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Hermann Heinrich Fiegenbaum
1823 — 1898
Hermann was born in the village of Ladbergen, Province of Westphalia, Kingdom of Prussia, a small community about mid-way between Münster and Osnabrück. He emigrated from Ladbergen at the age of 18, travelling with his father, Johann Heinrich Fiegenbaum (1788-1861 - age 53), his mother, Catherina Elsabein (Hagen) Fiegenbaum (1786-1853 - age 54), and his unmarried sister, Christina Elisabeth Fiegenbaum (1819-1896 - she turned 22 on 18 June during the ocean voyage).
Hermann's married sister, Anna Elisabeth (Fiegenbaum) Aufderhaar (1811-1884 - age 29), her husband, Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Aufderhaar (1809-1882 - age 32); and three children: Heinrich Wilhelm Aufdehaar (1832-1877 - age 8), Marie Elisabeth Aufderhaar (1836- ? - age 4) and Christine Elisabeth Aufderhaar (1839-1907 - age 1) also made the voyage.
Also with them was Hermann's other married sister, Anna Christine Elsabein (Fiegenbaum) Bierbaum (1815-1894 - age 26), her husband, Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Bierbaum (1812-1872 - age 28); their infant son, Heinrich Wilhelm Bierbaum (May 1840- ? - age 1 year); and Sophia Bierbaum, Johann's sister (age 18 according to the passenger list).
In all, 13 members of this extended family left Ladbergen together in 1841. The three families voyaged on the bark Leontine, departing from Bremen, Germany and arriving in the port of Balitimore, Maryland on 28 June 1841. The passenger list shows that of the 102 persons aboard, half were former residents of Ladbergen. There were additional passengers from nearby villages.
All three families settled in Warren County, Missouri, among a growing community in the counties west of St. Louis of immigrants from north-west Germany. Hermann's uncle, Adolph Heinrich Fiegenbaum, a younger brother to his father, had arrived in the area in 1834 with his wife and five children. A sixth child had been born in 1837; his birth and baptism were recorded in the register of the German evangelical church at Femme Osage, St. Charles County, Missouri (founded in 1833 as the deutsche evangelische Kirchegemeinde and known since 1957 as Femme Osage United Church of Christ ).
Hermann and his family became members of the German Evangelical Church on Charrette at Holstein, Missouri. It was here that Hermann and Wilhelmine Florentine Charlotte Wehrmann were married in 1853. Florentine, as she was commonly known, had emigrated in 1853 from Almena, Principality of Lippe. Records of the births, baptisms, confirmations, and in some cases, deaths, of their 12 children may be found in the records of the church at Holstein.
At some point between 1880 and 1890, Hermann and Florentine and their younger, unmarried children moved west to Lafayette County, Missouri. They became members of Zion Church at Mayview.