Finding Caroline

When I started searching for my great, great grandmother, Caroline “Lena” Hesse, (1863-1914), I made a rookie mistake. I assumed that her parents were the adults listed on the 1870 census and on her marriage record.

However, the first sentence of her Pioneer Mother biography gave me a BIG clue:

[she] was born in Germany and came to America with her mother and settled in Neenah, Wisconsin.

Caroline’s Mother

Did Caroline come to America with just her mother? In order to find that answer, we need to know more about her mother, Louisa, wife of August Krull.

I found a clue in the records of Oak Hill Cemetery (Neenah, Wisconsin).  These persons are buried in Lot #192:

1. Aug. Krull, Sr, Husband
2. Lucinda Baurenfeind, Dau. [daughter]
3. Mrs. August Krull, Sr., Owner
4. John Koepke, Father
5. Albert Krull, Son
6. Ricka Baurenfeind, Son in Law’s Wife
7. Wm Baurenfeind, Son in Law

John Koepke died August, 26, 1919. He does not have a grave marker, but his newspaper obituary provided many details, including:¹John Koepke Obituary. The Menasha (WI) Record. August 28, 1916, page 1.

John Koepke…was born in Bruel, Germany, March 22, 1830 and came to Neenah from his native country in 1884….pall bearers:…Albert Kruell, August Kruell…

If John Koepke was born in 1830, he certainly was not old enough to be Louisa’s father/Caroline’s grandfather. (Louisa’s grave marker lists her birth as 1836.) If Albert and August Krull were pallbearers, there was very likely a close family connection. Perhaps John and Louisa were siblings or cousins.

Thankfully, FamilySearch digitized the Brüel, Parchim, Mecklenburg-Schwerin (now, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern) Ecclesiastical Church Books. Using John Koepke as my starting point, I found his baptism record, his parents’ marriage, his marriage, his children’s baptisms and his siblings’ births. Most importantly, I found his sister, Sophia’s, baptism record.

Baptism record of Sophia Louisa Maria Koeppke²Evangelische Kirche Brüel (AG. Brüel). Kirchenbuch, 1685-1934. LDS film 69021. Baptism of Sophia Lousa Maria Koeppke, No. 13, born March 18, 1836, baptized 20 March 1836.

• Record No. 13
• Born March 18, 1836
• Baptized March 20, 1836
• Father: Koeppke, Christoph master saddler of Brüel
• Mother: Maria, born/maiden name Froh
• Child: Sophia Louisa Maria
• Sponsors: Sophia Debel, Louisa Millies, Maria Winter citizen daughters of Brüel

Caroline’s Baptism

Sure that I found her mother, I looked for (and found) Caroline’s baptism record.³Evangelische Kirche Brüel (AG. Brüel). Kirchenbuch, 1685-1934. LDS film 69021. Baptism of Sophia Lousa Maria Koeppke, No. 13, born March 18, 1836, baptized 20 March 1836.

• Record No. 70
• Born August 4, 1863
• Baptized August 16, 1863
• Father: [blank]
• Mother: Soph. Luise Maria Koeppke saddler’s daughter of Brüel
• Child: Caroline Maria Lisette Koeppke (sp,) [an indication that this was an illegitimate birth]
• Sponsors: Carl Bünger (a cooper), Maria Grube and Lisette Jörss Citizen daughters of Brüel

To date, I have not discovered another record of Caroline’s birthdate. There is no specific birth information in her marriage record, death certificate or newspaper obituary. So far, there is no family Bible.

Is this the same Caroline?

How do we know that the Caroline in the Brüel baptism record is the same woman that married Franklin Hesse? There is no direct evidence, so we will turn to indirect evidence.

Louisa Krull and her family in the 1880 federal census:⁴1880 U.S. Census, Wisconsin, Winnebago County, Neenah 2nd Ward, Louisa Krull family #4, SD 4, ED 205, June 1, 1880.

• Louisa Krull (female, 44, widow), Keeping house, born in Mecklenburg
• Caroline L. M. Krull (female, 16, single), Daughter, Works in Paper Mill, born in Mecklenburg
• Manda M. Krull (female, 15, single), Daughter, House Keeping, born in Wisconsin
• August C. J. Krull, (male, 11, single), Son, at School, born in Wisconsin
• Albert J. H. Krull, (male, 9, single), Son, at School, born in Wisconsin
• Louisinda [sic] J. A. Krull, (female, 6, single), Daughter, born in Wisconsin

In this record, each of Louisa’s four biological children have two middle initials. Caroline’s middle initials: L. M. correspond with her baptism names: Caroline Maria Lisette. [In German naming culture, the order of the names is important, but not always fixed.]

Caroline Hesse newspaper obituary from the LaMoure Chronicle.⁵Mrs. Franklin (Caroline) Hesse Obituary. LaMoure (ND) Chronicle. February 27, 1914, page 1, column 7.

The obituary provided two key details of her early life:

1. Miss Caroline Krull [sic] was born in 1863 at Meckleberg[ [sic]. The 1863 baptism record is, indeed, from Mecklenburg.
2. At the age of three she emigrated with her parents [sic] and settled at Neenah, Wis. The Pioneer Mother biography stated that she came to America with her mother, not her parents.

Emigration

The newspaper obituary reported that Caroline left Germany when she was 3 years old. The ship Bavaria departed Hamburg on November 24, 1866. Among its passengers were Louisa and Caroline Koepcke from Brül Mecklbg.⁶Staatsarchiv Hamburg; Hamburg, Deutschland; Hamburger Passagierlisten; Volume: 373-7 I, VIII A 1 Band 020; Page: 1330; Microfilm No.: K_1712. Louisa Koepcke, departure November 24, 1866, line [20]5.

Inset from the Hamburg departure list from the ship Bavaria, November 24, 1866.

Louisa is listed as a 30-year-old Frau [meaning woman, not necessarily wife]. Caroline is a 3-year-old Kind [child]. Their ages match the church records. Both of them are from Brül [sic].

This Hamburg departure record does not explicitly state their relationship to one another. However, the New York passenger arrival manifest labels Louisa as “woman” and Caroline as “her child.”⁷Ancestry.com. New York, U.S., Arriving Passenger and Crew Lists (including Castle Garden and Ellis Island), 1820-1957 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010. Louisa Koepcke arriving on Bavaria, December 13, 1866, No. 204.

Conclusions and Questions

Caroline, the Pioneer Mother and wife of Franklin Hesse, was born August 4, 1863 in Brüel. Her given name was Caroline Lisette Maria Koepke as her mother was unmarried at the time of her birth.

Her mother was Sophia “Louisa” Maria Koepke. Together, mother and daughter immigrated to America and arrived in New York City on December 13, 1866.

At some time after December 13, 1866, Louisa Koepke was married to August Krull.

Was August Krull a friend from Brüel?
Had August’s first wife died thereby making a place for Louisa?
Was Louisa’s marriage to August Krull pre-arranged?

More Food for Thought

The remembrance of a Pioneer Mother is endearing to some and a symbol of white supremacy to others. Across America, monuments were erected idolizing western expansion. If it were not for the Pioneer Mother project, we would not have the one-page, written biography of Caroline Koepke Krull Hesse.

I agree with Cynthia Prescott, associate professor of history at the University of North Dakota. She says, “it is time for us to begin these difficult conversations, so that future generations will learn what happened in the past, and how our memories of the past have changed over time. That is how we will build a more inclusive future.”

SOURCES

• 1
  John Koepke Obituary. The Menasha (WI) Record. August 28, 1916, page 1.
• 2
  Evangelische Kirche Brüel (AG. Brüel). Kirchenbuch, 1685-1934. LDS film 69021. Baptism of Sophia Lousa Maria Koeppke, No. 13, born March 18, 1836, baptized 20 March 1836.
• 3
  Evangelische Kirche Brüel (AG. Brüel). Kirchenbuch, 1685-1934. LDS film 69021. Baptism of Sophia Lousa Maria Koeppke, No. 13, born March 18, 1836, baptized 20 March 1836.
• 4
  1880 U.S. Census, Wisconsin, Winnebago County, Neenah 2nd Ward, Louisa Krull family #4, SD 4, ED 205, June 1, 1880.
• 5
  Mrs. Franklin (Caroline) Hesse Obituary. LaMoure (ND) Chronicle. February 27, 1914, page 1, column 7.
• 6
  Staatsarchiv Hamburg; Hamburg, Deutschland; Hamburger Passagierlisten; Volume: 373-7 I, VIII A 1 Band 020; Page: 1330; Microfilm No.: K_1712. Louisa Koepcke, departure November 24, 1866, line [20]5.
• 7
  Ancestry.com. New York, U.S., Arriving Passenger and Crew Lists (including Castle Garden and Ellis Island), 1820-1957 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010. Louisa Koepcke arriving on Bavaria, December 13, 1866, No. 204.