Family oral history has that Catherine Raudebaugh, née Bumgardner, was born off the coast of Holland on the ship APRIL and that she was Dutch. The 1910 Census actually has Catherine's married surname, Raudebaugh, spelled correctly – NO WHERE else is it, including on her death certificate. On top of that, an amazing find: Catherine told the 1910 Census worker that her parents' origins were "Germans from Switzerland". HOORAY! Finally, the truth was noted. Only after 1817 and due to the horrific voyages of several ships, the APRIL included, was maritime law changed to require accurate passenger logs. It has been found that on board the APRIL was indeed a "Matthieu Baumgartner, age 23; two passengers". However, according to more recent research information from the ship's log, the wife of Matthieu Baumgartner may have died during the journey, as only one person was posted for Matthieu later. This is a mystery probably never to be resolved... hb 09/09/09

Partial Passenger List of the Dutch Ship APRIL to New Castle, Delaware, June 1817; Dr. Robert P. Swierenga, Editor.
"The Dutch ship APRIL carried some 600-700 Swiss and Palatine emigrants from Amsterdam to New Castle in 1817. The voyage is notorious in the annals of immigration because 400 passengers out of 1,000 died from a typhus epidemic before the ship left Dutch territory on the island of Texel in the North Sea. Subsequently, 70 out of some 620 passengers died on the transatlantic passage.

The APRIL departed Amsterdam on June 26, 1817 with 400 passengers and a crew of 20 and arrived at Texel on July 11, 1817 with 400 passengers and a crew of 20 and arrived at Texel on July 11. Between July 12 and 29, more than 700 additional passengers were boarded. Severe overcrowding caused a minor outbreak of typhus (called ship's fever) to become an epidemic that killed more than 400. During the month of August, all passengers were finally disembarked and quarantined for treatment, while the ship was disinfected.

After a delay of two and one-half months, during which the surviving passengers suffered great privation and neglect, on October 11, the APRIL set sail for New Castle, Delaware with 620 passengers. After nearly three months of braving winter storms, and the death of 70 more people, the damaged vessel was tied up at New Castle on January 3, 1818. The 300 redemptioners on board, mainly farmers, then began signing labor contracts to pay for their fares.

No passenger list is known to exist for the APRIL voyage of 1817. However, a partial list has been provided by Jan Alberts of Krommenje, the Netherlands, whose wife is a descendant of the ship's captain, Dirk Cornelis de Groot. Mr. Alberts has long taken an interest in the history of this vessel and has collected many of the primary documents surrounding the tragic voyage.

Early in 1991, Mr. Alberts received an unsolicited letter from Werner Fasolin, a teacher in the Swiss village of Wölflinswil, in the Canton of Aargau in the north of Switzerland. In the course of writing a history of his village, Mr. Fasolin discovered in the Staat archive in Aargau a list of local inhabitants who had shipped to America on the APRIL. Mr. Fasolin sent Alberts the list of 640 passengers, which was initially compiled in 1817 by the Swiss ambassador to the Netherlands, Mr. P. I. von Planta. It is not known how the ambassador originally obtained the information. Since the APRIL departed from Amsterdam with only 400 passengers, it is likely that the 640 Wölflinswil passengers boarded at Texel, after transferring from another vessel."

NEWSPAPER ARTICLE...
Tipton Daily Tribune
1915

IN HER DYING HOURS -- Serious Illness of the Oldest Woman in Tipton County…
Mrs. Catherine Raudebaugh, who resides with her daughter, Mrs. Robert Locke, about two miles northeast of Hobbs, is seriously ill, and there is no hope of her recovery. Perhaps she is the oldest woman living in Tipton County, she being born August 14, 1817 and is now a little more than ninety-seven years of age. She was born AT SEA on the sailing ship, APRIL, off the coast of Holland, when her parents were on their way to America. (NOTE: Her parents were German Swiss, coming from Switzerland.) Mrs. Raudebaugh's husband died about twenty years ago (actually 30 years ago), leaving her with five children, five being dead. Those still living are: William H. Raudebaugh and Mrs. Reuben Crider of Cridersville, OH. G. W. Raudebaugh, who resides with her (HIS) mother; Mrs. Rufus DeLong; Mrs. L. C. Locke, and Mrs. Cloyd Locke of Cridersville, OH.

Mrs. Raudebaugh came to Tipton County from Ohio nearly thirty years ago (about 1884) and has ever since lived in the community in which she still resides. Her son is afflicted with physical infirmities; and for many years, she has devoted a great deal of her attention to his comfort and welfare. She was a well-preserved woman. Only a few years ago, she came to Tipton and was so bright and so interested in public affairs that she came to Tipton and paid the Tribune office a call and was deeply interested in modern machinery, she making a close inspection of the linotype machines, the big presses and other machinery found in the printing office. She did her own housework, read the newspapers, and kept in close touch with the events of the day, until recently, when age began to tell upon her and her vitality was not sufficient enough to support her. Friday evening, she became insensible and was in this condition for several hours. She has no special affliction, other than those that might be expected of any person of her age. It is doubtful if there is another man or woman in Tipton County that is nearly one-hundred years of age. She is a member of the United Brethren Church.
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OBITUARY...
Tipton Daily Tribune
January 14, 1915, Thursday Evening
Page 1

SHE WAS BORN AT SEA -- Mrs. Catherine Raudebaugh Almost Reached the Century Mark...
"Mrs. Catherine (née BUMGARDNER) Raudebaugh, age 97 years, 5 months, and 27 days, died at the home of her daughter, Mrs. L. C. Locke (Kate Raudebaugh), (in Jack) two and a half miles northeast of Hobbs, Indiana on Thursday at 11:30 o'clock a.m.

Mrs. Raudebaugh's parents lived in Holland. When they had concluded to come to America, they set sail on the ship APRIL. (NOTE: This location is NOT correct. The parents, the woman pregnant with Catherine, were on their way FROM Switzerland in the Village of Wölflinswil, Canton of Aargau, North Switzerland. Due to a horrible shipboard epidemic, the parents were forced to stay for weeks on an island in the Texel, where upwards of 400 died, including, it is believed, Catherine's mother, who may have allegedly died in childbirth or shortly thereafter. That story is unknown and remains to be told...)

After the ship had been out to sea several days, Catherine was born onboard ship on August 14, 1817. (NOTE: Actually, it was a lot longer than the stated "several days" that the ship was at sea. No record of Catherine's birth is known. One must contact the country of the ship's origin, HOLLAND.) Catherine lived to be almost one hundred years of age and quoted in print by her are the words, "After nearly three months on the sea, going no faster than the wind would blow, they landed at New York from where they traveled to Lancaster, PA, where the family lived a number of years." There, Mrs. Bumgardner's father was a stone mason. (FYI NOTE: From the records recently obtained, the ship landed in New Castle, Delaware -- NOT New York. per HB)

When Catherine was about eighteen years of age, her parents/family removed from Lancaster Co. to Allen County, Ohio, where they engaged in farming. Her parents died there, the county area of residence changing names and is now Auglaize County.

In 1839, seventy-six years ago, Catherine was united in marriage to Benjamin Raudebaugh -- 23 Aug 1840/Walnut Twp., Fairfield Co., OH). There were "four siblings of whom are living and are present today". . Officially per obituary, ten children were born to them, five of whom survive their mother. (NOTE: This is an interesting statement because two of Catharine's daughters died before her -- Mary Jane, who died in 1889, and Esther, who died in 1911. ( Daughter Esther Ann Raudebaugh DeLong was my great grandmother. ([email protected])

NOTE: At least one child seems to be missing, as only FOUR children living in 1915 can be accounted for -- Catherine and Nancy (both of whom married Locke men), William, and George.)

Catherine's husband, Benjamin, died about twenty years ago (ERROR: He actually died 31 years before) in the vicinity of Curtisville, Tipton Co., Indiana, and his remains were taken to Carlinsville (TYPOGRAPHICAL ERROR: This is supposed to read: Cridersville), Ohio for burial, June 19, 1884. Among the children that survive Catherine are: William H. Raudebaugh, Mrs. Cloyd Locke (Nancy Raudebaugh), and Mrs. Reuben Crider (Mary Raudebaugh) of Cridersville, Ohio (NOTE: Ruben was the son of Ephraim Crider and Polly Dunkel, founders of Cridersville, Ohio); George W. Raudebaugh, residing at home, he being a cripple having suffered with a spinal affliction since a child of two years; Mrs. Rufus DeLong (Esther Raudebaugh), residing nearby; and Mrs. Lewis C. "Robert" Locke (Catherine "Aunt Kate" Raudebaugh), residing on her mother's farm.

Mrs. Raudebaugh was a woman of both wonderful physical and mental strength. She being able to do her own housework until very recently. She had a wonderful memory. She was a close reader, a good thinker, and she was able to talk intelligently upon any subject in which the public was interested. At one time, she visited the Tribune office, and she had a desire to see how printing was done. She looked with amazement upon the typesetting machines, and she looked with interest on the presses that printed the papers. She asked many questions and was not content to leave until certain parts of the workings of a printer were made clear to her. That was her last visit to this office.

She was a member of the United Brethren Church (UBC), holding her membership with the congregation that met at the Jack School House. She was perhaps the oldest person living in Tipton County at the time of her death. While there are several persons that are over ninety years of age, we know of none that was born prior to 1820. No time has yet been set for the funeral nor the place of burial decided upon."