Frederica and Christian Schrader

SCHRADER, MONK

Posted By: Misty Christner (email)
Date: 5/10/2018 at 11:39:00

Source: Historian for Sharon Center UMC

Frederica and Christian Schrader

Frederica Dora Hannah Monk was born on January 12, 1827 in Kittendorf, Mecklenburg (Germany). Kittendorf is located in northeastern Germany, very close to present day Poland with the Baltic Sea to the North. Christian Schrader was born on August 15, 1821 in Steffenshagen, Mecklenburg also in northeastern Germany, even closer to the Baltic Sean and Denmark. Steffenshagen is about 115 km northwest of Kittendorf. In present day Germany this area is called Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and is one of the 16 states of the Federal Republic of Germany.

During this time period Mecklenburg (The Grand duchies of Mecklenburg Schwerin and Mecklenburg Strelitz) was ruled by the Duchy of Mecklenburg and was a part of Germany but maintained their own autonomy. The Mecklenburgian dynasty of Dukes and Grand Dukes began in the 11th century and lasted until 1918.

From historical information we can assume the following about Frederica and Christian who were married on October 20, 1846, in Germany when she was 19 and he was 25. They were probably Evangelical Lutheran as 99% of the people in the duchies of Mecklenburg were, they had probably received a basic education in their local schools, and they had enough financial reserve to afford to leave Mecklenburg and come to America, which they did in 1853, when she was 26 and he was 32. They were part of a surge of German people who immigrated to the United States during the 1850's. Mecklenburg had the highest percentage of emigrants of any of the German states and the great majority went to the U.S. Nearly 90% came from agricultural lands and were looking to better their lives with land to farm. Serfdom had been outlawed in 1820 in Mecklenburg but the land and rules were still very much controlled by the dukes under enlightened but absolute rule. Mass emigration is a signal for a severe social crisis in any country. Even as late as the later half of the 19th century the Grand Duke personally owned half of the countryside. Mecklenburg has productive farming, but the land is most suitable for grazing purposes. Traditionally Mecklenburg has been one of the poorer regions of Germany.

They probably came to America on a sailing ship and left from the port of Hamburg. If memory is correct, Aunt Ethel Troyer said that they came to America with a sibling and they all settled in New Jersey. Christian and Frederica lived in New Jersey for 4 and 1/2 years and then left with their children and came to Iowa in 1858 and settled in Sharon Township on the present Ritter/Troyer farm just 3/4 of a mile straight north of the United Methodist Church.

They had 9 children, 7 sons and 2 daughters. From the record we have it is not clear if there were children born in Germany but one could assume that there were. By the time they came to Iowa 6 sons had been born: Tom (who died as a child in New Jersey), Fred, John, Jim, Benjamin, and Henry (who later died in Iowa in his youth in a runaway, team accident and is one of the first buried in the Sharon Cemetery.

In Iowa the last of their 3 children were born and were the ones most engaged with the church in Sharon: M.W. (Moses William) was born in 1861 on Christmas Day; Catherine (Katie) born December 27, 1863; and Eva A. (grandmother of Nancy Troyer Ritter) born April 26, 1868.

Christian and Fredrica established their home in Sharon Township (presently, this farm is still in the family going on now for 154 years). Christian would travel with his horse and wagon to Iowa City to get limestone to use for the foundation of the barn he built.

When they left the farm and moved to Kalona in 1893 their youngest daughter, Eva, and her husband, Jacob Troyer (who grew up across the field, on the present-day Gingerich farm, and whom she married in 1893) took over the family farm.

M.W. Schrader was a minister in the Evangelical United Church and ministered at Sharon and in Minnesota and North Dakota.

Fredrica died at the age of 75 on February 7, 1902 in Kalona. Christian followed her the same year and died on October 13, 1902 in Kalona. They are buried in the Sharon Cemetery.

History summarized by Judy Troyer