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During the first 10 to 20 years, land changed hands a surprising amount of times between the Lippers. One can follow many of the land transactions at the Register of Deeds office at the Sheboygan County courthouse in Sheboygan. Even then, many of the land transactions were never recorded. During most of the 1800s, there was no requirement to file a land transfer with the county after transaction had occurred. Some land transfers were recorded as many as 30 years after they occurred. Simon Steffen, one of the original Lipper settlers, is recorded as having many transactions. The records show that he had several a year. Many of the pieces of land were eventually transacted back to the original deed holder. Friedrich Reineking, on the other hand, had very few of his land transactions recorded. It appears that the only transactions recorded were those which the other party would have reported to the county. For instance, transactions with Simon Steffen and the US government were recorded, but not those with other parties. The first plat book for Sheboygan County was published in 1862 and seems to be the definitive record of land owners in that year. After 1862, the land records at the Register of Deeds office seem to indicate that the number of land transactions decreased and land ownership became more stable. Eventually the Lipper Colony grew to be prosperous. Money was made from making and selling roof shingles in cities like Sheboygan and Milwaukee. The women worked as house cleaners for people in area towns. Enough money was soon made for many of the Lipper families to buy more land from the US government and expand their farming operations. Several of the farms remain in descendents of the original Lippers today. In the first generation of Lippers, the state of Wisconsin was growing to be a strong leader in dairy farming and cheese making. Most of the Lippers became dairy farmers and cheese makers. In 1861, Friedrich Reineking donated 5 acres and Simon Steffen donated another 5 acres to start the German Reformed seminary called simply the Mission Haus. Simon Steffen soon donated another 5 acres as the Mission soon became popular and needed to expand within 10 years or so after its beginnings. Friedrich Reineking did not live to see the rapid expansion and growth of the Mission Haus. In 1861, he was felling trees with his sons on the Reineking land. Remember, there were no chain saws in those days. So, it would take several hours of hard work to notch a tree and send it falling in the proper direction. After properly notching one large tree, a sudden summer thunderstorm entered the area. A strong wind spun the large tree so that it fell in an unexpected direction. Unfortunately, it struck down Friedrich Reineking dead. All of Friedrich Reineking's land appears to have gone to his eldest son, Frederick Herman Reineking. This is interesting in that, Friedrich Reineking's other two sons, Simon and Wilhelm Reineking, had built their own farmsteads on their own land parcels on the Reineking family land. After the death of the elder Reineking, the eldest son owned all three farmsteads. The Register of Deeds for Sheboygan County shows that on October 12, 1863, the eldest son granted to each brother the 80 acres on which each had lived and built their family farms for the cost of $1 and "other valuable considerations." Indeed, the 1862 plat book of Sheboygan County shows the Reineking land in three different parcels in the names of the three sons of the elder Reineking. Several of the Lipper families had grown quite large in the first generation after the original immigration from Lippe-Detmold. Some members of the Lipper colony in Sheboygan County bought land and moved their families to Greenwood in Clark County in northwest Wisconsin. Land there was cheaper and the Lipper colony could expand and continue to grow by spreading across Wisconsin. Namely, members of the Reineking, Arpke, Wehrmann, Buker, and Humke familes moved to Greenwood. Their story continues here. The Lipper Colony Grows |
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