Georg Adam Struve >> Ernst Gotthold Struve (1679 – 1758) == Dorothea Elisabeth Berchelmann >> Ernst Gotthold Struve (1714 – 1743) == Charlotte Magdalena Struve >> Friedrich Gotthold Struve (1742 – 1813) == Christiane Charlotte von Schele (1746 – 1817) >> Casper Paul Friedrich Ernst Struve (1791 -1864) = 1822 = Wiebke Margrete Peters >> Ernst Heinrich Struve (1826 – 1900) = 1855 = Catharina Schnoor (1835 – 1898) >> Paul Henry Struve (1857 – 1940) = 1882 = Anna Christine Klinge.
This page contains information on three members of the Struve family: Casper Paul Friedrich Ernst (herein Casper) (1791 -1864) and his wife Wiebke Margarethe Peters; their son Ernst Heinrich Struve (herein Ernst) (1826 – 1900) and his wife Catharina Schnoor (1835 – 1898); and their son Paul Henry Struve (1857 – 1940) and his wife Anna Christine Klinge.
Casper and Wiebke’s marriage license is transcribed as follows:
“Casper Paul Friedrich Ernst Struve, Miller in Helse, congregation Marne, son of the late Doctor of Medicine Friederich Gotthold Struve, and the late Christiane Charlotte, born von Scheele (Schele) in Oldenburg in Holstein was married to Miss Wiebke Margrete Peters, daughter of Mr. Hans Peters, governor in Elpersbütteland wife Maria Magdalena, born Lauen, with Royal permission from the King’s office in Copenhagen on the 13th of April 1822. The marriage took place in the home of Mr. Thies Peters in Meldorf. Signed, Pastor Schmidt in Marne.”
Casper (some records show that he went by the name Ernst) and his wife Wiebke (sometimes called Margarethe) had 5 children. Their first two were daughters who did not survive past infancy: Maria Margreta Carlotte Struve (23 Feb. 1823 – 16 April 1824) and Maria Charlotte Struve (16 March 1825 – 22 March 1825).
They had 3 sons: Ernst Heinrich Struve (born 27 April 1826); August Adolph Gotthold Struve (born 31 Jan. 1828); and Carl Wilhelm Struve (born 29 April 1831). August Adolph died on 6th December 1847 at the age of 20. He was in the military and was killed in a conflict between Denmark and Germany (Schleswig-Holstein). August’s baptismal record is shown below;
After the failed 1848 revolution in Germany, led in part by Gustav Struve, Ernst Heinrich emigrated from Schleswig-Holstein to the United States on 20th December 1848, and arrived in New Orleans on 26th February 1849. Later, his father Casper and brother Carl joined him, resulting in a branch of the Struve family eventually settling mostly in the Midwestern state of Iowa.
Ernst Heinrich Struve and his parents wrote to each other after Ernst came to America in 1849 and Ernst kept a copy of the letters that he sent and the ones that he received from his parents in a journal so that both sides of this correspondence has been preserved. Ernst encouraged his parents and younger brother Carl to come to join him America and the letters are full of questions and plans.
Unfortunately, Ernst Heinrich’s mother (Wiebke Margrete (Peters) Struve) died in Hamburg on 20th October 1849, just weeks before they were to leave. While they mourned the death of wife and mother, father and son made arrangements for departure at a later date on the ship “Alexandrea,” which was to leave Hamburg on 25th November and would arrive in Galveston, Texas about the 1st of March 1850. Casper and Carl wrote to Ernst Heinrich to tell him of the loss of his dear mother, and of their plan to continue the journey. They asked him to meet them when they arrived and to help them decide where to settle. “Texas, we hear, is a very fine state …. is it better than Iowa?” they wrote.
Wiebke had a cousin, Auguste Brannen, whose illegitimate daughter, Friederike Brannen, Casper hired as his housekeeper. Auguste accompanied her daughter when she left Hamburg with Casper and his son Carl. Casper and Auguste ended up getting married in the USA and they had a son Adolfus born around 1852.
Ernst Heinrich met his father and brother in Galveston in March of 1850 and they traveled to New Orleans. Caspar purchased 40 acres with 17 buildings on it of old Fort Jesup for $105.00 at public auction in Sabine Parish, Louisiana. Brothers Ernst and Carl stayed in Louisiana for 6 months.
Casper and his 2nd wife Auguste settled in Louisiana which may have caused some hard feelings between the father and the two older boys, especially after Auguste gave birth to Adolphus. Caspar was 31 years older than Augusta. There is a record that they owned and then sold a female slave. Casper and Auguste were both “killed in the late rebellion (the Civil War) and in which place he lost his entire property” in April 1864. The Battle of Pleasant Hill took place near their property. Their son Adolphus, about 12 years old at the time, somehow got away.
In 1883, he married an Irish girl, Anne E. McCormic, who is listed in records as a widow in 1884.
Below, a two-page Struve family name list kept by Casper.
After leaving their father in Louisiana, the brothers Ernst and Carl traveled up the Mississippi to Davenport, Iowa. There they leased 80 acres of land which they later bought and farmed in partnership for three years. They eventually sold that property for a good profit, and both purchased less expensive land in Jackson County, Iowa. In 1864, Ernst Heinrich moved to Clinton County and in 1869 acquired shares in Elk River Mills at Hauntown, Iowa, where he was a successful miller.
In 1853, Carl Wilhelm Struve married Anna Ploen, who had immigrated from Germany in 1852. They had two sons who both died in 1857 at the ages of two and four. Daughter Bertha was born in 1857 and another daughter, Margaret (Maggie), was born in 1859. Carl died on 28th October, 1859.
Ernst Heinrich married Catharina Schnoor on 21st February, 1855, in Jackson County, Iowa. They had eight children: Ernst Friedrich (1856 only lived 2 days); Paul Henry (1857-1940); William (1858-1933); John (1860-1941); Ferdinand (1862-1932); Amelia (1864-1941); Edward (1867-1937); Minna Margaretha (Martha) (1872-1953). The eight children are shown below:
Ernst died on 24th April, 1900, Catherine died on 10th December 1898. They were married 44 years.
The two pictures below are of the seven siblings from 1930:
Ernst Heinrich’s son, Paul (1857-1940) married Anna Christine Klinge in 1882. They had eight children: Ernest Henry (1883-1960); Francis Fredrick (1885-1960); George Charles (1887-1972); Paul Louis (1889-1918 in France in WW I); Flossie Marie (1892-1984); Anna K. (1895-1895); William Edward (1897-1958); Arnold Ferdinand (1901-1975).
Below, the family of Paul and Anna (Klinge) Struve in 1911:
Arnold & William in front.
On June 20, 1918, Flossie Marie Struve (1892-1984) married Hans Georg Baasch, who had
immigrated from Germany in 1906. They had four children: Georgiana Katherine (1919-2010); Pauline Lucile (1921-2013); Twins Edward Hans (1930-2018) & Evelyn Anna (1930- ).
Family of Hans and Flossie (Struve) Baasch (seated) in about 1968. Standing: Edward, Evelyn, Pauline, Georgiana
