Person:Johann Ayd (8)

Research Notes

• Parents established in following records:
  • 1799 German Birth/Baptism record¹: Leonardo Ayd & Thecla Ochs
  • 1823 German Marriage record: Leonhard Aydt & Thekla Ochs
• Possibly named after Saint Cajetan
• He was part of a group of German Catholics who left Ersingen village, first settling in Piopolis, Hamilton, Illinois and later in what is now St. Michael, Wright, Minnesota.

Additional Resources

• Notes on Albert Esswein by researcher Dennis Dale Buchmiller - presents a nice synopsis of the initial immigration journeys

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4} Joannes Cajitanus Ayd, in Germany. Germany Births and Baptisms, 1558-1898: index. (FamilySearch MyHeritage).

   [Permalink to primary record image: 390 Nr. 3777, 1 Band - Ersingen, katholische Gemeinde: Standesbuch 1795-1820 ]
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   name: Joannes Cajitanus Ayd
   gender: Male
   baptism/christening date: 29 Dec 1799
   baptism/christening place: KATHOLISCH, ERSINGEN, KARLSRUHE, BADEN
   birth date: 29 Dec 1799
   birthplace:
   death date:
   name note:
   race:
   father's name: Leonardo Ayd
   father's birthplace:
   father's age:
   mother's name: Thecla Ochs
   mother's birthplace:
   mother's age:
   indexing project (batch) number: C94122-2
   system origin: Germany-EASy
   source film number: 1053594

2.   Hamilton County, Illinois: celebrating 175 years, p 32.

   Piopolis - The small group of German immigrants who came to Southeastern Illinois in 1841 were Catholics from Ersingen and Belfingen, Baden, Germany. The orignial families were those of Cajetan Aydt, Mathias Kaufmann, Urban Anselment, William Aydt, Albert Eswein, Anthony Kaufmann, and Marcellus Zachman, plus others identified in historical accounts as "five unmarried persons." Additional settlers from Germany followed them in 1843 and into the 1860s. Others also came from other Illinois and Indiana counties. The McLeansboro Times of October 5, 1882 characterized the small town as follows:...
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   [Note: this citation should be replaced as more primaries are added]

3. ↑ ^3.0 3.1 Farnham, Daniel Ross, and Minnesota) Delano Eagle (Delano. D. R. Farnham's history of Wright County, 1880. (Delano, Minnesota: Delano Eagle, 1976? (Buffalo, Minn. : Wright-Way Graphics, 1976))
   217.

   ... "The next settler or explorer was John K. Aydt, who with his son Leonhard looked over the town in 1854, and made a long journey up the north fork of Crow River, where they came very near starving on account of their small stock of provisions giving out, and the scarcity of game; they only had one duck in three days. He selected claims for each of his sons, and one for his brother Edward Aydt in section 24 township 120 range 34 in September 1854, building shanties and fulfilling the requirements of the claim or pre-emption laws. He also purchased a claim at the mouth of the Crow River, opposite the village of Dayton, for which he paid $1,000. He and others laid out a town called Aydt's Town, built two or three houses and established a ferry which was run by Chas. Aydt several years. The town was a suburb of the great city of Northwood, and when O.H. Kelly's city fell, Aydt's Town went with it. The title to the land went into litigation and John K. Aydt lost his $1,000."
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   p 356 - In the spring of 1854, Mr. John K. Aydt and Charles Aydt purchased the right to claim on section 36 at the mouth of the Crow River and built a house and established a ferry, and laid out a town, in Otsego, and named the new town Waterville. Charles Aydt resided there nearly two years and ran the ferry, but the village did not flourish. He sold a part of the townsite in 1856, to Robinson & Baxter, and they laid out the town of Portland, mostly in Hennepin county, but on both sides of the Crow River, and as Waterville had not been surveyed or platted, nor entered as a townsite, it died and was known no more."

4.   Curtiss-Wedge, Franklyn, and Wright County Historical Society (Minnesota). History of Wright County, Minnesota. (Buffalo, Minnesota: Wright-Way Graphics, 1977)
   1:90.

   Land Office Records - claims:
   Range 23 section 36 John K. Ayd May 1, 1857

5.   Curtiss-Wedge, Franklyn, and Wright County Historical Society (Minnesota). History of Wright County, Minnesota. (Buffalo, Minnesota: Wright-Way Graphics, 1977)
   2:783.

   "Waterville was laid out in the spring of 1854, by John K. Aydt and Charles Aydt, who purchased the right to a claim on section 36, at the mouth of the Crow River, and built a house and established a ferry. Charles Aydt resided there nearly two years and operated the ferry. The town though laid out was not surveyed or platted and was not entered at the land office as a townsite. In 1856 a part of the townsite was sold to Robinson & Baxter, who laid out the town of Portland largely in Hennepin county, but on both sides of the river."