she had read for me, with this information from Kathy Bonnell, and found 3 places where we did not agree.

1) Adam Benkelman was born in 1825 not 1835.

2) (Generation 3) Christoph Stahle married Barbara Fritz not Frey. I just took another look at the original record, and it sure looks like Fritz to me.

3) (Generation 5-last page) Georg Friedrich Leins was born 25 January 174(5)?. There is a line in the copy that goes right over the last digit but it looks like a 5. But it certainly was not 11 Apr 1740 (as per Kathy Bonnell). The death date was correct. I'm not going to change my information, because I truly think it is more accurate than hers. But it is a good summary of the Benkelman collateral lines, and Thank You for sending it to me.

Dot

Johann married Eva Herb on 26 May 1767 in Donaukreis, W?rttemberg, Germany. Eva (daughter of Conrad Herb and Maria Catharine ???) was born about 6 Aug 1748 in Unterberken, Donaukreis, W?rttemberg, Germany; died on 13 Sep 1826 in B?rtlingen, G?ppingen, Donaukreis, W?rttemberg, Germany. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Might also be GERB?

Notes:

Married:
They had a total of 13 children.

Matth?us married Christina ???. Christina was born before 1712; and died. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Johannes married Anna Maria Schneider on 22 Oct 1732 in B?rtlingen, G?ppingen, Donaukreis, W?rttemberg, Germany. Anna was born on 1 Feb 1711 in B?rtlingen, G?ppingen, Donaukreis, W?rttemberg, Germany; and died. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Conrad married Maria Catharine ??? about 1743 in Donaukreis, W?rttemberg, Germany. Maria was born before 1720 in Donaukreis, W?rttemberg, Germany; and died. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Frey or Fritz.