Johanna (nee Schuler) Jacob

Johanna SCHULER had the misfortune of being born during the turbulent period of the French Revolution in 1792. Her entrance into this world, was in the village of Eich-Reding, which was located in the northeastern part of France, in the Moselle wine region in the state, or province, of Lorraine. This was part of the infamous area of "Alsace-Lorraine", which Germany and France had fought over for centuries. The inhabitants of this area had never really known peace, and were always in the midst of feuds and wars. They spoke (still speak) both French, and the allemanisch dialect of the German language, and hence you will sometimes see their names under both forms of the two languages. Johanna (or "Jeanne" in the French) was the daughter of Anton (or Antoin) SCHULER and Marie Anne GEOFRAY (sometimes spelled GEOFFROY), and at the time of her birth, there were food riots in Paris, and other riots and massacres throughout France. France was at war with Austria, and would later declare war against Britain, Holland and Spain. This same year, the French Monarch, King Louis XVI was arrested, tried and executed. One of Louis' predecessors by the way, the Roman Catholic King Louis IX, was the namesake of our great city of St. Louis. France was in a horrible disarray, and many people lost their heads under the guillotine, including many well-known personages such as Louis' Queen, Marie Antoinette. This was also the beginning, seven years later in 1799, of the dictatorial Napoleonic era, "established" under the "Consulate" of France. This all set the stage incidentally, for the currently popular play, "Les Miserables" (The Miserable Ones).

Johanna survived the “reign of terror” and the hard times in France, and attempted to go on with her life. On March 5, 1810, at the age of 18, she married 23 year old Jean-Thiebault JACOB in the Catholic Church of the village of Vieux-Lixheim, not far from her home in Eich. Religion, especially Catholicism, was outlawed for a period of time during this Reign of Terror. Thiebault ("Theobald" in German, and nicknamed Diebold or Dipold) was supposedly a soldier in Napoleon's army, and might have later died of injuries or disease some time before 1838. Six children (that our family knows about) were born to them....Jeannette (in 1813), Barbara ("Barbe" in 1815), Catherine (in 1818), Marguerithe (in 1821), Antoin (in 1824), and Catherine "Josephine" (in 1825). At age 46, and considering all of the hard times and struggles of life that Johanna had endured thus far, she finally made a decision to leave France. And so, around the end of February, 1838, three months after the death of her 19 year old daughter Catherine, she took her five remaining children and they loaded their personal belongings onto a wagon and began travelling across northern France (probably through Paris) to the seaport of LeHavre, where they boarded the ship "Albany". About 3 months later, the Albany arrived in New York on June 7, 1838, and it's believed that the family travelled first to Cleveland, and then made their way downstate to Cincinnati, where daughter Barbe met Felix MAURATH, an immigrant from the Black Forest, Germany, who worked on the riverboats on the Ohio River. Felix and Barbe fell in love, and the whole family followed him to St. Louis, Missouri, where his steamboat excursions often took him. Felix and Barbe were married in the Old Cathedral in St. Louis in May, 1839, but they lived across the Mississippi River in Ridge Prairie (now known as O'Fallon, St. Clair County, Illinois). Johanna and her children lived with Felix and Barbe. Barbe died unexpectedly, after the birth of their 2^nd child, daughter Melania Maurath in 1842. A year earlier in 1841, Felix had moved the family to Frenchtown (now known as Soulard) in St. Louis, and their home was right behind St. Vincent DePaul Catholic Church (which still stands as a national historic landmark), of which they were members. Felix later married Johanna's youngest daughter, 19 year old Catherine Josephine JACOB, in 1844 at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Cincinnati. They were married again in 1852 at St. Vincent DePaul after St. Mary’s had supposedly lost their original marriage record.

Johanna and her family left the hard times in France, to come to America, to find peace and live a simple, happy life. But troubles followed them across the ocean, as America, and especially St. Louis (and particularly Frenchtown) was in turmoil, and she saw little peace in her life ....... as the country headed towards Civil War. Her son Antoine (Anton) became a cavalry soldier and went off to fight in the Mexican War. He survived, but then went to California during the infamous "Gold Rush" there, where many died and were never heard from again. She anguished over the death of several grandchildren, inlcuding Denis, Melania, Cecelia and Aloysius MAURATH, the last two having died of cholera and scarlet fever. Her son-in-law Felix was often away on riverboat travels on the Mississippi, Missouri and Ohio rivers, leaving her and daughter Josephine alone, to care for the little children. This probably prompted Felix though, in 1852 (after a nationwide economic crash, and the coming of the railroads), to leave the river life, and get a job as a drayman (wagon hauler) in St.Louis. According to family legend, he later became a civilian wagoner for the Union Army during the Civil War. But since he was German and the majority of Germans in Frenchtown sided with the Union, the French inhabitants of Frenchtown (who were almost exclusively pro-Confederate), most assuredly held animosities against him ... and Johanna was no doubt tormented about it by her French neighbors and friends. Her grandson Denis had joined the Union Army and participated at Camp Jackson. He later re-enlisted in an elite cavalry unit known as General "Fremont's Body Guard" (whose headquarters was located in Frenchtown). Denis was killed in action, at age 21, in the first cavalry sabre charge of the war on Oct 25, 1861 at Springfield, MO, during the engagement known as "Zagonyi's Charge". This was all, no doubt, very anguishing for Johanna. The horror stories of neighbors fighting and killing each other during the Civil War in Soulard, can be found in John Rodabough's book "Frenchtown" (1980, Christian Board of Publication, St. Louis). Frenchtown/Soulard was apparently, a civil war within the Civil War.

During the height of the war in 1864, Confederate General Sterling Price's threat of invading St. Louis seemed imminent, and so it only seemed prudent for Felix and family to get out of Frenchtown, where the majority of the French inhabitants were pro-Confederate. So, the family moved to a 200 acre farm on the south side of the Zingg Rd. just north of Millstadt, St. Clair County, Illinois.

Johanna’s oldest daughter Jeannette had married Jean-Baptiste ROHR, the son of Jean-Nicolas ROHR and Catherine KOCH. He had come to America from the town of Rimling, Lorraine, France. The Rohr’s had come to the Millstadt area at an earlier date and settled on a farm east of St. James Catholic Cemetery. Johanna’s son Anton JACOB married Anna Barbara GERARDI from Rheinbach, Germany, and they settled in Carlyle, Clinton County, Illinois. Johanna no doubt moved around and stayed at the homes of her children, until she became infirm from old age.

By 1870, Johanna was living back in St. Louis, in a home for the aged. She died there on November 27, 1871 at the age of 79, and was buried in Holy Ghost Cemetery at 308 Convent St.

Picture Source: This picture is from an original "carte-de-visite" from the Louis Maurath (grandson of Johanna) family collection, which was later inherited by Louis’ daughter Carmelite (nee MAURATH) TRUEMAN (great-granddaughter of Johanna), and later inherited by Carme's daughter, Carolyn (nee TRUEMAN) WEBER.

Date of picture: some time between 1860 and 1871. Although this particular picture has not been positively identified, the family strongly believes it to be the picture of ancestor Johanna (nee SCHULER) JACOB. The weathered countenance of the woman in this picture, clearly exhibits a life of hardship and strain....yet, there is a semblance of peace in her tired eyes, as she holds the Word, and only true source of Peace.