Author: Keith Millard
Note: As with so many of the families that lived in these rural communities in the 1800s, there are often multiple connections between families, and there ARE other connections between the Kleinsteuber and the Rodgers families. This is the connection between a son of Carl Kleinsteuber (one of the original German immigrants to the German Settlement) and a daughter of one of the founders of the nearby Potter Settlement.
After Theodor Kleinsteuber died of cholera in September 1866, his sons Carl, 17, and Julius, 19, travelled from Germany to New York, arriving there on Dec 13, 1866, still having to travel on to Bridgewater Ontario to join their brothers Henry and John Henry Lorenz, and likely bringing the news of their father's death with them. Crossing the Atlantic in December, in steerage, must have been an extremely unhappy experience.
Carl lived in the German Settlement for a number of years, and in 1873 married Hannah Potter (from the Potter Settlement), and at some point they were living on Lot 2 of Concession VIII of Elzevir Township, directly north of the Potter Settlement.
Rudolf (Rudi) was the youngest of Carl and Hannah's six children and was born in 1887 at the family home in Elzevir Township.
At this time, Bridgewater was still the economic and social centre for everyone living within abot 10 miles radius. And at this point in time the James Rodgers family, including his son Emory Rodgers, were still living in Hungerford Township very close to the small community of Bogart and Bogart's Mill.
Click on photos to enlarge, cursor over for caption:
Note: As with so many of the families that lived in these rural communities in the 1800s, there are often multiple connections between families, and there ARE other connections between the Kleinsteuber and the Rodgers families. This is the connection between a son of Carl Kleinsteuber (one of the original German immigrants to the German Settlement) and a daughter of one of the founders of the nearby Potter Settlement.
After Theodor Kleinsteuber died of cholera in September 1866, his sons Carl, 17, and Julius, 19, travelled from Germany to New York, arriving there on Dec 13, 1866, still having to travel on to Bridgewater Ontario to join their brothers Henry and John Henry Lorenz, and likely bringing the news of their father's death with them. Crossing the Atlantic in December, in steerage, must have been an extremely unhappy experience.
Carl lived in the German Settlement for a number of years, and in 1873 married Hannah Potter (from the Potter Settlement), and at some point they were living on Lot 2 of Concession VIII of Elzevir Township, directly north of the Potter Settlement.
Rudolf (Rudi) was the youngest of Carl and Hannah's six children and was born in 1887 at the family home in Elzevir Township.
At this time, Bridgewater was still the economic and social centre for everyone living within abot 10 miles radius. And at this point in time the James Rodgers family, including his son Emory Rodgers, were still living in Hungerford Township very close to the small community of Bogart and Bogart's Mill.
Click on photos to enlarge, cursor over for caption:
In 1910 Rudi married Frances (Frankie) Rodgers, daughter of Emory Rodgers and Adeline Mayne, in the village of Queensborough, Elzevir Township. James Orville was born in 1912, in the house on Con VIII Lot 2 of Elzevir Township. We assume they were living in the house of Carl and Hannah, as Carl had died in 1897.
Their immediate whereabouts after James' birth in 1912 has not been determined, though we know Rudi's brother Herman had moved to Hallowell Township in Prince Edward County before 1911. At some point before Sherman's birth in 1918, Rudi and Frankie had moved to Prince Edward County as well, and we believe some of these sap bush and other pics were taken at West Lake.
Click on photos to enlarge, cursor over for caption:
Their immediate whereabouts after James' birth in 1912 has not been determined, though we know Rudi's brother Herman had moved to Hallowell Township in Prince Edward County before 1911. At some point before Sherman's birth in 1918, Rudi and Frankie had moved to Prince Edward County as well, and we believe some of these sap bush and other pics were taken at West Lake.
Click on photos to enlarge, cursor over for caption:
In 1925, many Kleinsteuber descendants had also moved to the West Lake community, and in fact more than half of the students at the West Lake one room schoolhouse in 1925 were immediate Kleinsteuber relatives, including all three of Rudi and Frankie's children, James Orville, Gertrude, and Sherman. The school certainly seemed bigger in the early 1950s to myself when I attended it!
Rudi and his brother Herman were partners in a small general store and gas station in the 1930s through the 1940s, until Rudi died in 1948. Herman continued to operate the more and more insignificant location until sometime in the mid 1950s, but after he retired, his daughter Verna and her husband Ted Stewart took over the property, renaming it The Tambo, a very popular summer stop for groceries, ice cream cones, etc.
Rudi's son Jim Kleinsteuber was married in Oshawa and daughter Lois was born there in 1942. Jim moved back to West Lake and operated a small live bait and soda stand at the corner of the West Lake Road until passing away in 1962 at the young age of 48.
Rudi's daughter Gertrude married a gentleman named Dunning, and son Sherman married a lady named Elda Clement. Frankie died in 1981 in Picton, at the age of 90.
Little else is known about the descendants of Rudi and Frankie.
Click on photos to enlarge, cursor over for caption:
Rudi and his brother Herman were partners in a small general store and gas station in the 1930s through the 1940s, until Rudi died in 1948. Herman continued to operate the more and more insignificant location until sometime in the mid 1950s, but after he retired, his daughter Verna and her husband Ted Stewart took over the property, renaming it The Tambo, a very popular summer stop for groceries, ice cream cones, etc.
Rudi's son Jim Kleinsteuber was married in Oshawa and daughter Lois was born there in 1942. Jim moved back to West Lake and operated a small live bait and soda stand at the corner of the West Lake Road until passing away in 1962 at the young age of 48.
Rudi's daughter Gertrude married a gentleman named Dunning, and son Sherman married a lady named Elda Clement. Frankie died in 1981 in Picton, at the age of 90.
Little else is known about the descendants of Rudi and Frankie.
Click on photos to enlarge, cursor over for caption:
