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The Groh Family Comes to America

I recently found an incomplete undated document of unknown origin in my mother’s papers entitled The Groh Family which interested me enough to take a closer look at the Groh family.

The sailing ship Baltimore arrived in New York on 27 June 1843 with a number of people who were on their way to Platte County, Missouri or nearby. Among the passengers was the Heinrich Brenner and his wife Susannah Hoffmann and family, which is described in a previous post. Also on that ship were Christof Groh (1795-1853) and daughter Eva Groh (our ancestor) who married John Klamm in 1844. Her mother had apparently died before the trip. The other children arriving on that ship were Philipp 26, Peter 23, Daniel 15, Anna 18.

Port of New Orleans in 1855

Peter Groh (1788-1846), brother of Christoph and Susanna (who comes to America with her children via New Orleans later), is also on the ship with his wife Maria and children Heinrich 20, Christoph 14, and Michel 11. His son Jacob Groh is listed next to a Peter Kirschner. Jacob later married a Katherine Kirschner, also on the ship with her parents and siblings. Alas, Jacob died within a couple of years, after which Katherine married a Knoth.

The Adam Renner family was also on board: Adam Renner 32, Anna 26, Jacob 8, Adam 6, Valentine 4, Wilhelm 2, Jacob 52.

Other names I recognize are seven members of the Christoph Baumann family whose wife is a sister of John and Simon Klamm. Simon Klamm immigrated in 1852. Regarding John Klamm, I have an arrival year of 1844 but no immigration record like the record for this ship. I see some Koellers as well, but it is difficult enough to read the writing I’m not sure I found all of the people that I should know.

There is one more confusing name which could be a sad story… On the list is a Jacob Klamm with age that looks like 24 but could be 27. He could be the eldest child of Georg Martin Klamm (who died in 1838) and Susannah Groh. The problem is I see no records of Jacob Klamm in America after his arrival in New York. And there is only his birth record in Germany. He could have been sent as an advance of his mother and the rest of the family coming later.

On the 24th of October 1843 the South Carolina arrives in New Orleans with the following passengers on board: Peter Klamm 25, Suzanna Groh 52, Anna Klamm 23, Magdalena Klamm 18, and Margaritha Klamm 17.

Also on that ship is the Peter Elisha Klamm (1816-1883) family: The wife Anna is a daughter of Susanna Groh and George Martin Klamm. The children arriving with them are Philipp and Conrad.

This was quite an exodus from the Nuehofen, Germany area! Now for some of the marriages of the Grohs with our other German immigrants after their arrival in America.

Susanna (Groh) Klamm’s daughter Maria Magdalena Klamm married Peter Brenner.

Phillip Heinrich Groh (1817-1894) married Maria Elizabetha Brenner, son of Heinrich and sister of Peter Brenner.

Samuel Wesley Groh married Bertha Truskey (1861-1941), sister of Louisa Mary Truskey who married Peter Brenner.

John Klamm (1821-1902) married Eva Katherine Groh, daughter of Christoph Groh.

I don’t remember any Grohs in the Riverside neighborhood in my childhood. The recently found document The Groh Family reports that the Grohs moved from the area. “…most remained in the Parkville area leaving only when problems over slavery arose in 1854 locating in Buchanan and Atchison counties in Missouri and Doniphan and Leavenworth counties in Kansas.”

Additional materials: The Groh Family