Compiled by Teresa Martin Klaiber 2023
Johann Andreas Klaiber aka John Andrew Klaiber was the
American progenitor of our branch of the family. He was born 20 October 1832 in Hausen ob
Verena, Tuttlingen, Wurttemburg, Germany.
His parents were Matthais and Marguretta Maurer Klaiber. He was confirmed at age 14, the same year that
his father Matthias died. One of the
first emigrant guides for Germans was published the following year complete
with maps of the United States including individual maps for Ohio and Kentucky[i]. Perhaps Johann viewed this as a teenager.
The oral tradition passed down through our branch of the
family was that he came to America with a cousin but that they were separated
in New York and the cousin never heard from again. Everyone assumed that the cousin was also a
Klaiber. As a researcher, I had an “ah
hah” moment when I found the ship passenger list. Johann Andreas Klaiber’s maternal grandmother
was Anna Chistina Gluntz. Johann aka
John came to America with cousin Christian Gluntz who settled in the Buffalo,
New York area. I am always amazed how
oral history unravels and was delighted that this one had such validity.
John Andrew Klaiber was twenty-two years old when he decided
to come to America in 1854. The closest
port was Le Havre, France which could be reached via the Rhine River. The “Maritime Intelligence” published in the New York Herald, 7 June 1854, announced
the arrival of the ship “Brother Jonathan” which had left 7 May from Havre with
416 passengers. Entry #298 was Johann
Klaiber and #299 Christian Gluntz. The
ship docked in New York on the 6th. A month long crossing.
Joseph Tucker was master of the Brother Jonathan. Tucker’s
father owned a shipping firm in Wiscasset, Maine, which was a major center of
trade. By this time another important
publication helped guide German’s, giving instructions, as well as a beginners
guide to the English language.[ii] In this publication item #6 stated that
whoever traveled from New York to the west by way of Buffalo…does best to take
on one the two great railroads…
The ship manifest does not list occupation but Klaiber was a
bootmaker by trade who made his way to Catlettsburg, then Greenup County,
Kentucky.
On 1 November 1855 John Andrew Klaiber married Mary Ann
McBrayer, daughter of James R. and Anna Sanders McBrayer in Carter County,
Kentucky. In April 1857 Klaiber leased
property from William Hampton on Division Street in Catlettsburg where he ran his business.[iii] Their first child James Matthew Klaiber was
born 21 June 1857.
A likeable fellow, Klaiber was a charter member of the Odd
Fellows Lodge in Catlettsburg.[iv] The same year John Andrew Klaiber became a
naturalized Citizen of the United States in Circuit Court of Greenup County,
Kentucky. By 1861 the family was living on the left hand fork of Catletts Creek,
now Boyd County, on land he purchased from Richard and Mary Scott.[v]
By 1864 his business had grown and he was able to purchase
the Division Street property which was a portion of the old tavern house lot of
William Hampton[vi].
They also owned property on Panola Street. Catlettsburg
was a prospering community and bustling river front town. During the Civil War
government stores were set up not far from the Division Street property. In
1864 troops marched through the town. As
the war came to a close the logging trade once again flourished and with it a
growth of hotels and saloons.
With six children and more on the way, John Andrew and his
wife Mary Ann finally settled on Garner, leading to East Fork and back to the
Big Sandy River. The road to their property was nothing more than the creek bed
later known as Long Branch. The family still traded in Catlettsburg, sold and
repaired shoes, and were also able to tap further into the logging trade, by
logging the land and hauling the logs, on skids pulled by oxen to the river
wharf.
John Andrew Klaiber was just as active with Garner community
affairs as he was with his business in Catlettsburg. He is listed as an officer of Green Hill Lodge #521 which had a building at
that time on our road and is listed as a Master Mason. He along with a future son-in-law and a few
others helped build a “double house” on the poor house farm located on the road
in 1876.[vii] As a citizen he was now required to serve on
juries and was sitting on the month long jury when George Ellis was brought
back from Lexington and arraigned for killing Robbie Gibbons in May 1882.[viii] A social post in the Ashland paper in June
1884 announced “the Sunday School on Garner is said to be the most interesting
one in the county. Rev. John Klaiber is superintendent.”
John Andrew Klaiber’s mother Marguretta had come over to
America in 1870 and died 14 September 1896 while living with the
Klaiber’s. She was buried in what today
is Klaiber Cemetery. “Whispers from the Grave” is being done in alpha order and
there will be a future blog concerning her[ix]. In May 1899 John Andrew Klaiber purchased a
section of what was then known as Sexton Cemetery from Henry Powell and Julina
McCormack Sexton.[x] It was one of several deeds drafted for a very
small portion of what is now known as Klaiber Cemetery. “… commencing at the southwest corner of the
graveyard at or near the corner post of a stone marked A…. containing 1/8 of an
acre…have the privilege of ingress and egress at any and all times…” The cemetery has far outgrown any of these
early deeds with the Klaiber’s simply donating more of the area for burials
over the years.
In April 1919 The West
Virginia Methodist News published an article about the Klaiber’s stating
their home had always been the home of the Methodist preacher Rev. John Martin
(no relation to compiler) who so often visited their home in their young days
would retire to a room upstairs for prayer and study and called the room the
prophets room. At the time of the article it stated that in about 1917 Mr.
Klaiber fell and dislocated his hip. The Article was submitted by Mrs. J. C.
McGlothlin.
John Andrew Klaiber died 4 December 1920. On his death certificate it is interesting to
note that under burial the word Sexton was marked out and Hood written
over. Many of the cemeteries, especially
in our area, are named for people that own the surrounding property. Today we try to standardize the names and the
cemetery is listed with the state of Kentucky as Klaiber Cemetery.
[i]
Bromme, Taugott, Rathgeber fur
Auswanderungslustige, A guide for German Emigrants. Suttgart 1846
[ii]
Princeton University Library Special Collection PULIFA 2.0 Joseph Tucker Papers
[iii]
KY Boyd dbk 3 p 447
[iv]
Armstrong, Jim “Parade Scene” Historical Daily Independent, 14 March 1977,
Catlettsburg Memories
[v]
KY, Boyd deed bk 1 page 153
[vi]
KY Boyd Deed book 1 p 506
[vii]
KY Bod Court Order bk 3 Nov. term
[viii]
The Ashland Tragedy page 329
[ix]
Whispers From the Grave is NOT a complete list of all buried in the cemetery
but does contain many of the oldest .
[x]
KY, Boyd deed book 29 p 613
