Author: Ronald Guenther
Written: 1/1/2014 – 1/11/2014

The Delsman family stems from the town of Ascheberg, Germany.  It is located about twelve miles South of Muenster in Westfalen in Western Germany.  It was a center of Saxon resistance to Charlemagne and the expanding Frankish empire.  Charlemagne fought against the Saxons in a series of wars for about thirty years.  The leader of the Saxons was Widukind and he was from that area.  So, the area is rich in history.  After the conversion to Catholicism, Westfalen has remained predominantly Catholic right up to the present time.

The family comes into view around 1450 when a farmer named Albert to Huelsbusch married the daughter of a farmer in the Ascheberg area and takes her name and so we have:

I.  Albert to Delsing. Shortly thereafter, the name Delsing was changed to Delsman in accordance with new laws.  Over the years, the name will undergo slight changes and be spelt variously, Delsman (the originally spelling), Delsmann, Delssmann, and so on.   He and his wife have two children
i)  Hermann Delsmann who inherits the farm.
ii)  Gesa to Delsing who married a man whose name is not known.

II.  Hermann married an unknown.  They had one child whose name was also Hermann.

III.  Herrmann Delsman (died about 1558 in Ascheberg) married Elsa (died in Ascheberg about 1548).  They had five children.
   i)  Johann who died in Ascheberg about 1564.
   ii)  Hinrich, who died in Ascheberg about 1564.
   iii)  Berndt who inherited the farm.  (This is the first form of Bernard in the family.  It goes on from there)
   iv)  Greta, who died in Ascheberg on August 1, 1548.
   v)  Anna who died in Ascheberg about 1579.  She had married an unknown man, who was a sacristan or sexton for the church in Ottmarsbocholt.

Remark.  The people are rather cavalier about dates at this point in time.  They also do not tell how people died or what they died of, whether there some some  sort of disease going around or anything.  The entries are terse.

IV.  Berndt Delsman (died in Ascheberg about 1568) married a woman named Konnewalt in 1549 and who died about 1594.  They had six children.
   i)  Johann who was born about 1550 in Ascheberg and who inherited the farm.
   ii)  Christopher (1552 – 1616) who was born and died in Ascheberg.
   iii)  Berndt (1554 – 1616) who was born and died in Ascheberg.
   iv)  Hinrich (1559 – 1603) who was born and died in Ascheberg.
   v)  Tonies (1566 – 1601) who was born and died in Ascheberg.
   vi)  Hermann (1566 – 1586) who was born and died in Ascheberg.

V.  Johann Delsman (1550 – 1622) was born and died in Ascheberg.  He ran the family farm from 1593 – 1613.  In 1578 he married Elsa who died in Ascheberg about 1624. In 1582, he was accused of being a thief by a man named Josst Blomesaeth and was fined 1/2 Taler of the Holy Roman Empire.He and Elsa had three children.
   i)  Gertrud, born in Ascheberg about 1579.  Gertrud becomes a popular family name from this point on.  We even had a cousin Gertrude (Delsman) Holdorf, the oldest daughter of our Uncle Henn, Grandpa’s brother.
   ii)  Christopher, born in Ascheberg in 1580 and died there in 1653.  He was a judge in the neighboring town of Davensberg.
   iii)  Margaretha, born in 1583.  She inherited the farm.

VI.  Margaretha Delsman (1583 – 1660) was born and died in Ascheberg.  She died on Jan. 2, 1660.  She married a man named Hermann who became the farmer and so took the name Delsman as was the custom.  Remember, the name stayed with the farm in those years.  He died in Ascheberg in 1629, so she was a widow for nearly 31 years.  They had seven children.
   i)  Margaretha
   ii)  Hermann (born 1602)  He inherited the farm.
   iii)   Johann, born in Ascheberg in 1605 and became a judge in Davensberg.  He died after Aug. 8, 1663 in Ottmarsbocholt.
   iv)  Elsa, born in Ascheberg in 1608.
   v)  Josst, born in Ascheberg in 1610.
   vi)  Christophorus (born 1613 in Ascheberg and after April  4 in 1655 died in Ascheberg)
   vii)  Ennecke, born in Ascheberg in 1618.

Remark.  The inheritance laws were rather complicated in those years and not entirely fixed.  Some of them stemmed from the old common law system.  If the boys or the girls married and left Ascheberg, then the church will not always have a record of the deaths.  Thus, the death dates are left open.  The inheritance system was not really clarified until much later and when the Germans came to this country in the 19th century, some of the customs were brought with them and also led to problems.

VII.  Hermann Delsman (born 1602 in Ascheberg, his death date is unknown).  About 1630, he married Catharina.  They had four children.
   i)  Gertrudis (born in Ascheberg in 1630 and was buried in Ascheberg on August 5, 1680)  She inherited the farm.
   ii)  Cahtarina (married Johann Bonekamp, Jan. 29, 1653)
   iii)  Anna (died sometime after May 29, 1667.  On March 26, 1657, she married Josst Moellemann)
   iv)  Margaretha (born in Ascheberg 1639)

VIII.  Gertrudis Delsman (was born in 1630 in Ascheberg and buried on August 5, 1680 in Ascheberg)  She married her first husband, Johann Daldrup before 1649.  They had one son.
     i’)  Joannes Daldrup who was baptized in Ascheberg on June 4, 1651.

Remark.  Notice the spellings here.  Both Gertrudis and Joannes are the Latin froms of Gertrud(e) and Johann.  Also, from here on there is an emphasis on the fact that these ceremonies all took place in the Roman Catholic Church.  You will also notice the dates here.  The thirty years war was the great religious war that shook Europe from 1618 to 1648.  The war ended with the treaty referred to now as the Peace of Westphalia and signed in Muenster, Westfalen.  Suddenly it seems that the local people wanted to emphasize their Roman Catholic affiliation.  The spelling of the name Delsman also changes although I will continue to use the spelling Delsman, but in the records one sees increasingly, Delsmann, or the use of the so-called ess-tset, a letter that looks like a capital B so it looks like the spelling would be DelBmann and so on.

Gertrudis married her second husband, Evert Gilmann genannt Delsman (recall, the name stays with the farm so his name was Gilmann and he is now called Delsman) about 1661.  They had three children.  She was buried on August 5, 1680 and Evert was buried on October 19, 1680.  Gertrudis was referred to affectionally as Mother Delsman and Evert as Father Delsman and so they were buried.  The three children of Gertrudis and Evert were:
    i”)  Evert (born 1662, probably in Ascheberg)
   ii)  Gertrudis (baptized in Ascheberg, Dec. 29, 1663 and buried in Ascheberg on Jan. 10, 1664)
   iii)  Catharina (baptized in Ascheberg on Sept. 13, 1665.  Her first husband was Johan Volbart and her second husband was Johan Lohmann.)

IX.  Evert Delsman (probably born in Ascheberg in 1662 and died, probably in Ascheberg between 1707 and 1728)
  He married Catherina Buenningmann, who was baptized in Ascheberg on Aug 15, 1650.  They had one son
   i’)  Bernardus who was baptized Nov. 18,1682.  Bernardus was still born.      After the death of Catharina Buenningmann, Evert married Maria Aldenhoevel.  She died in Ascheberg on July 29, 1695.  They had five children.
   i”)  Christophorus Delsman, baptized Aug. 5, 1685 in Ascheberg.
   ii)  Bernardus, baptized in Ascheberg on May 16, 1688.  He inherited the farm.
   iii)  Ditrich, buried Dec. 12, 1692 in Ascheberg.
   iv)  Anna Maria, baptized May 11, 1692 in Ascheberg.  Buried April 15, 1757 in Ascheberg.  Her first husband was Bernardus Wickensack who died before July 15, 1726.  On July 15, 1726, she married her second husband, Joannes Wibbertmann who was baptized in Ascheberg on Feb. 2, 1679.
   v’)  Elisabeth, baptized July 10, 1695 in Ascheberg and was buried there on Jan. 12, 1755.  She married Henricus Lammers in Ascheberg on June 20, 1718.  Henricus Lammers was baptized April 27, 1682 and died Nov. 15, 1746.
   After the death of Marie Aldenhoevel, Evert married a third time.  She was buried in Ascheberg on July 7, 1706.  They had one son
   v”)  Joannes Delsman, baptized August 8, 1696.

X  Bernardus Delsman, baptized May 16, 1688 in Ascheberg and died there between Nov. 7, 1740 and July 12, 1742.  His godparents were Berndt and Catharina Jielikmanns.  His first wife was Agnes Boergers.  They had one son
   i’)  Bernardus, baptized Sept. 7, 1711.     After the death of Agnes, Bernardus married Anna Wickensack.  She was baptized in Ascheberg Dec. 21, 1693 and died there between Sept 25, 1728 and Aug. 1, 1730.  They had five children.
   i”)  Maria, baptized on Dec. 26, 1713 in Ascheberg and died there Feb. 13, 1758.  In 1741 she married Lohove in Ottmarsbocholt.
   ii)  Joannes Bernardus, baptized Nov. 7, 1716 in Ascheberg.  The godparents were Bernard Boergers and Margaretha Wickensack.  He inherited the farm.  You will notice the name, in English, John Bernard.  This name now keeps appearing.
   iii)  Anna, baptized Nov. 24, 1719 and died there in Ascheberg on  Oct 17, 1726.
   iv)  Gerardus Antonius, baptized Sept. 3, 1722  in Ascheberg and died there before July 20, 1732.
   v’)  Joannes Henricus Delsman genannt Bruenemann.  The genannt Bruenemann stems from the fact that he married a daughter from the Bruenemann family and took over their farm.  Recall, the name stays with the farm.  He was baptized Jan. 20, 1724 in Ascheberg.
   After the death of Anna, Bernardus married Maria Dircks of Ascheberg.  She was baptized in 1685 and died in Ascheberg sometime after Nov. 16, 1737.  They had one daughter
   v”)  Anna Angela, baptized Nov. 16, 1737.

Remark 1.  Baptism always took place within days of the birth.  They wanted to make sure their children were baptized early so the baptismal date and the birthdate are close but not identical unless the baby was born and in trouble.  That was also true if the baby was still born.  The death dates of many of the mothers follow closely the baptismal dates of their last child.  So many women died either in childbirth or from the complications thereof.  Also, notice the length of life of, for example, Anna.  She died shortly before her seventh birthday.  So many children died young.  This would have been very difficult.  The dating drives you crazy.  There seems to be no rhyme nor reason why some dates are given and others are ignored.

Remark 2.  The area was constantly under the threat of wars and natural disasters, which is another reason after 1748 that the emphasis is on the fact that these rites all took place in the Roman Catholic Church.  The region was first one of the main areas of Saxon resistance against the Franks and consequently armies criss crossed that region.  Then the town was mentioned in the 900-s and was pillaged by the Northmen and the Hungarians at that time.  In 1540, the town burned down.  In 1591-1595, Dutch and Spanish troops marched through and occupied the region (The Netherlands was under Spanish rule at the time).  During the thirty years war from 1618 – 1648, troops from Sweden, Hesse, and the Holy Roman Empire plundered the area.  In 1763, the town burned down.  Then came the French revolution.  The Prussians  came in 1803 and then were kicked out by the French in 1806.  The French were forced out in 1813.  Then the Prussians came back.  After that our own ancestors left the area.  The last great fighting that took place was toward the end of World War II.  First it was bombed in 1943 and then the Americans came after some of the heaviest fighting in World War II in 1944.  Naturally, the battle of bulge came and went, but that has nothing to do with our heritage.

XI.  Joannes Bernardus Delsman, baptized in Ascheberg on Nov. 7, 1716.  The godparents were Bernard Boergers and Margareth Wickensack.  He died in Ascheberg on Oct 13. 1773.  His firt wife was Maria Catharina Heuckmann, who was baptized in Ascheberg on Aug. 19, 1719.  She died in Ascheberg, April 30, 1753.  They had seven children.
   i)  Maria Catharina, baptized April 24, 1743 in Ascheberg, married Bernardus Antonius Freisfeld on Sept 4, 1764.
   ii)  Joannes Bernardus, baptized Dec. 1, 1744 in Ascheberg, buried in Ascheberg on April 21, 1756.
   iii)  Bernardus Henricus, baptized Sept. 4, 1746 in Ascheberg and died there on July 23, 1747.
   iv)  Josst Henricus, baptized in Ascheberg on Nov. 2, 1748.  The godparents were Josst Henrick Heuckmann and Maria Delsman Jelkmann.  He inherited the farm.
   v)  Maria Elisabeth, baptized Jan. 7, 1751 in Ascheberg and buried there on July 3, 1769.
   vi)  Anna Elisabetha, baptized in Ascheberg on June 9, 1753 and buried there on Oct. 18, 1753.
   vii)  Maria Bertrudis, baptized in Ascheberg, Oct. 3, 1754.  She died in Ascheberg on May 24, 1814 and was buried there on May 26, 1814.  Married on June 15, 1778 in Ottmarsbocholt a man named Bernardus Henricus Bonenkamp idictus Brueggen.  Idictus means named or called and was used in place of the more common word, genannt.  This would seem to mean that he was originally Bonenkamp and married somebody named Brueggen and took over the farm, so this would have been a second marriage for him.

Remark.  Notice some of the spellings.  In modern German, the K is used with rare exceptions in place of the C, but at this point in history, there seems to have been no standard in usage.     After Maria Catharina died, Joannes Bernardus married Catharina Elisabeth Schultz in Ottmarsbocholt in 1758.  She was buried on Aug. 19, 17622 in Ascheberg.  They had two children.     i’)  Bernardus Henricus, baptized in Ascheberg, Oct. 19, 1758.  In 1780 he joined a company of grenadiers.  He married three times and died Feb. 12, 1818.     ii’)  Chatharina Elisabeth, baptized on Sept. 11, 1760 in Ascheberg and was buried in Ottmarsbocholt on Jan. 4, 1786.

After the death of his second wife, Joannes Bernardus married Anna Entrup on July 30, 1763.  They had no children.

XII.  Josst Henricus Delsman was baptized in Ascheberg on Nov. 11, 1748.  The godparents were Josst Henrick Heuckmann and Maria Delsman Jelkmann.  He was buried in Ascheberg on Jan. 16. 1795.  On August 27, 1770, he married Anna Maria Horstmann.  She was baptized on Feb. 1, 1740.  Her godparents were Joan Herman Joeller and Anna Maria Kock.  She (that is Anna Maria) died in Ascheberg on Aug. 26, 1810 and was buried there on Aug. 28, 1810.  They had six children.

I left off with the marriage of Jossst Henricus Delsman and Anna Maria Horstmann.  They had six children.
   i)  Anna Maria Sophia, baptized in Ascheberg on March 25, 1772 and died on May 5, 1833 and was buried on May 12, 1833.  She married Theodor Heinrich Bultmann genannt Horstmann from the neighboring town of Davensberg.
   ii)  Ann Maria Elisabeth, baptized on Aug. 24, 1774 and died in Ascheberg before July 18, 1779.
   iii)  Jodocus Henricus, baptized in Ascheberg on Aug. 4, 1776 and  was buried there on June 6, 1784.
   iv)  Joannes Bernardus, born in Ascheberg on April 13, 1778 and was baptized there on April 14, 1778.  The godparents were Joannes Bernards Bennenkamp and Maria Delsman Gluelickmann.  He inherited the farm.
   v)  Maria Catharina, born Dec. 12, 1779 in Ascheberg and baptized there on Dec. 14, 1779.  She died March 1, 1859 and was buried on March 5, 1859 in Ottmarsbocholt.  On Oct. 7, 1804 she married Joannes Theodoricus Brueninghoff genannt Deiters.
   vi)  Bernardus Henricus was born on April 14, 1784 and was baptized April 15, 1784 in Ascheberg.

XIII.  Joannes Bernardus, as already noted, was born on April 13, 1778 and baptized on April 14, 1778 in Ascheberg.  He died on April 20, 1856 and was buried April 24, 1856 in Ascheberg.  In the records, it states, “He leaves behind his wife and four grown children.”  On August 6, 1805, he married his first wife Catharina Elisabeth Willermann who had been born in Ascheberg April 25, 1780 and baptized there on April 25, 1780.  Her godparents were Anna Elisabeth Wesselmann. Catharina Elisabeth died Jan. 22, 1809 and was buried Jan. 29, 1809 in Ascheberg.  They had three children.
   i)  Joannes Bernardus, born Dec. 1, 1806 and baptized Dec. 2, 1806 in Ascheberg.  Surprisingly, he did not inherit the farm.
   ii)  A still born daughter was born Jan. 1, 1808.
   iii)  A second still born daughter was born Jan. 1, 1809.
   Catharina Elisabeth died in childbirth giving birth to her second stillborn daughter.
   On Nov. 21, 1809, Joannes Bernardus married Maria Gertrudis Speckmann, who had been born in Ascheberg in 1787.  She died Nov. 30, 1869 and was buried Dec. 3, 1859 in Ascheberg.  They had eight children.
   i  Johan Melchior, born Oct. 24, 1811, baptized Oct. 25, 1811 and died Aug. 28 1813 and was buried Aug. 30, 1813, all of these events took place in Ascheberg.
   ii)  Anna Maria, born July 31, 1813, baptized Aug. 1, 1813 and died March 24, 1814, again birth and death taking place in Ascheberg.
   iii)  Johann Melchior, born April 20, 1815 and baptized April 21, 1815 in Ascheberg and died there on July 18, 1815.
   iv)  Johann Theodor, born Nov. 27, 1816, baptized Nov. 28, 1816 in Ascheberg.
   Later he and our ancestor emigrated to the U.S.
    v)  Friedrich Heinrich, born Nov. 27. 1816, baptized Nov. 28, 1816 in Ascheberg and died there on Sept. 3, 1820 and was buried Sept. 5, 1820 in Ascheberg.
   vi)  Johann Heinrich, born March 28, 1819 and baptized March 30, 1819 in Ascheberg.  Johann Heinrich inherited the farm in Ascheberg.
   vii)  Franz Heinrich was born Oct. 29, 1821 and baptized on Oct. 30, 1821 in Ascheberg.  He died Nov. 25 1821 and was buried Nov. 27, 1821 in Ascheberg.
   viii)  Johann Bernardus was born Nov. 26, 1822 and baptized Nov. 27, 1822 in Ascheberg.

In the next generation, a daughter of Johann Heinrich married a man named Holsen.  In times gone by, he would have taken on the name Delsman but during the 19th century that tradition died out and so the people who have the farm now are the Holsen family.

In 1836, Johann Theodor and Johann Bernardus emigrated to the United States.  They left home in 1836 and both signed a document at that time giving up their rights to the old Delsman farm.  When I corresponded with the Holsen family, they said that they still had that document and always wondered what had happened to the Delsman boys who had left.  They left and apparently did not write or maintain contact with the relatives in Westfalen.  Our ancester was Johann Bernardus.  You can see that he was only fourteen when he left Germany with his older brother, Theodor.  His older brother was twenty.  As it turned out, these were hard times in Westfalen and many emigrated  at that time.

The material up until now has been taken from church records.  The family was Catholic and all marriages, baptisms, burials took place in the Catholic Church and the records were preserved in the local church.  They have since been moved to the diocesan archives in Muenster.  So, the way things stack up, the Delsmans were Catholic, that was one side of the family, and the Guenthers were non Catholic.  The Delsmans were democrats and the Guenthers were Republican.

There are a number of family members named Joannes Bernardus (the Latin form of John Bernard) and Bernard or some form of it goes back five hundred years.

At any rate, the Joannes Bernardus (1778 – 1856) married twice.  The first wife, Elisabeth Willermann, died in childbirth after she had given birth to a secon stillborn daughter.  She and Joannes Bernardus had a son, also named Joannes Bernardus, and he should have been the heir to the Ascheberg farm.  However, Joannes Bernardus married a second time, this time to Maria Gertrudis Speckmann and they had three sons who grew to adulthood.  The oldest of these three was Johann Theodor.  Maria wanted the farm for one of her sons and so Johann Bernardus, the son of Elisabeth, married a woman from the neighboring village of Bockum.  Her name was Maria Catharina Wittkamp genannt Frey and she was to inherit the farm of her own family.  Thus, Johann Bernhard, the son of Elisabeth became a farmer in Bockum.  The best man at the wedding was the brother, Johann Theodor.  With Johann Bernhard, the son of Elisabeth, out of the picture, Theodor should have been in line for the farm, but the mother wanted her son, Johann Heinrich, who was her favorite to get the farm.  This forced Johann Theodor to seek his fortune elsewhere and he decided to emigrate to America.  He took with him his yhounger brother, also named Johann Bernhard.  You see in this family, there were three Johann Bernhards, the father, the oldest son and the youngest son.  To cover themselves, they had Johann Theodor and Johann Bernhard sign away their rights to the farm and also the rights of all their descendants.  This was more than a mere formality.  The laws were changing (remember the Prussians had come) at this time.  This renouncement made sure that if Johann Heinrich died without a male heir, neither of the other boys, nor possible male descendants could come back and assert a claim to the farm.  Right here is the origin of a story that remained in the family for a long time about a wicked step mother.  She was not a step mother at all, but certainly played favorites.

As it turned out, Johann Heinrich (1819 – 1878) married Maria Louise Holsen and they had four daughters.  The third daughter, Catharina Sophia (1854 – 1912) married Carl Joseph Adolph Schulze Holsen and she and her descendants took over the farm.  The name no longer went with the farm.  Also, the boy who had been the son of Elisabeth was Joannes Bernardus Delsman genannt Frey and his descendants dropped the genannt  part of the name and just call themselves Frey now.  This Maria Gertrudis Speckmann seems to have sowed discord in the family, at any rate, the boys who emigrated to America had nothing good to say about her.

The two brothers, Johann Theodor and Johann Bernardus came to the United States after signing away all rights to the farm in Ascheberg. The older brother is not a direct ancestor of ours, so I will be brief about him. As noted above, he was born in Ascheberg on Nov. 27 and baptized there on Nov. 28, 1816. He died on May 7, 1898 in Manitowoc, Wisconsin. In 1847 and in a church wedding in 1851, he married Clara Braun who was born April 1, 1813 and died in Francis Creek, Wisconsin on Nov. 22, 1884. They had four children.

Our own ancestor was his younger brother.

XIV. Johann Bernardus Delsman, born in Ascheberg on Nov. 26, 1822 and was baptized there on Nov. 27, 1822. He died in Manitowoc, Wisconsin on April 24, 1894 and was buried there. The cause of his death was “halmatonia of dysentery”. I do not know what that is, nor does Google seem to know either. I assume it means something like the bloody flux or amoebic dysentery or something. After arriving in this country, he worked as a cooper for a number of years (that is he made barrels, casks, kegs, etc.) to save enough money to buy his own farm in Wisconsin. One June 24, 1851, he married Bernhardine Eimers in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She had been born on March 8, 1830 in Bocholt, a small town near Ascheberg. Her parents were Wilhelm and Eva Eimers. Bernhardine died in Two Rivers, Wisconsin on Oct. 7, 1915 so she lived to be eighty five.

Johann Bernard was a powerful, giant of a man. When I was growing up, we referred to him simply as “The Giant”. Stories circulated about how, when his wagon got stuck and the horses could not pull it out, he put his shoulder to the wagon and pushed it out of the mud himself. He did buy his farm in the end and some of his descendants still live and work the farm. He and Berhardine had eleven children.
i) John Bernard (his obituary lists him as Johann Bernhard), born July 4, 1852 in Francis Creek, Wisconsin. He was our ancestor. Incidentally, he is buried in Portland with his wife.
ii) Gertrude, born Nov. 2, 1854 in Francis Creek and died in St. Cloud, Minnesota on Feb. 20, 1940. She married a Scheidemantel and eventually one of her descendants moved to Coos Bay where the younger children in our family got to know the younger children from that family.
iii) Anna Maria, born in Francis Creek on Jan. 6, 1856 and died in Humphrey, Nebraska on Dec. 29, 1892.
iv) Frederick William, born in Francis Creek on Jan. 3, 1858 and died in Hillsboro, Oregon on Feb. 2, 1939.
v) Elisbeth Delsman, born on March 3, 1860 in Francis Creek and died in Francis Creek on Jan. 5, 1873.
vi) Louis William, born in Francis Creek on April 28, 1863 and died in Manitowoc, Wisconsin on July 3, 1953.
vii) Rose, born Feb. 28, 1867 in Francis Creek and died later that same day, Feb. 28. 1867 in Francis Creek.
viii) Heinrich, born April 12, 1868 in Francis Creek and died later that same day on April 12, 1868 in Francis Creek.
ix) Albert, born May 5, 1869 in Francis Creek and died Dec. 19, 1869 in Francis Creek.
x) Frank Xavier, born Sept 17, 1871 in Francis Creek and died August 18, 1952 in Francis Creek.
xi) Anna, born May 18, 1874 in Francis Creek and died in Two Rivers, Wisconsin on Feb. 2, 1973. Out of eleven children, seven made it to adulthood, which for that time is an amazing statistic. Still, it must have been hard to see so many children die. Bernhardine must have been quite strong herself. She recovered from her own child bearing and lived a long life. Anna was almost ninety nine when she died.

[[[ PART 15 WAS WRITTEN ]]]

XV.  John Bernard, who is listed in  his obituary and buired as Johann Bernardus, was born in Francis Creek, Wisconsin on July 4, 1852 and died in Tillamook, Oregon, on Jan. 27, 1904.

The cause of his death is unknown but as you can see, he was nearly 52 when he died.  He had complained of severe headaches in the months before he died.  His son and my grandfather, Joseph Bernard, died at 52 of a brain tumor.  What kind of a tumor that was is not known and at the time the different types of tumors and cancers were not known.  My brother, Big John, died at 52 of cancer of the brain, a glio blastoma multiforma.  I believe that all three of them died of the same cancer.  At this point, that type of cancer cannot be treated.  It was the same type of cancer that George Gershwin and Ted Kennedy died of.  This would seem to run in the family.  It would not have been noticed earlier because the life spans were short.  It could also have started up somewhere along the line.  At any rate, this is something that we should be aware of.

John Bernard’s father felt that he was not robust enough to be a farmer and suggested that he find another way to make a live and so in his early twenties we moved to Columbus, Nebraska.  There he met and married Clara Heitkemper on Nov. 25, 1875.  Clara Heitkemper was born in Legden, a small town near Ascheberg on Dec. 16. 1855.  She died in Ashland, Oregon on Oct. 4, 1925 at age of almost seventy.  Her parents were Johann Gerhard and Anna Catharina Heitkemper.  After Johann Gerhard died, Anna married Johann’s brother, at least I was told that the second husband was the brother of her first husband.  Anna had been an orphan and had been adopted by a family who had not treated her well.  She used to go out at night to the garden and dig up and eat carrots because she had not been given enough to eat.  Her parents were unknown.  She outlived both her husbands and in her old age came to live with John Bernard and his wife, Clara.  As she aged she began to worry about the fact that she had remarried after the death of her first husband and she used to sigh, “Oh, what will papa say when he finds out that I did not wait for him?”

John Bernard was smart and a good businessman.  He eventually had a large general store in Columbus which sold supplies for farmers as well as dry goods, drugs and so on.  He was also the chief financial officer for the city of Columbus and the records he kept are still archived there and in his own hand writing.  He was enormously successful and the family had servants for the household as well as employees for the store.

Clara and John Bernard had twelve children.
i)  John Bernard, born in Columbus, Nebraska in 1877 and died there in 1889.
ii)  Clara, born in Columbus, Nebraska on Aug. 11, 1878 and died in Shasta, California on Feb. 2, 1973.  She married Joseph Herman Sander in August, 1905.  He was born Aug. 20,1878 in Moberly, Missouri.  He was the brother of our Uncle Heini (Heini is a Low German form of Henry) and she was the sister of our Aunt Mamie.  We called her Aunt Clara.
iii)  Frederick, born in Columbus, Nebraska, 1879 and died there 1889.
iv)  Gerhard Henry, born in Columbus, Nebraska on June 11, 1880.  We called him Uncle Henn.  He is buried in Portland as Gerhard Henry.  Henn is a Low German form of Henry.  He married Elisabeth Overoeder (we called her Aunt Lizzie.  Later after she died, I found out that she did not like to be called Lizzie and preferred Elisabeth, but she never said anything to me about that).  Uncle Henn died in Portland, Oregon on Jan. 18, 1972.
v)  Clarence, born in Columbus, Nebraska in 1881 and died there in 1889.
vi)  Anna, born in Columbus, Nebraska in 1883 and died there in 1889.
vii)  Agnes May, born in Columbus, Nebraska on June 29, 1885.  She married William Gerhard Sander, our Uncle Will.  He only had one eye when I knew him and we were always curious about that.  We called her Aunt Ag.  She died in Ashland, Oregon on Oct. 31, 1773,
viii)  Joseph Bernard was born on May 14, 1887 in Columbus and died in Portland, Oregon on Oct. 23, 1940.  He was buried in Coos Bay, Oregon.  He is our ancestor.
ix)  Frances, born April 2, 1889 in Columbus, Nebraska and died March 9, 1982.  When growing up, we heard of her but never met her.  She married a man named Schneider who was of the same family as Father Scott, whom the parents liked so much.
x)  Bernard Ludwig, born on Feb. 2, 1891 in Columbus, Nebraska.  We knew him as Uncle Ben.  He and our grandfather were partners in a construction firm for a while in Tillamook, Oregon.  Their partners were the Dolan brothers and so the firm was known as the Delsman and Dolan Brothers Construction Company.  The paved several of the streets in Tillamook but recently those streets have been replaced.  He died in Vallejo, California on Jan. 4, 1973.
xi)  Mary Rose, born in Columbus, Nebraska on March 13, 1893.  We knew her as Aunt Mamie.  She died in Coos Bay, Oregon on Feb. 26, 1972 and is buried there.  In May, 1914, she married Henry Bernard Sander.  He was born in Moberly, Missouri on June 21, 1884 and died in North Bend, Oregon on NOv. 19, 1974 and is buried in Coos Bay, next to Aunt Mamie.
Three Sander brothers had married three Delsman sisters.
xii)  Charles Herman was born In Tillamook, Oregon on Sept. 24, 1896 and died on April 21, 1966 and was buried April 24, 1966 in Ashland, Oregon.  We knew him as Uncle Charlie.

You will notice that eight of the twelve lived to be adults and married and had children of their own.  Grandma Clara was very proud of that fact.  8 of 12 made it to adulthood.  She considered it a miracle.  The four who died all died in 1889.  I am not sure what they died of.  One of the boys had a little dog and he and the little dog were inseparable.  The dog stayed at his bedside throughout the sickness and when he died, the little dog gave a yelp, ran out the door into the prairie and was never seen again.