Bertha Auguste Henriette Kluender (1848-1936)

Bertha Auguste Henriette Kluender was born on 12 Oct 1848 in Tutzluf, Germany as the fifth child of Joachim Heinrich Klünder and Anna Louise Charlotte Prechel. She had four siblings, namely: William A., August, Johanne Caroline Wilhelmine, and Heinrich “Henry.”

Or was she born in Putzluf?  Different sources give different town names. And I can find neither Tutzluf nor Putluf on a map. As you’ll see later, she at one point lived in Fritzlaff, so perhaps that is the correct place of birth and the other names were misspellings. But then, I can’t find that on a map either. So, really we can just say that she was born in what is now Poland, but was then Pomerania, and later became the northern part of Germany.

Bertha’s father died when she was very young. Her mother, listed as a widow, remarried to Johann Salzsieder on Trinitatis 1851 (15 Jun 1851) at Zedlin (Gumtow, Groß Zapplin, Voigtshagen).  Johann and Louise had three sons who were half-brothers to Bertha. They were Ferdinand, Carl and Albert.

Czaplin Wielki, województwo zachodniopomorskie, Poland

On 1 Oct 1868, Bertha, her mother, step-father, step-brothers, and brothers Heinrich and August left Europe. The family sailed from Hamburg on 1 Oct 1868 on the sailing ship Palmerston. On their emigration record, their previous residence was listed as Fritzlaff, Preußen.

Bertha’s emigration record was difficult to find because she was listed with her step-father’s surname, not her own. That is an example of how genealogists need to be creative when searching for things.

Bertha had her twentieth birthday on the boat. It was not a good voyage. The Palmerston didn’t make it to New York. There are records of the Palmerston arriving in June 1868 (before the family got on the boat) and in September 1869 (eleven months after they got on board), but no records of an arrival in late 1868. Instead, there are newspapers articles with news of the ship. It seems the boat had trouble, and instead of sailing to New York, they ended up landing in England.

We don’t know exactly how or when the family finally got to America. By the time the Palmerston arrived in England, it was probably too late in the season to make an Atlantic crossing. We can only imagine how the family survived after ending up in England, how they ended up eventually making the ocean crossing, and what went through their minds when they embarked on their second journey.

Somehow, they eventually made their way to Wisconsin.

When the 1870 Federal Census was taken, Bertha lived with her Kluender siblings in Wausau, Marathon, Wisconsin. She and her sister were listed as domestic servants; her brothers worked in the saw mill. They lived next to their brother William, mother, step-father, and half-brothers. William was listed as a farmer. Louise was keeping house and Johann, listed as John, was “at home.”

When she was 22, Bertha Auguste Henriette Kluender married Frederick Wilhelm Aschbrenner, son of Friedrich Samuel Aschbrenner and Wilhelmina Mathwich, on 03 Mar 1871 in Town of Berlin, Marathon, Wisconsin. Frederick was a Civil War veteran and a widower with two young daughters. Upon their marriage, Bertha became the step-mother to Amelia Emilie and Emma Albertina Aschbrenner.

Frederick Wilhelm Aschbrenner and Bertha Auguste Henriette Kluender had the following children:

1. Heinrich Frederick Franz Aschbrenner was born on 09 Aug 1872 at the Town of Berlin, Marathon, Wisconsin. He died there on 23 Oct 1872.
2. Carl Albert Emil Aschbrenner was born on 14 Jun 1873 at the Town of Berlin, Marathon, Wisconsin. He died there on 06 Sep 1873.
3. Frederick A Helmut Aschbrenner was born on 03 Aug 1874 at the Town of Berlin, Marathon, Wisconsin. He married Alice Rosalie Fehlhaber on 26 Nov 1902 in Evangelical Lutheran Church, Berlin, Marathon, Wisconsin. He died on 12 Mar 1968 in Wausau Memorial Hospital, Wausau, Marathon, Wisconsin.
4. Otto Emil Valentine Aschbrenner was born on 21 May 1876 at the Town of Berlin, Marathon, Wisconsin. He married Martha Radant on 30 Jul 1904. He died on 16 Mar 1965 in Wisconsin.
5. Martha Anna Mathilda Aschbrenner was born on 03 Sep 1878 at the Town of Berlin, Marathon, Wisconsin. She died on 28 Jul 1891 in Wausau, Marathon, Wisconsin.
6. Edward Albert Reinhart Aschbrenner was born on 08 Feb 1881 at the Town of Berlin, Marathon, Wisconsin. He married Laura Fehlhaber on 31 Oct 1906 in Berlin, Marathon, Wisconsin. Laura was a sister to his brother Frederick’s wife, Alice, and a daughter of our ancestors Emilie Friedericke Luise Draeger and Carl F. Fehlhaber. Edward died on 08 Nov 1972 in Merced, Merced, California.
7. Bertha Hulda Marie Aschbrenner was born on 22 Apr 1882 at the Town of Berlin, Marathon, Wisconsin. She died on 30 Apr 1882 in Wausau, Marathon, Wisconsin.
8. Henry Herman Heinrich Aschbrenner was born on 21 Jan 1884 at the Town of Berlin, Marathon, Wisconsin. He married Emma M. Lillge on 12 Jun 1910 in Stratford, Marathon, Wisconsin. He died on 24 Feb 1960 in St. Joseph’s Hospital, Marshfield, Wood, Wisconsin.
9. Laura Amalia Henrietta Aschbrenner was born on 28 Feb 1886 at the Town of Berlin, Marathon, Wisconsin. She married Herman Radant on 16 May 1908 in Stratford, Marathon, Wisconsin. She died on 06 Sep 1954 in Stettin, Marathon, Wisconsin.
10. Frank George Wilhelm Bernard Aschbrenner was born on 22 Apr 1888 at the Town of Berlin, Marathon, Wisconsin. He married Sarah Schroeder on 18 Jun 1918 in Rib Falls, Marathon, Wisconsin. He died on 06 Mar 1963 in Wausau, Marathon, Wisconsin.
11. Samuel Conrad George Aschbrenner was born on 07 Mar 1890 at the Town of Berlin, Marathon, Wisconsin. He died on 23 Oct 1977 in Wausau, Marathon, Wisconsin.
12. Hulda Amanda Alvina Aschbrenner was born on 10 Apr 1892 at the Town of Berlin, Marathon, Wisconsin. She married Fritz Herrmann Robert Poeske on 10 Feb 1917 in Marathon, Wisconsin. She died on 21 Feb 1973 in Kerrville, Kerr, Texas.

Bertha and Frederick Aschbrenner started out farming in the Town of Berlin, Marathon, Wisconsin on his father’s original homestead. After more than thirty years there, they moved to Stratford, Marathon, Wisconsin and built a new farm.

Bertha and Frederick were members of Zion Lutheran Church at Stratford, Marathon, Wisconsin. They, and several of their children appeared in the membership register. It shows that they joined the church 28 Dec 1902, about the time they moved to Stratford and the church was started.

Fred and Bertha both lived long lives. They were married over 64 years, enjoying many birthday and anniversary celebrations.

Frederick died on 29 Dec 1935. After suffering from pneumonia for several weeks, Bertha Auguste Henriette Kluender Aschbrenner died about a week after her husband. She died on 07 Jan 1936, in Stratford, Marathon, Wisconsin. She was 87-years old at the time of her death. Six grandsons, including Norman Krueger, were pallbearers at her funeral. She was buried at the Zion Lutheran Church cemetery at Stratford, Marathon, Wisconsin.

Where is she in the tree?

Where can I learn more?

The Aschbrenner Family

Selected Sources:

“Gross Zapplin,” Meyers Gazetter ( https://www.meyersgaz.org/place/10664015 : accessed 12 Oct 2018)

Staatsarchiv Hamburg, Hamburg Passenger Lists, 1850-1934 (Provo, UT, USA, Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2008), ancestry.com, Staatsarchiv Hamburg; Hamburg, Deutschland; Hamburger Passagierlisten; Microfilm No.: K_1713.

“Accident to an Emigrant Ship,” 14 Nov 1868, page 3 ( https://www.newspapers.com/image/395659291/ : accessed 3 Oct 2018), Cheshire Observer, Cheshire, Cheshire, England, online images (www.newspapers.com).

“Return of an Emigrant Ship,” 14 Nov 1868, page 4 ( https://www.newspapers.com/image/401952435/ : accessed 3 Oct 2018), The York Herald, York, North Yorkshire, England, online images (www.newspapers.com).

10 Nov 1868, page 7 ( https://www.newspapers.com/image/257707413/ : accessed 3 Oct 2018), The Guardian, London, Greater London, England, online images (www.newspapers.com).

Bertha Aschbrenner Death certificate Volume 44, Page 566, Registered Number One 9 January 1936, Marathon County Register of Deeds Wausau, Marathon County, Wisconsin.

Obituary of Mrs. Frederick Aschbrenner, Sr. Wausau Daily Record-Herald Wausau, Wisconsin Wednesday, January 8, 1936.