The Tale of Two Andrews:

The Story of Andrew Schrock (1804-1855)
and his son, Andrew (1842-1925)

by Donna Schrock Birkey
Originally published in the Summer 2011 (Vol. XXXVIII  •  No. 2)
Illinois Mennonite Heritage Quarterly (http://www.imhgs.org)
(Used with permission of original publisher)

This article, fourth in a series on descendants of Joseph and Maria Neuhauser Schrag (Schrack), highlights new information and expands on the dramatic reading presented by Debbie Birkey at the Illinois Mennonite Heritage Center’s Schrock Immigrant Day, June 18-20, 2010.

Andrew (André, Andreas) has been a recurring name given to Schrag males. The name shows up numerous times in my database beginning 1629, but in this direct Schrock line, our two main subjects are the first. One, adventurous enough to cross the ocean to a new land, marry and have a family, purchase acreage, conquer the prairie, and build a substantial landmark “fine brick house.” The second lost his father at age 13, was perhaps despondent about life, a loner and wanderer, and at times inconsistent and irresponsible. Many questions have remained about his later life and his death. Both Andrews came to a sad and dramatic end, but in totally different circumstances.

Andrew  (1804 – 1855) (André/Andreas).

1803 birth document of André Schrack, Gondrexange, Moselle, France

“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, 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].” ¹

About 30 years after his birth, Andrew was in America when his first child was born in 1835. We know Andrew was living near his two brothers in Dompcevrin, Meuse, in 1828 when he served as witness to the birth of brother Peter’s first child. Even though several descendants give his emigration date as either 1830 or 1831 and report he came with family, Andrew’s name is not on the Baltimore ship list as traveling in 1831 with his brothers Johannes and Peter, and sister Magdalena. His name has yet to be found on a ship list.

Sometime before 1835 and probably after arriving in America Andrew married Anna Oyer, daughter of Jacob Oyer (ca 1778 – 1885) and Suzanne Shertz (ca 1780 – 1829). Anna was born in Niderhof, Lorraine, France, and arrived with her parents in New Orleans on the ship Superior, December 4, 1830, after 53 days on the ocean. The Amish passengers, including the Oyer family, traveled on to Cincinnati, Ohio, arriving Christmas Day. Andrew and Anna’s first three living children were born in Butler County, Ohio. The family was in Illinois in 1842 for the birth of Andrew’s namesake.

Illinois Land Purchases.

Andrew may have first purchased land in Livingston County next to Waldo Cemetery², before settling in Tazewell County, Washington Township, about four miles west of Washington near today’s Sunnyland. However, on April 11, 1839, Andrew made his first purchase of land in Tazewell County—168 acres from Benjamin Rediger in the northwest corner of Section 18, Township 26N.³ The purchase price was $1000.

It seems the Minch family was selling off their land holdings in the spring of 1850. Adam Minch sold 40 acres to Andrew for $600; John Minch was paid $500 for 40 acres, excepting a small tract of land deeded to the Lutheran Church by George Minch. Later Adam’s wife Mary Ann sold Andrew another 80 acres for $100.

The Schrock family is named in the 1850 Federal Census: Andrew Schrock, age 45, born Germany, farmer, $2000 [of real estate]; Ann, age 35, b. Germany; Joseph 15, b. OH; Susan 13, b. OH; Anna 10, b. OH; Andrew 7, b. IL; Mary 5, b. IL; Peter 1, b. IL.

Twenty years later in early 1870, two children (Joseph and wife Mary Risser, Anna and husband Ludwig “Louis” Stalter) sold 240 acres to their mother Anna for $3200. Since both couples moved away from Tazewell County soon thereafter, they no doubt needed cash rather than the land they had inherited when Andrew died.

The 1873 atlas shows the owner of Andrew’s property to be A. Schrock—no doubt Anna, as head of family. Land deeds found⁴ show Andrew had purchased a total of 328 acres in Section 18, with the house towards the middle of the acreage. There was an orchard south of the house, a timber to the east, and a stream to the north.  Water and wood close by—necessities for a pioneer. But they had to drive or walk approximately ten miles to take a ferry to Peoria, the nearest larger town.

In 1877, all of the Schrock siblings agreed to sell 170 acres to David D. Augsburger for $1250. David was the husband of Magdalena, Andrew and Anna’s youngest child.⁵ On November 12, 1890, Peter divested his 120 acres to Louis and Katharina Reim and realized $5900.⁶   Two years later David Augsburger and his wife Magdalena sold 120 acres to William Keil for $8400. In 1893, parts of Andrew’s original acreage were owned by Louis Reim and D. D. Augspurger.⁷ Son Andrew was not named in any land transaction found, nor did the documents give a clue to the date of Anna’s death.

Perhaps it was after the 1890 sale that Peter and his wife pulled up stakes in Illinois and moved to Hamilton County, Nebraska, where all their children were married. Eventually they moved to California where both died.

Andrew’s oldest son Joseph married Elizabeth Rediger three years following his father’s death. Before long the family moved west to Kansas, then settled in California where most of his descendants live. According to Donald Roth, a Rediger researcher, Joseph fathered 17 children.⁸

Andrew began building a large brick home on his property before his death. It is told that his young children, Andrew and Mary, carried all the bricks for this home [from the banks of the stream on the property?].  One of the children in later years finished the house using the original plans that called for half of the second story to be used for church services.⁹

Cholera Epidemic.

Two Schrock families were torn apart by the cholera epidemic that invaded Illinois in 1855.

“…all four [died] of cholera in a short space of time, from Wednesday afternoon when Grandpa [died].  [He] contracted it in Bloomington the day before.  There was a funeral for him on Thurs. – the rest all well yet, but by Sat. night Grandmother went at 12 o’clock and Barbara a half hour later and John, 6 yrs. old Monday morning at 3 o’clock.  No funeral held for them.  The rest all sick with cholera.  Those who took sick at Grandpa’s funeral were Andrew Schrock, Grandma’s brother and Mrs. Ulrich. …This is the way my father [Peter Smith] gave it more than once and said how sad it was for them.”¹⁰

If we follow the chronology of this Oyer account, Andrew’s sister Magdalena’s family was stricken with cholera the first day of August 1855. Husband Christian Smith contracted it first, according to family tradition, after a trip to Bloomington. He died the next day, a Wednesday, and was buried on Thursday. Two days later (Saturday) Magdalena died. The following day Andrew, who had evidently become sick at Christian’s funeral and then stayed with his ailing sister on Friday, died on Sunday the 5^th of August.

The Smith family is no doubt buried in Slabtown Cemetery located near Congerville where the Smith’s lived. It is sometimes called Cholera Cemetery, but there are no Smith stones. Andrew, however, is buried near his farm in Guth Cemetery.

About six months after Andrew’s death, Anna signed away her right to administer her husband’s estate to Peter Guth (Good), but remains as guarding of the heirs. In his position as administrator, Peter’s opinion is that personal goods and chattels are valued at $275. A listing of personal property totals $1839, less the widow’s allowance of $691.50, equaling $1147.50.

One of the sale bills included in the probate file shows 9000 shingles sold to Lewis Tobias and Adam Keil for $858. A second bill was to Peter Guth for unnamed items, totaling $584.60.

During the personal property sale on March 15, 1856, items were sold to John Spring, Nicholas Roth, Joseph Onsecker (Unzicker), and Joseph Schick among others. Nicholas Roth served as one of the appraisers.

At the time of Andrew’s death Peter Guth owned the land on which the cemetery is located. It was a Guth family burying ground. Peter and his wife Susanna are buried there. Andrew’s wife, Anna, and Peter’s wife, Susanna, were sisters, and that family connection resulted in Andrew’s burial there. In 1873 the land on which the cemetery was located was owned by J. Oyer. This would have no doubt been Anna and Susanna’s father, Jacob Oyer, who died in 1885. In 1891 Christ Guth owned the land around the cemetery—most likely Christian, son of Peter and Susanna. Today, instead of being a small plot in a corner of Guth farmland, the cemetery is a fenced off area beside a busy road, surrounded by the commercial properties of Sunnyland Plaza.

Andrew  (1842 – 1925) (Andy). 

Andrew “Andy” Schrock

Andrew was the first of his parents’ children to be born in Illinois, on December 9, 1842. He grew up next to neighbors, Joseph Schick (1818 – 1898) and Magdalene Augspurger (1823 – 1893), who had a sizable farm and enough money to easily care for their large family of ten children. The father had served as a Pershing Army officer, was quite wealthy and loved his wine. He married his wife in Butler County, Ohio.

One of the Schick daughters, Magdalene, was a few years younger than Andrew and his sister Mary, and surely spent many hours playing with the two Schrock children by the stream that ran nearby. Perhaps she even helped the children carry the bricks for the house being built for the Schrock family before father Andrew died of cholera. Historical records indicate the Schick family worshiped with other Amish Mennonite families in the house after it was completed.¹¹

Marriage and Westward Movement.

Time passed and the children grew to adulthood. Eleven years after father Andrew died, Andrew and Magdalene were married in 1866. They were soon blessed with first child Magdalena, and with her in tow in 1868 they moved to Lamar, Barton Co., Missouri. Lamar was about 50 miles south of Cass County where an Amish Mennonite community had just developed; however, there is nothing to indicate the Schrock family had connections there. In two years little Elizabeth, “Lizzie” as she was called, joined the family. But trouble was brewing. As it turned out, Andrew wasn’t a very responsible husband and father. He came and went as he pleased and didn’t provide well for the family. There were some very lean years. With Andrew gone so much of the time, another child didn’t arrive until seven years later, when the first son Samuel was born; then Edward, and finally ten years later, Andrew, namesake of his father and grandfather.

The Andrew Schrock Family ca. 1902 Elizabeth, Magdalena, Andrew, Samuel, Edward Family tradition says Andrew and Magdalena did not want to sit close in this photo. Thus, son Andrew stands between them.

Magdalena Schick Schrock with her three boys ca. 1892: Samuel, Edward, Andrew

The family could not continue living with constant uncertainty, not knowing where money for food and clothing would come from. During 1888 the two girls were married to men from Nebraska—Edward King and William Unzicker—and so Magdalene decided to move with the children to Nebraska the next year. The girls and Magdalene rode in the passenger section of an immigrant train and the men rode in the baggage car. Andrew remained behind in Missouri where he worked as a blacksmith.

After the move Magdalene and the children seldom saw or heard from Andrew. He would occasionally visit them in Nebraska. At the end of one of those visits during the early 1920s the family told Andrew goodbye, he walked off down the road never to be heard from again. Magdalene’s playmate and husband had in reality abandoned his family years earlier, but it must have been painful to finally realize Andrew was never coming back.

Andrew the Wanderer. Finally some Answers!

Where was Andrew in the years after his family left him in Missouri? What sort of life did he lead? So far there are no clues for the decades of 1890 and 1900. But 1910 finds him in Nebraska.

The 1910 Federal Census lists Andrew Schrock, age 67 living in Medicine, Lincoln County, Nebraska; he was head of household and a farmer. Andrew had a farm free and clear, indicating he was able to earn enough money to acquire an asset. He told the census taker his father and mother were born in France and he was born in Illinois. Ten years later, in the 1920 Federal Census under the name Andy Schrock, he appears in Linn County, Paris Township, Kansas; 77 years old, head of household, widowed, and a farmer who [a second time] owns his farm.

Andy’s age, birthplace, and parents’ birthplace match known information for Andrew in both of these census entries. The fact that he is “widowed” sheds light on thoughts and feelings about his family—he seems to have “burned his bridges.”  Andrew never shows up in a later census.

At age 77 Andrew is no longer a young man, but family acquaintances reported he had gone to Portland, Oregon, in 1924. His family advertised for him in the Northwest but received no response.  In my first draft of this article the next sentence was, “What happened there we may never know.” However, that statement is no longer valid!

During the first week of June I was browsing the Find a Grave website for an unrelated person and on a whim searched the Schrock surname. A long list of names appeared that I began looking through. When I arrived at name number 47 I did a double take. The name—Andy Schrock! The place—Sacramento, California—close enough to Portland, Oregon, to make me cautiously optimistic and a bit excited.

I clicked on the Odd Fellows Cemetery link shown beside the name and called the phone number shown. I was told they had been given minimal information about the names of some persons buried in the historic Sacramento City Cemetery¹² and decided to put them on line along with their own burials. I would need to call someone within the Sacramento County offices to find out if this Andy Schrock was who I thought he might be.

After quite a few phone calls I arrived at the Public Information Office of the County and a very helpful person emailed me a list of possible contacts. After two more calls I hit pay dirt! The very helpful City Cemetery archives volunteers filled in the rest of the story:  the record showed that Andy Schrock of Illinois died February 7, 1925 in Sacramento County Hospital at 82 years of age of pulmonary tuberculosis. He was indigent/destitute, a transient with no home. Andy was buried in Sec. 5-B SSW Potters Field, Tier 1, Gr. 156, along with many others like him, and without a stone.

But then I was curious about the Potters Field burial site. Several days later I again contacted City Cemetery archives office asking if they could identify where on their map Potters Field might be. Their answer sent me back to Odd Fellows Cemetery,¹³ for I was told that Potters Field is actually there rather than in City Cemetery. Another call to Odd Fellows Cemetery finally answered all the questions. I was pointed to the area on the map of their cemetery called Potters Field, and Google Maps revealed the cemetery that you will see included at the end of this article.

My research continued in the main Sacramento newspaper to see if there might be an article revealing the details of how Andy entered the hospital.  When the microfilm for February 1925 arrived I spent several hours looking through the pages of the Sacramento Bee, but was unable to find any further information. However, Andy’s descendants can finally put to rest their questions about his death, even if not every detail is known.

Andrew II’s Son Samuel.        

Samuel Truman Schrock (1876 - 1975)

Andrew and Magdalene’s son Samuel was born in Lamar, Missouri, and hometown of President Harry S. Truman. He was given the middle name Truman for Harry’s father, John Anderson Truman. After moving to Holdrege, Nebraska at age 13 with his mother and siblings and then living on the farm in a sod house six miles north of town, Sam learned to love and master all aspects of farming. As a family they worked hard and knew how to make the most of what they had. In the first year they broke 15 acres of sod. Sam showed his mettle that first winter when there was no money to buy fuel. He took his two brothers and with their two little white mules gathered 15 wagon loads of buffalo chips and corn stalks in order for the family to survive the cold winter with a little bit of comfort. Sam was the very opposite of his father.

Samuel’s mother sent him 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 [school] room.

Sam always referred to his mother as “my poor widowed mother” and would often cry when he mentioned her. She was not actually widowed but instead left her husband in Missouri and came to Phelps County with her five children by Immigrant Train. Her husband stayed in Missouri, worked as a blacksmith, visited Nebraska, but never lived here. While here, he used to sit in Sam’s gas station, barefooted, much to his son’s irritation.¹⁴

“He [Sam] was one of the pioneer farmers of Holdrege and farming captured him the rest of his 98 years. In the Phelps County Courthouse cornerstone is “one perfect corn ear raised by Sam Schrock in 1910!”¹⁵

While Sam put down deep roots in Holdredge, his brother Ed went to live in Burley, Idaho. Next he tried farming in Colorado but lost his farm in the Depression. He tried to get some help from his brother Sam to pay taxes to keep from losing his land, but the $500 needed was not forthcoming and he lost 1000 acres. Ed struggled financially for the remainder of his life.¹⁶

“Sam’s two older sisters were big, strong, healthy women who lived in a dugout in Phelps County and later moved away from the area. Lizzie moved to Wyoming and Lena [after the death of her husband, William Unzicker] moved to Chappell, Nebraska. They farmed and raised their children by themselves.”¹⁷ Elizabeth “Lizzie” was married to Edward King in the famous brick house west of Washington,¹⁸ but at some point the couple divorced. One relative remembered that Lizzie loved men and had a house on the edge of Holdrege, possibly a house of “ill repute.”¹⁹  She later lived on a 1280-acre ranch twenty miles north of Cheyenne, Wyoming, managing a large herd of cattle.

“In 1903 Samuel married 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 in Ragan and one in Atlanta and used the lumber to build a large building in Holdrege, The Schrock Building, for many businesses.

Sam Schrock’s gas station in Holdrege, Nebraska

“Sam was a true entrepreneur. He bought the ice plant and delivered ice to the railroad so travelers would buy his 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 his sons 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 [98-year] life.’”²⁰

Sam’s daughter, Violet, had some negative memories of her “controlling” father, 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.”

Son Sammy 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 love 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.)²¹

The “ranch” (the land 12 miles north of Holdrege) was always important to the family, but Samuel wouldn’t sell the property to his son and namesake. He was ready to sell to another party 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 Sam’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 Sammy to change his behavior with his own children. He put his sons in charge of the farming at an early age in order to teach them independence.

Dramatic endings.

The life of immigrant Andrew ended dramatically during the prime of his life. He acquired a good amount of acreage, a productive farm, reared seven living children and had a good wife. He planned for and was building a fine brick home for his family that included a large room on the second floor where church services could be held on Sundays.  As it turned out, Andrew did not realize his dream. Instead, a deadly outbreak of cholera snuffed out his life and left his family without father and husband.

However, as often happened in Amish Mennonite communities, relatives put themselves and their resources on the line and made sure Anna and her children were cared for. A Tazewell County document exists for the $10,000 guardianship bond for Andrew’s children, dated August 10, 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….”

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

In one document Anna signed with her mark

In another document Anna signed her name

Peter Guth’s signature, administrator of Andrew’s estate.

Five years after her husband’s death the 1860 Federal Census reveals that Anna was carrying on successfully as a widow. She is listed as head of household, 45 years old, a farmer with real and personal property totaling $7000. Born in France. Children listed as Susan 23; Ann 20; Andrew 17; Mary 13; Peter 11; Magdaline 4. Counted with the family is Lewis List, farmer, age 21. No doubt Lewis was a hired hand helping with the farm work. Anna’s real and personal property totaled much more than her neighbors’, and $5000 more than the family reported in the 1850 census.

Father Andrew’s legacy was his loyalty within the Amish community of Lorraine, France, and his determination to make a better physical life in a New World where there was also the opportunity to worship God unhindered, and serve his fellow believers at whatever cost. He knew the value of hard work—a value expressed in the lives of several of his children and grandchildren, but unfortunately not so much in the life of his namesake. He was a visionary in his own environment, but didn’t live to see that vision completed.

On the other hand, son Andrew’s life and death leave mostly conjecture.

Did he lead a life void of happiness? It seems he did not miss his family or wish to reconnect, but was a loner all his life, without a community of support. The two census records from Nebraska and Kansas indicate that Andrew may have in his later years settled down sufficiently to earn enough money to own his farms, but they also show he continued to move from place to place. One wonders if Andrew had any connection to a faith community. Perhaps at some point Andrew remembered the “faith of his fathers” and made it his own. His legacy was not positive, in that his children were determined not to follow in their father’s footsteps, but rather live their lives as their immigrant grandfather had. Andrew was known to have said, “When I feel I can no longer be of use on this earth, I’ll jump in the river.” Perhaps losing his father at such an early age affected him more than his family realized, for he was never able to meet the challenges of providing for and loving a family.  His oldest son Sam always believed Andrew drowned himself in the Columbia River. Now we know that didn’t happen, but what did was just as heart rending.

**************************************************************

Sam Schrock sitting at the grave of his ancestor Andrew

Sam and Sharon Schrock of near Holdrege,
Nebraska, were unable to attend Schrock
Immigrant Day in June 2010—they had
crucial irrigation work at that time. Instead,
they spent a day in Illinois during a longer
trip in August. I had the privilege of taking
them to visit many of the Schrock family sites.
Of special interest to Sam was the
gravesite of his ancestor, Andreas Schrack,
in Guth Cemetery. He mused, “I never
thought I would ever be able to see my
great-great-great grandfather’s grave.” –DB

 ENDNOTES

---

¹ Neil Ann Stuckey Levine was kind enough to translate for me the birth document of André Schrack. She made further comments: There is no signature or mark of Joseph Schrack at the end of the document—at least not on the scan I received—and yet the man is not described as having been unable to write. And the fact that the father had to tap non-relatives to witness this birth indicates, as so often, that he and his family may have been perhaps the only fellow believers in town at the time. [Joseph Schrack did,however, sign birth documents of other children. db]

² Donald Kaufmann’s Stalter information says the land next to Waldo Cemetery in Livingston County is farmland once owned by Anna’s family. Anna married Ludwig (Louis) Stalter.

³ The deed reads: Benjⁿ Rutiger to Andrew Chrag. Years later in August 1915 in an affidavit filed in Hamilton County, Nebraska, Peter Schrock affirmed that Andrew Chrag was indeed his father Andrew Schrock. The error in the last name, he said, “was probably made by the draftsman of the said old deed, who evidently was not familiar with the correct spelling of declarant’s father’s family name.”

⁴ Carol Dorward, Collections Manager/Archivist for the Washington Historical Society, was instrumental in finding and sending relevant land deeds at the Tazewell County Court House in Pekin for my research.

⁵ David D. Augspurger was an ordained minister. According to Schertz Family Descendants: http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/b/e/m/Dennis-G-BeMent/GENE17-0004.html, David established a church in Goodland, Indiana, then conducted mission work in the Chicago area, and later established a church at Bethel, east of Pekin.

⁶ E-mail from Carol Dorward, Washington Historical Society, 25 May 2011. Louis and Katharina Rein, in turn, sold the property for $7000 to John Wenger on 1 December 1903.

⁷ The acres bought and sold as seen in the land records do not match. However, there may still be transactions that took place that have not been found.

⁸ Descendants of Johannes Rediger. Received from Donald W. Roth September 2005.

⁹ “Also, there is still a house standing which in the second story had a large room built for the purpose of serving as a Mennonite Church meeting place.  Families attending there were Schrock, Augsburger, Schick and Guth.  Other early names were Muench, now Minch, and Riech, now Rich.  Few of these names remain, their descendants have gone on to business or professions or to engage in farming in other parts of the country.”  History of Washington, Illinois, Sesquicentennial, 1825-1975, page 16.

¹⁰ Mary Smith Oyer’s account of her grandparents’ death: Magdalena Schrock (1811 – 1855) and Christian Smith (1810 – 1855).

¹¹ Ibid. History of Washington, Illinois, Sesquicentennial, 1825-1975.

¹² Much information can be found on line about this historic cemetery, begun in 1850 on land donated by John Sutter who laid out the city plan for Sacramento—a son of John A. Sutter of Sutter’s Fort—famous for its role during the California Gold Rush.

¹³ http://oddfellows-cmtry-sac.com/index.php.  The name of Andy Schrock will not be found in a search on this website.

¹⁴ Schrock Farms 1908-2008, compiled by Sharon Schrock and Nancy Morse.

¹⁵ Adapted from information given in the book, Schrock Farms 1908-2008.

¹⁶ Raymond C. Schrock e-mail, 2008.

¹⁷ Ibid. Schrock Farms

¹⁸ Johannes Schrock: His Children and Grandchildren. Unpublished manuscript by Willard Smith.

¹⁹Ibid. Schrock Farms.

²⁰ Ibid.

²¹ Ibid.

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Map showing location of Odd Fellows Lawn Cemetery near City Cemetery

 

Map of Odd Fellows Lawn Cemetery that includes Potter’s Field

 

Goggle Maps aerial view of Potter’s Field—on the left ed

Celebrating Our Heritage

The following article was published by Masthof Press in the July 2011 issue of  Mennonite Family History, and is presented here with their permission.  (http://www.masthof.com/mfh/mfh.html)

Group photo of the Schrock family by Laura Birkey Photography: http://www.laurabirkey.com

INTRODUCTION

Several years ago, then President of Illinois Mennonite Historical and Genealogical Society (IMHGS), Carolyn Nafziger, asked if I would consider presenting the Schrock family at one of the Society’s occasional Immigrant Day events. Yes, I was interested, but could not see it as a possibility for several years. Finally, in 2009, I was ready to commit to the following year.

In 2008, I had spent two weeks in France visiting villages and farms relative to the Schrock family and had also made connections with all five Schrock family lines. Now or never, I thought, and my husband, Del, gave me his “go for it” in January, even though we knew it would take large amounts of time. Unfortunately, I did not have his continuing support with the project as he rather suddenly passed away in May of 2009. But by that time plans were underway, and I preferred not to back out.

Everyone I contacted about the idea of a reunion expressed interest. Thus, a group of six “cousins,” representing three of the family lines, agreed to form the planning group and scheduled a first meeting for February 2009. My illness and a bad weather accident for another member kept two of us away, but the remaining members met at the IMHGS Heritage Center in Metamora with staff member Julie Hendricks and got the ball rolling.

I was unable to attend the next meeting in May because of my husband’s death, and so I felt rather behind the curve for the third meeting in August. Although I had been the one to initiate the process, it was certainly the combined efforts of the planning group that made it happen.

And happen it did on June 18-20, 2010. The three-day weekend event was more than worth all the effort for approximately 175 people who gathered together from fourteen states. We were delighted that even a distant relative and his wife from France could also attend. Schrock “cousins” dug deep into both their time and financial reserves, and we all agreed it was a pleasure to bring our own families and other relatives from across the U.S. to learn about and appreciate our Schrock heritage.

SCHROCK IMMIGRANT DAY & REUNION

The Schrock Immigrant Day & Reunion was a gathering for the descendants of Joseph Schrag (1772-1830) and Marie Neyhousser (1772-aft 1826), and their five surviving immigrant children: Johannes (1801-1875); Peter (1802-1887); Andrew (1804-1855); Magdalena (1811-1855); and Barbara (ca 1815-ca1836). Peter settled in Butler Co., Ohio, but the other four siblings migrated to the prairies of Illinois. Later some descendants scattered to other states.

Welcome sign.

The Heritage Center campus was an ideal venue for Schrock relatives to gather. Many family members live in that area and the rural farmland reflected the history of our ancestors. The Dienerversammlungen meeting of 1868 was held in the Sutter barn now on this property, although at the time it was in its original location near Hopedale, Illinois.

Schrock family members were welcomed on Friday evening (#3) and became acquainted with cousins they did not know they had, and found themselves on the family tree charts prepared for the reunion (#4). They were photographed in family groupings, (#5) with the oldest (Mae Schrock, age 106) and youngest (Anika Cisco, age 2) Schrock descendants identified. Charles “Chuck” Schrock was the third oldest at age 92. The second oldest living descendant was unable to attend, but Eddis Hasselman who was born in 1912 on the original Johannes home place, was publicly honored on her 98^th birthday on June 18.

Later in the evening everyone joined in singing hymns of our ancestors in the Sutter barn. The hymn sing was led by hymnodist Mary Oyer–one of the most memorable events of the evening. With twilight approaching and in the dimness of the historic barn, one could easily imagine former times when our ancestors were gathered to sing their familiar songs of the faith.

Hymns were selected from both the Apostolic Christian Zion’s Harp and the Amish Mennonite Ausbund.  We sang Holy God, We Praise Thy Name—the text: anonymous, Te Deum laudamus, late fourth century; Clarence A. Walworth’s English translation in 1853 based on Ignaz Franz’s German translation ca 1774 of Te Deum laudamus, alt.; and music from Katholisches Gesangbuch (Vienna, 1774).

Mary also explained the hymn O Gott Vater—the second song sung in every Amish worship service. After listening to a taped rendition, the group attempted to sing the tune from the Ausbund seventeenth century, and adapted by Mary Oyer. Another hymn was “Now Thank We All Our God,” with text and music from 1636 and 1647.

Following the hymn sing, everyone enjoyed kettle popcorn prepared by the Frank Kandel family before a rainstorm scattered the crowd. Saturday dawned bright and sunny with a presentation of the European ancestry of Joseph Schrag, followed by more presentations about each of his children.

European Ancestry (1500-1772)

On Saturday morning, I presented the probable early European ancestry of the Joseph Schrag family (see graphic), beginning with origins in the Swiss village of Wynigen where Schrag families were identified as “Anabaptists” as early as 1700. Joseph’s grandfather was Caspar Schrag, born ca1710 in Zweibrücken, Germany. Caspar’s son Caspar, born 1744 somewhere in Bavaria, was Joseph’s father. Since the reunion, I have been in touch with a Schrag descendant living near Wynigen, Switzerland. As a result, I have made adjustments to the graphic and am able to claim “almost certain” rather than “probable” Schrag ancestry.

By the time of Joseph’s birth, the family had migrated to the Saarebourg area of France, where Joseph and his family stayed most of their remaining years in Europe. Joseph died at Rhodes in 1830. There is no indication that Marie emigrated to America, but within a year of their father’s death, Johannes and Peter with their families and Magdalena as a single woman, arrived at the port of Baltimore on the same boat in the spring of 1831. Andrew and Barbara’s arrival has not yet been documented.

Family members viewing charts. Photo by Donna Schrock Birkey

Johannes Schrag (1801-1875)

Johannes Schrag (1801-1875)

The story of Johannes, oldest son of Joseph and Marie, was told by several of his descendants, including Don Schrock, Frank Kandel, John Cender and Justine Trout, in readings, conversations, and artifacts.

Johannes, a miller in Europe, continued that occupation in Butler Co., Ohio, for about 20 years before taking his family by riverboat to Illinois. His oldest son Joseph (1828-1901) at the age of 22, however, drove the horses and wagon by land. On the final night of the trip, he camped with his wagon under a large elm tree near his final Illinois destination. Years later Joseph’s son Jonathan (1861-1947) was able to point out that tree to his children.

Johannes’ family line produced several powerfully built men. Joseph grew to be well over six feet 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. John, the youngest of Johannes’ sons, worked in saw mills, gristmills and brickyards. A newspaper account reports that John “carried from the saw mill every tie and plank for the first bridge over the Illinois River in Pekin—the Peoria, Pekin and Jacksonville Railroad Bridge. . . .They told of John Schrock that he could cut with an axe and rack five cords of wood in a day.”   Joseph’s family, and his sister Catherine’s family, ultimately left the Amish tradition and joined the Apostolic Christian Church.

Gold medallion, both sides. Courtesy: Brett Schrock

In the late 1920s the Prairie Farmer Master Farmer Award,
in the form of a gold medallion, was awarded to grandson
Edward Schrock for the excellent management of his grand-
father Johannes’ original homestead farm.

Perhaps due to the Amish aversion to photographs, of the
five children only Johannes left behind an image of himself.

Peter Schrag (1802-1887)

Peter’s life in Butler County, Ohio, was shown in pictures and stories from his family’s archives by way of Power Point. Peter purchased several different farms in the area near Trenton. Both brother Johannes and sister Magdalena purchased land adjoining Peter’s original farm before migrating to Illinois. An active member of the Amish branch of the Mennonite Church, Peter was at the meeting on May 8, 1835 when it was decided to divide the original Amish congregation into two– Augspurger and Hessian–due to the strife that developed with the newly arrived Hessians. Later that year, he was elected a minister of the conservative “hook and eye” Augspurger Church along with Jacob Augspurger.

Peter’s home had a “church room” that was used as a meetingplace before a “church house” was built. Quite a number of Peter’s children and grandchildren did not marry, resulting in a smaller number of descendants than most of his siblings.

Andrew Schrag (1804-1855)

Debbie Birkey, dressed as Andrew’s daughter-in-law Magdalena Schick, presented a dramatic reading about his life and that of his son Andrew Jr.  Andrew Sr. died in the cholera epidemic that hit Illinois in 1855, after visiting his sister Magdalena and her family, also afflicted with the dreaded disease. In the 1920s, his son Andrew Jr. walked away from his family and was never heard from again. His wife and five children had moved to Nebraska about 1900, where oldest son Samuel became a well-known farmer and entrepreneur in the town of Holderege. A few years later the family received word that Andrew was in Portland, Oregon, and they made attempts to contact him, but to no avail. It is commonly thought by his family that he may have ended his own life. Perhaps the early death of his father was traumatic enough to affect the rest of his life, leaving him unable to face the challenges of life and a family. Today many of Andrew’s descendants are part of the Methodist Church.

 Magdalena Schrag Smith (1811-1855)

John J. Smith told the sad story of oldest daughter Magdalena who became the wife of Christian Smith. They both, along with two of their children, died within days in 1855 during the Illinois cholera epidemic. The six living children were cared for by relatives and friends. It was a difficult time for the children, as some neighbors were afraid of catching the disease and therefore shunned them. Oldest son, Peter, died young at age 38, and his wife died six years later. Just 25 years after Peter was orphaned, his children aged 7-20 years, were orphans. Three of Magdalena’s children left the Amish church to join the Apostolic Christian church. Magdalena and Christian had purchased farmland in what later became Congerville, Illinois, and the family lived there until their untimely deaths from cholera.

Barbara Schrag Belsly (ca1815-ca1836)

Barbara and her family connections were finally more fully revealed to the Belsly family by Robert Belsly. For many years the family only knew Joseph Belsly’s wife and son Christian’s mother to be named Barbara—“possibly a Schrock.” Because Barbara died early in life, just after Christian’s birth, more was remembered about his stepmother than this birth mother.

Little information has been found about the life of Barbara Schrag, but she had an interesting burial. At the time of her death, she was buried on her husband’s farm. Later when her husband died he was buried in the same area. Even later, his second wife Barbara Engel, was buried there as well. After the death of all three, a larger cemetery was created on his farmland, and Joseph and his two wives were moved there. However, there are only two stones, one for Joseph and one for Barbara Engel. Oral and written Belsly family history records that both wives are buried in the same plot beside Joseph, with no mention of Barbara Schrag on the stone. Perhaps this is another reason why she was not well remembered by her husband’s family.

The Illinois Prairie

Prairie display arranged by Kathy Cender Martin. Photo by Kathy Cender Martin.

On display during the weekend were two prairie quilts (one made by a Schrock descendant, Alta Heiser Detweiler) and information about the Illinois prairie where so many of Joseph and Marie’s descendants settled.

Prairie enthusiast and descendant of Johannes, Kathy Cender Martin, provided information about the Illinois prairie in general and its impact on our Schrock families.

Our Schrock ancestors from France and Germany crossed the ocean and arrived in Tazewell County, Illinois, to find a sea of grass bordered by dense woodlands along the Mackinaw River, Dillon Creek, Springhill Creek, Panther Creek, and Mud Creek.

The five immigrant children of Joseph and Maria Neyhousser Schrag located their first dwelling places in the new country near woods and waterways where transportation, building materials, fuel, and sustenance were readily available. In time, they and their descendents would venture out onto the prairie grasslands in search of expanded space and cropland.  Here they discovered that the vast prairie soil held a wealth of richness upon which they built farms, churches, and thriving communities.

John Schrock (1862-1951), a grandson of immigrant Johannes, first broke the prairie sod near Fisher with a horse-pulled, hand-guided plow in 1890. He told how the land was wet and marshy and so full of snakes that he had to wear protective tall boots as he walked behind the plow. Today, a portion of this very same land that John Schrock farmed has been restored by his granddaughter, Alta Heiser Detweiler, as a two-acre prairie restoration area. This restoration supports a rich variety of plants including big blue stem, Indian grass, switch grass, prairie dropseed, blazing star, purple coneflower, compass plant, prairie dock, New England aster, rattlesnake master, spiderwort, and others.

On the grounds of the Illinois Mennonite Heritage Center is another example of a restored Illinois prairie and a prairie grove. The Prairie Arboretum was planted with native prairie grasses and flowers in 1992. Trees native to Illinois have been planted nearby in the arboretum. It is a gift of descendants of Amish Mennonite preacher and pioneer farmer Christian Reeser (1819-1923). This Reeser prairie was available for exploration during the weekend event.

After lunch and at the conclusion of the presentations, Dr. Mary Oyer, hymnodist for many years at Goshen College, Goshen, Indiana, led the Schrock Family Singers in two songs of our ancestors as a fitting finale to the heritage stories we had heard. Then, as a welcome conclusion to a warm and wonderful day, everyone enjoyed a dish of ice cream before goodbyes were said.

For those who wished to participate further, a tour was led to various historic sites of the Schrock family in Illinois. Two buses made five stops over a 107-mile route to visit a church site, two cemeteries, two homesteads, and the town that was to be Schrock but was changed to Congerville. We visited sites described as follows.

Johannes Schrock Homestead

The Johannes Schrock homestead as it is today on the original land purchased in 1850 in Elm Grove Township near Pekin, Illinois. Photo by Donna Schrock Birkey

Guth Cemetery near Washington, Illinois

Not far from Andrew Schrock’s original farm is an old cemetery where Andrew and his daughter Susanna are buried. In addition to Andrew’s stone is a readable stone for Peter Guth (1806-1886), whose wife, Susanna Oyer, was a sister to Andrew’s wife Anna, therefore providing the Schrock family access to burial plots in the cemetery on land owned by Peter Guth. The plan was to stop at Guth Cemetery but unforeseen street repair caused a drive by only.

Village of Congerville, Illinois

Congerville plat. Courtesy: Don Schrock

The village of Congerville, begun in the spring of 1888 as a town named Schrock, is situated on a portion of Joseph Schrock’s farm. The History of Congerville tells the story of the town’s original intention to name the town 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. Other 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, oldest son of Johannes, and a plat was recorded January 7, 1888, naming the community Town of Schrock. The Schrock name was  attached to the town for only 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. Today there are no Congers living there, but plenty of Schrocks! The suggestion was floated to petition for a reversal of name!

Joseph Schrock's house in Congerville. Photo by Donna Schrock Birkey.

Belsly Cemetery

The Belsly farm near Metamora, Illinois. has been in the family since the day Barbara Schrock’s husband purchased the land. It is considered to be the oldest one-family farm in Illinois. A family cemetery near the homestead on Lourdes Road contains the burial site of Barbara and her husband “Red Joe.”

Engel Barn  (The engraving of the barn was done by Jacob Faber in about 1891.)

Peter Engel log barn. Courtesy: Juliet Engel Schertz

Another tour stop was at the site of the Peter Engel log barn in Metamora, traditionally thought to have been the site of the first Amish church meetings as well as the first Apostolic Christian services in Illinoi

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 Mennonite 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. Families from Morton and Dillon walked 25 miles to services, leaving home at 2:00 a.m. 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.

The background given at this tour site provided a connection between the Apostolic Christian Schrocks and the Amish Mennonite Schrocks after a parting of the ways in the 1800s when some Schrock families left the Amish Mennonite churches to join the newly formed Apostolic Christian churches.

Schrock families able to stay until Sunday were invited to worship with the members of an Apostolic Christian Church in nearby Morton and enjoy a light lunch following the service.

Throughout this reunion, the staff of Illinois Mennonite Historical and Genealogical Society handled the physical arrangements with efficiency. It is my hope this report of our experience will give other families the inspiration to do the same.

 (See three generations of Joseph’s family below)

Sources

Information about Johanes Schrag was compiled from French records and stories from various descendants.

Information about Peter Schrag was shared with me several years ago during a trip to Columbus and Butler Co., Ohio, by descendants and historians of the area and has been supplemented by French records.

Andrew Schrag’s story was developed from the book Schrock Farms, 1908-2008, compiled by Sharon Schrock and Nancy Morse, and from French records.

Don Bishop Smith supplied much of the information about Magdalena Schrag Smith and her descendants based on Oyer family notes, Willard Smith’s book, Mennonites in Illinois, and French research.

Robert Belsly provided details of the family of Barbara Schrag and her husband, “Red Joe” Belsly, and their only son, Christian’s family. Information is contained in the book The Descendants of Joseph “Red Joe” Belsly by Robert Belsly.

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 _{Joseph Schrag Family Genealogy}

Three Generations

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First Generation

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1. Joseph Schrag (Schrack). Born in 1772 in Bistroff, Meurthe, France, on Belgrade farm. Joseph died on 5 Apr 1830 in Rhodes, Meurthe, France. Resided in Gondrexange, Moselle, France, in 1799-1805, during the birth of four children, and at the time of his sister Catherine’s marriage; in Rimling, Sarrebourg, Moselle, France, in 1811, at the mill at the birth of Magdelaine; in Rhodes, Meurthe, France, in 1822, still in Rhodes in 1826, living at the mill at Bachats at the time of Johannes’ and Catherine’s marriage. Occupation: Miller In Gondrexange; and at Rhodes at the time of his death. In 1827, at the time of Peter’s marriage, he was listed as an unskilled laborer.

On 13 Aug 1798 Joseph first married Maria Engel, daughter of Christian Engel (about 1730-bef 1798) and Catherine Marie Ritzieker (1736-18 Mar 1798), in Gosselming, Moselle, France. Maria was born in 1774 in Gosselming, Moselle, France, at Alzing farm. Maria died about 1799-1800.

They had one child:

i.            Joseph. Born on 7 Jun 1799 in Gondrexange, Moselle, France, and died in Gondrexange 9 Feb 1805 at age 5 yrs. 6 mo.

About 1800 Joseph secondly married Marie Neuhauser, daughter of Nicolas Christian Neuhauser (1736-11 Mar 1798) and an unknown wife. Marie was born in 1772 in Gosselming, Moselle, France, and died sometime after 1826.

They had the following children:

2            i.            Johannes (1801-1875)

3            ii.            Peter (1802-1887)

4            iii.            André (Andreas) (1803-1855)

iv.            Anne. Born on 24 Dec 1806. Evidently died young.

5            v.            Magdalena (1811-1855)

6            vi.            Barbara (~1815-~1836)

Second Generation

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2. Johannes Schrock (Schrack, Gerrard). Born on 15 Jun 1801 in Gondrexange, Moselle, France, according to his marriage record. Aug 17, 1801 has also been used. Johannes died in Pekin, Tazewell Co., IL, on 21 Jan 1875; he was 73. Immigrated in the spring of 1831 via Le Havre to Baltimore, MD. On the ship list his name is recorded as Jno. Gerrard.

On 8 Apr 1826 when Johannes was 24, he first married Catherine (Elisabeth) Salzman, daughter of Michael Salzman (29 Sep 1779-30 Nov 1861) and Catherine Hergi (Hergy, Hirschine) (1780-5 Mar 1814), in Blamont, Moselle, France. Catherine was born on 27 Oct 1804 in Sarralbe, Moselle, France, and died in Mar 1858 in Tazewell Co., IL.

They had the following children:

7            i.            Joseph (1828-1901)

8            ii.            Catherine (1829-1906)

iii.            Johannes (Died as Infant). Born on 11 Jul 1834, died on 12 Oct 1835.

iv.            Jacobina (Died as Infant). Born on 23 Aug 1836, died on 12 Sep 1837.

9            v.            Peter (1839-1922)

10            vi.            John (1843-1935)

11            vii.            Magdalena (1845-1914)

On 1 Feb 1861 when Johannes was 59, he second married Jacobina (Phebe) King, daughter of Johannes King (24 Jun 1791-17 Jul 1860) and Jacobina “Phoebe” Reidiger (23 Oct 1794-19 Jul 1869), in McLean Co., IL. Jacobina was born on 14 Sep 1814 in Baden, Germany, and died in Livingston Co., IL, on 21 Mar 1896; she was 81.

3. Peter Schrock (Schrack). Born on 15 Jun 1802 in Gondrexange, Moselle, France, and died in Trenton, Butler Co., OH, on 7 Sep 1887; he was 85. Immigrated in 1831 to Baltimore, MD. Arrived in the spring with his wife and first two children, along with brother Johannes and his family, and the Michael Salzman family. Also included in the group was Jacob and Betsy [Barby] Zimmerman, his wife’s parents. Peter resided in Butler Co., Lemon Twp., OH, in 1832, was naturalized on 8 Oct 1855. Occupation: apprentice miller at Robert-Espagne in 1827; miller at Cheppe near Dompcevrin, Meuse in 1828. In Butler Co., OH, Peter was a farmer.

On 25 Aug 1827 when Peter was 25, he first married Magdalena Zimmerman, daughter of Jacob Zimmermann and Elisabeth Becker (Bacher or Baechler), in Robert-Espagne, Meuse. Magdalena was born on 17 Apr 1801 in Emmendingen, [Grand] Duchy Of Baden. Magdalena died on 31 Dec 1862; she was 61.

They had the following children:

12            i.            Peter (1828-1905)

13            ii.            Magdalena (1830-1878)

14            iii.            Maria (1836-1868)

iv.            Anna. Born on 6 Dec 1839, and died on 6 Sep 1864; she was 24.

v.            Frana. Born on 17 Jun 1841, and died on 29 Mar 1860; she was 18.

15            vi.            John (1843-1886)

vii.            Elizabeth. Born on 15 Aug 1846. Elizabeth died on 1 Apr 1862; she was 15.

viii.            Christian. Born on 6 Sep 1849, and died in Butler Co., OH, on 5 Apr 1867; he was 17.

Peter secondly married Magdalena Rediger, daughter of Christian Rediger (5 Jun 1805-Mar 1860) and Magdalena Stalter (10 Dec 1805-5 Jan 1877), in Butler Co., OH. Magdalena was born on 25 Oct 1829 in Germany, and died in Gridley, McLean Co., IL, on 23 Apr 1896; she was 66.

4. André (Andreas) Schrock (Schrack). Born on 3 Jul 1804 in Gondrexange, Moselle, France, and died in Washington Twp., Tazewell Co., IL, on 5 Aug 1855; he was 52. Andre resided in Dompcevrin, Meuse, France, in 1828, and in Butler Co., OH, from about 1835-1840; he went to Washington Twp., Tazewell Co., IL, bet 1837-1842.

Sometime before 1835 André married Anna Oyer, daughter of Jacob Oyer (ca 1778-14 Nov 1885) and Suzanne Shertz (ca 1780-2 Jul 1829). Anna was born on 31 Aug 1815 in Niderhof, Lorraine, France, and died after 1880.

They had the following children:

i.            Andrew (Died as Infant).

16            ii.            Joseph (1835-1920)

iii.            Susannah. (1837-1863)

17            iv.            Anna (1840-1874)

18            v.            Andrew (1842-?)

19            vi.            Mary (1846-1945)

20            vii.            Magdalena (1847-1946)

21            viii.            Peter (1849-1940)

5. Magdalena Schrock (Schrack). Born on 10 Apr 1811 in Rimling, Sarrebourg, Moselle, France, and died in Congerville, Montgomery Twp., Woodford Co., IL, on 4 Aug 1855; she was 44. Buried in Woodford Co., IL. Immigrated in 1831 with brothers Johannes and Peter. Magdalena resided in Wayne Co., OH, about 1832, then in Butler Co., OH, after 1832; in Congerville, Woodford Co., IL, in 1838.

About 1833 Magdalena married Christian Smith (Schmitt), son of Joseph Schmitt (26 Apr 1777-) and Freni/Veronique Gerber (28 Feb 1781-), in Wayne Co., OH. Christian was born on 31 May 1810 in Bisping, Moselle, France, and died in Congerville, Montgomery Twp., Woodford Co., IL, on 2 Aug 1855; he was 45. Buried in Woodford Co., IL.

They had the following children:

22            i.            Mary S. (~1833-1896)

ii.            Barbara. (1835/36-1855)

23            iii.            Peter (1837-1875)

24            iv.            Anna (Nancy) (1840-1861)

25            v.            Magdalena S. (1841-1916)

26            vi.            Joseph (1843-1889)

27            vii.            Christian (1846-1924)

viii.            John. (1848-1855)

6. Barbara Schrock (Schrack). Born about 1815 in France, and died about 1836.

About 1832-35 Barbara married Joseph “Red Joe” Belsly, son of Christian Pelsy (2 Jul 1772-10 Jun 1837) and Catherine Verkler (Wirckler) (1 Jan 1778-4 Apr 1860). Joseph was born on 28 May 1802 in Hellocourt, Rhodes, Meurthe, France, and died in Spring Bay, Washington Twp., Tazewell Co., IL, on 24 Dec 1872; he was 70. At his death he was one of the richest farmers in the county.

They had one child:

28            i.            Christian (1835-1917)

Third Generation

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7. Joseph Schrock. Born on 17 Mar 1828 in Dompcevrin, Meuse, France, and died in Congerville, Woodford Co., IL, on 28 Dec 1901; he was 73.

On 8 Jun 1852 when Joseph was 24, he married Magdalena Guingrich, daughter of Joseph Gingerich (15 Dec 1804-6 Mar 1875) and Magdalena Guerber (22 Nov 1807-1847).

They had the following children:

i.            Catherine (1853-1944)

ii.            John (1855-1930)

iii.            Lidia (1857-1885)

iv.            Joseph S. (1859-1936)

v.            Jonathan (1861-1947)

vi.            Magdalena (1864-1938)

vii.            Mary (1867->1900)

viii.            David (1869-1948)

ix.            Susanna (Susan) (1872-1944)

8. Catherine Schrock. Born on 18 Dec 1829 in Dompcevrin, Meuse, France, and died in Morton, Tazewell Co., IL, on 10 May 1906; she was 76. Buried in Morton, Tazewell Co., IL. Old Apostolic Cemetery.

About 1848 Catherine first married Joseph Oyer, son of Catherine Oyer (11 Jun 1796-aft 1860) who married John Schrock.

They had the following children:

i.            John

ii.            Joseph

iii.            Lena

iv.            Catherine (Katie) (1856-1936)

v.            Mary

vi.            Peter Charles (1862-)

On 12 Mar 1865 when Catherine was 35, she second married Christian Kauffman, in Tazewell Co., IL, who was born on 25 Jan 1825 in Switzerland.

They had the following children:

i.            William (1867-1868)

ii.            Samuel (1869-1870)

iii.            Benjamin G. (1871-)

iv.            Emma Rebecca

9. Peter Schrock. Born on 1 Aug 1839 in Butler Co., OH, and died in Fisher, Champaign Co., IL, on 5 Apr 1922; he was 82. Buried in Fisher, Champaign Co., IL. East Bend Mennonite Cemetery.

On 8 Jan 1860 when Peter was 20, he married Anna (Nancy) Garber, daughter of John Garber (25 Jul 1788-27 Jul 1845) and Eva Caroline Paithe (20 Mar 1799-26 Nov 1874), in Tazewell Co., IL. Anna was born on 30 Apr 1839 in Wayne Co., OH, and died in Fisher, Champaign Co., IL, on 3 Feb 1902; she was 62.

They had the following children:

i.            Katherine (Katie) (1860-1861)

ii.            John (1862-1951)

iii.            Samuel (1864-1943)

iv.            Joseph (1866-1947)

v.            Lydia Anna (1868-1938)

vi.            Moses (1870-1879)

vii.            Ella (1876-1951)

viii.            Magdalena Matilda (Lena) (1885-1950)

10. John Schrock. Born on 26 Mar 1843 in Trenton, Butler Co., OH, and died in Pekin, Tazewell Co., IL, on 20 Apr 1935; he was 92.

On 3 Dec 1865 when John was 22, he married Barbara Rediger, daughter of Joseph Rediger (31 Jan 1796-9 Feb 1852) and Anna Schmidt (2 Aug 1808-30 Aug 1876), in Pekin Twp., Tazewell Co., IL. Barbara was born on 29 May 1844 in Washburn, Woodford Co., IL, and died in Pekin, Tazewell Co., IL, on 3 Aug 1911; she was 67.

They had the following children:

i.            Peter (1867-1942)

ii.            Catherine (1868-1951)

iii.            Daniel (1869-1937)

iv.            Bina (1871-1942)

v.            Sarah (1872-1941)

vi.            Ida (1874-1945)

vii.            Frances (1875-1968)

viii.            Edward (1877-1964)

ix.            John William (1880-1948)

x.            Margaret Isabel (Belle) (1882-1954)

xi.            Barbara (1885-1980)

xii.            Aaron Lester (1888-1889)

11. Magdalena Schrock. Born on 23 Apr 1845 in Butler Co., OH, and died in Feb/Mar 1914.

On 18 Dec 1866 when Magdalena was 21, she married Joseph Yoder, in Meadows, McLean Co., IL. Joseph was born on 18 Dec 1841 in Munich, Bavaria, Germany, and died in Goodfield, Woodford Co., IL, on 18 Jun 1928; he was 86.

They had the following children:

i.            Mary (1868-1952)

ii.            Daughter (~1870-1873)

iii.            Christian (1877-1893)

iv.            John M. (1871-1944)

v.            Joseph M. (1874-1939)

vi.            William (1885-1942)

12. Peter Schrock, Jr. Born on 5 Dec 1828 in Dompcevrin, Meuse, France, and died in Trenton, Butler Co., OH, on 5 Mar 1905; he was 76. Buried in Trenton, Butler Co., OH.

On 13 Mar 1856 when Peter was 27, he first married Elizabeth K. (Lizzie) Augsburger, daughter of Joseph Augsburger (17 Mar 1806-29 Jan 1869) and Magdalena Kennel (9 Mar 1811-12 Oct 1902). Elizabeth was born on 26 Jan 1837, and died in Trenton, Butler Co., OH, on 28 Aug 1874; she was 37.

They had the following children:

i.            Joseph Albert (1857-1945)

ii.            John (1859-1859)

iii.            Maria A. (1860-1875)

iv.            Magdalena A. (1862-1932)

v.            Veronica A. (Fanny) (1866-1944)

vi.            Samuel A. (1869-1932)

vii.            Sarah Anna (1873-1942)

On 14 Jan 1875 when Peter was 46, he second married Elizabeth Augspurger, in Butler Co., OH. Elizabeth was born on 27 Aug 1844, and died on 16 Feb 1912; she was 67.

13. Magdalena Schrag. Born on 7 Jun 1830 in Dompcevrin, Meuse, France, and died in Butler Co., OH, on 27 Jan 1878; she was 47.

On 13 Nov 1853 when Magdalena was 23, she married Joseph Arthur (Otto) Salzman, son of Andre’ Saltzman (about 1799-3 Nov 1876) and Anne Catherine Hodler (10 Oct 1801-14 Dec 1891), in Butler Co., OH. Joseph Arthur was born on 25 May 1825 in Blamont, Moselle, France, and died in Butler Co., OH, on 1 May 1871; he was 45. Buried in Trenton, Butler Co., OH.

They had the following children:

i.            John (1854-1937)

ii.            Christian (1856-1910)

iii.            Peter (1858-1939)

iv.            Joseph Arthur (1862-1932)

v.            Anna M. (1864-1949)

vi.            Mary B. (1865-1946)

14. Maria Schrag. Born on 6 Sep 1836, and died on 18 May 1868; she was 31.

On 5 Mar 1861 when Maria was 24, she married Christian Kinsinger, son of Rev. Joseph Kinsinger (19 Aug 1801-16 Dec 1857) and Magdalena Augsburger (13 Dec 1809-), in Butler Co., OH. Christian was born in 1836, and died in 1874.

They had the following children:

i.            Veronica Ellen (1862-1876)

ii.            Lisetta (1865-1937)

15. John Schrock. Born on 28 Aug 1843, and died on 12 Mar 1886; he was 42. Buried in Trenton, Butler Co., OH.

On 12 Nov 1867 when John was 24, he married Emelia Augsburger, daughter of John Augsburger (19 Jul 1819-) and Jacobina Holly. Emelia was born on 8 Feb 1849, and died on 21 Dec 1928; she was 79.

They had the following children:

i.            Christian (1868-1942)

ii.            Otellia (1869-)

iii.            Arthur (Twin) (1879-)

iv.            Alvin (Twin) (1879-)

v.            Oscar (1880-2929)

vi.            John (1882-)

vii.            Stanley (1870-)

viii.            Maria (1871-1874)

ix.            Albert (1873-1884)

x.            Otto (1875-1876)

16. Joseph Schrock. Born on 21 Jun 1835 in Butler Co., OH, and died on 5 Aug 1920; he was 85.

On 25 Nov 1858 when Joseph was 23, he first married Elizabeth Rediger, daughter of Benjamin Reidiger (1786-3 Dec 1848) and Barbara Ehresman (27 Aug 1797-31 Aug 1861), in Tazewell Co., IL. Elizabeth was born on 5 Sep 1839, and died on 25 Mar 1861; she was 21.

They had the following children:

i.            Anna (1859-1883)

ii.            John (1861-1861)

Joseph second married Mary Risser.

They had the following children:

i.            Andrew

ii.            Joseph

iii.            Mary

17. Anna Schrock. Born in 1840 in OH, and died in 1874 in IL.

On 11 May 1861 Anna married Ludwig (Louis) Stalter, son of Magdalena Stalter (1808-). Ludwig was born in Nov 1841 in Bavaria, Germany, and died in 1914.

They had the following children:

i.            Joseph

ii.            Lena

iii.            Anna

iv.            Peter

v.            Lewis

vi.            Elizabeth (Died as Infant)

vii.            Mary (Died as Infant) (-1874

18. Andrew Schrock II. Born on 9 Dec 1842 in IL.

On 25 Oct 1866 when Andrew was 23, he married Magdalene Schick, daughter of Joseph Schick (26 Dec 1818-6 Jun 1898) and Magdalene Augspurger (23 May 1823-11 Apr 1893), in Tazewell Co., IL.  Magdalene was born on 10 Jan 1849 in IL, and died in 1941 in NE. Buried in Holdrege, NE.

They had the following children:

i.            Mary Magdalena (Lena) (1867-1948)

ii.            Elizabeth “Lizzie” (1869-)

iii.            Samuel Truman (1876-1975)

iv.            Edward Bruner (1879-)

v.            Andrew T. (1889-)

19. Mary Schrock. Born in Jun 1846 in IL. and died on 11 Dec 1945 in Bruce Lake, IN. Buried in Logansport, IN. Mt. Hope Cemetery.

On 5 Jan 1879 Mary married Henry Hoffman, in Tazewell Co., IL. Henry was born in Feb 1857 in Germany, and died on 18 Mar 1924 in Bruce Lake, IN. Buried in Logansport, IN. Mt. Hope Cemetery.

They had the following children:

i.            Charles (1879-1964)

ii.            Annie M. (1881-)

iii.            Kate (1885-)

iv.            Amelia (1888-)

20. Magdalena Schrock. Born on 30 Jun 1847 in IL, and died on 10 Dec 1946; she was 99.

On 31 Dec 1874 when Magdalena was 27, she married David D. Augspurger, son of David Augspurger (1823-1895) and Elizabeth Schertz (1826-1895), in IL. Davie was born on 16 Oct 1852, and died on 21 Jul 1935; he was 82.

They had the following children:

i.            Samuel J. (1877-)

ii.            Daniel A. (1879-)

iii.            Sarah

iv.            Lydia Mae (1889-)

21. Peter Schrock. Born on 8 Jun 1849 in Peoria, IL, and died in Upland, San Bernardino Co., CA, on 27 May 1940; he was 90.

On 13 Nov 1873 when Peter was 24, he married Magdalena (Lena) Unzicker, daughter of Valentine Unzicker (15 Aug 1823-11 Oct 1881) and Magdalena Schertz (10 Sep 1827-9 Dec 1899). Magdalena was born on 19 Dec 1853 in Butler Co., OH, and died in Upland, San Bernardino Co., CA, on 14 Oct 1930; she was 76.

They had the following children:

i.            Frank William (1875-1957)

ii.            John Edward (1878-1961)

iii.            Matilda Ann (Tillie) (1881-1980)

iv.            Emma (1883-1972)

v.            Katie M. (1885-1973)

22. Mary S. Smith. Born about 1833 in Butler Co., OH, and died in 1896 in Harper, Harper Co., KS

On 7 Dec 1858 Mary S. married Frederick Fellrath, in Peoria, Tazewell Co., IL. Frederick was born in 1836 in Alsace, and died on 21 Nov 1894 in Harper, Harper Co., KS.

They had the following children:

i.            Magdalena (1861-~1921)

ii.            Louis Hubert (1865-1929)

iii.            Ida (1871-1928)

iv.            George

23. Peter Smith (Schmitt). Born on 1 Jun 1837 in Butler Co., OH, and died in Livingston Co., IL, on 17 Nov 1875; he was 38. Buried in Flanagan, Livingston Co., IL. Waldo Cemetery. Served in the Union Army.

On 3 Feb 1861 when Peter was 23, he married Barbara Neuhauser, daughter of Peter Neuhauser (20 Feb 1796-23 Jul 1889) and Anna Maria (Mary P.) Schmidt (Peterschmidt) (22 Jul 1807-2 Feb 1884). Barbara was born on 21 Feb 1840 in Butler Co., OH, and died in Livingston Co., IL, on 24 Mar 1881; she was 41.

They had the following children:

i.            Mary (1861-1955)

ii.            Anna (1863-1949)

iii.            Magdalena (1865-1947)

iv.            Christian H. (1867-1958)

v.            Peter (1870-1936)

vi.            John J. (1874-1924)

vii.            Elizabeth (Died as Child)

24. Anna (Nancy) Smith. Born in 1840 in IL, and died in 1861.

On 28 May 1858 Anna (Nancy) married John M. Garber, son of John Garber (25 Jul 1788-27 Jul 1845) and Eva Caroline Paithe (20 Mar 1799-26 Nov 1874).

They had the following children:

i.            Peter

ii.            David

iii.            Eva

iv.            Anna (Died as Infant)

25. Magdalena S. Smith. Born on 11 May 1841 in Congerville, Woodford Co., IL, and died in Harper, Harper Co., KS, on 14 Apr 1916; she was 74.

On 21 Oct 1860 when Magdalena was 19, she first married Peter Neuhauser, son of Peter Neuhauser (20 Feb 1796-23 Jul 1889) and Anna Maria (Mary P.) Schmidt (Peterschmidt) (22 Jul 1807-2 Feb 1884). Peter was born on 8 Jul 1838 in Butler Co., OH, and died on 26 Aug 1864; he was 26.

They had the following children:

i.            Mary Ann (-1864)

ii.            Peter (-1865)

iii.            Samuel (-1877)

On 11 Oct 1866 when Magdalena S. was 25, she second married Valentine (Valtin) Damien Maninger, in Bloomington, McLean Co., IL. Valentine was born on 26 Sep 1835 in Dittwar, Baden, Germany, and died in Harper, Harper Co., KS, on 4 Jul 1913; he was 77.

They had the following children:

i.            John L. (1867-1944)

ii.            Frank (1869-1946)

iii.            August “Gus” (1872-1938)

iv.            Emma Rebecca (1874-1944)

v.            Joseph (1876-1915)

vi.            William Lee (1879-1951)

vii.            Edward Jennings (1880-1932)

viii.            Frederick Albert (1886-1941)

26. Joseph Smith. Born on 22 May 1843 in Congerville, Woodford Co., IL, and died in Harper, Harper Co., KS, on 3 Jan 1889; he was 45.

On 18 Dec 1863 when Joseph was 20, he married Barbara Roth, daughter of Nicholas Roth (24 Mar 1815-3 Feb 1894) and Katharine Habecker (-2 Dec 1888), in Tazewell Co., IL. Barbara was b orn on 25 May 1847 in Butler Co., OH, and died in Harper, Harper Co., KS, on 1 Sep 1920; she was 73.

They had the following children:

i.            Andrew (1864-1951)

ii.            Katherine (1867-1891)

iii.            Christian (1871-1933)

iv.            Joseph (1873-1951)

v.            Magdalena (1875-)

vi.            Mary (1877-)

vii.            Rena (1880-)

viii.            Emma (1882-1967)

27. Christian Smith. Born on 18 Jan 1846 in Congerville, Woodford Co., IL, and died in 1924.

On 13 Feb 1873 when Christian was 27, he married Phoebe Sweitzer, daughter of Jean Suisse (Sweitzer) (29 Sep 1807-28 Jan 1885) and Marie Engel (1 Dec 1807-17 Feb 1888). Phoebe was born on 12 Jun 1847, and died in 1912.

They had the following children:

i.            William Arthur (1873-)

ii.            Frederic Albert (1879-)

28. Christian Belsly. Born on 31 Jul 1835 in Partridge Twp, Woodford Co., IL, and died in Deer Creek, Washington Twp., Tazewell Co., IL, on 5 Mar 1917; he was 81. Buried in Deer Creek, Washington Twp., Tazewell Co., IL. Mt. Zion Cemetery.

On 18 Nov 1856 when Christian was 21, he married Mary Magdalene Schertz, daughter of John Schertz and Catherine Engel, in Trenton, Butler Co., OH. Mary was born on 3 Mar 1837 in Butler Co., Lemon Twp., OH, and died in Deer Creek, Washington Twp., Tazewell Co., IL, on 28 Nov 1911; she was 74.

They had the following children:

i.            Catherine (Died as Infant) (1857-1857)

ii.            Anna (Died as Infant) (1858-1858)

iii.            Catherine (1860-1926)

iv.            Joseph (1861-1937)

v.            John Rudolph (1863-1943)

vi.            Samuel L. (1864-1928)

vii.            Anna Rose (1866-1932)

viii.            Mary Magdaline (1868-1941)

ix.            Barbara Louise (1869-1953)

x.            Franklin Louis (1873-1936)

xi.            Emma Josephine (1877-1934)

xii.            Thorasia Victoria (1879-1880)

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.

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.

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.”

Peter Zehr (1818 – 1886) had four sons that grew to maturity. All four–Daniel, Peter, David, Samuel–were ordained to the ministry. Daniel’s Bible is archived at the Illinois Mennonite Heritage Center in Metamora.

Daniel’s obituary includes, “He was ordained to the ministry in 1895 [by Bishop John Smith]at the Goodfield [Illinois] Mennonite Church, in which capacity he served until recent years when he retired from active service. Though not able to preach any longer he has always attended church up to the last Sunday he lived and taken a great interest in his Master’s service. The greatest part of his time during recent years was spent in reading the Bible which seemed to be his greatest treasure. He had a meek and quiet spirit and always showed great interest and love for his family and for his fellow men, manifesting a friendly spirit to every one he met.”

Cover of Daniel Zehr's Bible

Page from Daniel Zehr Bible

Page from Daniel Zehr Bible

Page from Daniel Zehr Bible

Composit photo of Daniel Zehr Bible--cover and pages

Today the Family Tree was updated and now contains 11,656 names. A few corrections were made and quite a few new Joseph and Marie Neuhauser Schrag descendants added.

Two more articles are now available: one is the story of Amos and Bertha Birkey Hieser of Fisher, Illinois, and the other tells about the ancestry and ministry of Bishop Peter Zehr (1851-1922).

At the links you will find a map of Washington, Tazewell Co., IL, showing the location and  photo of Guth Cemetery. Buried there is Andrew Schrock, Sr., third son of Joseph and Maria Neuhauser Schrag. Andrew died August 5, 1855 of cholera. Andrew’s wife, Anna Oyer, was a sister to Peter Guth’s wife, Susanna Oyer.

Today the Family Tree section of The Schrock Birkey Connection has been updated. The tree now contains 11,543 names. Several corrections of information have been made as well.

This is the Zehr Family Ancestry Chart