Baehr-Evans Family History Ver. 22Feb2019

THE BAEHR-EVANS
FAMILY HISTORY

INCLUDING SURNAMES CALER, DIETZ, EDELBLUTE,
GONZÁLBEZ, KIBLER, KOEHLER, MAHAR, SPITZ, SQUIRE, TRUELOVE

ANNE ELIZABETH EVANS

February 22, 2019

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Baehr-Evans Family History. Copyright © 2019 by Anne Elizabeth Evans
20111 FERNGLEN DRIVE
YORBA LINDA, CA 92886
714-970-1891
[email protected]

German editing by Helmut Birtler
Cover and interior design by Ramón D. Evans
FRONT COVER: House built by John Baehr, Warren, Ohio

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Dedicated to My Father
Robert F. Baehr
(1919- 2006)

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction ……………………………………………..………………… 1
Part One: MY FATHER’S FAMILY: Baehr
Chapter One: Johann Bähr……………….………………………………… .….4
Chapter Two: Johann Bähr (John Baehr): Germany to Ohio…………….….. 8
Chapter Three: (West) Virginia…………… ……………………………….…....10
Chapter Four: Vicksburg, Mississippi…………………….……….…………….14
Chapter Five: Missionary Ridge, Tennessee…………………………………..18
Chapter Six: Military to Civilian Life……………………………………… … .…21
Chapter Seven: Maria (Mary) Friederika Kűbler (Kibler) Baehr………….… .33
Chapter Eight: Anna Katherine Baehr Dietz………………………….. ………37
Chapter Nine: Wilhelmina (Minnie) Franziska Dietz……………………………42
Chapter Ten: Lillian Eldena Koehler……………………………………….……..57
Chapter Eleven: George Franklin Baehr…………………………….…… ……61
Chapter Twelve: Anne Rogerson Baehr…………………………….…… ……66
Chapter Thirteen: George Anthony Baehr…………………………..…..… ..…79
Chapter Fourteen: Robert Franklin Baehr….………………………..… ….…..84
Chapter Fifteen: Anne Elizabeth Baehr Evans….. …………………… ….…..93
Chapter Sixteen: Charlotte, Lorraine, and Rachel Evans…………… … … 99
Chapter Seventeen: Salmas Family………………… …………… …..…..105

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Part Two: MY MOTHER’S FAMILY: Caler
Chapter One: James W. Caler……………………………………………… …….107
Chapter Two: Journal of Mary Emma Edelblute Caler…………… … ………115
Chapter Three: Mahar Family…………………………………………....…… .…149
Chapter Four: Journal of Mary Caler Baehr.………………………………..…….151
Part Three: MY HUSBAND’S FAMILY: Evans
Chapter One: Evans Family………………………………………………………...170
Chapter Two: A Brief Evans Family History from 1944 to 2017 … .…... 175
Chapter Three: Truelove Family………………………………………………… ...186
Chapter Four: Beulah Truelove Evans Spiva……………..……………… ..… ..192
Chapter Five: Abercrombie Family……………………………………… ………198
Chapter Six: Johnny Truelove………………………………………………… …..200
Chapter Seven: Gonzálbez Family…………………………………………….…...204
Chapter Eight: Squire Family………………………………………………..……..221
Chapter Nine: Spitz Family………………………………………… ………………235
Afterward…………………………………………………………………..………… 242
Appendix: Family Tree, Documents, Family Recipes ………………………….. 243
Index……………………………………………………………………………………256

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INTRODUCTION

In 1957, when I was 12 years old, I began to gather family information. We lived in Costa Mesa,
California, and I remember the dining area, where I always listened attentively to family stories. I
would sit quietly and take notes on any handy scrap of paper. My father, Robert Baehr, laughed as
he read over the statements he had made while at the supper table.

“You actually wrote down all that stuff? Let me see those notes! Did I really say all that?”
From the paper notations, I copied the quotes, names, dates, and vignettes into notebooks. Over
the years, I accumulated a series of notes, carefully stored in drawers, then in boxes, then in folders
that frayed, and finally in binders made of archival quality. Each new person I discovered was added
to a family tree, written in pencil on what is now yellowed paper. Presently, I contact county or state
archives for documents supporting birth and death dates, but much of what is in this family history
was learned by listening. Pure listening is fine. We become educated by the ear, not the mouth; but
now, I wish I had asked more questions.

Baehr Family: Robert & Mary with Peggy, Anne & Kathleen.
Christmas about 1957.

~1~

It was not until I was about 20 years
old that I finally sat down with my
grandmother, Anne Rogerson Baehr,
and proceeded to ask about her
childhood. She was amazed at my
interest and she started to tell me stories.
I treated her to lunch at many fancy
restaurants where we would have the
most beautiful conversations about her
yesterdays and my tomorrows.

In 1967, her health was failing, so she
did not enjoy more than a bite or two of
her food, but she loved going out with
me.

Anne Baehr & Anne Rogerson Baehr
about 1961

The Green Briar Inn, 10381 Garden Grove Boulevard, Garden Grove, California, was one of her
favorite places with its Victorian atmosphere, uniformed waiters, and gracious attendants. At the
Green Briar, my grandmother looked and acted especially proud in her fur coat she had purchased
at Hulda’s, a second-hand shop in Laguna Beach. How fond she was of holding onto my arm and
marching into an establishment in her fur and rhinestones! Her great joy was giving orders as to
where we were to sit and what we were to eat.

Grandma Anne Rogerson Baehr and I
talked about her native Wales, her trip
across the Atlantic on the RMS (Royal Mail
Ship) Lusitania and her employment as a
nurse in Ohio. She seemed so English and
she was so very proper. I have been able to
document much of what my grandmother
told me. The past was indeed gentled. My
grandmother died September 20,1967, and
she took with her many of her stories and
secrets.

There was one other family member, who did genealogical work. He was William Georg Dietz, a
nephew of my great-grandfather, John Baehr. William Georg Dietz was a graduate of Hiram College,
Ohio, Class of 1881. After his mother, Anna Katherine Baehr Dietz, died in 1903, he decided it was
time to begin, or to continue, his family tree notes. He wrote to his cousin, Jennie, who answered
him from Warren, Ohio, on August 4, 1903.

~ 2~

We received your letter some time ago but was unable to answer on account of aunty being sick.
She has been quite sick but is getting better now. In regard to your questions, I cannot help you very
much. We think Grandmother’s name was Dietrich. Uncle George’s full name is Georg Johann
Dietz, born August 5, 1837, died June 2, 1902. Grandfather died May 11, 1871. We do not think
Grandfather and Grandmother were born in the same year but are not quite certain. We cannot
inform you very much, for we do not know much ourselves. We miss your mother very much. It does
not seem possible that she has been taken. I think that is all I can tell you.

Respectfully, Your Cousin, Jennie. (Probably Jennie Dietz, born 1862, daughter of Jennie Eich and
George Johann Dietz.)

Even back in 1903, when someone tried to find out more about the past, the question was met
with the setback we often confront today: We cannot inform you very much, for we do not know much
ourselves. It is a pity that there was not enough questioning, listening, and notetaking, but such a
shortcoming must not stop me. William Georg’s records were left to his sister, Wilhelmina Franziska
“Minnie” Dietz. When Minnie died in 1963, I inherited those papers. Thus, I became the official
family historian. I immediately dug out the documents Lillian Koehler (my first cousin, twice removed)
had given me in Ohio in 1962. With this combined information, I began my genealogy research
with the following dictum in mind.

Nothing would be done at all if a man waited ‘til he could do it so well that no one could find

fault with it. Cardinal John Henry Newman (1801-1890)

~ 3~

Part One: My Father’s Family
Chapter One
Johann Bähr

Coburg Castle in Germany where the Bähr Family lived
The earliest documented ancestor on the Baehr side of my family is Johann Georg Bähr. He was
born about 1800 in the town of Rodach (Germany), ten miles north-west of Coburg. By 1826, he
was a weaver in the festung, or stronghold, of Coburg (1) where he held a position of authority, like
that of a sheriff or a warden, only higher. He married Christiane Charlotte Grimm, who was born
about 1800 in Creidlitz, three miles south of Coburg. In the early 1800s, this area of Germany
included the Kingdom of Saxony, or Saxe-Coburg, and the Kingdom of Prussia. Saxe-Coburg
acquired Gotha in 1826 and became known as Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. (2)

Johann Georg and
Christiane Charlotte Bähr’s
four children were born in
the festung, the Castle of
Coburg. (3) Pauline was
born in 1826, Johann
Frederick, 1828, Anna
Katherine, September 30,
1830, and my great-
grandfather, Johann, born
February 28, 1833.

~ 4~

Johann Bähr was baptized on March 24, 1833. His godfather was Johann Ernst Maohold, a
bachelor and the son of Mateos Theodore Maohold, the chief overseer of the prison and correction
house. A document with this information was signed by Pastor Johann Georg William in
Seidmannsdorf, January 26, 1845, when Johann Bähr was 11 years old. (See Appendix.)

“The children all had German education and John was trained as a bookbinder. The entire Bähr

family lived and worked in the festung. The spelling of the name Bähr was changed to B-a-e-h-r

when they came to America”. Lillian Koehler, Warren, Ohio, 1962.

John’s sister, Pauline Bähr, left Saxe-Coburg-Gotha for America when she was 25 years old.

She sailed on La Hermoine from the Port of Bremerhaven in the City of Bremen, arriving in New York
on June 2, 1851. Her occupation was listed as unknown and her destination was the State of Ohio.

(4) Pauline married Peter Doetchel. Due to spelling variations, the Doetchel family was difficult to

trace. I have found the name as Dazel, Datzel, Dazell, Datshel, Doetschel, and Detschel. The
surname even appeared as Letzel in the 1860 Census from Trumbull County, Ohio. Peter Doetchel

was a blacksmith from Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. He arrived in the United States in 1850. (5)

Peter and Pauline had seven children: Angeline (date illegible on grave stone), Alexander (1852),
Hilda (1855), Frederick (1858), Lucy (May 7, 1862), George (about 1862), and Emma (1866). Peter

Doetchel died November 30, 1870 and is buried in Oakwood Cemetery, Trumbull County, Ohio.

Pauline died January 7, 1903. She is buried in Oakwood Cemetery, also.

John’s brother, Johann Frederick, left from the Port of Bremerhaven aboard the sailing vessel
Tuisko, destination New Jersey, in 1852. He was a butcher by trade. He arrived at the Port of New
York. He stated that he had a 23-year old-relative in America by the name of Christian. Johann
Frederick (Fred) married Caroline Klatte, (May 1830-January 1910), daughter of Ludwig Katte and
Heinrette Lehman. Fred and Caroline had three children: Matilda “Mary” (Erickson) born 1859,
Matilda “Selda” (Carrar) born 1864, and Emma (Geuss), born February 16, 1867.

John’s other sister, Anna Katherine Bähr, left Coburg in the middle of August 1854. John left
Coburg in 1857 (6) and joined his siblings. “He went to America to escape the Kaiser’s draft call.”

Lillian Koehler, 1962.

The Castle of Coburg where the Baehrs had lived is a beautiful and famous site. Friends of
William Georg Dietz went to Coburg and sent the family lovely picture postcards of the castle. A

letter from Mary L. Huisdale, July 13, 1929, Dresden, describes the area.

Dear Friend Dietz:

On Wed. morning, our little party set out from the mountain over hanging Ihnenausrich, with the
lyric memories of Goethe, for Coburg. The autobus set us down in the Markt-Platz some time after
your glorious Castle, seen from afar on every side, had come into view. The market was going on
and added much to the gewöhnliche quaintness of the spot. On one of the stalls Mrs. Milner and I
ate a Bratwurst-in-Sennisel. (7) (These particular stalls operate every day.) A blond man in the
blue smock of Bavaria told us that the long facade on the one side with its stone statues of long
forgotten heroes was the former Parliament House; that the more Mediaeval front opposite is the
Rath House; and that a still more decorative structure on a third side is the oldest house in Coburg
(about 1503). A narrow street working out of the Markt Platz at one corner leads, as he told us,
over to the Scholss Platz where deposed royalty lately reigned.

~ 5~

We had perceived for ourselves that the very good bronze statue of a good-looking man in civilian

robes, honored with a place in the middle of the market, represented Prince Albert, English Prince

Consort. The Ernsts I and II are to be seen at the Schloss Platz and in the great hillside park through

which one climbs to the Burg, or rather Feste. We gave a half-day (Thurs.AM) to that wonderful

place. The Wartburg, as a castle, is not so fine, tho' more varied romance enters into its legend.

Each has its Luther Zimmern (rooms) and Luther Kapelle (chapel). Coburg Feste looks far out in

every direction over the meadows, grain fields, and forests that have been the wealth of the little

state of Saxe-Coburg. The greater baer contains an assembly of museums of armour, pottery and

glass. The lesser is still the residence in winter of the ex-Duke and we were shown his family apts.

An auto-drive of a short half-hour took us in the PM to Rosenau where Victoria's Albert was born. It

is an orange colored mansion with Gothic gables front and back as charming for the deep woods in

which it is hidden as for its architectural quaintness. It was the residence of the late Duchess Marie

during her widowhood and is now empty of furniture. Our disappointment over no time for the

Ehrenburg Schloss was not keen after seeing so much at the Burg. We recalled vividly your den in

your home in Republic Street. We located about the Platz the palaces of Alexander of Bulgaria and

Cyril of Russia. With affectionate greetings to Jessie and Marian. Mary L. Huisdale,1929.

In 2012, I received the following letter from US Coast Guard Auxiliary member, Gregory Lutes.

Grϋβ Gott Anni,

The statue of Albert is in the Marktplatz (market place) of Coburg. All of your German cities have a
Marktplatz. It is an open space located next to the Rathaus (City hall). Apropos name for some city
halls, but Rat means like “to give advice,” not the rodent. I recall that maybe a block or two away
from the Rathaus there was another Schloss that was turned into the city museum. Very beautiful
museum. I don’t know if you have ever been to Coburg but if you ever get a chance, go. It is a
beautiful area of Germany. You can fly into Nüremberg from Frankfurt and drive about an hour north.

The Schloss (castle) or Burg (fortress) of Coburg is about 300 to 400 years older than Columbus. I
was told this while sitting in a Gastätte in the castle. They serve great Leberkäse mit Katoffelsalat,

oh and their Coburg Bratwürste is to die for. I probably walked the same paths as your ancestor

because I must have been to the castle at least a half-dozen times while stationed in Germany.

The Dorfs (villages) that you talk about are around the castle. I remember Rodach because I got a
little tipsy in that village one time. I walked into a Gasthaus looking for something to drink and eat
and one of the regulars invited me to sit at their Stammtisch. Now the building that the Gasthaus

was in is about 200 to 300 years old. I don’t know if there had been a Gasthaus at that locale for
that length of time, but my guess is yes knowing the culture the way I do. In fact, your ancestors
might have walked in for Brotzeit und ein Maβ Bier. The Stammtisch loved the way that I was trying
to speak German (with a Bavarian dialect). They gave me some pointers besides getting me
drunk. The Stammtisch regulars told me the only reason that the Schloss is standing and wasn’t
bombed to oblivion during WWII was that Allied POW’s were held there. A couple of members at
the table were young boys at the time and remember that. One said he was almost shot by one of
the guards. He was exploring and got a little too close to the Burg’s outer walls.

Boy, you are causing me to shake the cobwebs off my memories which is a good thing.

Servus Schorschl. (8)

~ 6~

Endnotes: Part One: Chapter One

1. 1530, Martin Luther lived in the Veste Coburg for five and one-half months under the protection of
Elector John the Steadfast. Luther stayed for the duration of the Diet of Augsburg which he could
not attend, as he was a persona non-grata of the Holy Roman Empire. Philip Melanchton attended
in Luther’s place and contributed to composing the Augsberg Confession. Augsburg was the ancient
Roman colony, Augusta Vindelicorm.
2. The surname of the royal family of England before 1917 was Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. Because of
anti-German sentiment in World War One, King George V had the name changed to Windsor.
3. This is where Martin Luther wrote the hymn Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott. Lillian Eldena Koehler,
1962, Warren, Ohio.
4. Germans to America: List of Passengers Arriving at U.S. Ports 1850-1855, May 1851- June 1852,
Volume 2, page 13.
5. Naturalizations in Trumbull County, Ohio 1800-1870. Family History Center, Salt Lake City Utah,
977.138.
6. John is listed as “Johm Baehr,” a bookbinder, in Germans to America: Lists of Passengers
Arriving at U.S. Ports April 1857-Nov 1857, Volume 11, page 374.
7. Schnitzel.
8. E-mail from Gregory “Schorschl” Lutes, United States Coast Guard Auxiliary, 29 September 2012.

~ 7~

Chapter Two

Johann Bähr (John Baehr): Germany to Ohio

During John Baehr's youth, the geographical area known as Germania (Germany) was on the
verge of a radically new form of governing. The Holy Roman Empire had ended in 1806, and the
various kingdoms and city-states were beginning to experiment with confederations and with
unification ideas. In 1815, the Kingdom of Saxony had been partitioned at the Congress of Vienna.
Prussia gained half of the Saxon territory. Kaiser (King) Frederick William III ruled Prussia from 1797-
1840, followed by Frederick William IV. In 1857, the year that John left for America, Kaiser Frederick
William IV suffered two paralytic strokes and became unfit to rule. To John, politics could have meant
turmoil and intrigue and unstable units of power constantly warring for dominance. His sisters had
left for America in the 1850s, and probably wrote to him of a new land with modern political ideals,
where war was an unacceptable option. The old-fashioned idea of European monarchy had been
abandoned in America, where many states thrived in a unified, democratic country.

Perhaps John grew impatient with the constantly changing borders of Saxony and Prussia.
Austria was gaining control and war was an ever-present threat. The talk of unification could only
lead to more calls to arms, to more bloodshed, and to more super-powers subjugating weaker states.
John probably yearned for stability. Even the Castle of Coburg, where he was born and lived, had a
different form of government from the City of Coburg, which lay at the foot of the hill. I would imagine
that John, who was trained to be a bookbinder, was a quiet, peaceful young man. He would be
looking forward to a wife and children someday, but his homeland could promise no such future for
him.

In the summer of 1857, he made his decision to leave Europe for America. He boarded the sailing
vessel, Clio, and on October 6, 1857, he arrived in New York. The United States of America! A
dream come true! I believe John spent the next three years in New York City. He relocated to Warren
(1), Trumbull County, Ohio, probably after receiving communications from his sister, Anna Katherine
Baehr Dietz. She would have been telling him of her adventures in the New World, and about her
husband, August Nicholas Dietz, and their baby, William Georg Dietz, John’s nephew.

John's life in America was surely busy and happy with much to do. He had to find work, learn
English, and save money for a place of his own. Life was good. In 1860, the voting citizens elected
Abraham Lincoln to be the president of a united country. John's world could not be better.

During the spring of 1861, John was probably in Warren, Ohio. There he had family and friends,
especially fellow German immigrants. One close friend was John G. Layer. Also, 19-year-old Mary
Kibler lived in Warren near her sisters, Anna, Caroline, Minnie, and Rosie. Another lifelong friend
who knew both John Baehr and Mary Kibler in Warren in the 1860s was John Buchsteiner. A few
years later, the Baehrs, Layers and Kiblers would be connected by marriages.

On April 12, 1861, the peace of the United States was shattered. John's German speaking friends
and neighbors told him the news of a secession happening somewhere south of Ohio. The names
of the states involved were all new words for John. They were places like South Carolina,
Mississippi, Florida, and Alabama. How could division of a modern, unified country occur? The
German immigrants in the North were not certain of the political reasons for the secession, but they
were of one opinion. They did not want to see another conglomeration of warring states like the
situation they had left in Europe. John learned of the call that President Lincoln had made on April
15, 1861, for 75,000 militia. War had begun.

~ 8~

In the summer of 1861, John had to make another major decision in his life. When President
Lincoln called for 300,000 more men, John left Warren, Trumbull County, and went to Cleveland,
Cuyahoga County, Ohio, to try to pass muster for the Union Army. He was accepted and enlisted
for three years. John was ordered to the 37th Regiment of the Ohio Volunteer Infantry (OVI). The
regiment (2) was recruited from the Ohio counties of Cuyahoga, Ross, Lucas, Mahoning, Auglaize,
Franklin, Tuscarawas, Wyandot, and Mercer.

John was placed in Company “I” with Germans from Youngstown, Mahoning County, Ohio. (3)
The regiment belonged to Brigadier General Joseph Andrew Jackson Lightburn and to the 2nd
Brigade of Brigadier General Morgan Lewis Smith. The regiment was assigned to the 15th Army
Corps. John’s company commander was Captain John Bayer.

Volunteers were assembled at Camp Brown, near Cleveland. John probably felt no
apprehension. Wars could be short and quick. He would be home in no time! Besides, there would
be no problems, as his commanding officers and all the enlisted men spoke German. The regimental
commander, Colonel Edward Siber, was an accomplished German officer and had served in Prussia
and in Brazil.

By the first of October, 800 men were enrolled in the regiment and they proceeded to Camp
Dennison, Ohio, where they were formally mustered into service and armed and equipped. John
was probably issued a Springfield musket, a good-looking uniform, and ample food and supplies.
Off he set on another Great Adventure.

Endnotes: Part One: Chapter Two

1. In 1798, Ephraim Quiby and Richard Storr, stockholders of the Connecticut Land Company, left
Pennsylvania and selected homesites in the area that is now the City of Warren, Ohio. Two
years later the area was made the seat of the Western Reserve Territory. Ohio became the 17th
state in 1803. Some sources state that The Village of Warren was named for a surveyor. In
Ohio Lands: by Jim Petro, Auditor of State of Ohio, 1994, it is stated that Warren was named for
General Joseph Warren, who was killed at the Battle of Breed’s (Bunker) Hill, June 17, 1775.
Warren was incorporated in 1834. Warren began to grow rapidly with the opening of the 363-
mile long Erie Canal in 1839. Warren became a large steel producing center. The Ohio Guide:
Compiled by workers of the Writers Program of the Works Projects Administration (WPA) in the
State of Ohio; Oxford Press, 1962. Trumbull County in the Connecticut Western Reserve was
named for Johnathan Trumbull, Jr., Governor of Connecticut, 1797-1809. (Petro.)

2. During the Civil War (1861-1865) each army corps was divided into divisions. Each division
consisted of three brigades, plus one cavalry and one artillery group. Each brigade had a number
of battalions or regiments. A regiment was about ten companies or 1,000 soldiers. A company had
about 100 soldiers under the command of a captain. Companies were divided into platoons; platoons
into squads, each squad commanded by a lieutenant. A squad was usually called a line. After the
(West) Virginia service, John Baehr’s 37th Regiment was assigned to the 15th Army Corps; 2nd
Division; 3rd Brigade, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Louis von Blessingh, Major Charles Hipp,
and Colonel Edward Siber.

3. The 37th Regiment’s Company “I” was partially enrolled at Youngstown. “The service through
(West) Virginia was dangerous and laborious, though it did not afford the opportunity for participation
in great battles.” History of Trumbull & Mahoning County Volume 1-2, 1882, page 130.

~ 9~

Chapter Three

(West) Virginia

Not every volunteer accompanying John Baehr passed muster. Some were sent home with
physical problems; others were refused because they had family members dependent upon them.
John was healthy. He was between 5’5” and 5’8”, which was the average height of the soldiers in
the 1860s, and he was single. His military papers describe him as having fair complexion, gray eyes,
and blond hair. He looked fit and seemed intelligent and was accepted into the Volunteer Army as
a private. In an Affidavit from the Adjutant General’s Office, John was mustered in as a corporal. In
any case, John advanced in rank rapidly.

1861 was probably John’s first autumn in Ohio. The colors were changing, the late season
chrysanthemums were starting to bloom, and the humidity was beginning to diminish. He probably
enjoyed the excitement of this, his latest adventure. He felt no threat in the 37th Regiment, Ohio
Volunteer Infantry (OVI). The German-manned 37th Regiment soon moved south from Camp
Dennison to Cincinnati to await orders. Finally, the soldiers were boarded onto steamers and, via
the Ohio River, went east to Camp Piatt on the Kanawha River in the western part of a state called
Virginia. (West Virginia did not achieve statehood until 1863.)

In Virginia, the 37th OVI joined the 22,000 Federal troops under General William S. Rosecrans.
John moved with Company “I” through the Kanawha Valley and finally set up his clean new tent at
the post at Gauley Bridge, where the Gauley River meets the Kanawha River and the New River.

The autumn rains were early that year. Once the rain started, it continued relentlessly, making
aggression on either side impossible. The mule drawn supply wagons were mired in mud and
provisions were slow arriving. On October 5, 1861, General Rosecrans (US) withdrew his forces
and camped within three or four miles of Gauley Bridge. He believed that his opponent, General
John B. Floyd (CSA: Confederate States of America), would also be helpless against nature and
sickness. Major General Jacob D. Cox (US) wrote to General McClellan (US) that a surprise attack
came to Gauley Bridge on November 1, 1861.

The demonstration was more noisy than dangerous, for Floyd (CSA) had no means of crossing
the river. Major Cox (US) wrote the following. On 10 November, detachments from my brigade at
Gauley Bridge crossed the river and scaled the heights, attacking Floyd in front and securing a
position on the top of the mountain. Floyd withdrew his artillery and on the 12th, decamped and did
not cease his retreat until he reached the Holston Valley Rail Road. (1)

John's soggy blanket could finally dry out. Uniforms could be changed and dried. The troops,
traditionally not being privy to the plans of the commanders, might have assumed that the army's
goals had been accomplished and that all would be going home soon. John's sister, Anna Katherine
Dietz, was awaiting another child and John wanted to be with the Dietz family to greet the annual
newborn. No orders came for the 37th Regiment to break camp. More storm clouds threatened
another deluge.

An unusually bitter winter began. Wild winds shrieked down from the mountains and the men
often had to brace the tent poles to keep their flimsy cotton tents from being swept away. Cold rain
and sleet pelted the brigade for days on end. Influenza and measles were soon epidemic. (2)

~ 10~

The cold was intense. John’s great adventure was developing into an extremely unpleasant
situation. John was accustomed to the cold. He had grown up with harsh German winters, but he

always had a warm bed, heavy covers, and roaring fires. Now, his light-weight tent and government

issue wool blanket were little help. John Baehr, the healthy, strong young man who had just passed
muster three months before, suddenly felt the first pains of rheumatism in his limbs. He began to

limp and then to hobble.

John wrote the following about his experiences. The first attack of rheumatism I had at Gauley
Bridge, (West) Virginia. I think it was in December 1861. I had it all that winter and so bad that I

could hardly march at all. It was in my right leg the most. It was brought on by lying on the ground

and being in the wet and cold all the time and I was troubled by it all the time after...I was taken to

Point Pleasant Hospital (about 60 miles from Gauley Bridge) on account of rheumatism and I had
(malarial) fever with it. This was in the winter of 1862. I was in the hospital for about four weeks and

then rejoined my regiment.

John Baehr, Affidavit.

Years later when John sought pension money for his rheumatism, he wrote about his time at

Gauley Bridge. My best recollection is that it was Dr. Sheheuk (sic) of my regiment who treated me.

I was in the regimental hospital near Fayetteville, (West) Virginia, and then treated for rheumatism

and afterward at Hospital at Point Pleasant, (West) Virginia, and treated for malarial fever. I cannot

furnish the Affidavit of my surgeon or assistant surgeon; both are dead. There were two Dr. Scheuks

(sic)--father and son--the father did not remain long--the son treated me. Both are dead I am

informed. John Baehr, Affidavit

Dr. Julius C. Schenck was born in Nieder Auld, Hesse Cassel, Germany, February 7, 1836, and
was the son of Dr. Conrad Schenck. Julius came to the United States in 1849, studied medicine at

Western Reserve Medical College, graduated in 1858, and settled in Cleveland, Ohio. He was an

expert surgeon for treating gunshot injuries. He entered the US Army in 1861 as the Assistant
Surgeon of the 22nd Regiment of Ohio Volunteers, and then was promoted to be the Surgeon of the
37th Regiment. (3) The following year, John Baehr would be glad that his regimental surgeons were

also gunshot injury experts. (4)

Captain Bayer wrote the following in John’s pension petition. I remember (John Baehr's)

contracting rheumatism at Gauley Bridge in the Winter of 1861-1862 and that by reason of being

crippled up and disabled from duty on account of rheumatism for several weeks, he was excused

from duty. Captain John Bayer, 37th OVI.

Conrad Schroeder from Youngstown wrote the following. I was personally acquainted with John
Baehr during the time he was in the army. In the Winter 1861-1862, (John) contracted rheumatism
which badly crippled him and disabled him from duty for some weeks...I served in Company “I,” 37th
Regiment Ohio Infantry Volunteers and was present with the company at the time.

From John Baehr’s Pension Affidavit, 1893

The cold did not relent until after Christmas, but then the snow and sleet began right before New
Year's Day, 1862. John rejoined his 37th Regiment at winter quarters at Clifton. Up to this time, war
for John had meant marching, freezing, illness, hospitals, and waiting around for other troops to push
Confederate General Floyd and his army out of the Kanawha Valley. Now, war was showing its

serious side with the finality of death.

The mood at camp was somber. News had arrived that a regimental officer, Captain Henry Goeke,

had been killed in a military engagement, January 14, 1862, in the Guyandotte River area. On
February 7, the regimental chaplain Adolphus Gerwig committed suicide. On February 26, a

member of John’s “I” Company, Private David Friegel, drowned in the Kanawha River. (5)

~ 11~

In February 1862, Company “I” was stationed at Loup Creek Landing, commanded by Captain
William J. Kraus. Loup Creek was ten miles from the village of Clifton. Company “I” was to guard
government supplies. The company was relieved on March 1, 1862.

John probably began to wish that his adventure would end and that he could return to his sister’s
house in Warren. A new niece, Clara Louise Dietz, was born on May 7, 1862. It would be good to
go home. Instead of home, the 37th OVI was sent from the station at the mouth of Loup Creek to the
station at Flat Top Mountain Tannery.

John's regiment was assigned to the Army of the Tennessee, 15th Corps, 2nd Division, 2nd
Brigade and they were on the move again. They went south to Princeton, (West) Virginia, and
engaged southern troops on May 17, 1862. Three more officers were killed, including Captain Lewis
Quendenfeld, KIA on May17 and 2nd Lieutenant Magnus Bluber, who died May 28 of wounds. More
casualities at Princeton were thirteen men killed in action; two officers and forty-six men wounded;
and fourteen men missing. (6) Then, at the battle for Wyoming Court House (about 30 miles north
west of Princeton), two Company “I” men from Youngstown were killed. The soldiers were Ignaz
Benter and Henry Loewer. How could there be death in such a beautiful place? The hardy blue
dogwood, called pigeonberry by the men, had started to bloom. Azalea and rhododendron were
waking up and seemed to burst into flame together on May 23. Valley farmers prepared the soil for
cabbage, tomatoes, melons, and sweet corn, and promised a bountiful harvest for summer.
Raspberries, strawberries, peaches, and sour cherries would round out John's meager diet as soon
as the crops were gathered.

John was warm at last, eating well, but probably feeling differently about army life. The summer
had been mild, and after the cold winter of 1862, he never again really complained about heat or
even about mosquitoes.

In July 1862, John’s regiment was still in camp at Flat Top Tannery. Part of his company was
sent on a scouting expedition and took one CSA prisioner. I do not know if John was on this foray.
On July 26, he and Company “I” marched towards Raleigh, (West) Virginia, and camped at McCoy’s
Mill, Fayette County. On August 2, John’s company was under command of Captain Messner and
marched on a scouting expedition to Wyoming Court House. There, six of John’s comrades were
taken prisioner and one was killed.

In September 1862, John received papers showing that his rank was officially that of corporal. (7)

The September 23, 1862 war record report from Colonel Siber mentioned Companies A, B, C, D,
E, F, G, H, and K, but did not refer to Company “I.” General Lightburn reported that two companies
of the 37th Regiment were assigned guard duty for trains at Fayette Court House, (West) Virginia). I
assume John’s company was one of these two. In any case, John seemed to be lucky at the
beginning of the war. According to Colonel Siber, the losses of the 37th Regiment were insignificant,
as it did not occupy any breastworks in the Kanahwa engagements.

Perhaps John thought that the 37th Regiment would be able to return to Cleveland, but another
order arrived. Company “I” was sent to Brownstown in the Kanawha Valley in October 1862 and
then to Camp Piatt, (West) Virginia for November and December. Finally, they were ordered to pack
up and regress towards Cincinnati, Ohio, to await their next assignment. About December 30, 1862
the regiment exchanged their old Springfields for new Enfield rifles.

The journey south began December 30,1862 from Louisville, Kentucky, down the Ohio and
Mississippi Rivers. On January 16, 1863, the regiment disembarked in Napoleon, Arkansas, and
with the 30th and 40th Ohio and the 4th Virginia, merged into the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Division, 15th Army
Corps of the Army of the Tennessee. (8)

~ 12~

Endnotes: Part One: Chapter Three

1.. Battles and Leaders of the Civil War: Ed. Castle, Division of Book Sales, Inc. 110 Enterprise
Ave., Secaucus, NJ; V. I; page 148.

2. Civil War: Decoying the Yanks: Champ Clark & the editors of Time Life Books, page 46.

3. Physicians and Surgeons of the United States: Ed. By: William B. Atkinson, M.D. Charles
Robson Publishers, Philadelphia, 1878, page 498f.

4. Surgeon Conrad Schenck resigned from the 37th Regiment on June 9, 1862. Surgeon Julius
Schenck resigned from the 37th Regiment on November 20, 1862. Neither surgeon treated John
Baehr’s leg wound at Missonary Ridge. According to John, his leg wound was treated by Assistant
Surgeon Adolph W. Billhardt. Dr. Billhardt was mustered out of the 37th Regiment on October 7,
1864.

5. Roster of Ohio Troops, page 29.

6. The Union Army: Record of Ohio Regiments, Volume 2, page 384.

7. John Baehr’s 37th Regiment, organized in Cleveland from September 9, 1861 to March 2, was to
serve for three years. At expiration of its term, the original volunteer members (except veterans)
would be mustered out. Veterans and recruits would be retained in service until August 7, 1865.

8. From the on-line site Ohio Civil War Central (2018). On January 21, 1863, the 37th moved to
Milliken's Bend, Louisiana, where the organization began to work on a canal that would allow
Union gunboats to sail safely past the Confederate stronghold of Vicksburg, Mississippi. Flooding
prompted officials to move the regiment to Young's Point, Louisiana, where the 37th conducted
several raids across the Mississippi River and up the Yazoo River.
On April 29, 1863, the 37th boarded steamers for Haines's Bluff on the Yazoo River. The regiment
soon returned to Young's Point, before sailing to Grand Gulf, Mississippi, on May 13, 1863. The
37th next joined General Ulysses S. Grant's siege of Vicksburg. From late May to early July 1863,
the regiment helped Union forces besiege the city's Confederate garrison.

~ 13~

Chapter Four

VICKSBURG, MISSISSIPPI

Ray and Anne Baehr Evans in 1995 at the Ohio Memorial commemorating General
Hugh Ewing's United States Volunteers, composed of the 30th, 37th and 47th

Regiments of the Ohio Volunteer Infantry at Vicksburg, which included First Sgt. John
Baehr of the 37th.

From January to April 10, 1863, Company “I” was stationed at Young’s Point, Louisiana. Then,
the unit moved to Milliken’s Bend, Lousiana, where they stayed until May. For nearly five months,
John and his regiment spent the time waiting and drilling, and then waiting more. The grapevine
was a-buzz with the tragedy of one of their own Ohio Volunteer regiments, the 53rd, at Shiloh (1) the
year before.

~ 14~

The troops of the 53rd had never been on a battlefield. When Confederate guns attacked on April
6, 1862, the entire regiment broke and fled in terror. John probably did not blame his comrades. He
might have wondered what he would do in such a situation. John’s own Company “I” would soon be
similarly tested in Mississippi.

Since December 28, 1862, the 37th Ohio Regiment had been following orders to head south. The
plan was to send the regiment, under Brigadier-General Hugh Ewing (US), to General Grant (US)
on the Mississippi River, where it would eventually join the 15th Army Corps (2), to which the 37th
had been previously assigned.

The feeling among the troops was that something important was brewing. Couriers reported that
the Confederates had moved off the Mississippi River, all the way down to Vicksburg, Mississippi.
Either John and his regiment could go home now, or they would be moving south in no time. Again,
home would have to wait. On January 2, 1863, special orders came from Major General Wright (US).

Brigadier General Hugh Ewing's United States Volunteers will proceed with his brigade now in
Cincinnati, Ohio, composed of the 30th, 37th and 47th Regiments of the Ohio Volunteers and the
4th Regiment of the Virginia Volunteers to Louisville, Kentucky, and report for duty to Brigadier
General J.T. Boyle, commander of the district of Western Kentucky. (3)

The journey south resumed. John had never seen so many humans together in one area. There
were men with their tents, wagons, and animals in front, behind, and on each side of him. From
western Kentucky, John moved south with the 15th Army Corps of the Army of the Tennessee under
Major General William Tecumseh Sherman (US) towards the State of Mississippi.

John had been a corporal for five
months. Then on March 1, 1863, he
was promoted to First Sergeant.
The photo at left shows the typical
Union First Sergeant uniform worn
during the Civil War.

During the next two months, John's regiment moved closer and closer to the barricaded city of
Vicksburg. On March 29, Colonel Siber (US) reported the following from regimental camp at Young's
Point on the Louisiana side of the Mississippi River, a short distance from Vicksburg.

~ 15~

The (37th) Regiment moved with the (3rd) Brigade on the morning of March 17 (1863). The troops
embarked on board the steamer “Fanny Ogden” and disembarked on the morning of the 18th at
Gwin's Plantation on the left bank of the Mississippi. From the Official War Records

My great-grandfather certainly did not have to rely upon textbook descriptions of this portion of
his new country. He surely learned, first hand, the meanings for bayou, levee, alligators, mosquitoes,
sandflies, beetles, ants, worms, and ticks. He discovered the geography of plantation and swamp
land adjacent to Young's Point and learned of the curve of the great Mississippi River at the town of
Vicksburg. John was introduced to hard rains on March 23, 1863, then he felt the extreme humidity
that can be experienced only in the South. During the Siege of Vicksburg, he probably heard of men
on partial rations of food, with little water, suffering from sunstroke, excessive heat, and malaria.

On March 24, Colonel Siber took his exhausted 37th Ohio Volunteer Infantry up the left fork of
Deer Creek to reconnoiter, and, if possible, to discover the force of the enemy reported approaching
in that direction. From Deer Creek, the regiment went down to the mouth of the Yazoo and finally
on to Young's Point. (4)

The 15th Army Corps, commanded by Major General W. T. Sherman (US), consisted of three
divisions, each with three brigades, an artillery, and a cavalry. My great-grandfather was in the
Second Division, Third Brigade, under Brigadier General Hugh Ewing. During the forty-seven-day
Siege of Vicksburg, the 37th Regiment was led by Lieutenant Colonel Louis von Blessingh, Major
Charles Hipp, and Colonel Edward Siber. (5) During the Siege of Vicksburg, another Youngstown
soldier, Sergeant John Lump, from John’s company was killed. In the entire Siege, the 37th
Regiment lost nineteen soldiers killed and seventy-five wounded. John’s Company “I “was stationed
at Walnut Hill, at the rear of Vicksburg, from May through June 1863. On May 20, a regimental
officer, 1st Lieutenant Sebaldus Hassler, was killed in action near Vicksburg. Then, May 22, 1863,
Major General Frank P. Blair, Jr. (US) ordered an assault on the works near Vicksburg. He could
not command the men of the 37th to participate in a near suicidal attempt. He asked for volunteers
for the storming party. One hundred fifty-eight men volunteered and only one, Private Christian
Busker, was from John's “I” Company. There were thirty-six casualties including 10 killed or missing.
(6) Fortunately, John did not find it necessary to volunteer to take part in any extra skirmishes.
Possibly his display of caution is what allowed him to live through the War of the Rebellion.

Actually, John's entire 37th Regiment displayed the same hesitation during the storming of the
works of Vicksburg on that May 22. The Thirty-Seventh Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry faltered
and gave way under the fire of the enemy...The men lay down in the road and behind every inequality
of ground which afforded them shelter. From the fficial War Records.

I pause to clarify two points. First, that the 37th came upon deadly fire and any soldier continuing
on was shot. Second, that John was not a member of this assault party. I will continue the story of
the 37th volunteers in to stress the superb intelligence, or common sense, of my great-grandfather's
comrades.

Every effort of General Ewing and Lieutenant Colonel Louis von Blessingh to rally them and urge
them forward proved of no avail. Both officers exposed themselves very much in the effort to
encourage the regiment. Sgt. Maj. Louis Sebastian, 37th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, went along the
whole line of the regiment, exposing himself to the heaviest fire of the enemy, exhorting and
remonstrating with the men and urging them forward, but it was all in vain. They refused to move.
(7)

~ 16~

The Union Army took Vicksburg, Mississippi, July 4, 1863, a sad surrender for the Confederate
forces. In 1996, a docent at the Confederate Museum in Richmond, Texas, told me the defeat was
so devastating that the official July 4 Independence Day of the United States was only recently being
celebrated in her hometown of Vicksburg.

After taking Vicksburg, the 37th advanced upon Jackson, Mississippi. After capturing Jackson, the
regiment performed garrison duty there. By August of 1863, John’s Company “I” was stationed at
Camp Sherman, near the Big Black River, Mississippi.

On September 26, 1863, the 37th returned to Vicksburg, where they boarded the steamer
Nashville for Memphis, Tennessee. From Memphis, the regiment marched to Corinth, Mississippi,
and then to Cherokee Station, Alabama, reaching this last location on October 20, 1863. On
October 26, the regiment marched with its division against Confederate general Nathan Bedford
Forrest's cavalry. On November 21, 1863, the 37th arrived in the vicinity of Chattanooga,
Tennessee.

Endnotes: Part One: Chapter Four

1. Battlefields of the Civil War: National Park Service, Washington: Historical Handbook Series,
Arno Press, 1979; page 74.

2. War of the Rebellion: A Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate
Armies: Series I, Volume 21, November 15, 1862-January 25, 1863, page 940.

3. Ibid.: Series I Volume 52 Part I, page 319.

4. Op. Cit. Series I Volume 24, Part I, page 450.

5. Op. Cit. Series 1, Volume 24, Part II, Reports, page 152f.

6. Op. Cit. Volume 52, pages 62ff.

7.Op Cit. Volume 24, Part 11, page 257f.

~ 17~

Chapter Five

MISSIONARY RIDGE, TENNESSEE

During John Baehr’s 37th Ohio’s involvement in the Battle of Jackson, Mississippi, no one from
his regiment was killed, but two were wounded. Company “I” spent September and October of 1863
stationed at a camp on the Tennessee River, Alabama, where the duties were drilling and guard
duty. On November 20, 1863, the regiment moved to Tennessee and went into bivouac below
Missionary Ridge, Tennessee, at the Georgia border. Missionary Ridge was originally called Mission
Ridge. A Catholic school for Indians had been established by priests from St. Augustine, Florida.
The school was on a ridge east of Lookout Mountain.

Confederate forces were positioned at Missionary
Ridge. Although Federal troops were not issued an
attack order, masses of soldiers began to ascend the
ridge on November 25, 1863. Among the troops was
John’s 37th Ohio Volunteer Infantry, Company “I.” The
CSA troops were defeated and the Union men who
moved sans-orders were praised for their valor. In
1903, the Ohio Monument on Missionary Ridge in
Chattanooga, Tennessee, was placed in honor of the
soldiers from Ohio who fought at the Battle of
Missionary Ridge, one of the major turning points of the
Civil War.

Five soldiers of the 37th regiment were killed during the attack. One of the thirty-six wounded was
John Baehr. He suffered a gunshot wound to his left leg below the knee; also, he became deaf in his
right ear.

~ 18~

The following statements were found in John Baehr’s Pension Records from the National Archives
in Washington D.C.

John Baehr, 1st Sgt., absent sick wounded in battle at Missionary Ridge, Tennessee, November

25, 1863. January and February 1864: Same. March and April 1864: Not on file. Returns of the

Regt. covering that period Incomplete. Roll of the Company for May and June 1864 reports him

present. Adjutant General’s Office, Affidavit, October 18, 1880.

John Baehr placed the following in an Affidavit. In the line of duty at Missionary Ridge in the State

of Tennessee on...the 25th day of November 1863, he was wounded in his left leg below the knee by

the ball passing into the rear cutting the muscles and injuring the bone and that this wound was

received while engaged with his regiment charging the Enemy at the Battle of Mission Ridge. He

was treated in Field Hospital at Mission Ridge about 3 weeks, Field Hospital in Nashville 6 or 7

weeks, was furloughed home 30 days, then in Cleveland, Ohio, hospital. He rejoined his regiment

at Cleveland. John Baehr’s application for invalid pension, July 11, 1879.

On March 28, 1881, John made a declaration to Deputy Clerk H. E. Caldwell at the U.S. Pension
Office in Trumbull County, Ohio. The Affidavit was filed by J. F. Wilson in Warren, Ohio. State
of Ohio, County of Trumbull, S.S., in the matter of pension of John Baehr late sgt Co "I" 37th

Ohio Vol before me Clerk of the Court...for the county and state personally appeared John
Baehr ...who says that his residence for three years and more prior to the war... was in New

York City to within a few months before his enlistment when he removed to Warren, Ohio,
and that his occupation was that of a bookbinder; that since his discharge from the Military

Service of the United States September 1864, his residence has been in Warren...and that
his occupation has been that of a painter.

That during all the years since his discharge he has suffered some pain in his left leg resulting

from a wound he received in the Battle of Mission Ridge...that at no time has it entirely disabled him

for manual labor. That the greatest trouble caused in said leg by said wound is to render it weak so

that he will be compelled to stop his labor to rest his leg. That he has never been treated for said

wound since his discharge by any physician but has rubbed lineament and other preparations

purchased at the drugstores of Warren. Declaration to the Court, 1881.

John wrote: My hearing was injured in my right ear by the concussion of cannon at Missionary

Ridge in November 1863. We were supporting a battery and my regiment was between the guns

and the noise was so painful every time the guns went off that it hurt my hearing and I never got my

hearing in my right ear afterward. John Baehr.

John’s wound and disability were further documented by an employer in 1893. I am a Painter

by Trade and so is John Baehr and I take Contracts and have employed him ever since he came
home from the War in 1864. For the last 15 Years we have been Partners. I have known him better
than I know anyone, and I knew him well when he came home from the Army. He had Rheumatism
in his Legs and Arms and Shoulders ever since he came home. I know it for I often help him on
and off with his Coat. It was worse in his right Arm than in left and he has to use his left Arm in
Painting a great Deal. I also say that he does not hear well out of his Ears and the right Ear is worse

than the left. I know this was so when he came home in 1864. If I spoke to him and his right Ear
was toward me, he did not hear. I know all these Things are True ever since his Discharge. I write
this Myself and tell it just as I know it.

John Rebhan, August 14, 1893.

~ 19~

The captain of his company listed John’s War injuries in an Affidavit. Captain John Bayer, living
at #523 Hilker (sic) Street in Youngstown, Ohio, went downtown to a notary public of Mahoning
County to make his statement in August 1893.

His (John Baehr's) hearing was...injured at Missionary Ridge in November 1863... caused by

heavy firing of cannon. I was with the company and in command and make this statement from

personal knowledge. Captain John Bayer.

Also, in August 1893, Conrad Schroeder, another Company “I” veteran, appeared before the
notary, W. R. Stewart, in Youngstown.

The heavy cannonading at Missionary Ridge about November 25, 1863 injured (John Baehr's)

hearing and he was partially deaf during the remainder of his service. I served in Company I, 37th

Regiment Ohio Infantry Volunteers and was present with the company at the time and make this

statement from personal knowledge. Conrad Schroeder.

John's neighbor and brother-in-law, William Koehler, was 34 years old in 1893 when he made a
general Affidavit in the matter of the pension. On August 15, 1893, William appeared before a
Trumbull County probate judge.

I have known John Baehr for fifteen years and have lived in the house adjoining his for thirteen

years and have always noticed his deafness in our intercourse as neighbors for a person had always
to speak to him in a high tone of voice to make him understand what was said to him and as to his

rheumatism he has been more or less affected by it in that time often being confined at home and

most generally standing for work, limping some as rheumatism affects a person. Once in a while
not noticeable and other times affect him enough to make it seem to someone else as though he

would not get to his destination.

These facts I know as we often start together in the morning for our work--he for his and I for mine.
In my opinion, he has been very greatly disabled for labor on account of this rheumatism.

William Koehler, 1893

John Layer was a friend and brother-in-law married to John's wife's sister, Caroline. On August 19,
1893, Mr. Layer, 63 years old, made the following general Affidavit.

To my certain knowledge John Baehr had rheumatism in his leg and shoulders when he first
came home from the army in the fall of 1864. I knew him before he went to the war and I saw him
right away after he was discharged. I was with him almost every Day and there was nobody I knew
better than I did John Baehr. He complained to me of his rheumatism then he told me that he had
been troubled with it in the army. I remember his limping at times and when walking or moving his
leg clumsily and stiffly and he was so at times that he could not work at all and was confinde (sic) to
his house with it. I have known him well ever since to this Date and knew that he has never gotten
over it. I can also testify that he has been hard of hearing ever since discharged. In my opinion, he
has been fully one half disabled for work on account of rheumatism. He has often worked when,
really not able to work. I have written this with my own hand and of my knowledge. John Layer

John Baehr dictated a statement on March 9, 1895 to James F. Wilson. Surg. (Adolph W.)
Billhardt treated me for my wound but not for rheumatism. I was not treated at all for deafness.

~ 20~

Chapter Six

MILITARY TO CIVILIAN LIFE

As a high-school student in 1969, with

no thoughts of joining the military (1),
my sister Kathie wrote a research

paper on the family, with special

attention given to John Baehr. Her
teacher, Sister Mary Patrice, awarded

Kathie an A+ for her efforts.

A well written, excellently illustrated, and very warm, human history of a family having every right
to be proud of past and present generations. May the years to come be filled with many blessings.

Sister Mary Patrice, Mater Dei High School, Santa Ana, California, 1969.

Kathleen summarized the engagements of John’s regiment.

The 37th Ohio Volunteer Regiment went first to the Kanawha Valley. Later it was assigned to the
2nd Brigade, 2nd Division, 15th Corps, Army of the Tennessee and took part in the following
engagements: Princeton, (West Virginia); Wyoming Court House (about 30 miles North West of
Princeton); Fayetteville (North from Wyoming some 40 miles) then the regiment moved to the
engagement at Cotton Hill.

The regiment then took part in the Siege and Assault of Vicksburg, from May 18 to July 4, 1863;
then Jackson, Mississippi; and Chattanooga, Lookout Mountain, and Mission Ridge in Tennessee.
Then the regiment traveled towards Georgia and participated there in the Battle of Resaca, May 13
through May 16, 1864; Dallas, Georgia, from May 24 to June 4, 1864, Kenesaw Mountain, Georgia
from June 9 to June 30, including the general assault of Kenesaw Mountain on June 27, 1864.

On July 22,1864, the regiment took part in Hood's first sortie and on July 28, 1864, Hood's second
sortie or Ezra Church, and the Seige of Atlanta from July 28 through September 2, 1864, including
Jonesboro, Georgia, from August 31 to September 1, 1864.

The military records indicate that the regiment went on after the taking of Atlanta, but John was

honorably discharged September 23, 1864 at East Point, Georgia. His regiment went on to the Seige

of Savannah, Georgia; and the Campaign of the Carolinas, including Cheraw, South Carolina and

Bentonville, North Carolina. After the war, the 37th also participated in the Grand Review at

Washington D.C. on May 24, 1865. Kathleen Baehr (Salmas), 1969.

****************************************************************************************************************

~ 21~

The 37th also performed duty in Kentucky and Arkansas after John was mustered out. John's
obituary does say that he participated in Bentonville, North Carolina, from March 19 to 21, 1865, but
these dates conflict with John’s discharge papers. My father believes that John went to Washington
to take part in the Grand Review after the war.

Other than being in hospital with fever and rheumatism in 1862, a confinement in field hospitals
after the Battle of Missionary Ridge, and a thirty-day furlough in March and April 1864, the military
record states that John Baehr stayed with his regiment. He was at all other times with his command,
bearing a loyal part in all its engagements…and achieving a gallant record for brave and meritorious
service for which he received promotions. He received an Honorable Discharge at East Point,
Georgia, on the 23rd day of September,1864, by reason of expiration of term of service.

From the National Archives.

John’s regiment certainly moved hard and fast to cover so much territory in three years. Looking
back at the Civil War with the information I have today, I must say that my great-grandfather was
lucky to have lived through so many military engagements. What is even more amazing is the fact
that John did not die from toxemia, septicemia, pyemia, tetanus, or gangrene after being wounded,
as the number of hospital deaths was extremely high during the war.

John went back to Warren about September 1864. How he returned, I do not know. By train, if
fortunate? By wagon? On foot? By 1866, I find that John requested for his discharge papers to be
placed on file in Trumbull County. I assume he was gathering documentation complying with the law
in relation to the naturalization of aliens. His discharge paper was received and recorded on August
23, 1866, in Trumbull County, Book I, page 275 by A. A. Adams recorder and E. A. Adams, assistant.

One year after starting his naturalization process, John married Mary Kibler on August 6, 1867.
Mary was born Maria Kübler in Württemberg, Germany, in 1842, and came to America in 1855.

John, 34, and Mary, 25,
were married in Lordstown,
Trumbull County, Ohio, by
Rev. T. C. Becker, Minister
of the Gospel. Reverend

Becker was among the
ministers who served in a

union church. The two
societies that had united

were the old school of
German Lutherans and the

German Reformed. (2)

John Baehr Mary Kibler Baehr

~ 22~

About eleven years after they married, John and Mary started to build the family house at #13
First Street in Warren, Ohio. Even though John was a bookbinder in Germany, he became a master
carpenter and house painter in America. My father, Robert, often talked about the Baehr house. He
thinks the folks in the late 1800s would buy catalog house plans, then start construction. Sears
Catalog house kits were not offered until after 1906.

Baehrs on Porch: Anna, Lottie, Mary, John, and Fred or George about 1900

~ 23~

Baehr Home, Warren, Ohio, 1971

“I am sorry that I never pumped the aunts for more information, but I do remember being told that

my grandfather (John Baehr) bought a double parcel of land in north-west Warren. Back then, it was

a fashionable place to live. He bought the land with his brother-in-law (Koehler) and they each built

a house with a common yard between them.” Robert Baehr.

“This is a picture taken in 1954 of my wife,
Mary, and our daughters, Anne and Peggy,
with Aunt Anna Baehr (right) and Cousin
Lilla Koehler (center) on one of our trips
east.” Robert Baehr.

John’s brother-in-law, William Albert Koehler, a wood worker, was the husband of Mary Kibler
Baehr’s sister, Anna Christina. William and Anna’s daughter, Lillian “Lilla” Eldena Koehler, was
born July 1883. Their son, Albert, was born in 1885. Albert worked for the Sterling Electical
Company. When the parents died, and Albert moved out of the house, Lilla moved in next door with
her Baehr cousins.

~ 24~

“Lilla always kept the family together. When Anna, the last of the Baehrs, died, Lilla sold the

house on First Street and rented a place on Porter Avenue. That was where she gave us all the

family history papers and antiques on our trip to Ohio in 1962.” Robert F. Baehr, 1997.

On left: Koehler House built by John Baehr and William Koehler. On right: What remained of the Baehr
House, Warren, Ohio, 1987.

In 1987, when my father went to see the Baehr house, he was saddened to find the dreary state

of the once prime real estate in Warren. “Downtown is being renovated, but much of the residential

area is showing its age. The Baehr house was a pile of rubbish. All gone.” Robert Baehr.

In September 1997, my husband, my father, and I went to see the area once more. The
Koehler home had been painted and it looked quite nice. A crew was breaking ground on the Baehr
terrain, where a new house was to be built. The entire neighborhood was being improved and was
starting to look beautiful again. The houses were being spruced up and painted to bring back the
elegance of the Victorian Era.

Eleven months after their marriage, the first of John and Mary's four children was born. The
child was John Frederick “Fred” Baehr, born July 28, 1868. When his newborn son was 3 months

old, John finished the paperwork for naturalization. On October 13, 1868, John Baehr, a native of

Saxe-Coburg. went to probate court held at the probate office in Warren, Trumbull County, Ohio. (3)

John Baehr appeared in court to claim that he had resided in the United States for at least one
year and that he had been honorably discharged from the Army of the United States and that he had
behaved as a man of good moral character, attached to the principles of the Constitution of the
United States.

John Baehr took the oath to support the Constitution of the United States of America and

renounced and abjured all allegiance and fidelity to the King of Prussia whose subject he was.
Johann Bähr officially became John Baehr on that October 13, 1868 and was admitted as a citizen

of the United States.

~ 25~

John and Mary Baehr had three more
children, besides Fred. They were Anna,
George Franklin (my grandfather), and
Florence Charlotte Lottie. Anna, shown at
left, was born in 1870.

1870 was a year of horror for John's sisters. While John and Mary were celebrating the birth of
their second child (Anna Baehr), John’s sister, Anna Katherine Baehr Dietz, was burying three of her
children. John’s nephew and two nieces (Johann Georg, Clara Louise, and Catherine Matilda Dietz)
died that year. Also, in 1870 John’s sister Pauline Baehr Datzel’s husband Peter died.

In 1871, John heard the news from Europe. His homeland that he had called Germania had
finally united into the country of Deutschland (Germany). John and Mary Baehr’s third child, George
Franklin, my grandfather, was born October 2, 1872. According to Baptismal records, he was born
at 417 Washington Street, Warren, Ohio.

Minnie Dietz, Lottie Baehr, Anna Baehr, and Lillian Koehler in Warren Ohio about 1918
My grandfather, George, was 3 when his sister, Florence Charlotte Lottie, was born on February
6, 1875. I never met Lottie, but I have seen pictures of her. She was always quite visible in the
photographs, my father's comment being, “Poor Lottie. She was never very pretty; but her cousin
Lilla was beautiful.” Lottie was never employed but stayed at home to help care for the family.

~ 26~

It was for Lottie that John carved a wonderful doll cradle, personalizing it with her initials "L. B." I
was given the cradle along with a small rocker he made for her doll named Charlotte. There are two
other Baehr dolls, Leila and Helen, and another miniature rocker made by a neighbor, Henry Webber.

Baehr doll Helen with cradle made by John Baehr Lottie's doll Charlotte

~ 27~

I was told that John Baehr was a good person. He was well liked by everyone and had many
friends. Lilla talked about Henry Webber, a special neighbor who lived down the block at # 23 First
Street. Henry was born in Germany in 1848 and came to America in 1867. He, too, was a craftsman
and a carpenter and he and John were close friends.

About 1880, John joined the Union
veterans’ group called the GAR,
(Grand Army of the Republic). (4)
He was in the Bell-Harmon Post

#36, which was organized June 24,
1880. It was named for Job Bell,
Ohio Volunteer Infantry, 19th
Regiment, Company C, and for

Charles R. Harmon, Ohio Volunteer
Infantry, 24th Regiment.

John Baehr's GAR Medal
Both Bell and Harmon were killed at Stones River, Tennessee. The first commander at the Bell-
Harmon Post was J. F. Wilson. There is a Bell-Harmon Memorial at the Oakwood Cemetery in
Warren.

John's military records state that
his wife, Mary, was a member of
the WRC (Woman's Relief Corps)
which was the ladies’ division of

the GAR.

Mary Kibler Baehr's WRC Medal
In August 2007, I became a proud member of the Daughters of Union Veterans of the Civil War
1861-1865. I was DUVCW Historian from 2008 through 2012, Guard through 2015, and now I serve
as Guide. My three daughters (Charlotte Dobyns, Lorraine Evans, and Rachel Spitz) and my
granddaughter (Fiona Dobyns) joined the DUVCW in 2012.
John was granted a pension from the U.S. government due to the wound that he received in his
left leg during the Civil War. He was awarded two dollars a month in compensation for a soldier's
injury. Besides the war pension, John supported the family by his work as a house painter. Fred, his
son, became a painter, too. Fred never married and lived with the family all his life.

~ 28~

In June 1883, John’s brother Frederick died in Warren. Frederick, a butcher, was 55 years old.
Anna Baehr was a milliner. In 1904, she worked as a hat maker at Gunlefinger and Brothers in
Warren. By 1912, she had her own establishment which is listed in the Warren, Ohio, telephone
directory in bold print. ANNA K. BAEHR, proprietress, The High Street Hat Shop 104 High, the
Trumbull Building. My mother told me that Anna was always so very proud of her shop. I visited
with Anna on some of our trips to Warren from California. She was a very sweet lady and I remember
writing many letters to her.

The 1900 U.S Census states that John’s son,
George Baehr (my grandfather) worked for a
fire extinguisher business, Grinnell Company,
when he was 28 years old. He would remain
with the company as a draftsman until he was

laid off in the 1930s.
George's special memories of his father, John Baehr, included Civil War stories that he would
share. These were tales of suffering in cold, wet army camps, losing his hearing, being shot, seeing
a buddy's foot blown off, and hearing about another buddy's suicide. George would also remember
the songs John loved to sing in German.
John and Mary spoke German in the home and their four children grew up speaking English and
German. My father told me that Fred, Anna, George, Lottie and cousin Lilla spoke German, so he
would not know what they were discussing. George taught his son (my father) German songs that
he had learned from his father, John. My father always remembered the words of “Ach, Du Liber
Augustin” and “Venn der hachen und der rachen und der sunkusi, redi bimmer, redi bimmer, redi
boom, boom, boom.” The latter song is sung to the tune of “I went to the river, but I couldn’t get
across, so I played on my fiddle ‘til the boat came back.” I am certain that I have spelled the German
words incorrectly, but my father learned them by ear only. A German speaker once told me that the
“boom, boom” song refers to someone being hanged!

~ 29~

In 1900, John Baehr was retired and still lived at #13 First Street in Warren with his wife and
adult children. Next door were the Koehlers and right down the street at #6, were Anna Dietz Geuss,
her husband Ernest Geuss, and one of their six children. Anna Dietz Geuss was born in Germany
in June 1840 and came to America in 1851.

Anna was the sister of John's brother-in-law, August Nicholas Dietz. Ernest Geuss was also from
Germany, born August 1833, and came to America in 1852. Around the corner, at 626 Main Street
lived John’s sister Anna Katherine Baehr Dietz, by then a widow, and her daughter, Minnie, 27.

For several years, John had suffered from cirrhosis of the liver. This liver disease was prevalent
in the 1800s and early 1900s, especially among painters, John’s profession, due to the inhaling of
lead from paints. He was attended by Dr. J. F. Reid from May 23, 1911 for the liver disease; then
after two days of broncho-pneumonia, John died at 5:30 in the afternoon of July 22, 1911. John
Baehr was 78 years old. Services were conducted at his home on a Tuesday by Bell-Harmon Post,
of the GAR. The obituary states the following.

After the Civil War, John Baehr located in Warren; and shortly after engaged in the business of
painting and paper hanging, being of the firm of Rebhan & Baehr. He retired from active business
six years before his death. Being of a quiet, unassuming disposition, his home and family meant
much to him and during the latter years of his life, he was scarcely ever away from them. Peaceful
and quiet was his life, sadly we bid him a last farewell. Present at the funeral were Mr.and Mrs. A.
N. Dietz of Cleveland, Eric and Mary Erickson of Ashtabula, Ohio, and Mrs. Matilda Carrar of Sharon,
Pennsylvania. (Both Mary Baehr Erickson and Matilda Baehr Carrar were sisters of Emma Baehr
Geuss.)

On the Front Page of the Warren Daily Tribune, July 25, 1911, was the following announcement.
Buried Today. John Baehr laid to rest at Oakwood this afternoon. The funeral services of the late
John Baehr were held at 2:30 this afternoon at the residence on First Street and were very largely
attended. Dr. J.M. Van Horn officiated, and Rev. F. N. Calvin of the Central Christian Church offered
prayer. There was no singing, and the pall-bearers were: Henry Carl Dietz, August N(icholas) Dietz,
and Albert Koehler, all relatives of the deceased. Burial took place at Oakwood Cemetery, July 25,
by the MacFarland Family Funeral Home.

A beautiful poem by Gustave A. Raible was read aloud at John’s funeral. I do not know who the
poet is. Perhaps the poem was written especially for John by a friend, or maybe this is simply a card
provided by the funeral home and engraved with John’s name. At least, I know that the sentiments
are those by which the family chose to remember him. A loving husband, father, friend, Ever-ready
a kind hand to lend. One of nature’s true noblemen, His worth no words can ever pen.

The poem gives me no encouragement at all, as I try feebly to reconstruct the past and describe

a person I find on my family tree. I do not suppose that I can ever pen his worth, so I must be content

with listing John Baehr in the correct place in my notes. On October 2, 1911, John Buchsteiner, age

73, closed the pension case for John's widow. I have been well and familiarly acquainted with both

the claimant and her husband John Baehr, ever since we were all young and from a time when

neither Mary Baehr nor her husband were of a marriageable age. I do not try to fix the date of their

marriage, but I remember the fact and that neither he nor she were ever married before their marriage

to each other. They have continued to live together as husband and wife from their marriage until

his death (July 22, 1911) a short time ago. I have known them well all these years and I know her

yet. She has not remarried since the death of John Baehr. I attended his funeral and saw his

remains in the casket. John Buchsteiner, 1911.

John’s widow, Mary Kibler Baehr, continued receiving his pension money until her death in 1914.

~ 30~

Before continuing with the Baehr history, I digress, as I want to mention another soldier ancestor
I have from the Civil War. Theron Edelblute is on my mother’s side. Theron was born in 1839, son
of my third-great grandparents, Christopher and Lydia (Havens) Edelblute.

In 1862, a year after the Civil War began, Theron Edelblute, 23, an artist, caring for his ill and
poverty-stricken parents, had no interest in joining the Army. He was approached by Jonathan
Hughes, a member of Licking County Committee for Military Service, and was asked to volunteer.
Theron objected stating that his parents depended upon him for support. Hughes argued that if
Theron would join, he would be paid the $25 bounty money which would help the parents. Besides,
a portion of his monthly Army pay could be sent home.

Finally, Theron agreed, and on August 18, 1862, he enrolled in the Union Army. The next day,
August 19, he was mustered into the newly organized Ohio 95th Volunteer Infantry, as a private in
Company F. The following day, August 20, the 95th proceeded towards Lexington, Kentucky. This
regiment had no training in warfare, but soon they were engaged in the disasterous Battle of
Richmond, Kentucky. Most of the regiment, including Theron Edelblute, was captured. By October
31, 1862, Theron was at Camp Wallace. All the prisoners were exchanged, just a month later, on
November 20. The 95th OVI then returned to Ohio, and was sent to Camp Chase, to reorganize
between the months of January and March 1863.

In May 1863, Theron moved with the 95th to Memphis, Tennessee, and then further down the
Mississippi River towards Vicksburg, Mississippi. February 2, 1864, Theron was given permission
to go to Memphis, Tennessee. He and his friends were to be back for 8 PM roll call. Theron returned
the next morning, intoxicated. He was called to court martial on February 22 and pronounced guilty
of being Absent Without Official Leave and was fined $3.00.

Four months later, June 10, 1864, the 95th was in the Battle of Guntown, Mississippi. Again,
Theron was captured by the Confederates, this time, at Brice’s Crossroads, and taken to the
infamous Andersonville Prison. He was there for two or three months; then, after the fall of Atlanta,
September 1864, the Confederates had no choice but to evacuate Union POWs who were well
enough to travel. Half of the evacuees, including Theron, who was first removed to Charleston where
he spent a short time, were sent towards Florence, South Carolina. Theron was placed in Florence
Stockade, where most of the POWs spent the winter of 1864 and nearly 3,000 of them died. In
early January 1865, Private Theron Edelblute developed camp fever, lingered for three weeks, and
died of starvation on January 29, 1865. He was 26 years old. (5) and (6). His parents ultimately
received his pension money.

The Florence Stockade operated from September 1864 through February 1865, where between
15,000 and 18,000 Union soldiers were interned in an area of about 23 acres, 6 of which were
swamp. The CSA built the stockade after General Sherman captured Atlanta and the Confederates
determined that captives at Andersonville had to be moved out of the way of Sherman’s advancing
troops. (7)

~ 31~

Endnotes: Part One: Chapter Six

1. Kathleen Baehr Salmas served in the US Army in the Vietnam Era. She retired with the
rank of major. Later, she joined the California State Military Reserve (CSMR) serving as a
major.

2.The History of Trumbull and Mahoning Counties, Ohio, V. 2, page 543, repository: Cincinnati
Historical Society Library, Cincinnati Ohio: The original church building had been destroyed by fire
in 1848) so John and Mary would have been married in the new house of worship.
3 The Free State of Saxony had been ruled from the Tenth Century until World War I by the Wettiner
family. The Wettiner heirs lost property in the 1940s due to a dispute with the German State of
Saxony. Although their lands were lost, the Wettiner treasures were found after World War Two and
most of the items were returned to the family in 1997.
4 The Grand Army of the Republic (G.A.R.) was formed after the Civil War as a social and political
force for veterans of the Federal military service.
5. War records and pension papers for Pvt. Theron Edelblute, CO F. 95th OVI. National Archives.
6. The Civil War News, December 1998, page 23: “Visitors Center Opens for Brice’s Crossroads
Battle,” Ed Ballam. “The Battle of Brice’s Crossroads was considered a major tactical victory for the
Confederates under the direction of Major General Nathan Bedford Forrest. The Union Army initiated
the battle on June 10, 1864, with the objective of protecting General William T. Sherman’s operation
of the railroad supply line from Chattanooga during the Atlanta Campaign.”
7. Information about the stockade from History of the Florence Stockade: A Chronicle of Prison Life
in the Waning Months of the Civil War: Albert H. Ledoux, Ph.D.

~ 32~

Chapter Seven

MARIA (Mary) FRIEDERIKA KÜBLER (KIBLER) BAEHR

Maria Kübler was born in the village of Erbstetten, Württemberg, (Germany). A
friend, Gabriel Rau, on a trip to Germany in 2005, discovered two places called
Erbstetten. Gabriel visited Erbstetten which today is part of the town of Ehingen.
Then she visited, Erbstetten bei Backnang, where I believe my Kübler (Kibler)
ancestors lived.

Mary Kibler’s parents were Johann Georg Kübler, born April 17, 1809, and Christina Katherina
Kübler Kübler, born 1812. Research in the Familianbuch, shows Mary’s paternal grandparents as
Jacob Kübler and Anna Maria Weigle or Vogel.

Mary’s maternal grandparents were Johannes Martin
Kübler and Agnes Elizabeth Swartz. Lillian Koehler told me
that Mary had four sisters, Rosina, Caroline, Minnie, and
Anna and that the family came to the United States in the
mid 1850s. (Actually, there were twelve births.)

According to the Familianbuch, Rosina Kübler (Bacher)

was born to Johann Georg Kübler and Christina Catherine
Kübler on March 13, 1836.

Rosina Kübler (Bacher)

~ 33~

The Latin notation on the side of the page was spuria or illegitimate. Rosina was the second-
great aunt of Ruth Weller Brugler. Then, the Kübler-Kübler couple married on August 24, 1836. Their
second child, Carolina Louisa Kübler (Layer), the ancestor of Marge Layer Haislet, was born on June
27, 1837. The third child was Maria Friederika Kübler, born on July 8, 1840, but baby Maria
Friederika died just two months later, September 8.

The following summer on June 17, 1841, a still born girl-child was delivered. My great
grandmother, Maria Friederika Kübler (Baehr), was born April 15, 1842. As per custom, she was given
the name of the deceased sister, Maria Friederika. A sixth daughter, Christianna, was born on April
26, 1843. She lived less than a year, dying on March 2, 1844.

A few months later, July 1, 1844, a seventh daughter was born, Wilhelmina Kübler. She lived for
two years and died August 8, 1846. Johann Georg and Christina Catherine had their first boy, eighth
child, on January 8, 1846. He died August 7, 1846, a day before his two-year-old sister Wilhelmina
died. The next summer, July 15, 1847, a son, Gottlieb was born, but he died at five months of age
on December 28, 1847. Two years later, Wilhelmina Kübler (Minnie Lemley) was born on January
2, 1849. The eleventh child, Christianna Kübler (Anna Koehler) was born June 17, 1851. Christianna
Kübler Koehler was the grandmother of Verna Koehler Mellinger. The twelfth child, a daughter
named Gottliebin Kübler, was born August 12, 1852. Gottliebin died two days later, August 14, 1852.
The mother, Christina Catherine Kübler Kübler, died October 18, 1852 as a result of that final
childbirth.

“I cannot imagine the trauma this mother endured. She died at the age of 40, two months after
the birth and death of her twelfth child. Rosina was 16, Carolina, 15, Maria Friedericka, 10,
Wilhelmina, 3, and Christianna, 1 at the time of their mother’s death. We don’t know how the family
coped, but two years later, 1854, father George and five daughters sailed for America, destination
Trumbull County, Ohio”.

Ruth Brugler, Ohio, 2004.

Ruth Weller Brugler and husband Bob, 2004

~ 34~

Marjorie Layer Haislet in her family
history, The Layers of Portage County,

states that the five daughters were
Rosina, Carolina Louisa, Maria

Friedericka, Wilhelmina, and Christina
Anna. Johann George Kibler’s wife died
after (child birth). According to Haislet,
family tradition said that he planned to
marry again, and Carolina was not happy

with the proposed step-mother, so
Caroline left her home in Erbstetten alone

to join her Uncle Jake in Warren, Ohio.

The individual Jake is Jacob Kibler, the
ancestor of Robert “Gil” Heinlein.

Robert "Gil" Heinlein 2015

Perhaps Carolina was on an earlier ship than the rest of the family but notes in the Familianbuch
indicate that Johann Georg Kübler and five children left Erbstetten for America in 1854. In America,
the spelling of the surname changed to Kibler.

Some of the Kiblers settled in Lordstown, right outside of Warren, on a tract of land next to Uncle
Jacob Kibler’s farm. Rosina married John Bacher, and Carolina married John George Layer. By the
1870 Census, 21-year old Wilhelmina worked as a domestic servant in the home of William Porter
and David Jameson in Warren. She later married Christopher Lemley. Christiana (Anna) married
William Albert Koehler. “My grandmother, Christianna Anna Kübler Koehler, told me that she lived
in a shack in Lordstown, Trumbull County, Ohio. She remembered a great tornado when she had
to seek refuge underground in a cave.” ……Verna Koehler Mellinger, 2003.

When my great-grandmother, Mary Friederika, married, she chose to stay near the family
circle. In fact, for the rest of her life, she lived next door to her sister, Anna Kibler Koehler. Probably,
she had no problem with self-image or with tradition; no need to strike out on her own, nor to break
with the old ways. For a husband, she chose a German speaker just like herself, a man nine-years
her senior.

She married Civil War veteran John Baehr on August 6, 1867, in Lordstown, Trumbull County,
Ohio. John probably had done enough traveling for one lifetime and so the couple decided to settle
there in Trumbull County in the City of Warren. They had four children. There was probably only a
minimum of normal trouble and tension in their home, for all their children lived together at the house
while the parents were alive.

My great-grandmother, Mary Kibler Baehr, intrigues me so much because I know so very little
about her. I received my first photograph of her from Verna Koehler Mellinger in 2001. Mary appears
to be a sweet, quiet little lady. Her dress is simple--no flamboyant hats and bows as worn by the
Dietz ladies of her era in Warren. Also, Verna sent me photographs of Mary’s sisters and their
husbands and all appear to be non-assuming people.

On June 16, 1884, Minnie Dietz, asked her aunt, Mary Kibler Baehr, to sign an autograph book.
Minnie requested signatures from her favorite family members and Mary, naturally, was one of the
special ones. Mary spoke German with her husband and children, but her message to Minnie is in
English.

~ 35~

Perhaps Mary copied this poem from other autograph books, for I have read similar wishes in
books from the Victorian Era. May Heaven protect and keep thee from every sorrow free and grant
thee every blessing Is my earnest wish for thee.

Mary was an active and honored member of the Woman’s Relief Corps, Auxiliary to the Grand
Army of the Republic. Women weren’t voting yet during her time, so perhaps she did not believe
that her work was worth documenting. The children saved John’s obituary, but they didn’t even save
a death notice after their mother died. Perhaps John had the dynamic personality and the
accompanying exciting stories to tell; whereas, Mary was the quiet one in the background, smiling
and nodding; supportive, but never really noticed. Mary became ill September 9, 1913. “Annie
Rogerson (Baehr) came to take care of Mary.” Verna Koehler Mellinger, July 2002.

Mary’s doctor was Dr. Jessie B. Johnson. According to her death certificate, Mary died at home
on February 13, 1914 of anemia (and the) infirmities of Age. She was buried in Oakwood Cemetery
by the MacFarland Family Funeral Home.

In 1962, Lillian Koehler gave me
Mary Kibler Baehr’s lovely Haviland
china, setting for six. She also gave
me a setting for six of plated silver
flatware in the Berwick pattern, and

six teaspoons in the exquisite
Columbia pattern. The silver pieces
have the monogram B. These are

the silver pieces that began my
obsession with silver collecting.

~ 36~

Chapter Eight

ANNA KATHERINE BAEHR DIETZ

Before I follow John Baehr’s immediate family, I must return to 1804 Germany to the in-laws of
his sister, Anna Katherine Baehr Dietz. I must thank Anna Katherine’s son, William Georg Dietz, for
information about his mother and about his paternal grandparents. William Georg Dietz was certainly
enthusiastic about family history.

(5”x2”x2”) A note inside this box reads: Straw box given to me (W.G. Dietz) when I was a boy by my
grandmother. She brought it from Germany in 1851. She had it for years before she came here.
William Georg Dietz.

From William Georg Dietz’s research, I learned that his paternal grandfather was Captain Johann
William Dietz, born in Coburg on May 1, 1804. William's paternal grandmother was Fredericka
Dietrich. She was born August 17, 1804, in the city of Gräfenthal which is in the State of Thüringen,
Germany. Captain Dietz and his wife, Fredericka, had four children in Germany. August Nicholas
(father of William Georg) was born in Coburg on May 6, 1831. George Johann (1) was born in Coburg
on August 5, 1837. The couple also had two girls, Anna Dietz (Mrs. Ernest Geuss) and Theresa
Dietz (Mrs. Henry Bohe).

The Dietz family left Coburg for America on July 24, 1851. They were carried north from Coburg
to Gotha by teamster. From Gotha, they went by rail to Bremerhaven where they were detained for
nineteen days before their ship, the “Metha,” sailed for America. They spent 38 days on the water.
The journey from New York to Warren took the family 11 days. From New York, they traveled by rail
to Pittsburg, which took 6 days. From Pittsburg, they went by canal boat to Warren, arriving there
on October 10, 1851.

They decided to settle in Warren because a friend named George Shilling from Coburg had

formerly settled there. Johann William Dietz was a tanner by trade and quickly found employment

in Dunlap's Tannery which was located on the North Bank of the Mahoning River on the east side of

Main Street near the covered bridge in Warren. Johann Dietz died in Warren, Ohio, May 11, 1871.

His wife, Fredericka died in Warren, October 2, 1880. Notes from William Georg Dietz

Anna Katherine Baehr (Dietz) left Coburg in the middle of August 1854 for America. She traveled
by coach to Lichtenfels, 18 kilometers south of Coburg on the River Main. From Lichtenfels, she took
the railroad on a long journey to Bremerhaven, (2) which is a port city where the Weser River meets
the North Sea. There, she boarded the sailing vessel “La Hermoine” and departed for New York.
She spent 41 days on the water, where she celebrated her 24th birthday, on September 16, 1854.

~ 37~

From New York City, Anna Katherine traveled by rail to Buffalo, New York. From Buffalo, she
went by boat on the Erie Lake to Cleveland, Ohio. In Cleveland, she took a train to Ravenna, Ohio,
and finally a coach from Ravenna to Warren City, Trumbull County, Ohio. The coach station in
Warren was at a hotel known as the Gaskill House and later as the Austin House. The Gaskill House
was at the corner of Main and South, opposite the Erie depot. A livery stable was attached to the
house. In 1860 the proprietor was Edward Shoenberger. (3)

Her arrival, she thought, was the 25th or 26th of September 1854. Anna Katherine Baehr was 24
years old and was on a new continent and in a new country. She had left friends, her brother, and
her past in Coburg. She was surrounded by the neighbor immigrants speaking German and the
towns-people speaking English. Anna Katherine was met at the station by her sister, Pauline. The
Dietz notes say that their mother was introduced at the station to her sister’s friend, a young man
named August Nicholas Dietz. I don’t know whether Anna’s sister had known August Nicholas Dietz
previously in Coburg or if they had met in America. August Nicholas was by trade a cooper and an
exemplary citizen of Warren.

“A History of Trumbull County,” written by Harriet Taylor Upton in 1909 and published in the Warren
Tribune Chronicle, December 17, 1924, describes these early German settlers. The Germans were
among the best of Warren's early citizens. In the beginning those who came were men and women
of unusual talent. Many of them were well educated, all were frugal and were willing to take part in
anything which was for the welfare of the community. It is a pity that no record has been kept of
these staunch citizens and that even the children and the grandchildren know little about them.

Probably the immigrants from Coburg kept in close contact in Warren. Warren was a small town
in the 1850s and, as customary, the immigrants tended to stay together for mutual support. I can
only assume that Anna Katherine was staying with her sister, Pauline. Anna Katherine Baehr and
August Nicholas Dietz were married on November 15, 1856 by Jefferson Palen, Justice of the Peace.
The first of their ten children, Wilhelm (William) Georg, was born on April 17, 1857. For the first four
years of their marriage, a child was born each year. Then the next six babies arrived exactly two
years apart between the years of 1862 and 1872. It appears that Anna would nurse one baby for a
year and then quickly become pregnant with another child. Four of these children would not reach
the age of ten.

The years from 1856 to 1870 were busy, including worrying while her husband went from Warren
to Canfield for his nautralization papers; her brother John’s arrival from Coburg and his service in
the Civil War; then John’s wedding; going to visit her new nephew, Fred; and, finally, carrying, giving
birth to, and nursing nine children in fourteen years. The war was over in 1865. The soldiers were
coming home, the New World was growing and modernizing, and all seemed right and good, until
the months of horror, August and September 1870.

On April 11, 1870, Anna Katherine had her ninth child. She named her Catherine Matilda.
Gathered around the mother were William, 13, Adolphus,12, Anna Catherine Fredriche,11, Johann
Georg, 9, Clara Louise, 8, August Nicholas, 6, Heinrich Karl, 4 and Pauline Therese, 1. The father,
August Nicholas, was probably standing to the side to give room to his happy family. Going through
his head were plans that his children should have the best education American institutions could
provide.

New-born Catherine Matilda would never reach school age. Her future was only 4 years, 8
months. She died on December 7, 1874; but preceding her in death were three of the siblings who
had assembled so joyfully at her birth in April 1870. With baby Catherine Matilda at her breast, Anna
Katherine would have to pick out and purchase three child-coffins and find three burial plots in the
summer of 1870. Little Clara Louise died of diphtheria on August 24. The sad family had buried
their little sister and felt that no greater tragedy could ever occur. Then on September 15, Johann
Georg died. He was 9 years old.

~ 38~

A second funeral. A second trip to a cemetery with an adored child. I cannot imagine the pain
the family felt. Losing one's child, let alone two within a few days, is the most devastating sorrow a
parent could experience. With funerals and burials in progress, the family tried to celebrate their
grieving mother's 40th birthday, September 16th. Anna Katherine and her husband were nervous.
Warren had been infected with typhoid and catarrah fever that summer. Also, elderly and young were
dying of consumption (tuberculosis). Doctors and worried parents were helpless against the
diseases. While Anna Katherine took note of her 40th birthday, she had bittersweet memories of her
24th on the sailing vessel “La Hermoine” on her way to America and a new life. Her thoughts were
probably disturbed by the wailing of Pauline. It was not a cry, but a haunting moan that would not
cease. Anna Katherine felt her child's head. The little girl's skin was on fire. Six days later, on
September 22, 1870, baby Pauline Therese was dead.

Anna and August Nicholas Dietz went downtown to record the deaths of three of their children.
The assessor listed them in alphabetical order: Johann, Louise, and Pauline Dietz. The assessor
still had not grown indifferent to the tears of parents as they recorded the losses of their little ones.
There on the Trumbull County Probate Court record page with the Dietz children, I found more tragic
deaths. For example, the Scovilles had come to register the deaths of their children from typhoid
fever: Wallace, 18; Clarence,16 and Clara, 11. Twenty of the deaths out of forty on that particular
record sheet were children. Seven were nameless newborns and the others were lost to fever and
mysterious diseases. Also, on the same record page is a listing for the death of Anna Katherine’s
brother-in-law, Peter Doetchel (listed as Deitzel). He died in November of consumption.

The fall of 1870 left Anna and August with six of their nine children. The Baehrs and the Kiblers
were all in mourning for the Dietz family. John and Mary Baehr probably attended the funeral for
Clara Louise; but Mary was most likely still recuperating after the birth of her Anna on September 5
and probably could not be at the services for Johann Georg and Pauline. Poor little Anna. Baehr. I
wonder how much attention she received amidst all the family tragedy. Her aunt, Anna Katherine,
could not be blamed if she barely took notice of the birth of her new little niece.

The Dietz family had one more child. Wilhelmina “Minnie” Franziska arrived September 12, 1872.
When Minnie was 2 years old, she might have sensed terror in the household. The talk concerned
the children in Warren who were dying of diphtheria. In the death records of that time, I found that
the Max family lost 20-month-old Fred and that seventeen days later, their 9-year-old Mary died of
the same disease. The Max family would lose their 5-year old Annie, just five months later. On
August 26, the Miller family lost their 7-year-old Mary. On October 23, Seymour and Rebecca
McCorkle's 12-year-old Emma died. The dreaded bacillus Corynebacterium diphtheriae crept
through the city of Warren and in the autumn of 1874, it again invaded the Dietz house. The acutely
contagious disease attacked the throat and air passages of 4-year-old Catherine Matilda. She
developed a high fever and had extreme difficulty breathing. Her parents could afford the services
of a doctor, but Catherine Matilda grew weaker and weaker. On December 7, 1874, little Minnie's
sister was dead of diphtheria.

Anna Katherine and August had lost another child to disease. Another little white coffin, another
procession to the cemetery, another sad journey to the county office to record the death of yet
another child. This time the assessor appeared more hardened. Warren had been struck again by
catarrah fever; and then cholera and diphtheria; also, lung fever had ravaged the city. Out of the
twenty-nine deaths listed on the record sheet with Catherine Matilda, sixteen were under the age of
seventeen. The Dietz family celebrated Christmas of 1874 with six of ten children: Will, Jack, Anna,
August, Carl, and Minnie.

~ 39~

The closeness of the Dietz family is evident by the various pictures and letters that Minnie saved.
The persons photographed were always elegantly dressed and many of the pictures were taken by
professional photographers. It appears that August Nicholas provided well for his family. He was a
cooper, as stated on a business advertisement: manufacturer of all kinds of cooper work: cisterns,
tanks, etc., will be made to order on short notice. Not too many immigrants in the late 1800s had
such prestigious employment nor could afford such fine clothing, professional photo service on a
regular basis, and formal education.

Anna Katherine and August's children received the education that their parents wanted them to
have. William Georg graduated from Hiram College, Geauga County, (4) Ohio, in 1881, and was a
successful businessman in Cleveland. For more than twenty-five years, William was the Chairman
of the Finance Committee of the Board of Trustees of Hiram College. William also invested well for
his own family, but tragically lost all the money in the stock crash of the Great Depression.

Here is William G. Dietz’s listing in the 1930 publication of Who’s Who in Ohio. (5)

DIETZ, William George, Banker, born Warren, Ohio, April 7, 1857, son of August N and Anna
Katherine (Baehr) Dietz; educated, Public and Private Schools of Warren, Ohio, and Hiram College,
Hiram, Ohio, 1877-1881, Ph B. married Jessie B. Pettibone, Solon, Ohio, November 18, 1885;
children William D. (deceased 1908) daughter Marian (Mrs. Curtis Bennett); early connections,
Acting Deputy Auditor of Trumbull County, February 1876-November 1877; Secretary to B. A.
Hinsdale, Superintendant of Cleveland Public Schools, 1882-1886; in the meantime,assisted Dr.
Hinsdale in preparing “History of the Old Northwest” and editing “Garfield’s Works;” with Lamprecht
Bros. & Co., Bankers, 1886-93, organized The Warren Savings Bank in 1890; firm of Dietz, Denison
and Prior, 1893-98; Secy The Guardian Trust Co, 1898-1900; Gen Secy Cleveland Bankers Associa-
tion, Sept., 1899; managed Convention of American Bankers Assoc. Sept. 1899; with H.W. Poor &
Co., Bankers, New York, 1900-1904; made speeches for Republican Party in McKinley Campaign
of 1896; Toured Ohio with Trophy Train making speeches urging purchase of Liberty Bonds, 1917-
18; Director the Guardian Trust Co., The Cleveland Quarries Co., Castalia Trout Club, Castalia,
Ohio, The Biographical Publishing Co.; Trustee, Society for Savings, Western Reserve Historical
Society, Hiram College; Pres. The Eastern Heights Land Co., Elyria, Ohio; Member Union,
University, Country Clubs, Cleveland; Cleveland Chamber of Commerce; Honorary Fellow of the
Cleveland Museum of Art; residence 2028 E. 83rd St., Cleveland, Ohio; office 1244 Union Trust Bldg,
Cleveland, Ohio; (deceased April 30, 1930).

August N. Dietz and Anna Katherine Baehr’s other children led successful lives, also. Their son,
August, held an important position with the Erie Railroad in Cleveland and another son, Adolphus,
was a blacksmith in Meadville, Ohio. Adolphus entered into partnership with Oscar Hartman in the
carriage making business under the firm name of Hartman and Dietz. Son Henry became a teller of
the Union National Bank. Henry’s daughter Marjorie L. Dietz graduated from William G. Harding
High School in 1929, a time when many immigrants were sending their children into the work force,
rather than having time wasted on school. August and Anna Katherine’s daughter Minnie, a
stenographer, was confidential clerk of T. H. Gilmer. I believe that the other daughter, Anna
Catherine Fredriche, also graduated. I am only guessing from a letter I found from her father which
mentions Anna and commencement.

By 1890, Anna Katherine Baehr Dietz had developed rheumatism. Her husband wrote to their
son, August. Mother has got the Rheumatis in her right arm and is not able to move it which makes
her real sick, we had a Doctor here yesterday, he left some Medicine, it will be some Days before
she will able to stir around again. One year later, on May 2, 1891, Anna Katherine's beloved husband
and helper, August Nicholas Dietz, died.

~ 40~

In 1893, Anna Katherine lost another child. Anna Catherine Frederiche died at the age of 34. In
1900, when Anna Katherine was 70 years old, her son Adolphus suffered a paralytic attack. He was
ill for two years and finally died in August 1902. Anna Katherine’s sister, Pauline Baehr Datzel, died
January 7, 1903. Anna Katherine died the same year on July 13, at home, 626 S. Main Street in
Warren, of tuberculosis peritonitis, two months before her 73rd birthday. Anna Katherine Baehr
Dietz's brother, John Baehr, out-lived his sister by eight years.

Circa 1903. Probably a Dietz family group. Center back is Minnie Dietz. Front 2nd from right could
be her mother Anna Katherine Baehr Dietz, sister of John Baehr. On front, left could be a sister-in-
law. Younger individuals could be Minnie Dietz’s nieces.

Endnotes: Part One: Chapter Eight

1. This is the Uncle George in the letter from Cousin Jennie. (See Introduction.)
2. Two thirds of the people leaving Germany left through the port at Bremen. Between 1831 and
1870, many passenger lists from Bremen to America were pulverized, the idea being that these
citizens were lost to Germany. There are ship lists for all vessels leaving out of Hamburg; but so far,
I have found none of my family leaving out of that city.
3. Ohio State Business Directory, 1860, page 608.
4. The city of Hiram centered since 1850 around the influence of the Western Reserve Eclectic
College. The institute was founded by the Disciples of Christ, and in 1867, became Hiram College.
James Abram Garfield (20th US President) was one of the first students in 1851. He started as a
school janitor then graduated as Valedictorian. He later returned as professor of ancient languages
and literature and the president of the college. The Western Reserve: Harlan Hatcher, Bobbs Merrill
Company, New York, 1949.
5. Who’s Who in Ohio: Editor Jerome Sanner; Published by Biographical Publishing Co., Cleveland,
Ohio; 1930; Page 40.

~ 41~

Chapter Nine

WILHELMINA (MINNIE) FRANZISKA DIETZ

Wilhelmina Franziska
Dietz was the last of ten
children born to my great-
grandfather's sister, Anna
Katherine Baehr, and her
husband, August Nicholas
Dietz. Wilhelmina was
nicknamed Minnie. She was
born in 1872, the same year
as her cousin, George Baehr,
my grandfather.

Minnie’s grandfather had been a tanner in Germany and quickly found work when he arrived in
America at the age of 47. Her father, August Nicolas Dietz, had come to the United States from
Germany, in 1851, when he was 20 years old. Since her father had been a cooper in Germany, he,
too, found employment promptly in Ohio. Minnie wrote, I have a water color drawing of the old
tannery adjoining the home which the family had occupied for three hundred years. My father was a
cooper by trade and conducted a shop of his own and did a good business until barrels, etc. were
made by machinery. I did not find the water color drawing in Minnie’s trunk.

An early photograph I have of Minnie is when she was about 5 years old. The photograph was
taken at the South Park Avenue School, Warren, Ohio, in 1877. The photo is faded, and it is difficult
to discern faces. I found the children’s names in a picture album in the Genealogy Department of
the Warren City Library in Ohio. (1)

The next items I have from Minnie are her beautiful autograph books which are priceless. She
started to collect signatures when she was about ten years old.

December 20, 1883.
Minnie.
We may be friends as long as we live,
If we remember the motto:
Forget and Forgive.

Your Cousin,
Jennie. (2)

~ 42~

Amongst the first entries in Minnie's autograph book is one with the beautiful penmanship of her
brother, Henry C. Dietz, when he was 26 years old and Minnie was 12. Another elegant entry is
undated and in German by her mother, my great-grandfather's sister, Anna Katherine. Minnie's
sister, Anna Catherine, also signed a book March 19, 1882, when she was 23 years old and Minnie
was 10.

Some other entries are also so quaint.

Go forth thou little volume
Like Noah's faithful dove
And bring to darling Minnie
An olive leaf of love.
Your friend and teacher, Mary S. Selkirk, Warren, Ohio, November 26, 1883

There is a pretty little flower
Of sky-blue tint and white
That glitters in the sunlight
And goes to sleep at night.
'Tis a token of remembrance
And a pretty name it's got.
Would you know it if I told you?
'Tis the sweet "Forget-me-not."
With much love, N.C. Clement
December 10, 1883

"Character into which right principles are implanted at its first forming,
is impressed indelibly.
Like the vase in which roses have once been distilled.
You may break, you may shatter the vase if you will
But the scent of the roses will hang round it still."
(Thomas Moore)
To Minnie from Florence C. Bidlake
Warren, Ohio, October 29, 1885

~ 43~

Minnie's 17year-old brother, much like many youths of every generation, wishes his memory to
last forever.

Dec 16, 1883
On this leaf, in memory prest,
May my name forever rest.
Your Brother, Henry C. Dietz
Warren, Ohio

Brother Adolphus Dietz, lovingly known as Jack, was 27 when his turn came to be asked for his
autograph.
January 18,1885

May thy life be a happy one
May sorrow and care
Never sadden thy heart,
Nor find a place there.
Your Brother, Adolphus Heinrich

Again, I find a once-only signature of a family member, Charlotte “Lottie” Baehr. Cousin
Lottie is the sister of my grandfather, George F. Baehr. She was 9 years old when she signed
Cousin Minnie's autograph book.

Dear Minnie
May the Angels twine for thee
A wreath of immortality.
Your Cousin, Lottie
June 8, 1884

~ 44~

Besides the signatures of Minnie’s mother, Anna Katherine Baehr Dietz, other treasures include
the entries by Minnie’s cousin, Anna Baehr.

Dear Little Minnie.
When things don't go to suit you,
And the world seems upside down,
Don't waste your time in fretting,
but drive away the frown.
Yours affectionately, Anna Baehr
Warren June 8, 1884

Minnie Dietz loved her family. Other treasures that she guarded so carefully and entrusted to my
mother were family communications including the telegrams that brought the sad news of the deaths
of her brothers. The following is a family letter dated June 19, 1890, Warren, Ohio. It is from her
father, August, to her brother, August Dietz Jr.

Mein Lieber August!
Your letter of the 13th on hand. Sorrow to hear that you had the headake…Something new. Will's

wife got a boy on Tuesday June 10. Will feels quite happy over it we had two letters from him since.
Anna says commencement went of(f) very nice and everybody was satisfied. Hen was up from
Youngstown over Sunday. Love from all of us and especially from Dad.
PS Last night as we were closing, Crover was missing so the girls went hunting for him but all in
vain he was not at Drennens nor the Depot he was here at supper time. This morning when Mr.
Drennen went to his shop he found he had him locked into the warehouse there was great rejoicing.
Mr. Louis Rippers youngest child, a girl, six years old died yesterday afternoon and will be buried to
morrow Friday. Signed: A.N.D. (August Nicolas Dietz)

~ 45~