Person:John Schauweker (1)

January 6, 2012. Dear Mr. Schauweker, after extensive research the only record our office has on a John Schawweker (sic) is a copy of the enclosed index card. We do not have Vol. 3, so you may want to contact the Immigration and Naturalization office in Cleveland, Ohio for further information. This card should be of some assistance to that office for further research. Sincerely, Catherine Hawk.

(Family name: Schauweker. Given name or names: John. Address: Richland Co., Ohio. Certificate no. (or vol. and page): Vol. 3. Pg. 74. Title and location of court: Probate Court. Mansfield, Ohio. County of birth or allegiance: France. Date of naturalization: Oct. 10, 1859.)

John and family moved to Noble County, Indiana in 1852. This may well be a different person with the same name, unless he had to return to Richland County, Ohio to be naturalized. Noble County could not locate a record. If this is a different person, as the connection to France would suggest, it would mean our John's immigration and naturalization records have been lost, or destroyed, or his name was mangled beyond reasonable identification. It's a small miracle the surname is missing only a superfluous consonant.

Further, Ohio is too close to several major ports of entry to make an informed guess as to where he may have landed. It is not known why he chose to settle in Ohio; I suspect he did not immigrate alone or, if he did, he likely had family already residing there.

The reason for his emigration is also unclear, though it may have had something to do with economic conditions in Southern Germany. According to James Chastain's Encyclopedia of Revolutions of 1848: "The harvests of 1845 and 1846 were very poor. In addition, a potato blight raged. As a result of grain and potato scarcity the cost of basic commodities dramatically increased, especially in the spring of 1847. Besides village and urban poverty, which already had turned to public or private charity, artisans were especially hard hit. Formerly prosperous masters were impoverished; journeymen and the autonomous mass artisans suffered chronic undernourishment and particularly in the spring of 1847 often had to go hungry on a regular basis. In the first half of 1847, inflation and pauperization in numerous Prussian and south German states led in turn to bread riots and hunger revolts, directed against usurers and grain speculators and often could only be brought under control by massive deployment of troops. The bumper harvest of the fall of 1847 ended the last preindustrial variety of economic crisis."

John spent the years between 1852 and the rest of his life in Jefferson Township. Repetition of this fact has been omitted from census data for the sake of readability.

John's grave was visited and documented in May, 2011.

1.   Parish Records of the Evangelical Church of St. Mary, Reutlingen.

   Name: Johann Michael Schauwecker
   Gender: Male
   Baptism/Christening Place: Reutlingen, Württemberg, Germany
   Birth Date: 19 Jan 1819
   Father's Name: Joseph Schauwecker
   Mother's Name: Maria Salome Mohrin
   Indexing Project (Batch) Number: C92676-7
   System Origin: Germany-EASy
   Source Film Number: 1569077
   Reference Number: 28
   Collection: Germany Births and Baptisms, 1558-1898

2.   1850 US Census.

   August 28, 1850. Monroe, Richland County, Ohio. House: 202. Family: 202. Head of household: Schauweker, John. Age 30. Male. Occupation: farmer. Value of real estate owned: 200. Place of birth: Germany.
   
   Susanna. Age 32. Female. Place of birth: Maryland.
   
   Mary T. Age 2. Female. Place of birth: Ohio.

3.   1860 US Census.

   June 18, 1860. Jefferson Township, Noble County, Indiana. House: 584. Family: 584. Head of household: Schauweker, John. Age 47. Male. Occupation: farmer. Value of real estate: 1900. Value of personal estate: 400. Place of birth: Hanover.
   
   Susan. Age 44. Female. Place of birth: Maryland.
   
   Mary. Age 12. Female. Place of birth: Ohio.
   
   Sarah. Age 8. Female. Place of birth: Ohio.
   
   Frank. Age 5. Male. Place of birth: Indiana.

4.   1870 US Census.

   July 26, 1870. Jefferson Township, Noble County, Indiana. House: 203. Family: 203. Head of household: Schauweker, John. Age 51. Male. White. Occupation: farmer. Value of real estate: 1500. Value of personal estate: 500. Place of birth: Wurttemberg. Father and mother of foreign birth. Citizen 21 years of age and over: yes.
   
   Susanna. Age 52. Female. White. Place of birth: Pennsylvania. Cannot write.
   
   Sarah. Age 18. Female. White. Place of birth: Ohio. Father of foreign birth.
   
   Frank. Age 15. Male. White. Place of birth: Indiana. Father of foreign birth.

5.   1880 US Census.

   June 10, 1880. Jefferson Township, Noble County, Indiana. House: 94. Family: 94. Head of household: Schauweker, John. White. Male. Age 61. Married. Occupation: farmer. Place of birth: person, father, mother; Germany, Germany, Germany.
   
   Susanna. Female. Age 63. Married. Place of birth: person, father, mother; Maryland, Pennsylvania, Maryland.

6.   1900 US Census.

   June 1, 1900. Jefferson Township, Noble County, Indiana. House: 11. Family: 11. Head of household: Schauweker, John. White. Male. Month of birth: January. Year of birth: 1819. Age 81. Married 52 years. Place of birth: person, father, mother; Germany, Germany, Germany. Year of immigration: 1845. Number of years in the United States: 55. Naturalized. Occupation: farmer. Can read, write, and speak English: yes.
   
   Susanna. Wife. White. Female. Month of birth: October. Year of birth: 1817. Age 82. Married 52 years. Mother of three children. Place of birth: person, father, mother; Maryland, Pennsylvania, Maryland. Can read, write, and speak English: yes.

7.   Noble County, Indiana Death Records from the Whan Collection.

   Schauweker John M, 81y 7m 8d, 8-27-1900, A2.

8.   Noble County, Indiana Obituaries from the Whan Collection.

   Schauweker, John Michael, one of the citizens of Jefferson Twp residing about two miles south of this city, died Monday. For several years he has been afflicted with rheumatism, but the immediate cause of his death was heart disease. He was born in Wittenberg, Germany, and at the time of his death was aged 81 years, 7 months and 8 days. He came from Germany to Ohio when he was 27 years of age and there was married to Susannah Deter. Himself and family settled in Albion in 1852 and purchased the tannery on the site of Frederick Gappinger’s residence, of the editor’s grandfather, Henry Bowman, (appears to have line missing) which he conducted for several years, after which he settled on the farm where he died. The funeral services were held at the residence Wednesday. Interment, Rose Hill Cemetery.

9.   Headstone.

   Schauweker
   John M Schauweker
   Born Jan 19 1819
   Died Aug 27 1900
   Aged 81
   
   Susannah Deter
   His Wife
   Born Oct 14 1817
   Died Nov 22 1909

10. ↑ Rose Hill Cemetery