Johann Gansemer

1810s–1840s

Born 17 May 1816 in Taben, in Prussia's Rhine Province, to Matthias Gansemer and Anna Maria Dühr. A day laborer and linen weaver. Married Katharina Dühr in Taben on 28 January 1847.

1850s

Lost four young children in Taben between 1848 and 1857. Daughter Catharina was born in 1858.

1860s

Daughters Elizabeth (1860) and Margaretha (1861) were born. Emigrated in November 1862 with 2,000 thaler, reaching New York on the storm-battered Admiral. Bought an 83-acre farm in Peru Township, Dubuque County, Iowa, in 1863; son John was born in 1864.

1870s

Enlarged the farm to about 109 acres in 1870–71. Made his will in January 1874 and died on the farm on 28 April 1874.

A Linen Weaver of Taben

Johann Gansemer was born on May 17, 1816, in Taben, in the Taben-Rodt district of Prussia's Rhine Province, the son of Matthias Gansemer and Anna Maria Dühr. Several of his brothers and sisters died young; his brother Matthias and sister Magdalena grew up with him. Johann worked as a day laborer on other people's farms and as a linen weaver. On January 28, 1847, in Taben, he married Katharina Dühr.

Their first years brought terrible losses. Their son Johann, born in February 1848, lived three days; Matthias died in 1853 at three; and in 1857 they lost both Peter, at five, and their baby daughter Catharina. Four more children followed: a second Catharina in 1858 (Meghan's 2x-great-grandmother), Elizabeth in 1860, and Margaretha in 1861.

To Iowa

In November 1862 the Gansemers were recorded as leaving for North America. Johann told the authorities that he would go on working as a day laborer, "though he is really a linen weaver," and later take up farming, and he was noted as having the considerable sum of 2,000 thaler. The family took the train from Mettlach to Le Havre and sailed on the Admiral, which lost rigging, sails, and part of its prow in fierce weather and took forty-six days to reach New York on December 29, 1862.

On January 27, 1863, Johann bought 83 acres in Peru Township, Dubuque County, Iowa, for $800, and there his last child, John, was born in 1864. In 1866 he declared his intention to become a citizen. His brother Matthias also came to Sherrill, and in 1869 Johann stood godfather to his nephew John. In 1870 he paid $925 for another twenty-six acres, with a right-of-way across the neighbors' farms, and in 1871 he bought a small plot with a well, bringing the farm to about 109 acres.

A Short Fight

On January 27, 1874, Johann made his will, leaving the farm with its land, buildings, and livestock to Katharina for her lifetime and afterward to their children, Catharina, Elizabeth, Margaretha, and John. He died on the farm in Peru Township on April 28, 1874, at fifty-seven, and was buried at Saints Peter and Paul Cemetery in Sherrill. His gravestone reads, "Ein kurzer Kampf. Ein ewiger Sieg": "A short fight. An eternal victory." That September his daughter Catharina married his former farmhand, Michael Leineweber, and a month before, his son John had died at ten.