My Family Tree

Wilhelm Heinhorst was born in Gehlbergen in Hanover near Bruchhausen.
He seems to have been fairly prosperous. He apparently decided to come
to the United States because of difficulties with his wife's family.

Wilhelm's wife, Louisa M ller, was from Kampscheide, also in Hannover.
They were married in the church in Asendorf in 1836. Louisa was
decended from lesser nobility as well, but her immediate family was
apparently impoverished.

Wilhelm and Louisa left Gehlbergen for the United States with their
family on July 10, 1854. They apparently spent the night of July 10
with family in Vilsen since two of their children Margaretha and
Heinrich were baptised there on July 11. They spent several days
traveling to Bremerhaven, including a two day stay in Bremen.

On July 20 or 21, 1854, they sailed on the Elizabeth for New York. They
arrived in New York on September 2 and left for Chicago by train at 6:00
p.m. the next day. The family arrived in Chicago on September 11 and
spent a day and a half there before going on to their destination,
Capers Grove (now Tinley Park). (They may have lived near Argo and
Summit.)

The family was in Capers Grove barely a week when the children
contracted cholera. A doctor advised Louisa not to give the children
water. She followed this advice, despite the children's suffering,
until two of the children died. She then gave the other children water.
All but one survived.

Wilhelm and Louisa attributed their children's illness and deaths to the
swampy character of the land around Capers Grove and decided to find a
healthier area to move to. They met the Karch family from near
Frankfurt, Illinois, who owned a tract of land in Mason county between
Topeka and Bishop - an area with sandy soils which appealed to Wilhelm
and Louisa. They bought land there and moved to Mason County, arriving
at their new farm March 6, 1856.

Ann Schwab understood that they bought their farm from the Karches.
Florence Hovey believed that Wilhelm bought the farm from some one else.
This farm was just east of the woods east of the Biship Cemetery near
Bishop Junction a short distance west of Topeka. His son Friedrich
later bought a farm from the Karches on the east side of the road going
north from the Bishop road, west of the Bishop Cemetery. Friedrick's
house still stands on that farm about 1/4 mile north of the Bishop road.

Florence also believed that the family first moved to Long Point before
moving to the farm near Bishop Junction.

The Heinhorst and Karch families became good friends. One of Whilhelm
and Louisa's grandchildren, Arthur F. Heinhorst, married one of the
Karch family.

Wilhelm lived only two more years after moving to Mason County. Louisa
lived until 1870. They are buried in the old Evangelical Cemetary north
of Bishop.

In 1987, Jennifer Heinhorst visited Gehlbergen, Asendorf, and
Kampscheide. While she was there, she was able to do some genealogical
research - visiting with a geneaologist in Bruchhausen-Vilsen and
examining old church records. She found a house in Gehlbergen which had
been owned by a Heinhorst family until 1912, but she did not find any
Heinhorst families still living in Gehlbergen.