GG grandfather: Ernest Cohrs Sr.

Ernest Cohrs family trace back to the Black Forest region of southwestern Germany. About 1339, they relocated to the northern province of Hannover.

Ernst's father worked as a mail and passenger coach driver. It's reported that the sound of his bugle could be heard as he approached the villages. All along the routes the sound of the bugle enchanted folks. Eventually he married and settled into being a 'peat' farmer. Of his eight children, only three lived to adulthood; Ernst (b. 1821), Henry and August.

Ernst (our line) was born 21 January 1821, in the Hannover, Germany area, and on his father's death, he being the oldest, had the right to inherit the family farm.

He married his first wife, Caroline Wolfers circa 1844, had six children (four living into adulthood, with the boys named for Ernst's uncles)by her, when she died in 1858. She is buried in Germany. His second wife was Fredericke Schultze, and they had eight children, with only two living to adulthood; Charlie and Albert.

In 1868, Ernst's son, Henry, left the farm and immigrated to Oshawha, Minnesota.

In 1870, Ernest Cohrs uprooted his family from Neudorf-Platendorf, Giforner Landkreis, Lower Saxony (Niedersachson), Germany. they sold their lovely farm, shut the door on their brick home and said goodbye to family and friends...said final tearful goodbyes at the graves they knew they would never see again. They intended to join Henry at Oshawha.

In 1872, Ernst Cohrs Jr. and his family also immigrated to Oshawha.

The lives they had led in Germany would be similar to the lives they would lead in America. The difference was, America was a land of freedom and opportunity. For parents wanting more for their children, it meant being willing to uproot, sell out, start over in a strange new place they had only heard of.

Early immigrants spent weeks on board overcrowded ships and less then ideal conditions. The Cohrs were several weeks crossing what immigrants fondly referred to as 'the pond'.

The Ernst Cohrs Sr. family stepped onto American soil, 20 June 1870.

Stepping off the ship, "Republic", was their first step toward American citizenship.... touching American soil. They had been informed of the requirements and it would be at least one year, possibly longer, before they could start the process. It turned out to be much longer then Ernst may have intended and unfortunate circumstances may have disrupted

In 1871, his middle daughter, Caroline S.E. Cohrs, met a young man working in St. Peter. Against all objections from Ernest, she married him in 1871. It's said he had 10 years and three little adoring grandchildren, who made him forget his distaste for Ernie Fricke

His oldest son, Ernst Jr., arrived from Germany in 1872.

Five or perhaps six of Ernst Sr.'s children, by two marriages, died of diphtheria in about 1872. By the 1st marriage: Maria (pronounced in German as Mary). By the second marriage: August, Wilhelmine "Minnie", Louise, Alwine (pronounced by Germans as Alvina)...All said to be buried in the old cemetery at St. Peter.

Ernst Cohrs and his oldest son took the next step toward Citizenship on 31 Oct 1874, by filing a Declaration of Intention in Nicollet County District Court, Ninth District. The requirements were strict. More paperwork would follow. In the years that passed, it isn't clear if he ever finished the process. But a separate item shows there was another document filed in Nicollet County. Reel 2, Code 3, Vol. C, page 12.

(Note: In the family history collection of Ernst Rogers)
(Note: In the family history written by Ernst Rogers, it states Maria (pronounced Mary) died in 1881. On Find A Grave, they have her death listed as 1874)

Also in 1881, Ernst died of food poisoning, age 60. His burial was the first at Pleasant View cemetery.

Ernst's second wife, Fredericke, also filed her Declaration of Intent and applied for naturalization. After Ernst's death, she moved back to St. Peter, MN, married a book binder two years later. She took her two sons with her. Her boys apprenticed there.

Eventually her, her sons and their families returned to farm on land owned by Fredericke.

Below, are the names of children and grandchildren of Ernst Cohrs. One would be in a Who's Who book and shake hands with a president.

Ernst Cohrs b. 1821; d. 1881, m. Caroline Wolfers
Children:
E.H.C. Cohrs b. 1845; d. 1929, m. Caroline Schultze
Caroline Cohrs b. 1850, twin, d. at birth
Henry Cohrs b. 1850, twin, d. 1935, m. Caroline Leifer
Marie Cohrs b. 1852, died either 1874 or 1881
Caroline S.E. Cohrs, b. 1855, d. 1932
Dorothee C.M. Cohrs, b. 1857, d. 1922

Ernst Cohrs m.2) Fredericke Schultze
August Cohrs, b. 1860; d. 1872 diphtheria
Emma Cohrs, b. 1864; d. 1872 "
Charles Cohrs, b. 1866; d. 1927
Louise Cohrs, b. 1869; d. 1872 diptheria
Olivia Cohrs, b. 1871; d. 1872 "
Wilhelmine "Minnie" Cohrs, b. 1873; d. 1874
Albert E.F. Cohrs; b. 1876, d. 1960

Grandchildren:
(children of Ernst H.C. and Caroline Schultze)
Caroline (m. Max Herrlinger)
Ernst (m. Emma Kaping)
Henry (m. Christina Comnick)
Anna (m. Simon Taard)
Fred (m. Elizabeth Deutschman)
Edward (m. Anne Prigge)
Mary (m. Ben Asmussen)
August (m. Mabel Mattison)
Adolf (m. Mabel Johnson)
Elsie (m. James Nyberg)

(children of Henry Cohrs and Caroline Leifer)
Amelia (m. W.M. Nicols)
Henry (m. Clara Poshack)
Albert (m. Marie Olson)
Emma (m. George Holman)
Alvina (m. Ernst Russell)
Lydia (m. Christ Jensen)
Charles (m. Hannah Cin)

(children of Caroline Cohrs & Ernst E.F. Fricke)
Caroline (m. Lewis Kaping)
William (m. Emelia Rupp)
Ella (m. Henry Jahns)
Ernst (m. Ida Jahns)
Charles (m. Mary Comnick)
Louis (m. Ida Hoffman)
Alvina (m. William Faire)
Henry (m. Alice Beaudreau)

(children of Dora Cohrs and Charles Rogers)
Alfred (m. Bernice Davis)
Ernst (m. Caroline Hawley)
Karl (m. Muriel Odell)
Dorothee (m. Homer Lloyd)
Harold (m. Pearl ___)

(children of Charles "Carl" Cohrs & Alvina Bornemann)
Meta (m. John Nelson)
Albert (m. Christina Snyder)
Dorothy (m. Volk Bierman)
Karl (m. Gerhardine "Dena" DeFries)
Mabel (m. Clarence Knudson)
Benard (m. Agnes Engen)

(children of Albert Cohrs & Caroline Peterson)
Jessie (m. George Lehner)
Myrtle (m. C.B. Farr & Asa Shaw)
Gladys, d. age 1
Ruth (m. Earl Perkins & Harry King)
Mildred (m. Maurice Hagen)

(children of Albert Cohrs & Sadie Halvorson)
Alan Cohrs (m. Elvira Sandin)
Shirley Cohrs (m. Richard Kiklas)

###########################################################

Great grandchildren not listed out of respect to the privacy of the living