BRECHWALD, Barbara (1839-1928)

BRECHWALD

Posted By: Karon Velau (email)
Date: 9/6/2020 at 21:16:56

Barbara Schmidt Brechwald
(January 2, 1839 - April 28, 1928)

Ida County Pioneer, Ida Grove, Iowa, Wed., Feb 4, 1925, p.1&5
Whole County Becoming Interested in Our Octogenarians

Barbara Schmidt Brechwald was 86 years old on January 2nd of this years, having been born in 1839. She was born in Hessen, near Mayence Germany and 55 years ago was married in that country to Andrew Brechwald, who lived to the age of 85 years and died in the summer of 1917. They came to America in December 1880 and reached Ida County the first week in January 1881. They possibly were not much attracted by the country of their adoption about that time, as Iowa was passing through one of the very coldest and stormiest winters in her history, and probably none since that time have entailed so much hardship upon the people. Ferd Brechwald of Ida Grove, one of the sons, who was then a lad of ten, distinctly remembers the scenes amid the vineclad hills along the Rhine and the strangeness of the new environment on the raw prairies of Iowa. Two brothers of Mr. Brechwald Sr. had already preceded them to America. One of these brothers, Jacob Brechwald, lived a number of years at Holstein and is now living at Steamboat Rock, Iowa. Mrs. Brechwald makes here home with her daughter, Mrs. Will Murphy in Ida Grove. She had nine children, two of whom are dead. The surviving ones are; Ferd Brechwald, Mrs. Wm. Murphy, Mrs. Robert Mein of Ida Grove, Agnes Schmidt of Clinton County, Jacob in Alberta, Mrs. Theodore Rohwer, Schleswig, Mrs. F.G. Hart of Powell, WY. There are 29 grandchildren and 7 great-grandchildren. Mrs. Brechwald’s mind is quite clear and she enjoys good health, her hearing is excellent. She reads quit a bit and derives much pleasure from knitting. She has been a member of the Catholic Church since childhood.