Family Tree Maker's Genealogy Site: Genealogy Report: Descendants of Carl William Baumhoefener

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Descendants of Carl William Baumhoefener

Generation No. 1

      1. Carl William¹ Baumhoefener (Frederick^A) was born Dec 17, 1846 in Hanover, Germany, and died Mar 30, 1915 in Homestead, IA. He married Louisa Niemann 1869 in East St. Louis, MO. She was born Feb 27, 1850 in Litchfield, IL, and died 1927 in Cedar Rapids, IA.

Notes for Carl William Baumhoefener:
BIOGRAPHY OF PASTOR C.W. BAUMHOEFENER
      Journal-Tribune Williamsburg, Iowa

Pastor C.W. Baumhoefener, son of Frederick Baumhoefener and Sophie nee Meyer, was born December 17, 1846, at Glissen, Hanover, Germany. He was baptized by Rev. Pock, a member of the Evangelical Lutheran Church and was given the name William Carl Frederick. From his sixth year on he attended the school of Teacher Horman, and at the age of twelve years he moved with his parents to Minden, Westphalia, where he attended the city school. Following his confirmation he clerked in a store and after four years he went to a wholesale house in Warburg, Hessen. In 1866, when the war clouds were hovering over Prussia and Austria, he with two cousins, emigrated to America and located in St. Louis, Missouri. It was here that the impressions made by the sermons of Rev. Buenger and Prof. Brauer urged the young man to enter the ministry. We next find him as a student at Concordia Seminary, St. Louis from which he graduated with honors in 1868. His first call was to East St. Louis, Illinois, and he was ordained and installed July 5, 1868. Here he was united in holy wedlock to Miss Louise Niemann of Litchfield, Illinois, in 1869.
After a comparatively short charge of three years in East St. Louis, the young minister accepted a call to Shell Creek and Pebble Creek, Nebraska. (between Columbus & Scribner) The Rev. A.W. Grese, the first minister in that area, installed him in both places on Nov. 22. 1871. In those early years Nebraska was considered the wild west. The state was sparsely settled by white people. Many Indians, hostile and friendly, moved up and down the prairies and on their travels some of them would stop at the parsonage begging for food and clothing. But even when on their warpath they never harmed the pastor and his family. Their parsonage, which they occupied the first years, was a sod-house named by the pastor "Nebraska Marble."
Although Pastor Baumhoefener served a small congregation his main purpose was mission work among the settlers in that part of Nebraska. As a result the Pastor had to be away from home for weeks at a time. During the winter he frequently was caught in severe snowstorms and in danger of his life. The only thing that saved him and his ponies from freezing to death were his buffalo robes and blankets which he always carried with him in winter. His family at the parsonage also had to suffer during the severe blizzards and at times were without food and fuel. In order not to lose their direction during the severe snowstorms, they had to string a line or rope from the house to the horse and chicken barn. But in spite of all those hardships and dangers they continued to do the Lord's work there for almost nine years. One of their daughters lies buried in the cemetery at Pebble Creek.
In the fall of 1880 Pastor Baumhoefener accepted a call to St. John's Congregation three miles south of Homestead, Iowa. He was in the prime of life when he came to Homestead. Here he spent the remaining 35 years of his life as pastor of the congregation. It was a small congregation but he threw his great energy into his work. He encouraged his members to remain in the locality and together with them gathered members from every direction. The result was that the congregation extended its boundaries so that in the course of years, four daughter congregations were organized to meet the spiritual demands of the community: Immanuel in York Township in 1886, St. Paul in Williamsburg in 1904 and Zion in Oxford. All except Zion have flourishing Christian Day Schools and each has more members than the mother church.
The convention of the Iowa District was held twice in the midst of St. John's Congregation, in 1883 and 1895. The menu of the noon meal at the 1895 convention consisted of the following: potatoes, meat, sausage, ham, bread, butter cheese, honey, coffee, with cream, sugar, milk and crackers. Over 125 men were served this meal for six days at the total expense of $48.42.
The Rev. Baumhoefener took the liveliest interst in the welfare of all the younger congregations and in the affairs of his own congregation he brought it to a foremost place. It was affiliated in 1884 with the Synod of Missouri, Ohio, and other states now the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. It was through his influence that the Southeastern Iowa Conference was established. For thirty years he was president of the "Unterstuentzung Kommission" (Board of Support) in the Iowa District and for several years Director of the Iowa "Kinderfreund Gessellshaft" (Home Finding Society).
The Lord had permitted Rev. Baumhoefener to see many fruits of his labor in Iowa County. This faithful servant of the Lord had labored here for 35 years and had lived to see the number of pastors increase from two to seven in the county, three of them serving congregations which were directly or indirectly founded by him and his dear St. John's Congregation. The pastor had been sent to be a blessing unto many. And now the Lord's hour had come to muster this faithful and tried soldier of Christ out, to take him out of the Church Militant into the Church Triumphant. On March 30, 1915, in the 69th year of his life, the soul of Pastor Baumhoefener was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom. On the previous Sunday, Palm Sunday, he had confirmed his catechumens although his bodily weakness was so great that he had to remain seated during the entire service. On the next Tuesday morning he fell asleep in Jesus, and on Good Friday his mortal remains were laid to rest in the cemetery of St. John's Congregation. Thus ended the career and pastorate of a man who will ever standout in the history of the church and whose kind and faithful service and acts will be remembered by all who have known him.
Rev. and Mrs. Baumhoefnener were blessed with ten children:
      Miss Sophie            Deceased
      William                  Deceased
      Miss Anna            Harlan, Iowa
      August                  Cedar Rapids, Iowa
      Mrs. Clara Marwede      Denison, Iowa
      Mrs. Laura Maas            Lowden, Iowa
      Miss Louise            Deceased
      Mrs. Minnie Sandersfeld      Welcome, Minnesota
      Otto                  Welcome, Minnesota
      Adolph                  Deceased
The Rev. Baumhoefener was a familiar figure in Iowa and adjoing counties; his long pastorate at St. John's gave him a wide acquaintance and wherever he was known he was well remembered. He was simple in his tastes and honest in his opinions and true to his convictions. As a pastor he was all that fidelity and care could furnish; he lived with and for his people and in all he took the kindliest interest. Men and women now heads of families, were baptized when infants by the good pastor; he officiated at their marriage, and in all their joy and sorrows he was their counselor and friend. This is the sorrow that marks his passing, and it will be many years before the name and work of the departed churchman will pass from the minds of the members of St. John's congregation.

Notes by Herb Baumhoefner
The Pebble Creek congregation was Trinity Lutheran and is located a few miles northwest of Scribner or south of Snyder. It is closed and is now an excellent museum. Marlene & I worked for four months during the summer of 1998 at St. Paul, north of Grand Island, on a Laborers for Christ building project and discovered more information. In 1874, Rev. C.W. started Zion congregation at Worms, which is east of St. Paul and about 75 miles from his home. It is a large active congegation of 400 and celebrated its 125th Anniversary in 1999.

We found the following article written by Rev. C.W. in a book by Rev. Ted Janzow about the early history of the work in Nebraska.
"I am the westernmost of our missionaries in Nebraska and my field of labor reaches out to Colorado. In the next town of about 300 or 400 houses and settled mostly with German-speaking people, I don't have a single member. The reason for this is that religious tramps, calling themselves Lutheran pastors, have brought the church and the ministry into such ill repute that it will take a long time to restore the honor of both."
"My people are scattered over an area of about 25 to 30 miles so that I can travel some 15 miles in any direction from my dwelling to visit my 25 families and a few unmarried men who have settled in this neighborhood during the last three years. They are all poor and because of the last grasshopper plague have become still poorer. Some of them are actually in need of support if they are not to starve. Under such conditioins, I cannot expect to get any salary from them this year. And since they could not pay the promised board money, nor were able to take me into their small homes, I made them the following proposition: If they would build us a Nebraska palace out of Nebraska marble (that is, sod and earth), we would live in it until the Lord would bless them with better times, crops, and prices."
"No sooner said than done. And so we live in our sod hut and the few members who can do it, bring us the necessary things of the little they have to support and sustain us. And God by His grace has granted me up til now a satisfied spirit, so that I am happy as though we lived in the finest palace and ate at a table spread with the finest food."
"We are grateful that my congregation and I have received support from St. Louis out of the treasury that helps especially such people that have been visited by the devastating grasshoppers, so that for the time being we can at least sustain our life."

His brother, Rev. August, was also a pastor in Nebraska at the same time. He started the large congregation in Grand Island. The Pioneer Museum at Minden has the original church building from the congregation that he helped organize. The placque at the entrance tells about its beginning. That congregation, St. Paul Lutheran, began in 1878 in Minden.

More About Carl William Baumhoefener:
Ethnicity/Relig.: Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod
Event 1: 1846, Baptized at Hanover, Germany
Event 2: 1866, Emmigrated to US at St. Louis, MO
Event 3: 1868, Graduated from Condordia Seminary, St. Louis, MO
Event 4: Nov 22, 1871, Installed as Missionary near Scribner, NE
Event 5: Sep 1880, Installed St. John's Lutheran, Homestead, IA
Occupation: Bet. 1868 - 1915, Minister, Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod
Residence: Bet. 1880 - 1910, St. John's Lutheran, North of Homestead, IA

Children of Carl Baumhoefener and Louisa Niemann are:

Sophie² Baumhoefener, born Dec 25, 1869 in East St. Louis, IL; died Mar 30, 1879 in Scribner, NE.

More About Sophie Baumhoefener:
Burial: Trinity Luth, Scribner, NE

	3	ii.	Anna Baumhoefener, born May 4, 1872 in East St. Louis, IL; died Nov 5, 1963 in Harlan, IA.
	4	iii.	William Baumhoefener, born 1874 in Pebble Creek, NB; died 1901 in North Dakota.
+	5	iv.	August Julius Baumhoefener, born Sep 26, 1876 in Pebble Creek, NB; died Apr 18, 1966 in Vinton, IA.
	6	v.	Clara Baumhoefener, born 1880 in Homestead, IA; died 1966 in Denison, IA. She married August Marwede; died Dec 11, 1970 in Denison, IA.
+	7	vi.	Laura Baumhoefener, born 1881 in Homestead, IA; died in Lowden, IA.
	8	vii.	Louise Baumhoefener, born 1883 in Homestead, IA; died 1902 in Fargo, ND.
+	9	viii.	Minnie Baumhoefener, born Feb 1886 in Homestead, IA; died in Welcome, MN.
+	10	ix.	Otto Fredrick Baumhoefner, born Jul 30, 1888 in Homestead, IA; died Apr 24, 1966 in Rochester, MN.
	11	x.	Adolph Baumhoefener, born 1890 in Homestead, IA; died 1891 in Homestead, IA.

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