Havemeiers hold world-wide reunion

Over 240 relatives visit their roots

By FRITZ BUSCH

Journal Staff Writer

NEW ULM -- Johann Havemeier Sr. and his new wife Sophia Becker left Chicago for the rich farmland of southern Minnesota in 1857.

The oxen-powered trip took three-weeks.

This weekend their descendants, from around the world, are reuniting at the farmstead they established near Courtland.

Havemeir came to Chicago from rural Vornhagen, Germany, west of Hanover.

Becker and Sophia Havemeier were married in Rotenberg, Ill., near Eglin, west of Chicago.

Their life was anything but easy with early crop disasters due to hail and grasshopper infestation.

During the Sioux Indian War of 1862, the family moved to St. Peter where Johann joined the St. Peter militia, which later assisted New Ulm during Indian attacks.

He helped organize Immanuel Lutheran Church, near Courtland and the Courtland Creamery.

The Havemeier immigration saga was presented in an historical skit during a dinner program at Turner Hall Saturday night.

It was all part of the Havemeiers of Nicollet County World-Wide Reunion, held this weekend in Courtland, New Ulm, and Sleepy Eye.

The event brought hundreds of relatives from Germany, Turkey and many states.

Alfreda Heumann of Stadthagen, near the home of Johann Havemeier Sr., said she never attended a family reunion in Germany like the Havemeier event.

"I was glad my aunt invited me to come. She didn't want to travel alone," Heumann said. "I am very happy to come to Minnesota."

She works in the office of a food store in Wunstorf.

Heumann will stay with Jerome and Violet Plagge in rural Courtland this week.

Seven generations of the family attended events that began Friday night with a welcome icebreaker at the Courtland Community Hall.

Saturday events included a memorial service at Immanuel Lutheran Church, a guided tour of the church cemetery and others in Nicollet County, farms where the Havemeiers lived, logs of Johann and Sophia Havemeier's original homestead, a log cabin on property now owned by Randy Reinhart, just west of the cemetery.

The original logs were uncovered just two months ago when Reinhart found them in one of the walls in his home when he opened it up during a remodeling project."

"It was overwhelming," said Gerry Hildebrandt of St. Peter, who co-chaired the reunion with Vi Plagge of Courtland. "I can't tell you how I felt when I saw and touched the logs on the Havemeier farm for the first time."

Hildebrandt said a lot of tears were shed Saturday near Courtland.

"When you see men cry, you know you got to them deep down," Hildebrandt said. "Lois Stahl of the Twin Cities said it was a wonderful feeling sitting at Immanuel Lutheran Church and seeing the land her ancestors settled on. I told her that was the way we felt when we went to Vornhagen."

The oldest descendent to attend the reunion was 86-year-old Marietta Ziese of New Ulm, the daughter of John Havemeier Jr. and Wilhelmine Poehler.

Documented lineage dates back nearly two centuries, to April 9, 1812, when Conrad Carl Havemeier and Engel Marie Elizbeth Koller were married in Ludersfeld, Germany. Johann was one of nine children.

Plagge and Hildebrandt visited Germany and found the family home place.

On their first trip in 1991, they met Fritz Schaefer of Ludersfeld. He arranged for them to meet and stay with the only living person directly related to the Vornhagen No. 7 home place where Johann Havemeier grew up.

Plagge and Hildebrandt reviewed books and a family tree.

Hildebrandt said he was impressed by his forefather's faith.

Inscribed in cement over the doorway of the home were the German words: "I and my house, we are ready to serve you, dear God. Our whole life with body and soul. You should be the master in this house. Give us your benediction, therefore we serve truly. A little pious home, community, do all people only to please you."

They also learned that the family name was spelled Havemeyer and Hovemeier in Germany, as far back as the 1600's.

After a 1992 trip to Germany, Hildebrandt continued to do research.

Plagge bought a computer and family tree software in 1994, requested information from family members and began entering it.

The Plagge family later visited Germany, attending an anniversary celebration of the Ulm Fire Department.

They also met World War II prisoner of war Heinrich Havemeier in Vornhagen. Heinrich was a POW in Wisconsin.

Monthly meetings began in 1998 to gather human interest background and stories.

Among the stories includes the account of an ancestor that crossed the Atlantic Ocean stowed away in a barrel.

A relative in Germany said he could not attend the reunion but would arrange to visit later. He is researching family history in Germany.

The Havemeiers, who annually win the biggest participating family award in New Ulm's German Day parade, are also linked to the Bodes and Harmenings of the area.

Family history was organized into four books. Plagge and Hildebrandt organized material for two books, one on Johann and Sophia Havemeier Sr. and the second on August Havemeier.

A third book on the John Havemeier Jr. family, was organized by Eunice Jones.

The fourth book, on the Fred Havemeier family, was organized by Wanda Schalo.

Assistance was provided by the Church of Latter Day Saints files in Mankato, the Brown and Nicollet County Historical Societies, and Immanuel Lutheran Church, Courtland Township.

The Havemeiers want to encourage families to share their life stories by writing them down and passing them on to the next generation, as their ancestors did.

"These ancestors didn't have college degrees and didn't write things down perfectly," Plagge said. " But they saw the importance of bringing the family together. We also want to focus on our faith. . . We feel our great grandfather was a man of deep faith in his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and instructed his family in the same manner."