Franz Xaver Joseph2 Erner (son of Johannes Anton1 Erner), born and baptized 24 March 1823 at Allendorf, Kreis Arnsberg, Westphalia, Germany (baptismal record [entry #6](1)); died 01 June 1904 at East Dubuque, Jo Daviess, Illinois, USA (Tuberculosis)(Book __?, page 133); married 14 September 1848 at Allendorf (marriage record [entry #4](1)) to Maria Catherine Agatha Freiburg who was born 18 May and baptized 19 May 1819 at Allendorf (baptismal record [6th entry](1)), and died 12 February 1903 at Galena, Jo Daviess, Illinois (Old Age).
He was named after his godfather Joseph Freiburg gnt Neuhaus.
He was a shoemaker. He came to the U.S. on the ship Hansa which sailed from Bremen, Germany and arrived at New York City on 11 July 1865. He moved to Detroit, Wayne, Michigan and worked long enough to send money for the rest of the family to emigrate. Catherine and the children came to the U.S. on the ship Argonaut which sailed from Bremen, Germany and arrived at New York City on 03 August 1866.
They probably left Germany to avoid the military drafts (and shanghais) for the constant wars in Europe. He had just completed his national guard service eligibility on 23 March 1863 and his oldest son, Joseph, was only about four years away from draftable age. It was their only window of opportunity to get government permission for the entire family to emigrate. After almost fifty years of peace, Prussia spent the mid-1860s in an almost constant state of war preparedness and the number of twenty-year-old men drafted into the army each year had been increased by over fifty percent. The German-Danish War had just ended on 30 October 1864, and the Austro-Prussian War was being started by the time the rest of the family left Germany.
In 1867 they moved to Galena, where his older brother Frederick already lived. Galena’s success in the 1840s and 50s had been built on a service economy supporting the lead mines in northwestern Illinois and southwestern Wisconsin. The need for munitions for the Civil War had artificially prolonged the area’s lead-mining boom, but Galena’s glory days were already over when they moved there. Of course, few people realized that at the time.
Their home and his shoe shop were in the large house on the northwest corner of Elk and Division Streets. [Photo of that house (as it appeared in 1986). NOTE: I don’t know which unit they lived in. The City Directories just say “corner of Elk and Division”, and according to the Galena plat maps from back then, this was the only building on that intersection.]
They were members of St. Mary’s Catholic Church at Galena. After he retired, they lived on Hickory Street near Summit Street.
1870 Census: Joseph Erner, page 144, visit 425/440, Galena city, Jo Daviess, Illinois.
1880 Census: Joseph Erner, page 286, visit 210/219, Galena (4th Ward), Jo Daviess, Illinois.
1900 Census: Joseph Erner, page 218, visit 220/229, Galena (3rd Ward), Jo Daviess, Illinois.
Her estate (Jo Daviess Probate Records, drawer 125). In her will, Catherine left everything to their son Frank so that he could take care of Joseph, who went to live with him after she died. According to their death records and obituaries, they were buried at St. Mary’s Cemetery at Galena, but there is no grave marker.
+ Johann Joseph3 Erner, born 10 March and baptized 11 March 1849 (baptismal record [entry #5](1)); married FRANCESCA HELLSTERN.
+ Anna Mary3 Erner, born 21 February and baptized 23 February 1853(1); married second BERNARD WEBER; moved to Dubuque, Dubuque, Iowa.
+ Anna Frances3 Erner, born 19 February and baptized 20 February 1858(1); married GEORGE VALENTINE HELLSTERN; moved to East Dubuque, Jo Daviess, Illinois.
+ Joseph Frank3 Erner, born 11 March and baptized 12 March 1862(1); married MARY A. HILLARD; moved to East Dubuque, Jo Daviess, Illinois.
Joseph Erner, m. Catherine Freiburg. Last revision: 27 Sep 2006
Allendorf to America: Erner and Related Families in America.
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