Anton Ibach and Family

Contributed by:  Art Ibach

Anton was the second of 12 sons born to (Franz) Josef Ibach and Scholastica Speierer Ibach on 14 Jul 1833 in Leiberstung, Baden (Germany) My grandfather Joseph was the first son born 19 Feb 1832. My difficulty in locating him was that his birth was registered under "Speierer".
Seems as though (Franz) Josef and Scholastica didn't get married until 21 Nov 1832. Many of the other sons had strange first names, by American standards, so soon after they arrived many of them were changed by them; Anton to Anthony for instance.
The other children were in birth order:

     Isidor (Charles) born 28 Jul 1834. This is John Feagin's link. Charles is his mother's great grandfather. He was a member of the NY volunteers during the Civil War.

     Louise (Luise) born 18 May 1835. After her arrival to this country at Buffalo, NY in 1853, I've lost trace of her. She may have married in Buffalo. 

     Landelin born 25 Jan 1837. After his arrival to the Buffalo, NY area, I've lost all trace of him. Based on a story I gleaned from my father years ago; one brother drowned or went over the falls in the Niagara River soon after arriving to this country in 1851. I suspicion it was Landelin.

     Ignatz (George) born 25 Jul 1838. He took over my Great Grandfather's farm in Preston after spending almost the entire duration of the Civil War as a member of the Iowa Volunteers.

     Johann Evangelist born 30 Dec 1839. He immigrated with his mother and most of his siblings in 1853 to Buffalo, NY. I've been unable to track his whereabouts. He would be the other candidate for the swimming mishap mentioned earlier.

     Erhard (William) born 2 Jan 1842. He is the one known Ibach other than Charles who didn't end up in Minnesota. He established a livery stable at Lansing, IA; later moving to Dubuque.
     Otto born 15 Sep 1843, died 17 Jan 1844. The only child out of 13 who didn't reach maturity. Quite a feat for the mid- 1800's!

     Albrecht (Albert) born 21 Dec 1845.
     Anselm born 29 Feb 1848

     Valerian born 25 Dec 1849

      Peter born 25 Oct 1851. He or his son may have changed his surname to "Bach"; not known for sure. All of these children were born in Leiberstung, Baden (Germany)
 
Now to digress a bit, let me talk a bit about what appears to be what prompted this mass emigration. Some of it is conjecture on my part but most of it is well documented. My Great Grandfather Franz Josef, like at least four previous generations, was a successful cattle/crop farmer. Somehow he got involved with the Revolution of 1848; farmers with pitchforks and shotguns against the Prussian Army run by the aristocracy who controlled, the courts, the press, the towns and the villages. The revolt was initially successful for the peasantry. Our Franz Josef was rewarded for his part in the revolution by being made Bürgermeister of Leiberstung. This position as Mayor is not unlike our Supreme Court Justices; it's a life term. Now picture this; within 18 months of his appointment there is a counter-revolution; this time the Prussian Army wins. Everything reverts back to the way it was before the Revolution of 1848. One big problem; many villages like Leiberstung now had Mayors who were not politically correct. Our Franz Josef felt the squeeze. He became and may have been prodded to leave the Country. Now the court records and newspaper clippings from that era, take over the story. 

One day in the early Spring of 1851, Mayor Franz Josef Ibach calls an emergency meeting of the Leiberstung City Council. He presents the problem to the council. A loan for 1000 Florin that the town had borrowed from a person in another town was being called in as due in its entirety; almost immediately. The town of Leiberstung would not have time to go through proper channels (the state of Baden) to obtain the necessary funds to pay this debt.

 The mayor proposed that he and other council members should go to nearby Bühl and obtain an open market loan to pay the debt; with their signatures as collateral. Within a couple of days this mission was accomplished. The cash was handed over to my Great Grandfather Franz Josef Ibach. That's the last anyone in Leiberstung saw of him or three of his sons, my grandfather Joseph and his brothers, Isidor (Charles) and Landelin. With the mayor's disappearance there was soon a series of public ads summoning his appearance in court. Within a week, all of the creditors of Franz Josef Ibach clamored to the courts asking for payments. Meanwhile Scholastica, pregnant with her 13th child went to the courts requesting legal emigration to the USA. No surprise here, she was denied until all debts are settled. The largest creditor turned out to be a schoolteacher. At first I thought that quite unusual. Then I realized that there were no free public schools. All I had to do then was count the number of school age children in his family. Scholastica went back to court and was presented the bills. She acknowledged most but claimed some of then were strictly between her husband and the creditor, and therefore she was not liable. Most of these were small personal loans from what appears, based on surname, "truly, collateral cousins". She ended her court appearance by telling them she had no cash to satisfy these creditors. She then was ordered to auction off the family farm which was valued at more than twice the amount owing. Guess who won the bid at the auction? Yes, Scholastica bought it back. She then proceeded to offer it up for sale on her terms.

Meanwhile, criminal prosecution was beginning on husband Franz Josef in absentia. He was found guilty of fraud. The person who had the original loan with the town of Leiberstung swore he never had called in the loan. He also was found guilty of embezzlement; running away with the money. He was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison; plus restitution. All of this happening while he is safe in Buffalo. NY This didn't all happen over-night.

 It was more than two years from 1851 to 1853 before Scholastica and her brood was reunited with Franz Josef and at least one of her sons Isidore (Charles) in Buffalo. Joseph (my grandfather) had already headed west to Dubuque, IA. Family legend has it that Joseph and some Buffalo traveling companions decided that the Mississippi river was far enough west to go; besides it reminded Joseph of the Rhine. At this point if you can believe folklore, they flipped a coin to determine whether they would go up or down the Mississippi. The North won. While on the steamboat going up the river, grandfather Joseph was offered a job as Fireman on the sternwheeler. He took it and worked the upper Mississippi from Dubuque to St. Paul until at least 1856. During the winter when the upper Mississippi froze over he learned another trade from a fellow German countryman. The art of brewing and everything it takes to run a brewery..........To be continued.........