The Hyphen Family Lineage

Note: Immigration and Burials of Christoph and Wilhelmine (Ziebel) Schultz

There is a large Wendt family listed on the passenger manifest for the ship Baltimore (arrival 26 Apr 1869), with the first portion being attributed to Wilhelm (later called William) and Ottilie (Schultz) Wendt and their three eldest surviving children (at the time of their departure from Bremen). Immediately below the children are listed:

Christian Wendt 62 Prussia
Minna Wendt 57 Prussia

This strongly suggests that Christoph and Wilhelmine (Ziebel) Schultz immigrated to America with their daughter's household, and were just counted amongst the "Wendt" family on the manifest, as Wilhelm Wendt would have been acting as the head-of-household for all of them.

Christoph Schultz is buried in Saint Stephen's Lutheran Cemetery in Concord, Jefferson Cty, Wisconsin; his wife, Wilhelmine (Ziebel) Schultz died six years later. They have matching headstones, but she is buried in Saint John's Lutheran Cemetery several miles away in Sullivan, Jefferson Cty, Wisconsin. I have not yet discovered the reason they aren't buried together, but I would guess that the main reason may have to do with Wilhelmine having changed congregations after Christoph's death. This may well have been at the behest of her daughter's family, as Christoph and Wilhelmine were living with William and Ottilie Wendt as of the 1880 US Census.

Rubbings of both stones have been taken; Wilhelmine's stone is significantly more pitted and eroded than Christoph's, despite being six years newer, due mostly to the difference in exposure and geography of the two cemeteries. The lower inscription on her stone does not appear legible even in the rubbing, but it clearly differs from the verse on Christoph's stone. His inscription is an anonymous bit of 16th-century German verse, popularized by a Bach choral cantata. It reads:

Christus der ist mein Leben, (Christ is my life,)
Sterben ist mein Gewinn; (to die is my gain;)
Dem tu ich mer ergeben, (to Him I surrender myself,)
Mit Fried fahr ich dahin. (with joy I depart.)