Muscatine County, Iowa FAMILY STORIES

Descendants of Johann Adam Rexroth

Submitted February 9, 2020
by Roland Rexroth, email: rrexroth@msn.com

Generation 1

1.    JOHANN ADAM REXROTH was born on Oct 15, 1794 in Wenigentaft, Wartburgkreis, Thuringen, Germany. He died on May 16, 1853 in Geismar, Geisa, Thuringen, Germany. He married Anna Barbara Pappert. She was born in Dec 1799 in Wenigentaft, Wartburgkreis, Thuringen, Germany. She died on Dec 21, 1874 in Geismar, Geisa, Thuringia, Germany.

Notes for Johann Adam Rexroth:

Johann Adam Rexroth moved from Wenigentaft to Geismar (near Geisa), Thuringia, Germany in 1830. Historically this area has been known as Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, Sachsen-Weimar-Eisenach, or simply Saxony as his youngest son, Adolph, wrote on his 1854 US Immigration records. Of his three sons, Lawrence and Adolph emigrated to Wilton, Iowa. The family home (Rexrote House) in Geismar built in 1703 was featured in a magazine article with a 1996 photo. The home is a large three-story half-timber dwelling located on 15.6 acres that provided ample space for a large garden and feed for livestock.

Johann Adam Rexroth and Anna Barbara Pappert had the following children:

i.    LAWRENCE REXROTH was born on Feb 19, 1825 in Wenigentaft, Wartburgkreis, Thuringen, Germany. He died on Oct 2, 1903 in St. Joseph, Buchanan, Missouri and is buried in Ashland Cemetery. He married Eva Christine Lyford, daughter of Joseph Lyford on January 28, 1866 in Wilton, Muscatine County, Iowa. She was born on Oct 9, 1937 in Sachsen-Meniningen (Kgr./Land in Bundesrpublik), Germany. She died on Apr 11, 1929 in St Joseph, MO and is buried in Memorial Park Cemetery, St Joseph, MO.

Notes for Lawrence Rexroth:

Lawrence’s U.S. Naturalization Record is dated Nov 10, 1856 and it was witnessed by his brother, Adolph Rexroth. His immigration records are unknown, but he probably came to the US in about 1850 or 1851 to qualify for naturalization after spending at least five years in the US. In 1860 at age 35 he was a laborer in the John Boran home located in Cass County, Iowa and he had a Post Office box in Anamosa, IA. The 1870 US Census report shows Lawrence’s birth location as Sachsen-Meiningen, Germany. In 1870 he was a stone mason living in Wilton, IA with his wife Eva and two children aged three and one years old. In 1900 he lived in St. Joseph, MO with Eva and their son Jake Rexroth (age 27). Lawrence’s obituary published in the St Louis Republic on Oct 3, 1903 indicated that he died suddenly at age 79 in the woodshed in the rear of his property near St. Joseph, MO. He was a veteran of the Civil War (1862 – 1865) attached to Iowa’s 35th Infantry as a Private.

Notes for Eva Christine Lyford:

Eva immigrated from Saxe-Meiningen, Germany in about 1850. She settled in Wilton, IA and married Lawrence Rexroth on January 28, 1866 after he had been discharged from the Iowa 35th Infantry in the Civil War. She gave birth to seven children in Muscatine County, Iowa in Wilton before moving to St. Joseph, MO. Eva was living with her daughter Rosalie Fuller in April 1910 in St Joseph, MO. After Rosalie moved to her own place in St. Joseph, Eva lived alone. Eva was 12 years younger than her husband and out lived him by 26 years.

ii.    GEORG REXROTH was born on Feb 17, 1830 in Wenigentaft, Wartburgkreis, Thuringen, Germany. He died on Apr 1, 1902 in Geismar, Geisa, Thuringia, Germany. He married Josefa Hohmann, daughter of Stefan Hohmann and Elisabeth Katarina Schmitt, in 1854 in Geismar, Geisa, Thuringen, Germany. She was born on May 29, 1826 in Wenigentaft, Wartburgkreis, Thuringia, Germany. She died on Oct 5, 1888 in Geismar, Geisa, Thuringia, Germany.

Notes for Georg Rexroth:

In 1830, the year that Georg was born, Johann Adam Rexroth and his family moved to Geismar. Georg stayed in Geismar and had eight children of which five lived more than four days. His daughter Clementine was born in August 1859 and emigrated to Wilton, Iowa. Clementine followed her two uncles, Lawrence and Adolph, to the US by immigrating to Eastern Iowa at the age of 26. She arrived in New York City on August 2, 1884 as Clementine Raxroth after departing from Bremen, Germany on a ship named Fulda. She was born and grew up in Geismar, Germany. Her residence in 1885 was Wilton, IA. She married Anton Jansen on December 30, 1886 in Muscatine, IA. The 1900 US Census showed her as Clementine Jahnssan and she was living in Saint Stephens, Nebraska (3 miles south of Lawrence, NE). Her last name apparently changed to Gansen for the 1910 US Census when she and her husband (Anton) had a 19-year-old son (George) and an adopted daughter (Annie). The family was farming south of Lawrence, NE. She is buried with her husband in Saint Stephens Cemetery in Nuckolls County, Nebraska.

Georg’s son, Adolf, followed his father as the owner of the three-story family home in Geismar, Germany.

iii.    ADOLPH REXROTH was born on February 12, 1836 in Geismar, Geisa, Thuringen, Germany. He died on Sept 14, 1915 in Fremont, Dodge, Nebraska. He married Verena Friedli, daughter of Jacob Friedli and Katerina on Dec 8 1857 in Muscatine, Muscatine, Iowa. She was born on Sept 26, 1837 in Walterswil, Canton Bern, Switzerland. She died on Feb 20, 1920 in Fremont, Dodge, Nebraska.

Notes for Adolph Rexroth;

Adolph’s immigration records are as follows:


Age: 18
Gender: Male
Occupation: Farmer
Last Residence: Saxony, Germany
Date of Arrival: May 24, 1854
Final Destination: United States
Ship Name: Courier
Port of Embarkation: Bremen
Port of USA Entry: New York City

Approximately one year after his father died at age 58, Adolph decided to immigrate to America from Geismar, Geisa, Germany (population 1,238 in 2008). His Intention to Emigrate document was dated Mar 3, 1854 and it was published in the Eisenacher Kreisblatt newspaper. His mother, the widow Barbara Rexroth, gave a guarantee for him to pay any outstanding debts after he left Geismar. After arriving in the USA, he lived in Wilton, IA. On Nov 10, 1856 he witnessed his brother’s (Lawrence) US Naturalization Record. Adolph got married in Wilton, IA on Dec 8, 1857. The 1860 US Census reported his occupation as a saloon keeper. From 1862 until 1866 he paid a retail liquor IRS assessment in Wilton, IA for the bar that he operated. He and Verena had ten children from 1859 – 1882. The 1870 US Census reported his occupation as house keeper with seven non-family individuals living in his home. He and Verena moved to Fremont, NE in 1889 where he purchased a farm three miles east of town on Military Road. A newspaper article published on Feb 25, 1898 reported on a fire on his farm that totally destroyed the barn and killed numerous cattle and horses. The fire was suspected to have been started by an arsonist. During the 1910 US Census his address was 348 Park Ave, Fremont, NE (the home of his son Jake). His obituary in the Fremont Tribune listed 54 descendants.

Notes for Verena Fridli:

Verena immigrated to the USA from Le Havre, France when she was 17. She grew up in Walterswil, Canton Bern, Switzerland. The ship she was on was named South Carolina and it arrived in New Orleans on Mar 15, 1855. The US Census records show that she used various first names other than Verena when she arrived in the United States. On the 1880 US Census she was Norena Rexroth and in 1900 she was Vreena Rexroth. Her residence in 1880 was Wilton, IA. In 1885 her residence was Moscow, IA and in 1900 she lived in Fremont, NE. She outlived her husband, Adolph, by five years and lived with her son Jake and his family during the time she was a widow in Fremont, NE.

The Rexrote house in Geismar, Geisa, Thuringia, Germany

The Rexrote house shown in the photo below that was taken in 1996 was owned by the Rexroth family beginning in 1830 when Johann Adam Rexroth and his wife, Anna Barbara Pappert Rexroth, moved from Wenigentaft to Geismar. Three previous owners occupied the house from 1703 until 1830. Two of Johann Adam and Anna Barbara’s three sons (Lawrence and Adolph) emigrated to Iowa in the 1850’s. Their middle son, Georg, inherited the Rexrote house and his descendants continued to own this large three-story home for many years. In 1926 the Rexrote house included 15.64 acres (6.33 hectares) for agriculture including crops and livestock. The lineal descendants after Georg were Adolf Rexroth (born in 1866), Franz Rexroth (married in 1927) and Rita Rexroth (married in 1973).