Bierbaum, Louine M. (von Seitzberg) Fruechtenicht 1841-1943

BIERBAUM, VON SEITZBERG, FRUECHTENICHT, RAHMEYER, HENRY, HARRIS, MARTING, ROGGMAN

Posted By: Ken Johnson (email)
Date: 9/7/2020 at 12:16:28

**From the Thursday, 10 June 1943 issue of “The Guttenberg Press,” Garnavillo Tribune section, page 5, column 7:

MRS. BIERBAUM FUNERAL HELD AT DUBUQUE

Former Resident Dies At the Age of 101 Years

Funeral services for Mrs. Louise Bierbaum, 101, a former resident of Garnavillo, were held at Dubuque Saturday afternoon. Mrs. Bierbaum, Dubuque county’s oldest resident, died at Mount Pleasant home Thursday morning at 7:00 o’clock.

Mrs. Bierbaum was Louise Mathilda von Seitzberg and she was born in Jever Duchy, Altenburg, Germany. When she was only a few years old her father, Karl von Seitzberg became ill and his physician ordered a sea voyage. Mr. and Mrs. Von Seitzberg came to America and settled in Galena, Ill., leaving their daughter with an aunt in Germany. Later the aunt and the little girl moved to Portugal, where the latter lived until she was 21 years old. Mrs. Bierbaum then rejoined her parents at Galena.

She taught music in Galena. In 1867 she was married to the Rev. Herman Fruechtenicht and the couple, in 1880, came to Garnavillo where Rev. Fruechtenicht became pastor of St. Paul’s Lutheran church. Five children were born to this union, two of whom survive, Mrs. Louise Roymeyer [Rahmeyer] of St. Louis, Missouri and Miss Anna Marie Fruechtenicht, who lived with her mother.

In 1898 she married Fred Bierbaum Sr., and lived here until after his death in 1905. Mrs. Bierbaum and her daughter lived at Mount Pleasant Home since 1917.

Mr. and Mrs. Fred Bierbaum, Misses Lucia and Amelia Roggman and Mrs. Vincent Marting, attended the funeral at Dubuque Saturday afternoon at the Egelhof funeral home. The Rev. W. P. Sandrock, pastor of St. John’s Lutheran church officiated. Burial was in Linwood cemetery.

Many older Garnavillo residents remember Mrs. Bierbaum as their music teacher. She was the first to play the famous old Keller pipe organ when it was installed in St. Paul’s church as one of the few in the state at the time. Rev. Fruechtenicht was pastor at the time.

**From the Friday, 4 June 1943 issue of the Dubuque “Telegraph-Herald,” Dubuque Funerals section, page 8, column 7:

MRS. LOUINE BIERBAUM

Funeral services for Mrs Louine Mathilda Bierbaum, Dubuque County’s oldest resident, who died at Mt. Pleasant Home Thursday morning at the age of 101, will be held Saturday afternoon at 2 o’clock at the Egelhof Funeral Home. The Rev. W. P. Sandrock, pastor of St. John’s Lutheran Church, will officiate. Burial will be in Linwood Cemetery.

**From the Friday, 6 June 1943 issue of the Dubuque “Telegraph-Herald,” Dubuque Funerals section, page 15, column 8:

MRS. LOUINE M. BIERBAUM

The funeral of Mrs. Louine M. Bierbaum, 101, who died at Mt. Pleasant Home Thursday, was held at the Egelhof Funeral Home Saturday afternoon at 2 o’clock, with the Rev. W. P. Sandrock, of St. John’s Lutheran Church, officiating. Hymns were sung by Miss Dorothy Buelow, accompanied on the organ by Mrs. Louis Kammueller.

Burial was in Linwood Cemetery, where the Rev. Sandrock also officiated.

Out of town people at the funeral included Mr. and Mrs. Ray Henry, Mrs. Louis Harris, Robert and Richard Henry [Harris?], and Mrs. and Mrs. Fred Bierbaum, all of McGregor, Ia.; Mrs. Vincent Marting, St. Olaf, Iowa, and Miss Amelia Roggman and Miss Lucia Roggman, of Garnavillo, Ia.