Walter John Birkey

Family/Spouse: Elizabeth Schoenbein. Elizabeth was born on 16 Feb 1925; died on 27 May 2014. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

John + Martha Ackerman. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Reference Number: 167
• Religion: Mennonite
• Immigration: 21 Jun 1849, NY

Notes:

Birth:
Normal birth with midwife Margareth Gschwind, at Schönbrunn.

Immigration:
via Liverpool, on ship Minnesota. Described as “infant.”

Buried:
Evangelical Mennonite Church Cemetery

Heinrich married Magdalena Augustin (Eigsti) on 30 Apr 1854. Magdalena (daughter of Nicholas Augustin (Augstin) (Eigsti-Eigstein) and Barbara Gascho) was born on 22 Oct 1835 in Pellheim, Bavaria, GR; died on 13 Mar 1913 in Pekin, Tazewell Co., IL; was buried in Groveland, Tazewell Co., IL. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Reference Number: 184
• Religion: Evangelical Mennonite

Notes:

They can be found on the same page of the 1880 census of Morton as her brother Joseph Eigsti, where they listed their birthplaces as France (Henry) and Bavaria (Magdalena), with 10 children. On Sept. 3, 1883 their son Nicholas Birkey married Matilda 'Tilly' Staker, the youngest child of Joseph Staker and Frena Roth. Henry and Magdalena are buried in the Evangelical Mennonite Cemetery at Groveland.

Birth:
Recorded in Pellheim church book

Died:
At her home

Buried:
Evangelical Mennonite Church Cemetery

Other Events and Attributes:

• Occupation: In Europe A Bauer (Farmer), In US A Farmer
• Reference Number: 36
• Religion: Amish
• Residence: Bef 1803, Völlerdingen, Alsace, FR
• Residence: ? 1803, Riedenburg, Bavaria, GR
• Residence: 1813, Dachau, Munich, Bavaria, GR
• PURC: 1825, Dachau, Munich, Bavaria, GR
• Residence: 1815 - 1828, Dachau, Munich, Bavaria, GR
• Immigration: 31 May 1828, Dachau, Munich, Bavaria, GR
• Residence: 1830, Pellheim, Bavaria, GR
• PURC: 8 Mar 1833, Gern, Munich, Bavaria, GR
• PURC: 15 Apr 1841, Ludwigsfeld, Bavaria, GR
• Death: 12 Aug 1848, Gern, Munich, Bavaria, GR
• Residence: 1831-1849, Gern, Munich, Bavaria, GR
• Immigration: 21 Jun 1849, NY
• Census: 1850, Morton Twp., Tazewell Co., IL
• Residence: 1860, Morton, Tazewell Co., IL

Notes:

Valentine, father of thirteen children, all of whom emigrated to America, although not all at the same time, lived in Gern, Bavaria, when his children were born. The year after his wife died, Valentine, with some of his family came to America. He left Gern near Munich, Bavaria with five children, and with 10,000 fl., one of the larger amounts taken out of the country--much more than most immigrants. His brother Christian took the same amount. Valentine was of the "Little Red" Birky's. The family’s emigration is documented in Friedrich Blendinger’s material (the emigration to North America from the governmental district Upper Bavaria in the years 1846-1852, in: ZBLG (magazine for Bavarian national history) 27 (1964), p. 431-487. The magazine is on line with full text.

Birth:
Probably born at either Lutterbacherhof or Buscherhof (both near Sarre-Union and Rimsdorf). Lutterbacherhof is now a part of the Cultural Heritage Inventory Department Palais du Rhin. See https://www.pop.culture.gouv.fr/notice/merimee/IA67006033

Residence:
Lutterbacherhof, near Saar-Union/Saarbrücken, FR

Residence:
Lived on rented farms with brother Andreas (Country court Riedenburg [Flugelsberg]), and with Christian (in County Court Munich.
Google translation :
Gern and Riedenburg
lt. deed of citizenship of
In 1828 he stayed until about 1815
with his brother on the
Wing mountain.

Residence:
Unterweilbach tenant, of Court Spreti, near Dachau.

PURC:
Purchased an estate in Arzbach from his brother Christian.

Residence:
Tenant at Unterweilbach.

Immigration:
Received France to Bavaria immigration permit. ”Here appears Valentin Bircky from Lutterbach in Alsace, 34 years old, father of seven children, five boys, and two girls, the oldest 13 years of age, the youngest two years of age, asking for permission to emigrate.”

Residence:
Arzbach estate (about 2 miles north of the center of Pellheim) called Schloss Pellheim.

PURC:
Purchased Kandler farm estate, house No 3 from Joseph Stalter, Elisabeth’s step-father.

PURC:
Mayerrhof, house No. 8, called “Wurzer estate in Ludwigsfeld near Munich, and Dachau.

Death:
Death of wife Elisabeth Unzicker

Residence:
Valentin moved with his family to his father-in-law living in Gern near Munich

Immigration:
Via Liverpool on ship Minnesota. Evidently the family was originally booked to depart with ship agent Karl Dick from Augsburg via Mannheim-LaHavre-New York. Plans must have changed since they ultimately arrived on the ship Minnesota, via Liverpool to New York.

Census:
Age 67, living with son Joseph and Barbara (Eigsti) Birky; also living there was Christian Springer, laborer.

Residence:
Year of his death

Buried:
Birky-Landes Cemetery, personal visit, Plot #36 on cemetery map dated 8/12/2013

Valentin married Elisabeth Unzicker (Hunsiker) in 1812 in Munich, Bavaria, GR. Elisabeth (daughter of Unzicker (Hunsicker) and Magdalena Nafziger) was born in 1796 in Breimthal, Heidelberg, Bavaria, GR; died on 12 Aug 1848 in Gern, Munich, Bavaria, GR; was buried on 15 Aug 1848 in Gern, Munich, Bavaria, GR. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Reference Number: 37
• Religion: Mennonite
• USR1: Stroke

Notes:

Unzicker, originally Hunzicker= from Hunzicken, Canton Bern. The initial H was probably lost during a stay in France where an H is not pronounced at the beginning of a word.

















More likely, Elizabeth could have been a sister to Daniel b. 1798 who married Magdalena Kahn.}

Birth:
Near Wieslock and Heidelberg

Died:
Farmer’s wife, at age 54, on her father’s farm

Buried:
Gern Mennonite Cemetery

Notes:

Settlement of Valentine’s estate lists Joseph first and Jacob seond--the rest in the same order as here.

Married:
about 1812-1813 - 2,500 Guilders given to the bride and groom on the occasion of their marriage by the bride’s family.

Other Events and Attributes:

• CLER: Y
• Occupation: Estate manager, farmer
• Religion: Mennonite
• USR1: Herzwassersucht - cardiac dropsy

Notes:

Nicholas owned a large farm near Munich and was also a preacher of the Mennonite church.

“Nikolaus and his family moved from Strasbourg in Alsace to Unterweilbach near Dachau. Later they leased the castle farm in Pellheim. Other Amish families and individuals were also in the neighborhood. For example, the families of Christian and Valentin Birki who owned properties in Arzbach. Christian Habecker's Amish family also lived there for three years as subtenants of Christian Birki. Also tenants in this area were the Zehr and Hiser families, all of whom were named in the Pellheim parish register. Jakob Müller was a farmhand in Pellheim, Christian Gascho and his wife Maria née Güngerich in Pellheim, Georg Hochstettler farmhand in Arzbach, the siblings Johann, Barbara & Valentin Ackermann also in Arzbach and Anna Zwalter (Schowalter), “Austräglerin” or elderly farm woman in Pellheim. We may assume that all of the people named in Pellheim were employed by Nickolaus Augustin or lived on the farm. According to the church register, Christian Gascho was the subtenant of Nikolaus Augustin on the estate in Pellheim. The same was the case with Christian and Katharina Jotter (née Augsburger).

“Nikolaus Augustin must have been a very good farmer, because in the Staatsarchiv I found an application for a certificate of property by the Pellheim community dated 21 May 1841 when he left his lease there. It records what he had in terms of cash, agricultural property, and equipment and livestock, as well as outstanding debts from creditors.” [Totaling 16,174 Guilders]

“Following are the names of local leaders of the community who gave attestations to Nikolaus’ wealth and reputation: Eduard Count Sprety, Landlord of Weilbach; Franz Mayer, mayor, community of Pellheim; Dachau regional court.”


Information taken from Eigsti Genealogy Book.
  Nicholas, a farmer, owned a large farm in Germany.  He was also a preacher in the Mennonite Church.  The children received training in the home which produces industrious and faithful citizens.  Being instructed in the faith of their parents, they accepted Christ as their Saviour in their youth.  Nicholas died at about 50 years of age in Munich, Germany.  Elizabeth, the youngest daughter, contracted dipthiria and died from the disease in 1849, at approximately 7 years of age.

  In Germany, the law of conscription required all young men to serve three years in military duty.  The family left a comfortable, prosperous farm to come to America, suffering the privations of pioneer life.  They came not for financial gain, but to escape militarism, believing that it was not in accordance with the teachings of Holy Scriptures.

  The first to come to America, was Joseph Burkey.  He lived for one year in Tazewell Co., Illinois, then returned to Germany and married Miss Barbara Eigsti, in 1847.  The following year Joseph Burkey with his new bride, Barbara and her brother, Christian, came to America and settled in Tazewell Co., Illinois.  Following the death of Nicholas Augstien, his widow Barbara and the remaining children joined the family in America.  The trip was made in small wooden vessels, taking 56 days to cross the Atlantic Ocean.  They landed in New York City, proceeded by rail to Chicago and by canal to LaSalle, Illinois, on by boat to Hennepin, and by team to Bureau County, Illinois.

  Barbara Augstien owned land two miles south of Morton, Illinois.  A deed was recorded on August 19, 1853 in Tazewell County.  The land was purchased for the sum of $5,000.  Barbara Augstien is recorded in both the 1870 and 1880 federal census as residing with her youngest son, John Eigsti.  On December 26, 1880, she passed away at the age of 80.  She was buried in the Willow Springs Mennonite Church Cemetery, near Tiskilwa, Illinois.

——————————
“In 1818 Nicholas Augstein left Strasbourg and moved to Gern (near Munich) with a number of other families. The family name was changed to Eigsti after resettling near Munich and it has been thought the cause could have been an anti-semitic climate.”

Died:
1852 Kirchdorf church register. He died at noon and was buried on Feb 3 in Kirchdorf in the grave belonging to the farm.

Buried:
In the grave belonging to the farm

Nicholas married Barbara Gascho in 1822 in Bavaria, GR. Barbara (daughter of André Gascho and Anna Zwalter) was born on 10 Nov 1800 in Desseling, Bas-Rhin, FR; died on 26 Dec 1880 in Tiskilwa, Bureau Co., IL; was buried in Dec 1880 in Tiskilwa, Bureau Co., IL. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Religion: Mennonite
• Immigration: 7 May 1853, Philadelphia, Philadelphia Co., PA

Notes:

She found help in the Amish community in one Johann Springer, who lived nearby. He assumed guardiandship for the minor children, and helped when she sold her property. In December 1852 she applied to emigrate to America. Barbara traveled to Morton, Illinois with her remaining children: 2 adults and 5 minor children, in the spring of 1853.

Birth:
Year IX of the French Republic

Immigration:
Ship City of Glasgow

Buried:
Willow Springs Mennonite Cemetery