Contributed by: Art Ibach
Part 1
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........
Part 2
I'm sorry it's taken me so long to get back to you with the saga of Anton "Anthony" Ibach. I think I left off with my Grandfather Joseph learning the "beer brewing game" in Preston, MN. Let's get back on track with his brother Anthony. Anthony had remained with his mother in Leiberstung, while she settled matters with the State, awaiting permission for legal emigration to the US. This finally occurred in 1853, when the family was reunited in Buffalo, NY The next year most of the family headed for Dubuque, IA. Isidore "Charles" and most probably Luise, his sister remained in Buffalo. By 1856 the family had settled near Preston, MN in a village called Carimona; establishing a substantial farm. Anthony, now 23 years old was well on his way to becoming, a sought after skilled stone mason. In Preston he met and married Theresa Loman (also born in Germany) on April 12, 1858. Together they had 6 children. George W. "Dutch", born March 13, 1857; died October 31, 1935, Frances born 1858, died April 25, 1879, Louisa, born 1863, died May 27, 1866, Jenny born 1865, died May 25, 1866; William, born March 22, 1870, died November 22, 1943; Francis "Frank" Joseph, born May 16, 1874, died October 30, 1949. In 1859, Anthony gave up his stone mason business and opened a "Comfort House" or refreshment business. Today we would call it a "Bar" or a Saloon. So, from about 1860 until 1875, the Ibachs of Fillmore County had a natural monopoly. Father, (Franz) Josef along with Civil War Vet son George raised and harvested the barley and the hops. Son Albert pitched in with his adjoining farm. Son Joseph, my grandfather owned and ran the brewery, while Anthony sold and served the finished product. Son John (Johann Evangelista) must have been the modest "jack of all trades" in the census he listed himself as a laborer. Tragedy in 1866 with the death of two young daughters soon became an ominous pattern for the next eighteen years for Anthony. With the realization that obituaries were written much differently in the 1870s and 1880s than they are today; especially by small town newspapers here's one for Anthony's wife Theresa: The Preston National Republican----- November 27, 1879 On Monday morning last, the esteemed wife of Mr. Anthony Ibach died at her home in Preston, after a long continued illness, aged thirty-nine years. Mrs. Ibach was one of the oldest settlers of Preston, having resided here over 20 years. She had long suffered from that dread disease, consumption, and patiently waited the summons that was to call her to a brighter home, and rest eternal. She was conscious to the last, and talked to her friends of her approaching dissolution, remarking that the time passed so slow to her. Her children were gathered at her bedside to receive the dying mother's blessing, and a little before five-o'clock with her own hands, she took the pillows from under her head that she might pass more easily and quietly away. As the clock stuck five, the immortal spirit of this worthy mother, wife and friend, winged its way to the "Giver of life and all things good," and found a place in the celestial home of the faithful. The friends deeply mourn their great loss, but in their deep sorrow an angel's hand beckons them on to an everlasting reunion beyond the skies. A large concourse of friends followed the remains to their last resting place in the new *Catholic cemetery near Isinours on Tuesday morning. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- *St. Joseph's Cemetery-----This is in charge of the Catholic church, and was laid out in the fall of 1879, the first burial being the remains of Mrs. Anthony Ibach, in November, 1879. The lot contains two acres, and is located in the northeast quarter of section six. The land was bought of Michael Metcalf. Before this was set aside as a cemetery, the Catholics buried their dead in Carimona. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- As if this isn't sad enough I will close my story of Anthony with his obituary The Preston National Republican ------------ October 30, 1884 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ An old Prestonian has gone to his grave a suicide. Last Saturday morning the community was startled by the report that Anthony Ibach had deliberately shot himself through the heart with a pistol. When we first knew him years ago, he was a respectable, industrious stone mason and the owner of a comfortable home. Giving up his business for several years and up to his suicide, he was the keeper of a saloon and drank too freely of the beverage he vended. Finally he lost his house by the foreclosure of a mortgage and the time having expired, he preferred death to leaving it. His deliberate end is too sad not to carry with it an impressive lesson. On Monday he was buried by Preston Lodge No. 11, I.O.O.F., of which he had long been a member. Rev. A. T. Allen conducted the funeral service which took place at the residence of the deceased. A large number of people were in attendance. The bereaved family have the sympathy of the entire community. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- On a much happier note I will continue with a segment on the illustrious and colorful careers of Anthony's sons; namely George W. "Dutch", Frank J., and William. to be continued.................... Art