by Ruby (Bergfeld) Menscher RETURN to Family Page
Moritz Alexander Bergfeld (Sep 9, 1809 - Apr 28, 1876) according to his obituary was born in the old duchy or state of Oldenburg. On his marriage certificate to his second wife there is something written about Burgsteinfurt (in Westplalen). It does not say "geboren" born. It might say "taufen" or baptized. Burgsteinfurt may have been the original family home as that is where his brother lived and the cousins have a picture of a house "described as a Bergfeld home in Germany". I now have a copy and negative of this house which bore the name Georg Roth, photog., Burgsteinfurt. I do not know if Grandfather Louis lived there. It was probably the home of his uncle or his grandfather.
Moritz Alexander Bergfeld first wife was Helena Christina Segebade (Nov 8, 1808 - Feb 12 1841).
Child of the first marriage:
1. Gottfried Ludwig Diedrich Bergfeld (Jul 10, 1840 - Feb 25, 1841)
Moritz Alexander Bergfeld second wife was Wilhelmina Michoff (or Micof). I am uncertain of the spelling. Her death followed the birth of her son, so she must have died on or around Dec. 12, 1847 in Wildeshausen in Oldenburg Germany, now Wildeshausen in Lower Sazony (Niedersachen). At present we do not know the date of her birth or her parents' names. She was from a wealthy cultured family, and had beautiful Jewels. According to our dads' cousin, Elsie Bergfeld Niehaus, her dying request was that Louis received the education to be a pastor and Moritz Jr. to be a doctor. Over here on what was then the Missouri frontier when there were afflicted children of the third marriage, this never happened.
Children of the second marriage:
1. Louis Gottfried Bergfeld Aug 1, 1842 probably in Wildeshausen, Germany. Died at his home near Weldon Spring, Mo. June 19, 1919. Was married to Bertha Fey (Feb 1, 1846-Mar 7, 1919)
Their children were:1. Julius Moritz Bergfeld (Aug 22, 1870- Jan 1927)
2. William Bergfeld (Mar 28, 1872 - Apr 25, 1958)
3. Christian "C.J." Bergfeld (May 8 1875 - 1954)
4. Amelia Bergfeld Kolb (Aug 22, 1879 - Jun 14, 1940)
5. Henry Theodore Bergfeld my dad (Jul 7, 1882 - Mar 2, 1953)2. Moritz Alexander Bergfeld Jr. born in Wildeshausen in Oldenburg Dec 12, 1847. Died in Moscow Mills, Mo. Sep 30, 1910. Was married in 1884 to Mrs. Elisabeth Jahrand Ernst. She was a distant cousin, also related to the Bergfelds. Both buried in old Evang. Cem. in Troy, MO.
Elisabeth's two children by an earlier marriage were Fred Ernst and Mollie Ernst Brummel
1. Edith Bergfeld Luckett (1886-1973)
2. Elsie Bergfeld Niehaus (Nov 13, 1891-1967?)death date not on tombstone
Children of Moritz Alexander Bergfeld Sr. and his third wife who was his niece Catharine Wilhelmina Bergfeld born in Burgsteinfurt in Westphalia (Mar 7, 1821-Dec 11, 1912). She was the daughter of his brother George Charles and his wife Catharine Buddemeier Bergfeld. She is usually just called Wilhelmina. They were married after coming to Augusta area in Missouri.
1. George Louis Bergfeld, born Feb 13 1855 on farm near Augusta, Mo. Died in Moscow Mills, Mo. Aug 7 1931. Married first to Anna Schaeffer 1879. She died 1880. On June 5, 1883 married Mary Jahrand, sister to wife of Moritz Jr. They were from Quincy, Illinois.
Their children were:1. Arthur Bergfeld
2. Charles Bergfeld
3. Julius Bergfeld (died in childhood of sudden illness)
4. Amanda Bergfeld (died in childhood of sudden illness)
5. Freda Bergfeld Bastean (born in 1896 -) Still living in Moscow Mills, Mo. with her daughter, Loretta Thornhill and family. All of Geo. Bergfeld family buried at Moscow Mills.
2. Mina or Minnie born blind (Jul 10, 1857 - Nov 16, 1880
3. Charlotte (Aug 9, 1860) Birth but not death date given in old family Bible. Died as small child. Probably buried in Augusta City Cemetery.
4. Lena born deaf (Jun 1, 1863 - Mar 28, 1940) Was educated at deaf school. Buried at Moscow Mills.
5. Emma Bergfeld Weimann. (Jul 9 1866 - Oct 6, 1897) Was married to Henry G. Weimann. Buried Evang Cemetery, Troy, Mo.
Their children were:Several died as infants
1. Will
2. Ed
3. Bertha (1887-1958)
6. Henry Conrad John Bergfeld (Apr 5, 1872 - Mar 8, 1945) His widow, Louisa A. Ludwig (Born 1888) is still living.
Their children were:
1. Edwin Bergfeld (Feb 9, 1910 - Apr 13, 1977)
2. Fred Bergfeld of Troy, Missouri Fred & Ester were twins
3. Ester Bergfeld of Hugoton, Kansas. (She is Mrs. Clay Horner)
Before proceeding further, I want to say that much of the data in this paper was obtained from the above children of Henry C. Bergfeld. They had old obituaries saved by Aunt Lena, some church certificates, and pictures. Mrs. Ruby June Mette, a daughter of the late Edwin Bergfeld of Troy Missouri had researched the family history at the same time that I had been also searching. Quite by accident we are both named Ruby. We have shared information now and find that we both know more than we previously did.
Much of my information was obtained from my dad, Henry Theodore Bergfeld and my aunt Amelia Bergfeld Kolb.
They told me that Moritz and family came to America, because they did not like the enforced conscription into the Prussian army, and also because they had heard of the opportunities in the new land. They came when my grandfather Louis was 8 years old and his brother Moritz Jr. was 3. This would mean that they came in 1850. I have forgotten how long it took them to cross the ocean, but I was told this. They landed at New Orleans where the Negroes at the wharf gave them the first sweet potatoes that they had ever eaten, and they really enjoyed them. Then they came by boat to St. Louis. At first they intended to settle there on Market Street in South St. Louis. He and more of the Bergfelds were goldsmiths and made jewelry. Instead they decided to settle on a remote farm in the Augusta area on a tributary of Femme Osage Creek. It is now in from Stub Road which leads off Hwy. F, connecting New Melle and Defiance. I visited this place and took pictures in the early 30s along with my dad, Uncle Christ Bergfeld and my mother, and again recently with some of the cousins.
Moritz could not make the trip to this country without a housekeeper, and his niece Wilhelmina Bergfeld wanted to come to this country too. Her parents were reluctant to have her go so far. She was 20 years old I think. As related previously, they later married after they lived at Augusta area. All six of the children of this third marriage were born on this farm which faced a rocky bluff. Sometime after 1872 and before 1876 they moved to a farm near Moscow Mills Mo. in Lincoln County. There Moritz Sr. died of cancer of the stomach in 1876. He is buried at the Evangelical Cemetery, sometimes know as Anderson Hill Cemetery along Hwy. 61 near Moscow Mills. His third wife Wilhelmina remarried to Alexander Bergfeld (1829-1906) two years later.
For those doing further research note that this Wilhelmina was married twice, but her name was always Bergfeld. Her second husband was also a cousin, but not as closely related as her first husband. Both her husbands had Alex in their name. Although my great-grandfather's name was really Moritz Alexander, I was once told that he was called Alex. It was a custom among the old Germans to name their children with their sponsors or Godparents names first. Then many of them were called by their second or third names. Let it further be noted that the last two of the wives of Moritz A. Sr. had Wilhelmina in their name.
In addition to the Wilhelmina who became his stepmother, Louis had three girl cousins who came to St. Charles County, Missouri. One of these was Mrs. J. Anna Bergfeld Ruebling who lived at Weldon Spring. She was very close to Grandfather Louis, and they talked together about their relatives and Germany. It was through her that Grandfather came to Weldon Sprint to work, and met and married my grandmother, Bertha Fey Bergfeld. The dates on J. Anna Ruebling are April 22, 1835 - March 15, 1919. (This was just 8 days after the death of grandmother Bertha.)
Mrs. Ruebling's daughter the late Mrs. Lena Schemmer told me that her mother and all of her sisters had "princessin" for their sponsors in baptism, as their father the brother of Moritz Sr., was in some way in the service of a duke(?) or some noble. She also said that her mother's parents were dead before J. Anna came to his country, and Anna stayed with her uncle and aunt in the city of Bremen where he also was a goldsmith. Anna's granddaughter the late Mrs. Annetta Pitman also told me that in Bremen Anna had not even so much work to do "as wash a handkerchief" She wore pretty dresses and went to garden parties. She emigrated to America to marry her fiancé who had preceded her here. When she arrived, she found her fiancé had recently died. She then stayed with one of her sisters. She later married Michael Ruebeling.
The other two of these sisters were Charlotte Bergfeld, first married to Peter Vogler, and later after his death to Henry Neddemeier. The other sister was Minna Holt (Mar 17, 1844 - Sep 25, 1929) wife of Conrad Holt. I met the latter lady in her old age and know some of the descendants of each of them.
Since beginning this paper, I am indebted to Harold Bergfeld for searching with me in the microfilm records of the National Archives stored in the St. Louis Public Library. There we found the record of the ship Moritz Bergfeld and his two little sons and his niece took to America. They sailed from the port of Bremen on Oct 31, 1849 on what appears to be Russian but my be Prussian ship "JULIUS", commanded by Capt. J. Blocketer, this ship arrived at the port of New Orleans, La. on March 1, 1850. The place from which they came is listed as Wildeshausen for all of the four above. Wilhelmine's age is listed erroneously as 29 instead of 19. Moritz' Sr. occupation is listed as a goldsmith as we expected. To our surprise listed among the passengers on the "Julius" just before Moritz and his family were the following Bergfeld's: Anna Bergfeld age 42, from Burgsteinfurt, occupation farmer; Amalie, age 18, Anna age 16, Alexandrine, age 13, Carl age 5, Bertha age 3. All of these from the same place as their mother. Apparently these were relatives possibly a sister-in-law or cousin-in-law of Moritz. Possibly her husband had preceded her to the U.S.
My grandfather Louis Bergfeld was confirmed in the Ebenezer Evang. Church in Augusta, Mo. April 14, 1858. He was a soldier in the Civil War, and according to his pension papers he was a "corporal in the Co. F, 1st Regiment, provisional Enrolled Missouri Militia" referred to as home guards. Most of his service was guarding the railroad bridge over the Peruque Creek, near where Gilmore, Mo. now is. I have a Civil War pistol and powder horn that were Grandfather's.
After being employed at Weldon Spring for a few years, Louis married Bertha Fey (Feb 1, 1846 - Mar 7, 1919). They were married by the Rev Jacob Hotz, the first pastor of the church at Weldon Spring Nov 18, 1869. This was before the church was built.
According to the old deeds they recorded the purchase of 79.08 acres of John D. CoAlters' Old Dardenne Tract Feb 16, 1870. There they built their first home. There were no buildings there when they got it. They lived in their house the first year without a wood floor in the kitchen. Later Grandfather purchased 79.08 acres from the Mades Farm and still later more land from Conrad Griesenauer, so that he eventually owned 320 acres of land.
I have pictures of the "old" house which was torn down in 1904 when my grandparents built the large house which was the home of my childhood and still stands substantially, with its original metal roof I think.
Although Louis had wanted to be a professor if he could have had an education, he evidently had prospered in his farming. He could read and write English, but preferred reading German. He read his Bible every day, but did not attend church very regularly in his older days. He told my mother and Dad that they should be more active in the church.
Among the books Grandfather read were some that belonged to his father-in-law, Christian Fey. These included books on history, religion, and science and the poetry of Goethe. and Schiller. He read the paper THE WESTLICHE POST or WESTERN POST, a German paper published in the St. Louis, and the church paper DER FRIEDENSBOTE or Peace Messenger. The former gave framed pictures with subscriptions. One of these depicted the landing of Columbus, and one had a a picture of Martin Luther, surrounded by small pictures of the major events in his life. I would have kept this picture, but in the 1940's the cord holding the picture broke, and the frame, glass and picture were ruined. It had always been hanging on the wall of Grandfather's room. A few years later I found in the back of a wardrobe a picture of the German Royal family (Kaiser Wilhelm 2nd). I was told this had also hung on the wall of Grandfather's room until the beginning of World War I. Then along with other patriotic Americans he bought Liberty Bonds. I'm sure, however, he must have been glad that none of his sons or his only grandson, who was too young, had to fight against the fatherland.
Louis smoked a corn cob pipe, talked to himself, and wore his hair neatly, but longer that most men at that time. Although he never played any musical instrument as did each of his ? to some extent and also his three brothers; he however, often sang German songs and hymns as he hauled in wood for the furnace or worked in the garden.
Grandmother Bergfeld also sang to the children when they were small. She had not gotten to attend school, because of the far distance. Her brothers rode horses to Independent School. She liked flowers, both house plants and outdoor flowers. Also she pieced quilts and liked pretty dishes.
In 1919, Grandmother Bertha went to the home of her sons, Julius and Christ in St. Louis to have her eyes examined, as she had begun seeing the design on the rug double. While there she became ill with the severe influenza of that period, her kidneys failed, and she developed pneumonia. These complications were too much and she died in St. Louis on March 7, 1919, and was brought back to her home and to Weldon Spring in a glass covered casket. Most of what I have been telling was told to me; however, I do remember when she told me "Good-bye". She was wearing a black velvet cap, and she kissed me and said, "Be a good girl until I get back".
Grandfather was very lonely after that. On a Sunday evening in June, he took a stroke while relaxing on the front porch. He was completely paralyzed and could not speak plainly. The last words they understood that he said were "Die engel Sol Kommin" The angels should come). Both are buried at Emmanuel Evangelical Cemetery at Weldon Spring. The date of Grandfather's death was June 19, 1919
Elsie Bergfeld Niehaus told me that the amount of money sent over from the estate of her father's and Grandpa's mother (Michoff) was $40,000. In the 1850's this was a large sum. This money evidently was not kept separately in any sort of trust fund, and Louis and Moritz Jr. never got any of it. Elsie said the stepmother influenced the father in his failing health to will everything to her. The boys were willed $5 each. Of course she was left with a four year old, a seven year old, a deaf child, a blind child and a normal twenty-two year old. Also at the time of Louis marriage, she told his father that Louis didn't want the two heifers and a feather bed that had been promised to him, so that when Louis came for them, the heifers had been sold.
When Grandfather (Louis) was asked if other Bergfelds that he didn't know could be related to us, he would say that could be only if his father's brother John or his descendants had come to this country later, and they didn't know of it.
Also I previously neglected to say that the Bergfelds were all high German (hoch Deutch)-speaking people. Many of the other immigrants that came from Germany at that time spoke a colloquial unwritten language known as low German or Platt Deutch.