20. WILLIAM H. FUST (1875-1952)

OBITUARY

Lidgerwood Monitor, Thursday, August 21, 1952, page 1

SERVICES HELD FOR WILLIAM FUST AT HOLY CROSS MONDAY

Funeral services were held Monday afternoon at Holy Cross Lutheran Church for William Fust, long-time resident of this community who passed away at his home on August 14, 1952.  The Rev. L. K. Meyer officiated, and interment was at Holy Cross Cemetery.  Pallbearers were Lester Silverthorn, Virgil Silverthorn, William Clark, Kenneth Clark, Robert Fust, and Luther Sheets.

The son of Marie and Fred Fust, he was born in Swan (Schwaan), Mecklenburg, Germany, on September 5, 1875, and came to the United States with his parents in 1882.  First they settled near Dysart, Iowa, then moved 11 years later to Hardwick, Minnesota, where they had a farm.

In November 1900 William Fust was united in marriage to Bertha Carl.  They lived on a farm in the Hardwick community for 9 years, then moved to Moscow, Idaho, and finally in 1915, to Kingston Township in Sargent County, N. D.

Since they retired in 1943 to Lidgerwood, Mr. and Mrs. Fust have traveled extensively during the winter months, having gone at different times to Canada, California, and the southern states.  When at home in Lidgerwood, their children and grandchildren took every opportunity to visit with them.

Besides Mrs. Fust, there are eight children, three daughters:  Marie (Mrs. Harry Silverthorn), Rosa (Mrs. Roy Clark), and Huldah (Mrs. William Tesch); and five sons:  Jacob, Alfred, Raymond, Norman, and Gilbert; 40 grandchildren, and 5 great-grandchildren.

  

19.  MARIA BUNGER FUST (1851-1919)

OBITUARY

Rock County Herald, Hardwick News Section, Fri., Feb. 21, 1919

  Mrs. Fred Fust died Tuesday evening at two o'clock at her home, death being due to dropsy and Bright's disease.  Funeral services will be held today (Friday) at 12 o'clock from the German Church and interment will be made at Maplewood Cemetery.   Mrs. Fust was 67 years old at the time of her death.  Mr. and Mrs. Fust were married in Germany and came to this country in 1882.  They lived in Iowa until 26 years ago, when they came to Minnesota.

  Mrs. Fust is survived by her husband and four children, Will Fust, of Cayuga, N. D., Mrs. John Piepgras and Mrs. John Hoeck, who live west of Hardwick, and Miss Anna who lives at home.  The sympathy of the entire community is extended to the bereaved ones.

MAPLEWOOD CEMETERY

MARY FUST was buried in the Fust family plot marked by a large classic monument labeled with an "F" and "Fust"in the 2nd Division, South Section of beautiful Maplewood Cemetery in Luverne, Minnesota.  Her flat ground marker reads "Mother, Mary Fust, Aug. 13, 1851 -- Feb. 18, 1919". Other family members buried there are her husband, Fritz Fust, Father, Aug. 31, 1848 -- Jun 17, 1927); and daughters Ella Fust (Jun 4, 1895 -- Mar 26, 1896); and Erna Fust (Jan 15, 1888 -- Feb 25, 1960).

ROCK COUNTY, MN DEATH CERTIFICATE

FUST, MARY  - Female, White, Married.  Born Aug. 13, 1851 in Germany to parents John Bunger and (no first name given) Schof (sic Schoof).  Died Feb. 18, 1919 at age 67 years, 6 months, 5 days from Interstitial Nephritis and Myocarditis; Housewife.  Undertaker R. D. Smith; Dr. H. L. Sherman of Hardwick Village.  Filed 2-27-19 by Registrar J. B. Iverson of Hardwick.

     

18.  FRED FUST (1848 - 1927)

OBITUARY

Rock County Star -- June 21, 1927

FUNERAL SERVICES HELD for FRED FUST MONDAY

FRED FUST, FORMER RESIDENT OF ROCK COUNTY, 

PASSED AWAY IN PIPESTONE FRIDAY

SERVICES MONDAY

Funeral services for Fred Fust, who for a number of years was a resident of Rock County, were held from the J. D. Piepgras home at two o'clock Monday afternoon and from St. John's Evangelical Lutheran Church at 2:30 with Rev. Martin Hauser of that church in charge.  The pall bearers were John Stamman, Henry Oehlerts, Reinhard Bruning, William Schaeffer, Fred Matthiesen, Sr., and William Stelling.  Burial was made in Maplewood Cemetery.

Fred Fust was born in Mecklenburg, Germany on August 31, 1848.  He grew to manhood at home in that country, and on Nov. 13, 1874 he was united in marriage to Miss Marie Bunger, also of Mecklenburg, Germany.  Eight years later, Mr. Fust came with his family to America, settling on a farm near Dysart, Iowa.  Six children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Fust, four of whom survive.  They are William Fust of Cayuga, N. D.; Miss Anna Fust, of Cayuga, N. D.; Mrs. Emma Hoeck of Springwater Township; and Mrs. J. D. Piepgras, of Luverne.  Two daughters died in early childhood.  After Mr. and Mrs. Fust had lived on the farm near Dysart, Iowa for eleven years, they came with their children to Rock County, resuming farming operations in this vicinity.

Mr. and Mrs. Fust made their home at Hardwick for a number of years.  Eight years ago, Mrs. Fust passed away, and since that time Mr. Fust had retired from all farming activities.

During the last eighteen months he made his home with his son and daughter, William Fust and Miss Anna Fust, at Cayuga, N.D.  A short time ago, however, he began to grow more feeble, due largely to his advanced age, and he came to Pipestone to live at the home of his cousin, Mrs. Hans Hummiller.  During the past three weeks he suffered much from a heart complaint, and on Friday of last week, June 17, he suffered a stroke which resulted in his death at about four o'clock in the morning.  During his many years of residence in Rock County, Mr. Fust made many friends who held him in the highest esteem.  His bereaved relatives have the sympathy of the community. 

Among the out of town relatives who attended the funeral were a cousin, Julius Hummiller, and daughters Erma and Eleanor, of Kingsley, this state; Mrs. Hans Hummiller, and George, Lambert, and Miss Elsie Hummiller, of Pipestone.

PIPESTONE COUNTY, MINNESOTA DEATH RECORD

MINNESOTA DEATHS AND BURIALS, 1835-1900

 FRITZ FUST 

Fritz Fust -- Death 17 Jun 1927; Pipestone, Pipestone County, Minnesota; Male; Age 78; Birth Year - 1849 (Estimated); Father's Name - _______ Fust; Spouse's Name - Mary Bunger; Spouse's Gender - Female; Record # 486085; Certificate # 011272; Certificate Year - 1927; File Name - 011272; Affiliate Batch Identifier - NN278DO    

MAPLEWOOD CEMETERY

(LARGE CLASSIC MONUMENT FOR THE FUSTS:)

"F"

FUST 

(INDIVIDUAL  FLAT GROUND MARKER:)

FATHER

FRITZ FUST

AUG. 31, 1848

JUNE 17, 1927

Buried in the Fust plot are Fritz Fust, 31 Aug 1848; 

Mary Fust, 13 Aug 1851 - 18 Feb 1919; 

Ella Fust, 4 Jun 1895 - 26 Mar 1896;

and Erna Fust, 15 Jan 1888 - 25 Feb 1960.

The Fust graves are located in the 2nd Division, South Section of Maplewood Cemetery.      

 You can view the gravestones for our ancestors on the website Find A Grave. (www.findagrave.com)  

17.  JACOB STAMM CARL (1839-1910)

OBITUARY

Obituary in a Pipestone, MN Newspaper the week of Jan. 8-14, 1911

Mr. and Mrs. C. J. Johannsen, Jr., of this county, were called to Luverne last week to attend the funeral of Mrs. Johannsen's father, the late Jacob S.Carl.  The latter was visiting with a daughter at Moscow, Idaho, when he passed away suddenly a week ago last Tuesday.  The remains were  brought back to Luverne for burial, the deceased having resided for some years in Rock County.  The funeral services were held last Wednesday afternoon at the home of Mrs. Thielman, a daughter of the deceased.

Mr. Carl was born in Germany and was nearly seventy-two years of age at the time of his death, leaving two sons and five daughters to mourn his departure from this life.

The remains of Jacob Stamm Carl, a highly esteemed resident of Rock County who died suddenly on Tuesday last week at the home of his daughter, Mrs. Wm. Fust, at Moscow, Idaho, arrived at Luverne Monday and were taken to the home of the deceased daughter, Mrs. Herman Thielman, in Mound Township.  The funeral services, conducted by Rev. Peithmann, were held from the Thielman home at 1 o'clock Wednesday afternoon and the remains were brought to Luverne and placed in the vault at Maplewood.  The deceased two sons, Geo. and Adolph Carl; his three son-in-laws, Henry and Herman Thielman and Claus Johannsen, and his grandson, Herman Thielman, Jr., acted at pall bearers.

Mr. Carl was born in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany on Feb. 11, 1839, and at the age of twenty-seven was united in marriage to Miss Anna Albers.  He continued to live in Germany until 1889, when he immigrated, with his family, to Rock County, taking up his residence on a farm in Springwater.  Mr. Carl continued actively engaged in farming in Rock County until 1901, when he moved to Hardwick.  In April 1907, Mrs. Carl passed, and from that time he made his home with his son, Adolph Carl.

The deceased is survived by two sons, Geo. Carl, of this city, and Adolph Carl, of Hardwick, and five daughters, Mrs. Herman Thielman and Mrs. Henry Thielman of Mound Township; Mrs. Claus Johannsen, Pipestone; Mrs. Bertha Fust of Moscow, Idaho; and Mrs. Maggie Albers of Canada.  

Last spring Mr. Carl went to Moscow for an extended visit with his daughter and he was in the best health apparently, almost until the day of his death.  Christmas day he was up and around the house and was in an exceptionally happy frame of mind, but the following day he remained in his room owing to a cold.  His condition was not thought serious, but Tuesday noon when Mrs. Fust brought his dinner up to him, she found her father dead, death being due to heart failure.

LATAH COUNTY, IDAHO  DEATH REGISTER

Page 12, Record No. 480

JACOB S. T. CARL -- Date of Death -- Dec. 27, 1910; Male; White: Age 71 at Last Birthday; Single (Sic Widower); Place of death -- Near Genesee; Birthplace -- Germany; Returned by J. Aspry.  (These columns were not filled in:  Cause of Death, Residence, Occupation, Names of Father and Mother and Their Birthplaces, and Informant.)

TOMBSTONE INSCRIPTION in MAPLEWOOD CEMETERY

CARL 

 JACOB ST. CARL

BORN FEB. 11, 1839

DIED DEC. 27, 1910

Jacob Carl is buried beside Anna C. Carl, Apr. 18, 1836-Apr. 8, 1907, and Minna Carl, Jan. 15, 1902-Apr. 27, 1907.  Minna was Anna Wilhelmina Carl, 5-year-old daughter of Adolph and Mary (Stroeh) Carl.  

16.  ANNIE ALBERS CARL (1836-1907) 

Obituary in the Rock County Herald 

Luverne, Minnesota -- Friday, April 12, 1907  -- Page 6

Mrs. Jacob Carl, who had been ill for some time in her home in the northeast part of town, passed quietly away last Monday forenoon.  Her health had been poor for the past twenty years and for some time had been known that death would be the only relief.  Funeral services were conducted at the home Wednesday, and the interment took place in Maplewood at Luverne.  The large attendance at the funeral was a token of the high esteem in which the good old lady was held by her many friends and bespoke the sympathy felt by all for the bereaved husband and children.

ROCK COUNTY DEATH REGISTER 

State of Minnesota, County of Rock

Hardwick Death Register C, Page 21, Line No. 19

   

Elizabeth Katrine Carl -- Female, White, Married.  Born April 17, 1836.  Death April 8, 1907. Age 70. Occupation -- Housewife.  Cause of Death -- Senile Degeneration.  Birthplace -- Germany.  Birthplace of Father and Mother -- Germany.  Name of Father -- _______ Albers.  Name of Mother -- Elizabeth Hansen.  Attending Physician -- P. D. Whyte, Hardwick, Minnesota.  Attending Undertaker -- I. I. Smith, Luverne, Minn.  Registrar -- P. D. Whyte, Hardwick, Minn.  Date of Filing -- April 13, 1907.  Burial -- Maplewood Cemetery, Luverne. 

TOMBSTONE INSCRIPTION in MAPLEWOOD CEMETERY

ANNA C. CARL

Born Apr. 18, 1836
Died Apr. 8, 1907

ANNA C. CARL was buried with husband Jacob  St. Carl, Feb. 11, 1839 -- Dec. 27, 1910 and with Minna Carl, Jan. 15, 1902 -- Apr. 27, 1907.  Minna Carl was Adolf and Mary (Stroeh) Carl's 5-year-old daughter, Anna Wilhelmina Carl.)

 

15.  THE CARLS  IN THEIR LATER YEARS

In 1903 Jacob and Anna, empty nesters who courageously sacrificed so much for the American dream for their children, grandchildren, and later generations, were living in the village of Hardwick, Rock County, Minnesota.  At age 70, our great-grandmother, Annie Albers Carl, passed away on April 8, 1907, at home in Hardwick, leaving her husband of some sixty years.  Her obituary said that her "health had been poor the last twenty years, and for some time past, it has been known that death would be the only relief."

Our great-grandfather, Jacob Carl, who was widowed at age 68, went to Latah County, Idaho, near Genesee, for an extended visit with his daughter, Bertha and William Fust and family in the spring of 1910.  There he had the opportunity to get reacquainted with his grandchildren:  Marie, Jacob, Rosa, Alfred, and Huldah.  Unfortunately, that was where he died on December 27, 1910, at nearly 72 years of age, about a week before Grandma Fust gave birth to her sixth born, Raymond William. That must have been a very trying time for our grandparents and the older Fust children.

Quoting Grandma's words in his obituary:  "He was in the best health apparently, almost to the day of his death.  Christmas Day he was up and around the house and was in an exceptionally happy frame of mind, but the following day he remained in his room, owing to a cold.  His condition was not thought serious, but Tuesday noon when Mrs. Fust brought his dinner up to him, she found her father dead, death being due to heart failure."  His remains were sent by train to Luverne, Minnesota, for his funeral.  He was buried beside his wife Annie in Maplewood Cemetery in Luverne, Minnesota.

  ( Their obituaries and facts from their death records can be found in Stories 16 and 17 on this blog site.)

14. THE CARLS IN MINNESOTA

The Carls soon adjusted to life in America  in 1889.  Probably taking a train, they arrived in Rock County, Minnesota, and settled on a farm in Springwater Township.  

Our Great-Grandfather, Jacob Carl, wasted no time starting his American citizenship process.  Only five weeks after landing in New York City, he signed his citizenship petition on July 15, 1889, at age 50 in Rock County, Minnesota.  His signature is very beautifully written.  He was naturalized in the same county on March 23, 1897.  As a result, his wife, Anna, and their minority children -- Adolph, Bertha, and Emma -- automatically became full US citizens too.

They happily reconnected with their grown son George and grown-up daughter Margaret.  Margaret had married Nicholas Albers, her first cousin, on November 3,1886, in Luverne, Minnesota, and had two little children, John and newborn Anna, to introduce to them.  Also our Great-Grandma Anna Albers Carl reconnected with her brother, John William Albers, and the rest of his family which had relocated to Springwater Township in Rock County just a couple years before from Benton County, Iowa.  On March 4, 1891, Margaret and Nick Albers  added Gustav (Gust) Adolph in Pipestone County, Minnesota; Walter Nicholas in February 1908 in Montesano, Washington; and Daisy on August 25, 1909 near Camrose, Alberta, Canada.    

While living in America in the 1890's and early 1900's, love was evident when their other children married and began families.  First, George and Charlottia F. Hemme married on March 18, 1891, and their children were Jessie Margarete Carl (Nov. 1, 1891- 1903) and George J. Carl (29 May 1912).

That same year, Marie and Henry Thielman married on June 9, 1891, followed by the births of Carl Jacob on April 11, 1892; Anna K. on August 9, 1893; Herman on June 20, 1895; Laura in December 1899; Adella E. in 1902; and Lillie in December 1908.

On March 15, 1892, Magda married Claus Jacob Johannsen.  Their children were William Jacob, born on March 6, 1893; Claus Herman on May 31, 1894; Bertha Friedricka on October 3, 1896; and Marie Magdalena on July 22, 1908.

Emma Sophia Wilhelmine married Herman Thielman, her sister Marie's brother-in-law, on March 8, 1900.  Children born to them were Adolf, born on May 18, 1902; Henry on October 17, 1903; Helma on February 22, 1906; and Erma Magdalena on August 15, 1917.  Did you notice that a couple Thielman sons carry on the first names of their uncles?

Bertha Catharine Lucie Carl married William H. Fust on November 29, 1900, in Luverne, Minnesota.  Born to this couple were Marie Magdalena on February 2, 1902; Jacob George on December 10, 1903; Rosa Frieda on April 17, 1905; Alfred Carl on November 26, 1906; Huldah Emma on February 14, 1909; Raymond William on January 5, 1911; Norman Adolph on March 22, 1913; and Gilbert John on December 29, 1917.

Last of the Carl family to marry was Adolf Stamp Carl, who married Mary Stroeh in Luverne, Minnesota, on March 14, 1901.  Born to them were Anna Wilhelmina Carl, who arrived on January 15, 1902, but sadly died April 27, 1907; John H. Carl, born October 27, 1903; Irene Carl on November 20, 1905; George Henry Carl on January 2, 1908;  Edna Viola Carl on April 22, 1910; Lucille Dorothy Carl on October 25, 1912; and Eleanor Carl on February 18, 1915. 

(If you notice errors or have more complete information on names, dates, events, and places in any of the stories, you can reach me at the email address shown at the top of each page.  Thanks!)   

   

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13.  THE CARLS ARRIVE IN AMERICA

Schleswig-Holstein was a land that went back and forth between Denmark and Germany for many decades.  Many wars were fought over this land, so another reason for leaving Germany for America was so that their sons didn't have to participate in any more wars.  Maybe they wanted their sons to go to America as soon as they could to escape the fighting, and they probably had only enough money to send their two eldest children at first.
  

Their oldest daughter Margaret Elisabeth, age 15-1/2, but claiming that she was 18, emigrated to America on the "S.S. Suevia" in May 1882.  The following September George Christian Carl, almost 12, but saying that he was 16 and with an occupation of "smith", made his voyage on the "S.S. Rhein" out of Bremen, Germany.  Margaret and George must have matured really early to look three or four years older than their real age, but were mighty courageous to each sail all alone to a strange country and also travel halfway across that America to the Midwest.  

(On an 1893 Schleswig-Holstein list online was the name of our Great-uncle "George Christian Carl, born in 1869,  accused of not showing for military service and of leaving the country without the required permit.")

It is interesting to note that daughter Margaret Carl immigrated just three weeks after her Uncle John William Albers's family, including her cousin, Nick Albers, whom she would marry in four years.  They first settled in Iowa for a few years.  This John W. Albers and our Great-Grandma Annie Alberts Carl had the same parents listed on their Minnesota death records, Claus Albers and Elizabeth Dorothy Hansen, so they must have been brother and sister.  Was there an attraction between Cousins Nick and Margaret back in Germany?

It's hard to see how a medium-sized, or smaller, man like Jacob Stamm Carl could make a successful living as a blacksmith - there was another blacksmith on the island - but on the ship's manifest, he is listed as a "Taylor".

Perhaps the Carl family would have immigrated earlier than 1889, but the selling of their big house and blacksmith business may have delayed their journey to America.  The remaining Carls finally met the requirements for the trip seven years later than their older children, Margaret and George, as they are listed on the German government list with permission to emigrate.  The ages of the five children are incorrect -- instead of their real ages -17, 15, 13, 9, and 8, their ages were listed in order as 14, 7, 6, 5, and 4.  Obviously, Marie, Magda, Adolf, Bertha, and Emma were not present for that listing! 

The Carl family set out of Hamburg on May 26, 1889, on the "S.S. Wieland", with a stop at Havre, France, and then continued to America.  In a family compartment in steerage, they were passengers numbered 186 through 192, and they had four pieces of luggage among them.  After ten days at sea, they got to see the new Statue of Liberty as they entered New York Harbor on June 8, 1889.  They still had to complete the harrowing processing at Castle Garden, much like the Fusts did seven years earlier.

(To read all the requirements for obtaining permission to leave Germany, what the voyage in steerage was like, as well as the experience at Castle Garden, you may read my blogs numbered 4, 5, and 6 in the Fust stories.)

12.  THE CARL FAMILY IN GERMANY

Now we'll go on to the German state of Schleswig-Holstein where our Grandma Bertha L. CARL was born.

Schleswig-Holstein is also in Northern Germany bordering Mecklenburg's western border and Denmark's southern border, as well as the North Sea on the west and the Baltic Sea on the east.  Schleswig-Holstein's northern area is part of the Jutland Peninsula on which all of Denmark sits.  Much of Schleswig-Holstein was a lowland used mainly for farming.

Several generations of the CARLs lived within or near the Eiderstedt Peninsula.  Jacob Stamm Carl was born February 11, 1839, and baptised on April 6, 1839 in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Witzwort near the Eiderstedt.  He was given the exact same name as his father who was born in Kreis (like a county in US) Eiderstedt in about 1798. Little Jacob's mother was Maria Lucia Bundies who was born about 1812 in Tating on the Eiderstedt and who died April 12, 1842, when our great-grandfather was just three years old.

About 1866 at age 27, Jacob Stamm CARL II, the son, married Anna Elisabeth Katrine Albers, daughter of Claus Alberts and Anna Elisabeth Dorothy Hanssen.  As a day laborer, he may have worked on other family farms.     

They had five children by 1876 born in the Witzwort area of the Eiderstedt Peninsula.  Margaret Elisabeth Carl was born on September 13, 1867; George Christian Carl was born on October 24, 1869; Maria Magdalena Dorothea (Marie) Carl was born on March 11, 1872; Anna Friedrica Magdalena (Magda) Carl was born Septermber 29, 1873; and Adolph Stamp Carl was born February 6, 1876.

Somehow, our great-grandpa, Jacob Carl, had saved up enough money to buy a large, thatch-roofed, brick house that included Jacob's blacksmith shop at one end.  This house was located on the island of Nordstrand, which is very close to the mainland at Husum.  It is accessed now by a driveable mile-long and high causeway connecting to the German mainland.  On this island, Bertha Catharina Lucie  was born on October 18, 1878.  Two years later on September 9. 1880, our Great-aunt Emma Sophie Wilhelmine Carl was born.  Both girls were baptised in the Evangelisch Lutheran Church on Nordstrand.  

(In 1985 when Larry Woodwick and I made a trip to Germany, we visited with the current owner and resident who was the third generation of the buyers of the Carl home, now run as a guest house.  Had we known that ahead of time, we would have stayed in Grandma's birth home!)

Nordstrand was part of a much larger peninsula called Strand.  However, a disastrous storm tide tore the peninsula apart and washed away one-half of the land in 1634.  That created smaller islands such as Nordstrand and Pellworm, over 200 years before the Carls moved there.  A total of 6,123 people drowned, and 1,339 farms and houses were washed away, as were twenty-eight windmills and six clock towers.  The estimated loss of livestock was 50,000.  Nowadays, homes and farm buildings are built on mounds of earth to provide some protection in the event of a break in the dyke during a storm. 

Reminiscing about Germany while in the US, Grandma composed a lovely song about her childhood where she played with her friends on the Leiderdyke with the sound of her blacksmith father's anvil nearby.

11. THE BUNGERS IN AMERICA

Marie Bunger Fust's young sister, Sophia Bunger, married Hans Christoph Heinrich Huenemoerder in Germany on August 17, 1883, and almost immediately immigrated to America.  Their ship was the "Westphalia" which sailed from Hamburg and Havre, France, arriving in New York City on September 11, 1883.  Sophia's husband was a brother to Sophia Hunemoerder Bunger, her step-mother, so Hans was Johann Jochim Andreas Bunger's brother-in-law as well as his son-in-law!  Hans changed the Hunemoerder name (meaning "giant killer") to Hummiller in America. Hans and Sophia lived near the Fred Fust farm near Dysart, Iowa.  So besides her brother John Bunger, Marie Fust also had her sister nearby!

On September 20, 1884, Marie Bunger Fust's father, Johann Bunger, his second wife Sophia, and their two little sons, Heinrich and Hermann, half-brothers to Marie Fust, Sophia Hummiller, and John Bunger already in Iowa, arrived in New York City on the "S.S. Hammonia".  They went directly to Iowa, settling on a farm whose inner corner touched the inner corner of the Fust farm in the same section of land.  We can imagine that our Grandpa William Fust and his sisters, Aunt Frieda, Aunt Erna, and Aunt Emma, often visited with their young uncles, Henry and Herman Bunger, as well as their Grandpa Johann Bunger, Step-grandmother Sophia, and Aunt Sophia Hummiller.

Hans and Sophia Hummiller (also spelled Huemoeller) raised a large family:  Fred H., born 1882 in Germany; Julius John, 1885; Martin, about 1887; twins Amanda Marie and William, 1890; Emma Mina, 1891; John Henry, 1893; George Gustav, 1900; Hans William, 1903; Harry John, 1905; and Elsie Mathilda, 1906.  The Hummillers moved to Pipestone, Minnesota in about 1892, about the same time that Fred and Marie Bunger Fust moved to Rock County, Minnesota, just south of Pipestone County, north of Iowa, and west of SE South Dakota.    

The patriarch Johann Jochim Andreas Bunger died at age 72 on February 8, 1895, and was buried at Clutier, Iowa.  Then that same year, 1895, his 52-year-old widow, Sophia Hunemoerder Bunger, married Alfred Erickson, who was 6 years younger than Sophia, and they moved to Carlton County, near Barnum, Minnesota, where the Bunger boys, Heinrich and Hermann, grew to manhood.

In the meantime, Marie's brother, Uncle John Bunger, lived in Iowa for about seven years before he bought a farm near Hardwick, Minnesota.  This is the farm he rented out to his nephew, Grandpa William and Grandma Bertha Fust, newlyweds in 1900, which became the birthplace of the first five Fust children -- Marie, Jacob, Rosa, Alfred, and Huldah.

Our great-grandmother, Marie Bunger Fust passed away on February 18, 1919 at Hardwick, Minnesota, of dropsy and Bright's disease.

Then, John Bunger, always a bachelor, lived with Fritz and Erna Fust until Fritz died in 1927 at the home of Mrs. Hans (Sophia) Hummiller.  Then both Uncle John Bunger and Aunt Erna Fust lived with William and Bertha Fust and their family on the Cayuga, North Dakota farm until Uncle John Bunger passed away there in 1934.  He is buried in Maplewood Cemetery in Luverne, Minnesota.

10.  THE BUNGERS IN GERMANY

Besides the Fritz and Marie Bunger Fust family, another immigrant ancestor is Marie's father and our great-great-grandfather, Johann Jochim Andreas Bunger, mentioned briefly in the previous stories.

He was born May 2, 1823 in Cambs, Mecklenburg, to Jochim Christoph Bunger and Katharine Sophia Dorothea Hunemoerder.  (Hunemoerder means "giant killer".)  At age 27 on November 14, 1850, he married Maria Catherine Magdalena Schoof.  On August 31, 1851, our great-grandmother, Maria Sophia Dorothea Elisabeth Bunger was the first child born to this couple.

When she was five years old, Maria's little 3-year-old brother died (1853-1856).  The next year her brother Johann Ludwig Jacob Carl Bunger was born on April 8, 1857.  This is the brother who joined Marie and Fritz Fust on the voyage to America, commonly known to us as Uncle John Bunger, but he was really our great-uncle.  When Marie was 9 years old, another baby brother, Heinrich Christoph Johann Bunger, was born on August 23, 1860, but died at only 1-1/2 months of age.  Finally, 11-year-old Marie gets a little sister, Sophia Dorothea Henrica Bunger, on December 22, 1862. 

When Marie was 17, her mother died at 45 years and 9 months old on September 30, 1868, leaving their 45-year-old father to raise Marie, 13-year-old Uncle John Bunger, and 6-year-old Sophia.  Only two months and eight days later, on January 8, 1869, the widower married Sophia Dorothea Elisabeth Johanna Hunemoerder, his younger daughter Sophia's future sister-in-law, so you can imagine that there is a wide age difference.  We should be glad that our great-great-grandfather carried on a tradition. His father, Jochim Christoph Bunger, married Katharina Sophia Dorothea Huenemoerder just three months and 22 days after his first wife, Anna Maria Dorothea Wegner, passed away, leaving him a one-year-old daughter to care for.  This second marriage resulted in our ancestor Johann Jochim Andreas Bunger's birth in 1823.

Then more Johann Bunger children were born to him and his second wife.  Wilhelmina Maria Dorothea Johanna Bunger lived for only five years (1870-1875).  Later their two sons were born, Heinrich Emil Friedrich Hans Bunger on July 4, 1879, and Hermann Theodor Martin Bunger on October 24, 1882.

Next, read about the Bungers who immigrated to America!

9.  LATER YEARS IN HARDWICK

Fred and Marie Fust enjoyed their retirement life in the village of Hardwick, Minnesota, with their adult children and young grandchildren living nearby.  

The 1910's decade started with the birth of George John Piepgras on New Year's Day.  Five more grandchildren were born:  Raymond William Fust on January 11, 1911; Alroy Detlof Piepgras on June 30, 1912; John Lorenz Hoeck on March 2, 1912; Norman Adolph Fust on March 22, 1913; and Gilbert John Fust on December 29, 1917, making a total of 15 grandchildren for them by 1920.

However, not all grandchildren were nearby for their grandparents' love, as the W. H. Fust family had  moved to Idaho in late 1909 or early 1910.  It is interesting to note that back on April 19, 1903, W. H. Fust was listed on a Manifest of a train from Latah, Idaho, to the Port of Admissions at the Port of Kingsgate, British Columbia with $60.00.  This is our W. H. Fust, "age 37, a farmer, born in Germany, a Citizen of U.S.A., going to Penhold, Alberta, Canada."  Penhold, right by Red Deer, is in the vicinity where Grandma Bertha's sister and brother-in-law, Margaret and Nick Albers and family, moved to in 1910. He may have also been scouting land to buy in Idaho and Alberta.

After returning to Minnesota to farm the land owned by his Uncle John Bunger for a few more years, Grandpa W. H. Fust auctioned off some farm equipment and household goods.  The whole family moved to Latah County with baby Huldah and the older four children, taking some important possessions and animals along in the train car they rented.

After our Great-grandmother, Marie Bunger Fust, passed away on the 18th of February in 1919 from kidney disease at age 62-1/2, Fred retired from all farming activities.  He and Aunt Erna were living in Hardwick in 1920 along with Uncle John Bunger.  In 1925, Fred and Erna made their home with our Grandpa William Fust on their farm near Cayuga, North Dakota, for a year and a half until Fred began to grow feeble due largely to his advanced age. Then Fred came to Pipestone, Minnesota, to live at the home of his cousin, Mrs. Hans Hummimuller.  There he passed away from heart failure on June 17, 1927, at age 78 years, 9 months, 16 days.

According to his will, he bequeathed $4,000.00 cash to his daughter Erna, and each of his four children, including Erna, would receive 1/4 of the remaining estate.

Both of these great-grandparents are buried in the beautiful Maplewood Cemetery in Luverne, Minnesota.  Their obituaries and death records can be found in Stories 18 and 19 on this blog site.(You can check out the website <FindAGrave.com>  to see pictures of their tombstones.) 

         

8.  LIVING THE AMERICAN DREAM IN MINNESOTA

After eleven years in Iowa, when Grandpa William was 19 years old, Erna was 6, and Emma was 4, the Fred Fust family moved to a Rock County, Minnesota farm in Denver Township near Hardwick in 1894.  Shortly after their move, news was received of the death of Marie's father, Johann Jochim Andreas Bunger, on February 5, 1895, in Clutier, Iowa.  Then on June 4, 1895, Marie gave birth to Ella Marie Fust.  Sadly, she died within her first year on March 26, 1896.

The Fust family of Fred, Marie, Willie, Erna, and Emma is listed in the 1900 Federal Census on June 7, 1900, on the farm near Hardwick, while Frieda is listed with her husband, John Piepgras, age 22, in Rose Dell Township, just west of Denver Township.  That's the year when Frieda, at age 21, was married on February 22 and Willie, age 25, married our Grandma Bertha Carl, age 22, on November 30 in Luverne, Minnesota.  I wonder if the siblings ever double-dated?!

Soon the Fred Fusts became grandparents when on November 30, William Fred Piepgras was born.  Then Marie Magdalena Fust was welcomed on February 2, 1902.  Nine more grandchildren followed that decade:  Mary S. Piepgras on May 7, 1903; Jacob George Fust on December 10, 1903; Rosa  Frieda on April 17, 1905; Elmer Peter Piepgras on March 13, 1906; Alfred Carl Fust on November 26, 1906; Huldah Emma Fust on February 14, 1909; George Fredrick Hoeck on December 7, 1909; and Alroy Detlof Piepgras on January 1, 1910, closing out those ten years with eleven grandchildren!

Did you notice the Hoeck baby in that list?  There was another wedding that decade when Emma Rosine Fust,  just shy of 18, married John Henry Hoeck, age  26, on February 27, 1908, and they welcomed their first child, George Fredrick, in late 1909.    

Fred and Marie Fust were living in the village of Hardwick along with their single daughter Erna and Marie's single brother, John Bunger.  The 1910 Census shows that Fred Fust owned both his farm and his Hardwick home "mortgage free".  They were living the American Dream -- a dream nearly impossible back in Mecklenburg, Germany.

7.  THE FUSTS IN IOWA

Soon after their processing ordeal at Castle Garden in New York City, the Fusts probably took a train west  into Iowa, even though their initial destination on the ship list was Wisconsin.  They first settled on a farm in Oneida Township in Tama County near Dysart, Iowa.  This change was probably decided upon because Iowa lies in a more direct route from New York than Wisconsin.  They might have liked the flat land they noticed out the train windows, reminding them of Mecklenburg's flat land.

The Fred Fust family was listed in the 1885 Iowa State Census, which showed that Marie Bunger Fust's father was living nearby.  In fact, according to the land descriptions on the census, their farms touched at the inner corners of the same section. 

Jochim Andreas Bunger, his second wife, Sophia Huenemoerder Bunger, and their two small sons, Heinrich and Hermann, arrived in America in May 1884, one and a half years after his daughter Maria's family.  When the Fusts left Germany, Heinrich was three, and Hermann was a one-month-old baby.  We can imagine how happy Marie was to be reunited with her father, step-mother, and little half-brothers!

In January 1888, twin girls, Erna and Mary, were born to Fritz and Marie Fust.  Mary died in infancy, but two years later in May 1890, Emma Rosine Fust was born. We all remember our Great-Aunt Erna who lived with our grandparents Fust for some months of each year after her father's death in 1927. 

In October 1888, Fritz Fust took out his first papers, or Declaration of Intention, to start the process to American citizenship.  He became a full citizen of his adopted country within 10 years of his immigration in November 1892.  Then his wife Marie and all their minor children, William, Frieda, Erna, and Emma, automatically became American citizens too.

It was in Iowa where William H. Fust and his sister, Frieda, completed their schooling.  

   

6.  THE IMMIGRATION CENTER

The Fusts' first experience in America must have felt as though America is very regimented.  Maybe they wanted to turn around to the S. S. Gellert and return to Germany during their processing at Castle Garden, also known as Castle Clinton.

The Fusts wore numbered identity tags pinned to their clothing and joined the long lines separated by iron railings that made the large hall look like a maze.  There they were questioned and examined.  The first doctor looked for physical and mental abnormalities.  Some immigrants received a chalk mark on their right shoulder for further inspection:  L for lameness, H for heart, X for mental defects, and so on.  

The second doctor looked for contagious and infectious diseases, looking especially for infections of the scalp and at the eyelids for symptoms of trachoma, a blinding disease.  Because trachoma caused more than half of all detentions, this doctor was greatly feared.  He stood directly in front of each of our immigrant ancestors, and with a swift movement, he would grab the immigrant's eyelid, pull it up, and peer beneath it.  Thankfully, the Fusts passed all the exams and were not detained or sent back to Germany.

Then they moved on to the registration clerk who questioned them with the help of an interpreter:  What is your name?  Your nationality? Your occupation? Can you read and write?  Have you ever been in prison? How much money do you have with you? Where are you going?  This was most trying for these Germans who did not speak or understand English.  However, most immigrants passed through the processing center in about one day.  Then carrying all their worldly possessions, they finally left that examination hall.

Where did they go in their new land?

5.  AMERICA!

Were the Fusts welcomed by Miss Liberty?  A gift from France, the Statue of Liberty was shipped in 214 cases aboard a French ship in May 1885.  President Grover Cleveland dedicated the finished monument and unveiled it in October 1886.  While the Fusts and Bungers did not see the Statue of Liberty in 1882 when they reached America, our Grandma Bertha Carl Fust and her parents and most of her siblings did get to see her in 1889 when they immigrated.

While entering the New York Harbor, most likely the family, who were happy as last to at least leave the open sea, clustered together on the foredeck for fear of separation and looked with wonder on this miraculous land of their dreams.  Passengers all around them crowded against the rail.  The officers of the ship strode up and down the decks, shouting orders and directions and driving the immigrants before them, pushing and pulling them, herding them into separate groups as though they were animals.

Finally the ship came to the dock and the long, long journey was over.  But not quite!  Did they go through Ellis Island?  Again, no, because Ellis Island was not operational until 1892, ten years later.  So, all of our Fust, Bunger, Carl, and Albers ancestor immigrants were processed at Castle Garden, also known as Castle Clinton, at the southern tip of Manhattan.

How was their experience at the processing center?

4.  THE VOYAGE ACROSS THE ATLANTIC

Spelled "Fusz" on the ship list were Fritz Fust, 34, a farmer; his wife Maria, 31; and their children Wilhelm, 7, and Frieda, 3; along with Maria's brother, Johann Bunger, 25.  They set sail from Hamburg on November 1, 1882, on the German "S. S. Gellert" of the Hamburg American Line.

They were numbered 96 -- 100 on the ship manifest.  All five were listed as coming from Mecklenburg with the destination of Wisconsin.  Johann Bunger was in Cabin A with one piece of baggage.  Fritz was in Cabin BB C, while Maria and the children were in Cabin B.  At the end of Frieda's line, there are the numbers 23 and 20 noted in the columns for the Date and Cause of Death, but I am sure that a mistake was made. Probably the recorder meant those notes for the 18-year-old girl from Hungary who was listed on the next line as the one who died, because we all know that Grandpa's sister Frieda Fust grew up to marry John Piepgras.

Of the 972 passengers on this steamship, five babies were born at sea, 15 passengers died, 152 were cabin passengers, and the other 820 were in steerage. Most of these immigrants were poor but somehow managed to scrape together enough money to pay for their passage to America, mostly as steerage passengers who paid the lowest fare. 

The Fust family and Johann Bunger had it better than those in steerage.  The steerage lay deep down in the hold of the ship, and people were piled into dark, foul-smelling compartments.  They slept in narrow bunks stacked three high.  They had no showers, no lounges, and no dining rooms.  Food served from huge kettles was dished into dinner pails provided by the steamship company.  There was hardly enough food for everyone, especially toward the end of their journey.  Because steerage conditions were crowded, uncomfortable, and stinking, passengers spent as much time as possible up on deck.  The voyage was an ordeal, but it was worth it.  They were on their way to America!

After 32 days at sea, the "S. S. Gellert" finally pulled into New York Harbor on December 2, 1882.  Did they see the State of Liberty to welcome them?  What were their first experiences in America?   

3.  WHY THE FUSTS LEFT MECKLENBURG

Mecklenburg had the highest percentage of emigrants of any of the German states.  While conditions in other areas improved, Mecklenburg peasants had little reason to hope for a better future.  After living in grinding poverty with limited freedom and few opportunities, many like the Fritz Fust family saw immigration to America as a new chance at life.

GETTING READY TO LEAVE GERMANY

The immigrants had to go through several steps before the authorities would grant them permission to leave the country.  They had to prove that they had enough money to pay for their voyage and had a contract for the voyage plus 50 Thalers, that they had no debts, and that they had sold their houses and all other property.  The Fusts must have saved their money for years in order to afford to immigrate to America.  Also, the sons had to first complete their compulsory military service.

2.  THE LAST FUST FAMILY IN GERMANY

Fritz Johann Peter Heinrich Fust, my great-grandfather and the father of my Grandpa W. H. Fust, was born August 31, 1848, and baptised in the Evangelisch Lutheran Church in the village of Cambs, Schwaan District, Mecklenburg, Germany.  The son of a tagelhoner (day laborer) named Joachim Heinrich Fust and Maria Sophia Vick, Fritz grew to manhood there and married Miss Maria Sophia Dorothea Elisabeth Bunger on November 13, 1874.  The following year on September 5, 1875, my Grandpa Fust was born and named Wilhelm Hans Martin Theodore Fust.  Their first daughter, Frieda Maria Luise Joachime Fust, was born January 26, 1879.  The Fritz Fust family of four immigrated to America in 1882.

LIFE IN MECKLENBURG, GERMANY

Mecklenburg lies in Northern Germany along the Baltic Sea coastal plain.  It's a farming region with a mild climate, generally flat with some low hills, and dotted with numerous small lakes.

By the 1800's Mecklenburg was still a feudal state where most of the land was in vast estates held by powerful landowners.  The landowners controlled the economy and ruled their estates with absolute authority.  The peasants had few rights and found themselves at the mercy of the landowners.  The servant of a noble landlord was not even permitted to marry unless his master gave him permission and a place to live. 

In 1820 the peasants were freed from their obligations to the landowners, but this also worsened their condition, because the landowners were freed, at the same time, of any obligation under feudal law to provide their tenants with any means of supporting themselves, thus leaving them in even greater poverty.

So after 1820, most peasants were day workers (Tagelhoners or Arbeitsmen) living in griding poverty.  According to the church records that I have found of the Fusts, Bungers, Schoofs,  Huenemoerders, and others, all the males were Tagelhoners, or day laborers.  These day laborers were hired and paid one day at a time with no promise of having a job the next day.  They were deprived almost entirely of their earnings and were forced to work for a starvation wage on the Jungere states.  These were owned and managed by a young nobleman, country squire, or a Prussian army officer.  The day laborers traveled the countryside, moving from estate to estate as a landowner needed their labor for plowing, planting, and harvesting crops.  

Peasants moved constantly.  It was common for a man to be born in one place, get married in another to a woman who was born in yet another place.  Then each of their children might be born in different locales.

In 1871, Otto von Bismarck unified the various German states, while each state kept their autonomy and much of their distinct character.  This meant that Mecklenburg still was backward, and the conditions for the peasants there continued to lag behind those in the other German states.  To put this in the context of our Fust family history, our Grandpa W. H. Fust was born in 1875, shortly after the German Unification in 1871.

Next -- Why immigrate?  The preparations to leave.  The Atlantic voyage.

HOW I WAS INSPIRED TO CLIMB MY TREE

  1.  INSPIRATION FOR CLIMBING MY TREE

When I was a first-grader in a little Sargent County, North Dakota, country school of all eight grades, Kingston #1, commonly called the Fust School, I was naturally listening in on all the other grades' recitations with the teacher.  My ears perked up when the name John Fust was discussed by the sixth graders during their history lesson from the green textbook, The Past Lives On, by Edna McGuire.  Being that my name was Karen Fust (pronounced "Foost"), I wondered if somehow we Fusts were descended from this famous man in the 1400's who had lent money to John Gutenberg, the inventor of the printing press.  I also knew that my grandparents Fust had come to America from Germany.  Could we somehow be related?

In 1976, the Bicentennial Year of our country, the year of the great miniseries called "Roots", and the wonderful Gauche-Curtis Family History book by Larry's Aunt Letty Gauche, I, then the mother of 4 sons from 1 to 12 years of age and a full-time 4th-grade teacher, was inspired to start researching our tree and find out if John Fust was an ancestor.

First, I went to the Klamath County Library and checked out a couple books on beginning the climb.  With that background information and rough-drawn copies of blank pedigree charts and family group sheets, I was all prepared to quiz my parents, Raymond William Fust and Catherine Margaret Keiser Fust, when they visited us that fall in Klamath Falls.

Based on their recollections of their parents and grandparents, I prepared a set of questions that I sent to my Fust and Keiser aunts and uncles.  I am greatly indebted to Aunt Marie, Aunt Rosa, Aunt Huldah, Aunt Loretta, Aunt Frances, Uncle Alfred, and Cousin Sylvia for all their suggestions and help.

Are we Fusts from North Dakota descended from the historic John Fust (about 1400-1466)?  Well, no, not directly by the Fust name line, for sure.  You see, Johann Fust had no sons but only one daughter, Christina, who married her father's partner, Peter Schoeffer, who had won the printing press and business from Gutenberg in a legal suit when Gutenberg couldn't repay Fust the money he owed.  Or maybe Johann's father is our direct ancestor who may have had another son, and the famous Johann Fust is a first-cousin 25 or more times removed.  Maybe we're related anyway through Christina Fust Schoeffer's descendants six centuries later!  Who knows?

In this blog I will happily share our Fust ancestors, reaching so far only to the 1760's.