JOHANN DETLEV HAUBERG

A farmer, was a son of Marx Hauberg of Holstein, Germany. He was born in Holstein January 29th, 1808, and died in Coe township. Rock Island county, 111.. March 14th, 1886. Of humble origin but vigorous blood, the family tree contains its tales of a forcible impressment into the army of the great Napoleon on the march to Russia; of adventures and tragedy in the military service of the Fatherland; of a burial at sea off the cape of Good Hope; the experience of subjection in the old world and the romance of pioneering in the new.

Johann D. Hauberg was the second of four brothers of whom Marx, the eldest migrated to Johnson county, Neb., where his two sons and two daughters survived him. David and Joachim died in Holstein, the latter leaving a large family, all residing in or near Kiel, Germany . After completing his public school course which ended with confirmation in the Lutheran church, the next important step in the life of Johann Detlev Hauberg was his service at the military post of Itzyhoe, Holstein, with a cav­ alry regiment. He was a non-commissioned officer in his troop and served the full period of three years as a regular and for the five years immediately following was a member of the reserves during which time he was required annually to attend extended maneuvers.

In October 1835, he was united in marriage with Miss Catherine Margaret Griese, born July 26, 1811 at Elmschenhagen. Holstein, daughter of Marx Clement and Anna Christine (Luehl) Griese. The father was the village blacksmith and horseshoer, and her brother became the owner of one of the largest omnibus lines of the capital city of Berlin, while another brother owned a wood and turf yard at Kiel where he counted among his best patrons, the Duke of Augustenburg, Frederick VIII, father of the present Kaiserin of Germany. Mr. Hauberg was employed as overseer under the royal forester and game warden in the beautiful Vogelsang forest near Peetz, and lived part of the time at Lustigen Bruder and the remainder of the year at Raisdorf, both villages being near the forest mentioned.

He took contracts for clearing ground on his own account and was reputed to be an advocate for his fellow villagers in their troubles with the public officials. A prominent German, Niergatt by name, having purchased a large plantation in eastern Tennessee, Mr. Hauberg was induced to come over with his family as an employe on this estate, and. in the spring of 1848, sold off his household goods at auction and embarked in a sailing vessel for the new world. After sailing for thirty-five days he landed with his family of wife and four children at Castle Garden, New York and by railways alternating with canals they came by way of Philadelphia to Pittsburgh ; then by steamboat down the Ohio to the Tennes­ see river; up the latter to Kingston, and then by ox-team to Wartburg their destination.

Among the incidents of the trip was a bad storm at sea during which a hatchway was torn off by the elements and the seas began to fill the ship; his participation in a general fight aboard a canal boat between companies of German and Irish immigrants, and threatened mix-ups in which a "bluff" sufficed to save the day, for the times were rough. Near the end of their long journey occurred the death of their youngest child, Magdalene Dorothea, aboard the steamboat "Pickaway" on June 23, 1S48. and she was buried in a Presbyterian cemetery near Kingston.

After two months' stay at Wartburg, they lived at Kingston for a month; then occupied a farm ten miles up the river from Kingston, and after a total employment of ten months, slaves were purchased for the plantation and Mr. Hauberg with his family were dismissed, almost penniless. The first steamboat down the river was hailed and passage taken to Decatur, Ala., where a month was spent to replenish the empty pocket book and to pay the balance due on their passage thus far. Nextt was the river trip to Paducah, Ky., where another month of hard work and frugality enabled them to again follow the rainbow on down the Ohio and up the Mississippi to Davenport. la., to which place a sister and her husband had preceded them and who were at this time living on the estate of the late Col. George Davenport, on the Island of Rock Island. No work was found at Davenport and Mr. Hauberg brought, his family to Moline, Ill., where he was soon engaged on contracts to dig cellars, and grub stumps from roadway between Moline and Rock Island, now known as Third avenue, Moline. while his youthful sons were at times working with their father. For a time the two sons were employed by the late John Deere sawing off plow beams by hand with a cross-cut saw. and again they drove oxen to the big breaking plows on the virgin prairies of Scott county, Ia

January 18, 1S50 must have been a proud day for Mr. Hauberg, for on that day he became a "landed proprietor" having purchased a half- acre tract in what is now the heart of the city of Moline. The following year he purchased from Elihu B. Washburne, who had received title direct from the United States Government, the quarter section of land in the upper end of this county which is the present homestead place of his son, Marx D. Hauberg. in Coe township. This farm was one most desirable for those days, having a creek that never failed and the timber land which was considered so necessary. It was partly improved, about ten acres being broken and a log cabin built on it. The purchase price for the 160 acres was .$255. In the spring of 1853 they moved from Moliue to the farm, a team of four oxen hauling the household goods and family. Penn township, as it was then called was for most part a virgin prairie with its blue joint grass, wild flowers and hazel brush. For many years the Indians continued annually to come in numbers to hunt. Deer and wild fowl were very plentiful; the public highways meandered across country as best suited the convenience of the settlers and though rail fences predominated. Mr. Hauberg built many of his fences by digging a deep trench, the earth being thrown in an even ridge at one side and covered with thorny brush.

. Sixty years have passed since some of these were built but the old trenches can still be traced, more than a mile in extent over hill and hollow. During the first year of residence at the new home he made several trips to the United States land office at Dixon, Ill., for the purpose of entering government lands, for, while the earliest entries in this township were made in 1838, and the year 1839 was the banner year in point of number of entries made, the years of 1853, 1854 and 1853 still had large tracts untaken. Mr. Hauberg possessing no means of carriage other than by ox team, made his visits to Dixon afoot, covering the distance, about forty-five miles, in a single day, returning in the same length of time and carrying the provisions for the trip in his haversack. By the end of the year 1855 he was owner of over 500 acres of farm lands.

He was instrumental in starting a German Lutheran parochial school in the community in the fall of 1856, which was one of the first schools in the county, and at his log cabin was preaclied the first sermon to the German settlers of that community. The Lutheran congregation there organized is still in existence, though most of the descendants of those early members are now connected with other churches in their respective localities. In the summer of 1856 Mr. Hauberg received his final naturalization papers. The same fall Rock Island county mustered a total of 2,822 votes, for the entire county. The proposition to adopt township organization was carried, and at the first township elections held April 7, 1857, Mr. Hauberg was elected one of the three commissioners of high­ ways for Coe township, which office he held for three years during which time he took active part in locating n number of the public highways along their proper section lines. He was a firm adherent of the democratic party and though in no sense a politician he never missed his privilege to vote on election day.

The Sterling & Rock Island railroad was promoted in 1857 and Mr. Hauberg subscribed $400 toward the project, but beyond the fact that his subscription showed his interest in the development of his county, it was money wasted, for the road was never finished. He took part in the organization of Bluff school district No. 1 of Coe township, at present known as No. 7 of Rock Island county, and served as one of its first board of directors. In 1868 as overseer of highways he opened the road on the town line between Coe and Canoe Creek townships, known as the John Wiese road. He was a charter member of the local Grange of the Patrons of Husbandry.

Mr. Hauberg was a man of genial nature: unpretentious to the extent that he left no picture of himself. In his later years he amused himself largely by fishing in the Meredosia slough, distributing his catch gratuitously among his neighbors. There were those who said that he and his wife were too generous in their hospitality to itinerants, for never was the Indian, the peddler or any other applicant turned hungry from the door or refused shelter.

Their golden wedding anniversary was celebrated in 1885 by a large assemblage of their descendants and friends. They were a healthy, true, God fearing couple, beloved by all their own people and neighbors. The wife was a most faithful helpmeet, a faultless housekeeper, and wherever sickness visited the community there came Grandmother Hauberg to minister. She died October 10, 1896, in the eighty-sixth year of her life, and both she and her husband are buried in the Lutheran cemetery located on their original homestead farm.

Their family included six daughters and two sons. Of the latter Marx D., married Anna Margaret Frels, a native of Rock Island county; Jergem D., married Mary Messer of Germany; Dorothea married Gottlieb Stilz; Elizabeth married Dedrick Bracker; Catherine married Charles G. Walther; Margaret married Frederick H. Schroeder, all the above located in Rock Island county as farmers, excepting Mr. Schroeder, now deceased, who lived at Rock Island. Magdalene died in Tennessee as above noted and Mary, the youngest died during childhood.

 

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