Although the John Reinert family lived in Houston county, Minnesota only five years (1867 to 1872), their life there should have left some records. I've begun further research for these items.
- School attendance for Nicholas (age 16 through perhaps 18), Peter (ages 14 through perhaps 18), Mary (ages 7 to 12), and Gertrude (ages 6 to 8)
- Burial of Johann Reinert
- Confirmations of Nicholas and Peter, possibly Mary and Gertrude
- Lease agreements for the farm property
- Tax forms for 1868 through 1872
- Auction notices and receipts for the small property that could not fit in a wagon
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A couple Houston county residents travelled to Kansas and returned to verify many of the claims made in Buffalo Land. In September 1872, Nicholas Arnoldy liquidated his business, and with his brothers Michael, Peter, and Chris formed a wagon train. Katherine decided to join about a dozen other families who left for Tipton KS. These families included the Schwinden and Palen families, among others.Katherine Reinert and her family of five children (Susanna, Nicholas, Peter, Gertrude, and Maria) arrived in Tipton after a trip of 600 miles or more. Although a family document asserts the travel was by wagon, travel on the Mississippi River seems more logical to some landing down river. St. Donatus, Davenport, or Burlington in Iowa or Hannibal or St. Louis in Missouri are possible locations for the transition to a wagon, . Their arrival in Tipton is indirectly documented in the parish history of St. Boniface.
They came from Caledonia, Minnesota, in the fall of 1872. The names of those families are: Nick Arnoldy, Sr., Peter Jacobs, Franz Jergen [tgk correction: Mergen], Matt Ellenz, William Swinden, Nick Gasper (single), Philip Schroeder, John Beck, John Elser, Mike Cordel, John Cordel, and Mrs. Catherine Reinert. Before the families arrived, Mr. Peter Jacobs had been sent, earlier in the same year, to inspect the territory. These families were followed by many others, and by 1879 the number of families had increased to seventy. "
The St. Boniface history lists the family names, though it doesn't clarify that all had come from Caledonia:
H. Konzem
F. Mergen
P. Jacobs
J. P. Cordel
M.J. Arnoldy
Mrs. Catherine Reinert
Michael Cordel
Frank Cordel
Nicolaus Gasper
Anton Gasper
August Richter
Frank Boden
Peter Arnoldy
Nicolaus Arnoldy, Jr.
Conrad Arnoldy
John S. Arnoldy
Peter Gengler
Peter Krier
Philip Schroeder
Henry Streit
Theodor Arens
John Arnoldy, Sr.
Ignatz Hake
John Bach
Bernard Thummel
Dominic Schulte
John Scheer
Carl Henneboehle
John Beck
Carl Braun
John Stroh
Joseph Fischer
Jacob Pauly
Matthias Ellenz
Matthias Eck
John Endres
William Fueser
Relevant Links
- Means of travel from Caledonia to Tipton
- Description of the Reinert home in Europe.
- The Kirchenbuch of Igel, 1818-1908
- The Familienbuch of Igel, 1706-1899
