Ludwig and Henrietta Dohme
It's a shame how we live, we die, and despite sacrifices made, and hardships endured, we end up forgotten. This would be true of my 3rd great-grandparents, Ludwig and Henrietta Dohme, who came from a town called Obernkirchen according to a publication called Schaumburg Immigrants 1820-1914. Obviously, Ludwig and Henrietta wanted better for their family. Land in Germany was becoming scarce, and with a poor economy and higher taxes, families were finding it more and more difficult to provide for themselves. Families and friends who had emigrated to the new world before them wrote letters to the loved ones they left behind with stories of free land, prosperity, and freedom, making the idea of leaving Germany all the more appealing. This had to be tough on these people, however, leaving a land their families have called home for generations.
I often wonder why Ludwig decided to uproot his family and leave behind all that was familiar to them. What were their lives like before coming to America, and how did they feel when their ship first made landfall after a three month journey across the Atlantic Ocean? These stories, unfortunately, have been lost to me forever, and shamefully, Ludwig and Henrietta were forgotten. I didn't know of their existence until I started researching my family history.
Ludwig was a baker, an occupation I think may have been passed down from father to son. Ludwig's father and grandfather may possibly have been bakers as well, and my great-great-grandfather, Charles Ferdinand Dohme, and his brother, Frederick Louis Dohme, were bakers during the first 10 years of their lives after immigrating to America.
Ludwig and Henrietta left from Bremen, Germany around September of 1843 and arrived in Baltimore, Maryland aboard the ship named Goethe on December 21, 1843. They settled in Cincinnati, Hamilton Co., Ohio by 1846 which was the earliest I have found them residing in Cincinnati through the old city directories. Ludwig's occupation was listed as a baker, and they resided at 91 South 12th Street between Elm and Plum in an area now known as Over-the-Rhine.
My great-great-grandfather, Charles Ferdinand Dohme, wasn't listed in the old city directories until 1850, so I am assuming that he possibly lived with his parents, Ludwig and Henrietta, until a couple of years after his marriage to my great-great-grandmother, Louisa M. Plumhoff. Ferdinand, the name he went by, married Louisa on July 17, 1848, and in 1850, they resided at 551 Sycamore St.
Ferdinand's brother, Frederick Louis Dohme, resided with Ludwig and Henrietta until possibly around 1860 when he was listed in the 1860 census as living in Richland Township, Darke County, Ohio. He married Wilhelmina Mary Rehmert on March 14, 1854 in Darke Co., Ohio, and he and Mary were living at 91 South 12th Street in Cincinnati according to the old city directories for the year 1858.
Ferdinand's sister, Caroline Charlotte Henrietta Dohme, married George Dempewolf in Cincinnati on January 30, 1851. They resided at 91 South 12th Street with Ludwig and Henrietta, and after Ludwig's death between 1853 and 1855, George Dempewolf became "the man of the house" and took care of his mother-in-law. By 1858, Henrietta, her son-in-law, and her daughter, Charlotte, moved to St. Louis, St. Louis Co., Missouri where they were found to be residing through the 1860 census. George was a ship's steward aboard a steamboat.
In February of 1848, Henrietta gave birth to her youngest son, Ferdinand's younger brother, Louis Edward. He was listed in the 1850 census at the age of 2 in Cincinnati with Ludwig and Henrietta. Edward was the first of our family to be born in America after our family had immigrated from Germany.
After Ludwig's death, and after Henrietta's move to St. Louis, Missouri, my great-great-grandparents, Ferdinand and Louisa, moved from their address of 551 Sycamore St. to 91 South 12th Street. Frederick Louis Dohme and his wife, Mary, as mentioned before, resided at the same address in 1858. I don't know if this property was owned by Ludwig Dohme or if it was being leased by him, but the old city directories show that our family lived at this address from 1846 to 1861 when Ferdinand moved his family from Cincinnati to Delhi Township. Frederick Louis Dohme had already settled in Richland Township of Darke County, Ohio as shown by the 1860 census.
The last time I find any record of Ludwig Dohme is in 1853. This was the last time he was listed in the old Cincinnati city directories. The directory for the year 1854 had not been published, and in 1855, Henrietta is listed with her son-in-law, George Dempewolf. I am assuming that Ludwig must have died sometime between 1853 and 1855, but unfortunately death records were not kept in Cincinnati until 1865 so I have no way of confirming this. Henrietta continued to live at the address of 91 South 12th Street with her daughter and her son-in-law until around 1857. About that time is when Henrietta must have moved to St. Louis, Missouri. I found her there living in the 4th ward through the 1860 census with her second husband, Louis Regenhardt, and her youngest son, Louis Edward, who was 12 years old at the time. Henrietta's daughter, Charlotte, and her husband, George Dempewolf, were neighbors living in the same 4th ward of St. Louis, St. Louis County, Missouri.
Henrietta, her second husband, Louis Regenhardt, and her youngest son, Louis Edward, moved again. By 1870, they were living in Carlin, Calhoun County, Illinois. In 1880, they had moved to Belleview located in the same county, and then on December 7, 1881, Henrietta died. She is buried at the Belleview Lutheran Cemetery.