The Story of Sophia Dorathea Rehmus Kern
By Louise Seth,
her great-granddaughter
I
am Sophia Dorothea Rehmus Kern and this is my story. I was born December 15, 1842 in Pyritz, Pomerania, Germany—known
as “The Corridor” and now a part of Poland.
When I was growing up my father managed a farm near Hamburg,
Germany. When I was about nine years
old my mother died. My father was left
with three children to care for—myself and a younger sister and brother.
I do not know
when my father first thought of going to America. Perhaps this was a plan he and my mother had for many years. In 1853 he told us we were going to America
to live on our own farm. I am sure we
were excited but also apprehensive about taking such a long journey to an
unknown place.
We
sailed on a big ship. Our place on the ship was the open deck—not a good place
to be for three weeks crossing the ocean.
We three children all became very ill and I do not remember anything
more about the voyage. I came to in a
hospital in Quebec. While I was still
quite weak Papa took me from the hospital and carried me in his arms to the
nearest tavern. Here he gave me a stiff
shot and said, “Drink this. It will
make you stronger.”
When
I asked about my sister and brother I was told they had died. I do not know when or where. Papa was too grief-stricken to talk about
it. He was a very gentle man with a
kindly disposition. I told this story
many times to my youngest grandchild, Bernadine. She would ask for the story again and again. I would say, “Ach, Kind, don’t you get tired
of hearing the same story over and over?”
But she liked hearing about my great adventure.
After
I regained my strength Papa and I went by train to the farm he had purchased
near LaSalle, Illinois. Here I kept
house for Papa until he married a German lady.
They had a daughter, Augusta—I had a sister again!
I
was growing up and Papa permitted me to get a job in a hotel in LaSalle. Here I made soap and did other work. I chanced to catch the eye of a German man
who worked at making shoes in a shop up the street from the hotel. It wasn’t long before he was courting
me. Michael was sixteen years older
than me but to us the age difference was no problem. Papa liked Michael and when Michael asked for my hand in marriage
Papa gave his permission.
Papa
put us on a train and trusted us to get married, which we did January 3, 1858,
in Marsailles. I was just sixteen. On October 27, 1859 my first child was born
in Marsailles—Sophia Dorothea.
My
happiness at having a sweet little girl to care for was short lived as Sophia
died in July 1860, just nine months old.
I was four months pregnant at the time of her death and on December 31,
1860, my second child was born—George Ludwig.
We were now living in Ottawa, Illinois.
My little son kept me busy and I had little time to mourn.
From
Ottawa we moved to Morris and here my second daughter was born November 30,
1862—Maria Louise. By 1864 we had moved
to Dwight. Here we stayed and here were
born the rest of our children: Anna Margaretha, 1864; Anton (Tony)
William,1866; Peter Daniel, 1868; Augusta Whilmina, 1870; Kathryn, 1873;
Margaretha Ernestine, 1874; Dorthea (Dora) Ernestine 1876; John, 1879; and
Nicholas Henry, 1882.
Louise
was the first of my children to marry in 1879.
In January 1880 I became a grandmother.
A grandmother at 38! I told
Louise, “I am much too young to be called Grandma!” In the end I had to give in as the grandchildren came quickly and
I love them all. Louise’s second son
George was born October 23, 1881. My
last child, Nicholas, was born in 1882.
In October of that year, Louise and Henry lost their Georgie to Cholera
Infantum.
The
following year our George married Catherine Muenster and they soon had a son
George. Louise had another son, Albert,
born in July 1883. Death came calling
again that year and took our little son John.
Between
1885 and 1890 George had another child, Henry.
Tony married Cora Mary Eldridge and had two children: Alice, my first
granddaughter, and a son, Horace.
In
the years 1891 through 1897 both Gussie and Maggie married and four more
grandchildren were born. Tony had two
more boys, George and Roy. Gussie had
Ethel Mae and Rehmus, called Ray. We now had nine children living, with five of
them married. We had eleven grandchildren—a
large family!
Michael’s
health had been poorly and in February 1898 he died. I was a widow at 56 with a teenaged son to educate. Fortunately I had family living near in
Dwight to help me. In his will, Michael
had left me everything for my lifetime as long as I didn’t remarry. We had real estate in Dwight including the
home place and ten other lots worth over $11,000. We also had over $1000 in cash, and several thousands loaned out
in notes. I continued to loan people
money after Michael’s death. (Records show that the interest charged to family
members was 5%. Others were charged 6%
or 7%)
All
the children were married by the early 1900s.
Nick had graduated from Northwestern (Nick, Fred, and Albert were all at
Northwestern at the same time) and now was a doctor, as was Fred. Albert was a dentist.
My
eyesight grew dim, and then I went blind from glaucoma. I live in my house on
West Chippewa Street in Dwight with my sons and daughters-in-law nearby to help
me. Sadness came when my son George
died in 1910 and Maggie succumbed to cancer in 1911, the same year George’s son
Henry, died. My first great grandson,
Ludwig, was killed by a train in 1926.
But
I am proud to have so many children and grandchildren still alive, proud that
they have become successful Americans.