Notes for Nicholas Klapperich
Source: M. L. Wilhelm and Morman Church Records
From letter written by Lloyd John Klapperich 12/6/1982 (in Klapperich family folder at Stearns County Historical Society Library, St. Cloud, MN):
Frank Klapperich from Chicago traveled to West Germany and traced the Klapperich name to a town called Kaltenborn. It is west of Bonn and at the entrance to Holland and Luxenborg. There he found a woman whose maiden name had been Klapperich. Since neither spoke the others language very well, communication was limited. She did manage to convey that she was the only one left in the town, which was a small mountain village of only a couple of hundred people. She said that the other Klapperich had either died off or had previously gone west into Holland and Luxenborg with the German Armies of WW I and WW II.
Ursula and Eberhart Schroater (friends in Germany) told me that they had found the village near a mountain which has a German name that when translated to English, means "high watch" or "high guarding point". Karltenborn was mostly new houses and a nice church. In the grave yard they found the grave of a woman who had been born Klapperich. Her name was Kath. Doll. She was born in 1863 and died in 1934. They talked to the local priest who promised to check and send them whatever information he could find. Then he advised that in 1934 all the inhabitants of Kaltenborn and other surround villages were forced to move away by the Nazis in order to build a landing field for Guering who like the area for hunting. Later, Kaltenborn was nearly totally destroyed during WW II. It was later re-founded by some of the former residents in immigrants from East Germany. Of course, this makes the tracing of further roots much more difficult. Kaltenborners were normally rather poor peasants who supplemented their income by doing "forestry and woodworks". I presume this means lumbermen and carpenters. This, apparently, was another reason for the inhabitants to immigrate to other regions and countries. After returning home, the Schroaters received a letter from the priest they had visited in Kaltenborn. He did not find out much, but in the "church books" of Kaltenborn (which are located in Adenhour- a small town nearby) the name of one man who was born and baptised in Kaltenborn but was not married or buried there. His name was Francis Xavier Klapperich, son of John Klapperich and Anna Marie Schuh. Anna Marie apparently had some Spanish ties. Francis Xavier Klapperich was born on 6/5/1873.
There appears to be some direct link between the Frank Klapperich of Chicago and the Francis Xavier Klapperich of Germany. With the repeated use of Peter, there is also the possibility that Dad's family could be traced back to this village.
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