Person:Christopher Jurgens (1)

Immigration

14 OCT 1834 Ship "Brig Vernon" from Bremen, Germany to New York; age 29; Christopher Jurgens traveled w/wife; farmer; also on same ship was older brother Gerhardt Heinrich, Gerhardt's wife and 3 children, and another Heinrich Jurgens.

1.   Ancestry.com - Message Boards.

   A new website and corresponding GED have been posted to the internet. The website contains the 1834 emigration story of two brothers, Christopher Heinrich and Gerhardt Heinrich JURGENS, sons of Eberhard Heinrich JURGENS and wife Katharine Marie Elisabeth MOLLENPAGE-VOSS (nee WILKER) of Belm, Osnabruck, Germany to the City of Richmond, Wayne County, Indiana, USA. 342 descendants have been recorded. We look forward to corresponding with distant relatives and others who may be interested. Research includes information from the Christus Lutheran church and St. Dionysius Catholic church in Belm, and St. John Lutheran church in Richmond, Indiana which these two brothers co-founded. Many of the families of this German immigrant church were from the Osnabruck region.
   
   Surnames in this family tree include: ABBOTT, ANDERSON, BEEBE, BROWN, BUCHHOLZ, BURKHARDT, CAMPBELL, COLLINS, COPENHEFER, CUTTER, DARGIE, DICKMANN, DORSEY, DRESHER, EGGEMEYER, EMERY, EVANS, FICKE, GERLING, GOLDING, HACKMAN, HAMILTON, HAMLETT, HAMM, HANER, HASEMEIER, HOCKSTETTER, HOLDCAMP, IGELMAN, ISENHOWER, JURGENS, KANKE, KASTING, KEMPER, KLEHFOTH, KLUTE, KNOLLENBERG, LEHR, MAIER, MASHMEYER, MATHEWSON, MAYER, McGUIRE, McNEILL, MELLE, MENDENHALL, MENKE, MEYER, MOLLENPAGE, MOSER, MYERS, NOE, NUSBAUM, OEHL, OTTE, PIEHL, PILLE, RAVENCRAFT, REIMER, REMMERT, ROBERTS, ROBINSON, RUEHL, SCHMIDT, SCHULTZ, SEEKER, SIMPSON, SITTLOH, SNYDER, SPERLING, STAUBER, STEEN, STEGMAN, STIENS, STUDYBAKER, SUDHOFF, TEUCKE, TIBBE, TURMAN, TURNER, VAN SCHOIACK, VEREGGE, VOSS, WARFEL, WEISS, WHALEY, WHITE, WILKER, WILSON.
   
   https://www.ancestry.com/boards/surnames.jurgens/106/mb.ashx

2.   RootsWeb's WorldConnect Project.

   THE VOYAGE TO AMERICA
   
   Christopher Henrich Jurgens emigrated from Osnabruck at the age of 29 to America. He departed Bremen, Germany and arrived in New York on October 14, 1834 on the ship "Brig Vernon". Typically a voyage would have taken 6 weeks, double that if the weather was bad. His name on the ship log was recorded as "Heinrich Furgens." He made the trip with his wife Catharine Ellen Engel Jurgens age 30 . They had no children at that time. Also traveling on this same ship was his elder brother Gerhardt Heinrich Jurgens age 42, wife Catharine Elisabeth age 40, children Catharine Maria age 11, Gerhardt Heinrich age 7, and Marie Elisabeth age 3. The average cost of a fair was about $243 each, with children under 5 traveling at reduced rates or free. Photocopies of the original ship logs for this voyage are shown below. They settled and made their homes in the city of Richmond, Wayne County, Indiana, then a city of about 2,000 residents.
   
   http://freepages.rootsweb.com/~tibbeturner/genealogy/jurgens_story.htm

3. ↑ ^3.0 3.1 RootsWeb's WorldConnect Project.

   Christopher and his eldest brother Gerhardt and their families were from the small town of Wellingen, Parish of Belm, Osnabruck, Hanover, Germany; present day in th region of Lower Saxony (Niedersachen). At this time it is believed that they were the only two who emigrated from the JURGENS family of Belm to the U.S., settling in Richmond, Wayne Co., Indiana. The JURGENS brothers emigrated to escape serious and depressing economic conditions. They sailed on the ship "Brig Vernon" which departed Bremen, Germany and arrived in New York City on 10/14/1834. A typical sailing journey during that time period was 9-12 weeks. Christopher was 29 years old and traveled with his wife Catherine; they had no children at that time. Gerhardt was 42 years old, and traveled with his wife and 3 young children. They are believed to be the first two families from the Osnabruck region of Germany to settle in Richmond, Wayne Co., Indiana. There were a few single men from Osnabruck who emigrated about the same time. Over the next 50+ years, there were many others from that region to Richmond, Indiana. Christopher and brother Gerhardt were two of the original six vestry/founding members of St. John Lutheran Church in Richmond, Indiana year 1844. Notes from obituary: a good citizen, friend and neighbor, he was industrious, temperate and frugal, a Christian, and with these traits of character, has not failed in this free country of ours to accumulate a competency, God has prospered for him, he was followed to the grave by a large concourse of relatives, friends and neighbors. Christopher and wife Catherine had 5 children (3 daughters and 2 sons), all producing substantial families in size. At Lutherania Cemetery, there is a very tall pink marble marker for Christopher JURGENS. The name JURGENS was originally pronounced YERGENS, and was spelled as such, or variations of, on many documents researched.
   Earliest church records are from St. Dionysius (catholic) Church located in the middle of the City of Belm on Linden St. The church building was built in the year 1230. The west tower is from the year 1200. The baptismal font is made of sandstone and is dated between 1250 and 1300. The whole building was renovated in 1980. The catholic church records date back to 1651 in the "Ortsfamilienbuch" of Belm. After the reformation, Lutherans had no church of their own. Their marriages, baptisms, and funerals took place at this church prior to the establishment of Christus (Evangelical Lutheran) Church in 1810. The building began in 1815 and was completed in 1819. It stands across from St. Dionysus in the Belm town center. The church tower originally came from the Monestary Marienstatte in Osnabruck. The tower was disassembled and rebuilt to the church in 1817. There is an inscription above the door stating that the tower was a generous monumental gift from the royals. The stained glass windows and installation of the clock was done in 1903. In 1914 the clock and tower received spielwerk/chimes. In Germany your place of living also indicates the church you "belong to." Every church has an area called "Kirchspiel" (Parish). Being Lutheran and living in the Parish of Belm means that you are counted as a member of the "Evangelical Lutheran Christus Kirchengemeinde Belm." Christopher was presumably christened in St. Dionysius catholic church, and married at Christus Ev. Luth. church.
   
   https://worldconnect.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=jurgenscindy1&id=I001