The 59th Joseph S. Schrock (1859-1936) and Joseph Lester Schrock (1896-1986) fish fry and reunion will be held September 11, 2011, according to David Schrock of Milan, Illinois.

The catfish fillets (caught by Schrock relatives) will be served at noon at New Boston Park, Broadway Street, New Boston, IL. There will be BBQ for those who don’t eat fish. Bring a dish to pass.

The gathering is open to all relatives, close and shirt tail. Last year’s event drew about 120 adults and children. In addition to the picnic there will be time for visiting and sharing of family information and photos. Concludes about 2:30 p.m.

Family Group Photos from the Schrock Reunion

(Click on each for a larger photo)

Schrock family members and guests who attended the Friday evening get acquainted social

Descendants of Johannes Schrock (1801-1875)

Descendants of Joseph Schrock (1828-1901), son of Johannes Schrock

Descendants of Peter Schrock (1839-1922, son of Johannes Schrock

Descendants of Magdalena Schrock Smith (1811-1855)

Descendants of Barbara Schrock Belsly (abt. 1815-1836)

Tour of Historic Sites

This material was used during the tour of historic Schrock sites at the Illinois Mennonite Heritage Center’s “Schrock Immigrant Day” on June 19, 2010.

(The following is for personal use only and not to be used
in published form without permission.)

No. 1
Metamora site of Engel home/barn where first Amish and AC meetings were held

The Engel log barn is traditionally thought to have been the site of the first Amish church meetings as well as the first Apostolic Christian services in Illinois. The barn was built by John and Peter Engel soon after they arrived from France in 1830/31. Their father was Christian Engel, the well-known Amish Mennonite bishop. Eight generations of Engel families have lived on the farm over the last nearly 180 years. The historic engraving of the barn by Jacob Faber shows a cart without wheels. When asked about this, Faber said, “wheels were expensive and rare in those days, and carts and wheels were interchangeable. No doubt some neighbor was using them when the picture was drawn. Faber’s son, Art, tells the story that Indians living in a thick wooded area at the back of Peter Engel’s house would come to see and marvel at the white man’s modern tools. They especially made use of the old grindstone to sharpen their crude hunting knives.

One of the first Apostolic Christian groups was known as the Partridge Prairie Apostolic Christian Church. This congregation often met in the barn on the Peter Engel farm in which the first service of the Amish church had been held in 1833. When snow was knee deep in the winter and mud hub deep in the spring, this devout group would thoroughly sweep the barn, including the walls and rafters, and bake many loaves of bread in preparation for Sunday worship. Pieces of logs were carried into the barn and planks laid across the logs to serve as benches. Chickens sometimes wandered into the barn and someone would quietly shoo them out if they became noisy. Many persons attended the services and one family living at Crow Creek near Lacon drove to Partridge early Sunday morning in their log wagon. Some from Morton and Dillon walked twenty-five miles to services, leaving home at 2:00 in the morning to be at the church on time. At a service held at the Engel barn on July 1, 1866 there were 53 rigs in the yard for the morning service with still more persons attending in the afternoon.

One response by the Amish to the Neu Taufer (New Amish) movement begun by Froelich from Switzerland was the use of a rotating schedule of church services for four of the congregations. In 1854 the Partridge Creek Congregation joined with the Dillon Creek Congregation, die Busch Gemein, and the Delevan Prairie Congregation joined in having church services in these districts in rotation with each district having the service once every four weeks. The services were held in the member’s homes. Each district owned some crude benches made of split logs with three legs. Since the services were held in various homes, the benches had to be carried to the place where the services were to be held that particular Sunday. The services lasted nearly the entire day with a noon lunch of coffee, coffeecake, bread, butter, apple butter, and bean soup served.

No. 2
Guth Cemetery burial of Andrew Schrock

Andrew and Anna lived about four miles west of Washington (Section 18), Tazewell Co., IL. They had to drive or walk approximately ten miles to take a ferry to get to Peoria.  Andrew started to build a large brick home but passed away before it was finished. Children Andrew and Mary, who were young, carried all the brick for this home. In the 1873 Atlas, Washington Twp, 26N, Section 18, appears “A. Schrock” on the northwest corner of the Section. At that time Andrew, his son, owned the land.

One night Andrew stayed with his sister and family who were sick with cholera. The same night he became sick and died before morning, leaving a family of small children, the oldest sixteen, the youngest was born after his death.  One of the children in later years finished the large brick home, using the original plans; half of the second story was planned to be used for church services.

The Schick farm joined the Schrock farm and not far from these farms is the old cemetery (now called Guth Cemetery) where the Andrew Schrock and his daughter Susanna (and possibly the Joseph Schick family) are buried. (Andrew’s son, Andrew, married one of the Schick daughters.) The cemetery is a small plot with 15 or so markers, some of which are nothing but pieces of stone. There are a half dozen or so Guths. One readable stone is for Peter Guth, born in Ransbrunnehof, Palatinate. He was born 1806 and died 1886. His wife was Susanna Oyer. Peter Guth owned the land containing the cemetery. His wife Susanna was a sister to Andrew’s wife Anna, providing the Schrock family access to cemetery plots in the Guth burial grounds.

No. 3
Pekin homestead of Johannes Schrock     and       Nearby Railroad Cemetery

While living in Butler Co. Ohio, Johannes had been hearing of land in Illinois where acres were cheap and crops were abundant. So in 1850 he took three horses and pushed through from Trenton, Ohio, to Pekin to take a look at this new west.  He liked it. He left one horse in Illinois and drove the other two back to the Buckeye state.  He broke the news to his wife that they were moving to Illinois where he had found land to purchase. According to land records Johannes had made arrangements to purchase land from the Neukirk family before the family arrived.

In the autumn of 1850, Johannes and his family moved to Tazewell County and located near Pekin. They first lived in a log house on a farm owned by Andrew Ropp (now the Allen Miller farm) five miles east of Pekin. They were made at home by these Amish Mennonites, known to them in France and already settled in Illinois, and so they prospered. They were surrounded by Gerbers, Heisers, Ropps, Ringenbergers, Birkeys, and a few more recognizable names.

Johannes and his family were counted in the 1850 Butler Co., Ohio, census and were still there in October. They turned up in Tazewell in November and the land sale was completed in December. Helen Neukirk, the widow of Abraham Neukirk, owned a home at the southern edge of the Gerber farm (diagonally across from the present location of the Bethel Mennonite Church). At the turn of the 19th century it was a stage depot on the route from Peoria to Indianapolis.

No. 4
Congerville–home of Magdalena and Christian and homes of Joseph Schrock families

Magdalena and Christian lived in the country near what later became Congerville, Woodford Co., IL. Christian died in 1855 of cholera in his log cabin home. Three days later Magdalena died, followed by the death of her nineteen-year-old daughter Barbara, and a few hours later by her six-year-old son John. There is yet a house on the site of the log cabin, but it has not been determined if the log cabin is still a part of the remodeled home.

Joseph Schrock

The Joseph Schrock farm, son of Johannes, and a well-to-do and successful farmer and stock-raiser of Montgomery Township is located on Section 22. Joseph died in 1901 at age 73. The village of Congerville, begun in the spring of 1888 as a town named Schrock, is situated on a portion of his farm. The History of Congerville reports he owned about 320 acres of land, divided into two farms. Some of the land was bought in 1864, the year he first came to Woodford Co. He improved the land with fences, trees, buildings, etc., and as he improved his lot he purchased more land. Before moving to Montgomery Township, Joseph resided about seven years in Roanoke Township–the second place in which he had located after moving to Illinois in 1850.

The History of Congerville tells the story of the town’s original intention of being named Schrock and the ultimate decision to name it Congerville. In 1887 the Nickel Plate Railroad was being built from Bloomington to Peoria. According to legend and history, the contractors completed the railroad as far as Schrock’s farm when they were halted by the severe winter that year. They settled there to wait for winter to be over. People moved to the railroad community, many seeking to participate in the building job. With this development, a town was formed on the land owned by Joseph Schrock and a plat was recorded Jan 7, 1888, naming the community Town of Schrock. The Schrock name was only attached to the town for one or two years. Eventually the town was named Congerville after Ben Conger, an early settler who owned a considerable amount of land and had a reputation as a fine hunter. However, descendants of Joseph Schrock have an “inside” story about the name change.

Joseph’s son, Jonathan, moved into the homestead house with three children sometime after 1896. He built an addition to the west side for his mother Magdalena.

No. 5
Belsly Cemetery, burial site of Barbara Schrock and Joseph Belsly
Nearby farm of Red Joe and his grandson Joseph

Twelve years after his marriage to Barbara Engel, Red Joe built a red brick farmhouse—it was demolished several years ago (2007/2008). Red Joe and Barbara Schrock’s only son would no doubt have lived in this house a few years before his marriage. Later, the house was painted white. The bricks used for building the house were made from clay dug up from Joe’s land. The barn, which has been gone about ten years, was made without nails. This farm has been in the Belsly family since the day Joseph purchased it and is considered to be the oldest one-family farm in the state.

The first burial of Red Joe and Barbara was somewhere on his farm. Joe’s widow, Barbara Engel, lived until 1881 and was also buried on the farm.  At some time after the deaths, the graves were moved to a different location—into a family cemetery near the homestead on Lourdes Road. Both wives were buried in the same grave, but the stone only names Barbara Engel. This could be the reason why Red Joe’s first wife, Barbara Schrock, was all but forgotten by the Belsly family.

Barbe Schrack (Schrag)
Barbara Schrock Belsly  (abt. 1815 – abt. 1836)
and her descendants

This material was used in the Barbara Schrock Belsly presentation at the Illinois Mennonite Heritage Center’s “Schrock Immigrant Day” on June 19, 2010.
The presentation was made by John Robert Belsly,
direct descendant of Barbara Schrock and Joseph Belsly.

(The following is for personal use only and not to be used
in published form without permission.)

The Belsly family has known very little about Barbara Schrock; in fact, no primary documents have been found for Barbara. She was probably born in France about 1815, possibly in the Saarebourg area of Lorraine. At some point she immigrated to America and lived for a while in Butler Co., Ohio, where the rest of her family lived at the time. Barbara married Joseph Belsly in Butler Co.—likely a short time after his arrival there, and most surely knew the Belsly (Pelsy) family in France. However, just as her birth record has not been found to date, neither has her marriage record.

The couple eventually moved to Woodford County to Joseph’s farm north of Metamora. Their first and only child, Christian, was born there in July 1835. Sometime in 1836, Barbara died, possibly of cholera, at about 21 years of age. She was buried on the farm near their family home.

Joseph Belsly was born at Hof Hellocourt, a farm about seven miles west from Rhodes in Lorraine, France. He was known as “Joe de la Rouge,” or “Red Joe”, because of his distinctive red hair. French cousin, Pierre Pelsy, observed about Red Joe’s immigration to America in 1828 at age 26, “It is told he took along a bag of flour, a sack of dried fruit and a belt in which gold coins were hidden. He must have been a very courageous and adventuresome young man.”

After arriving in America, Joseph went first to Ohio where he found employment. In about 1830/31 he moved to Illinois where the government was selling land for $1.25 per acre. According to History of Woodford County “…Mr. Belsley made claim to a tract on Partridge Creek, later [in 1833] sold to Joseph Johnson, and he settled then in Worth close to the Partridge line.” Partridge Township was at the time a wild, desolate, sparsely settled region. Red Joe was part of the Partridge Township Amish settlement. In 1832 he purchased a 240-acre tract of heavily wooded land on higher ground north of Metamora and built a French-style barn on the property.

In 1840 Red Joe married another Barbara—Barbara Engel. They had no children. Twelve years after his marriage to Barbara Engel, Joseph built a red brick farmhouse. Later it was painted white. The bricks used for building the house were made from clay dug up from his land. This farm has been in the Belsly family since the day Joseph purchased it and is considered to be the oldest one-family farm in the state.

Red Joe was a very successful farmer and known to be one of the wealthiest persons in the area. He was successful growing clover on his land, which had not been done before in that part of the country. As his assets increased he kept buying more land. At the time of his death he was the owner of 15 parcels of land ranging from 40 acres to 320 acres. His son, Christian, never learned how to handle finances, and as a result his father, Joseph, left his estate to Christian’s children. He was able to leave farms in life estates to each of his grandchildren.  His namesake and favorite grandson, Joseph, received the homestead on Lourdes Road.

When Red Joe died on Christmas Eve 1872 at age 70 of what was then called dropsy, or abnormal swelling of the tissues, his nine-page will divided his sizeable fortune into 33 units that took six years to disperse through the probate process. He chose to leave his widow $2,000 but only 80 of his 2,000 acres. Son Christian, who expected a life of leisure, was left only 120 acres and a payment of $150 a year for 20 years. The family farm on Lourdes Road passed more or less intact to the namesake grandchild.

Burial was in a cemetery on his farm. Joe’s widow, Barbara Engel, lived until 1881 and was also buried on their farm. At some time after the deaths, the graves were moved to a different location—a family cemetery near the homestead on Lourdes Road. Both wives were buried in the same grave, but the stone only names Barbara Engel. This could be the reason why Red Joe’s first wife, Barbara Schrock, was all but forgotten by the family.

The story of Christian Belsly, the only son of Red Joe and Barbara Schrock, illustrates the circular nature of some of the family relationships. Red Joe distrusted his son Christian’s easy nature. Relatives considered the only child to be spoiled. But Christian did help his father on the farm. They loaded produce on wagons and hauled it to Chicago. On the return trip they brought back supplies or equipment for the farming operations.

Christian more than likely found his prospective wife during a visit to his uncle Peter Schrock in Butler County. She lived in the next house on Salzman Road. The marriage ceremony was conducted by minister Nicholas Augspurger at Trenton in Butler County on Nov. 18, 1856. Red Joe was 21 and his new wife 19.

Researcher Joseph Staker tells us who Christian’s wife was: “The wife that son Christian Belsly found in Butler County was his second cousin Mary Schertz, who was born in Butler County in 1837. She was the oldest of three daughters of John Schertz and Catherine Engel, who lived on Salzman Road next to Peter Schrock. And when Johannes Schrock left Ohio for Illinois, John Schertz bought his land. John was also the business partner of John Staker, and his daughters were trained in business and accounting. No doubt Mary Schertz made an appropriate partner for the errant son of Red Joe Belsly. Red Joe showed his displeasure with his son by declining to present the groom with the customary gift of acreage from the family farm. Christian was forced to make his own living.”

Christian and Mary first settled in Spring Bay, then Christian purchased land near Deer Creek, IL, where he and his wife lived and raised their family.

“They attended the early East Washington Mennonite Church. They raised nine children…When the first son (second grandchild) was born Grandpa Red Joe drove from his homestead in north Worth Township to see his first grandson. The parents had already chosen a name for the boy, but Grandpa Red Joe said ‘his name is Joseph,’ so that is what he was named. It was that first grandson who later inherited the Red Joe homestead and when grandson Joseph married Ida Foster they moved to that homestead where they raised their family.”

In 1902, on his 67^th birthday, The Progress newspaper carried the following article:

“Today Christian Belsly one of the oldest and most respected citizens of this township, reaches the 67^th milestone of his life, and the children are giving him a happy day…they went to his splendid home on his farm at the south edge of the village limits loaded with provisions enough for a good sized regiment of soldiers and proposed to feast not only their father but themselves, in a manner fit for kings.

To say Chris was surprised to see all the children at home, would be the truth, but when they actually “caned him” with a gold-headed walking stick it became evident to him that with the passing of years things have reversed somewhat, for if we miss not, even our good-natured friend Belsly never raised all his big family of children without doing some caning himself….”

In 1906 he and Mary celebrated their 50^th wedding anniversary. Again The Progress describes the celebration: “Unbroken Vows for Fifty Years! These Two Still Lovers.”

….Mr. and Mrs. Belsly are among our most highly respected citizens, and the whole community rejoice that they have been permitted to celebrate their fiftieth marriage anniversary. The event was one long to be remembered by the children and grand children in attendance. The wedding dinner was all that the season’s products and good culinary skill could make it. The social part of the program was also a source of great enjoyment. Olden times were freely discussed for Mr. and Mrs. Belsly had a liberal touch of pioneer days when the comforts of life were far less than they are today, but these hardships were encountered without complaint. Their chief end in life was to rear their children and educate them for great usefulness in the world; in this they succeeded admirable, as all are useful citizens with ample means to make them useful in their various communities.”

In the end, Christian and his wife ran a prosperous farm and raised nine children (three others did not reach maturity). He served as a school director and commissioner of highways in Deer Creek and was highly regarded in his community. Mary died in 1911 at the age of 74 and Christian died in 1917 at age 81. They are buried in Mt. Zion Cemetery at Deer Creek.

Christian liked fine horses. His granddaughter Verna Belsly said, “He liked to drive foxy horses.” It was said his work horses were always strong and good pullers and many a time Christian would bet a little on the loads they could pull. As Christian was a member of the school board he talked to school children whenever he had a chance. The story was that when he and his father were driving a load of produce to Chicago one early spring when the roads were broken up they came to a sign that read: TAKE CARE OF THE RUT YOU CHOOSE, YOU WILL BE IN IT FOR THE NEXT 50 MILES. He would refer to that and then continue, “Would that we can say to every young man and woman: Take care of the path you choose—you will be in it for the next 50 years. Choose a path of vision and courage with a goal you have to reach for and your life will be a pleasant and profitable adventure.”

If Barbara Schrock Belsly had lived a long life, she would have been very proud of her husband Red Joe and her son Christian, plus all of her grandchildren and great grandchildren.

*** The Belsley-Sauder Genealogy states that ‘Red Joe’ emigrated in 1820, worked in Ohio, moved to Illinois in 1825, and bought land in Partridge (then part of Tazewell County) in 1830. The early dates are not substantiated by other sources.

Additional Information

After Schrock Immigrant Day an unpublished autobiographical manuscript was brought to our attention, written by Verna Belsly, great grandchild of Red Joe and Barbara Schrock, in the 1980s-1990s. Betty (Kenneth) Worner of Metamora has the original and at least one copy is with another Belsly family member. The manuscript contains the following description of the Red Joe Belsly family cemetery near the old homestead on Lourdes Road:

“A church was built on one corner of the farm. Dad (Red Joe’s grandson Joseph) donated the ground for it and a cemetery started there. I was too small to remember. I’ve tried to find out the date, but so far have not been able to get that information.  Rev. Strubhar of Washington Mennonite Church would come every few weeks and have a Sunday eve service and some of the Protestant families nearby became members. Hattie Goehring and I stood up when the invitation was given and sometime later there must have been around six of us who were baptized, but for communion we always went to the Washington church that was a mile east of Washington where the Pleasant View School now stands. In our little church we had S.S. and I recall at least one program–Children’s Day, I presume.  Later on, possibly after we moved to Washington, the church was sold and only the cemetery remains. ”Red Joe” and his two wives had originally been buried in a little cemetery 1/4 mile further north, so their remains were transferred to the one where the church stood.  There were just bones, and those of both wives were put in one container and their tombstone has the name of only the second wife. We knew the first wife was a Schrock but it was later revealed her first name was Barbara. She was the mother of “Red Joe’s” only child, Christian, who was my Grandpa and my Dad’s father.  As mentioned, the second wife was Barbara Engel and I told my Father I thought she looked cross, but he said she was very kind so she must have been a good mother to little Christian who didn’t remember his real Mother. What caused his Mother’s death is not known.  I heard several people died from cholera so perhaps she was a victim.”

Madeleine Schrack (Schrag)
Magdalena Schrock Smith (1811 – 1855)
and her descendants

This material was used in the Magdalena Schrock Smith presentation at the Illinois Mennonite Heritage Center’s “Schrock Immigrant Day” on June 19, 2010.
Compiled and written by Don B. Smith for the presentation given by John J. Smith,
both direct descendants of Magdalena Schrock Smith

(The following is for personal use only and not to be used
in published form without permission.)

Introduction
The life story of Magdalena and Christian parallels that of many early 19^th century immigrants to America.  This presentation outlines this story and also paints a picture of life peculiar to this couple and their children.

Magdalena Schrock, the daughter of Joseph and Marie Neuhauser Schrock, was born in Moselle, France in 1811.  Christian, was born shortly before his future wife in 1809. Some genealogies show his parents to be Jacob Peterschmidt and Barbara Lauber.  Others question this.  Most agree that he came from Alsace Lorraine, a son of one of the many Anabaptist Schmidt/Peterschmidt families in the area.

Our story begins in the late 1820s in Butler County, Ohio, specifically Trenton Township. Magdalena is newly arrived with some of her brothers. Christian, probably seeking opportunity in America arrives without other identified family members.

The narrative of Christian and Magdalena that follows is based on information from a number of sources.  First are notes from members of the Oyer family.  Second, Donna Schrock Birkey and Dr. Neil Ann Stuckey Levine have authored several articles in the Illinois Mennonite Heritage Quarterly and other publications on the Schrock family.  Third, reports available online from the Tazewell County, IL, Historical Society and Willard Smith’s book, Mennonites in Illinois provide added historical detail.  Other sources from certain Internet genealogy sites have provided further information.

It should be noted that not all sources agree on all the information presented here.  For example, some show more than three children born in Butler County whereas I show three.  Some state that the family relocated to Illinois from Ohio in 1841 whereas my research indicates the more likely year to be 1837.  Some sources state that family members died from cholera in 1854, others, including me believe 1855 the more likely date.  Some also report that three children in the family died at this time, others, including me believe that two died.  Regardless of these historical discrepancies, all sources agree on the main thrust of these ancestors’ story as presented here.

COMING TO AMERICA
Christian Schmidt, according to Oyer family notes, arrived in America disembarking in New York. He then traveled up the Hudson River, crossed New York State on the Erie Canal, and then traveled by canal to Butler Co., Ohio.  Indeed, from a ship passenger list available on the Internet, I’ve found that he arrived in New York on the ship Sully in 1828.  There is no indication that Christian traveled with any other family members. We can reasonably surmise that he had contacts in Ohio, thus knew where he was headed and wasted no time in getting there.

Magdalena came to America around 1830 [in 1831], in the company of one or more of her brothers.  Although we do not know the details, a common route for many Butler Co. settlers was embarkation in Baltimore, sometimes a short stay in Lancaster Co., PA and then a move on to the growing Amish Mennonite community in Butler Co. It was here that Magdalena met and married Christian Schmidt.

BUTLER COUNTY, OHIO – THE EARLY MENNONITE COMMUNITY
What was the setting in which Magdalena and Christian married and why did they come to this particular place?

We are fortunate to have a history of the Mennonites in Butler County, collected and written by Reverend W. H. Grubb, published in 1916.  Grubb was the pastor of the Apostolic [Mennonite] Church in Trenton, Ohio, and had access to family Bibles, church records and other documents to chronicle a convincing outline of life in that community.

The first Amish Mennonite settlers in Butler County were led by Christian Augspurger, a farmer (more precisely a farm manager) from around Strasbourg, France.  Grubb notes that Christian Augspurger first settled in Pennsylvania in 1817 and then moved west to Ohio with a few others shortly thereafter.  Here he decided to purchase land and begin farming.  He returned to France in 1818 and then in the spring of 1819 he brought back a group of 36 families to America, with six of these families settling in Butler County.

He eventually bought more land, established larger farms, and prospered.  As I’ve observed with certain of the early Amish and Mennonite immigrants in Lancaster County, in Germantown, PA, and in the Shenandoah Valley in western VA., there were one or several early  pioneers who purchased land from the resident “English” and then sold off portions to other  families coming from the old country in the ensuing years.

Thus the community in Butler County was established and growing by the time Magdalena and her brothers and Christian arrived a decade or so later.  Grubb writes “that as early as 1831 some… had drifted to IL  … where they established the first Amish church west of Ohio.”  Thus the inevitable pioneer movement toward the west in search of more and less expensive land was joined too by our Anabaptist ancestors.

Religious services were held in homes and in 1825 the first minister, Jacob Kriehbel from Canada, came to minister to the Amish families.  A few years later other ministers settled in the area, as did Hessian Mennonites from Germany.  By 1835 there were both Mennonite and Amish congregations in Butler County.

THE CHRISTIAN AND MAGDALENA SCHROCK FAMILY IN BUTLER COUNTY
Magdalena and Christian were married about 1832 according to notes passed down in the Oyer family.  Possibly the ceremony took place in the one of the homes of Magdalena’s siblings.  There was no church building for the Amish congregation at this point.  However, there were three ministers serving the Amish community at the time, Peter Naffziger, Jacob Augspurger, and Peter Schrock.  Peter was an older brother of Magdalena and in this capacity may have performed or at least participated in the marriage ceremonies.  As a sidelight, Amish marriages were not recorded with Butler County authorities at this time, so there are no records of these marriages in the County archives.  About a decade later, at least some Amish and Mennonite congregations did register events with the authorities.

Magdalena and Christian’s first child, Mary was born in 1833, Barbara was born about 1836, and third child Peter was born in 1837.

During this period, Christian and Magdalena were able to purchase 5 acres of land in Lemon Township. Here they farmed and raised the three children.  [This plot was no doubt purchased from brother Peter, as it was situated in the middle of a parcel of land belonging to Peter.--db]

While researching records in the Butler County archives located at Hamilton, the present day county seat, I came across a deed of sale showing the transfer of property in Lemon Township from Christian, Magdalena, and a Joseph Smith to Peter Schrock.  The date of the deed was August 28, 1848 and the deed was recorded November 30, 1850.  We assume that Peter Schrock was Magdalena’s brother.  Some say that Christian had a brother Joseph, maybe the Joseph named on the deed.  The deed was “verified” by Samuel S. McCord, Justice of the Peace, Woodford County, Illinois.

From descriptions on the deed I was able to locate the property on land maps available on the Internet from the Butler county web site.  From these maps, six years ago I was able to visit the area and see this acreage, today located in a mix of farmland, wooded area, some houses and some commercial structures.  No house existed on the five-acre parcel at that time.

THE TREK TO ILLINOIS
As I noted before, some earlier Butler County Anabaptist farmers had migrated to central Illinois. My guess is that with reports back from these persons the Smith family (and maybe others) was lured west to Illinois because of the prospect of an abundance of fertile and less expensive land.

Thus, according to the Oyer account, in August of 1837, the family traveled west in a covered wagon with three small children, the youngest, Peter, just six weeks of age.  They settled near Bloomington, most likely near present day Congerville, purchasing an 80-acre farm with an existing house.

Within a year the first of five more children to complete their family was born.  These five (Anna, Magdalena, Joseph, Christian, and John, in that order) were all born in Illinois, the last in 1848.  We assume that Christian’s principal occupation in Illinois was farming, although many heads of family were engaged in supplementary occupations like land speculation, farm animal trading, carpentry, and merchandising of products brought in from Peoria.  One must consider that there was considerable travel between these areas and Bloomington, Peoria, and even Chicago to sell farm produce and procure supplies for use on the farms.

During this period (1830 into the 1850s) new settlers were moving into the area, the prairie was being broken up into farms (in many cases tiles laid to keep fields drained in the flat and low-lying areas), towns and villages were incorporated, trade and commerce was growing.

For historical perspective, by the time Christian and Magdalena settled in their new home, Illinois was already a state, the native American Indians had largely been driven out of the state, with their defeat in the Black Hawk war of 1832 completing that. Abe Lincoln was a circuit riding lawyer and growing in political influence in central Illinois. Chicago was rapidly becoming the state’s largest city.  All this is to say that the Smith family was living in a time and place of growth and expanding opportunity. Willard Smith, writing in his history, states that, “Although life was often hard on the Illinois prairie at this time, hardworking Amish immigrants generally prospered.  The land was fertile and productive.  Growing markets for farm output were reasonably nearby, and there was an abundance of wildlife.”

During this period, the family began to use the “Smith” name.  As described in family notes,

“When the children were old enough to attend the ‘English’ schools here, Peter changed his name to the English spelling, ‘Smith.’  His brothers, sisters and even cousins followed suit.  The family had been advised not to change to the English form if they expected any inheritance from Germany but they had nothing to expect so had nothing to lose.”  I’ve also read that some of the German families of this time and place adopted English spellings of surnames in order to fit in with neighbors.

We’ve no specific knowledge of where the family worshiped but probably in various Amish homes, as congregations with a meetinghouse were to follow in later years.

TRAGEDY STRIKES
One of the unfortunate realities of life at the time was that of disease and untimely death.  In his history, Smith lists three common maladies; Asiatic cholera, malaria, and tuberculosis.  Epidemics of cholera would sweep through central Illinois from time to time.  Often these would originate in the more populated areas (Peoria for example), be introduced into the community by a visitor or returning farmer, and then spread to various households.  Doctors were few, the germ theory of disease was not known (at least not in prairie communities), and sanitary practices were little understood by the families.

In July or August of 1855 Magdalena and Christian’s family was stricken. Oyer family notes state that this happened after Christian returned from a trip to Bloomington. Christian died on the 2^nd of August, Magdalena died a few days later, and shortly after that daughter Barbara, then youngest son John perished.  Although some reports indicate three children died, my finding is that six children survived – Mary (21 or 22 years old at the time), Peter (18), Anna (about 15), Magdalena (14), Joseph (11), and Christian (9).  According to the Oyer family, Barbara was engaged to a Dan Garber at the time of her death.
One can only imagine the difficulties the remaining family members underwent in the aftermath of this tragedy and the impact on the larger community.

In a letter to Tilman Smith in 1950, Mary Oyer related,
“All four died of cholera within a short space of time. On Wednesday Grandpa died. He contracted it the day before in Bloomington. Thursday was the funeral, and the rest were all well at that time. By Saturday night Grandma died at 12:00, then Barbara half an hour later, then John Monday morning at 3:00. No funeral for them. Those who got sick at the funeral were Andrew Schrock, Grandma’s brother and Mrs. Ulrich. This is the way my father [Peter] gave it many times, how sad it was for them all. My father said, ‘I always dread August and the thought of what happened. It’s been 21 years now.’ And that same year, November 17, my father went to die a victorious death.”

A poignant coda is related in Willard Smith’s book noted before.  Speaking of the orphaned Peter Smith (and my Great Grandfather)  –  “As an orphan … he had to hire himself out to others.  It is said that while working in the field one day he went to a nearby neighbor and asked for a drink of water. The lady, knowing his background, gave him a drink but would not let him enter the house, but instead opened the door only the few inches necessary to pass out the cup of water and then to receive the cup but did not know that people caught cholera from others! Such behavior added to the difficulties and loneliness of those suspected of being bearers of the dreaded disease.”

THE SURVIVORS
Six children of Magdalena and Christian survived.  The list below shows their ages at the time of the death of their parents and siblings.  The children were taken in by relatives and friends, and eventually they all married, raised children and either remained in central Illinois or moved on to Harper Kansas.  Here is a brief summary of their remaining years.

Mary (1833 – 1896)
Three years after the death of her parents, Mary married Frederick Fellrath.  They moved to Harper Kansas, where they raised four children.  Mary was a member of the Apostolic Christian Church there and lived to 63, passing away in 1896.

Peter (1837 – 1875)
After the death of his parents, Peter (my Great Grandfather) worked as a hired hand, then married Barbara Neuhauser in 1861.  Their first child Mary was born 10 months later and the family lived in three different places over the next few years and added more children. This was during the Civil War period.  Peter was able to avoid service by paying a $100 fee (as Smith family lore states, “the government needed the money and it needed farmers even more”).

The family eventually settled on an 80-acre farm near Gridley in Waldo Township.  Peter died at the early age of 38 from complications of typhoid fever.  Barbara died six years later in 1881 from TB.

“The closing days of Grandfather’s (Peter) life were memorable. His mind was remarkable clear, especially his last day on earth. He seemed to realize or expect that today he was going to leave them. He thanked Dr. Monroe saying, ‘I know you’ve done everything you could to restore me to health, but my time has come to go.’ (The doctor went to a window, to hide his tears.) During that day he admonished the family to shun evil and follow godly convictions. (He spoke to them in German.) He would often fall asleep perhaps in a semi-conscious state. Each time upon awakening, he would have further words of advice or instruction, and often asked, ‘Is it not yet five o’clock?’ The last time he awoke he was in a gloriously triumphant state. ‘I see into Heaven! Oh, what a glorious sight! If only I could show it to you! I wish I could take all of you with me.’ Then followed more admonitions especially to his three little boys. He placed his hand on ‘Johnnie’s’ head and said, ‘If only I could take you along, before you grow up to cope with the evil and the temptations you have to meet.’ At 5:00 p.m. he drew his last breath.”  (From The Maninger Family,  Compiled by F. Robert Henderson and Barbara Craig Phelps. Copyright 2000. Taken from original Lydia Oyer material.)

Anna (1840 – 1861)
Our knowledge of Anna’s short life is sketchy.  She married John Garber in 1858, three years after her parents died.  Some accounts list four children but names and birth dates are either unknown or suspect.  Anna died of TB at the early age of 21 in 1861, just three years after her marriage.

Magdalena (1841 – 1914)
She first married Peter Neuhauser, a brother of her brother Peter’s wife, Barbara Neuhauser.  They had three children, all of whom died at a young age.  Then she married Valentine Maninger in Bloomington in 1866.  They moved to Harper, Kansas in 1885.  They were the parents of eight children.  Valentine, a German immigrant, was a shoemaker.  He served in the Union Army for three years before returning and marrying Magdalena, then a widow.  He was said to be a prosperous farmer in Kansas.

Joseph (1844 – 1889)
Some list Joseph’s birth date as 1843. He married Barbara Roth in 1863. Around 1885 they moved to Harper, Kansas. Joseph died at the age of 45 and is buried in Harper.  Joseph, and likely Barbara too, were raised in Amish families, but we do not know if they were baptized into an Amish congregation before they joined the Apostolic Christian Church. They had eight children. At least one daughter, Mary Smith Witzig, moved back to central Illinois and has descendants living in the area.

After Joseph’s brother Peter died in 1875 and Peter’s wife died in 1881, Joseph actively assisted the family of six children, all under 20 years old.  Peter’s daughter Mary Smith Oyer remembered and recounted her Uncle Joe’s kindness even towards the end of her life, in 1955.

Christian (1846 – 1924)
Christian married Phoebe Sweitzer.  They had two sons.  Christian never affiliated with any church. He enlisted in the Civil War, was stationed in the Memphis area and served as a Private.  After his service, Christian farmed with his brother-in-law in central Illinois. Phoebe died in 1912 and Christian remarried in 1914.  He lived 10 more years–the longest lived of Christian and Magdalena’s children.

From these six surviving children of Magdalena and Christian sprang many descendants with surnames of Smith, Fellrath, Weyeneth, Miller, Oyer, King, Maninger, Loeffler, Doughty, Witzig, Irion, and Domnick.

FINAL  OBSERVATIONS
What can we conclude from examining the lives of Magdalena and Christian?

First, they only lived 43-44 years, yet this short existence was filled with adventure, hardship, toil, and the establishment of considerable family legacy. In a period of less than a decade they made the long voyage across the Atlantic to new life, started a family, and then traveled overland to begin a new life in another new land.  Here no doubt they toiled hard, braved cold Illinois winters, and raised eight children.  Yet within twelve years of their arrival on the Illinois prairie, both their lives would end prematurely.

Second, their story reminds us of the reasons that drove most American pioneers: freedom of worship, social justice, and economic opportunity.  Of course we are the beneficiaries of Christian and Magdalena’s fortitude.  It is good to remember their story, give them thanks for the sacrifices they made on our behalf and pass along the outline and meaning of our heritage as exemplified by Magdalena and Christian to our descendents.

Andreas Schrack (Schrag)
Andrew Schrock  (1803-1855)
and his descendants

This material was used in the Andrew Schrock family presentation at the Illinois Mennonite Heritage Center’s “Schrock Immigrant Day” on June 19, 2010.
The presentation was made by Debbie Birkey.

(The following is for personal use only and not to be used
in published form without permission.)

My name is Magdalene Schick. I grew up on the farm next to Andrew and Anna Schrock, not far from here in Washington Township, Woodford County, Illinois. I played with their children Andrew Jr. and Mary—many times by the stream flowing nearby, and I worked on my parents’ farm as children were expected to do. My parents were Joseph and Magdalene Augspurger, and we had a large farm and plenty of money to care for our large family of ten children. One of the things I remember about my father was how he loved his wine!

I was only six years old when I heard father and mother talking about the dreaded cholera sickness that was making so many people die that August of 1855. Then they told me that Father Andrew had taken care of his sister Magdalena, who died with cholera the night before, and the next day he died of cholera too. I felt so sorry for my playmates Andrew and Mary and their sisters and brothers, I cried myself to sleep that night. Father Andrew was buried near his farm in a cemetery on Peter Guth’s farmland. Andrew’s wife Anna was a sister to Peter’s wife, Susanna.

I remember how Andrew and Mary’s Uncle Peter Guth, Uncle Johannes Schrock, and cousin Joseph Schrock took on the responsibility of caring for Anna and her children.

But who was going to finish the big brick house Father Andrew had been building for his family? Andrew and Mary had carried all the bricks for the house and once in a while I had helped them. I was looking forward to worshiping with them in the special room upstairs, but that had to wait until years later when some of the older children finished the house. That lovely big brick house stood for many, many years.

Time passed and we all grew up. Eleven years after Father Andrew died, Andrew and I were married in 1866. Soon we were blessed with our first child Magdalena, and with her in tow we moved to Lamar, Missouri, where a number of people we knew lived. In two years little Elizabeth, “Lizzie” as called her, joined our family. We should have been happy, but we weren’t. Come to find out, Andrew wasn’t a very responsible husband and father. He came and went as he pleased and didn’t provide for us very well. I wasn’t sure how we were going to make it through those years. At least with Andrew gone so much of the time, another child didn’t arrive until seven years later, when our first son, Samuel, was born; then Edward, and finally, ten years later, Andrew, namesake of his father and grandfather.

But I just could not continue living like this—not knowing where we would get money for food and clothing. The two girls were married to boys from Nebraska– Ed King and Will Unzicker—and so we all decided to pull up stakes and move to Nebraska. The girls and I rode in the passenger section of an “immigrant train” and the boys rode in the baggage car. We left Andrew behind in Missouri where he worked as a blacksmith from time to time.

After our move we seldom saw or heard from Andrew. He would occasionally visit us in Nebraska. He would go to Sam’s gas station, barefooted, much to Sam’s irritation. One day during the early 1920s we told him goodbye and he walked off down the road and we never heard from him again. Someone told us later that Andrew had gone to Portland, Oregon, in 1924. We advertised for him out in that area, but got no response. My dear playmate and husband had abandoned his family years earlier, but it made my heart sad to realize he was never coming back and was probably living a miserable life. Perhaps losing his father at such an early age had affected him more than I realized, for he was never quite able to meet the challenges of providing for and loving a family. He was known to have said, “When I feel I can no longer be of use on this earth, I’ll jump in the river.” Sam still believes Andrew drowned himself in the Columbia River.

My son Samuel was born in Lamar, Missouri, and had been named Samuel Truman after John Anderson Truman who lived in Lamar. (You would know him years later as the father of Harry S. Truman.) After moving to Holdrege, Nebraska, at age 13 and living on the farm six miles north of town for a while, Sam learned to love and master all aspects of farming. He was one of the pioneer farmers of Holdrege and farming captured him the rest of his 98 years. Why, in the Phelps County Courthouse cornerstone is “one perfect corn ear raised by Sam Schrock in 1910!” He was the very opposite of his father, Andrew. As a family we worked hard and knew how to make the most of what we had. That first year we broke 15 acres of sod. And I could tell my oldest son would make something of himself when that first winter we had no money to buy fuel, Sam took his two brothers and with their two little white mules gathered 15 wagon loads of buffalo chips and corn stalks so we could survive the cold winter with a little bit of comfort. We lived in that sod house for ten years.

I sent Samuel to a sod schoolhouse two months in the spring and two months in the fall. Every morning he left home carrying his own chair, walking one mile in rain, snow, sleet, hail, blizzard, or Nebraska heat, to sit around a long wooden table in the center of the room.

In 1903 Samuel married a sweet, kind woman, Helen Sauer, and they bought a 1000-acre farm near Holdrege. Sam used his good business sense again and again. He bought a grinder and mixed his own feed using a scoop of corn, a scoop of cobs and a bundle of atlas sorgo. Using this method his cattle feeding program continued to show a profit. The Great Depression didn’t seem to have a great effect on him.

After moving to town by no means did Sam slow down. He built one of the first service stations, and the first locker plant for Holdrege. He used parolees from the penitentiary for farm labor, and the results were successful. Sam was good to them and one stayed on with him for five years. Sam was a “go getter”, thrifty and seemed to know how to make things turn a profit. He thought about retiring, but he couldn’t just sit around, so he bought an old hotel and Ragan and one in Atlanta and used the lumber to build a large building in Holdrege, The Schrock Building, for many businesses.

That son of mine was always thinking up something new. He bought the ice plant and delivered ice to the railroad so travelers would by is ice. He built an IGA grocery store, and during WWII, when housing was short, he remodeled many old houses and apartments. Then, when in his 60s and 70s, he went back to farming. One of my grandson’s said, “When Dad moved to town, he quit raising pigs and raised little girls, but it doesn’t seem that Sam ever stopped farming a day in his [99-year] life.”

Now one of those girls was Violet May. Her chores were helping her father outside on the ranch, picking up cobs for the fire; working in the fields with her horses named Dick and Fanny and John and Frank—the tamer ones. After field work, in the evening she would go to the pasture and get the cows. When Violet was seven years old Mama made lots of doll clothes for her doll, but when Sammy was born not long after, Mama said, “Aren’t we lucky we have all these doll clothes for the baby? And one Christmas Violet’s Mama told her that she’d outgrown her toys and since they had nothing to give to brother Sammy they wrapped up her bank, coffee grinder and teddy bear and gave them to Sammy. Mama decorated the teddy bear with red trim on his arms so Sammy wouldn’t recognize him.

Violet had some bad memories of her “controlling” father, my son Samuel Truman, but she said she never heard her parents quarrel, argue or fight. She remembers the huge house her father built in Holdrege, where she was later married, and that house was later described in the Holdrege Daily Citizen as, “the house that Sam Schrock built in 1926, now a Bed and Breakfast.”

Sammy, who received all of Violet’s toys and doll clothes, lived with four sisters. He had very distinct impressions of his father, Samuel, Sr., “He was ornery and self-centered.”

One of his earliest memories was riding to town with his father in the 1914 Republic truck around 1920. His feet couldn’t touch the floor. Sammy thinks the truck was actually a 1916 model but his father wanted it to coincide with the year of his son’s birth—he wasn’t above stretching the truth to fit his pleasure! He was flamboyant and larger than life. Sam, Sr. had a love for music and passed this on to several in his family.

Sam, Sr.’s children remember some of his quotes: “Style and education ruin the country;” “I can talk myself into trouble and I can talk myself out of trouble,”  (his wife, Helen, on the other hand used to say, “Silence is golden,” and be embarrassed at what her husband said); “Hello, I’m Sam Johnson.”  (Everyone knew who he was—this was just part of his personality. Sam was a Democrat and of German descent, but he managed to live comfortably in Phelps County with its preponderance of Swedes and Republicans.)

The “ranch” (our land 12 miles north of Holdrege) was always important to our family, but my son Samuel wouldn’t sell the property to his son and namesake. He was going to sell to another family, but his wife Helen stuck up for her family and wouldn’t sign the papers. About 20 years later Sam Jr. and his sisters approached their 94-year-old Papa and were able to buy it—at more than market value! About this same time my son’s children (Sammy was appointed conservator) had to take over his affairs, and Sam was furious at this loss of control and never really forgave his children for doing this. Sammy once commented, “Papa used to brag about me to other people, but he never complemented me to my face.”  This caused my grandson to change his behavior with his own children. He put his sons in charge of the farming at an early age and they are in control of themselves and independent.

Much of the information about the Andrew Schrock family is taken with permission from the book Schrock Farms 1908-2008, copyrighted and compiled by Sharon Schrock and Nancy Morse.

Additional Information

Birth Record of Andrew Schrock, Sr.
Translation of birth document:

Mayor’s office in Gondrexange, arrondissement of Sarrebourg, 14 Messidor XII of the French Republic [July 3, 1804], birth certificate of André Schrack, born the same day, about 8 a.m., son of Joseph Schrack, miller, and Marie Neyehouser, living at the said Gondrexange. The sex of the infant has been recognized to be male. The baby has been presented to me by the witnesses, Antoine Honquet [spelling taken from the man’s signature], 36, mason, and Hubert Barthelemy, 40, school teacher, both living in the said Gondrexange. And following the declaration made to me by Joseph Schrack, father of the child, they have signed [the document]. Prepared according to law by me, Joseph Thiébeau, mayor of the community (commune) of Gondrexange, serving as public official for recording vital statistics of citizens (l’état civil).

Guardianship bond
(for $10,00) for Andrew’s children, dated 10 Aug 1857:

Know all Men by these Presents,

That we Anna Schrock, Peter Guth, Johannes Schrock and Joseph Schrock…

for the use of Anna Schrock, Andrew Schrock, Mary Schrock, Peter Schrock and Madaline Schrock, minor heirs of Andrew Schrock, late of said County, deceased….

Document contains signatures of Peter Guth and Johannes Schrag (Anna’s brothers-in-law), Joseph Schrock, her nephew; and the mark of Anna Oyer Schrock.

Pierre Schrack (Schrag)
Peter Schrock (1802-1887)
and his descendants

This material was used in the Peter Schrock presentation at the Illinois Mennonite Heritage Center’s “Schrock Immigrant Day” on June 19, 2010.
The presentation was made by Donna Schrock Birkey.

(The following is for personal use only and not to be
used in published form without permission.)

France and Emigration to America

Peter Schrock was the second child born to Joseph and Marie. While older brother Johannes’ birth document has not been found, his marriage document states he was born in Gondrexange. Siblings before and after him were born there, and Peter’s birth document confirms his birth in that village. As an adult, Peter worked as a miller in Europe and after emigrating to America purchased land in Ohio and owned several farms.

Peter’s gravestone states his birth as June 17, 1802. But his birth document gives his birth date as June 15,1802, ((26 prairial an 10, the boy was born at 3:00 a.m) in Gondexrange, Moselle, France. At this point we can only guess at the cause for the discrepancy.

While still in France, Peter married Magdalena Zimmerman. Their recently discovered marriage record tells us:  On Aug. 25, 1827, Peter Schrag, apprentice miller, 25, b. at Gondrexange, Meurthe June 15, 1802, living in Robert-Espagne, son of Joseph Schrag, unskilled laborer and Maria Neuhauser, living at Rhodes, who did not attend the civil ceremony in Robert-Espagne but instead forwarded official notice of their consent via a royal notary at Sarrebourg, married Maria Zimmermann, a day worker, 26, b. in Emmendingen, [Grand] Duchy of Baden, Apr. 17, 1801, daughter of majority age of Jacob Zimmermann, unskilled laborer, and Elisabeth Becher his wife, both living in Robert-Espapgne, both of whom attended the civil ceremony. Banns at Robert-Espagne on Sundays, Aug. 12 and 19, at noon, and at Rhodes and Blamont on the same dates [Rhodes is where Peter’s parents lived and Blamont is where Johannes and his family lived at the time]. All being in order, Peter Schrag and Maria Zimmermann are man and wife.  The four mandatory witnesses [the first two customarily for the groom, the second two for the bride]:

1) Joseph Engel, miller, 50, living in Robert-Espagne, friend of the couple;
2) Jean Pierre Olivier, locksmith (serrurier), 31, living in Robert-Espagne, friend of the couple;
3) Jean Baptiste Hirat, tobacco retailer 32, living in Robert-Espagne, friend of the couple; and
4) Hilaire Joseph Remy, operator of a boarding house, 29, living in Robert Espagne.

After their marriage in Robert-Espagne, the residence at the time of Peter and his in-laws, the couple remained in the nearby village of Dompcevrin, Meuse, through the birth of their first two children and
most likely until their emigration in 1831.

The couple raised eight children. After Magdalena died in 1862 in Butler Co., Ohio, Peter married another Magdalena–Magdalena Rediger. Her gravestone reads: Magdalena Rediger, the Frau von Peter Schrack. Geb. [born] 25, Ockt, 1829; Gest.[died] 23, April 1896. Underneath is inscribed in German Ps. 17:15: And
I—in righteousness I shall see your face; when I awake, I shall be satisfied with seeing your likeness.

Peter arrived in Baltimore in the spring of 1831 with his wife and first two children.
The arrival list reads as follows: Peter Gerrard, 30, male, Miller; Peter age 3; Mary, 21 female; Madaline age 1; but it was not until 24 years later that Peter became a naturalized citizen. His brother Johannes was naturalized in 1844.

The listing of Peter’s family was preceded by the Johannes Gerard and Michael Salzman families, and followed by the Zimmerman family. The ship’s manifest may have been lost or destroyed, as no researcher has come across it, but this list is from the 1831 quarterly summary of arrivals at the port of Baltimore. (Johannes is listed as Jno. Gerard, and sister Magdalena was on board as well.)

Butler County, Ohio
Land purchases

Peter either had someone lease his first 81+ acres on his behalf in 1829, or he had made a previous trip to Butler Co. before bringing his family in 1831. He leased another 81+ acres in 1833 and after fulfilling the two lease agreements, Peter purchased from the State of Ohio the 162 76/100 acres he called Fairview Farm.  This farm was sold in 1988 and no longer exists. It was on Rt. 63, Middletown, Lemon Township, once in view of LeSourdsville that lay to the west.

Peter also purchased 210 acres from Samuel and Susan Hull that was Woodsdale farm. The present day address is 4870 Augspurger Rd., Hamilton, St. Clair Township. The original Woodsdale home and barn can still be seen from the highway on high ground overlooking the Great Miami River.  One of Peter’s young grandsons, John, while living at Woodsdale Farm with his parents  (perhaps about 1875) decided he could fly. He jumped out of this barn loft and broke both arms!

Sunnybrook Farm was purchased by Peter, Sr. sometime between 1850-1860, then it was sold to his son Peter Jr. in 1862. The house and farm is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. This property on the edge of Trenton is now surrounded by other buildings.

The house originally had a side porch but now has an addition in its place. There is a two-bay porch of cut wood with brackets at the roof line, detail of dentil and corbel trim, and remnants of the original smoke house . This farm’s bank barn with its date of 1878 has been moved to a new location and is presently the residence of the nationally known barn restoration expert, David Gaker and his wife.

Ministry
Early in the 1830s Peter was appointed a minister of the Augspurger church. When that church divided in 1835 over friction brought about by German Hessians arriving on the scene, Peter Schrock and Jacob Augspurger remained with the Augspurger group. The Hessian Mennonites had “worldly” goods consisting of books, pewter mugs and plates. After the division Peter was appointed a minister of the conservative “hook and eye” congregation. Peter held meetings in his brick home and his descendants still refer to the front room of that house as the “church room.” That particular house is no longer standing.

In 1862 Peter attended the first Diener-Versammlung in Wayne Co., OH, where 400-500 people from up to 900 miles apart attended. On the agenda was the proper manner of baptism, the role of deacon, and the particular Butler County friction about luxurious dressing, musical instruments and worldly entertainment—all were voted not to be permitted.

In 1863 a meeting house was built in St. Clair Township on Gephart Road. At about the same time the Hessian group was incorporated as the Apostolic Mennonite Society and they purchased land on Wayne-Madison road from John Good to be used for a church site and cemetery. Both meeting houses stood into the 1900s and the cemetery is still used today. After separating in 1835, the two congregations merged again in 1897.

Family Documents
Several journals were kept by Joseph A. Schrock, grandson of Peter. One has a recipe for “Magic Liniment”:  Spirits of hartshorn 1 1/2 oz.; Sulphuric Ether 1 1/2 oz.; Spirits of turpentine 1/2 oz.; Sweet oil 3/4 oz.; Oil of cloves 1/2 oz.; Chloroform 1 oz.  Use for sore throat and weak loins and the like.

A document from 1877 reads: To the brewers appointed to brew and locate a road on the 14th inst (instant) according to a notice given in the Butler County Democrat of a late date said Road to run through the land of the heirs of Peter Schrock Sen, Woodsdale Butler County Ohio the undersigned. The proposed route of said road and after due deliberation do claim that the following damages as estimate are reasonable and pray your honorable body as viewers of such road to grant as follows for extra fencing and land, One Thousand Dollar  $1000. June the 14th 1877.

Item 2 of Peter’s will stipulated that Peter’s second wife be paid $2,000 in cash–requested because of a anti [pre]-nuptial contract made between Peter and his wife in lieu of her dower in his real estate and in lieu of all statutory provisions and allowances for the benefit of widows. Peter Sr. left his house and lot to Peter Jr., and “to my said son Peter, and to my grand daughter Lisetta Kinsinger, I give all the rest and residue of my estate to be divided between them, share and share alike.

“The reason why I have given to my son Peter my house and lot in Trenton is because he remained with me about eight years after he became of age and largely during that time assisted me in accumulating my property, and has ever since been a kind and considerate son. And the reason why I have given to my son Peter and my grand daughter Lissetta the residue of my estate is because my other grand children have commenced partition proceedings in the Common Pleas Court of Butler Co, to sell my two farms in Lemon and St. Clair Townships, for which I made deeds to my four children in 1868, with the understanding that I was to have the possession and use thereof during my lifetime.” The family of Peter was not immune to wrangling over his properties as he reached the end of his life.

Appraisment of Personal Estate and Property by appraisers J. V. Good, F. V. Weaver and Jos. Eicher include: 19 bu. ear corn at 40 cents per bu.($7.73) and 11 bu. Oats at 30 cents ($3.38); barrels, boxes and kegs (25 cents); buggy ($10); monkey wrench and hammers (40 cents).

At the sale on Oct. 29, 1887, one chopping axe was purchased by Mary Zimmerman for 25 cents; Jos. Rupp paid $1.60 for some anthracite coal; grandson Joseph A. Schrock paid 50 cents for 6 Windsor chairs; and quilting frames went to Mr. Cooper for 50 cents.

Peter’s Descendants
Four of Peter’s children remained single: Anna, Frana, Elizabeth and Christian, and four married and raised families.

Peter, Jr.

Coincidentally, Peter, Jr. married two wives (consecutively!) with the same first name just as his father had done. He first married Elizabeth K. Augspurger and after her death at the age of 37, Peter Jr. married is first wife’s second cousin, another Elizabeth Augspurger.

Descendants of Peter, Jr.
Joseph A and Lina Augspurger.

Homer Hyde and Caroline Thienemann. According to a journal notation by his father Joseph, Homer had a thorn in his foot from August 1898 to Oct 1900–over a year!  Homer had three sons including Eugene who preserved much of the family’s history.  There were five additional living children.

Descendants of Magdalena (married Joseph Arthur “Otto” Salzman)
John, Christian, Peter, Joseph Arthur, Anna M., Mary B.

Descendants of Maria (married Christian Kinsinger)
Veronica Ellen, Lisetta

Descendants of John (married Emelia Augsburger)
Christian, Otellia, Arthur, Alvin, Oscar, John, Stanley, Maria, Albert and Otto

Johannes Schrack (Schrag)
Johannes Schrock (1801-1875)
and his descendants

This material was used in the Johannes Schrock presentation at the Illinois Mennonite Heritage Center’s “Schrock Immigrant Day” on June 19, 2010.

The presentation was made by Justine Detweiler Trout, John Cender, Don Schrock, Frank Kandel, and Kathy Cender Martin, direct descendents of Johannes.
The material was compiled by Kathy Cender Martin.

(The following is for personal use only and not to be used
in published form without permission.)

Introduction: A Letter:  Searching for Schrock History (read by Justine Detweiler Trout)
More than 30 years ago, a great-great-granddaughter of Johannes Schrock, Alta Heiser Detweiler, my mother, began trying to connect with her Schrock cousins by writing a letter and sending it out to the various addresses she had.  In this letter she was searching for stories and history of the Schrock family:

“Dear Cousins:
Several years ago I became interested in tracing the Schrock family history back several generations, and I wrote to you asking for any information you might be able to give me.  I had no intention of writing anything authentic, but just what I could find to further satisfy my own curiosity.  I have worked on this now and then for several years and haven’t found very much information.  I have wished so many times that I would have listened more carefully and written down some of the things I used to hear Grandpa and Grandma talk about.  But that opportunity is gone.  Now I have to pick up these stories bit by bit, and piece by piece.  It is so fascinating to me to think about the past lives of my ancestors, that I would like to share what I have with you.  As you read this, please correct anything that you know to be a mistake, or add anything that you can and let me know about it.

Some time ago I visited with Naomi Schrock of Congerville, Illinois, who is the daughter of Jonathan Schrock, who was the son of Joseph Schrock, who was the brother of Peter, your grandfather and my great grandfather. [Joseph and Peter were both sons of immigrant Johannes.] She gave me copies of some newspaper articles written about her grandfather Joseph, and the beginning of the town of Congerville, and also some about her father Jonathan.  She also gave me a copy of a write-up of John Schrock of Pekin (who was a brother of grandfather Peter), [John was another son, the youngest, of Johannes] at the time of his death. I am sending you a little history of these men that I have taken from the information Naomi gave me.  I don’t have much official information on Peter, other than what I remember. I was eight years old when he died.  One of the things I really want to do is to visit each of you and share pictures and memories.  It shouldn’t be too hard to arrange, but I’ve been working on it for some time, and can’t seem to accomplish it.”

From this letter you can see that these two women, Alta (descendent of Peter Schrock) and Naomi (descendent of Joseph Schrock) were both amateur family historians trying to piece the Schrock family story together and keeping the family connections strong. Alta visited Naomi when she was still living in the old house in Congerville built by her grandfather Joseph.  Alta showed Naomi an old picture of a man she couldn’t identify, and lo and behold! Naomi had one just like it and said it was of Johannes Schrock, probably a passport picture [it was not a passport picture—db] taken in France, the only known photo of our patriarch who we celebrate today! One mystery was solved that day as the pieces of the puzzle were beginning to come together.

Today, we have continued with Alta’s earlier quest by letter searching for information on the Schrocks.  In preparation for this day, we have searched—mostly by email letters—all over the world, trying to locate lost cousins and to fill in the gaps in our family histories.  What a contrast between the letter Alta wrote, sending out carbon copies by slow postal mail and the instantaneous email messages we have been sending to multiple people and receiving replies on the same day and often within a few minutes!  We thank all the people who have contributed photos and information, even if they couldn’t be here in person.  Alta and Naomi would be so pleased with all we have discovered, and they would be very happy that Schrock descendents are gathered here today.  We are excited to share with you some of the fascinating information and interesting artifacts we have found about Immigrant Johannes Schrock and his descendents.

Immigrant Johannes Schrock (read by John Cender)

My great-great-great grandfather Johannes Schrock was born in Gondrexange, Moselle, France in August 1801 of Swiss-German ancestry, and was educated in French.  He was the oldest of the five children of Joseph and Marie Neuhauser Schrag.  Johannes married Catherine Salzman, who was born in Sarralbe, Moselle, France in October 1804.  Johannes was a miller by trade.  While living in France, Johannes and Catherine had two children named Joseph and Catherine. The year after Johannes’ father Joseph died Johannes decided to move to America with his wife and the two young children. He packed up his trunk and left the port of Le Havre in 1831. It was a long ocean journey—44 days on the ship—and near the end their food supply was exhausted. According to family legend, they had to boil leather straps from the ship’s riggings to make some broth in order to keep strength for the remainder of the trip. They finally arrived and disembarked in Baltimore, Maryland. Another family story tells that tragedy struck while checking their trunks and belongings amidst the large crowd.  Somehow they lost younger brother Joseph who had traveled with them from France. We don’t know how old Joseph was or exactly how he got lost, but we can imagine the chaos of humanity at the docks and the confusion and babel of languages. They looked endlessly for the boy and waited several agonizing days, but finally had to give up and reluctantly traveled on to Lancaster, PA. [This oral tradition has never been verified by documentation, thus remains a tradition only—albeit one found in every family line. – db] A year later, in 1832, Johannes left Pennsylvania and moved to Butler County, Ohio, where he bought land near his brother Peter and his father-in-law, Michael Salzman.  He established a successful milling business—his work in the old country as well. For almost 20 years Johannes stayed in Butler County.  While in Ohio, he and Catherine had five more children; two died in infancy, but Peter, John, and Magdalena survived to adulthood along with the two older siblings, Joseph and Catherine. Today, we will look briefly at what we know about the lives of all five of these children of Johannes and Catherine Schrock.

Johannes Schrock and Catherine Salzman had seven children:

Joseph Schrock 3-17-1828 to 12-29-1901
Catherine Schrock 12-18-1829 to 5-10-1906
Johannes Schrock 7-11-1834 to 10-12-1835
Jacobina Schrock 8-23-1836 to 9-12-1837
Peter Schrock 8-1-1839 to 4-5-1922
John Schrock 3-26-1843 to 4-20-1935
Magdalena Schrock 4-23-1845 to 1914

In 1850, Johannes began to look for land in Tazewell County, Illinois.  It’s interesting to wonder why he considered moving from his successful milling business in Butler County. His sister Magdalena had married Christian Smith in Butler County where they stayed for a few years and then moved to Illinois and purchased land.  His other sister Barbara had married Red Joe Belsly and they too moved to Illinois, but Barbara died in 1836 and Joe remarried.  Johannes’ brother Andrew was also living in Tazewell County, Illinois. So it’s likely that Johannes heard from his siblings of this growing new land where acres were cheap and crops were abundant. And since Johannes found Ohio to be pretty well settled, he decided to take three horses and travel from Trenton, Ohio, to the Pekin area to look at this new West. He liked it, purchasing 161 acres from the Neukirk family for $12.50 an acre. The Neukirk’s lived catty corner from the present location of the Bethel Mennonite Church in a house that once served as a stagecoach depot. Johannes left one horse in Illinois and drove the other two back to the Buckeye State. He told his anxious wife, “We’re moving to Illinois.”

In preparing to move to Illinois, Johannes gave his oldest son, 22 year old Joseph, the important responsibility of driving through with the horses and cattle and what goods they had. Imagine what that overland trip must have been like crossing the vast prairies and through the woodlands! Many years later, Joseph showed his children and grandchildren where he had camped out under his wagon the last night of his trip from Ohio to Pekin under an American elm tree along the road west of Bloomington.

Father Johannes and Mother Catherine took the rest of the family to Cincinnati where they boarded a boat. Their oldest girl, Catherine, was 20; Peter, my great-great-grandfather, was 11; John was 7; and little Magdalena was 5. They boarded the boat and traveled down the Ohio River to Cairo, then up the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers to Pekin, Illinois. Imagine what that riverboat ride must have been like! How many days would it have taken?  When they finally arrived at their destination, Amish Mennonite families and friendly neighbors welcomed them. They established a temporary home in a log cabin on Andrew Ropp’s (now the Allen Miller farm) farm five miles east of Pekin. The main Ropp house is still standing and was traditionally a first stop for many Amish Mennonite families moving into the area. Later, Johannes moved his family to his purchased acres a few miles away where he had built a house that became the family homestead. This house and farm eventually became a showplace under the maintenance of Johannes’s grandson Edward, when he inherited the homestead from Johannes’ youngest son John, Edward’s father.

Johannes and Catherine lived out their lives in Tazewell County, Illinois. They were members of the Amish church. Catherine died in 1858 at the age of 53.  Johannes took a second wife, Jacobina Phebe King, in 1861. They had no children. Johannes died in Tazewell County in 1875 at the age of 73.

Focusing on Johannes and Catherine’s Three Sons (and a few other descendents)

1. Joseph, Johannes’s oldest son, as well as Joseph’s son Jonathon who lived in Congerville.
2. Peter, Johannes’s second son, as well as Peter’s son John who lived in Fisher.
3. John, Johannes’s youngest son, as well as John’s son Edward who lived in Pekin.

We will also mention some of the other descendents of each of Johannes’ three sons.  They all had interesting lives and we wish we had time to include more details about all of them and we will briefly discuss Johannes’ two daughters, Catherine and Magdalena. We want to make it clear that we are not male chauvinists, intentionally slighting the women.  Although we tried to find more information on the daughters and their descendents, we were unable to find more than a few names and dates and regretfully, no photos.  Unfortunately, it is often the case that details about the women have been left out or lost in many histories. We are sure, however, that the women were interesting personalities and were crucial to the survival and success of their families.

1. Oldest son of Johannes, Joseph of Congerville (read by Don Schrock)

My Great-Grandfather Joseph was the eldest son of Johannes and Catherine Satzman.  He was born on March 17, 1828, and came to this country from Lorraine in 1831 with his parents and sister when he was three years old.  The Schrocks were powerfully built people.  Joseph grew up to be well over 6 foot tall and weighed in excess of 250 pounds.  His son, Jonathan, was able to heave a hundred pound sack of grain onto each shoulder and walk up the steps to the second floor of the granary.  And you heard about how Joseph, single-handedly at age 22, moved his family’s possessions and livestock from Ohio to Illinois.  Almost a year later, on June 8, 1852, he married Magdalena Guingrich.  He was 24 years of age and she was 22.

Magdalena’s father had gone west to Oregon during the Gold Rush.  He soon gave up mining for gold and began transporting and selling supplies to the miners.  His descendants came to know him as ‘Gold Rush Guingrich’. He was paid in gold dust and nuggets which he exchanged for Double Eagle $20 gold coins at the federal mint in Denver. Returning to Illinois with $18,000 in gold coins, he invested in farmland for his seven children. These coins weighted 56 pounds.  At today’s prices, the gold would be worth over one million dollars.  The Schrock homestead was a part of Joseph Guingrich’s land purchase.

Joseph and Magdalena lived on a farm in Montgomery Township that was the beginning of a town called Schrock.   A railroad line going west was being built from Bloomington to Peoria but the tracks were laid only as far as the Schrock farm when the work was halted by a severe early winter.  Railroad workers and contractors built housing at the end of the tracks to wait out the winter.  Others eventually moved in hoping to work for the railroad when the winter was over.  The settlement was platted as the Town of Schrock in 1888 but was eventually re-named Congerville, purposely after an early settler and landowner. An inside story of the name change suggests that it may have had something to do with the division between the Amish Mennonites and the New Amish or Apostolic Christians.

Joseph and Magdalena were among the earliest converts in the New Amish movement that was first called ‘Evangelical Baptist’, and later was called the Apostolic Christian Church.  They were both impressed when the Apostolic minister, Joseph Virkler, came visiting from New York and inspired a revival with his preaching.  Later, Benedict Weyeneth, who had been ordained by Samuel Froehlich, the founder of the Apostolic Christian faith in Switzerland, came to reside in Illinois. Weyeneth held services at Dillon, which was near Tremont, and at Partridge Prairie, near Metamora.

Each of these places was 22 miles from where Joseph and Magdalena lived, but they were eager to attend Sunday services. They would start off at four in the morning, driving a team and wagon the 22 miles, returning the same day.  Each Sunday, they alternated the 22 miles, either to Dillon or Metamora.  They forded the Mackinaw River since there wasn’t any bridge.

During this time period, it is thought that both Amish Mennonite and New Amish/Apostolic Christians gathered at Peter Engel’s barn for their separate church meetings on Sundays.

An except from the diary (Sunday, July 1, 1866, Metamora, Illinois) of  Brother Henry Geistlich (elder of Meilen, Switzerland), regarding Partridge Prairie reads, “Today there was church in Peter Engle’s barn.  It was clean and had planks for seats.  When the chickens got noisy, they were chased out.  There were 53 horse drawn rigs in the yard.”

Joseph Schrock and Magdalena Guingrich had nine children:
Catherine Schrock Zimmerman 22-17-1853 to 6-16-1930
John Schrock 3-30-1855 to 6-16-1930
Lydia Schrock Roth 1-1-1857 to 5-25-1885
Joseph Schrock 10-21-1859 to 3-12-1936
Jonathan Schrock 12-2-1861 to 12-3-1947
Magdalena Schrock Sutter 2-18-1864 to 12-19-1938
Mary Schrock Gudeman 1-15-1867 to after 1900
David Schrock 4-14-1869 to 12-5-1948
Susannah Schrock Gerber 5-20-1872 to 12-20-1944

Joseph’s son, Jonathan, was born Dec 2, 1861 and married Naomi Gerber in 1890. Naomi was from the same area of Lorraine as Johannes and Catherine.  As a young man of 21 years of age, Jonathan Schrock went to Kansas to live with his brother, John Schrock.  He possibly would have remained there but he received word from home that his parents wanted him to come back to Illinois and help with the farming.

Jonathan would later tell his children of his conversion to the Apostolic faith at a singing that John Schrock’s wife, (Rosa Witmer), gave on two hymns in rather close succession.  One was “Der Weg und das Ziel” which means “Two Ways O Man are There for Thee.”  The other was “Die Erbarmung,” or “Boundless Mercy.”  Jonathan was so convicted that he left the room, went outside and threw away what remained of a plug of tobacco.  He recalled that when he was baptized ice was floating on the Mackinaw River.  At times, they would chop holes in the ice to baptize converts.

Jonathan didn’t marry until he was 28 years old.  Jonathan and Naomi lived the early years of their married life in a little house on the site of Jonathan’s Aunt Magdalena Schrock Smith’s cabin.  Here they had their first four children.  When Joseph Schrock died in December of 1901, Jonathan and Naomi moved to the house a hundred yards or so to the south that Joseph had built in the early 1880s, and where Jonathan’s mother Magdalena was still living. She had an addition built on the west end of the house where she reserved two rooms for herself, but had her meals with the family.  Her grandchildren had fond memories of visiting with her and reading to her out of her German Bible.  She passed away in 1922.

Jonathan lived on this Schrock farm until his death in 1947 at the age of 86.  At that time, the whole south end of Congerville belonged to the Schrocks, including five houses and an office building.  The orchard they had planted was called ‘Schrock Orchards.’ Jonathan’s two youngest sons, Joseph and Alvin (A.J), started the Schrock Hybrid Corn Company in 1947 and Schrock Fertilizer Company in 1951. These companies became known throughout the Midwest. A.J. went like a freight train and Joseph kept putting on the brakes. They were a good team.

Jonathan’s brother David, who lived on the northwest edge of Congerville, had a daughter Loretta, who married Art Baum.  They owned the Baum Chevy dealership in Carlock, the next town east of Congerville. The Baum’s son, Dick, later moved the dealership to Clinton.

Jonathan’s daughter, Mae Schrock, was born May 1, 1904.  She is 106 years old this year and is living in Eureka.  Mae is the great–granddaughter of Johannes.  We honor her today as the oldest living descendent of Johannes.

Many more stories are found in letters that Jonathan wrote that we don’t have time to read. I’ll just mention some of what they contain:  One letter contains orders for 50 barrels of wine; Jonathan’s family had many vineyards and shipped wine all around the state. They also had acres and acres of orchards. The letters also mention their Percheron horses, big powerful animals.

2.  Second son of Johannes, Peter of Fisher (read by Justine Detweiler Trout)

My Great-Great Grandfather Peter Schrock was born to Johannes and Catherine Salzman Schrock in Butler Co., Ohio on August 1, 1839.  Johannes and Catherine had their first two children in France (Joseph and Catherine) and then two more were born in Ohio, but both died in infancy:  A boy, Johannes, born in 1834, died at 15 months, and a girl, Jacobina, born in 1836, died at 11 months.  So you can imagine how precious this baby Peter was. Peter was 11 years old when his father Johannes decided to move from Ohio to Illinois.  Their family journey on the riverboat must have been an exciting one for a boy of eleven.  Peter became an adult on the farm in Tazewell Co., Illinois, and in 1860 he married [a neighbor girl] Anna (Nancy) Garber.  They were both 21 years old.

Peter Schrock and Anna (Nancy) Garber had eight children:

Katherine Schrock 9-30-1860 to 8-2-1861
John Schrock 5-28-1862 to 7-28-1951
Samuel Schrock 7-16-1864 to 12-31-1943
Joseph Schrock 8-18-1866 to 4-14-1947
Lydia Schrock Eicher 3-26-1868 to 4-14-1947
Moses Schrock 4-26-1870 to 12-12-1879
Ella Schrock 11-7-1875 to 2-8-1951
Magdalena (Lena) Schrock 8-20-1885 to 6-27-1950

Peter was different from his two brothers who survived to adulthood. You just heard the story of Joseph, the elder brother, who married money and had a town named after him.  You will soon hear about John, the younger brother, who stayed on the home place for many years and turned it into a showcase farm.  And now I’ll tell you the story of Peter, the middle brother. He wasn’t rich but he had a big heart and gave generously to help those in need.

As a young father, Peter spent much time fishing and hunting in the woods of Tazewell County with his three boys, John, Sam and Joe.  One day while cutting wood in the woods, the youngest son Joe accidentally chopped off one of his fingers with the axe.  Because they were quite a distance from home, father Peter wrapped what was left of the finger with his red bandana to stop the bleeding, then picked up the piece of finger and put it in his shirt pocket.  That evening, when the day’s work was finished, they went home, washed the wound and put the finger back in place and wrapped it.  The finger grew back and when Joe was an old man you couldn’t tell which finger had been cut.

When his children were grown Peter moved across the Grand Prairie to Fisher to be near his oldest son John who had moved there in 1891 with his wife and family. Peter’s wife, Anna (Nancy) died in Fisher in 1902 and is buried in East Bend Cemetery. Alta Heiser Detweiler, great-granddaughter of Peter, writes the following about her ancestors:  Soon after his wife’s death, Peter and two of his sons were persuaded by a fast-talking, high- pressure real estate agent to purchase some farmland in Michigan, near Fairview.  The two sons, Samuel and Joseph and their families, and Peter and his two unmarried daughters, Ella, 28, and Lena, 19, decided to leave their homes and move to Michigan in 1904. Grandpa Peter went on ahead and sometime later Sam and Joe and their families chartered a freight car and traveled to Michigan. Sam and Joe, their livestock and furniture, rode in the freight car. The women and children rode in a passenger car. Sam’s home was three miles south of Fairview. On the north side of the small buckwheat field was the Sam Schrock house and on the south side was the Joe Schrock house. There were beautiful big rainbow and speckled trout in great abundance in the Au Sable River about two miles south of their house, and many smaller speckled trout in the creek that ran through their land. Fish and buckwheat cakes were two important items in the Schrocks’ diet. The land in Michigan was uncleared timberland.  They slowly cleared a few acres to farm the first year, then for several years more they struggled to make a meager living.  Uncle Sam’s wife Ellen and daughter Katie, and Great Grandpa Peter’s daughters, Ella and Lena, all worked for other people as much as possible. The younger children went to school. Times were very hard. They ate fish that they caught in the river nearby, buckwheat cakes (buckwheat was their only crop), and a few squirrels they managed to kill.  Wild huckleberries grew in the woods and the adults picked them.

Pete Jr., a grandson and namesake of Peter writes in his book, Just Pete, about some memories in Michigan:  One time Pete, Jr. remembers his mother and sister being gone.  His father Sam got some bacon and fried it.  “It sure tasted good after eating fish all the time.” It was such a treat that they invited Joe’s three girls, Nettie, Frances, and Lorine to eat with them.  To this day when the cousins get together, they talk about how good that bacon tasted. Joe’s daughter Lorine remembered that life in Michigan was difficult but she remembers them as the best years of her life.  She said she was outside all the time helping her dad with the stock.  He gave her the dickens for playing with the bull she had raised up from little—she would sit on top of the fence and play with its horns—her dad used a pitchfork.

After a few years they realized this land purchase was a mistake.  So in 1907, Peter, Ella and Lena moved back to their house in Fisher; Sam and his family went to Thurman, Colorado, where his wife’s family lived, and Joe’s family went to Defiance, Ohio, where their oldest daughter, Nettie, was planning to live after her marriage to Homer Culbertson.

Back in Fisher, Peter raised pigs, had a cow, and kept 10-15 hives of bees.  He also grew big delicious watermelons.  He had a jack knife with the words, “Peter Schrock, Fisher, Illinois,” on the handle.  He probably used that knife to split open those ripe, juicy watermelons, and he also cut his chewing tobacco with his jack knife.  He often whittled with his knife as well.  He passed the knife to his namesake and grandson, Peter. Jr.

Peter’s oldest son John, my great-grandfather, had taken up farming 80 acres near Fisher. John was also a carpenter and painter and he built and painted his own houses and barns as well as many barns and cribs in the community. John married Mary Birky in 1885 and they had two children, Albert and Fannie.  After Albert married Josephine Yordy, John built a house for his son just a quarter of a mile from his own house.  But Albert died of tuberculosis in 1917, leaving his wife and two children, and a third unborn. A sale of some of his farm animals and implements a few years before his death raised needed cash for his family and perhaps helped fund the family’s stay at the tuberculosis sanitarium in La Junta, Colorado.  John’s daughter Fannie married J. A. Heiser and they had five children.  J.A. became minister and later, bishop, of East Bend Mennonite Church, chosen by lot in 1918 by the voice of the church.  John Schrock soon turned over his farm and house to his daughter Fannie and son-in-law Bishop Heiser, and John built a grossdaddy house next door.  In this way, John Schrock and his wife Mary would live between their daughter’s family and their son’s widow and family so they could help the two families with farm work and help raise their grandchildren. As bishop and pastor, J.A. had many duties in the church and community, as well as the work of raising a large family and helping his widowed sister-in-law on her farm nearby.  Together, these families supported each other in daily tasks of milking, carrying water, washing, gardening, canning, caring for livestock, butchering, threshing, wheat binding, and oat harvesting.  In every way, Grandpa John Schrock was a faithful and constant figure of support to these families.  In addition to earning income by painting in the community, he painted and repaired at home, worked in the gardens, and kept busy doing useful things.  He loved working with wood and made fern stands, stools, the bench we are sitting on, shelves and cupboards, doll beds and darning tools.  When he could no longer work in the community, he would sit under the shade tree at home on a bench he had made and whittle, just like his father Peter.  He made whistles and toys for his grandchildren.

John Schrock was remembered by Jennie Schrock, Pete, Jr.’s wife, as a man “with kindness wrinkles all over his face, and very soft spoken.” His granddaughter Edna Heiser Cender wrote that Grandpa John Schrock “was neat and meticulous in all his work.  There were never any complaints about his painting jobs in the community.   He never left any splatters on windows or sidewalks and he was careful of flowers or shrubbery around homes.  Once when painting at Ores Foster’s home, he accidentally bumped a cactus plant in the flowerbed and broke off one of the young plants.  He apologetically told Mrs. Foster, who said he should just take it home.  He soon had it thriving and it reproduced many times, blooming beautiful, pink, trumpet-like flowers.  All of his grandchildren and great-grandchildren have cactus plants that come from that original Foster plant.”

Peter’s three daughters, Ella, Lena, and Lydia, lived in Fisher where Ella and Lena ran a boarding house and hotel on Sangamon Street.  They also operated the town telephone switchboard. Lydia married Chris Eicher and had two girls. Great Grandpa Peter lived nearby in a smaller house until his death in 1922. The house that was used as a hotel still remains next to the Methodist Church.  Peter’s house was on Third Street, north of downtown Fisher, in the spot where the Baptist Church now stands.

Peter Schrock was not as successful financially as his two brothers.  At the time of his death in 1922, he owned only the modest home in Fisher, plus the farm in Michigan that didn’t yield enough to pay its own taxes. After all bills were paid there was nothing left for distribution to his heirs. But we know that Peter must have been a very kind man, considerate of others and willing to lend a helping hand. We know this because he handled the affairs of his sister Catherine after her husband died in Pekin leaving Catherine with several young children.

Catherine was Johannes’ oldest daughter. She married Joseph Oyer and he died sometime before 1865.  They had six children: Joseph, John, Peter, Lena Oyer Bloom, Katie Oyer Staker, and Mary Oyer Coswell. Later, Catherine re-married to Christian Kauffman. In addition to his kindness toward this widowed sister, Peter also assisted his wife’s brother who had failed financially and had lost all he owned. These two facts about the life of Peter Schrock tell us that he was kind and generous, and it doesn’t matter that he wasn’t rich.

Magdalena was Johannes’ youngest daughter. Little is known about her except that she married Joseph Yoder and had six children:  John, Joe, William, Mary Yoder Pepper, and two other children who died. Persistent research by various historians has revealed a few basic facts about Catherine and Magdalena and their descendents gleaned from census records, obituaries, and newspaper articles.

3. Third son of Johannes, John of Pekin (read by Frank Kandel)

John Schrock was the youngest son and sixth child of Johannes and Catherine Salzman Schrock.  Born March 26, 1843 in Butler Co., Ohio, he was named Johannes after his father and he was the second child in this family to be given exactly the same name.  His older brother named Johannes had died at the age of 15 months.  The father, wishing a namesake, named this newborn boy by the same name as the one who had died.  Later this son named Johannes went by the anglicized name of John.

John was eight years old in 1851 when the family came by riverboat from Ohio to Pekin, Illinois.  He often remembered that trip.  As he grew older, he worked in sawmills, gristmills and brickyards.  He could do a tremendous day’s work even in the day when a big day’s work was expected of all men.  He, himself, carried from the sawmill every tie and plank for the first bridge over the Illinois River in Pekin—the Peoria, Pekin and Jacksonville Railroad Bridge.  Three men would be assigned to such a job nowadays and work only half as many hours.  A newspaper article at the time of his death told of John Schrock, “he could cut with an axe and rack five cords of wood in a day.  Four men wouldn’t want to do that today.”

In December 1865, John Schrock married Barbara Rediger and they had twelve children:

Peter Schrock 1-29-1867 to 6-28-1941
Catherine Schrock Ropp 6-23-1868 to 10-18-1951
Daniel Schrock 1-18-1869 to 1-15-1937
Bina Schrock 4-19-1871 to 10-30-1942
Sarah Schrock Ringwald 11-15-1872 to 6-23-1941
Ida Schrock Gueber 3-25-1874 to 2-13-1945
Frances Schrock 10-25-1875 to 4-7-1968
Edward Schrock 12-1-1877 to 11-15-1964
John W. Schrock 6-24-1880 to 8-10-1948
Margaret Isabel (Belle) Schrock Thode 7-1-1882 to 1-10-1954
Barbara Schrock Heisel 1-27-1885 to 4-1980
Aaron Lester Schrock 9-25-1888 to 3-18-1889

John and Barbara Schrock established one of the most respected homes in the county.  In 1876, John Schrock bought the home east of Pekin and that place became known as the old family homestead.

After leaving the farm, John Schrock lived in Pekin in a house his sons built for him on 714 South Ninth Street until he died in 1935 at age 92.  The big house still stands on 9^th street, but the porch is gone.  John’s wife, Barbara, preceded him in death in 1911.  At that time, John was near 70, but he lived for 24 more years.  On his 89^th birthday he spaded in his garden.  On his 90^th birthday the family gathered for a great reunion and celebration, but he took pneumonia that day.  None expected him to survive, but he lived another three years, even weathering another bout of pneumonia.  At the time of his death, the Pekin newspaper wrote of him, “He was a man of excellent character, good habits, and moral strength, and to this is attributed his long years.”

John’s son Edward bought the family farm from his father. Edward, Sr. was President of the Farm Bureau and one of the founders of Pekin Auto Insurance Company.  In 1953 Edward Jr. sold the family farm. Ed and his family moved off the farm because he favored his work at Keystone Steel and Wire, a manufacturing company in Pekin, over farming. Ed’s daughter, Eddis Schrock Hasselman, who lives in Morton was born in 1912 in the original home place and lived there until she married in 1936. She turned 98 years old yesterday [June 18, 2010]!  Eddis is the great-granddaughter of Johannes.  We honor her today as the second oldest living descendent of the Johannes line and we wish her a very happy birthday and continuing good health. She remembers her Grandfather John as a big man with a long white beard.  He loved gardening; he kept his horse shining and his buggy glistening.

Eddis relates:  “In the late 1920s after Mom had died, Dad, (Edward Schrock, Sr.) was awarded the Prairie Farmer Master Farmer Award.  Two men came down from WLS in Chicago and stayed overnight.  He was given a gold medallion that he passed on to Ed, Jr., whose son Brett in California has it now. “

“In 1953 Dad sold the farm to a Bill Long.  Bill said that he always wanted to buy that farm because it was always so neat.   Dad told me later that he mustn’t have realized how much work it took because it went downhill after the sale.  Before it really had been a show place.

“When I was six or seven Grandpa John wanted to go to Fisher to visit his brother Peter. His children told him he was too old to go alone so me and my little brother Ed Jr., and my Mom Nellie went with him on the train. The train had cane seats and it stopped and started with a jerk and Ed fell off on the floor, but Mom told him he’d be allright and to get back up and sit down. When Grandpa saw his brother Pete they both cried. Peter lived in a small house in Fisher with Ella and Lena (Ella’s health was not too good at the time) and a lot of people came to the house to visit Grandpa.  I remember hearing Lena say to Ella she didn’t know what to do because she didn’t have enough food in the house to feed everybody.  One lady suggested serving lemonade and cookies so that’s what they did. We spent two or three days in Fisher.”

Imagine that house in Fisher and many people coming to visit and socialize with cousins from a distance.  I’m sure there was laughter amidst the tears and sharing of memories. Don’t you wish we could have heard the stories they were telling?

In some ways, this reunion is a natural extension of that visit in 1918—almost 100 years ago—when brother John of Pekin traveled by train to Fisher to see his brother Peter.  They probably hadn’t seen each other in many years and when they met they felt those strong emotional bonds that bring tears of joy.  Today that universal longing to re-connect calls us together to share stories, memories, and common values.  In that spirit, let us continue our fellowship and conversation with each other today.  What memories have come to your mind about the Schrock family as you’ve heard these stories? What will our descendents remember about us?  What stories do we have in common?

Closing Conversations

Frank:  Don, Do you remember your ancestors having a strong work ethic?

Don:  Yes, in fact my Grandfather Jonathan had a favorite saying, “Don’t be idle or I’ll have you picking hairs off grasshoppers!”  They all worked hard.  And they had some amazing skills.  Grandfather Jonathan could walk through an oat field and bind up the oat shocks without string.  He strolled along, picked up some oats straw and started walking to the next bundle.  By the time he reached the bundle, he had twisted the straw into a rope and wrapped the straw rope around the bundle, ready to move on to the next bundle.

Kathy:  Our Great Grandmother Mary Schrock would gather herbs and make effective herbal concoctions and salves for many ailments. She was very artistic as well as a little bit cantankerous, but Great Grandpa Schrock in his calm manner was always able to keep the peace with her.  She designed and sewed many dresses and hundreds of quilts, painted flowers and birds on recycled jars, created intricate hair flowers and beautiful paper flower bouquets for many weddings.

Don:  My Great Grandmother Magdalena baked bread in an outdoor oven on a brick floor covered with clay.

John:  Great Grandpa John Schrock would save every piece of string and wrap it around a corncob.  He saved potato peelings with eyes to plant in his big garden. Talk about thrift! They knew how to make ends meet!

Justine: Great Grandpa John Schrock told how he visited his cousin Jonathan in Congerville a number of times. He was so impressed with the large orchards of fruit trees that Jonathan cared for.  In fact, on one of those visits, Jonathan gave him a sweet cherry tree that he happily planted in his daughter’s (Alta’s – my mother’s) orchard, and we enjoyed sweet cherries for many years.  And so we come full circle as we reconnect with our cousins here today and fill out the branches on our family tree.

Sources

Birkey, Donna Schrock. 2002.  Immigrant Johannes Schrock, 1801-1875, of Illinois. Illinois Mennonite Heritage Quarterly, Vol. XXIX, No. 4. Also available on line at http://birkey.org/2009/02/24/immigrant-johannes-schrock-1801-1875-of-illinois.

Cender, Edna Heiser. “Grandpa,” Memoirs (1990), typed manuscript, in possession of Kathy Cender Martin,
St. Joseph, Illinois.

Detweiler, Alta Heiser. “John Schrock,” Biographical Data, typed manuscript, in possession of Justine Detweiler Trout, Loda, Illinois.

Detweiler, Alta Heiser. The Family History Book: A Genealogical Record, in possession of Justine Detweiler Trout, Loda, Illinois.

Estes, Steven R. 1984. Living Stones: A History of the Metamora Mennonite Church, M & D Printing, Henry, IL.

Kandel, Frank.  Interviews with Eddis Schrock Hasselman, Morton, IL, January 14, 201 and May 29, 2010.

Kandel, Frank. Interview with Lola Pardee, daughter of Nettie Schrock Culbertson, Defiance, OH, 1995.

Schrock, Alvin J.   Joseph Schrock Reunion of 1976, typed transcript of speech given at the reunion.

Schrock, Don.  Grandpa Jonathan Schrock (2010), typed manuscript, Morton, IL.

Schrock, Pete and Jennie. Copyright 1980.  Just Pete, The Print Shop, Fort Morgan, CO.

Schrag, Schrack, Gerard
Schrock European Ancestry (abt. 1550-1772)

This material was used in the Schrock European presentation at the Illinois Mennonite Heritage Center’s “Schrock Immigrant Day” on June 19, 2010. The presentation was made by
Donna Schrock Birkey, a direct descendant of Johannes Schrock.

(The following is for personal use only and not to be used
in published form without permission.)

Ten years ago a fellow researcher sent me an article by Lorine McGinnis Schulze posted on the OLIVE TREE Genealogy website. It presents an intriguing theory about how many ancestors we actually have, and since it fits into our Anabaptist history I’m going to pass it on to you at the beginning of this European Schrock history.

If we double the number of ancestors in each generation, 2 parents, 4 grandparents, and so on, we can see that by the time we are back 10 generations, we have the potential for 1024 ancestors. But is this true? If we were to go back to the time of Charlemagne, we would find we had the potential for 281 trillion ancestors, each one living at that one moment in history. This is statistically impossible! So where did our ancestors go?

It is estimated that 80% of the marriages in history were between second cousins. Why? Because the population base was smaller, people lived in small communities and migrated within those same small communities. The theory in genealogical research is that our family trees are actually shaped like a diamond, not a pyramid. Tracing back a few generations gives a wider shape. Keep going and you find the shape narrowing, eventually, the theory holds, converging to only a few ancestors.

This may sound mind-boggling, but I’ve seen the truth of it, says the author, (as do I)! “I am back a total of 14 generations which takes me to the last half of the 1500s (as I am). I’ve found that in two cases so far, I am descended from more than one child of one specific couple (as I am)….[as you can see, the gene pool is narrowing along the way].

I won’t give you her family specifics, but if that happens often in the earlier generations (and it does) you can see the shape your ancestral tree is taking—a diamond. Genealogy is fascinating, and becomes even more so when we make human contacts in present-day times–like today’s Schrock Immigrant Day event where we are meeting cousins we didn’t know we had.

Now let’s take a look at our European ancestry!

* * * * *

The surname Schrag has its origins in Switzerland. As Schrags moved into France and Germany the name took on phonetic forms of the verbal German pronunciation. Family members who could not read or write had little way of knowing what the magistrate was writing when they reported births, marriages and deaths. At least one Schrag line kept the original spelling as they arrived in North America, but most lines became the anglicized Schrock.

Early history of the Schrags is not set in stone, but with the information we have to date I have put together a most likely (probable) short history of the beginnings of the Anabaptist Schrag family. In 1682 the Wyss family purchased a house in Leumberg, near Wynigen from a Hans and Uli Schrag. There is a house on Schrag land near Wynigen still occupied by the Wyss family (at least it was a few years ago), and if this is the same house it would date back close to when Hans Schrag was born in the village of Wynigen about 1550.

It was at that same time that Catholic priests such as Martin Luther, John Calvin, and Ulrich Zwingli were reading their Bibles and realizing that practices of the Catholic Church such as indulgences were not based in Scripture. They also realized salvation was by faith–not by works. This group of priests felt called by God to “reform” their church. But church clerics weren’t happy about this idea of upsetting the status-quo or giving up their power and authority over their constituents. Thus, counter-measures were taken. As a result of this struggle, Luther posted his 95 theses in 1517 and that act was an early beginning to what we now call the “Protestant Reformation.” A number of years later, other priests including Menno Simmons, feeling Luther and his reformer compatriots had not gone far enough in calling for change, began the “Radical Reformation.” This group of reformers became known as Anabaptists because of their insistence on adult, not infant, baptism and their strong conviction about living a Christian and “peaceful” life, shunning violence of any kind—going beyond just having good theology. They wanted to be known as the Quiet of the Land.

Many of their Swiss neighbors saw them as wonderful people, bothering no one and working hard. But the civil authorities saw them as peculiar and a nuisance, and ordered local authorities to run them out of the country if they wouldn’t have their children baptized in the state church, which by that time had become Lutheran in the areas around Zurich and Bern. These Anabaptists also refused to serve in the Swiss military. They soon became uncomfortable in their land and chose to pull up stakes and move to new territory that held the promise of religious freedom. Many moved to France and Germany and lived there for several generations, leaving their home villages in Switzerland behind, along with the land that was part of their family inheritance.

In the 1700 and 1800s, these families again needed relief from French and German military conscription, and began to look at the vast lands of America that would provide a place of religious freedom. Wave after wave of immigrants arrived in the U.S., found land they could tame and farm, settled in communities together as they had been in Europe and endured the hardships of pioneer living. They prospered by purchasing land, raising large families and living out their faith in God in their communities.

This is the heritage our Schrag ancestors have left for us.

* * * * * *

The Schrag family originated in their ancestral village of Wynigen, SW, and were identified as “Anabaptists” at Wynigen, Leumberg and Mistleberg in Canton Bern as early as 1700. A Caspar Schrag, born in Wynigen in 1685, was called an Anabaptist when he married Elisabeth Leyenberger in Jebsheim, Alsace, France in 1711.

But to go back a bit further, a Hans Schrag born about 1550 had a son, Hans, born in 1573 in Wynigen. This second Hans had three sons, Uli, Hans (who was the possible owner of the home purchased by the Wyss family) and Niklaus. One of Uli’s sons was named Niklaus and Niklaus had a son Caspar. That brings us five generations into the descendants of the original Hans Schrag of 1550. Our particular Schrock line stems from this Caspar (b. abt. 1710), through several more Caspars, the last being the father of Josef Schrag and grandfather of our immigrant family siblings.

We find our fifth generation Caspar living on the Ingweilerhof near Zweibrucken, Germany, in 1761.The Schrags there were part of the Amish “Haftler” (those who believed buttons were a luxury so instead wore hooks and eyes), along with families Stalter, Hauter, Esch, Eyer, Gut, Nafziger, Gungerich, etc. This group formed their own congregation at Ixheim where they built their own “praying house.” This was separate from the Mennonite congregation that was following “Knopfler” (those who wore buttons); Bachmann, Lehmann, Steinmann, and more. This information tells us our Schrag ancestors followed Jacob Amman as he broke away from the followers of Menno Simons.

Our Caspar (also found on French documents as ‘Caspard’ and ‘Gaspard’), father of Joseph and grandfather of our five sibling immigrants, was born circa 1744 and died on Sommerhof at Neuviller, Lower Alsace in1794.  He was a miller at Bischwald Mill and a cultivator on Belgrade farm at Bistroff after 1772. His first two sons, Andre and Nikolaus, were born while the family was still in Germany near Zweibrucken; Joseph was born in France at Bistroff.

After the death of his first wife Barbe Rouvenac, and soon after Joseph’s birth, Caspar married Marie Blazer. They also had three children. The first child, Jean, was born at Belgrade. Their middle child was born at the farm Oderfang near St. Avold, and the last child was born at Rhodes. At the time of Caspar’s death he was a tailor of clothes at Rhodes.  His civil death entry from Neuviller described him as a 50-year-old Anabaptist living at Rhodes, so it is likely he was visiting the Sommers family at Sommerhof at the time of his death.  One of the witnesses to his death was tenant farmer Jean Sommer, 63, the father of Joseph Sommer, and grandfather to the Sommers who came to Tazewell County in 1834.

In Rhodes many Anabaptist families lived on the farm Les Bachats, and it is probable that Caspar lived there as well, although he could have lived just around the lake in the village of Rhodes.

As you have no doubt noted, our Schrock family members were laborers. They did not own or lease these mills or farms, but worked for the owners. In some instances, Amish or Mennonite families actually owned or leased the estates, such as the Stalters at Kirschbacherhof and the Sutters at Hellmansburg.

Casper’s son Joseph was first married to Marie Engel in 1798. They had one son, Joseph, born 10 months later in 1799, and who died at the age of five. Marie Engel died sometime between 1799-1800. Very soon Joseph married Marie Neuhauser and their first child Johannes was born in June of 1801. Marie was part of the Neuhauser family that lived in Gosselming and was well known to Schrag and Engel families. Marie’s brother Jean served as witness to Joseph’s first marriage to Marie Engel. Thus, you can easily see how intertwined these families were and how quickly after death a new family was formed—we hope formed on love, but very likely as important was the need for someone to care for small children.

Schrag ancestors who lived and worked at the farm (and mill) near Bistroff are: Caspar Schrag b. 1744 (grandfather of our immigrants), lived at Belgrade when his son Joseph was born in 1772;  Caspar’s son Jean (Johannes, son of his second wife), was born there in 1773, and married there 24 years later.  Michael Salzman, father-in-law of Johannes Schrock lived at Belgrade for four years when three of his children were born. His daughter, Catherine lived at Belgrade in 1826 when she married Johannes Schrag.

Across the lake nearer to Bistroff is Moulin de Bischwald (in operation from 1682 to 1857)—connected to the farm in some way, as our families were involved with both the farm work and the mill work. The mill was housed in quite a large building, with a watercourse running from the mill to the lake: on the other side of the lake is Belgrade farm.

After his marriage, Joseph operated the mill in the little town of Gondrexange. His half sister Catherine and her husband Joseph Oyer operated the same mill at one time. It no longer exists, but there is a street named “old mill road.”

Many Anabaptists lived at Ketzing estate just outside Gondrexange, possibly including our Schrag families. Caspar, Joseph’s father and himself a miller, also lived at Gondrexange. He was there in 1804 when Catherine, daughter of his first wife, Marie Blazer, married Joseph Oyer. It is also the birthplace of three of Joseph and Marie’s children: Johannes was born here according to his marriage document, as were Peter, and Andrew. Later, Magdalena was born in Imling near Saarebourg at the Rimling mill, and Barbara’s birthplace is yet unknown.

Joseph lived at the farm Alzing for a time. Both of his wives were born there:
Marie Neuhauser in 1772 and Marie Engel in 1774.
Marie’s father, Nicholas Neuhauser, died there in 1798, as did his wife,
(Marie’s step-mother), Catherine Ritzieker, one week after her husband.
Marie’s brother, Jean, was born at Alzing as well in 1775.

Les Bachats is the farm across a small lake from Rhodes and connected to that village. (A bachats is a feeding trough, indicating the farm probably included cattle.) Today it offers bed and breakfast lodging to tourists.

At least two generations of Schrags lived in Rhodes:
Joseph’s step-brother Jean was born at Bachats in 1773
Joseph’s father Caspar was a miller and tailor of clothes in 1788
Caspar’s son Joseph lived there in 1797; he worked at the Bachats mill and was there in 1822
and still in 1826 when son Johannes married Catherine Salzman in nearby Blamont;
then Joseph died at Rhodes in 1830.

Hellocourt, a farm since the 1700s a few miles east of Gondrexange, is the 1802 birthplace of Joseph “Red Joe” Belsly (Pelsy). He married Barbara Schrag, youngest child of Joseph and Marie. Many of the original buildings are gone–destroyed in the war. Most of the present buildings were erected by the Germans after WWI, but several original structures remain.

It is not known where Joseph and Barbara were married, in France or in America. An account taken from Verna Belsley’s book states:  ‘Barbara Schrock had come to this country with her father at the death of the son Christian, to see that representative was found in this country for the goods shipped from France. Expecting to return they brot (sic) with them seed, bits of mechanical machinery, ideas and scientific methods with which Joseph Belsly was inspired.”

But we know Barbara’s father Joseph died in Rhodes and did not come to America. Of course, we can speculate Red Joe and Barbara could have been married in France, had a son named Christian who died in France, and that father Joseph made a trip to America with Barbara and then returned to France. However, if Barbara was born around 1812-15, she would have been 15-18 when her father Joseph died in 1830, not providing much time to be married, have a son and make a trip to America. We need more information before knowing how this all worked out with the couple.

Gondrexange, Rimling and Blamont are near Saarebourg in Moselle, Lorraine, as is Rhodes where Joseph died. But Robert-Espagne and Dompcevrin are farther north in Meuse, Lorraine, between Metz and Reims. There were Schrock families living in that area and our families must have gone there to find work, since Peter is listed as an apprentice miller in his marriage document. Johannes was a miller at Cheppe when his daughter Catherine’s birth was recorded in 1829.  These years in Meuse were unknown to me until February of this year (2010) when our friend Jean-Francois sent birth and marriage documents he found, revealing details of the final years in Europe for three of our immigrants before leaving for America.

*****

Quarterly List of Arrivals at the Port of Baltimore: April-June 1831

(Ship name not known)

Members of our Schrag family arriving at that time (all are under the name Gerard or Gerrard):

Johannes, Catherine and their children Joseph and Catherine

Madaline (Magdalena)  (age 19)

Peter, Mary and their children Peter and Madaline

Schrock Immigrant Day is history and the event was successful according to many comments received. Here is a sampling of reactions:

A member of the planning group said, “I was surprised by the many positive comments on Saturday about the Day, and the thank you e-mails I received. I’m impressed when people take the time to send such messages. I heard people comment that the music alone, on Friday, was worth coming for the evening.  The popcorn event made for a family atmosphere.” Another planning group member commented, “The best outcome [of the event] was getting over 100 people together to remember each of the [five] immigrants.”

“The content of this reunion was just superior! Also, I must hand it to Frank [Kandel] especially for moving things along.  It takes a lot of energy and smarts to keep a large body of people happy and on schedule and he did it with elan. I loved it that we ate in the [farm museum] shed.  The popcorn and ice cream were such droll additions. I think we absolutely got our money’s worth. Thank you for a job well done and for the memory of this occasion that we will all value in the years ahead.”

“What a great reunion!  Thanks for all the effort and planning.  Your daughter-in-law’s [Debbie Birkey as Magdalena Schick] drama was a highlight.”

“All [the] years of research, [the] days and nights of planning for this weekend paid off in over 100 of near and far cousins enjoying a thoroughly delightful weekend.  [My husband] said this weekend should be the model for family reunions–guided information, lots of printouts, activities, a hospitable setting, perfectly coordinated timings for events like meals, ice-cold delicious ice cream.  So many times almost strangers gather and find they have lots of empty time and not much to say to each other.  This event was perfect!   Thank you so much for the gift of this weekend.”

“[Please] forward a big thank you to all the responsible people who made the Schrock Immigrant Day so enjoyable & successful (I’m not good with e-mail).  We certainly appreciated it all and had a wonderful & educational time with our many cousins.  Words simply can not repay all of you for all your hard work & efforts, but may God richly bless you all for what you have done on our behalf.”

” [We] really enjoyed our quick trip out to Illinois [from the east coast] this past weekend and want to thank [everyone] for all the hard work and attention to detail. It was a most memorable time! Thank you.”

“Thanks again for all the work [everyone] put into researching our family history and for the recent event.  I do not think any of the others of us could have done what [was done] but all our family has benefited from the greater knowledge of our past.  I sure wish I was confident this generation will pass on to future generations the blessings we have inherited.”