Category:Jaus

The Jaus Family Tree

George Jaus

I do not think I know how to scan, I can fax the copy of the Bap certificate to you, send me your fax number or else your address and I will mail the info from Germany. I would like the passenger list of the ship that brot the Jaus family to America. Martha Hedine said they came in 1855, but they were at the organization of the church in Delhi, Ontario in April 1854. Martha Hedine also had no death date for baptized Johann Georg Ludewich! Found him on FindAGrave buried Tucson AZ. He died Feb 23, 1938.<ref>Lois L Bode email</ref>

Genes

Cousin Gerry mentions his Jaus monkey arms. He can twist them in a multitude of ways and hug himself so that he can clasp his hands behind his back. He says all the Jaus men can do that.

Other

They lived in Delphi, Ontario, Canada before moving to Minnesota. Their church in Delphi was St. Peter's Lutheran Church. I have several transcriptions of their church records in Delphi. They are spotty, but provide some insight into the family history there.<ref>Steve Kliest:thekleistpage.com</ref>

Jaus Family Comes to America

The Jaus Connection

Johann Jaus was born in 1823 in The Kingdom of Wurtenburg. As a young man he was a hired man who tended cattle on a large estate. Katherina Beck was also employed on the estate. She was the personal maid to the mistress of the estate. <ref>Jaus </ref>

In 1854 Johann married 24 year old Katherina. Land hadn’t been available for the Harms family. I imagine the same was true for the young couple. A year later the newlyweds emigrated to Ontario, Canada. They brought their pastor and eight other Lutheran families with them.<ref> Steve Kliest collection: They lived in Delphi, Ontario, Canada before moving to Minnesota. Their church in Delphi was St. Peter's Lutheran Church. I have several transcriptions of their church records in Delphi. They are spotty, but provide some insight into the family history there.</ref>

It is of interest that proof of Birth AND Baptism was required to book passage on a ship.<ref>Emanuel Anniversary Book</ref>

These folks worked hard to make a living as farmers, but the Canadian soil was only good for producing tobacco. They heard that MN had become a state and homesteading in Carver County, MN was available. The decision was made at a church meeting to send their pastor to check out this new opportunity.

Johann Jaus's baptism certificate.<ref>Lois L Bode collection</ref>

The pastor returned and reported the land was full of opportunity. Each family could get 160 acres of free land. All they had to do is clear the trees , live on the land for 5 years, and the land was theirs.

In 1865, ten years after the Harms family came to America, Jaus and eight families decided to also make the move to Carter County. They were coming to America, the land of opportunity!

I was trying to figure out what church the Jaus family attended when first coming to America. The family history says Immanuel Lutheran Church. In reality, the church is Emanuel Lutheran Church. Do you know how many ways I have found to spell Immanuel? Lots! The Emanuel Lutheran Church Anniversary Book tells us Katharina was instrumental in convincing people to make the move.

I quote a section from a Jaus anniversary book: “In 1865, after a prayerful meeting, a group of eight families decided to come to Carver County. Martin and Katherina and 5 children. Simon, Martin Sr., Anna, John and Martha made the move. The trip was again full of hardships.

Most of the way they traveled by boat with each family being allotted a certain area. Each family had to furnish their own food. Among prize possessions were straw ticks and pillows. Simon, age 9, and Anna, age 7, were to take care of the younger children.

It is a miracle that Martha survived the trip and didn’t end in a watery grave. There was no indoor plumbing on the boat and the toilet holes cut into a seat were directly over the water. Simon and Anna were to take Martha “potty.” The hole was too large for Martha and she lost her balance and started to fall down. Simon caught her by her feet, while Anna ran for help. Martha was rescued.”

What a trip! What a way to almost die! I wonder if Martha suffered a paranoia of frontier pit toilets for the rest of her life!

Like the Harms family, Johann and Katherina Jaus were able to obtain 160 acres of virgin timber land. Here they built a log house. They were fortunate. Carver County was heavily wooded and they didn’t need to live in sod huts like their southern neighbors in Sibley County. In fact, people from Sibley County came to Carver County to get wood for heating and building houses. In later years, [[St. Peter’s Lutheran Church, Moltke Township, Sibley County, MN|St. Peter's Lutheran Church in Moltke Township would be built with wood hauled from the Jaus homestead.

Christian Buerkle and Christina Kappis

Lois L Bode's great grandparents, Christian Buerkle and Christina Kappis were married 6 Dec 1857 in Benton Township, Carver County, Minnesota by Pastor Kahmeyer.

Pastor Kahmeyer was at both Emanuel at Hamburg and Zion at Cologne in Benton T. Obit of Christian says "They were married in a log cabin at Hamburg after walking six miles through a severe snowstorm and were the first people married under the German Lutheran denomination at Hamburg." Neither Zion or Emanuel have any records from 1857! ---

I always connected New Ulm with Paul Hinderer and Jacob Baur. It appears that New Ulm also has a connection with the Jaus/Harms<ref>Ernest Harms</ref> family. They were also our first connection with the Missouri Synod.

Looking back at those early years I am intrigued by two facts. They appear to be contradictory. Events like the civil war and MN Indian uprisings were happening just before our early ancestors settled this country. These events always seemed so far in the distant past, but now they seem like recent history. We may be living in the 21st century, but the events of the 19th century aren’t as far removed as we often feel.

This was seven years earlier the Civil war ended. The war only lasted 4 years, but it probably seemed like forever. MN sent men to fight for the Union and was still reeling from its aftermath. In 1865 the Homestead Act had been enacted and Minnesota had become the 32nd state. The largest Indian war in American history had just ended, columnating with the 1862 mass hanging of 38 Dakota Indians in Mankato, MN; about 45 miles South of their new home in Hamburg.

Church life bound my ancestors together. The Indian uprisings would too. Imagine the paranoia these people felt even though the major fighting was over. These were turbulent years. Can you imagine heading for a new home in a country where the president, wikipedia:Abraham Lincoln, had just been assassinated. They actually came just before the president's assassination. There homesteading deed is signed by Lincoln.

Diptheria

https://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=90902660

Heinrich Friedrich (Fritz) Scheele

The Scheele name receives special mention in Emanuel's anniversary book. I quote: “We have been told about a Scheele family that was practically wiped out by diphtheria. Church records list the burials of four Scheele children ages 6, 7,9, and 13 between Nov. 22 and Nov 30 1884. At the same time, the adult burial register lists the burials of two Scheele youths, ages 18 and 20, as well as the mother, Marie Scheele. All succumbed to the ravages of diphtheria. The father was the only one to survive."<ref>Lois Scheele Hartman also told me this story.</ref>

Oral history informs us that when the sickness had finally run its course, the neighbors burnt down the log cabin home to try and kill the diphtheria germs. The father remarried. Ed Scheele, is a descendents of this second family<ref>Emanuel Anniversary Book</ref>.This same incident is referred to, although not by name, in another secular book I am reading.

Lois L Bode wrote me: "In Nov and Dec of 1884 Heinrich Friedrich (Fritz) Scheele (3rd great uncle of Lois Scheele) lost his wife and 6 children to Diphtheria, all buried at Emanuel Cemetery, Hamburg MN. He married again and had 6 more children! Lots of children died those years."

I discovered a spreadsheet for their cemetery. It indicates Johann Jaus is buried there. There are also Harms, Bentz, and Gruenhagen family members. Reading through the records gives some insights I'll share.

During the dreaded flu epidemic of 1918, 20 members died of the Grippe ([[wikipedia:Influenza).
There are 64 grave sites of children that don't have markers and 90 grave sites for children with markers for a total of 154 children's' graves.

Wow! Death was an ever present specter in the lives of our ancestors.

I wonder if the above incident had anything to do with bodies of the deceased not being allowed in the church at funerals. The congregation didn’t allow this until 45 years later in 1929<ref>Emanuel Anniversary Book</ref>.

Future Connections

Ralph Baur and unknown boy at Jaus Farm

<ref>Ralph Baur Black Photo Album</ref>

Ed is the grandfather of Lois Scheele Hartman. He would purchase a drugstore in Hutchinson, MN. My grandma Clara Hinderer Baur would become good friends with his wife, Lois’s Grandma Lydia Jaus Scheele (Tanta Lydia). Both women became young widows. Lydia and her sons (including Lois’s dad, “Putz” Roland), moved back to the family Jaus Farm where Mom grew up. Mom spent a lot of time with Tanta Lydia after her mom (Hannah Lieske Jaus) died. Dad and Grandma would visit Lydia on the Jaus farm…. :-)

The connections and ties to Hutchinson are numerous. We will find common ties with the Scheele, Harms, Jaus, Hinderer, Baur, and Naegle family names. What a tangled web! Category:Buerkle]]

References <references/> Family Histories: Harms -- Jaus -- Lieske -- Hinderer -- Baur --

Genealogy Sites

MN Historical Society people search