The earliest known Papke pioneers of Presque Isle County, Michigan, two
brothers and a sister, appear to have all emigrated from the province of
Pomerania ("Pommern" in German) in the Kingdom of Prussia, Germany, though
no evidence has yet been found that they were born there. Johann Friedrich
Lorenz was born June 11, 1829, Charlotte Dorothea "Henrietta" (the future
Mrs. Friedrich Flemming) was born October 22, 1831, and Ludwig was born
October 19, 1834. Their father was Johann Papke, a laborer who was still
living in June 1870 in Borntin, Kreis Neustettin, Pomerania. All three
siblings married and began their families while still living in Germany.
All were apparently agricultural laborers on estates in the areas of western
Kreis Neustettin and eastern Kreis Belgard, Pomerania.

Johann Friedrich Lorenz's first marriage was to Laurette Luise Dorothea
Kleinschmidt (born ca. 1825), who died on January 15, 1870 at Doebel, Kreis
Belgard, Pomerania. Two sons were born to Johann and Laurette: Wilhelm
(March 15, 1857) and Karl (July 18, 1859). Following Laurette's death,
Johann married Mathilde Schueler (born December 19, 1839) on June 28, 1870
at Doebel, and to them was born one daughter, Mathilde (April 15,
1871)--also at Doebel.

Henrietta married the coachman Friedrich Flemming (born April 3, 1831) on
May 19, 1854 at Borntin, Kreis Neustettin, Pomerania (the ceremony was
performed by Pastor Friemuth), and five children were born to them in
Germany: Auguste Wilhelmine Dorothea (March 8, 1855), Albert Friedrich
Heinrich (August 15, 1857), Johanna ("Hannah") Caroline Louise (August 23,
1860), Wilhelmine Caroline Maria (March 13, 1863), and Caroline Wilhelmine
Henrietta (November 9, 1865).

Ludwig married Fredericka Kuester (born May 2, 1835) in Germany. Two
children were born to them in Germany: Wilhelmine Fredericke Ernestine
(February 6, 1864) and Johann Carl "Wilhelm" (March 30, 1866). Wilhelmine
was born at Kollatz bei Polzin, Kreis Belgard, while Wilhelm was born at
Polzin, also in Kreis Belgard.

Johann, Henrietta, and Ludwig all left Germany separately, but all within a
period of a few years (from before August 1868 until the spring of 1872).
The specific reasons why the Papkes left Germany is not known, but the
general conditions of war and agricultural depression no doubt played a
part.

Ludwig was the first of the three to come over to the U.S.. He apparently
had emigrated to the U.S. before August 23, 1868, as the 1870 death record
for his daughter Emilie indicates that she was born on that date in Detroit.
The 1910 census indicates that Ludwig emigrated in 1867. Ludwig's next
child, Friedericke, was also born at Detroit, on December 18, 1870.
Friedrich Wilhelm Ludwig was born there on February 12, 1873 and baptized at
St. Paul's Lutheran Church, corner of Jos. Campau Avenue and Jay Street,
Detroit (now of Grosse Pointe Farms) on March 24, 1873. The 1870 U.S.
census shows Ludwig and his family renting a dwelling next to a Fred Manske,
whose address (according to the 1869-70 Detroit city directory) was 444
Maple. Manske, who owned $2000 worth of real estate, was probably their
landlord, and their address was probably 442 Maple. An 1871-72 Detroit city
directory
shows a Ludwig Papke, laborer, at 204 German; an 1872-73 Detroit city
directory shows a Ludwig Papke, laborer, on the north side of Chesnut
between Jos. Campau and McDougall Avenues.

Henrietta was the second of the three to come over to the U.S., arriving
with her husband Friedrich and her children at New York on April 18, 1870 on
board the ship "D.H. Waetjen," from Bremen. She settled initially in
Detroit, and her family was listed in the 1870 U.S. census as living in the
same dwelling as her brother Ludwig's family. Two sons were born to
Henrietta in Detroit: Carl "Friedrich" Hermann (February 1, 1872) and Johann
Heinrich Carl (June 17, 1874). Friedrich was baptized at Trinity Lutheran
Church, corner of Prospect and Gratiot (now Rivard and Gratiot), Detroit,
while Johann Heinrich Carl (later known as Henry J. Fleming) was baptized at
St. Paul's Lutheran. Henrietta's son Albert was confirmed at Trinity on
Palm Sunday 1872, her daughter Johanna was confirmed at St. Paul's on Palm
Sunday 1873 (April 6), and her daughter Wilhelmine was confirmed at St.
Paul's on Palm Sunday 1875. An 1871-72 Detroit city directory shows a
Friedrich Flemming, laborer, at 444 Maple (apparently boarding with Fred
Manske); 1872-73, 1873-74, and 1874 Detroit city directories show Friedrich
Flemming on the west side of McDougall Avenue.

Johann was the last to arrive in the U.S., arriving at New York on the bark
"Jenny" on May 10, 1872. He joined his brother and sister at Detroit by May
19, as he is listed as a sponsor for a baptism at Trinity Lutheran Church on
that date. Johann, Henrietta and Ludwig remained in Detroit for the rest of
1872 and most of 1873. Johann's son Karl was confirmed at St. Paul's
Lutheran, Detroit on Palm Sunday 1873 (April 6). An 1873-74 Detroit city
directory shows a John Papke and a Ludwig Papke living at the same
address, on the west side of Collins Road (now Elmwood, between Gratiot and
Forest).

Johann, Ludwig, and their brother-in-law Friedrich Flemming are listed as
"laborers" in Detroit city directories for the years 1871-74. Their
specific occupations are unknown.

Though Johann (hereafter referred to by his U.S. name John) was the last
sibling to arrive at Detroit from Germany, he was probably the first to
leave Detroit for Presque Isle County, Michigan, which was the first area of
permanent settlement area for these Papkes in America. On September 22,
1873 John purchased his first land in Presque Isle County (Belknap
Township), which he subsequently sold on November 1. On December 15, 1873
he began homesteading land in Belknap Township's section 34, at South
Rogers, and
received the patent for this land on July 23, 1880. On February 22, 1874 he
is recorded as attending his first service at St. Michael's Lutheran Church
in Belknap Township, (Invocavit Sunday). John became a naturalized U.S.
citizen on May 20, 1879.

It was only a few years after John had gained title to his land that he made
arrangements for its transfer to his son Charles. John's original homestead
was only 40 acres, but by 1883 he had 120 acres, the additional 80 acres
having been added immediately west of the original homestead claim. In that
year John (September 29, 1883) turned the land over to his son Karl
(hereafter called Charles) in exchange for food and shelter for the rest of
his and Mathilde's lives. John's eldest son Wilhelm (hereafter called
William) had already begun homesteading land of his own in October 1879 in
Presque Isle's Metz Township. No further children were born to John and
Mathilde Papke after their daughter Mathilde, and John died at a relatively
early age (56 years) on July 7, 1885; he was buried at the cemetery at St.
Michael's, Belknap.

Ludwig Papke moved to Presque Isle County by the end of 1874, and
homesteaded land in section 19 of Belknap Township. His family continued to
grow, with the births in Belknap of Otto (March 14, 1875) and Bertha
(December 22, 1881).

Henrietta Flemming, her husband Friedrich and their children arrived in
Belknap between Palm Sunday and August 15 of 1875, when she was a sponsor
for the baptism of Ludwig's son Otto at St. Michael Lutheran Church,
Belknap. No further children were born to the Flemmings following their
relocation to Presque Isle County. By the 1880 census they had dropped the
second "m" in
the family name and were using "Fleming."

John, Henrietta, and Ludwig were already middle-aged at the time of their
immigration to the U.S., and by the early 1880s their children were already
marrying and having children of their own. John's eldest son William was
the first member of this second generation to establish himself; he began
homesteading in 1879 and married Pauline Wilhelmine Trapp on January 14,
1883 at St. Michael's. To William and Pauline were born nine children: Lena
(December 7, 1883), August (July 15, 1885), Albert (June 2, 1887), Paul
(died
at birth, March 25, 1889), Florentine (November 7, 1890), Anna (August 21,
1893), Ernest (died aged one day, December 22, 1896), Bertha (died at birth,
July 26, 1898), and Harry (March 17, 1903).

John's son Charles married Anna Marie Thamer at St. Michael's on March 22,
1888. Two months later, on May 21, 1888, his step-mother Mathilde accepted
a $425 payment from him which eliminated his obligation to care for her for
the rest of her life. Not long after this Mathilde left Presque Isle County
with her seventeen-year-old daughter Mathilde for Chicago, perhaps to join
members of her own family there. The second Mrs. John Papke died in Chicago
not long before her 88th birthday, on December 1, 1927. Her daughter
Mathilde married a John Pugh and died in Chicago on August 25, 1955. In the
mid-1980s several of Mathilde (Papke) Pugh's descendants were still living
in Chicago.

Charles and Anna (Thamer) Papke had twelve children: Augusta (May 9, 1888),
Emma (November 3, 1889), Ida (February 1, 1891), Edward (March 17, 1892),
Lilly (January 18, 1894), Henry (November 11, 1895), Amanda (June 23, 1897),
Theodore (April 10, 1899), Anna (May 21, 1900), George (April 5, 1902),
Hilda (April 3, 1903), and Alexander (May 23, 1908).

In 1893 Ludwig Papke also transferred his land to his children. In an
interesting arrangement, Ludwig sold the land to his son-in-law Gustav
Leisner of Cheboygan (husband of his daughter Wilhelmine), but the land was
subsequently farmed by Ludwig's son Otto. The 1900 census shows that Ludwig
and Fredericka with their youngest daughter Bertha were living on the farm
with Otto, who was now listed as "owner." The farm was actually mortgaged
and the mortgage held by Ludwig, and in 1903 Ludwig began legal action
against Otto as the latter had defaulted on the payments. The farm was sold
at auction in 1906 and Ludwig recovered the debt. Ludwig's final years were
lonely ones. His wife Friedricke ("Fredericka" in the U.S.) had died on
April 21, 1902 and was buried in the cemetery at St. Michael's (her crude
stone gives her name as "Ulrike"). Otto--who had no doubt become estranged
from his father--was either dead by the 1910 census or had moved out of
Michigan altogether. Gustave and Wilhelmine Leisner appear on the 1910
Michigan census index, along with their daughter Bertha (born 1902/03), but
no other children or grandchildren of Ludwig can be identified. Ludwig was
in the Presque Isle County Poor House, Rogers Township as of the 1910
census, and died there on April 28, 1912, aged 77 years.

Henrietta Fleming's husband, Friedrich, died on November 16, 1890. On the
1900 census she appears as living with her son Henry J. Fleming, who had
taken over the family farm. Henrietta died May 31, 1904 in Rogers City at
the home of her son Fred, and was buried in the Memorial Park Cemetery of
that city. Her son Henry died in Belknap on January 14, 1960.
By 1900 the "second generation" of Papkes were in possession of the
respective homesteads, and most members of the "third generation" had
already been born. But the time was already near at hand when the Presque
Isle homesteads were to be abandoned. The first ties to be loosened were
those to the parish at St. Michael's; around 1904 both William and Charles
terminated
their memberships at this church and joined the nearer parish at St. Peter's
Lutheran in Metz. In October 1907, owing to Pauline's poor health, William
left his Metz homestead for Alpena, where he lived until his death on August
28, 1915; Pauline died in Alpena on July 2, 1925. All of William's children
made the move to Alpena except one: his eldest daughter Lena had married
Emil
Claus of Hawks in 1905, and their descendants are the only descendants of
John Papke currently living in Presque Isle County.

Charles Papke lived in the South Rogers area of Belknap Township even after
the disastrous Metz Fire of October 1908, but the death of his wife Anna on
November 14, 1913 (she is buried in the cemetery at St. Peter's, Metz)
appears to have been a deciding factor in Charles' abandonment of Presque
Isle. By 1915 he had left the area and settled in Highland Park, Michigan;
all of his children, even though some had married in Presque Isle and were
raising children of their own, decided to follow Charles to the Detroit
area. Charles died in Highland Park on May 17, 1928. Over the years the
ties between the descendants of William in Presque Isle and Alpena
Counties and the descendants of Charles in the Detroit area grew weaker, but
in 1981 they were renewed when Ardis Kosmala, a great-granddaughter of
Charles, wrote to William's descendants in Alpena for family history
purposes. Replying on behalf of William's descendants was Ralph A. Pugh,
one of William's great-grandsons. Throughout the 1980s Ardis and Ralph
traded research material to further their mutual understanding of Papke
history.

Since the "abandonment" of Presque Isle County by the Papkes, 1907-1915,
many more generations of the Papke lineage have been added. But their names
more properly belong on a genealogical chart than in this history of the
Papke pioneers.

Ralph A. Pugh
May 10, 2002


Addenda

There were at least two other Papkes who settled in Presque Isle County
around 1871. Ernest Papke (March 30, 1842-April 4, 1919) was born in
Daberkow (Demmin County), Pomerania, Germany. He arrived in New York on May
24, 1869 on board the "Borussia" from Hamburg with his sister Fredericka
(born April 26, 1845) and his future wife Caroline Schultz (born in
Siebenbrunzen, Demmin County). They lived briefly in the Detroit area
before moving to northern Michigan. Fredericka Papke (Ernest's sister)
married a Rudolph Streich in the U.S. and died in Presque Isle County on
September 4, 1878. On September 19, 1870, Ernst Papke and Rudolph Streich
filed Declarations of Intent to become U.S. citizens at the Circuit Court in
Detroit, indicating that they were residents
of Ecorse, Wayne County (application numbers 839 and 838, respectively).

Ernest and Fredericka have not been included in the above history as their
relationship to John, Henrietta, and Ludwig has not yet been ascertained.
If Ernest was related to John, Henrietta, and Ludwig, it appears that he was
estranged from them once they were all settled in Presque Isle County. For
whereas the three Papke siblings discussed above aided one another by
testifying at homestead hearings and their children served as sponsors at
the baptisms of the cousins of their own generation, Ernest Papke and his
children were totally apart from this network. Ernest was initially a
member of St. Michael's Lutheran Church, Belknap, along with the other
Papkes, but in around 1884 he began attending Immanuel Lutheran Church in
Moltke Township, several miles to the northwest. Ernest's homestead was at
the extreme northern edge of Belknap Township, whereas the other Papkes were
concentrated in the central and southern portions of the Township. Ernest
and his wife Caroline (June 30, 1845-September 17, 1906) had seven children,
all of whom died in childhood or early adulthood. When Ernest died in
Rogers City in 1919 his obituary stated that his only surviving relatives
were a grandson and a step-daughter (Ernest's second wife had died in 1917).

Ralph A. Pugh