BEWARE OF MISINFORMATION ABOUT THE AUGUST KRAUSE FAMILY!
Many online family trees contain spurious information about August Krause's birthplace, his parentage, spouse, and siblings. This misinformation might come from Ancestry.com "hints" that people mistakenly deem to be facts. The misinterpretations are easily spread when people copy information from other family trees without reviewing what sources provide documentary evidence.
- - Do not be confused by family trees that say August Krause was the son of an elder August Friedrich Krause and Charlotte Stark. Those parents were not connected to this particular August Krause.
- - Do not be confused by family trees that say August Krause was born in Pommern, Cochem-Zell district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. That is hundreds of miles away, in a different province.
- - Do not be confused by family trees that say that August Krause was married to "Wilhelmina Schultz." His obituary and death certificate both give his wife's maiden name as Miller (German spelling: Müller or Mueller).
- - August Krause was born in Karsbaum, near in Pommern, Germany, according to his church burial record and his obituary. So, he was born in what Americans call Pomerania, Germany, but that birthplace is now renamed and is now a part of Poland. After Germany's defeat in World War II, the German–Polish border was shifted west to the Oder–Neisse line. As a result, this locality is now known as Karsibór, a village in the administrative district of Gmina Brzeżno, in Świdwin County, West Pomeranian Voivodeship, in North-Western Poland.
AUGUST KRAUSE BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH BY JOHN C. ENGEL- Updated Alril 23, 2024
Copyright 2024 by John C. Engel. Not to be reprinted or reposted without written permission by the author.
On July 11, 1856 the New York Times reported that the sailing ship "Republik" had arrived the day previously from Bremen, Germany. The ship carried merchandise and 296 passengers on its 29-day voyage. Among them was a young immigrant family, August Krause, 40, his wife Minnie, 31, and their two children Bertha, 9, and Amelia, 3 mos.
Bertha was our Martha Poh's and Mick Wedewart's Grandma Bernhardt.
The ship passenger list in the National Archives shows that August was a farmer and the Krause's came from the tiny village of Klützkow in Pomerania. This is now Kluczkowo, Poland, about an hour's drive from the Baltic Sea.
Years when Bertha was in her eighties, she was interviewed by a newspaper editor. The June 29, 1934, Algoma Record-Herald reported:
"After the death of a couple of their children in their home in Germany, August Krause and his good wife decided to leave the Fatherland for America, so ... they came to Wisconsin in the summer of 1856, landing at Manitowoc. It was during raspberry time and the mother and daughter picked berries and earned their keep while the father took the beach for Wolf River [an old name for Ahnapee, now known as Algoma] where he had been informed that good land for farming could be easily procured and a living assured by a sale of the forest products taken off while clearing. Krause picked his homestead and put up a shanty and returned to Manitowoc to accompany his wife and daughter to their new home."
On April 4, 1859, August Krause filed his "first papers" at the courthouse in Kewaunee, Wisconsin. By doing so he renounced his allegiance to Friedrich Wilhelm IV, King of Prussia, and declared his intent to become a citizen of the United States. But, like many, he never filed final naturalization papers. Having his first papers entitled him to vote in Wisconsin (not federal) elections. And, as we shall see, he was still able to buy land from the state at a discounted price.
The August and Minnie Krause family was Lutheran, but there was no Lutheran church in the area they settled. On December 10, 1862, August Krause was one of eighteen men to sign the constitution forming the Erste Deutsche Evangelische Lutherische St. Pauls Gemeinde (First German Evangelical Lutheran St. Paul's Congregation) in Ahnapee. Each man contributed $0.91, and along with the $2.83 offering from the first service on 7 December, the newly formed church treasury was started with $18.30. The church was organized within the Wisconsin Synod. Men sat on one side of the church and women sat on the other. August, Wilhelmina, and their children are noted in the church registers as regular communicants.
The land that August settled on in Ahnapee (near Hwy. S, not far from where Ann Keller lived) was swamp land owned by the State of Wisconsin. He could drain it and have good fertile soil to farm on. And he could get the swamp land cheap by filing a pre-emption claim to prove he was an actual settler on the land rather than a speculator. Here is his claim:
Oct 16, 1856. [Pre-Emption Claim] I, August Krause of Kewaunee County, State of Wisconsin, in pursuance of an act relating to Swamp Land Act of the A. D. 1855 do hereby claim the right of Pre-Emption to the following swamp land described as the West 1/2 of the S West quarter section (23) township (25) range (25) containing (80) acres land in Kewaunee County before said which I commenced to improve on the 12 day of October 1856 and have made improvements thereon of the value of Twenty Dollars. And I do hereby declare and certify that it is my bona fide intention to purchase said lands under my pre-emption right as soon as the same be brought into market according to law.
Dated at the Town of Wolf, Kewaunee County this (16) day of October A. D. 1856
(signed) August Krause
[I hope you caught that value of that shanty they would have huddled in during their first winters in Wisconsin: $20!]
The Krauses had two sons born in Wisconsin - Charles and Julius. They helped August over a period of decades clear this and other parcels for farming. By 1880 August had 50 acres under the till and 50 acres of woodland, worth $2,000. The farm had $120 in implements and $225 in livestock, including 2 horses, 3 milk cows, 2 oxen, 4 other cattle, 3 swine and 20 poultry.
In 1870 the agricultural schedule of the 1870 federal census shows that August's farm was worth $1,000 including:
-30 acres of improved land,
-20 acres of unimproved, and
-50 acres of woodland.
In 1870 August had 2 milk cows, 2 work oxen, 3 other cattle, and 2 sheep. The total value of all farm products in the prior year was $481. The farm produced: $100 in forest products, $30 animals slaughtered, 20 bu. rye, 50 bu. oats, 8 lbs. wool, 8 bu. peas/beans, 111 bu. spring wheat, 32 bu. winter wheat, 50 bu. potatoes, 180 lbs. butter, and 3 tons of hay.
The 1876 land ownership map of Kewaunee County depicts A. Krause as the owner of the forty acre parcel that August obtained by the Swamp Land Grant, as well as of a 20 acre parcel in the N 1/2 of the SE 1/4 of the SW 1/4 of Sec. 14, also in Ahnapee.
In the one-year span from 1879-80 the farm produced 300 lbs. of butter, 200 dozen eggs, 10 acres of grassland were mown for five tons of hay, The value of all production for the year was $750. No grain or forest products were listed for the farm that year. $75 was spent on hired help during a 13-week period. $150 was spent on building and repairs. During the year one cattle was bought, one sold, one slaughtered, and one died, stolen, or strayed. One calf was dropped.
August died in 1900 at the age of 84. The death certificate lists the cause as old age. The newspaper reported earlier in the year that he was seriously ill with a stroke of palsy. When Minnie died two years later, at 78, the cause was listed as apoplexy of the heart.
August Krause's first land documents - from the State of Wisconsin's Board of Commissioners of Public Lands.
Copyright 2024 by John C. Engel. Not to be reprinted or reposted without written permission by the author.
In October 1856, three months after arriving from Germany with his wife and daughter, great great great-grandfather August Krause filed a preemption claim at the Kewaunee County courthouse. This was prior to the well-known homestead act, but it enabled August to buy government land at a reduced price by actually settling on it. I found this record about 45 years ago:
"I, August Krause of Kewaunee County, State of Wisconsin, in pursuance of an act relating to Swamp Land Act of the A. D. 1855 do hereby claim the right of Pre-Emption to the following swamp land described as the West 1/2 of the S West quarter section (23) township (25) range (25) containing (80) acres land in Kewaunee County before said which I commenced to improve on the 12 day of October 1856 and have made improvements thereon of the value of Twenty Dollars. And I do hereby declare and certify that it is my bona fide intention to purchase said lands under my pre-emption right as soon as the same be brought into market according to law."
Dated at the Town of Wolf, Kewaunee County this (16) day of October A. D. 1856
(signed) August Krause
But that was just August putting in his dibs in on the land, and certifying that he had improved the land by making improvements worth $20. Nine months later, the state issued the first document below, certifying that August would get the land, having paid $5 down, if he paid the remaining $45 in the coming ten years, the taxes, and 7% interest per year.
It took August Krause 18 months to pay off the remaining $45. He provided proof that all taxes due were paid. The Board of Commissioners immediately issued the second document - a Land Patent. A land patent is essentially a deed from the government when land is first turn it over to private hands.
I love the beautiful land patent document, with its many different typefaces, even though August Krause's surname is misspelled in it three times!
The essential details of the sale, other than the preemption rights, are spelled out the first document but are rather difficult to read. I accurately spell out the complete text here, but added line breaks and bullet points to make it easier to read.
State of Wisconsin,
COMMISSIONERS' CERTIFICATE.
Madison, July 10th1857
At a sale of LANDS GRANTED BY CONGRESS, by the Act of Congress of 28th September, 1850, in said County, in accordance with the provisions of an Act entitled an Act to provide for the disposal and sale of Swamp and Overflowed Lands, approved October 11th, 1856, and an Act amendatory thereto, approved March 5th, 1857
August Krouse [sic] purchased the NW ¼ of the NW quarter of Section No. 23 in Township No. 25 north Range 25, containing 40 acres, and ----------- hundredths,
• amounting to the sum of 50 dollars and ----------- cents;
• of which amount the said August Krouse paid at the time of purchase,
• the sum of 5 Dollars and ---------- Cents, on account of the purchase money,
• and 1 Dollars and 50 Cents, being the interest on the amount unpaid to the 1st day of January next, at the rate of 7% per annum.
Now, if the said purchaser his heirs, assigns or other legal representatives, shall pay to the State Treasurer, at his Office,
• the further sum of 45 Dollars being the amount unpaid of the purchase money, in one or more instalments, at any time within ten years from the date hereof;
• and also the interest annually, in advance, on the 1st day of January in each and every year, at the rate of seven per cent. per annum, on said unpaid amount,
• and shall also pay to the proper officer all taxes which may be levied upon said lot, as the same shall become due;
then, and in that event only, will the said purchaser his heirs, assigns, or other legal representatives be entitled to a Patent for the land herein described;
but
• in case of the non-payment into the State Treasury of the purchase money aforesaid, as it shall become due, or the interest thereon, by the first day of January, or within the time prescribed by law, in each and every year,
• and in case of the non-payment of any taxes as aforesaid, by the said purchaser, or any person claiming under him
• then this CERTIFICATE, FROM THE TIME OF SUCH FAILURE, SHALL BE UTTERLY VOID AND OF NO EFFECT, and the Commissioners may take possession of said land and re-sell the same.
In Witness Whereof, The undersigned, Commissioners of the School and University Lands, have hereunto set their hands at the time and place above written.
COUNTERSIGNED: SIGNED:
D. W. Jones Charles Kuehn
Secretary of State. State Treasurer.
Wm R Smith
Attorney General.
IN PRESENCE OF
F. M. Brul
W__ Jones
STATE OF WISCONSIN ) SS.
DANE COUNTY ) BE IT REMEMBERED, That, at the date of the foregoing certificate, before me, the subscriber, a Notary Public, personally came the above named Commissioners of School and University Lands, and acknowledged that they voluntarily executed the same as Commissioners aforesaid, for the uses and purposes therein mentioned.
W__ Jones Notary Public
BEWARE OF MISINFORMATION ABOUT THE AUGUST KRAUSE FAMILY!
Many online family trees contain spurious information about August Krause's birthplace, his parentage, spouse, and siblings. This misinformation might come from Ancestry.com "hints" that people mistakenly deem to be facts. The misinterpretations are easily spread when people copy information from other family trees without reviewing what sources provide documentary evidence.
- - Do not be confused by family trees that say August Krause was the son of an elder August Friedrich Krause and Charlotte Stark. Those parents were not connected to this particular August Krause.
- - Do not be confused by family trees that say August Krause was born in Pommern, Cochem-Zell district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. That is hundreds of miles away, in a different province.
- - Do not be confused by family trees that say that August Krause was married to "Wilhelmina Schultz." His obituary and death certificate both give his wife's maiden name as Miller (German spelling: Müller or Mueller).
- - August Krause was born in Karsbaum, near in Pommern, Germany, according to his church burial record and his obituary. So, he was born in what Americans call Pomerania, Germany, but that birthplace is now renamed and is now a part of Poland. After Germany's defeat in World War II, the German–Polish border was shifted west to the Oder–Neisse line. As a result, this locality is now known as Karsibór, a village in the administrative district of Gmina Brzeżno, in Świdwin County, West Pomeranian Voivodeship, in North-Western Poland.
AUGUST KRAUSE BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH BY JOHN C. ENGEL- Updated Alril 23, 2024
Copyright 2024 by John C. Engel. Not to be reprinted or reposted without written permission by the author.
On July 11, 1856 the New York Times reported that the sailing ship "Republik" had arrived the day previously from Bremen, Germany. The ship carried merchandise and 296 passengers on its 29-day voyage. Among them was a young immigrant family, August Krause, 40, his wife Minnie, 31, and their two children Bertha, 9, and Amelia, 3 mos.
Bertha was our Martha Poh's and Mick Wedewart's Grandma Bernhardt.
The ship passenger list in the National Archives shows that August was a farmer and the Krause's came from the tiny village of Klützkow in Pomerania. This is now Kluczkowo, Poland, about an hour's drive from the Baltic Sea.
Years when Bertha was in her eighties, she was interviewed by a newspaper editor. The June 29, 1934, Algoma Record-Herald reported:
"After the death of a couple of their children in their home in Germany, August Krause and his good wife decided to leave the Fatherland for America, so ... they came to Wisconsin in the summer of 1856, landing at Manitowoc. It was during raspberry time and the mother and daughter picked berries and earned their keep while the father took the beach for Wolf River [an old name for Ahnapee, now known as Algoma] where he had been informed that good land for farming could be easily procured and a living assured by a sale of the forest products taken off while clearing. Krause picked his homestead and put up a shanty and returned to Manitowoc to accompany his wife and daughter to their new home."
On April 4, 1859, August Krause filed his "first papers" at the courthouse in Kewaunee, Wisconsin. By doing so he renounced his allegiance to Friedrich Wilhelm IV, King of Prussia, and declared his intent to become a citizen of the United States. But, like many, he never filed final naturalization papers. Having his first papers entitled him to vote in Wisconsin (not federal) elections. And, as we shall see, he was still able to buy land from the state at a discounted price.
The August and Minnie Krause family was Lutheran, but there was no Lutheran church in the area they settled. On December 10, 1862, August Krause was one of eighteen men to sign the constitution forming the Erste Deutsche Evangelische Lutherische St. Pauls Gemeinde (First German Evangelical Lutheran St. Paul's Congregation) in Ahnapee. Each man contributed $0.91, and along with the $2.83 offering from the first service on 7 December, the newly formed church treasury was started with $18.30. The church was organized within the Wisconsin Synod. Men sat on one side of the church and women sat on the other. August, Wilhelmina, and their children are noted in the church registers as regular communicants.
The land that August settled on in Ahnapee (near Hwy. S, not far from where Ann Keller lived) was swamp land owned by the State of Wisconsin. He could drain it and have good fertile soil to farm on. And he could get the swamp land cheap by filing a pre-emption claim to prove he was an actual settler on the land rather than a speculator. Here is his claim:
Oct 16, 1856. [Pre-Emption Claim] I, August Krause of Kewaunee County, State of Wisconsin, in pursuance of an act relating to Swamp Land Act of the A. D. 1855 do hereby claim the right of Pre-Emption to the following swamp land described as the West 1/2 of the S West quarter section (23) township (25) range (25) containing (80) acres land in Kewaunee County before said which I commenced to improve on the 12 day of October 1856 and have made improvements thereon of the value of Twenty Dollars. And I do hereby declare and certify that it is my bona fide intention to purchase said lands under my pre-emption right as soon as the same be brought into market according to law.
Dated at the Town of Wolf, Kewaunee County this (16) day of October A. D. 1856
(signed) August Krause
[I hope you caught that value of that shanty they would have huddled in during their first winters in Wisconsin: $20!]
The Krauses had two sons born in Wisconsin - Charles and Julius. They helped August over a period of decades clear this and other parcels for farming. By 1880 August had 50 acres under the till and 50 acres of woodland, worth $2,000. The farm had $120 in implements and $225 in livestock, including 2 horses, 3 milk cows, 2 oxen, 4 other cattle, 3 swine and 20 poultry.
In 1870 the agricultural schedule of the 1870 federal census shows that August's farm was worth $1,000 including:
-30 acres of improved land,
-20 acres of unimproved, and
-50 acres of woodland.
In 1870 August had 2 milk cows, 2 work oxen, 3 other cattle, and 2 sheep. The total value of all farm products in the prior year was $481. The farm produced: $100 in forest products, $30 animals slaughtered, 20 bu. rye, 50 bu. oats, 8 lbs. wool, 8 bu. peas/beans, 111 bu. spring wheat, 32 bu. winter wheat, 50 bu. potatoes, 180 lbs. butter, and 3 tons of hay.
The 1876 land ownership map of Kewaunee County depicts A. Krause as the owner of the forty acre parcel that August obtained by the Swamp Land Grant, as well as of a 20 acre parcel in the N 1/2 of the SE 1/4 of the SW 1/4 of Sec. 14, also in Ahnapee.
In the one-year span from 1879-80 the farm produced 300 lbs. of butter, 200 dozen eggs, 10 acres of grassland were mown for five tons of hay, The value of all production for the year was $750. No grain or forest products were listed for the farm that year. $75 was spent on hired help during a 13-week period. $150 was spent on building and repairs. During the year one cattle was bought, one sold, one slaughtered, and one died, stolen, or strayed. One calf was dropped.
August died in 1900 at the age of 84. The death certificate lists the cause as old age. The newspaper reported earlier in the year that he was seriously ill with a stroke of palsy. When Minnie died two years later, at 78, the cause was listed as apoplexy of the heart.
August Krause's first land documents - from the State of Wisconsin's Board of Commissioners of Public Lands.
Copyright 2024 by John C. Engel. Not to be reprinted or reposted without written permission by the author.
In October 1856, three months after arriving from Germany with his wife and daughter, great great great-grandfather August Krause filed a preemption claim at the Kewaunee County courthouse. This was prior to the well-known homestead act, but it enabled August to buy government land at a reduced price by actually settling on it. I found this record about 45 years ago:
"I, August Krause of Kewaunee County, State of Wisconsin, in pursuance of an act relating to Swamp Land Act of the A. D. 1855 do hereby claim the right of Pre-Emption to the following swamp land described as the West 1/2 of the S West quarter section (23) township (25) range (25) containing (80) acres land in Kewaunee County before said which I commenced to improve on the 12 day of October 1856 and have made improvements thereon of the value of Twenty Dollars. And I do hereby declare and certify that it is my bona fide intention to purchase said lands under my pre-emption right as soon as the same be brought into market according to law."
Dated at the Town of Wolf, Kewaunee County this (16) day of October A. D. 1856
(signed) August Krause
But that was just August putting in his dibs in on the land, and certifying that he had improved the land by making improvements worth $20. Nine months later, the state issued the first document below, certifying that August would get the land, having paid $5 down, if he paid the remaining $45 in the coming ten years, the taxes, and 7% interest per year.
It took August Krause 18 months to pay off the remaining $45. He provided proof that all taxes due were paid. The Board of Commissioners immediately issued the second document - a Land Patent. A land patent is essentially a deed from the government when land is first turn it over to private hands.
I love the beautiful land patent document, with its many different typefaces, even though August Krause's surname is misspelled in it three times!
The essential details of the sale, other than the preemption rights, are spelled out the first document but are rather difficult to read. I accurately spell out the complete text here, but added line breaks and bullet points to make it easier to read.
State of Wisconsin,
COMMISSIONERS' CERTIFICATE.
Madison, July 10th1857
At a sale of LANDS GRANTED BY CONGRESS, by the Act of Congress of 28th September, 1850, in said County, in accordance with the provisions of an Act entitled an Act to provide for the disposal and sale of Swamp and Overflowed Lands, approved October 11th, 1856, and an Act amendatory thereto, approved March 5th, 1857
August Krouse [sic] purchased the NW ¼ of the NW quarter of Section No. 23 in Township No. 25 north Range 25, containing 40 acres, and ----------- hundredths,
• amounting to the sum of 50 dollars and ----------- cents;
• of which amount the said August Krouse paid at the time of purchase,
• the sum of 5 Dollars and ---------- Cents, on account of the purchase money,
• and 1 Dollars and 50 Cents, being the interest on the amount unpaid to the 1st day of January next, at the rate of 7% per annum.
Now, if the said purchaser his heirs, assigns or other legal representatives, shall pay to the State Treasurer, at his Office,
• the further sum of 45 Dollars being the amount unpaid of the purchase money, in one or more instalments, at any time within ten years from the date hereof;
• and also the interest annually, in advance, on the 1st day of January in each and every year, at the rate of seven per cent. per annum, on said unpaid amount,
• and shall also pay to the proper officer all taxes which may be levied upon said lot, as the same shall become due;
then, and in that event only, will the said purchaser his heirs, assigns, or other legal representatives be entitled to a Patent for the land herein described;
but
• in case of the non-payment into the State Treasury of the purchase money aforesaid, as it shall become due, or the interest thereon, by the first day of January, or within the time prescribed by law, in each and every year,
• and in case of the non-payment of any taxes as aforesaid, by the said purchaser, or any person claiming under him
• then this CERTIFICATE, FROM THE TIME OF SUCH FAILURE, SHALL BE UTTERLY VOID AND OF NO EFFECT, and the Commissioners may take possession of said land and re-sell the same.
In Witness Whereof, The undersigned, Commissioners of the School and University Lands, have hereunto set their hands at the time and place above written.
COUNTERSIGNED: SIGNED:
D. W. Jones Charles Kuehn
Secretary of State. State Treasurer.
Wm R Smith
Attorney General.
IN PRESENCE OF
F. M. Brul
W__ Jones
STATE OF WISCONSIN ) SS.
DANE COUNTY ) BE IT REMEMBERED, That, at the date of the foregoing certificate, before me, the subscriber, a Notary Public, personally came the above named Commissioners of School and University Lands, and acknowledged that they voluntarily executed the same as Commissioners aforesaid, for the uses and purposes therein mentioned.
W__ Jones Notary Public
