Johanna was born Johanna Charlotte August 30, 1846 in the village of Versmold, County Ravensberg, Westphalia, Kingdom of Prussia. Her parents Franz Baumhofer and Margarete Agnese Paul-Hollmann were tenant farmers living on or near the old family farmstead Hesselteich 17. Johanna was employed on a neighboring farm as an all-around servant with such varied duties as digging potatoes, darning socks, tending to horses and cows, cutting silage by hand, pulling up acres of potatoes and carrots, and churning pounds of butter daily. Since Franz’s younger sister Anna Wilhelmina had been the lucky inheritor of the farmstead Franz was relegated to working for her. The custom in County Ravensberg regarding property is referred to as impartible inheritance. In other words a farmstead could not be divided between a dozen or more siblings upon the death of a parent. Such division would result in too small a farm for each of the survivors. Also in this area it was the unusual custom that the youngest, be it man or woman, usually received the farm and they were known as a colon (from the Latin to colonize). Now a colon did not technically own the land, they had only inherited the right to occupy it; it was leased from a count or lord to whom they owed part of their crops and labor.
The economy of County Ravensberg at this time was heavily dependent on subsistence agriculture and a cottage linen industry. Most every home had a spinning wheel and loom from which they produced linen from the flax they grew. With the arrival of mechanized production of linen and later cotton this cottage industry collapsed along with the meagre earnings it provided these tenant farmers. This poverty, along with fear of conscription into the Prussian army fighting for a cause they had little allegiance to, drove many young men to emigrate. Johanna’s brothers, William, Henry, and Fritz, had all headed for the lower Missouri River Valley in 1866. Why Missouri? Probably because of letters from earlier immigrants touting the opportunities and the ability to own your own land. This is a process historians refer to as chain migration. The earliest Westphalian immigrants began coming here around 1833, perhaps because of a widely circulated book by Gottfried Duden touting the wonderful countryside and opportunities. Duden had settled on a farm at Dutzow across the river from Washington. Though Duden returned to Germany, several million Germans “auswanderers” eventually came to America.
In March 1867 Franz Baumhofer died. This left Johanna, her sister Francisca Charlotte, and mother Agnese alone with few prospects except as farm servants. This prospect did not even provide a subsistence living. By August of 1867 these three women had sold all their personal belongings and bought tickets for passage from Bremerhafen to St. Louis via New Orleans, where they would be met by Johanna’s three brothers. The voyage on the sailing ship Astronom took nine weeks and four days. It is on the passenger list for the Astronom that Johanna first uses the name Catherine. Since it was common in Germany then to go by one’s middle name, or ruffnamen, perhaps she and her sister decided together they did not both want to be called Charlotte! Forever after Johanna uses the name Johanna Catherine.
These women did not arrive in a foreign land. They were met and welcomed by family and former friends. The language was still German, or Platt Deutsch “low German”. The institutions and churches were the same as they knew at home. What was new was the opportunity that America offered. Johanna began working in the Henry Eitzen store in Washington. It was here that she met Henry William Wilke of nearby Krakow, who traded his butter and eggs to the store. They were married March 30, 1869. William had inherited a 40 acre farm on Four Mile Road from his parents Fredrick William Wilke and Margaret Catherine (Stumpe) both of whom had immigrated in 1838. It is ironic, or maybe not, that Fredrick William and Margaret Catherine had both come from the parish of Dissen, hamlet of Westbarthausen which is only a couple of miles from Versmold.
Henry William and Johanna lived on this farm just a few years before moving into Washington. By about 1880 they purchased an 80 acre farm on Pottery Road from Johanna’s sister Charlotte and her husband Nicholas Gueltzau. They called this Springdale Farm and it stayed in the family for the next 80 years. Here they raised 4 children, Ida, Katie, Henry, and William. Ida and Katie married, Henry ventured to Ketchikan, Alaska where he came down with TB and returned to Washington to die in 1922, and William tried to find work in Oklahoma and Colorado. But the illness and subsequent death of his father Henry William in 1904 brought him home to help his mother Johanna manage Springdale Farm.
In 1909 son William married Ida Marie Elizabeth Rueter also of the Krakow area. The family story is that William attended a Mantels Church picnic where the single young men bid on box lunches prepared by the single young ladies. William bought Ida’s for 35 cents. She supposedly had hinted to him that hers was wrapped in a green ribbon. This couple settled on Springdale Farm along with Johanna. Around 1910 William rebuilt or built anew a brick farmhouse that still stands today. He also purchased this farm from his mother and siblings. Another generation of 3 boys, Stanley, Harold, and Harvey, were raised here.
Living close to nature one often associates the lives of animals and trees with our own. Upon the downing of an old walnut tree by the house in 1904 William’s father commented “I shall now be the next”. His premonition was correct. William also associated an old elm tree near the house with the life of his mother Johanna. For over 30 years he watched this tree struggle with life—lightning, windstorm, and early frost. The last limb on this elm to have shown any life failed to bud in the spring of 1937. Johanna died April 20, 1937.
The author, Doug Wilke, is well aware that the death certificates for Johanna's brothers Henry and William list a maiden name for their mother as a Horstmann. This is actually the name of the wife of brother Fritz (name from first marriage). I cannot explain the discrepancy other than confusion or dementia?? I have too much evidence for the Paul-Hollmann name. See letter in Photos.
The economy of County Ravensberg at this time was heavily dependent on subsistence agriculture and a cottage linen industry. Most every home had a spinning wheel and loom from which they produced linen from the flax they grew. With the arrival of mechanized production of linen and later cotton this cottage industry collapsed along with the meagre earnings it provided these tenant farmers. This poverty, along with fear of conscription into the Prussian army fighting for a cause they had little allegiance to, drove many young men to emigrate. Johanna’s brothers, William, Henry, and Fritz, had all headed for the lower Missouri River Valley in 1866. Why Missouri? Probably because of letters from earlier immigrants touting the opportunities and the ability to own your own land. This is a process historians refer to as chain migration. The earliest Westphalian immigrants began coming here around 1833, perhaps because of a widely circulated book by Gottfried Duden touting the wonderful countryside and opportunities. Duden had settled on a farm at Dutzow across the river from Washington. Though Duden returned to Germany, several million Germans “auswanderers” eventually came to America.
In March 1867 Franz Baumhofer died. This left Johanna, her sister Francisca Charlotte, and mother Agnese alone with few prospects except as farm servants. This prospect did not even provide a subsistence living. By August of 1867 these three women had sold all their personal belongings and bought tickets for passage from Bremerhafen to St. Louis via New Orleans, where they would be met by Johanna’s three brothers. The voyage on the sailing ship Astronom took nine weeks and four days. It is on the passenger list for the Astronom that Johanna first uses the name Catherine. Since it was common in Germany then to go by one’s middle name, or ruffnamen, perhaps she and her sister decided together they did not both want to be called Charlotte! Forever after Johanna uses the name Johanna Catherine.
These women did not arrive in a foreign land. They were met and welcomed by family and former friends. The language was still German, or Platt Deutsch “low German”. The institutions and churches were the same as they knew at home. What was new was the opportunity that America offered. Johanna began working in the Henry Eitzen store in Washington. It was here that she met Henry William Wilke of nearby Krakow, who traded his butter and eggs to the store. They were married March 30, 1869. William had inherited a 40 acre farm on Four Mile Road from his parents Fredrick William Wilke and Margaret Catherine (Stumpe) both of whom had immigrated in 1838. It is ironic, or maybe not, that Fredrick William and Margaret Catherine had both come from the parish of Dissen, hamlet of Westbarthausen which is only a couple of miles from Versmold.
Henry William and Johanna lived on this farm just a few years before moving into Washington. By about 1880 they purchased an 80 acre farm on Pottery Road from Johanna’s sister Charlotte and her husband Nicholas Gueltzau. They called this Springdale Farm and it stayed in the family for the next 80 years. Here they raised 4 children, Ida, Katie, Henry, and William. Ida and Katie married, Henry ventured to Ketchikan, Alaska where he came down with TB and returned to Washington to die in 1922, and William tried to find work in Oklahoma and Colorado. But the illness and subsequent death of his father Henry William in 1904 brought him home to help his mother Johanna manage Springdale Farm.
In 1909 son William married Ida Marie Elizabeth Rueter also of the Krakow area. The family story is that William attended a Mantels Church picnic where the single young men bid on box lunches prepared by the single young ladies. William bought Ida’s for 35 cents. She supposedly had hinted to him that hers was wrapped in a green ribbon. This couple settled on Springdale Farm along with Johanna. Around 1910 William rebuilt or built anew a brick farmhouse that still stands today. He also purchased this farm from his mother and siblings. Another generation of 3 boys, Stanley, Harold, and Harvey, were raised here.
Living close to nature one often associates the lives of animals and trees with our own. Upon the downing of an old walnut tree by the house in 1904 William’s father commented “I shall now be the next”. His premonition was correct. William also associated an old elm tree near the house with the life of his mother Johanna. For over 30 years he watched this tree struggle with life—lightning, windstorm, and early frost. The last limb on this elm to have shown any life failed to bud in the spring of 1937. Johanna died April 20, 1937.
The author, Doug Wilke, is well aware that the death certificates for Johanna's brothers Henry and William list a maiden name for their mother as a Horstmann. This is actually the name of the wife of brother Fritz (name from first marriage). I cannot explain the discrepancy other than confusion or dementia?? I have too much evidence for the Paul-Hollmann name. See letter in Photos.
Johanna was born Johanna Charlotte August 30, 1846 in the village of Versmold, County Ravensberg, Westphalia, Kingdom of Prussia. Her parents Franz Baumhofer and Margarete Agnese Paul-Hollmann were tenant farmers living on or near the old family farmstead Hesselteich 17. Johanna was employed on a neighboring farm as an all-around servant with such varied duties as digging potatoes, darning socks, tending to horses and cows, cutting silage by hand, pulling up acres of potatoes and carrots, and churning pounds of butter daily. Since Franz’s younger sister Anna Wilhelmina had been the lucky inheritor of the farmstead Franz was relegated to working for her. The custom in County Ravensberg regarding property is referred to as impartible inheritance. In other words a farmstead could not be divided between a dozen or more siblings upon the death of a parent. Such division would result in too small a farm for each of the survivors. Also in this area it was the unusual custom that the youngest, be it man or woman, usually received the farm and they were known as a colon (from the Latin to colonize). Now a colon did not technically own the land, they had only inherited the right to occupy it; it was leased from a count or lord to whom they owed part of their crops and labor.
The economy of County Ravensberg at this time was heavily dependent on subsistence agriculture and a cottage linen industry. Most every home had a spinning wheel and loom from which they produced linen from the flax they grew. With the arrival of mechanized production of linen and later cotton this cottage industry collapsed along with the meagre earnings it provided these tenant farmers. This poverty, along with fear of conscription into the Prussian army fighting for a cause they had little allegiance to, drove many young men to emigrate. Johanna’s brothers, William, Henry, and Fritz, had all headed for the lower Missouri River Valley in 1866. Why Missouri? Probably because of letters from earlier immigrants touting the opportunities and the ability to own your own land. This is a process historians refer to as chain migration. The earliest Westphalian immigrants began coming here around 1833, perhaps because of a widely circulated book by Gottfried Duden touting the wonderful countryside and opportunities. Duden had settled on a farm at Dutzow across the river from Washington. Though Duden returned to Germany, several million Germans “auswanderers” eventually came to America.
In March 1867 Franz Baumhofer died. This left Johanna, her sister Francisca Charlotte, and mother Agnese alone with few prospects except as farm servants. This prospect did not even provide a subsistence living. By August of 1867 these three women had sold all their personal belongings and bought tickets for passage from Bremerhafen to St. Louis via New Orleans, where they would be met by Johanna’s three brothers. The voyage on the sailing ship Astronom took nine weeks and four days. It is on the passenger list for the Astronom that Johanna first uses the name Catherine. Since it was common in Germany then to go by one’s middle name, or ruffnamen, perhaps she and her sister decided together they did not both want to be called Charlotte! Forever after Johanna uses the name Johanna Catherine.
These women did not arrive in a foreign land. They were met and welcomed by family and former friends. The language was still German, or Platt Deutsch “low German”. The institutions and churches were the same as they knew at home. What was new was the opportunity that America offered. Johanna began working in the Henry Eitzen store in Washington. It was here that she met Henry William Wilke of nearby Krakow, who traded his butter and eggs to the store. They were married March 30, 1869. William had inherited a 40 acre farm on Four Mile Road from his parents Fredrick William Wilke and Margaret Catherine (Stumpe) both of whom had immigrated in 1838. It is ironic, or maybe not, that Fredrick William and Margaret Catherine had both come from the parish of Dissen, hamlet of Westbarthausen which is only a couple of miles from Versmold.
Henry William and Johanna lived on this farm just a few years before moving into Washington. By about 1880 they purchased an 80 acre farm on Pottery Road from Johanna’s sister Charlotte and her husband Nicholas Gueltzau. They called this Springdale Farm and it stayed in the family for the next 80 years. Here they raised 4 children, Ida, Katie, Henry, and William. Ida and Katie married, Henry ventured to Ketchikan, Alaska where he came down with TB and returned to Washington to die in 1922, and William tried to find work in Oklahoma and Colorado. But the illness and subsequent death of his father Henry William in 1904 brought him home to help his mother Johanna manage Springdale Farm.
In 1909 son William married Ida Marie Elizabeth Rueter also of the Krakow area. The family story is that William attended a Mantels Church picnic where the single young men bid on box lunches prepared by the single young ladies. William bought Ida’s for 35 cents. She supposedly had hinted to him that hers was wrapped in a green ribbon. This couple settled on Springdale Farm along with Johanna. Around 1910 William rebuilt or built anew a brick farmhouse that still stands today. He also purchased this farm from his mother and siblings. Another generation of 3 boys, Stanley, Harold, and Harvey, were raised here.
Living close to nature one often associates the lives of animals and trees with our own. Upon the downing of an old walnut tree by the house in 1904 William’s father commented “I shall now be the next”. His premonition was correct. William also associated an old elm tree near the house with the life of his mother Johanna. For over 30 years he watched this tree struggle with life—lightning, windstorm, and early frost. The last limb on this elm to have shown any life failed to bud in the spring of 1937. Johanna died April 20, 1937.
The author, Doug Wilke, is well aware that the death certificates for Johanna's brothers Henry and William list a maiden name for their mother as a Horstmann. This is actually the name of the wife of brother Fritz (name from first marriage). I cannot explain the discrepancy other than confusion or dementia?? I have too much evidence for the Paul-Hollmann name. See letter in Photos.
The economy of County Ravensberg at this time was heavily dependent on subsistence agriculture and a cottage linen industry. Most every home had a spinning wheel and loom from which they produced linen from the flax they grew. With the arrival of mechanized production of linen and later cotton this cottage industry collapsed along with the meagre earnings it provided these tenant farmers. This poverty, along with fear of conscription into the Prussian army fighting for a cause they had little allegiance to, drove many young men to emigrate. Johanna’s brothers, William, Henry, and Fritz, had all headed for the lower Missouri River Valley in 1866. Why Missouri? Probably because of letters from earlier immigrants touting the opportunities and the ability to own your own land. This is a process historians refer to as chain migration. The earliest Westphalian immigrants began coming here around 1833, perhaps because of a widely circulated book by Gottfried Duden touting the wonderful countryside and opportunities. Duden had settled on a farm at Dutzow across the river from Washington. Though Duden returned to Germany, several million Germans “auswanderers” eventually came to America.
In March 1867 Franz Baumhofer died. This left Johanna, her sister Francisca Charlotte, and mother Agnese alone with few prospects except as farm servants. This prospect did not even provide a subsistence living. By August of 1867 these three women had sold all their personal belongings and bought tickets for passage from Bremerhafen to St. Louis via New Orleans, where they would be met by Johanna’s three brothers. The voyage on the sailing ship Astronom took nine weeks and four days. It is on the passenger list for the Astronom that Johanna first uses the name Catherine. Since it was common in Germany then to go by one’s middle name, or ruffnamen, perhaps she and her sister decided together they did not both want to be called Charlotte! Forever after Johanna uses the name Johanna Catherine.
These women did not arrive in a foreign land. They were met and welcomed by family and former friends. The language was still German, or Platt Deutsch “low German”. The institutions and churches were the same as they knew at home. What was new was the opportunity that America offered. Johanna began working in the Henry Eitzen store in Washington. It was here that she met Henry William Wilke of nearby Krakow, who traded his butter and eggs to the store. They were married March 30, 1869. William had inherited a 40 acre farm on Four Mile Road from his parents Fredrick William Wilke and Margaret Catherine (Stumpe) both of whom had immigrated in 1838. It is ironic, or maybe not, that Fredrick William and Margaret Catherine had both come from the parish of Dissen, hamlet of Westbarthausen which is only a couple of miles from Versmold.
Henry William and Johanna lived on this farm just a few years before moving into Washington. By about 1880 they purchased an 80 acre farm on Pottery Road from Johanna’s sister Charlotte and her husband Nicholas Gueltzau. They called this Springdale Farm and it stayed in the family for the next 80 years. Here they raised 4 children, Ida, Katie, Henry, and William. Ida and Katie married, Henry ventured to Ketchikan, Alaska where he came down with TB and returned to Washington to die in 1922, and William tried to find work in Oklahoma and Colorado. But the illness and subsequent death of his father Henry William in 1904 brought him home to help his mother Johanna manage Springdale Farm.
In 1909 son William married Ida Marie Elizabeth Rueter also of the Krakow area. The family story is that William attended a Mantels Church picnic where the single young men bid on box lunches prepared by the single young ladies. William bought Ida’s for 35 cents. She supposedly had hinted to him that hers was wrapped in a green ribbon. This couple settled on Springdale Farm along with Johanna. Around 1910 William rebuilt or built anew a brick farmhouse that still stands today. He also purchased this farm from his mother and siblings. Another generation of 3 boys, Stanley, Harold, and Harvey, were raised here.
Living close to nature one often associates the lives of animals and trees with our own. Upon the downing of an old walnut tree by the house in 1904 William’s father commented “I shall now be the next”. His premonition was correct. William also associated an old elm tree near the house with the life of his mother Johanna. For over 30 years he watched this tree struggle with life—lightning, windstorm, and early frost. The last limb on this elm to have shown any life failed to bud in the spring of 1937. Johanna died April 20, 1937.
The author, Doug Wilke, is well aware that the death certificates for Johanna's brothers Henry and William list a maiden name for their mother as a Horstmann. This is actually the name of the wife of brother Fritz (name from first marriage). I cannot explain the discrepancy other than confusion or dementia?? I have too much evidence for the Paul-Hollmann name. See letter in Photos.
Inscription
H. Wilhelm Wilke
Geb.
5 Mai 1840
Gest.
30 Apr 1904
Johannah Wilke
Geboren Baumhoefer
Geb.
30 Aug 1846
Gest.
20 Apr 1937
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