My primary person of interest is Caspar Friedrich Amborn, who is my great grandfather. View his genealogical information on the Family Search Family Tree.

He was the youngest child of Johann Conrad Amborn (b. 12 March 1769, d. 2 January 1847) and Marie Catharine Weyhrauch (b. 13 January 1774, d. 17 July 1833). I have obtained birth records for their children and their death records and have had them translated:

Here are the death records:

The Amborn family has been traced to Niederschmalkalden, Sachsen-Meiningen, in the modern-day state of Thüringen, Germany thanks to the efforts of members of the Cooper County, Missouri Historical Society. They have transcribed newspaper and passport information from the period and have created a database of Immigrants from Sachsen-Meiningen, Germany (among other areas). This database (viewable on the societies website) refers to several members of the Amborn family and identifies the month & year that they departed Germany for the United States.

Information about the exodus from the region has also been published (in German) by the Thuringian Archives (see Emigration from the duchy of Saxony-Meiningen 68).

The information listed came from one source or the other (sometimes both):

Last NameFirst NameMonth YearLiving PlaceProfessionNoticeBornCooper CountyThuringian Archives
AmbornW.Apr1846UnterkatzTaylor  YesYes
AmbornCasper FredrichMar1847Niederschmalkalden  1816YesYes
Amborn[George] HeinrichMar1847Niederschmalkalden   YesYes
AmbornDaniel FriedliebMar1848Niederschmalkalden   YesYes
AmbornHeinrich AdamMar1848NiederschmalkaldenMechanic 1801Yes 
AmbornSebastianApr1852Niederschmalkalden with wife and 2 children1799YesYes
AmbornEva Elisabeth 1852Niederschmalkalden  1798 Yes
Amborn[Johann] AntonApr1853Niederschmalkalden with wife and 2 children1814YesYes
Weyhrauch AmbornDorthea 1853Niederschmalkalden  1798 Yes
AmbornChristineApr1853Niederschmalkalden   YesYes
AmbornDanielApr1853Niederschmalkalden   YesYes
AmbornDorthea 1853Niederschmalkalden  1798 Yes
AmbornAugust 1853Niederschmalkalden    Yes

Niederschmalkalden, Meiningen, Sachsen-Meiningen, Germany is cataloged in the Meyers Gazetteer: View Information

Three of the men listed above were the sons of Johann Conrad Amborn (b. 1769, d. 1847) and Marie Catharine Weyhrauch (b. 1774, d. 1833). Marie gave birth to 12 children between 1795 and 1816, 6 of whom died in infancy.

  • Caspar Friedrich [1847] (b. 24 September 1816) – He traveled with his wife, 2 sons and one daughter
  • Johann Daniel Friedlieb [1848] (b. 1801) – He was unmarried at the time of his emigration
  • Johann Anton [1853] (b. 22 November, 1814) – He traveled with his wife (Dorthea Weyhrauch), a son and a daughter

Two others were the sons of Heinrich Adam Amborn (brother of Johann Conrad Amborn) and Otila Zapf.

  • Heinrich Adam [1848] (b. 1801) – He apparently traveled with his wife and 2 sons
  • Sebastian [1852] (b. 1799) – He traveled with his wife and 2 daughters

Daniel Amborn (b. abt 1813) [1853] traveled with his wife (Dorthea), son August (age 7) and daughter Dorthea (age 4). Also listed on the ships register (the Lohan, arriving in New York on 24 June 1853) was ‘Anton Amborn‘, age 30.

The pedigree of the remaining emigrants is not (yet) known:

  • W. Amborn [1846]
  • George Heinrich Amborn [1847] (b. 1805) – He reportedly married Anna Elisabeth Schliecher (b. 1823) in Germany in 1845, and their first child was born Bloomfield, Wisconsin in 1848.
  • Christine Amborn [1853] (Male, b. 1826)

Research of church birth records has also revealed several other Amborn families in Germany:

  • Johan Heinrich Amborn and Anna Catherina Amborn had two daughters:
  • Johan Dietrich Amborn and Eva Magalina Weirauchin (sp?) had a son and a daughter:

They apparently were Protestant in Germany and Lutheran in Wisconsin (although George D Amborn, grandson of Casper Frederick Amborn, reportedly converted to Catholicism prior to his marriage to Anna Marie Schultz in 1905).

The timeline below documents the emigration of the Amborn family:

1816 – September 25: Caspar Friedrich Amborn is born.

Translation (courtesy of Ute Brandenburg ):

Caspar Friedrich Amborn, 12th child, sixth child still living, third son, of Conrad Amborn, neighbor, [?] and farmer here, and his wife Marie Catharine Weyhrauch, also from here. He was born on 25 September at at six o’clock in the evening and was baptized on 26 September at 5 o’clock. Sponsor: Johann Heinrich Amborn, youngest son of Johann Conrad Amborn, Lehnschultheiß here.

A Lehnschultheiß – short explanation – is a representative or administrator to the the tenant farmers on a manorial estate

1847 – March: Caspar Friedrich Amborn and Gottreich Heinrich Amborn (b. 1805) leave Niederschmalkalden, Germany.

“The parents [Caspar and Louise Amborn] and their two sons [Antone Henry Amborn, b. 25 December 1840 and Gottreich Henry Amborn, b. 19 March 1842] and two daughters came to America in 1847, direct to Wisconsin, the voyage across the ocean requiring seven weeks. They landed in Kenosha and the next day started for Walworth county, two days later finding them in Lyons township, and here they at once bought forty acres of land [1 January 1851], and this was the family home until 1869, when the father and mother sold out and moved to Burr Oak, La Crosse county, and there the father and mother spent their last days.”

History of Walworth County, Wisconsin (1912), pages 954-55. By Albert Clayton Beckwith (1836-1915)

“Between 1840 and 1860, hundreds of thousands of immigrants came from Europe. Most came by way of the Erie Canal and the Great Lakes to the port of Milwaukee, or they traveled up the Mississippi and Wisconsin Rivers and then by the railroads, which crossed the area soon after Wisconsin statehood.” [May 29, 1848].

“The most numerous of the foreign-born immigrants were from Germany. They came from the Catholic provinces of southern Germany and from Protestant eastern Germany.”

Wisconsin Emigration and Immigration, FamilySearch Wiki (https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/Wisconsin_Emigration_and_Immigration), accessed 19 December 2020

Wait – “two daughters”?

Until recently, Irene Amborn, b. 1845 was the only daughter known to have been born in Germany. However, I just discovered a previously unknown (to me) 1862 marriage record between Ottilte Georgine Amborn, daughter of Casper and Louise Amborn, and Johann Michael Katzenberger. She was almost certainly born before 1847 and so is probably the other daughter referenced above.

George Heinrich Amborn married Anna Elisabeth Schliecher (b. 24 December 1823) in Germany in 1845, and their first child was born in Bloomfield, Walworth, Wisconsin on 21 March 1848. She almost certainly accompanied him when he sailed over in 1847.

David Kimball (b. 1801) emigrated from Wernshausn Sachsen Meininson Saxony Germany with his wife Margaret E Young (b 1809) and family (5 daughters and 4 sons ranging in age from 2 to 19 years old) and settled in the same town in Wisconsin, also in 1847. It is possible that these families traveled together.

1847 – May: Casper Frederick Amborn arrives in New York.

1847 – July 6: Casper Frederick Amborn files his declaration of intent to become a United States citizen in Walworth County, Wisconsin.

1848 – March: Daniel Friedlieb Amborn and Heinrich Adam Amborn depart Niederschmalkalden, Germany

1848 – June 12: Henry [Heinrich] Adam Amborn (b. 1800), Daniel Friedlieb Amborn (b. 1810) and Christine Amborn (Male, b. 1826) arrive in New York on the Belinda

Year: 1848; Arrival: New York, New York; Microfilm Serial: M237, 1820-1897; Microfilm Roll: Roll 073; Line: 18; List Number: 545; Page Number: 4

1848 – July 12: Henry [Heinrich] Adam Amborn (b. 1800) files his declaration of intent to become a United States citizen in Walworth County, Wisconsin.

1848 – September 1: Johan [Gottreich] Heinrich Amborn (b. 7 Nov 1805) and Casper Berthelmeh purchase the SouthWest quarter of the SouthWest quarter of Section 9, Township 1 North of Range 18 East in the district of lands subject to sale at Milwaukee, Wisconsin containing Forty Acres.

View a contemporary Google Map of this location.

1851 – January 1: Casper Frederick Amborn purchases the South East quarter of the South East Quarter of Section 26 in Township two of Range Eighteen in the District of Lands subject to sale at Milwaukee Wisconsin containing 40 acres.

View a contemporary Google Map of this location.

1852 – April: Sebastian Amborn (b. 1802) departs Niederschmalkalden, Germany with his wife and 2 children.

1852 – May 28: Sebastian Amborn (b. 1802) arrives in New York from Bremon, Germany on the Childe Harold with wife Elizabeth and daughters Marie and Elise.

Year: 1852; Arrival: New York, New York; Microfilm Serial: M237, 1820-1897; Microfilm Roll: Roll 113; Line: 56; List Number: 615

1852 – June: Sebastian Amborn (b. 1782) arrives in New York. He would have been about 70 years old at the time.

1853 – April: Christin Amborn and Daniel Amborn depart Niederschmalkalden, Germany.

1853 – April: Johann Anton Amborn departs Niederschmalkalden, Germany with his wife and 2 children.

1853 – Johann Anton Amborn (b. 1820) arrives New York. [The 1900 census record for August Amborn states that  his wife Dorothea Weyrauth, son August and daughter Fredricka arrived in the United States in 1852.]

1900 United States Census, August Amborn Household. n.p: Bloomfield Township, Walworth County, Wisconsin. Supervisors District 5, Enumeration District 83, Sheet 11, Lines 70 – 72

1853 – November 7:  Sebastian Amborn (b. 1782) files his declaration of intent to become a United States citizen in Walworth County, Wisconsin. He was 71 years old at the time. Sebastian is a common name in the Amborn family: I have not yet been able to identify exactly who this Sebastian is or where (or even if) he is part of my family.

1855 – May 1: Sebastian Amborn (b. 1802) purchases the North West quarter of the South East Quarter of Section 9 in Township one North of Range Eighteen East in the District of Lands subject to sale at Milwaukee Wisconsin containing 40 acres.

View the center of this plot on Google Maps.

1872 – Casper Frederick Amborn served as a Supervisor for the Town of Lyons

History of Walworth County, Chicago Western Historical Society, Published 1882, Page 809

1873 – Chicago, Illinois: Everts, Baskin and Stewart published “Combination atlas map of Walworth County Wisconsin” that included maps identifying land ownership for each township.

The map for Bloomfield Township (Town number 1 North in Range number 18 East) identified several Amborns and the land they owned:

  • S 1/2 SW 1/4, Section 2 – A. [Anton] Amborn (80 Acres)
  • SE 1/4 SE 1/4 Section 3 – A. [Anton] Amborn (40 Acres, adjacent to the land described above)
  • W 1/2 SE 1/4 Section 12 – A. [Anton] Amborn (80 Acres)
  • NE 1/4 NE 1/4  Section 13 – A. [Anton] Amborn (40 Acres, adjacent to the land described above)
  • NW 1/4 SE 1/4 Section 3 – D. [Daniel] Amborn

The map for Lyons Township (Town number 2 North in Range number 18 East) also identified several Amborns and the land they owned:

  • SE 1/4 SE 1/4  Section 26 – C.F. Amborn (40 Acres)
  • E 1/2 SW 1/4 NE 1/4 Section 35 – C.F. Amborn (20 Acres)
  • NE 1/4 NW 1/4 Section 36 – C.F. Amborn (40 Acres)

This same publication listed  “Amburn, C.F. [Casper F Amborn], Lyons Township, Section 35, Date of Settlement: 1846, native of Germany, Occupation: Farmer” on the Patrons Business Directory of Walworth County page (page 67)

1879 – November 25: George [Gottreich] Henry Amborn (born 7 Nov 1805) receives land grant for the North East quarter of the South West quarter of Section 7 in Township 18 of range 6 West in the district of lands subject to sale at La Crosse Wisconsin containing 40 acres.

View the center of this plot on Google Maps.

1882 – May: John Henry Amborn (b. 13 August 1856), son of Henry Adam Amborn, arrives in New York.

1884 – August 28: John Henry Amborn (b. 1856), son of Henry Adam Amborn, files his declaration of intent to become a United States citizen in Walworth County, Wisconsin.

1886 – March 27: Daniel F Amborn becomes a US citizen in Walworth County, Wisconsin. One of his witnesses is Casper F Amborn, who is by then already a US citizen.

1900 – Antone Henry Amborn’s US Census entry indicates that he entered the United States in 1847

1900 – Gottreich Henry Amborn’s US Census entry indicates that he entered the United States in 1847

1912 – September 17: John Henry Amborn (b. 13 August 1856), son of Henry Adam Amborn, becomes a naturalized citizen of the United States.

1920 – Antone Henry Amborn’s US Census entry indicates that he entered the United States in 1847.

Other German Records I have obtained and had translated

Research Questions

  1. Locate the marriage record for Casper Friedrich Amborn and Louise Theadore Hoerining.
    • I have a date (23 February 1841) but no source.
    • They reportedly had four children born in Germany between 1840 and 1845 (but I have no sources for any of their births).
    • I do have sources that indicate that they departed Niederschmalkalden, Germany in March 1847.
    • So it is likely they were married in Germany sometime between 1840 and 1847.
  2. Locate the birth record for Louise Theadore Hoerining (Female, reportedly born 2 August 1816 in Rossdorf, Germany).
    • Who were her parents?
    • Note: Rossdorf is located South of Frankfort, about 200 kM/124 Miles from Niederschmalkalden. It would be unusual (although not impossible) for two people living so far apart to meet and get married in 1841. So the birth date and/or location may not be correct.
  3. Locate the birth record for Ottilte Georgine Amborn (Female, reportedly born about 1840 in Germany).
    • When and where did Ottilte Georgine Amborn die (presumably somewhere in the United States, probably Wisconsin)?
  4. Locate the birth record for Antone Henry Amborn (Male, reportedly born 25 December 1840 in Germany).
  5. Locate the birth record for Freidrith Gottreich “Heinrich” Amborn (Male, reportedly born 19 March 1842 in Germany)
  6. Locate the birth record for Irene Amborn (Female, reportedly born about 1845 in Germany).
  7. Is there any record of the journey of the Amborn family from Germany to Wisconsin? 13 March 2020: Ancestry.com does not list any ship arriving in New York in May 1847. They show the Albany arriving 1 April, and the Yssel arriving 27 April (1 passenger!), then no other arrivals until the Roscol arrived 1 September. It is hard for me to believe that no passenger ships arrived between May and August: this must just be a gap in Ancestry.com’s records.
  8. Who was Sebastian Amborn (b. 1782) and where is he buried?
  9. Was the W Amborn who departed Niederschmalkalden in 1846 part of the same family? Where did he emigrate to?

References

  • Amborn Family – Descendants of Casper Amborn: a collection of genealogy material assembled by William C. Zarnstorff. Printed July 17, 2005.
  • Amborn Family – Descendants of John Henry Amborn (b. 7 Nov 1805, d. 12 Jul 1875) and Anna Elizabeth Schliefer (b. 24 Dec 1923, d. 16 Jan 1898) by Vera (Amborn) Knoll
  • The Kirchenbuch, 1858-1929: Evangelisch Lutherische St. Johannis Gemeinde (Slades Corner, Wisconsin) Contains history, members, baptisms, communicants 1867-1924, confirmations 1867-1929, meeting reports 1867-1899, marriages, deaths 1863-1929, collections 1869-1897, and misc. newspaper clippings. This is on FamilySearch Film 1404984 Items 1-2. This may document some events related to the Amborn family. A copy was ordered on 13 June 2017: it was be sent to the Dallas Public Library.