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Corrections, comments, and questions sent to the email address at the bottom of the page are very welcome. Johanne Friederike Helmingsmeier was born May 8 1809 in Langenholzhausen, Lippe-Detmold. She died in 1906, and was buried in Immanuel Church Cemetery, Town of Herman, Sheboygan County, Wisconsin. Johanne married Heinrich Adolf Martensmeier (Adolf Marten) on April 23 1832 in Lippe-Detmold, and they lived in Langenholzhausen until their departure for America in 1847. Johanne and Adolf had nine children which are listed in Adolf Marten's web page. Their fifth child makes a particularly compelling story of the hardships of the original Lipper Settlers. Johanne, was pregnant during the trip from Lippe-Detmold to Wisconsin. Her pregnancy was very advanced when the Lipper Settlers disembarked the ship in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. According to the story by Jerome Arpke, the Lipper Settlers bought land in Sheboygan County which was about 60 miles (100 kilometers) north of Milwaukee. The Lipper group walked the entire way to the land they purchased. The land eventually became known as the Town of Herman. On the way to their land, Johanne started child labor. The men walked ahead and left Johanne with her 15 year old daughter, Friederike, to help with the child birth. The baby was born lifeless in the Wisconsin wilderness. The two women had no shovels because the men walked ahead with all the tools. The two women buried the tiny baby in an unmarked grave with sticks. I personally can't imagine how much life must have seemed extraordinarily difficult at this point in the journey to their new land. |
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