Henry Landwehr Biography
Following his release from Confederate captivity and his discharge from military service in St. Louis on August 27, 1861, 22-year-old Henry Landwehr returned to his home in northwest Franklin County. As soon as he recovered from his experiences as a soldier and a prisoner of war, Henry undoubtedly resumed work as a farm laborer. We suspect that he soon crossed the Missouri River to Warren County. Ferry service was readily available, and river crossings commonplace.
The geography of the north bank along this stretch of the Missouri River has changed dramatically since Henry Landwehr first set foot on that soil. The channel of the river has moved north, washing away farms and towns on the north bank, and depositing new bottom land on the south bank. In order to understand the history of the area in southern Warren County where Henry Landwehr searched for work, married, and lived the rest of his life, it helps to understand the history of the village of Pinckney.
The original town of Pinckney stood on the north bank of the Missouri River, one mile south and two and one-half miles west of the current site of the village of Treloar (see :figref refid=warren.). When Pinckney was originally laid out as a town in 1819, Warren County didn't yet exist. The area was still part of Montgomery County, which was later divided, in 1833, to form Warren County. Pinckney thrived as the county seat of Montgomery County from 1818 until 1824, and was an important river landing for boats. Not many years thereafter, most of the original site of Pinckney disappeared, swallowed by the shifting channel of the Missouri River.
But, apparently, some part of the original town of Pinckney was not lost. Over the years, the site was also known as Pinkney, Pinckney Landing, Pinckney's Landing, and Pinckneyville. An 1877 map refers to the site as Pinkney Landing. At that time, Pinkney Landing consisted of the St. Johannes' Evangelical Church, a school, a store, and a mill (see :figref refid=smith.).
It was this same site that was later known as Kruegerville. While one historical source indicates that Kruegerville was organized about 1885 or 1886, the name was apparently being used by local residents much earlier. In the heading of a letter written by Henry Landwehr to his brother Fritz in 1876, Henry made reference to "Kruegersville". The new name for the village was taken from the Krueger family, who were prominent residents of the area.
The Kruegerville Post Office was established in 1885, and discontinued in 1910, when the site was completely swallowed up by the changing channel of the Missouri River. As a measure of the change in the bed of the Missouri River channel, it is interesting to note that the original site of Pinckney and Kruegerville is now located in the bottom land on the south bank of the Missouri River, two miles east and one-half mile south of the Franklin County village of Etlah.
Some time prior to 1877, a Post Office was established about three miles north of the site of the original town of Pinckney, or about three-quarters of a mile south of the Smith Creek Methodist Church. The Post Office borrowed its name from the original town of Pinckney, and was probably located in the Rekate Store, built by Anton Rekate about 1871 (see the southeast corner of Section 3 on the map provided as :figref refid=smith.). References to Pinckney in the following biography of Henry Landwehr are to this Pinckney Post Office, rather than to the original town on the bank of the Missouri River.
We presume, then, that Henry Landwehr crossed the Missouri River from Franklin County to look for work as a farm laborer. That appears to be be the most likely background for Henry's marriage, less than a year after his discharge from the service, to a widow living in southern Warren County.
:fig id=smith frame=box depth='7.3i'.
:figcap.Map of Smith Creek area
:figdesc.From Atlas Map of Warren County, Missouri, published in
1877.
:efig.
In July of 1862, Henry Landwehr was married in Warren County to Caroline Louise 'Louise' (Wegener) Peitsmeier, widow of Fritz Peitsmeier. We will digress briefly, and examine Louise's background.
Henry's new bride was born in Prussia on December 2, 1827, the daughter of Johann Friedrich Gottlieb Wegener, a farmer, and Anne Catharine Marie Charlotte Boeker. Our first record of the Wegener family is the marriage of Louise's brother in 1847. The record of marriage of Carl Ernst Friedrich Wegener to Anne Marie Catharine Schuette on August 22, 1847, indicates that the Wegener family was then living at #15 Eidinghausen, seventeen miles northeast of Henry Landwehr's birthplace of Joellenbeck (Eidinghausen is identified as location #4, and Joellenbeck as location #2, on :figref refid=minden.). It appears, however, that Louise's family did not move to the village of Eidinghausen until some time after Louise's birth.
Louise was married only a few months after her brother. After posting marriage banns on December 19 and December 26, 1847, and January 2, 1848, Louise and Anton Friedrich 'Fritz' Peitsmeier were married at the groom's home in Eidinghausen on January 16, 1848. Fritz Peitsmeier, son of Johann Friedrich Peitsmeyer and Louise Christine Juliane Paulsmeyer, was born at #38 Eidinghausen on November 5, 1827, and baptized in the Lutheran Evangelical Church at Eidinghausen on November 22. After his later emigration to America, the Peitsmeier name was frequently spelled "Peitzmeyer". We have chosen to use the spelling most often encountered in the older German church records.
Louise and Fritz were apparently living with Louise's parents when their first child was born. If the records of the Eidinghausen Lutheran Church are correct, Louise's first child was born only two days after her marriage. On January 18, 1848, Fritz and Louise became parents of a daughter, who was baptized Carline (Caroline?) Louise Charlotte Peitsmeier. Their first daughter lived less than six months, however, and died on June 7 of that same year.
The next year, in 1849, Fritz and Louise emigrated to St. Louis, Missouri. The following year, they moved from St. Louis to Warren County, where they settled west of the Smith Creek Methodist Church.
Fritz and Louise had a son who was baptized at the Smith Creek Methodist Church on July 23, 1851. The date of birth later recorded on the gravestone of Heinrich Peitsmeier (son of Fritz and Louise Peitsmeier) is July 3, 1852. It appears likely that he was the Peitsmeier infant who was baptized on July 23, 1851, and that he may actually have been born on July 3, 1851, rather than 1852.
Smith Creek Methodist Church records also contain a baptism of a daughter, Friederika Louise Peitsmeier, born on November 17, 1853 and baptized on December 25, 1853. She was baptized at "Bethels Kirche" by Rev. William Kleinschmidt. It was also under the ministry of Reverend Kleinschmidt that Louise Peitsmeier was converted to the Methodist Episcopal Church. She joined the church in 1854.
On September 19, 1854, Fritz Peitsmeier bought one hundred acres of land located one and one-half miles west of the Smith Creek Methodist Church. On the map provided as :figref refid=smith., this original Peitsmeier farm is identified as the H. Jaeger farm in the northwest corner of Section 4.
Smith Creek Methodist Church records contain a baptism of another daughter, Louise Engel Peitsmeier, born October 15, 1856, and baptized February 1, 1857. She was baptized at the "Bethel Kirche" by Rev. Karl H. Schmidt. And another daughter, Caroline Peitsmeier, was born to Fritz and Louise on September 13, 1859.
The Federal census of Pinckney Township, taken on August 7, 1860, listed the Fritz Peitsmeier household. Fritz valued his real estate at $1000, and his personal property at $300.
Fritz Peitsmeier died at Pinckeny in February of 1861, at the age of thirty-three. While we don't know the exact date of his death, his doctor last visited him on February 20, so he died late in the month. He was probably buried on the Peitsmeier farm. Of the six children who had been born to Fritz and Louise, four of them survived their father. Their first child died in Prussia as an infant, and we have no record of the other child, who probably also died in infancy. For further information about the children of Fritz Peitsmeier and Louise Wegener, see :hdref refid=dwegen..
We don't know how Henry Landwehr met Louise. Perhaps Henry worked for Louise as a farm laborer following the death of her husband. Henry and Louise were married in the Smith Creek area (possibly at Louise's farm home) on July 9, 1862. They were married by Rev. Gerhard Timken, Minister of the Smith Creek Methodist Church, which was located a mile east of the Peitsmeier farm, and less than a mile north of the Pinckney post office. See :figref refid=warren. for a map of the area.
When Henry Landwehr and Louise Peitsmeier were married in 1862, Louise had been a widow for about seventeen months. Henry's new family consisted of his 34-year-old bride, and four step-children, ages eleven, eight, five, and two. Henry was only twenty-three years old.
It appears that Henry and his new bride continued to live on the 100-acre Peitsmeier farm following their marriage. As a result of his marriage, Henry became the first of our immigrant Landwehr family to acquire land in America.
Henry and Louise soon started a family of their own. The first member of our Landwehr family born on American soil was born on October 11, 1863. Henry's first daughter, Hanna Wilhelmine (later known as Johanna), was baptized on Christmas Day of 1863 by Gustav Hollmann of the Smith Creek Methodist Church.
The following year, in 1864, Henry joined the Smith Creek Methodist Episcopal Church, under the pastorate of Rev. George Enzeroth. He would faithfully serve as a member in that church the rest of his life.
When Henry Landwehr joined the Smith Creek Methodist Episcopal Church in 1864, the church consisted of a simple log chapel. The history of the church dated back to 1842, when two German Methodist ministers first came to Warren County. In 1845, the first three German Methodist churches were built in Warren County--one in Marthasville, one near Hopewell, and one at Smith Creek. Thus, the Smith Creek church was only five years old when Fritz and Louise Peitsmeier first settled nearby, and was only nineteen years old when Henry Landwehr joined the congregation.
The second daughter born to Henry and Louise was Augusta Mina, born on November 27, 1866, and baptized at the Smith Creek Methodist Church on June 2, 1867.
An important event in the history of the Smith Creek Methodist Church occured that same year. The old log chapel had become very dilapidated. To replace it, a new frame building was erected in 1867 at the site of the present church.
Anna Mathilda (later known as Tillie), their third daughter, was born to Henry and Louise on December 17, 1868, and was baptized at the Smith Creek Methodist Church on March 13, 1869 by Rev. John Wanner.
In 1870, Henry's eldest step-daughter was married. Friederika Peitsmeier, just sixteen years old, was married to thirty-year-old Simon Friedrich Conrad Humfeld in Warren County on April 1, 1870. They were married by J. F. Schierbaum, a Minister of the Gospel. John Wanner was the Minister of the Smith Creek Methodist Church in 1870, so Friederika and Simon must have been married by the minister of another church. Simon and Friederika would make their home in Warren County for the first six years of their marriage, and then move to Howard County, a few miles north of Boonville, Missouri. They would live in Howard County the rest of their lives.
In July of 1870, the Federal census of Warren County included the Henry Landwehr residence. Henry and Louise were apparently financially secure, as Henry valued his real estate at $3000, and his personal property at $1200.
Louise and Henry's step-children were listed in the same household with Henry and Louise. But Henry's three young daughters were not living in the same dwelling. However, the very next dwelling listed in the census (Henry's next-door neighbor) was the residence of Elisa Dothage. Elisa was fifty-six years old, born in Prussia, and apparently a widow. She valued her real estate at $2000, and her personal property at $1200, so she owned her farm. Three Dothage children, ranging in age from sixteen to twenty-two, were listed as living in the Elisa Dothage residence, as were two of Henry Landwehr's daughters--four-year-old Minna Landwehr, and one-year-old Anna Landwehr. Perhaps Henry's home was too small for his entire family, and Elisa Dothage helped care for Henry's younger children.
When Fritz Peitsmeier died in 1861, he died intestate--he did not leave a will. As a result, Louise Peitsmeier inherited only a widow's share of the Peitsmeier farm. Each of the Peitsmeier children--Henry Landwehr's step-children--also inherited a share of their father's farm. As long as Henry and Louise Landwehr lived on the farm, and the Peitsmeier children were minors living at home, there was probably little need to worry about paying the children their inheritances. But when Friederika Peitsmeier married on April 1, 1870, her inheritance would have become important to her. Perhaps this is the reason that the July 1870 term of the Warren County probate court ordered the guardian of the Peitsmeier children to sell the Peitsmeier farm.
The guardian of the Peitsmeier children was Henry Busse, who owned the farm directly south of the Peitsmeier farm (see :figref refid=smith.). He had the farm appraised by Carl Oetting (who owned a farm one-half mile east of the Peitsmeier farm), Ernst Paulsmeyer (who owned the farm immediately east of the Peitsmeier farm), and Charles Sundermeyer (who owned the farm immediatley west of the Peitsmeier farm). Mr. Busse also advertised the sale as prescribed by law. On August 15, the Peitsmeier farm was auctioned to the highest bidder on the steps of the Warren County Court House. The highest bidder was Friedrich Schwarze, who bought the 100-acre farm for $933.55.
Had Henry Landwehr wanted to continue farming the Peitsmeier farm, he probably could have purchased the farm at the auction. Instead, he bought a larger, and presumably better, farm just nine days prior to the auction of the Peitsmeier farm.
On August 6, 1870, just four months after his step-daughter's marriage, Henry purchased a 224-acre farm located one mile south of the Peitsmeier place. Frances Edwards, one of Henry's granddaughters, describes the farm as "a hill farm, that went back to the bluff that borders the river". The farm was located on the north bank of the Missouri River, about two miles southwest of the Smith Creek Church, and about one-half mile northwest of the village of Bernheimer (then known as Klusmeier's Landing). On the map provided as :figref refid=smith., Henry's new farm is identified as the H. Landwehr farm in Sections 8 and 9, on the bank of the Missouri River. Henry purchased the farm from Anton and Caroline Rekate for $3350.00.
Seven months after he sold his farm to Henry Landwehr, Anton Rekate purchased land south of the Smith Creek Church. It was here that Anton built the Rekate Store that probably housed the Pinckney Post Office. The Rekate Store was probably typical of the many small general stores that served farm families during this period of our history. Here farmers could sell eggs, chickens, roots, and other produce; and they could purchase work clothing, shoes, china and glass, yard goods, and staple groceries as well as many other needed items. For many years the Rekate Store was one of the important rural stores of the county not only for buying and selling, but also for visiting with neighbors.
On August 13, 1871, one year after moving his family to their new farm home, Henry and Louise became the proud parents of a son, Friedrich Wilhelm Landwehr (later known as William). Friedrich Wilhelm was baptized at the Smith Creek Methodist Church on September 17, 1871 by Rev. John Wanner.
On March 13, 1873, Heinrich Peitsmeier, Louise Landwehr's son and Henry's step-son, died. He was twenty-one years old. He was buried at the Smith Creek Methodist Cemetery, located one-half mile southwest of the Smith Creek Methodist Church. The land on which the cemetery is situated was not acquired by the Methodist Church until 1874, so it appears that the cemetery must have been in use as a local graveyard before it was acquired by the church.
Two months after the death of Henry's step-son, the second of Henry's step-daughters was married. Louisa Peitsmeier, sixteen years old, married 25-year-old Fritz Schwartz on May 22, 1873. After spending the first few years of their married life in Warren County, Fritz and Louisa Schwartz would follow Louisa's sister and brother-in-law to Howard County, Missouri. Fritz and Louisa would live in Howard County the rest of their lives.
Henry and Louise Landwehr became parents for the last time in 1874. Wilhemina Landwehr (later known as Stena) was born on April 13, and was baptized at the Smith Creek Methodist Church on May 24 of that year by Rev. John Meyer.
Henry's youngest step-daughter, Carolina Peitsmeier, was married at Smith Creek on November 22, 1877. She was married to Henry Koch, in a ceremony conducted by Rev. John Wanner. Henry and Carolina Koch would make their home in Warren County until 1901, when they would move to Boone County, Missouri, where they would live the rest of their lives.
By the time the 1880 census of Warren County was taken, Henry's three step-daughters had all married. Living in their home with Henry and Louise were their four children: Johanna, Tillie, William, and Stena. Their second daughter, Minna, died some time between 1870 and 1880. A description of Henry's farm in 1880 is provided by :figref refid=fhenry..
The eldest of Henry's children was married in 1885. Johanna Landwehr married William Henry Gruebbel on May 22, 1885.
The Smith Creek Methodist Church, located less than two miles northeast of Henry's farm, continued to play a central role in the lives of Henry Landwehr and his family. Henry and Louise attended church at Smith Creek, and their children attended Sunday School at Smith Creek. Henry and Louise undoubtedly supported construction of the new church building that was built in 1888. The new building replaced the frame church constructed in 1867, and continues to serve the Smith Creek congregation today.
:fig id=fhenry.
.ce
HENRY LANDWEHR FARM
.br
.sk 1
DESCRIPTION OF FARM
.br
.in +5
:ul compact.
:li.Tilled Land: 55 acres
:li.Permanent Meadow: 1 acre
:li.Woodland and Forest: 75 acres
:li.Other Lands: 10 acres
:eul.
.in -5
LIVE STOCK
.br
.in +5
:ul compact.
:li.Horses: 1
:li.Mules, Asses: 2
:li.Milk Cows: 5
:li.Other Cattle: 6
:li.Sheep: 4
:li.Swine: 18
:li.Barnyard Poultry: 50
:li.Other Poultry: 15
:eul.
.in -5
1879 PRODUCTION
.br
.in +5
:ul compact.
:li.Calves Dropped: 3
:li.Cattle Slaughtered: 1
:li.Butter: 110 pounds
:li.Lambs Dropped: 1
:li.Sheep Purchased: 2
:li.Fleeces Clipped, Shorn: 2 (10 pounds)
:li.Eggs: 210
:li.Corn: 400 bushels from 12 acres
:li.Oats: 80 bushels from 8 acres
:li.Wheat: 300 bushels from 25 acres
:li.Potatoes: 30 bushels
:li.Wine: 40 gallons from 1/2 acre vinyard
:li.Forest Products: $40
:eul.
.in -5
1879 EXPENSES
.br
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:ul compact.
:li.Cost of building and repairing fences: $40
:li.Wages paid for 2 weeks hired farm labor: $15
:eul.
.in -5
VALUES
.br
.in +5
:ul compact.
:li.Farm: $1500
:li.Farming implements and machinery: $200
:li.Live stock: $350
:li.All farm production sold, consumed, or on hand for 1879: $430
:eul.
.in -5
:figcap.Henry Landwehr farm in 1880
:efig.
:fig id=phenry frame=box depth='5.9i'.
:figcap.Henry Landwehr
:figdesc.Courtesy of Opal (Gruebbel) Smith.
:efig.
:fig id=plouis frame=box depth='5.7i'.
:figcap.Louise (Wegener) Peitsmeier Landwehr
:figdesc.Courtesy of Opal (Gruebbel) Smith.
:efig.
The annual camp meetings held at the church were apparently very important to Henry. The first camp meeting was held at the Smith Creek Church in 1874. The meetings were held outside, and lasted five days. However, not everyone in Henry's family shared his enthusiasm for the camp meetings. Henry's son, William Landwehr, later left the Methodist Church and joined the St. John's Evangelical Church. William's children recall that he changed denominations, in part, because he tired of the camp meetings, and disapproved of Henry's neglect of his live stock while he spent a whole week at the camp meetings.
Henry gave a second daughter in marriage in 1890, when Tillie was married to Louis G. Linenschmidt, of Marthasville, on May 1. They were married by Rev. J. G. Hildenstein, of the Smith Creek Methodist Church.
Warren County was fortunate in having river transportation available for shipping its surplus products to market, and for bringing in manufactred goods. Henry undoubtedly raised both grain and livestock on his farm. Among the farmers who lived in his neighborhood, it was common practice to drive livestock to stock pens near Bernheimer, where the livestock was loaded on steamboats for shipment to St. Louis. In the winter, neighbors helped one another haul wheat, which had been bagged at threshing time, to Bernheimer. Often six or eight wagons would be used for hauling grain.
Descendants of Henry Landwehr and his brothers recall hearing stories about Henry's farm "falling into the Missouri River." There is no evidence that Henry's losses to the Missouri River were that substantial. Nevertheless, in the late 1880's, the erosion of the north bank of the Missouri River apparently accelerated. For example, the St. Johannes' Evangelical Church at Kruegerville was endangered by the erosion of the river in 1892, forcing the congregation to build a new church and parsonage two miles north of the old location.
Most of the losses to the river were downstream from Henry Landwehr's farm. For example, almost all of Henry's farm still survives today. However, less than three miles downriver from Henry's farm, where the villages of Pinckney and Kruegersville once stood, the swirling waters of the Missouri washed away thousands of acres of bottom land, as the river moved north more than a mile. Not unlike today, there was great risk in farming the fertile Missouri River bottom land. Henry's grandsons recall their father telling them of Henry's battle with the Missouri River. Henry would move his wheat shocks back away from the river, and that night the river would again creep up on the shocks.
Henry Landwehr continued to farm until 1891, when he apparently gave up farming at the age of fifty-two. Perhaps by coincidence, it was on May 27 of that same year that Henry made his first application for a soldier's pension, based on his three months of service during the Civil War. While some Civil War veterans had been eligible for pensions since the second year of the Civil War (1862), it was an Act of Congress approved in June of 1890 which extended pension benefits, under certain circumstances, to veterans who had served ninety days or more.
The basis for Henry's claim was probably very similar to those of many other veterans. He described his disability as rheumatism in his back, shoulders and legs, and chronic diarrhoea. He claimed that his disability almost totally incapacitated him from the performance of manual labor. He indicated that he contracted the rheumatism and diarrhoea while in service, suffered from them when discharged, and had been afflicted with them ever since. He also added that on or about January 1, 1882, he became aware that he was suffering with cystitis.
In support of his claim, one of Henry's neighbors wrote that:
"I have also visited with him (Henry) and he has visited me during the last ten years, and on such visits and meetings, he has frequently made complaints to me that he was suffering with rheumatism in his limbs so that he could not tend to his work as he should. I have during that time often assisted him in putting on and taking off his coat as he was unable to do that himself..."
On February 20, 1892, Henry and Louise Landwehr sold the farm where they had lived for the past twenty-one years. They had lost the bottom ground due to the erosion of the river. The legal description of the land suggests they may have lost about twenty-four acres--the recollection of a grand-son suggests that the loss may have been forty acres. In any event, Henry and Louise received $4000 for their farm, which was $650 more than they had originally paid for the farm twenty-one years earlier.
When Henry and Louise sold their farm, they still had two children, William and Stena, at home. Henry apparently bought a house in the neighborhood where he and Louise had farmed. With the sale of the farm, the family probably lived comfortably in the home that Henry bought. The sale of their farm probably provided income for Henry and Louise. In addition, Henry probably started receiving his quarterly soldier's pension payments in 1892 or 1893.
For Henry's wife, retirement was to be short-lived. Two years after they sold their farm, 67-year-old Louise (Wegener) Landwehr died of influenza and "lung fever" (pneumonia) on February 11, 1894. She was buried in the Smith Creek Methodist Cemetery. She was survived by Henry, and by seven of her eleven children. Louise was a very religious woman, and her obituary points out that, on her deathbed, she left legacies of "$10 for the Mission" (the Methodist Church) and "$25 for the Orphans Home in Warrenton".
A year after Louise's death, Henry's youngest daughter, Stena, was married. Stena was married to Martin Lefholz, also of Warren County. They were married on April 4, 1895, by Rev. John M. Rohde of the Smith Creek Methodist Church. Henry's son, William Landwehr, was the last of his children to marry. On March 15, 1899, William was married to Caroline Rekate, a daughter of the Anton Rekate who sold his farm to Henry Landwehr in 1870, and who built the Rekate Store discussed earlier in this chapter.
With William's marriage in March of 1899, Henry found himself living alone. The Federal census taken in June of 1900 indicates that Henry was continuing to live alone in his home, which was located in the same general area as the farmsteads of his daughter, Johanna Gruebbel, his son, William Landwehr, and his step-daughter, Louisa Schwartz.
Some time after 1900, Henry moved in with the family of his oldest daughter, Johanna Gruebbel. Perhaps Henry moved in with Johanna when she and her husband moved their family from Kruegerville to Treloar in 1904. Henry would make his home with Johanna and her family for the remaining years of his life.
By April of 1905, Henry was receiving monthly pension payments of $6.00. He applied at that time for an increase due to "weak eyes, and disabilities incident to age." Henry's relatives don't recall that Henry had any health problems in his later years that seriously impaired him, but do recall that he had a problem with his eyes. He wore dark glasses, and at one time wore a black patch over one eye. While we don't know the result of that 1905 application for an increase, we do know that by the time Henry was dropped from the Federal pension rolls following his death in 1922, his pension had increased to $50.00 per month.
Henry's daughter Johanna and her family provided Henry with a room, and with his board. The inventory of Henry's property when he passed away in 1922 provides a good idea of how Henry's room was furnished. The inventory included:
.in +5
.kp on
:ul compact.
:li.1 bed including spring
:li.1 wardrobe
:li.1 cupboard
:li.1 stove & pipes including zinc
:li.1 small wash stand
:li.1 small table
:li.1 rocking chair
:li.1 plain chair
:li.1 trunk
:li.1 coal oil can
:eul.
.kp off
.in -5
:fig id=group frame=box depth='4.3i'.
:figcap.Henry Landwehr and family
:figdesc.Photo taken at New Franklin, Missouri, in 1920, on the
occasion of the Golden Wedding Anniversary of Simon and Friederika
(Peitsmeier) Humfeld. Front row: Henry Landwehr, Friederika
(Peitsmeier) Humfeld, Louisa (Peitsmeier) Schwartz. Back row:
Carrie (Peitsmeier) Koch, Johanna (Landwehr) Gruebbel, Tillie
(Landwehr) Linenschmidt, William Landwehr, Stena (Landwehr) Lefholz.
Courtesy of Nadine (Howelman) Dusenberg.
:efig.
Henry remained active during his later years. Henry's son, William Landwehr, raised his family on a 208-acre farm just north of the farm that Henry and Louise sold in 1892. William Landwehr's children remember Henry's visits to their farm home each year when they were young. The Smith Creek Methodist Church, located about two miles east of the William Landwehr farm, continued to hold their annual camp meetings. Henry would drive his buggy from the Gruebbel home in Treloar to William's farm, and would stay with them for the whole week while he attended the camp meetings. His grandchildren remember running to greet Henry, who would press nickles into their small hands as gifts. Henry's grandsons were responsible for care and feeding of Henry's horse during those visits. And Henry's grandchildren remember that Henry thought a lot of his daughter-in-law, Caroline (Rekate) Landwehr, and that she was always very good to him during those visits. They also remember Henry as a very religious man, who was quite a singer. He would go to the camp meeting every day, where he would testify, pray, and sing.
His great-nephews and great-nieces (grandchildren of Philip, Fritz, and William) at Champion City and Strain, in Franklin County, also remember Henry's visits to their homes as special occasions. Everett Brommelsick, grandson of Henry's youngest brother, William Landwehr, recalled that Henry would stay with them at Champion City for one or two nights. He fondly remembered Henry as "a loud talker", who "would never run out of something to talk about". Burton Landwehr, grandson of Fritz Landwehr, recalls that Henry visited the Julius Landwehr family once each year, and that his visits were a special occasion for the family.
Henry's visits were not confined to Warren and Franklin Counties. He also visited with his three stepdaughters in Boone and Howard Counties, Missouri. It was during one of these visits that the photograph provided as :figref refid=group. was taken. And nearly every year, Henry would take the Missouri, Kansas, and Texas Railroad (the "Katy") to Texas to visit his daughter, Tillie Linenschmidt, and her family north of Denton, in northern Texas. Henry would spend the whole winter with the Linenschmidt family in Texas. According to Ella Trietsch, granddaughter of Tillie (Landwehr) Linenschmidt, Henry always came to Texas during the winter, except for his last visit. His last visit was timed to satisfy his desire to see Texas in the summer.
Finally, several relatives recall that Henry made at least one trip to Germany to decorate his father's grave, and to visit relations there. Nadine Dusenberg remembers that Henry had many painted dishes. She also recalls that Henry brought a cup and a saucer back from Germany for each of his children and step-daughters.
On May 16, 1921, Henry suffered a paraletic stroke, which lamed one side of his body, and made him an invalid. About eighteen months later, he suffered a second stroke, from which he did not recover. A short time later, on November 23, 1922, he died at the home of his daughter, Mrs. William Gruebbel, in Treloar.
Henry's obituary stated that "for many years he was one of the best known citizens of the southern part of the county". Funeral services were conducted at the home by his pastor, Rev. Theo. Kies, assisted by Rev. F. Egger of Holstein, Missouri. At the Smith Creek Methodist Church, the services were conducted by Rev. Kies, who was assisted by Rev. Egger, Rev. Grabau and Rev. Koewing, the latter a former pastor of Henry Landwehr. Henry was buried in the Smith Creek Methodist Church Cemetery.
His last will was dated November 25, 1905. He was survived by his three step-daughters: Frederike Humfeld of New Franklin, Missouri; Louisa Schwartz of New Franklin, Missouri; and Carolina Koch of Columbia, Missouri: a son, William Landwehr, of Treloar, Missouri; and three daughters: Mathilda Linenschmidt of Denton, Texas; Johanna Gruebbel of Treloar, Missouri; and Christine Lefholz of Treloar, Missouri. William Landwehr was the executor of the estate.
Henry's estate included $2615 in various forms of savings, and $4450 due him on outstanding loans. He left a legacy of $200 to each of his three step-daughters, legacies of $50 to the German Methodist Home and the Orphan Home, and legacies of $25 to the Foreign Mission and the Interior Mission. After probate expenses, each of his four children received an inheritance of $1317.83.
The geography of the north bank along this stretch of the Missouri River has changed dramatically since Henry Landwehr first set foot on that soil. The channel of the river has moved north, washing away farms and towns on the north bank, and depositing new bottom land on the south bank. In order to understand the history of the area in southern Warren County where Henry Landwehr searched for work, married, and lived the rest of his life, it helps to understand the history of the village of Pinckney.
The original town of Pinckney stood on the north bank of the Missouri River, one mile south and two and one-half miles west of the current site of the village of Treloar (see :figref refid=warren.). When Pinckney was originally laid out as a town in 1819, Warren County didn't yet exist. The area was still part of Montgomery County, which was later divided, in 1833, to form Warren County. Pinckney thrived as the county seat of Montgomery County from 1818 until 1824, and was an important river landing for boats. Not many years thereafter, most of the original site of Pinckney disappeared, swallowed by the shifting channel of the Missouri River.
But, apparently, some part of the original town of Pinckney was not lost. Over the years, the site was also known as Pinkney, Pinckney Landing, Pinckney's Landing, and Pinckneyville. An 1877 map refers to the site as Pinkney Landing. At that time, Pinkney Landing consisted of the St. Johannes' Evangelical Church, a school, a store, and a mill (see :figref refid=smith.).
It was this same site that was later known as Kruegerville. While one historical source indicates that Kruegerville was organized about 1885 or 1886, the name was apparently being used by local residents much earlier. In the heading of a letter written by Henry Landwehr to his brother Fritz in 1876, Henry made reference to "Kruegersville". The new name for the village was taken from the Krueger family, who were prominent residents of the area.
The Kruegerville Post Office was established in 1885, and discontinued in 1910, when the site was completely swallowed up by the changing channel of the Missouri River. As a measure of the change in the bed of the Missouri River channel, it is interesting to note that the original site of Pinckney and Kruegerville is now located in the bottom land on the south bank of the Missouri River, two miles east and one-half mile south of the Franklin County village of Etlah.
Some time prior to 1877, a Post Office was established about three miles north of the site of the original town of Pinckney, or about three-quarters of a mile south of the Smith Creek Methodist Church. The Post Office borrowed its name from the original town of Pinckney, and was probably located in the Rekate Store, built by Anton Rekate about 1871 (see the southeast corner of Section 3 on the map provided as :figref refid=smith.). References to Pinckney in the following biography of Henry Landwehr are to this Pinckney Post Office, rather than to the original town on the bank of the Missouri River.
We presume, then, that Henry Landwehr crossed the Missouri River from Franklin County to look for work as a farm laborer. That appears to be be the most likely background for Henry's marriage, less than a year after his discharge from the service, to a widow living in southern Warren County.
:fig id=smith frame=box depth='7.3i'.
:figcap.Map of Smith Creek area
:figdesc.From Atlas Map of Warren County, Missouri, published in
1877.
:efig.
In July of 1862, Henry Landwehr was married in Warren County to Caroline Louise 'Louise' (Wegener) Peitsmeier, widow of Fritz Peitsmeier. We will digress briefly, and examine Louise's background.
Henry's new bride was born in Prussia on December 2, 1827, the daughter of Johann Friedrich Gottlieb Wegener, a farmer, and Anne Catharine Marie Charlotte Boeker. Our first record of the Wegener family is the marriage of Louise's brother in 1847. The record of marriage of Carl Ernst Friedrich Wegener to Anne Marie Catharine Schuette on August 22, 1847, indicates that the Wegener family was then living at #15 Eidinghausen, seventeen miles northeast of Henry Landwehr's birthplace of Joellenbeck (Eidinghausen is identified as location #4, and Joellenbeck as location #2, on :figref refid=minden.). It appears, however, that Louise's family did not move to the village of Eidinghausen until some time after Louise's birth.
Louise was married only a few months after her brother. After posting marriage banns on December 19 and December 26, 1847, and January 2, 1848, Louise and Anton Friedrich 'Fritz' Peitsmeier were married at the groom's home in Eidinghausen on January 16, 1848. Fritz Peitsmeier, son of Johann Friedrich Peitsmeyer and Louise Christine Juliane Paulsmeyer, was born at #38 Eidinghausen on November 5, 1827, and baptized in the Lutheran Evangelical Church at Eidinghausen on November 22. After his later emigration to America, the Peitsmeier name was frequently spelled "Peitzmeyer". We have chosen to use the spelling most often encountered in the older German church records.
Louise and Fritz were apparently living with Louise's parents when their first child was born. If the records of the Eidinghausen Lutheran Church are correct, Louise's first child was born only two days after her marriage. On January 18, 1848, Fritz and Louise became parents of a daughter, who was baptized Carline (Caroline?) Louise Charlotte Peitsmeier. Their first daughter lived less than six months, however, and died on June 7 of that same year.
The next year, in 1849, Fritz and Louise emigrated to St. Louis, Missouri. The following year, they moved from St. Louis to Warren County, where they settled west of the Smith Creek Methodist Church.
Fritz and Louise had a son who was baptized at the Smith Creek Methodist Church on July 23, 1851. The date of birth later recorded on the gravestone of Heinrich Peitsmeier (son of Fritz and Louise Peitsmeier) is July 3, 1852. It appears likely that he was the Peitsmeier infant who was baptized on July 23, 1851, and that he may actually have been born on July 3, 1851, rather than 1852.
Smith Creek Methodist Church records also contain a baptism of a daughter, Friederika Louise Peitsmeier, born on November 17, 1853 and baptized on December 25, 1853. She was baptized at "Bethels Kirche" by Rev. William Kleinschmidt. It was also under the ministry of Reverend Kleinschmidt that Louise Peitsmeier was converted to the Methodist Episcopal Church. She joined the church in 1854.
On September 19, 1854, Fritz Peitsmeier bought one hundred acres of land located one and one-half miles west of the Smith Creek Methodist Church. On the map provided as :figref refid=smith., this original Peitsmeier farm is identified as the H. Jaeger farm in the northwest corner of Section 4.
Smith Creek Methodist Church records contain a baptism of another daughter, Louise Engel Peitsmeier, born October 15, 1856, and baptized February 1, 1857. She was baptized at the "Bethel Kirche" by Rev. Karl H. Schmidt. And another daughter, Caroline Peitsmeier, was born to Fritz and Louise on September 13, 1859.
The Federal census of Pinckney Township, taken on August 7, 1860, listed the Fritz Peitsmeier household. Fritz valued his real estate at $1000, and his personal property at $300.
Fritz Peitsmeier died at Pinckeny in February of 1861, at the age of thirty-three. While we don't know the exact date of his death, his doctor last visited him on February 20, so he died late in the month. He was probably buried on the Peitsmeier farm. Of the six children who had been born to Fritz and Louise, four of them survived their father. Their first child died in Prussia as an infant, and we have no record of the other child, who probably also died in infancy. For further information about the children of Fritz Peitsmeier and Louise Wegener, see :hdref refid=dwegen..
We don't know how Henry Landwehr met Louise. Perhaps Henry worked for Louise as a farm laborer following the death of her husband. Henry and Louise were married in the Smith Creek area (possibly at Louise's farm home) on July 9, 1862. They were married by Rev. Gerhard Timken, Minister of the Smith Creek Methodist Church, which was located a mile east of the Peitsmeier farm, and less than a mile north of the Pinckney post office. See :figref refid=warren. for a map of the area.
When Henry Landwehr and Louise Peitsmeier were married in 1862, Louise had been a widow for about seventeen months. Henry's new family consisted of his 34-year-old bride, and four step-children, ages eleven, eight, five, and two. Henry was only twenty-three years old.
It appears that Henry and his new bride continued to live on the 100-acre Peitsmeier farm following their marriage. As a result of his marriage, Henry became the first of our immigrant Landwehr family to acquire land in America.
Henry and Louise soon started a family of their own. The first member of our Landwehr family born on American soil was born on October 11, 1863. Henry's first daughter, Hanna Wilhelmine (later known as Johanna), was baptized on Christmas Day of 1863 by Gustav Hollmann of the Smith Creek Methodist Church.
The following year, in 1864, Henry joined the Smith Creek Methodist Episcopal Church, under the pastorate of Rev. George Enzeroth. He would faithfully serve as a member in that church the rest of his life.
When Henry Landwehr joined the Smith Creek Methodist Episcopal Church in 1864, the church consisted of a simple log chapel. The history of the church dated back to 1842, when two German Methodist ministers first came to Warren County. In 1845, the first three German Methodist churches were built in Warren County--one in Marthasville, one near Hopewell, and one at Smith Creek. Thus, the Smith Creek church was only five years old when Fritz and Louise Peitsmeier first settled nearby, and was only nineteen years old when Henry Landwehr joined the congregation.
The second daughter born to Henry and Louise was Augusta Mina, born on November 27, 1866, and baptized at the Smith Creek Methodist Church on June 2, 1867.
An important event in the history of the Smith Creek Methodist Church occured that same year. The old log chapel had become very dilapidated. To replace it, a new frame building was erected in 1867 at the site of the present church.
Anna Mathilda (later known as Tillie), their third daughter, was born to Henry and Louise on December 17, 1868, and was baptized at the Smith Creek Methodist Church on March 13, 1869 by Rev. John Wanner.
In 1870, Henry's eldest step-daughter was married. Friederika Peitsmeier, just sixteen years old, was married to thirty-year-old Simon Friedrich Conrad Humfeld in Warren County on April 1, 1870. They were married by J. F. Schierbaum, a Minister of the Gospel. John Wanner was the Minister of the Smith Creek Methodist Church in 1870, so Friederika and Simon must have been married by the minister of another church. Simon and Friederika would make their home in Warren County for the first six years of their marriage, and then move to Howard County, a few miles north of Boonville, Missouri. They would live in Howard County the rest of their lives.
In July of 1870, the Federal census of Warren County included the Henry Landwehr residence. Henry and Louise were apparently financially secure, as Henry valued his real estate at $3000, and his personal property at $1200.
Louise and Henry's step-children were listed in the same household with Henry and Louise. But Henry's three young daughters were not living in the same dwelling. However, the very next dwelling listed in the census (Henry's next-door neighbor) was the residence of Elisa Dothage. Elisa was fifty-six years old, born in Prussia, and apparently a widow. She valued her real estate at $2000, and her personal property at $1200, so she owned her farm. Three Dothage children, ranging in age from sixteen to twenty-two, were listed as living in the Elisa Dothage residence, as were two of Henry Landwehr's daughters--four-year-old Minna Landwehr, and one-year-old Anna Landwehr. Perhaps Henry's home was too small for his entire family, and Elisa Dothage helped care for Henry's younger children.
When Fritz Peitsmeier died in 1861, he died intestate--he did not leave a will. As a result, Louise Peitsmeier inherited only a widow's share of the Peitsmeier farm. Each of the Peitsmeier children--Henry Landwehr's step-children--also inherited a share of their father's farm. As long as Henry and Louise Landwehr lived on the farm, and the Peitsmeier children were minors living at home, there was probably little need to worry about paying the children their inheritances. But when Friederika Peitsmeier married on April 1, 1870, her inheritance would have become important to her. Perhaps this is the reason that the July 1870 term of the Warren County probate court ordered the guardian of the Peitsmeier children to sell the Peitsmeier farm.
The guardian of the Peitsmeier children was Henry Busse, who owned the farm directly south of the Peitsmeier farm (see :figref refid=smith.). He had the farm appraised by Carl Oetting (who owned a farm one-half mile east of the Peitsmeier farm), Ernst Paulsmeyer (who owned the farm immediately east of the Peitsmeier farm), and Charles Sundermeyer (who owned the farm immediatley west of the Peitsmeier farm). Mr. Busse also advertised the sale as prescribed by law. On August 15, the Peitsmeier farm was auctioned to the highest bidder on the steps of the Warren County Court House. The highest bidder was Friedrich Schwarze, who bought the 100-acre farm for $933.55.
Had Henry Landwehr wanted to continue farming the Peitsmeier farm, he probably could have purchased the farm at the auction. Instead, he bought a larger, and presumably better, farm just nine days prior to the auction of the Peitsmeier farm.
On August 6, 1870, just four months after his step-daughter's marriage, Henry purchased a 224-acre farm located one mile south of the Peitsmeier place. Frances Edwards, one of Henry's granddaughters, describes the farm as "a hill farm, that went back to the bluff that borders the river". The farm was located on the north bank of the Missouri River, about two miles southwest of the Smith Creek Church, and about one-half mile northwest of the village of Bernheimer (then known as Klusmeier's Landing). On the map provided as :figref refid=smith., Henry's new farm is identified as the H. Landwehr farm in Sections 8 and 9, on the bank of the Missouri River. Henry purchased the farm from Anton and Caroline Rekate for $3350.00.
Seven months after he sold his farm to Henry Landwehr, Anton Rekate purchased land south of the Smith Creek Church. It was here that Anton built the Rekate Store that probably housed the Pinckney Post Office. The Rekate Store was probably typical of the many small general stores that served farm families during this period of our history. Here farmers could sell eggs, chickens, roots, and other produce; and they could purchase work clothing, shoes, china and glass, yard goods, and staple groceries as well as many other needed items. For many years the Rekate Store was one of the important rural stores of the county not only for buying and selling, but also for visiting with neighbors.
On August 13, 1871, one year after moving his family to their new farm home, Henry and Louise became the proud parents of a son, Friedrich Wilhelm Landwehr (later known as William). Friedrich Wilhelm was baptized at the Smith Creek Methodist Church on September 17, 1871 by Rev. John Wanner.
On March 13, 1873, Heinrich Peitsmeier, Louise Landwehr's son and Henry's step-son, died. He was twenty-one years old. He was buried at the Smith Creek Methodist Cemetery, located one-half mile southwest of the Smith Creek Methodist Church. The land on which the cemetery is situated was not acquired by the Methodist Church until 1874, so it appears that the cemetery must have been in use as a local graveyard before it was acquired by the church.
Two months after the death of Henry's step-son, the second of Henry's step-daughters was married. Louisa Peitsmeier, sixteen years old, married 25-year-old Fritz Schwartz on May 22, 1873. After spending the first few years of their married life in Warren County, Fritz and Louisa Schwartz would follow Louisa's sister and brother-in-law to Howard County, Missouri. Fritz and Louisa would live in Howard County the rest of their lives.
Henry and Louise Landwehr became parents for the last time in 1874. Wilhemina Landwehr (later known as Stena) was born on April 13, and was baptized at the Smith Creek Methodist Church on May 24 of that year by Rev. John Meyer.
Henry's youngest step-daughter, Carolina Peitsmeier, was married at Smith Creek on November 22, 1877. She was married to Henry Koch, in a ceremony conducted by Rev. John Wanner. Henry and Carolina Koch would make their home in Warren County until 1901, when they would move to Boone County, Missouri, where they would live the rest of their lives.
By the time the 1880 census of Warren County was taken, Henry's three step-daughters had all married. Living in their home with Henry and Louise were their four children: Johanna, Tillie, William, and Stena. Their second daughter, Minna, died some time between 1870 and 1880. A description of Henry's farm in 1880 is provided by :figref refid=fhenry..
The eldest of Henry's children was married in 1885. Johanna Landwehr married William Henry Gruebbel on May 22, 1885.
The Smith Creek Methodist Church, located less than two miles northeast of Henry's farm, continued to play a central role in the lives of Henry Landwehr and his family. Henry and Louise attended church at Smith Creek, and their children attended Sunday School at Smith Creek. Henry and Louise undoubtedly supported construction of the new church building that was built in 1888. The new building replaced the frame church constructed in 1867, and continues to serve the Smith Creek congregation today.
:fig id=fhenry.
.ce
HENRY LANDWEHR FARM
.br
.sk 1
DESCRIPTION OF FARM
.br
.in +5
:ul compact.
:li.Tilled Land: 55 acres
:li.Permanent Meadow: 1 acre
:li.Woodland and Forest: 75 acres
:li.Other Lands: 10 acres
:eul.
.in -5
LIVE STOCK
.br
.in +5
:ul compact.
:li.Horses: 1
:li.Mules, Asses: 2
:li.Milk Cows: 5
:li.Other Cattle: 6
:li.Sheep: 4
:li.Swine: 18
:li.Barnyard Poultry: 50
:li.Other Poultry: 15
:eul.
.in -5
1879 PRODUCTION
.br
.in +5
:ul compact.
:li.Calves Dropped: 3
:li.Cattle Slaughtered: 1
:li.Butter: 110 pounds
:li.Lambs Dropped: 1
:li.Sheep Purchased: 2
:li.Fleeces Clipped, Shorn: 2 (10 pounds)
:li.Eggs: 210
:li.Corn: 400 bushels from 12 acres
:li.Oats: 80 bushels from 8 acres
:li.Wheat: 300 bushels from 25 acres
:li.Potatoes: 30 bushels
:li.Wine: 40 gallons from 1/2 acre vinyard
:li.Forest Products: $40
:eul.
.in -5
1879 EXPENSES
.br
.in +5
:ul compact.
:li.Cost of building and repairing fences: $40
:li.Wages paid for 2 weeks hired farm labor: $15
:eul.
.in -5
VALUES
.br
.in +5
:ul compact.
:li.Farm: $1500
:li.Farming implements and machinery: $200
:li.Live stock: $350
:li.All farm production sold, consumed, or on hand for 1879: $430
:eul.
.in -5
:figcap.Henry Landwehr farm in 1880
:efig.
:fig id=phenry frame=box depth='5.9i'.
:figcap.Henry Landwehr
:figdesc.Courtesy of Opal (Gruebbel) Smith.
:efig.
:fig id=plouis frame=box depth='5.7i'.
:figcap.Louise (Wegener) Peitsmeier Landwehr
:figdesc.Courtesy of Opal (Gruebbel) Smith.
:efig.
The annual camp meetings held at the church were apparently very important to Henry. The first camp meeting was held at the Smith Creek Church in 1874. The meetings were held outside, and lasted five days. However, not everyone in Henry's family shared his enthusiasm for the camp meetings. Henry's son, William Landwehr, later left the Methodist Church and joined the St. John's Evangelical Church. William's children recall that he changed denominations, in part, because he tired of the camp meetings, and disapproved of Henry's neglect of his live stock while he spent a whole week at the camp meetings.
Henry gave a second daughter in marriage in 1890, when Tillie was married to Louis G. Linenschmidt, of Marthasville, on May 1. They were married by Rev. J. G. Hildenstein, of the Smith Creek Methodist Church.
Warren County was fortunate in having river transportation available for shipping its surplus products to market, and for bringing in manufactred goods. Henry undoubtedly raised both grain and livestock on his farm. Among the farmers who lived in his neighborhood, it was common practice to drive livestock to stock pens near Bernheimer, where the livestock was loaded on steamboats for shipment to St. Louis. In the winter, neighbors helped one another haul wheat, which had been bagged at threshing time, to Bernheimer. Often six or eight wagons would be used for hauling grain.
Descendants of Henry Landwehr and his brothers recall hearing stories about Henry's farm "falling into the Missouri River." There is no evidence that Henry's losses to the Missouri River were that substantial. Nevertheless, in the late 1880's, the erosion of the north bank of the Missouri River apparently accelerated. For example, the St. Johannes' Evangelical Church at Kruegerville was endangered by the erosion of the river in 1892, forcing the congregation to build a new church and parsonage two miles north of the old location.
Most of the losses to the river were downstream from Henry Landwehr's farm. For example, almost all of Henry's farm still survives today. However, less than three miles downriver from Henry's farm, where the villages of Pinckney and Kruegersville once stood, the swirling waters of the Missouri washed away thousands of acres of bottom land, as the river moved north more than a mile. Not unlike today, there was great risk in farming the fertile Missouri River bottom land. Henry's grandsons recall their father telling them of Henry's battle with the Missouri River. Henry would move his wheat shocks back away from the river, and that night the river would again creep up on the shocks.
Henry Landwehr continued to farm until 1891, when he apparently gave up farming at the age of fifty-two. Perhaps by coincidence, it was on May 27 of that same year that Henry made his first application for a soldier's pension, based on his three months of service during the Civil War. While some Civil War veterans had been eligible for pensions since the second year of the Civil War (1862), it was an Act of Congress approved in June of 1890 which extended pension benefits, under certain circumstances, to veterans who had served ninety days or more.
The basis for Henry's claim was probably very similar to those of many other veterans. He described his disability as rheumatism in his back, shoulders and legs, and chronic diarrhoea. He claimed that his disability almost totally incapacitated him from the performance of manual labor. He indicated that he contracted the rheumatism and diarrhoea while in service, suffered from them when discharged, and had been afflicted with them ever since. He also added that on or about January 1, 1882, he became aware that he was suffering with cystitis.
In support of his claim, one of Henry's neighbors wrote that:
"I have also visited with him (Henry) and he has visited me during the last ten years, and on such visits and meetings, he has frequently made complaints to me that he was suffering with rheumatism in his limbs so that he could not tend to his work as he should. I have during that time often assisted him in putting on and taking off his coat as he was unable to do that himself..."
On February 20, 1892, Henry and Louise Landwehr sold the farm where they had lived for the past twenty-one years. They had lost the bottom ground due to the erosion of the river. The legal description of the land suggests they may have lost about twenty-four acres--the recollection of a grand-son suggests that the loss may have been forty acres. In any event, Henry and Louise received $4000 for their farm, which was $650 more than they had originally paid for the farm twenty-one years earlier.
When Henry and Louise sold their farm, they still had two children, William and Stena, at home. Henry apparently bought a house in the neighborhood where he and Louise had farmed. With the sale of the farm, the family probably lived comfortably in the home that Henry bought. The sale of their farm probably provided income for Henry and Louise. In addition, Henry probably started receiving his quarterly soldier's pension payments in 1892 or 1893.
For Henry's wife, retirement was to be short-lived. Two years after they sold their farm, 67-year-old Louise (Wegener) Landwehr died of influenza and "lung fever" (pneumonia) on February 11, 1894. She was buried in the Smith Creek Methodist Cemetery. She was survived by Henry, and by seven of her eleven children. Louise was a very religious woman, and her obituary points out that, on her deathbed, she left legacies of "$10 for the Mission" (the Methodist Church) and "$25 for the Orphans Home in Warrenton".
A year after Louise's death, Henry's youngest daughter, Stena, was married. Stena was married to Martin Lefholz, also of Warren County. They were married on April 4, 1895, by Rev. John M. Rohde of the Smith Creek Methodist Church. Henry's son, William Landwehr, was the last of his children to marry. On March 15, 1899, William was married to Caroline Rekate, a daughter of the Anton Rekate who sold his farm to Henry Landwehr in 1870, and who built the Rekate Store discussed earlier in this chapter.
With William's marriage in March of 1899, Henry found himself living alone. The Federal census taken in June of 1900 indicates that Henry was continuing to live alone in his home, which was located in the same general area as the farmsteads of his daughter, Johanna Gruebbel, his son, William Landwehr, and his step-daughter, Louisa Schwartz.
Some time after 1900, Henry moved in with the family of his oldest daughter, Johanna Gruebbel. Perhaps Henry moved in with Johanna when she and her husband moved their family from Kruegerville to Treloar in 1904. Henry would make his home with Johanna and her family for the remaining years of his life.
By April of 1905, Henry was receiving monthly pension payments of $6.00. He applied at that time for an increase due to "weak eyes, and disabilities incident to age." Henry's relatives don't recall that Henry had any health problems in his later years that seriously impaired him, but do recall that he had a problem with his eyes. He wore dark glasses, and at one time wore a black patch over one eye. While we don't know the result of that 1905 application for an increase, we do know that by the time Henry was dropped from the Federal pension rolls following his death in 1922, his pension had increased to $50.00 per month.
Henry's daughter Johanna and her family provided Henry with a room, and with his board. The inventory of Henry's property when he passed away in 1922 provides a good idea of how Henry's room was furnished. The inventory included:
.in +5
.kp on
:ul compact.
:li.1 bed including spring
:li.1 wardrobe
:li.1 cupboard
:li.1 stove & pipes including zinc
:li.1 small wash stand
:li.1 small table
:li.1 rocking chair
:li.1 plain chair
:li.1 trunk
:li.1 coal oil can
:eul.
.kp off
.in -5
:fig id=group frame=box depth='4.3i'.
:figcap.Henry Landwehr and family
:figdesc.Photo taken at New Franklin, Missouri, in 1920, on the
occasion of the Golden Wedding Anniversary of Simon and Friederika
(Peitsmeier) Humfeld. Front row: Henry Landwehr, Friederika
(Peitsmeier) Humfeld, Louisa (Peitsmeier) Schwartz. Back row:
Carrie (Peitsmeier) Koch, Johanna (Landwehr) Gruebbel, Tillie
(Landwehr) Linenschmidt, William Landwehr, Stena (Landwehr) Lefholz.
Courtesy of Nadine (Howelman) Dusenberg.
:efig.
Henry remained active during his later years. Henry's son, William Landwehr, raised his family on a 208-acre farm just north of the farm that Henry and Louise sold in 1892. William Landwehr's children remember Henry's visits to their farm home each year when they were young. The Smith Creek Methodist Church, located about two miles east of the William Landwehr farm, continued to hold their annual camp meetings. Henry would drive his buggy from the Gruebbel home in Treloar to William's farm, and would stay with them for the whole week while he attended the camp meetings. His grandchildren remember running to greet Henry, who would press nickles into their small hands as gifts. Henry's grandsons were responsible for care and feeding of Henry's horse during those visits. And Henry's grandchildren remember that Henry thought a lot of his daughter-in-law, Caroline (Rekate) Landwehr, and that she was always very good to him during those visits. They also remember Henry as a very religious man, who was quite a singer. He would go to the camp meeting every day, where he would testify, pray, and sing.
His great-nephews and great-nieces (grandchildren of Philip, Fritz, and William) at Champion City and Strain, in Franklin County, also remember Henry's visits to their homes as special occasions. Everett Brommelsick, grandson of Henry's youngest brother, William Landwehr, recalled that Henry would stay with them at Champion City for one or two nights. He fondly remembered Henry as "a loud talker", who "would never run out of something to talk about". Burton Landwehr, grandson of Fritz Landwehr, recalls that Henry visited the Julius Landwehr family once each year, and that his visits were a special occasion for the family.
Henry's visits were not confined to Warren and Franklin Counties. He also visited with his three stepdaughters in Boone and Howard Counties, Missouri. It was during one of these visits that the photograph provided as :figref refid=group. was taken. And nearly every year, Henry would take the Missouri, Kansas, and Texas Railroad (the "Katy") to Texas to visit his daughter, Tillie Linenschmidt, and her family north of Denton, in northern Texas. Henry would spend the whole winter with the Linenschmidt family in Texas. According to Ella Trietsch, granddaughter of Tillie (Landwehr) Linenschmidt, Henry always came to Texas during the winter, except for his last visit. His last visit was timed to satisfy his desire to see Texas in the summer.
Finally, several relatives recall that Henry made at least one trip to Germany to decorate his father's grave, and to visit relations there. Nadine Dusenberg remembers that Henry had many painted dishes. She also recalls that Henry brought a cup and a saucer back from Germany for each of his children and step-daughters.
On May 16, 1921, Henry suffered a paraletic stroke, which lamed one side of his body, and made him an invalid. About eighteen months later, he suffered a second stroke, from which he did not recover. A short time later, on November 23, 1922, he died at the home of his daughter, Mrs. William Gruebbel, in Treloar.
Henry's obituary stated that "for many years he was one of the best known citizens of the southern part of the county". Funeral services were conducted at the home by his pastor, Rev. Theo. Kies, assisted by Rev. F. Egger of Holstein, Missouri. At the Smith Creek Methodist Church, the services were conducted by Rev. Kies, who was assisted by Rev. Egger, Rev. Grabau and Rev. Koewing, the latter a former pastor of Henry Landwehr. Henry was buried in the Smith Creek Methodist Church Cemetery.
His last will was dated November 25, 1905. He was survived by his three step-daughters: Frederike Humfeld of New Franklin, Missouri; Louisa Schwartz of New Franklin, Missouri; and Carolina Koch of Columbia, Missouri: a son, William Landwehr, of Treloar, Missouri; and three daughters: Mathilda Linenschmidt of Denton, Texas; Johanna Gruebbel of Treloar, Missouri; and Christine Lefholz of Treloar, Missouri. William Landwehr was the executor of the estate.
Henry's estate included $2615 in various forms of savings, and $4450 due him on outstanding loans. He left a legacy of $200 to each of his three step-daughters, legacies of $50 to the German Methodist Home and the Orphan Home, and legacies of $25 to the Foreign Mission and the Interior Mission. After probate expenses, each of his four children received an inheritance of $1317.83.