| Notes |
- THE LIFE OF JOSEPH VERKLER
JOSEPH VERKLER, WAS BORN NEAR STRASBOURG, GERMANY, IN 1807, THE SON OF
JOSEPH AND KATHARINA RINGENBERG VERKLER. WHEN 21 YEARS OF AGE HE WAS DRAFTED
FOR THE REGULAR ARMY AND AFTER 2-1/2 YEARS OF SERVICE, WENT HOME ON A
FURLOUGH OF TWO WEEKS.
HIS MOTHER AND HIS STEP-FATHER PETER ENGEL, WHOM SHE HAD REMARRIED AFTER THE
DEATH OF HER FIRST HUSBAND, JOSEPH, WERE PREPARING TO EMIGRATE TO AMERICA.
KATHARINA HATED TO LEAVE YOUNG JOSEPH BEHIND AND THROUGH THE AID OF A
FRIENDLY GENDARME ( A FRENCH POLICE OFFICER ), THE YOUTH'S ESCAPE WAS
PLANNED.
IN THE MENNONITE FAITH AT THAT TIME NO MAN WAS PERMITTED TO WEAR A MUSTACHE.
JOSEPH, HOWEVER, BEING A SOLDIER, WORE A MUSTACHE. HIS FIRST MOVE IN
PLANNING TO ESCAPE WAS TO SHAVE OFF HIS MUSTACHE; THEN, BY APPROPRIATING A
FRIEND'S PASSPORT AND USING HIS FRIEND'S NAME JOSEPH GINGERICH, HE WALKED
FROM STRASBOURG TO HAVRE. THERE HE MET SOME MENNONITE FRIENDS, NAUFSINGER BY
NAME, WHO WERE ALSO EMIGRATING TO AMERICA AND HAD IN SOME WAY LEARNED OF HIS
PLAN. WITH THEM HE SET SAIL AND HAD BEEN ON THE OCEAN SEVERAL DAYS BEFORE
HIS FURLOUGH EXPIRED. THIS WAS IN THE WINTER OF 1829. UPON HIS FAILURE TO
REPORT FOR SERVICE, THE GENDARME WHO HAD HELPED HIM TO ESCAPE, NOW
PRETENDING TO BE VERY ANGRY AT NOT FINDING THE YOUTH, SCOLDED HIS MOTHER
SOUNDLY. HAD HER SON JOSEPH BEEN FOUND HE WOULD HAVE BEEN COURT-MARTIALED
AND SHOT. SMALL WONDER THAT FOR A NUMBER OF YEARS HE OFTEN DREAMED THAT HE
HAD MET WITH SUCH PUNISHMENT.
JOSEPH LANDED IN NEW YORK CITY AND THEN WALKED TO LANCASTER COUNTY, PENN.,
WHERE HE WORKED FOR $7.00 A MONTH. EIGHTEEN MONTHS LATER HE CROSSED THE
ALLEGHENY MOUNTAINS AFOOT. ARRIVING IN BUTLER COUNTY, OHIO, HE SECURED A JOB
AT CUTTING WOOD FOR 25 CENTS A CORD. SIX MONTHS LATER HE STARTED FOR
ILLINOIS WITH HIS ENTIRE SAVINGS OF $100.00. HE MADE THE TRIP BY BOAT DOWN
THE OHIO RIVER THEN UP THE MISSISSIPPI AND ILLINOIS RIVERS TO PEORIA, THEN
CALLED FORT CLARK.
HE WAS MARRIED TO JACOBINA ENGEL ON DEC. 27, 1832 BY REV. CHRISTIAN ENGEL,
WHICH WAS HER FATHER. CHRISTIAN ENGEL WAS A MENNONITE MINISTER WHICH WOULD
BE THE SAME AS BENEDICT WEYENETH IN THE APOSTOLIC CHRISTIAN FAITH.
JACOBINA ENGEL, WAS BORN IN ALSACE-LORAINE, THE DAUGHTER OF CHRISTIAN AND
BARBARA BRUNNER ENGEL. SHE EMIGRATED TO AMERICA WITH HER PARENTS WHEN SHE
WAS QUITE YOUNG. THEY WERE ON THE OCEAN 65 DAYS, BEFORE LANDING IN NEW
ORLEANS AND SETTLED IN METAMORA, ILLINOIS. AT THE AGE OF 21 SHE MARRIED HER
HALF-BROTHER'S STEP-SON, JOSEPH VERKLER. THEIR FIRST HOME WAS A ONE-ROOM
LOG-CABIN ON KICKAPOO CREEK, WEST OF PEORIA.
IN 1834 JOSEPH AND JACOBINA VERKLER MOVED NEAR METAMORA, WHERE THEY CLEARED
SEVERAL TIMBER FARMS. IT WAS AT THIS TIME WHEN JOSEPH BECAME INVOLVED WITH
BENEDICT WEYENETH AND HIS NEW AMISH (NEU TAUFER) MOVEMENT AT THE PARTRIDGE
CREEK CHURCH. IN 1864-1865 JOSEPH BECAME A CITIZENS OF PLEASANT RIDGE
TOWNSHIP NEAR FORREST, ILLINOIS. WHERE HE BOUGHT 800 ACRES OF LAND. IT WAS
HERE THAT THE NORTH SIDE APOSTOLIC CHRISTIAN CHURCH WAS STARTED.
110 YEARS OF "NORTH SIDE"
APOSTOLIC CHRISTIAN CHURCH
BY BEN NUSSBAUM
"AS ADDITIONAL FAMILIES MIGRATED TO THE AREA AN OPPORTUNITY FOR GROUP
WORSHIP PRESENTED ITSELF AND, UNDER VERKLER'S LEADERSHIP, SERVICES WERE SOON
BEING HELD IN NEARBY HOMES. IF A HOUSE HAPPENED TO BE TOO SMALL THEY WOULD
CONGREGATE IN THE BARN.
ABOUT 1868 OR 1870 A SMALL TWO-ROOM CHURCH WAS BUILT ON VERKLER'S LAND AT
THE SOUTH EAST CORNER OF SECTION TWENTY-ONE.
BASICALLY THEN, THIS WAS THE BEGINNING OF THE NORTH SIDE. THOUGH THE GROUND
PROVED UNSATISFACTORY, THE BUILDING WAS ADEQUATE UNTIL ABOUT 1875 WHEN THEY
RELOCATED TO A HIGHER ELEVATION BEFORE CONSTRUCTING AN ADDITION.
JOSEPH WOULD SERVE AS THE FIRST MINISTER FOR NORTH SIDE CHURCH, AND LATER
WOULD BE ASSISTED BY RUDOLF LEUTHOLD AND THEN JACOB HONEGGER.
ON SEPT. 7, 1885 JACOBINA VERKLER DIED AND 16 DAYS LATER JOSEPH SEPT. 23,
1885, WOULD FOLLOW HER. THEY WERE BURIED IN THE VERKLER FAMILY LOTS. THE
VERKLER FAMILY NAME IS LONG GONE FROM THIS AREA AND THE FAMILY LOTS IS ALL
THAT WE HAVE LEFT TO REMEMBER THEM BY. WITH OUT JOSEPH VERKLER COMING TO
LIVINGSTON COUNTY, THE CHANCES ARE THE APOSTOLIC CHRISTIAN FAITH WOULDN‚T OF
EITHER.
———
JOSEPH VERKLER‚S OBIT
FAIRBURY BLADE
SEPT. 25 1885
MR. VERKLER, LIVING NORTH OF FORREST, DIED TUES. EVENING. HIS AGED COMPANION
PRECEEDED HIM SEVERAL WEEKS AGO. FUNERAL TODAY AT 2 P.M.
FAIRBURY BLADE
OCT. 2 1885
JOSEPH VERKLER, AFTER A LINGERING ILLNESS OF MANY WEEKS, QUIETLY AND
PEACEFULLY PASSED AWAY AT HIS HOME NEAR FORREST, ON THE MORNING OF SEPTEMBER
23 1885, AGED 78.
HE CAME TO PLEASANT RIDGE NINETEEN YEARS AGO, AND EVER SINCE LIVED IN THE
NEIGHBORHOOD WHERE HE DIED. ON DECEMBER 27 1832, HE WAS MARRIED, AND LIVED
HAPPILY WITH HIS WIFE UNTIL HER DEATH, SOME TWO WEEKS AGO. NINE CHILDREN, WE
BELIEVE, WERE THE FRUIT OF THIS UNION, OF WHOM EIGHT SURVIVE THEIR PARENTS.
HIS REMAINS WERE INTERRED IN THE FAMILY CEMETERY ON THURSDAY. THE LARGE
ATTENDANCE OF FRIENDS ATTENDED THE UNIVERSAL ESTEEM HE HAD WON, AND
EXPRESSED THE GENERAL SYMPATHY WITH HIS BEREAVED FAMILY. HE DIED AS HE HAD
LIVED, A PURE AND UPRIGHT MAN.
|
1807 - 1864 (57 years)
