John Edward Ringenberg

Notes:

Buried:
Mount Bloom Cemetery

Notes:

Birth:
FAG gives birth place as Bavaria

Buried:
Willow Springs Cemetery

Peter + Elizabeth Burkey. Elizabeth (daughter of Johannes (John) Bircky (Burcky, Buerki), Jr. and Catharine Zierlein) was born on 17 Jan 1852; died on 22 Dec 1936 in IL; was buried in Tiskilwa, Bureau Co., IL. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Buried:
Mount Bloom Cemetery

Other Events and Attributes:

• Religion: Amish Mennonite
• Immigration: 1835

Notes:

Obit: Herald of Truth, January 1891
"Buerki. On the 9th of December, near Tiskilwa, Bureau Co., Ill, of the infirmities of old age, Bro. John Buerki, aged 78 years 5 months and 16 days. He was buried on the 11th in the Amish Mennonite graveyard in Indiantown. Funeral services by Jos. Buercky and Chr. Zehr, and Peter Ropp, of Tazewell Co. Bro. Buerki leaves his companion, one daughter and two grandchildren, and many warm friends to mourn his departure. He was a faithful follower of Christ. His place at meeting was never empty so long as he was able to go. He departed in peace."

Birth:
possibly Obersanding

Buried:
Willow Springs Cemetery (Amish Mennonite graveyard)

Johannes + Catharine Zierlein. Catharine (daughter of Casper Zierlein and Elisabeth Albrecht) was born on 30 Jul 1830 in GR; died on 1 Mar 1854 in Bureau Co., IL; was buried in Arispie Twp., Bureau Co., IL. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Elizabeth may be the daughter of second marriage instead of this one.

Died:
Date from gravestone (Age 22 Yrs. 8 M’s) FAG gives death year as 1853.

Buried:
Albrecht Family Cemetery

Other Events and Attributes:

• Reference Number: 192
• Religion: Amish Mennonite
• Residence: Nassau-Weilburg, GR
• Residence: 1817, Riedenburg, Bavaria, GR
• Immigration: 1836, Hennepin, Putnam Co., IL

Notes:

Willow Springs Mennonite Church (Tiskilwa, Illinois, USA)

Willow Springs Mennonite Church, 1946
Scan courtesy Mennonite Church USA Archives-Goshen X-31.1, Box 17/28

Willow Springs Mennonite Church (Mennonite Church), located 4 miles south of Tiskilwa, Bureau County, Illinois, a mem­ber of the Illinois Mennonite Conference, was organized in 1836 as an Amish Mennonite congregation, the settlers having come mostly from Bavaria, Germany, plus a few from Butler County, Ohio. The Bavarians had first settled in 1835 in the Hennepin and Gran­ville neighborhood in Putnam County. After meet­ing in homes for 35 years the congregation built its first meetinghouse in 1873. This was destroyed by lightning in 1896, but was immediately rebuilt, and later enlarged several times.

Three subsidiary groups have been formed from Willow Springs: Ohio Station in the north central part of the county 1840-1915, which never developed into a congregation; Sheffield in the western part of the county 1943-1950; and the Tiskilwa Mennonite Church (General Conference Mennonite), which was formed in 1911 when a group withdrew to join the Central Illinois Mennonite Conference.

The first minister in the Hennepin community was Jacob Burkey of Hesse, Germany, who never lived in the Tiskilwa neighborhood. The Willow Springs congregation suffered for many years from inadequate and even absentee ministerial leadership and was not established on a sound basis until 1868, when Joseph Burkey, a minister at Tremont, Illinois, moved in and was ordained bishop a year later. His successor was C. A. Hartzler, a minister from Garden City, Missouri, who came in 1913 and was or­dained bishop a year later. C. W. Long was pastor in 1957, with a membership of 142.


“Once lived at Buscherhof, near to Lutterbacherhof, in Alsace. Herbert Holly found in a document “Johannes Bircky from Busherhof, in former times baronial Nassau-Weilburgerish.” (House of Nassau-Weilburg)

“Their daughter Barbe’s “civil birth entry described her parents as farmer Jean Perky and his wife Svalter. It was signed 'Johannes Birki.”

“We found Buscherhof listed in the early 1700s as part of the parish that included Bouquenom, Harskirchen, Mittersheim, Neusarrewerden, Rimsdorf, Sarrewerden, Vibersviller, Willer, and Zollingen. This indicates that it was within 5 miles south or 11 miles west of the Lutterbacherhof. The Cassini map created in the late 1700s shows a Bouchert farm on the east side of Sarrewerden.

“We know of only one clue that might indicate their living place in Bavaria: when Christian Albrecht and Elizabeth Engel traveled directly to Hennepin, Putnam County in 1836, they were thought to be intentionally reuniting with friends John and Veronica (Solphonia). The Albrechts had lived in a large communal house at Kaiserslautern and on the Büdenhof estate at Sesslach; Sesslach is a medieval walled village in Upper Franconia, Bavaria, about 200 miles east of Kaiserslautern. John and Veronica (Solphonia) had arrived at Hennepin in 1835, and hosted the Albrechts over their first year 1836-37. John is found as John Burkey Sr., 73, born in France, in the Putnam household of Peter Albrecht on the 1850 federal census; he does not appear on the 1860 census. “

“I found this text in Past and Present of Bureau County, describing the arrival of two Mennonite 'Burchey' families in Putnam County in 1835. That of John Burkey and Solphonia is mentioned second: "Mennonite Church of Indiantown: The first family of this sect came to Putnam County in 1835 or 1836, from Ohio. In the family, whose name was Burchey, were four boys, Daniel, Christian, Frederick, and Jacob, the latter being a minister of the gospel, and thus was a nucleus formed for the Mennonite church, which has been maintained up to the present time. About a year later came another family of the same name with four sturdy sons and one daughter (leaving four daughters in the mother country, Germany). Then from Germany also came Christian Albrecht with six sons and four daughters. Many others joined them from time to time. Until 1867 meetings were held in private parlors, once in three weeks, and till 1873, they met every two weeks."

“The couple farmed on La Canardière ['the farm stock yard', Ger. Entenhof or Antehof] at Gondrexange. Freni's sister Catherine Zwalter (born circa 1768), worked there as well with her husband Joseph Gascho (born circa 1773). In 1802 Johannes signed a lease contract at Steingaden, Bavaria.

“Son Andre’s civil birth entry describes his parents as Jean Perki, farmer at La Canardièr, and Fréne Svaltert. It was witnessed by Jean's brother André Perki, 21, of Bouquenom [now called Sarre-Union, adjacent to Rimsdorf, Lower Alsace]. It was signed 'Johannes Birki' and Andreas Birki. db

“The bann announcement announcing their intention to marry described them as Jean Perki, 22, and Freine Stavalter, 21. The couple farmed on La Canardière ['the farm stock yard', Ger. Entenhof or Antehof] at Gondrexange. Freni's sister Catherine Zwalter (born circa 1768), worked there as well with her husband Joseph Gascho (born circa 1773). In 1802 Johannes signed a lease contract at Steingaden, Bavaria. The name Christian Bürcky also appears on that document; this individual could not be identified with certainty.313 Another document signed there in 1804 describes only Johannes of Buscherhof, the German name of his family's prior home in Lower Alsace. An additional document names Johannes Birki and 'cousin' Friedrich Hage.314 Johannes and Freni also lived at Obersanding (15 miles south of Regensburg), then purchased the Hellerhof estate there in 1826. It was put up for auction in 1836, the same year that Johannes and Freni emigrated from Europe, and sold in 1839. The packet ship Charles Carroll sailed from Le Havre, and arrived at New York May 12, 1836. Its passenger list shows farmer John Berkie, 52; Fenica, 56; farmer Andrew, 30; Madeline, 17 [this may have been Magdalena Albrecht, who married Andrew in 1838; her name is marked with an 'x' and a note that she delivered a female child May 7]; John, 21; Catherine, 16; and Nicholas [actually Joseph], 20. They settled at Hennepin, Putnam County (adjacent to Granville), and hosted the Albrechts over their first year 1836-37.”

The index to the civil records of Rimsdorf, Lower Alsace indicates an entry for the birth of Johannes Birki Sept. 17, 1801. Note that the next listed child Andreas/Andrew was born nine months later, substantially lessening the likelihood that Johannes belongs with this family. However, the actual entry is omitted from the online archives, so the parents cannot be identified with certainty.

Residence:
Busherhof (Lorraine), in former times baronial Nassau-Weilburgerish. (House of Nassau-Weilburg)

Residence:
The family moved from Schildschwaig to Maierhofen, at Hemau near Riedenburg. His brother Andreas and family were living nearby on Flugelsberg near Prunn/Brunn.

Immigration:
Request to emigrate. Left with children and son-in-law Peter Roggy.

Buried:
Probably Putnam Co., IL

Johannes married Veronica (Freni) Zwalter on 27 Feb 1798 in Gondrexange, Moselle, FR. Veronica (daughter of Christian Zwalter and Marie Risser) was born in 1780; died before 1850 in Putnam Co., IL. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Immigration: 1835

Notes:

From Gondrexange, Moselle, FR.

Notes:

according to civil status acts:?1798-02-27 Gondrexange Marriage : Perki Jean marie à Frene zwalter le 9 ventose to 6?[ 02.27.1798 ] , according to Otto , Jean son of Jean Perky senior & Elizabeth Ruby, witness Schwager?Gascho

Married:
in the Dieuze Ponds area. A witness was his brother-in-law Gascho.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Occupation: Brickmaker

Notes:

Son of Heinrich and Margareta Sperbert Zierlein.

Buried:
Albrecht Family Cemetery

Casper + Elisabeth Albrecht. Elisabeth (daughter of Christian Albrecht and Elisabeth Engel) was born on 19 Mar 1807 in Kaiserslautern, Palatinate, GR; died on 15 Aug 1874 in Bureau Co., IL; was buried in Bureau Co., IL. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Of Granville, Putnam County, IL.

Buried:
Albrecht Family Cemetery