Gegenheimer - Home | GAHIMER.COM

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 12, 2009
BY FRED GAHIMER
PAGE 1
Gegenheimer
Photos from Richard Gahimer’s
visit to Freckenfeld, Germany
Johann “Jacob” and Maria left Germany and came to America
Theirs was a stormy voyage
lasting 59 days.
Johann Jacob Gegenheimer, son of
Johann George Gegenheimer and
Margaretha Hartmen, was born on May
18, 1804 in the small village of
Freckenfeld, Rhein-Pfalz, Germany. His
mother died soon after his birth, and his
father died in less than nine years. He
attended school until he was fourteen
years old, after which he followed the
occupations of teaming and farming.
On March 11, 1827 in Kandel,
Germany, he was married to Maria Anne
DePrez, daughter of Daniel and Maria
Bossart DePrez; her birth date being
February 27, 1808. Both of Maria DePrez'
parents were of French origin. According
to family tradition, the DePrez's were
Huguenots who left France and fled to
safety over the border into the RheinPhalz where they settled in the village of
Billigheim, Germany, and never returned.
On April 17, 1833, these sturdy
pioneers with their three children, Anna
Catherine (born Sep. 12, 1828), Michael
(born Oct. 30, 1830), and Eva (born in
1831), embarked for America at LeHav're,
a seaport on the English Channel.
Turning their backs on the old world, and
with hopeful hearts, they faced the long
journey that would take them to the new
world about which they had heard such
good reports.
Theirs was a stormy voyage, lasting
fifty-nine days. One man on the ship, a
tailor named Ferbei' Fritz, sat on his trunk
and sewed. During the stormy weather,
the waves tossed the ship and caused the
trunk to slide back and forth across the
deck, taking the tailor with it.
When a day and a half from land,
Eva, the youngest child, died. The mother
entreated the captain to allow them to
bring the body ashore for burial; to which
he agreed if the sharks did not bother the
ship too much. They arrived in New
Orleans on June 15, 1833, and left little
Eva's body to be buried there.
Leaving New Orleans, they came up
the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers to
Cincinnati, Ohio, where they were met by
their brother-in-law, George Michael
Haehl, Jr., whose wife was the former Eva
Maria DePrez, a sister of Anne Maria
Gegenheimer. George Michael Haehl, Jr.,
had come over to America in 1832, the
year before, and he and his father had a
wagon shop in Cincinnati at the time.
They came overland by wagon to Rush
County and settled in Walker Township.
Contents:
Coming to America
Settling in
The Children
Log cabin today
1
2
2
3
One Father. One family.
2009
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Copyright Joseph Gahimer, 2009
Settling in
They bought eighty acres of land
from William and Elizabeth Rader for four
hundred dollars on September 8, 1834,
and on the next day, they bought forty
more acres from the government for
$1.25 an acre. Both deeds were signed
by Andrew Jackson, the President at the
time. They built a small log cabin while
they worked to clear the land. At some
later time they built a large two-story log
house which is still inhabited today
(1997).
The forest was typically cleared over
several years by cutting and burning,
filling the air with smoke. The roots and
stumps took years to eliminate, and
plowing was a hard and frustrating task.
The earth was too fertile to plant wheat
because it would grow too tall and fall
over, losing the grain. Thus, they could
plant only corn, and cornbread was their
staple for many years, along with wild
game.
First they put out one and a half
acres of corn, which the squirrels ate.
Sometimes the squirrels came in swarms.
The settlers killed the squirrels and at first
threw them away, not knowing they could
be used for food. When they were used
for food, usually only the hams and back
were eaten. They raised a few hogs on
beechnuts and acorns, then fed them
corn as soon as they had better luck
growing it. They bought a team of horses
and a wagon and killed their hogs on the
farm and hauled them to Cincinnati. This
had to be done in the winter, so the hog
carcasses would be preserved by
freezing during the trip. It took three days
to go and three more to return. Some
settlers combined their hog herds and
drove their hogs to Cincinnati much like
the western cattle drives. Instead of
brands, the hogs were identified by ear
marks. The trip took two or three weeks,
and had to be done in the winter because
that is the only time the packers worked.
Also, the drives had to be done when the
ground was soft, because frozen ground
cut the hog's feet. They sold the hogs for
$1.80 a hundred pounds. Mother
Gegenheimer would stay home with the
children, and the deer and wolves would
come around the cabin and nearly
frighten them to death.
They became very discouraged, and
would have gone back to Germany if they
would have had enough money to make
the trip. But in time the conditions got
better, they got more land cleared, and
they bought seed wheat, and sowed it.
They used reap hooks to garner it, then
on a windy day, would stand on a stump
and let the wind blow away the chaff, thus
cleaning it fairly good. They worked very
hard clearing the land, building log
houses, barns, and rail fences, and
prospered, and were able to give each of
their children a farm, besides the 120
acre farm on which they lived.
German to english
The Haehls and Gegenheimers were
among the first from the Bavarian district
of Europe to come to Rush and Shelby
Counties and form a German colony.
They spoke only the German language,
and by 1836 felt the need for a church,
and with other German families formed
the congregation called the Evangelical
Protestant Zion Church, and erected a 25'
x 35' log church. The preaching was done
in German until 1911 and then changed to
English for the benefit of the younger
generation.
Six children were born after their
arrival in Rush County: Jacob, 1835;
John, 1838; Margaret, 1840; William,
1843; Daniel, 1846; and Mary, 1851.
Maria Gegenheimer died February
25, 1882 at the age of 73, and Jacob on
November 26, 1888 at 87. They are both
buried in the Zion Cemetery.
The Children
Anna Catherine married John
Haehl. Their one child died in infancy.
Anna died in 1902 at the age of 74.
Michael married Margaret Howell.
They had nine children: William, Henry,
John, Charles, Margaret, Frank,
Michael, Fred, and Mary. Michael died in
1917 at the age of 86.
Jacob married Catherine Theobald.
They had two children to die in infancy,
and seven who grew to maturity: Jacob,
Caroline, Margaret, Catherine, Mary,
Louis, and Wilhelmina. Jacob died in
1916 at age 81.
John married Barbara Haug on
March 26, 1860. They had six children:
Mary, John, Andrew, Jacob, Catharine,
and Emma. John died in 1914 at the
age of 75.
Grave of Jacob and Maria
in the Zion Cemetery
Margaret married Andrew Kuhn,
and their children were: William,
Frederick, John, and George. A
daughter, Caroline, died at age three.
Margaret died in 1922 at age 82.
William married Catherine
Letherman. The four children born to
them were: Julius, George, August, and
John William. Catherine died when the
youngest, John William, was an infant.
He later married Salome Hirtzel, and
three children born to them were:
Adeline, Conrad, and Edward. Two other
sons died in infancy. William died in
1924 at age 81.
Daniel married Arkansas Hilligoss,
and their three children were: Elias
Love, Nancy Trust, and Nellie Ivona.
Arkansas died in I888. Daniel later
married Florence Phillips, and one son,
Ercell, was born to them. Daniel died in
1929 at age 83.
Mary married Charles Miller. Their
children were: Emma, Charles, Lenora,
Florence, and Leona. Mary died in 1922
at age 71.
The Shelbyville News; Saturday,
September 28, 1996, By JIM
McKINNEY, Executive editor
1835 Log Cabin
Restored
4-year effort revealed work of
pioneer family
The concept of a dream home can
be as varied as the families doing the
building and the living in them. For
Thomas L. and Patricia A. Lux, it has
always been an 1835 log cabin; an
original log cabin, that is. When the
Luxes bought the farm on which they
reside in 1974, they knew that at least
part of the original cabin remained
because of the wider-than-usual
windowsills and doorways. Pat Lux
said the cabin was underneath the
weatherboarding exterior. Years of
expansions and modernizations had
left the home just south of Manilla at
4635S Rush County 925W looking like
most others in the neighborhood. But
that wasn't what the Luxes' grown
children wanted.
"We always said we would tear
away the weatherboarding some day
so we could expose the log cabin," Lux
said. "Kyle (one of the grown children)
was over one day, and we just started
tearing off the weatherboard." That
was in June 1991, and it officially
launched a unique renovation and
restoration project that took 4 1/2
years to complete. The finished
product is a rustic and fashionable
farmhouse that preserves a piece of
Rush County's history and the quality
of 1835 workmanship.
The Luxes also tore down a small
log barn on their dairy farm and
moved the logs to the homesite where
they were reset as an addition to the
house. Pat Lux said her "mud room" is
part of the new addition. That's where
she has her washer and dryer, along
with some relics such as a 1907
Detroit Jewel gas stove with porcelain
handles and a for-looks-only Misty Oak
brand potbellied stove. Pat said a
screened-in porch was added along
with two wooden porches and a long
porch on the front of the house.
The original logs - some of them
about two feet thick and presumably
cut from woods on the farmland while
it was being cleared - were in
remarkable condition, considering
they had been part of the house for
160 years. Lux said having
weatherboarding over the log cabin
frame for many decades shielded the
logs from the elements. We haven't
been able to find out when the
weatherboarding was put on," said
Lux, but no one familiar with the
house or the location could remember
the log cabin until the Luxes exposed it
and began the work project.
Lux said additions that she and
her husband had made through the
years were renovated to blend into the
log arrangement. Mud and straw
packed in between the logs to mortar
them together had to be removed and
the logs brushed, washed and bleached
before a new mortar mix for chinking
was applied between the logs. Then a
clear sealer was used to preserve the
original log cabin. The mortar had
rotted away in some places, and there
was evidence of termites. Those spots
were cut away. Poplar boards and barn
siding have been used to keep the
rustic, rough-cut decor in the home's
add-on areas that were not part of the
original log cabin. Many of the
furnishings are antique family
heirlooms.
The Luxes continued to live in the
house during the remodeling. "It was a
mess, but we lived in it for over four
years. The living room was the worst.
When we tore away to the original logs,
they were black ... covered with soot.
When the house was built, the family
had cooked in the living room," Lux
said.
The renovation was a family affair.
Pat Lux, 53, and hubby Tom, 52, had
help from their grown children. Pat
Lux said son Jeff Lux, an electrical
engineer for Trane Co., of Rushville,
was "sort of like the family project
engineer." Daughter Kim Lux and sons
Kyle Slaton and Matt Lux also spent
many hours helping at home. Kyle is
employed by Gecom in Greensburg,
while Matt is a lineman for PSI Energy
and Kim a worker at Shares, Inc., both
of Shelbyville.
The cabin home was built by Jacob
Gegenheimer (now spelled Gahimer).
Gegenheimer was born in Freckfeld,
Rheinpfol, Germany. He married Maria
Anne DePrez in 1827, and on April 17,
1833, the couple and their three
children set sail for America. It was a
long and demanding journey, lasting
59 days before the family disembarked
in New Orleans. Their youngest child,
Eva, died less than two days before the
ship docked in America. According to
family records obtained by Pat Lux,
the Gegenheimers then sailed the
Mississippi and Ohio rivers to
Cincinnati, where a relative, identified
only as Maria's brother-in-law took
them by wagon to the area in Walker
Township, Rush County.
The family bought 80 acres of land
from the U. S. government for $400 on
Sept. 8, 1834. The next day, another
40 acres were purchased for $1.25 an
acre. Both deeds bear the signature of
the president of the United States,
Andrew Jackson. The next spring, the
two-story log cabin was built. Now, 161
years later, the Gegenheimers' homebuilding skills clearly have withstood
the test of time, with a little help from
1990s technology.