- BIRTH 13 Feb 1837 Eimsheim, Landkreis Mainz-Bingen, Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany
- DEATH 18 Nov 1900 (aged 63) Hankinson, Richland County, North Dakota, USA
- BURIAL Stine Cemetery Lidgerwood, Richland County, North Dakota, USA
Gertrude married in Germany to husband Jacob Neisinger after they had birthed at least two children. (a not so uncommon German custom to marry after a few children were born). Her town origin was Eimsheim, Germany according to one record, a hamlet with an Eberhardt/Eberhart population close to Dexheim where the Neisinger’s churched. Their collection of villages on the west bank of the Rhine River, maybe 35 miles SW of Frankfurt, are today a fine grape producing region.
She was raised German Lutheran according to oral family history and he Catholic however his family drifted away from the church before leaving Germany. Her baptismal name was not Gertrude. She adopted that name many years later in North Dakota. Her given name was Gerhardine (recorded in immigration ship manifest) and she decided at some point that Gerhardine was too cumbersome for American use. There is no knowledge of her parents or family but she could have had a brother living in the Minneapolis/Hopkins area. Her son, Jake Neisinger, later married his first cousin Minnie Eberhardt.
Gertrude and Jacob’s first documented child was a daughter, Anna Maria, born Dec 31, 1860 and died July 16, 1864 at their home in Schwabsburg, Rhinehessen. Followed by Jacob Theodore 1863, Paul Andrew 1865, Julia 1867, Katherine (Morrow) 1868, Anna (Reiflin Mowrey) 1872, Emma (Gully) 1874, Elizabeth (Mollenkopf) 1880. Gertrude raised 7 children to adulthood.
The Neisinger family left Germany when daughter Julia was an infant. They arrived in New York harbor November 6, 1867 en route from Antwerp, Belgium sailing on the ship Thames or Thomas. They traveled with Jacob’s brother Peter Neisinger and several of his small children. He stayed on in New York where he arranged for work as a baker and later remarried, while Jake and Gertrude moved steadily toward La Crosse County, WI where younger brother Paul Neisinger (and eventually their Neisinger parents and three younger sisters) settled.
Jacob and Gertrude bought approx. 200 acres of land southeast of Bangor, WI in the beautiful La Crosse River valley and birthed three more daughters (children that lived). Life was good in Wisconsin, but after 12 years, they decided to blaze a new trail west for Dakota Territory. Gertrude later mentioned to her daughter in-regard to why they left Wisconsin, saying there were no stumps to grub on the open Dakota prairie and land was free. Jacob built a temporary sod home in Richland County, Belford Township, Dakota Territory. There were no towns in the vicinity but tiny Mantador, ND did eventually sprout up down the new rail line from their farm. The active Wild Rice River traveled very near their home providing them with water. For fuel they collected dung, grass, (whatever would burn) and they purchased coal thirty miles away at Wahpeton on the Minnesota border. Last child Elizabeth was born on September 1, 1880 either in the sod house or in a newer wood frame home.
In 1894, after fifteen years in Dakota, Jacob and Gertrude sold their 360 acre farm and moved west seven miles to live near their newly married daughter Emma Gully. Their new son-in-law Richard Gully traded with them or sold to them 80 acres of his land, which was actually the south half of his original 160 acre homestead. They built a small home.
Emma appreciated having her mother nearby, their homes were just visible to each other, (perhaps a quarter mile apart) and the two women sewed many items together and Gertrude helped care for Emma’s growing family. Elizabeth, age 14 years old, was still at home and Jake and Gertrude were also raising Julia’s daughter Rachel, their granddaughter and illegitimate child, ever since she was an infant. Nine years earlier, in 1885, Julia disappeared a few months after birthing Rachel, gone, vanished without a trace. The sheriff investigated the possibility of foul play–was she killed or did she merely run away–the family never knew. No one ever heard from Julia again. If she was murdered, they never found a body. She vanished. Her daughter Rachel grew to womanhood in Dakota never knowing either of her birth parents. She married Roger Kerwin. They had no children. She died at age 83 in 1969 in Florida.
On a day in November 1900, Gertrude, age 63 years old, complained of persistent intestinal pain and the family took her to the hospital in Hankinson, ND. The roads were bumpy and slow and fifteen miles was a long way in a wagon for someone in very bad pain. An operation was advised and performed, which ultimately cost Gertrude her life. The family was devastated. They had left the hospital after the operation believing Gertrude was resting comfortably.
Oral family history declared Emma grieved her mother’s death for years. Her death had happened so suddenly and in retrospect, at least to some family members, it seemed preventable. Perhaps the operation performed by the medical team was botched and may not have been necessary. Gertrude was interred at Lidgerwood’s Stine Cemetery following services at Hankinson’s Lutheran church.
Rachel Kerwin, in conversation with this author about her grandmother Gertrude remarked, “…no matter what time of day or nor matter what she was doing, Grandmother Neisinger always looked good. She was a nice looking woman. She dressed well for a settler.” Gertrude stood maybe an inch taller then her husband Jacob and out-weighed him.
written by Gregory Dorr (Copied from findagrave.com)
Frees Family History 