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Family
Marriage: Children:
  1. George Gfroerer (Gfrörer): Birth: 2 MAR 1859 in Sand Creek, Scott County, Minnesota.

  2. Henry Gfroerer (Gfrörer): Birth: 1 MAR 1861 in Jordan, Minnesota. Death: 16 OCT 1903 in St. John’s Cemetery

  3. John Joseph Gfroerer (Gfrörer): Birth: 16 AUG 1863 in Jordan, Minnesota. Death: in as an infant

  4. Anna Rosa “Rose” Gfroerer (Gfrörer): Birth: 16 AUG 1863 in Jordan, Minnesota. Death: in as a small child

  5. Maria Magdolena Gfroerer (Gfrörer): Birth: 18 DEC 1866 in Jordan, Minnesota. Death: in as a child

  6. Ana Katharina Gfroerer (Gfrörer): Birth: 9 APR 1868 in Jordan, Minnesota. Death: 22 JAN 1871 in Jordan, Minnesota

  7. Frank Gfroerer (Gfrörer): Birth: 10 JUL 1870 in Jordan, Minnesota.

  8. Joseph Gfroerer (Gfrörer): Birth: 17 DEC 1872 in Jordan, Minnesota.

  9. Mary Ann Gfroerer (Gfrörer): Birth: 30 NOV 1874 in Jordan, Minnesota. Death: 6 NOV 1958 in Olympia, Washington

  10. unnamed boy Gfroerer (Gfrörer): Birth: 23 NOV 1879. Death: 24 NOV 1879


Notes
a. Note:   N29 The uncertainty about the date and place of Joseph’s birth is occasioned by conflicting historical information. Civil War records indicate that he was 43 years old when mustered out in 1865. His pension application dated 11 November 1887 says that he was 65 years old. Yet his obituary (1895) states that he was 64. The Catholic Church record in Bildechingen has the birthdate that I have entered as his official one. His Civil War records and pension records are remarkably consistent that he was born in 1821 or 1822. I cannot explain the discrepancy. The 1870 census seems to confirm the 1830 birth date. It lists Gfrier, Joseph (40, carpenter), Willborgia (35), George (11), Henry (9), and Katrina (age illegible). All ages agree with known birth dates. Incidentally, this census lists Joseph and Walburga as having been born in Minnesota! The 1880 census lists Gffroer, Joseph (50, Carpenter), Walburga (45), Henry (19), Frank (10), Joseph (7), May (5), and Peter (22) and Anna (21) Pick. Again the ages work. And this time the census says that both were born in Wertenberg. I cannot explain the absences of the other children, unless they died. When Joseph joined Company I of the Fifth Regiment of Minnesota Infantry on 16 November 1864, he was described as 43 years old, 5 feet 6 inches tall, with dark hair and hazel eyes, a Farmer by occupation. He was “Drafted. Not entitled to bounty.” He was under fire at the battles of Nashville Dec. 15-16, 1864 and at the siege of Spanish Fort in April 1865. he was disabled by “lung fever and rheumatism” contracted from “severe exposure—without shoes—in January 1865 after the battle of Nashville Tenn.” according to a document signed by John C. Black, Commissioner of Pensions, 25 Feb. 1888. He was promoted to Corporal on 1 May 1865 (special order #23, Regimental HQ) and mustered out on 6 September 1865 at Dunopolis (?), Alabama. After the war he was in business; first in Jordan, Minnesota as a dealer in furniture and cabinetware (see the ad for his successors Ochsenreiter & Ruh in the Scott County Advocate, 5 September 1878). In Milbank, Gfroerer & Co. were “Manufacturers & Bottlers of all kinds of carbonated drinks, Champagne Cider, Pop, Cream Soda, Ginger Ale.” (Ad in the Milbank paper, 3 January 1884). On his death, the newspaper reported that he died of “catarrh of the stomach.” According to his obituary, he “came to the United States while a young man, and was married in this country. He came from Jordan, Minnesota to Milbank eleven years ago and engaged in business.…The deceased was a man of naturally reserved disposition and bore the respect of all who knew him.” Direct quotation from the Milbank, South Dakota Newspaper, 31 January 1895: DIED. GFROERER.—On Saturday morning, January 26, 1895, from catarrh of the stomach, Joseph Gfroerer, of Milbank, South Dakota, aged 64 years, 9 months and 7 days. Another old soldier dropped by the wayside and was reverently laid to rest in the Catholic cemetery on Monday by his late comrades of the G. A. R. Deceased was born March 19, 1830 [Note correct date], in Bildechingen, Horb County, Wirtenberg [sic], Germany, and came to the United States while a young man, and was married in this country. He came from Jordan, Minnesota to Milbank eleven years ago and engaged in business. He served the last year of the war as a member of Co. I, Fifth Minnesota. The deceased leaves a widow and five children—George and Henry, who reside in Minneapolis; Joe, who resides at Andover; and Frank and Mary, who reside in this city—all of whom were present at the funeral. The deceased was a man of naturally reserved disposition and bore the respect of all who knew him.


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