Johann Christoph SOMMERLADE
Birth:
6 Oct 1834
Erfurt, Thuringia, Prussia
Chr:
13 Oct 1834
Erfurt, Thuringia, Prussia
Death:
20 Sep 1912
Lake Benton, Lincoln, Minnesota
Marriage:
15 Jan 1870
Rochester, Olmsted, Minnesota
Father:
Mother:
Sources:
1998 Ancestral File (nil)
2000 Ordinance Index
2000 Ordinance Index
Notes:
NAME Johann Christoph (John Christopher) /SOMMERLADE/
Called John Christopher or J.C. in the United States. Baptized 13 Oct.
1834 in the German Lutheran Church. Confirmed 1 April 1849. In 1854
he and his father settled in Madison, Wisconsin. Entered the Civil War in
1862 in Co. K, Wisconsin Infantry. Death record Lake Benton 20 Sept.
1912, Lake Benton Cemetary, age 77 years, one month and 14 days. Died
of heart failure or old age. A farmer.
Record found on Hamburg Passenger Lists, July 15,1854, arriving New
York August 28,1854 on the Ship Humbolt, entry # 93 in company of his
father, Christian Sommerlade, 46, Christina Sommerlade, 40, and his
brother Georg, 12. Married 9 Jan. 1870 in Rochester, Minn.
According to his obituary, one child died before 1880. George
Sommerlade, grandson tells how J.C. as an old man loved to ride the train
to a nearby town in the morning, spend the day socializing and drinking
in a saloon and return in the evening.
Maria Hagedorn, married to his son, Christian Emil, came to cook at the
Sommerlade home as they were building their farm house. J.C. took a
liking to her and wanted her to marry his older son John. But Maria had
other ideas. She did not love John. Chris fell in love with Maria and
courted her, talking her into marrying him. She wasn't even sure at
first she loved Chris, but her marriage to him made J.C. furious and he
made it difficult for the young couple for some time. Told by Maria, called Mary.
Sealing to his wife Wilhelmena Laabs was done in the Salt Lake Temple by Joe and Joyce Goodman and Joey and Laura Goodman 29 May 1998 His baptism and endowment were apparently done earlier in another temple, Alberta, by his grandson, George. No. 86063 Book 25 page 3551 temple records of Alberta, Canada.
Wilhelmena LAABS
Birth:
18 Oct 1836
Glansee, Pommern, Prussia, Germany
Chr:
23 Oct 1836
Glansee, Pommern, Prussia, Germany
Death:
1 Jan 1917
St. Cloud, Stearns, Minnesota
Burial:
Lake Benton, Lincoln, Minnesota
Father:
Mother:
Notes:
Wilhelmena was the spelling on her grave marker in the Lake Benton
Cemetary (found by George Sommerlade, grandson, and Joyce Goodman,
great-granddaughter in May of 1969).
She came to America in 1866 with family and friends, settling in Minnesota. Four years later she married John C. Sommerlade, 15 Jan 1870 in Olmsted county. The tamily moved in 1878 to Drammen township settling onb a farm.
One child died apparently before 1880, according to the obituary of
Wilhelmena's husband, Johann Christoff Sommerlade. This is the only
reference to this child.
She was a cute-looking short, roundish lady with light gray hair parted
in the middle. She was spoken of as a kind woman who cared about her
neighbors.
She inherited money from her family in Germany which she kept in a
trunk in the attic. The house burned down, destroying the money. She
was said to never have recovered fully from this tragedy.
Children
Marriage
1
Birth:
7 Feb 1871
Rochester, Olmsted, Minnesota
Death:
5 Feb 1945
Lincoln, Minnesota
Notes:
BURIAL:
Memorial Hill Cemetery, Lake Benton, MN
Sealed to parents by Joey and Laura Goodman and Joe and Joyce Goodman
May 29, 1998.
First child of Johan Christoff Sommerlade. He wanted my grandmother to marry John. She was cooking at their house during the construction of their new home. Mary (Hagedorn) did not want to marry John, but his father was insistant. In the meantime, the younger brother, Chris courted her. She liked Chris and he talked her into marrying him. Even then, she was not sure she was in love with Chris. They married and had one child (George William) before Chris' death from tuberculosis in 1903. Grandpa Sommerlade never really forgave her for going against his will and not marrying John. Maybe that was the old German way.
2
Birth:
1872
Rochester, Olmsted, Minnesota
Death:
27 Nov 1939
Lake Benton, Lincoln, Minnesota
Notes:
Louise was called Lizzie by the family. She was a quiet woman. George
Sommerlade said she scrubbed her floors as white as snow. She lost
three children before having her only living child, Herbert.
She may have been christened Louisa.
She died at the age of 67.
Buried in the cemetary at Lake Benton according to notes of the
Minnesota trip of Joyce and George Sommerlade, her nephew.
3
Birth:
3 May 1875
Cascade, Olmsted, Minnesota
Death:
15 May 1903
Diamond Lake Twp, Lincoln, Minnesota
Notes:
Chris could not walk and the neighbors chipped to buy him some braces. This
was told us by Maria Hagedorn Monner, his wife, as she heard the story.
He later recovered from the lameness, but was always slightly
bowlegged. We do not know the disease or exact age.
Died of complications of TB. The young couple did not have the funds to
get him to a warmer climate. Grave marker at Lake Benton Cemetary,
(Minn. trip in 1969) said:
Chris E. Sommerlade, Born May 3, 1875 Died May 15, 1903
Sleep sweetly dear Chris
Beneath the green sod;
Sleep silently husband
Thy spirit's with God.
Chris's death left Mary (Maria) with a three-year-old son George William to raise. It was not easy for a woman in those days. She was a wonderful cook and worked for her aunt at the Rein Hotel in a neighboring town. Later she ran a boarding house in St. Paul and did sewing--making a fancy, hand-stitched long dress of the day for $3. It took her about a week of sewing. George grew up being very fruegal, understandably and told of making his piece of candy last nearly all day.
Chris and a friend ran a saloon in Ballaton, Lake Benton, Minnesota and I think he was doing this when he took ill.
Baptism, endowment were done at Alberta Canada temple (temple index card 86131 book 25 page 3554), sealing to parents at SLAKE.
Notes:
Called Mena as a child, Minnie as an adult.
She was three at the time of the 1880 census.
5
SOMMERLADE
Birth:
Abt 1879
of Rochester, Olmstead, Minnesota
Death:
Marr:
Notes:
Nothing is known about this child except that in John C. Sommerlade's obituary in the Lake Benton, Minn. paper (assume this paper) it states that one child died in infancy.
FamilyCentral Network
Johann Christoph Sommerlade - Wilhelmena Laabs
Johann Christoph Sommerlade
was born at Erfurt, Thuringia, Prussia 6 Oct 1834.
His parents were Friedrich Christian Sommerlade and Kunigunde Elizabetha Meisch.
He married Wilhelmena Laabs 15 Jan 1870 at Rochester, Olmsted, Minnesota . Wilhelmena Laabs was born at Glansee, Pommern, Prussia, Germany 18 Oct 1836 daughter of Jacob Laabs and Engel Liskow .
They were the parents of 5
children:
John W. Sommerlade
born 7 Feb 1871.
Louisa Sommerlade
born 1872.
Christian Emil Sommerlade
born 3 May 1875.
Wilhelmena Sommerlade
born Abt 1877.
Sommerlade
born Abt 1879.
Johann Christoph Sommerlade died 20 Sep 1912 at Lake Benton, Lincoln, Minnesota .
Wilhelmena Laabs died 1 Jan 1917 at St. Cloud, Stearns, Minnesota .