Martin Weber & Mary Magdalena Schermer

The first Kunz ancestor in North America was Joseph Kunz. He and his wife, Mary Magdalena Weber, came with other members of the Weber family on a number of different voyages which set off between 1848 and 1849.

            Mary Magdalena's parents, Martin Weber and his wife Katharina (née Schermer), along with their children and their respective spouses, came from the Alsace region of France. They were Reinlanders – of German heritage, living along the Reine River and speaking German as their first language. Was it because of some sort of pressure from the French government, or was it for economic reasons – a desire to find land that the family could own – that spurred the family to take the momentous step of emigrating to the new world?

            The passenger list for the Baltimore, which arrived in the Port of New York in 1848, includes Martin Weber, Joseph Kuntz and Magdelena Kuntz [sic]. There is also a Marie Kuntz listed, after Joseph's and Magdelena's names. On another page there is a Carolyn Weber listed.   Were these relatives, or simply strangers who shared the same name?

            Agnes Kunz Wylie, granddaughter of Joseph and Mary Magdelena, relays a story heard from her father George: In the crossing, Joseph, Magdelena, and Martin Weber "were in...what was called a windjammer. There came such a severe storm at sea that the captain ordered the sails to be... cut... that is the ropes to be cut and ... they [the sails] dropped immediately. Otherwise, the storm was so severe, he [the captain] was afraid of the ship being wretched."¹

American Windjammer Under Full Sail

by Montague Dawson (1895-1973)

            There are many family members missing from the Baltimore's registry: Joseph and Mary's infant daughter; the Nicos (Mary's sister and her family); Katharina Weber; and her two younger children. This absence seems to support the family story that some of the family traveled on a separate steam ship. One reason, according to family tradition, was that the grandchildren travelled on this second ship because a voyage by sailing vessel was too long and hazardous. (The 1848 Baltimore passenger list shows that this fear was well justified, since two children, age 7 and 8, are listed as having died in passage.)

            Laura Belle Childers Kunz (married to a grandson of Joseph and Magdalena) found a reference in a book to the 1849 immigration of a Joseph Nico from Eschentzwiller, France. This town is located in the upper Rhine Valley, halfway between Mulhouse (France) and Basel (Switzerland). At this writing, however, we have not found a passage list for the Nicos or other Webers.

            The first census listing for the Webers [spelled "Weaver" in this document] was from 1850 US census in Lyons, NY. “In the several histories of Wayne County and Lyons, one finds mention of about a hundred German family names; and for about half of them the principality from which they came is given. Some 20 are from Alsace...”² Martin and Katharine (spelled "Catherine" in the census) were listed in the census, along with their extended family:

            Through letters written in German between these family members and through census research, we are able to learn a bit more about the Weber children and their families. All three daughters had the first name of Mary. Was this a common naming practice of Catholic Alsacian families? In any case, when the family first arrived in America the girls were listed under their second names: Anna, Magdelena and Catherine. As each woman married and established their separate identities in America, they took on their proper first name,, "Mary."

            Martin and Katharina's first daughter was Anna Maria (also known as Marianna). She married Josef Nico while still living in France. Marianna and Josef already had two children -- Josephine and Emily -- when they arrived in America. The Nicos lived at least ten years with Martin and Katharina Weber when they first arrived in Wayne County. The 1850 and 1860 censi both list them as members of the Martin Weber household. By 1860, the Nicos had three children. The youngest, Samuel, was born in New York in 1856. Eventually the family settled about three miles from the Webers, in South Sodus Township, Wayne County, NY. By 1870, however, Mary Nico is living in Lyons, NY with two of her children, Josephine and Samuel. The 1886-1887 Lyons city directory is more specific, listing Josephine and her widowed mother Mary Ann as boarders living at 50 Phelps Street, which ran from Canal, north to the Corporation Line.³

            The second child of Martin and Katharina was Mary Magdelena. She married Josef Kunz while still in France. Josef and Mary Magdelena Kunz had one child, named Julia, by the time they arrived in America. Joseph and Mary are the ancestors of the Kunz clan of Washington State and their story will soon follow.

            The Webers third daughter, Catherine (Marie Katharina) was listed as single and living at home in 1850 census. By the time of the 1860 census, Mary Catherine is listed as living in Iowa, married to a Joseph Klein. They must have married in New York, for their first two children, Amiel and Julia, were born in that state. Sometime between 1855 and 1858, the family must have moved to Iowa because their third child, Otto, was listed as born there. In 1860, the Kleins are living in Keokuk, IA, where Joseph was a saloon keeper, his business just a few blocks from the Mississippi waterfront. Their children are listed as Amiel, Julia, Otto and Pawlene (Pauline). There is also a 12 year old girl named Julia Como living with the family. Was she hired as a mother's helper, or perhaps she was the daughter of a family friend living with the Kleins? We do not know. Ten years later, in 1870, the situation seems to have changed considerably. Joseph Klein seems to have died, for Mary is now living in Rock Island, IA, married to a Timothy Reynolds. Joseph and Paulina Cline [sic] are living with them, along with two Renolds [sic] children: Newel [?] (age 6) and John P. (age 2). These two boys were both born in Illinois.

            In 1860, while Mary Catherine was living in Keokuk, IA, her sister Mary Magdelena was living just across the Mississippi River in Elvaston, IL. There seems, however, that there were no nearby bridges across the river at that time, for the Keokuk Bridge was only constructed in 1869-1871.⁴   It is doubtful, therefore, that the two sisters were able to visit much.

            Sebastian Weber was the only son of Martin and Katharina Weber. Sebastian married Christina E. and together they had at least three children: Martin P. (1854-1905) who married Kate (1852-1938); Christina E. (1858-1872); and Joseph F. (1861-1897) who married Emma. Joseph and Emma had a son named Raymond (1889-1895).   Sebastian remained in Wayne County his whole life and looked after Martin and Katharina in their old age. We have inherited a series of letters written between the children of Martin and Katharina, detailing some of the problems of all of their families and of their parents in their declining year.

On November 17, 1854, Martin Weber, his son Sebastian, and son-in-law Joseph Nico [also spelled "Nizu"] purchased land in Sodus township from George W. Paul. For $854.47, they bought 41 acres in sub-division number one in the north part of lot 12 in the 6th range of lots in Colt’s allotment in the Gore.⁵ One year later, in September of 1855, Martin and Katharina, along with Joseph Nico and his wife Mary, sold their shares (2/3) of the land to Martin's children, Sebastian and Catherine, for the sum of $471.02⁶ Three years after that, in February of 1858, Catherine Weber the younger sold her portion of the land to her brother Sebastian for $140.00.⁷ As time went on, Sebastian continued to amass property in the area.

In 2006, my daughter Marina and I travelled to Wayne County in search of genealogical information. There in the East Newark Cemetery (part 9), we discovered the tombstones of Martin and Katharina, Sebastian and his wife Christina E., along with the children of Sebastian and Christina: their daughter Christina E., their son Martin P. and his wife Kate, and their other son Joseph F., along with the stone of Raymond Weber, son of Joseph and Emma. There was also one other stone in the family plot, so worn that it is illegible, beyond simply the family name. At this time, it has not been attributed to anyone.

Unlike for most of the Webers, New York was not a final stop for Joseph Kunz and his wife Mary Magdalena. They did not stay and buy land in the Wayne County region. Rather, the west called to them. And so, in approximately 1854, Joseph and Mary Magdalena Kunz travelled to Hancock County, Illinois.

Martin Weber, Aug. 16, 1790. May 12, 1879. Katharina, His Wife May 26, 1791. Jan. 17, 1879
	Sebastian Weber, Apr. 24, 1832. Dec. 5, 1902 Christina E., His Wife Jan. 19, 1827. June 8, 1896. Christina E., Dau. of S. & C. E. Weber, July 7, 1858. June 12, 1872.
Martin P. Weber, Jan. 25, 1854. Dec. 12, 1905 Kate Weber, Dec. 27, 1852. Oct. 9, 1938.
	Joseph F. Weber, Mar. 12, 1861. Sept. 10, 1897.
Raymond Son of Joseph F. & Emma L. Weber Sept. 29, 1889. May 23, 1895.
	Unknown Weber gravestone