By Teresa Martin
Klaiber, 2020
My
mother remembered German spoken in the house, as a child. Mary Helen Feyler Martin was born in
1921. She was 18 when her grandmother
Anna Katherine Gorath Halderman died in Portsmouth, Scioto County, Ohio 19 June
1939.
The
Gorath’s left a small treasure trove of official documents to help tell their
immigration story. Anna’s father
Heinrich (Henry) Gorath was born 22 June 1829[i]
[ii]
in Wusting, Holle, Osterburg (Oldenburg) Germany, the son of Johann Heinrich
Gorath and Anna Elizabeth Kroog. His
baptism is recorded in the Holle kirchlich and when fourteen he was confirmed
in the same church.
His
parents dutifully had him vaccinated for smallpox the 24th August
1830[iii],
at one year of age. Smallpox vaccine had been established for decades. By the 1830’s towns in Germany had sanitary
police. Schoolmasters, master craftsmen,
servants and apprentices were requested to only accept vaccinated persons.[iv]
At the age of 18 Heinrich began keeping a small booklet, or
day book, dated Oldenburg 1847. His
designs for sleds and wagons are a joy to look at.
Heinrich Gorath in
possession of compiler 2020
Heinrich
Gorath served in the 3rd Battalion where he asked permission to
marry in October 1853. Four months later
he received a permission after learning the trade right, from the Kirschpiel,
to master the trade of wagon maker.
With
his life in order, Heinrich married Anna Marie Holman in the Kirschlich
Oldenburg 19th April 1854. He
duly recorded a simple one line note in the back of his day book about his
marriage. Flip the page and the birth of
baby Anna is carefully noted as 3 April 1855. About midway in the book at a bottom of a page
is the last date – he simply wrote “Marie Gorath Oberhausen 1857”.
Oberhausen
translates to “upper house” and I have wondered if Heinrich was trying to get
cabin passage for them when the family migrated to America. During the early 1850’s Germany was having an industrial boom but
what comes up comes down and the bubble went bust in 1857 with a financial
crash.
His
last official act in April 1857 Heinrich was to receive an honorable discharge
from six years of military service. The
discharge gives a wonderful description of Gorath. He was 6 ½ feet tall, his eybrows dark, a
high forehead, grey eyes, ordinary mouth and nose, uneven teeth, oval chin, a
round face, healthy and a scar on his left hand thumb.
Now
with small baby Anna Katherine, and his wife’s widowed mother, Anna Catherine
Neumann Holman, they paid passage on the barke Rastede. There were 226 passengers along with the
Captain H. A. Kahle. A barke is a
sailing vessel with three or more masts.
The barke may have been named for the village Rastede which is 12
kilometers north of Oldenburg. It was
built in 1852 by Oltmann’s at a town, near Bremen named Brake. It was said to have two forward square-rigged
masts and a rear mast rigged fore-and-aft.[v]
The
family embarked at Bremen. Among the
passengers were eight children under the age of eight which would have included
two year old Anna. The Gorath’s did not
pay for cabin passage and are listed as between deck, passengers 219-222 on the
manifest whish was submitted by the captain upon their arrive in New York.[vi]
The New York Times reported the barke was cleared on July 3rd.
When
the couple celebrated their Golden Wedding Anniversary, Gorath gave an account
of their voyage. The Wellston Telegram wrote on 26 April 1904:
“…Mr. Gorath’s account of their voyage would frighten the twentieth century traveler. They were seven weeks coming across, taking passage on a sailing vessel. At one time when almost in port they were blown out to sea and three weeks passed before they sighted land again. They came direct to Portsmouth and from there to Jackson county. Later they settled at Berlin, where for thirty years Mr. Gorath has been the village wagonmaker…”
Seven
weeks between decks with a toddler and elder.
Yet today we complain about cramped seats on jets that cross the world. They had a destination. They came directly to southern Ohio because
Heinrich Gorath’s, brother-in-law, Hermann Heinrich Hollman had already established
themselves. Hermann Holman and Anna
Marie Holman Gorath were children of Johan Heinrich Hollman (1795-1857) and
Anna Catherine Neumann Hollman who travelled to America with the Gorath family.
Hermann Henry Hollman/Holman was a shoemaker born in Wusting, who with wife,
Isabella Katherine Mittendorf, had settled at Pine Creek, Bloom Township,
Scioto County, Ohio.
Scioto
and Jackson county are noted for furnaces.
Jackson county was not lacking in work and wagons were needed to haul coal,
ore and fire clay. There was plenty of
work for Gorath. At least two
Bituminous furnaces are listed in Berlin Cross Roads.
The
family settled at Berlin Cross Roads.
Heinrich dutifully registered for the Civil War draft. On July 17,
1863, John Hunt Morgan was on the march
with Ross county militiamen chasing them.
Two Confederate scouts sent into Berlin Cross Roads were shot. By noon it was over. It did not deter Heinrich Gorath in October
he filed his naturalization in Scioto County.[vii]
Mother-in-law
Anna Catherein Neumann Hollman died in March 1867 and was laid to rest at
Monroe Furnace, Jackson County, Ohio. By the 1870’s Heinrich/Henry Gorath is
well established with his shop in Berlin Cross Roads. Daughter Anna Katherine Gorath married Dr.
Stephen Simpson Halderman 28 August 1873 at Berlin Cross Road, Milton Township,
Jackson County, Ohio. By 1875 Gorath is listed as a manufacturer of all kinds
of carriages and wagons, with special attention given to repairing.[viii]
A simple sign on the shop reads “H. Gorath Wagon Maker.”[ix]
The
family lived happily at Berlin Cross Roads until after the death of Anna Marie
Holman Gorath, 16 February 1908. She was
buried in South Webster Cemetery. In
March the Portsmouth papers report Henrich Gorath is ill and now residing with
his son (in-law) S. S. Halderman at 826 Gay Street, Portsmouth, Ohio. “venerable Mr. Henry Gorath…continues ill
in bed …gaining ..in strength …His old home in Berlin, made desolate by the
death of his life partner, the late Mrs. Gorath, has been broken up, and the
household goods sold-excepting articles the family desired to keep, and among
which is some quaint furniture from the native place of the Gorath’s Germany.”[x]
My
2nd great grandfather died 11 March 1909 in the home where my
grandmother and mother were born, where family passed from this life, and many
patients were tenderly treated. “Venerable
Citizen Answers Last Call…contracted a severe attack of the grip, which gradually
superinduced serious complications…passed away peacefully at the home of Dr.
and Mrs. S. S. Halderman where he was tenderly cared for…”[xi]
I
cried when the beautiful brick home at 826 Gay Street had to be torn down in
the 1970’s. The bricks were crumbling and could not be saved. But the whisper of so many voices in that
house still linger. I am 70 now and my
mother gone. I don’t want to be the last
to tell the stories.
826
Gay Street, Halderman Home demolished, late 1970’s. Still Standing can be seen the outline of
attached dental office between Halderman and Feyler Home. Shortly after the
Feyler Home was also demolished. Today
both properties are parking lot. But the
carriage house still remains. Carriages
that were repaired and possibly even built by Heinrich Gorath.
[iii] Vaccination Certificate, James & Teresa Martin Klaiber Family Artifact Collection; privately held by Teresa Martin Klaiber, [address for private use], Rush, KY 41168. Carried on ship to America - original. From Stephen Halderman Home, Gay St., Portsmouth, OH to Mary Helen Feyler Martin to Teresa Martin Klaiber.[iv] The History of Smallpox Vaccination in Germany: A First Step in the Medicalization of the General Public. Journal of Contemporary History Vol 20 #4 Oct 1985 p 617-635[v] Breener & Bonne, The Steffen, Brandt and Euler family histories…p. 138. 1999.
[vi] New York Passenger Lists 1820-1897, microfilm publication M237 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives, ), 175, Arranged by date; Rastede, 1 July 1857, .[vii] 1863 Oct 8 NATURALIZATION: Scioto Co Oh FC Searl Judge
"...of Oldenburgh...emig from Bremen on 4 May 1857 DI from Jackson
Co Ohio 30 Jul 1860 ae 31. Jnl 2 208 {NAT PAPERS OF SCIOTO CO Ohio,
Portsmouth Public Library, Gallia St., Portsmouth} and original document possession of compiler
Gorath notebook item 32 "...of Oldenburgh...emig from Bremen on 4 May 1857 DI from Jackson
Co Ohio 30 Jul 1860 ae 31. Jnl 2 208 {NAT PAPERS OF SCIOTO CO Ohio,
Portsmouth Public Library, Gallia St., Portsmouth} and original document possession of compiler
Gorath notebook item 32
"...of Oldenburgh...emig from Bremen on 4 May 1857 DI from Jackson
Co Ohio 30 Jul 1860 ae 31. Jnl 2 208 {NAT PAPERS OF SCIOTO CO Ohio,
Portsmouth Public Library, Gallia St., Portsmouth} and original document possession of compiler
Gorath notebook item 32
"...of Oldenburgh...emig from Bremen on 4 May 1857 DI from Jackson
Co Ohio 30 Jul 1860 ae 31. Jnl 2 208 {NAT PAPERS OF SCIOTO CO Ohio,
Portsmouth Public Library, Gallia St., Portsmouth} and original document possession of compiler
Gorath notebook item 32
"...of Oldenburgh...emig from Bremen on 4 May 1857 DI from Jackson
Co Ohio 30 Jul 1860 ae 31. Jnl 2 208 {NAT PAPERS OF SCIOTO CO Ohio,
Portsmouth Public Library, Gallia St., Portsmouth} and original document possession of compiler
Gorath notebook item 32
"...of Oldenburgh...emig from Bremen on 4 May 1857 DI from Jackson
Co Ohio 30 Jul 1860 ae 31. Jnl 2 208 {NAT PAPERS OF SCIOTO CO Ohio,
Portsmouth Public Library, Gallia St., Portsmouth} and original document possession of compiler
Gorath notebook item 32
"...of Oldenburgh...emig from Bremen on 4 May 1857 DI from Jackson
Co Ohio 30 Jul 1860 ae 31. Jnl 2 208 {NAT PAPERS OF SCIOTO CO Ohio,
Portsmouth Public Library, Gallia St., Portsmouth} and original document possession of compiler
Gorath notebook item 32
[viii] D. J. Lake, Atlas of Jackson County, Ohio (Philadelphia, PA: Titus Simmons & Titus, n.d.), Berlin Business Directory.[ix] Berlin Xrd, OH, original photograph possession of compiler. 2020
[x] Portsmouth Daily Times 7 Mar 1908
[xi] The Daily Blade Mar 1909
