According to their passports my great grandfather Adam Blumenschein and great grandmother Barbara Goetz immigrated to the USA in 1831 or with two years thereafter. They came from Winterkasten and Laudenau, Germany respectively. These small villages about two miles apart are nestled in the beautiful hilly and partially wooded region about 30 miles south east of Darmstadt, Germany. This is in the province of Hesse and the area is known as Odenwald.

In October while touring Germany we spent two days exploring this region from which our Blumenschein ancestors came. We had noticed earlier at Rhein-Main Air Base Officers Club that a display counter selling ivory and amber products was owned by a Jacob Blumenschein whose address was Hembach in Odenwald. A quick look and we found Hembach, a tiny village, on the map about 15 miles from Winterkasten. We deducted that this Jacob Blumenschein must be a distant relative.

In Winterkasten we found no Blumenschein and the grave yard which dates back only about 70 years shows no evidence of Blumenscheins. However, some natives told us that there are Blumenscheins living in several neighboring villages. We then went to Hembach and found the Jacob Blumenschein who sells ivory products. He is about 65 years old, has a beautiful home and appears fairly wealthy. His wife is dead but his daughter and son-in-law live with him. We spent an evening with them.

Jacob Blumenschein said the Blumenscheins all came from Winterkasten and the surrounding area and that we were obviously distantly related. He himself had been in America for many years and therefore speaks English well. He said that a branch of the Blumenscheins had immigrated to Southern Minnesota, some of them around Pipestone, and that this particular clan has even had Blumenschein reunions. Apparently he identified himself with this can when he was in America. However, he new nothing about the Marysville, Ohio Blumenscheins. He said that before WW II one of the Blumenschein clan in Germany made a family tree book dating back several hundred years but this man was caught behind the Iron Curtain and no one has heard of him or the family tree book since. He said, however, that most of the information needed to reconstruct a family tree could be obtained from the church records at Neunkirchen since the church in that village served Winterkasten and most of the surrounding villages including Laudenau.

A little time spent in Laudenau revealed that there are still Goetzes living in the village and in the surrounding area who are obviously distant relatives. It appears they have long ago forgotten about any relatives in America stemming from a Barbara who immigrated in 1831. The graveyard contains numerous grave stones marked Goetz the oldest being an Adam Goetz born in 1852 and died in 1922. He could have been Barbara’s nephew.

The following day we went to Neunkirchen which is about 3 or 4 miles from Winterkasten and Laudenau. This village has a beautiful location on a hill with a view of the surrounding area. The church is about 800 years old and obviously looks much the same as it did when our great grandparents were baptized and attended church there. The minister gave us free access to the church books and we spent the greater part of the afternoon searching the records.

We searched mainly for Blumenschein and Goetz birth records between about 1700 and 1810. Some of the old writing was very hard to read and the minister didn’t offer us any help in deciphering it. There were entries almost every year of Blumenscheins in Winterkasten. There were also quite a few entries of Goetzes in Laudenau. We found the entry which was obviously great grandfather Adam Blumenschein in 1798. It reads as follows:

1798 Nov 18th
Johannes Blumenschein Gemeinde in Winterkasten and Ehfrau Anna Margaretha eine geborne ???????? en sohn mit namen Johannes Adam. The part with the question marks I couldn’t decipher.

The entry for Barbara Goetz reads as follows:
1810 Laudenau
Johannes Peter Goetz und Ana Erna Geb. ???????
Drite kind name Anna Barbara, Getauft 2 Mai

On the gravestone in Marysville, Ohio it says she was born 29 April 1810 so that must be the correct entry. They apparently didn’t wait long those dates to have babies baptized.

It took Erna and me working together considerable time to make out the words in most of the entries since the old handwriting of 200 years ago was not exactly what we are accustomed to reading. It was obvious that from these records one could establish the lineage quite a ways back. It would just take time and we really didn’t think we could spend several more days working on this. So to get the most information in the least time, I took pictures of each entry with the 8 mm movie camera. I must have taken pictures of about 50 or more entries. I had put a new film in the camera and exposed the first foot or two so as to be sure it would be developed. However, when the film was developed here they cut off a considerable amount of the film in front so only about 30 of the pictures came out. I took two pictures of each entry so the sum total of these efforts amounts to only 15 entries. The film looks fairly good and I’ll have to find someone to enlarge each frame so that the writing can be read. I think that the entries for our Great Grand parents will be on the film. If and when we study and find out what is on this film we will let you know.

It was interesting to visualize while driving the two miles from Winterkasten to Laudenau, that our Great Grandfather Adam must have walked along this road many times in 1830 – 1831 while courting Barbara. And the winding road through beautiful fir, spruce and deciduous forests up to Neunkirchen must have been an intimate part of their life, and as they walked along these roads they probably planned their leaving for America. I wondered why they ever left such a beautiful area to live in a land of which they knew little.

The church at Neunkirchen has had few changes for hundreds of years and must have looked much the same to those ancestors as it looks today. (The church is named for Saints Cosmas and Daimien.) For that matter the little towns of Winterkasten and Laudenau probably look today almost the same as they did in 1831. Practically all the houses appear to be 100 or more years old and there is no evidence of recent construction or change. Little German towns like this, off the beaten path, are like a page out of the past. The modern world hasn’t affected them much.

Something I wondered was why did Adam and Barbara go to Marysville? Did they know someone there? Did other people from this area of Germany go to Marysville? We found some interesting information regarding this last question.

When we were in Marysville last summer, Edward Blumenschein, who lives on the old Blumenschein farm told me about an old graveyard several miles into the field. We went there to see if it had any Blumenschein grave, etc. Many of the gravestones had fallen over years ago and it was grown over with grass and brush. There were two gravestones lying on the ground with the name “Dascher”. They were for two boys about 17 and 20 years old who died in the 1850s. Edward said that he had heard that they died of some kind of poisoning. There were no Blumenschein gravestones.

I again noticed the name Dascher appearing in the graveyard at Winterkasten and in the church records at Neunkirchen. There was also a Dascher on the list of WW II dead in the church. Other names frequently appearing in the church records at Neunkirchen are Rausch and Nickol. These names appear as common in the German settlement in Marysville as the name Blumenschein. It is unlikely that this is pure coincidence and I would conclude various families from the Winterkasten area migrated to the German settlement in Marysville. They probably wrote letters back to their friends and relatives telling them about the available land.

Too bad there is nothing available of Adam Blumenschein’s personal effects such as some letters or an old bible. Such things may have been left with some of Adam’s other children and subsequently lost. However there would be a chance that some of these Blumenscheins, wherever they are still have something like this.

Last summer in the graveyard at Marysville, (Trinity Lutheran church graveyard on St. Rt. 736) we found the graves of Barbara and Adam Blumenschein. They are not far from our grand parents John and Mary Blumenschein. The inscriptions say:

Adam Blumenschein Born 17 ???? 1798 Died 24 May 1870
Barbara (Goetz) Blumenschein Born 29 Apr 1810 Died 30 May 1872

It was extremely interesting to find the connection of these ancestors in the old world. If we ever get back to the Odenwald or if any of you go there, and have a little time, it would be easy to get tall kinds of information from the church books for reconstructing a family tree for many generations back providing you can read the old German writing. I don’t know how my pictures of the records will show up when enlarged but if any one would go there with a regular microfilm or other type of film apparatus whereby the pages of interest could be quickly filmed the one could sit down at leisure on a cold winter evening and try to put together the puzzle. The word Blumenschein is usually quite legible in these old records and Kathy helped us a great deal by scanning the pages for Blumenschein. Maybe Margaret and Ray will be touring Europe again one of these days and a continuation of this project would be right up their alley.

Love Erwin Reinecke

Boerger Family In Marysville, Ohio

AUTOBIOGRAPHY

of

Pastor J.F. Boerger, Sr. September 1, 1867 - January 1, 1959

Written in 1956 at the request of his children

and as a

memoria1 of God's boundless mercy and grace.

(Revised, edited and duplicated by Dorothy nee Boerger
Freyberg, his niece, daughter of Paul Gerhardt Boerger, the summer of 1975, with much help and encouragement from his oldest daughter, Margaret Wisch.)

FOREBEARS

My ancestry can be traced only to my grandfather, Johann Wilhelm Boerger, who was born in Rothenburg on the Tauber River,
Bavaria, Germany, on March 6,1803.
To verify this and to find out, if possible, who his fore¬fathers were, especially since he always mentioned only his mother, I had P.T. Stoffel visit the Castle Church in Rothen¬burg on his last trip to Europe and ask for my grandfather's original birth and baptismal record. What he saw there with his own eyes was the following: Johann Wilhelm Boerger, unehe¬lich geboren den 6ten Maerz 1803. (John William Boerger, born out of wedlock on the 6th of March 1803).

Who the father of our grandfather was no records show.
He seems to have been a wealthy man, for he placed my great-grandmother in a comfortable position financially. She was able to give William the best education available, and she her¬self was assured of a lifetime income. Whether the rich Jew, the father of our grandfather, did this willingly or was compelled by law is not known.
Well, Grandfather went to school until he was sixteen.
By that time he had finished the grade and high-school edu¬cation, which was then customary. He was no dumb-bell. He was a wizard at mental arithmetic and memory work. I remember when we sold several wagon-loads of hogs weighing, say on an average, 375 pounds a head, for say $4.85 per cwt., we boys would sit around the table with pencil and paper figuring how much money the hogs would bring, and Grandfather would sit in his corner, his elbows on his knees and his head in his hands. Before we had all of our numbers properly written down, he would tell us the total amount the hogs would bring and he was always right! (Note: After his wife died Sept. 11, 1869 he made his home with his son, John Killian, until he died on Jan. 3, 1892, when J.F. was almost 25 years old. dhf)

Although his mother urged him to go on to college, he refused. He wanted to learn a trade, and he chose to become a wainwright. Because no one at that time could become a master of his trade without traveling, and working in foreign countries for two years after he had learned his trade at home, Grandfather traveled south into Austria as far as Budapest and the Black Sea, working for different masters.
After two years he returned home and worked for a man by the name of Fuchs(Fox) in Neidhardswingen, Bavaria. Young Fox was married and owned his Stellmacherei (wainwright's shop),
but it was not paid for. And then he suffered the great mis¬fortune of contracting and succumbing to typhoid fever. So his young widow was left with the shop and its debts and a baby boy by the name of George (born in 1827).

Grandfather continued to work for the widow, but not very long. Although she was 6 years older than he, she decided to let him have the shop if he would marry her and adopt her son. This he did willingly. So they were married and lived happily there after.
Grandmother was a tiny wiry little woman, but very en¬ergetic. She ruled the roost – Grandfather included! In public, of course, she would always give him the honors and say, "Er ist Herr im Haus." (He is the master of our home.) (Note: from information I have from a biography Carl A. Boer¬ger wrote, her name was Elizabeth Barbara nee Schuricht, born April 12, 1797, and died September 11, l869)

REASON FOR EMIGRATION

The social and political conditions in Germany before
the revolution in 1848 were of such a nature that common labor¬ers and artisans had to steal in order to live. So Grandpa too had to do some secret felling and stealing of young trees at night in the King's forest in order to make the spokes, hubs and fellows for his wagon wheels. Already in 1838 he had de¬cided to follow others and emigrate to the United States of America, but postponed leaving until the spring of 1843.
My father, John Killian Boerger, (born May 3, l841 in Neudhartswinden, Middle Franconia, kingdom of Lanuern) was their youngest child when they sailed. The trip across the Atlantic on a sailboat took seven weeks. They finally landed in New York, but their destination was Columbus, Ohio. So they went up the Hudson River to Albany, and from there across the strait to Buffalo. Part of this trip through New York was made on the first American railroad. At Buffalo they took a lake steamer which brought them to Toledo, Ohio.

From Toledo to Columbus they traveled by canal boats, drawn by mules. The boats ran on schedule, but moved along so slowly that only women, little children, chickens, cattle, and baggage were packed onto them. The men and grown boys walked ahead on the ramp alongside the canal and prepared living quarters for the women and smaller children.
There was in Columbus at that time a German settlement where those who had known each other in the old country lived together in shacks and worked until they could afford better individual homes. Grandfather built his home near Third and Fulton Streets just outside the corporation limit, which was Fulton Street at that time. It took four or five years be¬fore the permanent house was completed.

When Uncle Fox was 20 years old in 1847 he was taken to the capital city of Ohio which was then Lancaster, and in one day was made both a citizen of the U.S .A. and a soldier of its army. The next day he was sent 100 miles to Cincinnati on a stage coach, and from there down the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers to Mexico to help win that war. He sent letters home to this county and greeted quite a few people individually and by name. My first cousin, Anna (Gunderman) Burns has all his letters and I have read them. (Note: Among my father, Paul Gerhardt Boerger's precious papers, we found a letter from George Fuchs(Fox) with the heading: Puebla, Mexico, October 24, 1847. There was no envelope.

The address is written on the back side of the one-page letter, as follows:
Mr. J. W. Boerger

Columbus

Franklin County (Ohio)

United States of North America

from the Army
It apparently never had a postage stamp (these had only been introduced that year but the addressed side of the letter rubber stamped with black ink: VERA CRUZ, Nov 3, and in another p1ace with red ink: Dec. dhf)

Here I must mention an interesting incident. In the cholera swept through the country. Grandfather was working a foundry and making big money. When the owner of the foundry was also stricken with the deadly cholera, Grandfather and other German friend of his watched at the boss's bedside until three o'clock one morning.

When they went home, Grandfather's companion complained that he was not feeling well. Grandfather didn't feel any well himself, so he didn't go home. Instead he entered a nearby saloon, ordered a quart of good whiskey, sat down and drank until the last drop was gone and he was dead drunk. Then he stumbled home across the street, and after receiving a good verbal thrashing from Grandmother, he fell over onto his bed and. immediately went to sleep - without the aid of sleeping powder! He slept all through that day and the following night.
When he finally awoke twenty-six hours later, he felt all right, but heard that not only his boss, the owner of the foundry, but also the man who had watched at his bedside with were both dead and buried. That was the universal custom, those who died of cholera had to be buried immediately, the same day or night they died.

In 1858 Grandfather, Uncle Fox, Uncle Leonard and my father, at Grandmother's suggestion, bought a farm in Darby Township (Union County) on the banks of the Big Darby Creek several miles from Unionville. This tract of level land, 160 acres, was about half cleared, and the other half was covered with heavy hardwood timber.
After erecting a shanty to live in, they started to build a brick house, covered with tile roof and a bank barn with a brick foundation, also tile-roofed, right on the river bank, which at that point was about thirty feet high and some dis¬tance away from the river bed. Now Grandfather was a master wainwright and wood worker, my father was an excellent brick¬layer; Uncle Leonard was a master brick and drainage-tile¬ molder and burner. Their older half-brother, George, whom we called Uncle Fox, was a master roofing-tile maker and burner.

They had a cow and a blind horse which they hitched to¬gether to pull timbers from the wooded part of the land to the building site for the house and barn near the riverbank. Grandmother not only did the cooking, but was the managing spirit of the whole undertaking.

(Note: The family consisted
of George Fox,
Elizabeth Jan. 10, 1837 - Feb. 10, 1929, married Michael Gunderman
Leonard
Barbara - married Trapp
Mary - married Nicol
John Killian
I'm not certain about the order in which they were born, but J.K. was the last to be born in Germany dhf)
At that time none of the boys was married, but when all was finished, not one of them stayed on that place. In 1860 Grandfather and my father moved to a farm 3 miles southwest of Marysville; Uncle Fox to one just south of Marysville on the London Pike; and Uncle Leonard bought a farm about seven miles south of Marysville.

When my father was in his 80s, I asked him to take me to that first farm near Unionville. I had never seen it before. The old brick bank barn and brick house with their tile roofs were still standing. When I asked Father why in the world did you leave this beautiful farm with its level, deep black soil and move to the farm near Marysville with its poor wet clay soil where you had to tile every rod to raise anything on it?"

His answer was, "Es war zu waat von der Kerng." ("It was too far from church.") ¬

On Jan. 21, 1977, I visited with my cousin Elizabeth(Boerger) Dargatz, daughter of Alfred K., and she gave me a copy of the following, which Uncle Alfred states is an accurate record from an original letter that his Grandmother Boerger (wife; of Johann Wilhelm Boerger) left to her children. The original copy was then in the hands of Mrs. Anna Burns (daughter of Elizabeth who married Mike Gunderman) Since Anna’s death, we under¬stand this among other old letters she had kept Were destroyed by her daughter-in-law. Too bad!
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - ¬
Historical record of Grandmother Boerger, whose maiden name was Elizabeth Barbara Shuri
Born April 12, 1797 - Worked 10 years as a maid. June 20, 1822 - married Fuchs (Andrew ?).
Aug. 28, 1824 my husband died
September 1824 my son Andrew George was born.
Jan. 25, 1826 I was married to J. W. Boerger.
March 17, 1827 Leonard Boerger was born
Jan. 25, 1830 Barbara Boerger was born
Sept. 21, 1832 Maria Boerger was born
Jan. 10, 18,7 Elizabeth Boerger was born _\
May 3, 1841 John Killian was born (my grandfather)

Nun danket Alle Gott. Was Gott thut das is wohl ge¬than. Christus ist mein Leben und Sterben mein ge¬winn. Liebe. Kinder hoeret meine Worte und behaltet sie fest in eurem Herzen und eurem Leben. Habet Gott vor Augen und im Herzen und huetet euch das ihr in keine Suende williget und thut nicht wieder Gottes Gebot.

Translation:

"Now let us all thank God. Whatever God does is well done. Christ is my life and death is my gain. Dear children listen to my words and keep them firmly in your heart and life. Keep God ever in view and in your heart and life, and be on guard that you do not enter wil¬lingly into sin and do nothing against God’s will.

Copy of J.W. Boerger's passport (original held by Anna Burns and now destroyed)
Johann Wilhelm Boerger had been a resident of Neid¬hardswinden, Regency of Middlefranken, Bavara, Ger¬many. He had been owner of a wagon shop. Emigrated (May 17, 1843) to Baltimore of his own free will and is granted safe conduct, protection and assistance by the various consulates, together with his wife and children.
Description of the Emigree:
Age: 39 years Beard: Brown
Height: Medium Chin: Round
Hair: Brown Face: Full
Forehead: Medium Color: White
Eyebrows: Brown Appearance: Healthy
Eyes: Grey Special Marks: None
Nose: pointed, Straight
Remarks: The bearer is obligated by the Kingdom of Bavaria to report to all consulates whose territory he enters.

MY FATHER’S MARRIAGE

Now back to my story: Father married my mother, Margaret (Maggie) nee Maegerlein, on October 16, 1866. Mother had come from Germany to Columbus with her parents, Leonard and Eve when she was a child.

This was at the close of the Civil War. She had been his choice from earliest school days onwards, and theirs was a hap¬py marriage. She worked as a servant girl already before she was confirmed. In those days there were no cars, not even closed horse-drawn carriages such as we had when I was a young man. But Father visited his girl friend on horseback. She would sit sideways either in front of or behind him on the bare back of his tame horse when he would fetch her from her place of work to his home and back again when she had an evening off.
On September 1, 1867, their first child, a baby boy, was born, and there was great joy in the J.K. Boerger home. How¬ever, a few days later while Father was in town, the little fellow cried and cried so much that Mother feared he might die without baptism. So she and Grandmother had Grandfather go posthaste to get the pastor, the Rev. Lempke, who came right away and baptized the baby in our home.

Well, I grew up really well on my Mother's milk. Baby buggies were unknown to common people in those days, but my Grandfather, the master wainwright, built a little wooden baby carriage in which I could sit or lie, and in which he regularly gave me nice open-air rides. And so in 14 years seven children were born to my parents: John Fredrick (Fritz), John Leonard, Mary, Magdalena, William John, George Emmanuel and Charles Carl. Little Carl born in 1880, died in 1881. The others, all of them now in their 80s, are still living.
Having so many babies didn't harm Mother's health. But then a younger sister of hers married George Conrad and moved to Marysville. She had contracted tuberculosis from her mother, my Grandmother, who died of tuberculosis. Now my mother began visiting her sister, Mrs. Conrad, two evenings a week for sev¬eral hours. Not knowing the precautions that should have been taken, she too contracted the disease and died two years later, August 20, 1882.

Mother was a loving, God-fearing, Christian wife and mother of faith and prayer. The night before she died, she called us six living children to her deathbed. First the two oldest boys, then the two sisters, and then the two younger boys. Then my brother John (Leonard John) and I had to kneel down at her bedside, I on the right and John on the left side of her bed. She placed her right hand on my head and her left on John's to give us a parting blessing in the form of fitting Bible passages which she quoted from memory. But before doing this to us two, she asked us a question.
About two years earlier something had happened for which John and I had received a barbarous thrashing from Father with a halter strap which made the blood flow on our backs. Aunt Lizzy Gundermann had planted a patch of strawberries in her garden. The first berries ripened and disappeared. Her own sons, George and John, (known as "Shorty" - dhf) some¬what older than we, said that we had stolen them. We, of course, denied this, because we hadn't even tasted them! Father took us over to Gundermanns to talk it over, and they steadfastly claimed that they saw us steal the berries. We just as steadfastly denied it. Finally Father took us home. But he didn't sleep at all that night. Early next morn¬ing he went over once more, but when the Gundermann boys still stuck to their story, he came home and asked us how we had slept. We, of course, had slept well, and told him so. Then he took us out in our nightshirts and gave us that bloody hal¬ter strap beating.

When finished, he told us, "Now if you are innocent, you have it on your backs, and they have it on their consciences. But if you are guilty, you've gotten what you deserve." So that thing remained in the dark. And so Mother said to us, "Remember, I'm dying and I shall soon find out whether or not you took those strawberries. Now do tell me the truth. Did you eat them?" After we assured her again that we had not taken them, she pronounced a blessing over each of us, and then over the others in their turn. I remember only my own and my sister, Mary's. To me my Mother quoted I John 2: L5-17
"Do not love the world or anything that belongs to the world. If you love the world, you do not have the love for the Father in you. Everything that belongs to the world - what the sin¬ful self desires, what people see and want, - none of this comes from the Father; it all comes from the world. The World and everything in it that men desire is passing away; but he who does what God wants lives for ever." (TEV).

To Mary she quoted Psalm 51: 10-12, "Create in me a new, clean heart, O God, filled with clean thoughts and right de¬sires. Don't toss me aside, banished forever from your pres¬ence. Don't take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me again the joy of your salvation, and make me willing to obey you.” (The Living Bible)

Years later, when I was 20, deathly sick with typhoid fever, George Gundermann visited me, and I asked him in the presence of my Father and Stepmother, "Now tell me, George, did John¬nie and I take and eat those strawberries?" And he then con¬fessed and said, “No! My brother and I took and ate them. We lied, and you told the truth." Finally the truth was openly revealed. ¬

MY BOYHOOD

Now we can return to our story: Father didn't want us to grow up in town, therefore he did not go to the Marysville church of the Ohio Synod as Grandfather did, but joined the little country church of that Synod on the Settlement pike. We got to town only on the evening of the 4th of July to see some fireworks and to get 5 cents for popcorn. We also went to the little German Lutheran day school in the country. I was only 4 years old when I was first sent to school with the neigh¬bor's children. I am told that before school started, I went up to the Pastor who was sitting at his desk, and said, "E will a Buch Hoem." ("I'd like to' have a book."). And I got a Fibel (an A B C book with first reader attached). My father had already taught me to read some German.

Mother was worried when I didn't come home from school as soon as she expected that first day, and sent for Father to go and get me. But when she looked once more, she saw me climb¬ing over the rail fence of the field next to our home and come marching toward the house, swinging my school bag into which she had packed my lunch. I can still remember that cross-¬field homecoming after my first day of school.

The following incident is one of the earliest memories of my own naughtiness. Early in March 1870, Father built a horse stable on the west end of our barn. Uncle Mike (Gundermann)
was the builder. He had started his work early in February. I was about 21/2 years old then. Uncle Mike sawed off certain roof braces about 3t feet long and stacked them one on top of the other. I shook the pile, and he said, "Geh weg da!" ("Get away from there!") But, when he wasn't looking, I deliberately pushed the whole pile over. He hauled out and hit me on the head, and I went sprawling and bawling onto the ground.
Still stronger proof of this, my corrupt nature, is my first lie and theft. It happened and became known to my Mother and Father on my 6th birthday, September 1, 1873. I was going to German summer school then, and another boy had a little toy - sort of a bell - that I wanted to have. Said he, "I'll sell it to you for 1 cent". Now, I had some pennies in an old snuff box on top of the buffet in the sitting room. So before I left for school, I pushed a chair in front of the buffet, climbed up on it and took a penny out of the snuffbox. Mother saw this, unbeknown to me, but said nothing. When I returned in the evening shak¬ing my little rattlebox, she asked, "Where did you get that?"

“I found it.” "Where?"
"On the way home from school, between Uncle Mike's woods and ours."
"What were you doing at the buffet this morning?", she asked, and now she had me cornered. Then she began to tell me what a big sin lying is. "And you lie on your birthday! Just wait till Papa comes home. What do you think he'll say?"
Well, I knew he wouldn't only say but DO something. As
she put me to bed that night, she said I couldn't pray "Der Liebe Gatt" (Dear God) this evening. "Dear God doesn't hear liars and thieves like you." '

Finally Father came home, and she whispered the whole
story to him. I pretended to be sound asleep, but I was wide
awake. Then Father walked over to the bed and without saying
a word, took me out onto the porch, turned my bare hind-side
up over his knee and gave me a sound spanking with his big, bare hand.

I screamed, "My nose is bleeding! My nose is bleeding!" But Papa kept right on paddling, knowing well enough that the 'blood' I was shedding was only snot and tears! Later Mother also added the Gospel, of course.
When I was about 6 years old I began taking music lessons from a woman in Marysville, and Father, who always so carefully kept us away from town boys; allowed the music teacher’s son to come to the farm to play with us and he even slept with us once.
When I was about 13 years old I was sitting in church one Sunday up in the farthest corner of the balcony, half asleep. All at once the pastor seemed to look at me while he said, "If
you had died last night, where would you be now?"

My conscience told me I'd be in hell. And the thought struck me profoundly. "Lost forever in hell fire!" And I began to listen attentively to the old pastor, Rev. Werfel¬mann, who had just recently confirmed me. I still vividly remember how I drank in his Lenten sermons that Spring and was comforted by them and became a new, really penitent Chris¬tian boy. Even my parents noticed the change in my life.
My mother had died (when J.F. was almost 15) and on Nov¬ember 8, 1883, Father married Matilda Pfeiffer, a sister of Professor Edward Pfeiffer of the Columbus Theological Seminary and University of the Ohio Synod. Through this marriage we got a half-sister, Clara, who had been born out of wedlock to Matilda on February 12, 1869, and lived with us until her own marriage to Peter Gase.

One day my new mother asked me to put a rotten egg into a basket of eggs she intended to take to town and sell at the grocery store. I refused to do it, and told her what a deadly sin that was. From then on she respected me.

When I was 16, the desire to become a teacher arose in my heart. As a teacher I would have the best opportunity to warn other children of the vices I had been saved from, or to save others from sin by using the Law and the Gospel. But then James 3: 1 came to my mind: "My brothers Not many of you should become teachers, for you know that we teachers will be judged with greater strictness than others." (TEV) That made me shy away from teaching for a while.
But now I must tell how I, being born and baptized in the Ohio Synod, go into the Missouri Synod. Both synods had un¬ited in 1878. Up to that time both synods were represented and each had separate congregations not only in the town of Marysville', but also out in the German Settlement. The Ohio Synod had a large church in Marysville, but Missouri had only a small preaching place in town. Out in the Settlement the Missouri Synod had a large church, but the Ohio Synod, to which we belonged, had only a small church. So the thought arose, since the synods are united, why shouldn't the town congrega¬tions unite and the country congregations do the same?

The matter came before President Schwan in Cleveland, and he came down to Marysville and had no trouble getting the two town congregations to unite. Now it so happened that the teach¬er of the large Settlement Missouri Synod congregation was at that meeting, and afterwards he said to President Schwan, "Now Mr. President, tomorrow you come down and unite us in the Set¬tlement, too." Schwan said, "If you get the people together, I'll stay another day and come."
That teacher always took pride in having the fastest trotting horses in the Settlement, so he said, "I'll get them together”, and he did. And so the two country congregations were also united. Since Missouri had a larger church and school and teacher, we children of-the little country Ohio Synod con¬gregation marched down there with our pastor soon after.
But now a new difficulty arose. The congregation had two
pastors and needed only one. So a meeting was held to remedy the situation. The following procedure was decided upon: The Ohio Synod pastor's name was Lehman, and the Missouri pastor's name was Knief. Those who were for Lehman were to write his name on the ballot and those who were for Knief, were to write down his name. Those who were for a new man, or a complete change of pastor, were to write: "Wechsel" (change) on their ballots. The result was that an overwhelming majority, think¬ing that "Wechsel" was the name of the proposed new pastor, wrote "Pfarrer Wechsel" (Pastor Wechsel) on their ballots!

So the congregation then called Pastor Werfelmann of Zion Church in Milwaukee. He accepted the call and later confirmed me. To him I finally went and revealed my desire to become a teacher. But he discouraged me saying, "You know that you have had a touch of tuberculosis and that your lungs are weak. You couldn't stand the air and the dust of a schoolroom. The place for you to go is Springfield Seminary and study to become a pastor. As a pastor you will also have opportunity to teach children in confirmation classes."

That satisfied me, and so I went to Springfield, Illinois, which at that time had only two years of college and a Seminary course of three years with one year of vicarage. I arrived there on my 17th birthday, September 1, 1884, and graduated in June 1890 with a call to be assistant pastor to Rev. J.W. Friedrich at Fall Creek, Wisconsin, where I had served as vicar from 1888 to 1889. It was there I learned to know my future wife, Theo¬dora Clara, the pastor's daughter, who was then sweet sixteen. We fell in love around Christmas 1888 and had a secret agree¬ment when I returned to Seminary on August 7,1889, for my last year. Old Professor Creamer always said to the vicars, "Ihr koennt Euch ja umsehen, aber Brief-wechsel ist strengstens ver¬boten. ("You may look around, but correspondence is strictly forbidden.")

So I obeyed that rule and never wrote a line to Theodora, nor did I receive a single letter from her for that year. But when I returned to Fall Creek in August 1890, I waited only until my 23rd birthday, September first, and on that day, after the table prayer had been said, and before we sat down to eat, I popped the question!
Theodora didn't know that I was going to do this on that day. She was standing with a fly swatter in her hand, chasing flies away from the table. When I came out with my question, she blushed and ran and hid behind the kitchen door!