It’s Week 49 of the 52 Ancestors Challenge. As we approach the horizon of a new year, this week’s theme is “New Horizons”.
I’ve written before about my mother’s maternal lineage, who are all Germans from Russia. This is the story of my mother’s immigrant great grandparents, Michael Lerner and Barbara Schmidt, who sought new horizons in not one, but two countries.
Barbara Schmidt (1865 – 1936)
Michael and Barbara were both born in the Beresan district of Kherson province in what is now Ukraine, but which at the time was part of the Russian Empire. Michael was born in Rastatt and Barbara was born in nearby Karlsruhe. As should be apparent, the colonies were generally named after the cities and towns in what is now Germany from where the colonists came.
Michael and Barbara married in Rastatt in February 1865. They lived there for the next ten years, where Michael was engaged in farming. Michael and Barbara had six children together during this time.
The family emigrated from the Beresan to the United States in 1893. They travelled across the Atlantic on the S.S. Lahn, landing at Ellis Island on May 12, 1893, where immigration officials did not change their surname.
The family settled in Henrietta, Clay County, Texas, where Michael continued farming. Census records show that he farmed on Jacksonboro Road. The name must have changed over the years, as I cannot find it on any map. Michael did not waste any time in applying for American citizenship, as he filed a Declaration of Intention in 1894. However, he took no further steps towards that goal for another thirteen years, in 1907, when he filed a new Declaration of Intention. Michael and Barbara became naturalized American citizens on May 23, 1907.
From 1895 to 1908, Michael and Barbara had eight more children while living in Henrietta. My great grandfather, Heronimus (Jerome) Lerner, born March 12, 1895, was the first of their children born in the United States.
However, most of the family did not stay there for long after the youngest child was born. In 1913, Michael and Barbara’s son Rochus (1892-1970) moved to south-west Saskatchewan, where there were many other settlements of Germans from Russia. Rochus took up farming near Fox Valley, Saskatchewan. According to my mother, Rochus sent word back to Texas saying that there was a lot of good farmland available in Saskatchewan.
My great grandfather, Jerome, followed the call and moved to Fox Valley in 1917. Michael and Barbara followed in 1918, where they settled on land just outside of Fox Valley, near Rastadt. (See how the names followed the settlers around?) Most of the family ended up in Saskatchewan, but a few of Michael and Barbara’s children remained in Texas. As well, some of the family who moved to Saskatchewan later returned to Texas.
Michael and Barbara became naturalized British subjects domiciled in Canada in 1896 (there was no “Canadian” citizenship until 1947).
Barbara died on October 21, 1936. Michael died just over ten years later, on January 16, 1947. Michael is buried at the Fox Valley Cemetery. There is some insistencies in the records as to where Barbara was interred.
Records show that “Barbara (Schmidt) Lerner” is buried in both Rastadt Cemetery and the Fox Valley Cemetery. It may be more likely than not that Fox Valley is the correct location. The record for that cemetery gives her plot as W23-2, which is right beside where her husband, Michael, is buried (plot W23-3). As well, other close Lerner family members are buried in Fox Valley Cemetery, including their son Jerome Lerner (plot W13-1). On the contrary, there are no other Lerners buried in the Rastadt cemetery. As well, there appears to be inconsistency in the plot in which she is supposedly interred in Rastadt. An older listing (ca. 1997) indicated plot 61; in 2004, it was said to be plot 70. This inconsistency is consistent with the conclusion that her being buried in Rastadt is less likely to be reliable.
A Deck of Ancestors 