Christian J. Kropf

Other Events:

• Eby ID Number: Waterloo-187117

Notes:

Kropf Christian J., son of David and Magdalene (Oesch) Kropf, was born March 15, 1863, in Baden, Ont.; died Dec. 30, 1940; aged 76 y. 9 m. 15 d. In 1867 he moved to Missouri with his parents. He was united in marriage with Elizabeth Miller on Jan. 13, 1886, who survives him. To this union were born 7 sons and 3 daughters, 3 of whom (Edward, Nettie Ann, and an infant son) preceded him in death. The following children remain: Mrs. Pearl Kelley and Ray Kropf of Kansas City, Mo.; Mrs. Alma Maynard, William A. Kropf, and Benjamin H. Kropf of Independence, Mo.; Daniel E. Kropf of Harrisonville, Mo.; and Christopher F. Kropf of Garden City, Mo. Beside his children he is survived by 17 grandchildren and 1 sister (Mrs. Mary Hershberger). At the age of 20 years he accepted Christ as his Saviour, united with the Sycamore Grove Mennonite Church, and remained faithful until death. He was known as a kind and loving father, a respected neighbor, and he will be greatly missed in the home and church. Funeral services were conducted Jan. 1 at the home of Bro. J. C. Driver and at the Sycamore Grove Mennonite Church by W. R. Hershberger assisted by Bro. I. G. Hartzler. Burial in Clearfork Cemetery.

Gospel Herald, January 16,1941

Other Events:

• Eby ID Number: Waterloo-111040
• Residence: 1847, Wilmot Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada
• Occupation: 1851, Wilmot Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; Farmer
• Residence: 1851, Wilmot Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; Mennonite
• Land: 1855, Wilmot Township - Concession North of Snyder's Road Lot 13, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada
• Occupation: 1861, Wilmot Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; Miller
• Residence: 1861, Wilmot Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; Mennonite
• Immigration: 1866, , Missouri, USA

David married Magdalena Oesch 3 Jan 1847, Wilmot Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada. Magdalena (daughter of Bishop Johannes "John" Oesch and Barbara Schultz) was born 9 Feb 1827, , Ontario, Canada; died 18 Jul 1887, , Cass Co., Missouri; was buried , Clearfork Cemetery, Garden City, Cass, Missouri, United States. [Group Sheet]

Other Events:

• Name: Magdalena Kropf
• Eby ID Number: Waterloo-111041
• Residence: 1847, Wilmot Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada
• Residence: 1851, Wilmot Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; Mennonite
• Residence: 1861, Wilmot Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; Mennonite

Notes:

Magdalena was probably also born in Waterloo Township, but the family soon moved into their new quarters in Wilmot where Magdalena grew up. In 1847 she married David Kropf, son of Jacob Kropf and Magdalena Rothacker. The Kropfs had the two properties east of the Oesch homestead where they farmed and ran a sawmill. David became the chief sawmiller in the family. In 1853, the sawmill burned to the ground. Although they had no insurance, they rebuilt the mill.

In 1862, however, David and Magdalena sold their properties in Wilmot and left for Ohio. Due to the Civil War in progress at the time, they were there only a year and returned to Hay Township where Magdalena's family was living. In 1867, they again moved south to Hickory County this time where Magdalena's brother Christian was located at the time. They also moved to Cass County, were members of the Sycamore Grove Amish Mennonite Church, and are buried in the Clearfork Cemetery. Several of David and Magdalena's children migrated to Oregon where one now finds numerous descendants.

Esch/Oesch Family by Lorraine Roth 2003

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Kropf - On the 18th of July in Cass Co., Mo., Magdalena, wife of David Kropf, aged 60 years, 5 months and 9 days. She was buried on the 20th. Services by Moses Yoder and J.C. Kenagy, from Job 14: 1-10; 7: 1-10. She leaves a bereaved husband, eleven children and 21 grand children who mourn their loss; but they mourn not as those who have no hope. Deceased had been feeble for several years, and it was her desire to depart and be with Christ. She was formerly from Canada, and was for many years a consistent member of the Amish Mennonite Church

Herald of Truth, August 15, 1887

Other Events:

• Eby ID Number: Waterloo-87116
• Birth: CALC 2 Dec 1784, Epfig, , Alsace, France
• Residence: 1840, Wilmot Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada
• Occupation: 1851, Wilmot Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; Retired Farmer
• Residence: 1851, Wilmot Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; Mennonite
• Land: 1855, Wilmot Township - Concession North of Snyder's Road Lot 14, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada
• Occupation: 1861, Wilmot Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; Retired
• Residence: 1861, Wilmot Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; Mennonite
• Residence: 1871, Wilmot Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; Mennonite

Notes:

Jan. 29, in Waterloo Co., Canada, Bro Jacob Kropf, at the advanced age of 90 years, 1 month and 26 days. He enjoyed remarkably good health up to the 26th of December, 1874, when he had a stroke of palsy whereby his right side and also his tongue became paralyzed. He served as deacon in the Amish Church in Canada about 50 years, during which time his seat was seldom vacant when he was able to go. He leaves an aged widow about two years his junior, with whom he lived in matrimony 64 years.

Obituary - Herald of Truth, February, 1875

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The Kropf Family

In 1819, Jacob Kropf and his wife Magdalena Rothaker applied for a passport to leave Lower Alsace. The Kropfs had resided in Leacock Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, but in the fall of 1823 they accompanied the Brennemans to Upper Canada. Although Kropf laid claim to a lot next to Joseph Goldschmidt's in the German Block, he took his family to Woolwich Township. When Goldschmidt left for Ohio in 1831, Kropf moved to Wilmot, purchased Goldschmidt's 50 acres and registered his intent to purchase both lots 13 and 14, NSR, with King's College. Goldschmidt had already built a sawmill on his property, and Jacob Kropf and his sons continued to operate it. Although the Kropf family seemed fairly well situated with their sawmill and 400 acres of land, tragedy stalked them on all sides. Daughter Catherine, age 20, died in 1840 and Jacob Jr. in 1848. He had been married to Jacobena Bender, but did not have any surviving heirs. In the spring on 1853, death claimed daughter Elizabeth who was married to John L. Lichti. She left seven young children. In the fall of the same year the Kropf sawmill burned to the ground. Son Henry died in 1855, leaving his wife, Anna Nafziger, and seven young children. In 1855, the Kropfs acquired their deeds from the University of Toronto - David for Lot 13 and Jacob Sr. for Lot 14. Perhaps the expense of building a new mill or an economic slump caused both David and Christian to consider leaving their aging parents to seek their fortunes elsewhere. David, who was married to his neighbour Magdalena Oesch, sold his last piece of land in Wilmot in 1862 and Christian his in 1864. Both of them eventually settled in Missouri. Jacob and Magdalena lived to a ripe old age. Jacob died in 1875 at the age of 90 and Magdalena in 1878 at the age of 91. Their graves on the family farm are unmarked.


The Amish and Their Neighbours, The German Block, Wilmot Township, 1822-1860" by Lorraine Roth, 1998

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Jacob Kropf was the son of Christian Kropf (1736-1802) and Elisabeth Goldschmidt. They were married before 1766, and he was a farmer and lease-manager. After marrying they moved several times, and lived near Bernardswiller, Bas-Rhin (Alsace), in 1767, in Hattstatt, Haut-Rhin (Lorraine), in 1776, in Rouffach, Haut-Rhin, in 1778, and, in the spring of 1779, together with his wife, leased the Gollweilerhof outlying Epfig, Bas-Rhin. Their son Jacob was born there in 1784. Christian died there on Nov. 16, 1802 (25 Brumaire XI in the Republican Calendar). The fate of Elisabeth Goldschmidt is not known, except that she was still alive in 1811. They had eight known children: Joseph (1767), Christian (1768), Heinrich (1772), Anna Maria (1776), Magdalena (1778), Barbara (1780/81), Jacob (1784) and Elisabeth (1787/88).

Excerpt from "French Records About the Kropf Family of Epfig, Bas-Rhin", Mennonite Family History Juky 2001, by Neil Ann Stuckey Levine

Jacob married Magdalena Rothaker 15 Apr 1811, Epfig, , Alsace, France. Magdalena was born 7 Aug 1786, Strassburg, , Alsace, France; died 24 May 1878, Baden, Wilmot Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; was buried , Family Farm, Wilmot Township, Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada. [Group Sheet]

Other Events:

• Name: Magdalena Kropf
• Eby ID Number: Waterloo-150320
• Residence: 1851, Wilmot Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; Mennonite
• Residence: 1861, Wilmot Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; Mennonite
• Residence: 1871, Wilmot Twp., Waterloo Region, Ontario, Canada; Mennonite

Notes:

May 24, 1878 Magdalena Kropf in Baden, widow of Jakob Kropf died at the age of 93 years. She was one of the oldest residents in Wilmot.

Obituary - Berliner Journal, June 6, 1878

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Her marriage record from Epfig says she was "nee le sept aout mil sept cent quatre vingt six a Strasbourg" - 7 Aug 1786 at Stasburg, Her surname was Rothaker, daughter of David and Magdalena Boshard

Other Events:

• Residence: Hay Twp., Huron Co., Ontario, Canada
• Eby ID Number: Waterloo-127086

Notes:

Oesch, John (1791-1850)

John Oesch (as he became known in Canada) was born in 1791 to Hannes Esch and Freni Heres (spelling uncertain). There is evidence that "Freni" was of Dutch origin. At that time, the Esch family was living on the Barbelsteinerhof at the foot of the Berwartstein Castle near the village of Erlenbach some distance east of Zweibrücken. The spirit of the French Revolution had crossed the border into the German states, and the local residents were giving Hannes, the farmer at Barbelstein, a great deal of trouble.

When King Maximillian of Bavaria issued an invitation to residents of the Palatinate and Alsace to settle the farming cloisters which he had confiscated from the Catholic Church and to develop the Danube Marsh in the area between Neuburg and Ingolstadt in the early 1800s, Hannes was among those who responded.

John married Barbara Schultz in 1820 at Rothsee, a former cloister farm, southeast of Munich. In 1823 a passport was issued to John at Weilheim, a town south of Munich, allowing him to visit Zweibrücken and the place of his birth.

Later in 1823 John and Barbara were at Probfeld on the Danube Marsh where their third child was born. Shortly after the death of this child the following spring, they were on their way to Canada, leaving Neuburg on the Danube on 1 June 1824. The traveling group consisted of John and Barbara Oesch, their two children, Barbara's widowed father, several unmarried Schultz young people, and Jacob Steinman. They made their way to Amsterdam where they boarded the Brig Ospray, arriving in New York on 2 September.

Some of the travelers may have remained in Pennsylvania for a while, but John and Barbara acquired oxen and a wagon and continued their journey to Upper Canada. When they got to Waterloo, the survey in Wilmot Township had just been completed. They settled in Waterloo Township for a few years until John was able to establish a home on Lot 15, North Snyder's Road, the southern end of which would eventually be part of Baden and Castle Kilbride would be built on land he had cleared.

In February 1829 John was ordained to the ministry in the Wilmot Amish Mennonite congregation and in September of the same year he was ordained to the office of "full minister" (bishop) to take the place of Peter Nafziger who was leaving for Butler County, Ohio. Joseph Goldschmidt and John Brenneman were the first Amish Mennonite ordained ministers in Wilmot in 1824. Nafziger was already an ordained bishop when he arrived from Germany in 1826, making John the first Amish-Mennonite bishop ordained in Canada.

For the next 20 years John served the growing Amish Mennonite community as a bishop. A congregation was organized in South Easthope and East Zorra townships, but no bishop was ordained until several years later, making them dependent on the services of the Wilmot bishop.

By the late 1840s, John and Barbara had 14 living children, eight of them sons. John's 200- acre farm was beginning to look very small. So, one day John set out on foot on the Huron Road and discovered that in Hay township the unoccupied land was unlimited. When a large contingent of Waglers arrived in Wilmot in late 1848 or early 1849, John left his claim to Lot 15 to the new immigrants and contracted with the Canada Company for 600 acres in Hay Township. He moved the family to Bayfield where he and his unmarried sons set to work building their second home in Canada.

In March of 1850, John became ill with what was probably a ruptured appendix and did not survive. He had the time to compose a will in which he was careful to look after the needs of his wife and young children. Several family members became owners of some of the lots John had contracted for in Hay, and the Waglers bought the farm in Wilmot.

The Amish community in Hay grew and prospered, but the congregation did not ordain another bishop to succeed John. Not until 100 years later was Ephraim Gingerich ordained to that office. In the interim, the congregation was always dependent on the services of the bishops from "down east", usually Wilmot or East Zorra.

[Source: Roth, Lorraine. "Oesch, John (1791-1850)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. November 2005. Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 27 October 2007 ]

Johannes — Barbara Schultz. Barbara (daughter of Heinrich Schultz) was born 1803, , Alsace Lorraine, France; died 1881, Hay Twp., Huron Co., Ontario, Canada. [Group Sheet]

Other Events:

• Name: Barbara Oesch
• Eby ID Number: Waterloo-127087

Notes:

Oesch, Barbara Schultz (1803-1881)

Barbara Schultz likely was born in 1803 in Alsace. Her father was Henry Schultz. Her mother's name is not known. By 1820, the family was probably living in Bavaria and perhaps on the cloister farm Rothsee, southeast of Weilheim, because in February of that year she was married there at the age of seventeen to John Oesch. Barbara and John and two children were still living at Rothsee when John obtained an inland pass to travel to Zweibrücken, Germany in February, 1823.

The trip to Zweibrücken was likely made in preparation for a more extended one to America. By December 1823, the family was at Probfeld on the Danube Marsh between Neuburg and Ingolstadt. Barbara gave birth there to her third child in December, and they named him John. He died May 2 the following year.

By 1 June 1824 the Oesch family, along with Barbara's widowed father and several of her unmarried siblings left from Neuburg on the Danube en route to Amsterdam. There they boarded the Brig Ospray, arriving in New York on 2 September 1824.

John and Barbara stopped in Pennsylvania to procure a yoke of oxen and a wagon to make the trip to Upper Canada. They lived in Waterloo Township for a few years until John was able to prepare a cabin and clearing on Snyder's Road where the village of Baden would eventually be founded.

Barbara gave birth to two children in Waterloo (1825 and 1827). By that time they were assessed for two cows besides the oxen they had brought from Pennsylvania. The cows provided much needed nourishment for her growing family. By 1828 Barbara and John and their four children were settled in Wilmot Township.

For the next two decades, Barbara's time and energy was consumed in bearing children and feeding and taking care of them. In February 1829, John was ordained a minister in the small but growing Amish Mennonite settlement in Wilmot, and in September of the same year he was ordained to the office of "full ministry" (bishop) to succeed Peter Nafziger who leaving for Butler County, Ohio. Thus, the responsibilities of a minister's wife were added to Barbara's life.

By 1847 Barbara had given birth to 17 children, three of whom did not survive childhood. John was anxious to find more land for his growing family which included eight sons. Once more the frontier was beckoning and John set out on foot along the Huron Road which passed through the southern part of Wilmot and went all the way to Goderich on Lake Huron. Canada Company lands were still available, and John found what was needed in Hay Township.

Early in 1849 the family (except the children already married) moved to Bayfield on Lake Huron, from where John and the older boys began clearing and building a homestead on what is now the Bronson Line, a short distance south of the hamlet of Blake. In March Barbara gave birth to her 18th child in Bayfield.

In March of 1850, life for Barbara and her family changed drastically with John's death. The older children continued to build up the homestead and arranged for several of them - sons and daughters - to procure lands for which their father had signed contracts. The children found marriage partners. Six of them chose to leave Canada for the western states. Two died premature deaths, leaving spouses and children. One daughter and her husband took over the homestead farm and Barbara continued to live with them.

In January of 1881 Barbara died rather suddenly at the age of 77 years. She had given birth to 18 children, raised 15 of them to adulthood and outlived her husband by at least 30 years. The obituary in the Herald of Truth stated, "The Amish church has lost a shining light." It will be up to our imaginations to interpret her "shining light."<sup>1

1</sup>[Source: Roth, Lorraine. "Oesch, Barbara Schultz (1803-1881)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. November 2005. Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 27 October 2007 ]

Other Events:

• Eby ID Number: Waterloo-122946