Tombstone Tuesday–Lewis and Margaretha Brandt

Lewis & Margaretha Brandt, Zion Lutheran Cemetery, Chattanooga, Mercer County, Ohio.

This is the tombstone of Lewis and Margaretha Brandt, located in row 3 of Zion Lutheran Cemetery, Chattanooga, Mercer County, Ohio. The marker is inscribed: BRANDT, Lewis Brandt, Born Nov 30, 1839, Died Jan 31, 1905, aged 65 y, 2 m; Margaretha Haffner, Born  Dec 9. 1846, Married to Lewis Brandt Jun 10, 1866, Died Jun 21, 1889, aged 42 y, 6 m, 12 d.

Louis’ inscription is on the south side of the stone and Margaretha’s inscription is on the north side. The front [west] side of the stone is inscribed:
A precious one from us has gone
A voice we loved is stilled.
A place is vacant in our home
Which never can be filled.

According to Zion Lutheran’s records, Ludwig Brandt was born in Dietzhausen,  Kingdom of Prussia, on 30 November 1839 to Johannes “John” and Anna Catherine (Geisenhoner ) Brandt. He was baptized and confirmed in Prussia. The family immigrated to America in 1855 and settled in Mercer County, Ohio. “Lewis” Brandt died of consumption on 31 January 1905, aged 65 years and 2 months.  He was buried on 3 February. Survivors included his widow, 10 children and 6 grandchildren. Lewis’ parents, John and Anna Brandt were the subjects of last week’s Tombstone Tuesday blog.

Lewis Brandt married Margaretha Haffner on 10 Jun 1866 at Lutheran Zion in Chattanooga. He was 27 years of age, a native of Dietzhausen, Kingdom of Prussia. She was 20 years of age, a native of Mercer County, Ohio.  Witnesses to the marriage were Catherine Beyer and Barbara Leistner.

Margaretha was the first child born to Conrad and Anna Margaretha Carolina (Müller) Haffner. She was born 9 December 1846 in Mercer County and confirmed there on 26 June 1859. The church records do not indicate when or where she was baptized. Margaretha Brand [Brandt] died 21 June 1889 at the age of 42 years, 6 months and 12 days.  Her funeral was performed by Pastor J. Oelkers in Liberty Township, Mercer County.

Louis Brandt (1839-1905). South side of monument.

Margaretha (Haffner) Brandt (1846-1889). North side of monument.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ludwig and Margaretha (Haffner) Brandt had the following children:

Mathilda Henrietta Brandt, born 9 Mar 1867 in Blackcreek Township, Mercer County, baptized 13 May 1867. Sponsors were Casper Beyer and Mathilda Haffner.

Gustav Adolph Brandt, born 23 September 1868 in Blackcreek Township, Mercer County, baptized  25 October 1868. Sponsors were Conrad Haffner and his wife.

Friedrich Wilhelm Brandt, born 30 July 1872 in Blackcreek Township, Mercer County, baptized 31 August 1872. Sponsors were his parents. Friedrich Wilhelm died 25 August 1872, aged 26 days.  He was buried on the 26th. His funeral text was Mark 10:14. [note by KMB: The church records do indeed state that Friedrich Wilhelm was baptized six days after his death. His baptismal date was probably entered incorrectly because it is not the Lutheran tradition to baptize after death. He may have been baptized on 31 July or 3 August.]

Otto Arthur Brandt, born 3 February 1874 in Blackcreek Township, Mercer County, baptized 8 April 1874. The sponsors were the parents.

Heinrich Romeo, born 10 April 1876 in Blackcreek Township, Mercer County, baptized by Rev. Hugo Willert on 25 June 1876. Sponsors were Georg Haffner and Carolina Haffner. He died Mar. 31, 1894. Romeo was the subject of 24 June 2012’s Tombstone Tuesday blog and his tombstone is just south of his parents’ marker.

Benjamin Franklin Brandt, born 12 June 1878, baptized 28 July 1878. Sponsors were Wilhelm Wirwill and wife. “Frank” Brandt became a minister.

Anna Maria Louisa Brandt, born 12 April 1881, confirmed 6 June 1897 by Rev. Affeld. [This information is from her confirmation record. There was no information about her baptism.]

Samuel Clarence Brandt, born 11 June 1883, baptized 22 July 1883. Sponsors were Sixtus Samuel Wick and wife Katharina, born Kugel [Gugel].

Carl Rudolph Walter Brandt, born 8 August 1888, baptized 28 September 1888. Sponsor was August Haffner.

Louis’ wife Margaretha (Haffner) Brandt died 21 June 1889 and Louis remarried to Mary Schultz. Louis and Mary had the following children:

Louis Ernst James Brandt, born 22 Apr 1898, baptized 5 Jun 1898. Sponsors were Pastor Ernst Schulz and James Stogdill.

Emil Friedrich Brandt, born 1 May 1900, baptized 3 June 1900. Sponsors were Friedrich Kuhn Jr. and Maria Kuhn.

Martha Margaretha Brandt, born 2 June 1901, baptized 14 July 1901. The sponsor was the grandmother, Maria Schulz.

Mary (Schultz) Brandt, the second wife of Louis Brandt, died of paralysis on 11 October 1928 and was buried on the 14th.  Survivors included 2 sons and 1 daughter. The church records note that Mrs. Brandt died while on a visit to Minnesota and was buried there.

The above information was from the records of Zion Lutheran, Chattanooga. What great records the ministers kept at Zion! Most of the birth/baptismal records listed above also indicated where the parents were born.

4 comments

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    • Johanne Simpson on September 9, 2013 at 1:08 pm
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    I have a family Bible that belonged to Otto Arthur Brandt. It has some great familt history information described in the back. I would LOVE to return this bible to his decendants. If you have any information, or would just like to pass my email along to anyone, I would very much appreciate it. Thanks,
    Johanne Simpson

    1. I will ask around and see if any Brandt descendants would like the Bible. Thanks for the offer!

    • Judith Kowalski on January 9, 2015 at 6:28 am
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    Hi Karen, I am the person who recently wrote and then later sent you some articles on Col. Kimmel from Mercer County. He lives in Riverside, CA, now, which is where I am now living also, as you might recall.

    My mother was Irene Evelyn Brandt, daughter of Samuel Clarence Brandt. I am probably writing too late concerning the matter of the Otto Brandt Bible a writer to you of September 2013 (Johanne Simpson) had possession of and was offering to give to a family descendant. Otto Brandt was Samuel Clarence Brandt’s brother and my great uncle. If Ms. Simpson should possibly still have the Bible, I would love to have it. If she doesn’t, then I am certain that at least another good family member now has it.

    I had the good fortune of having met “Uncle Otto,” as my mother always called him, on several occasions when my mother and the rest of our family visited Otto, his wife Eva, and other family members. We were living then in Indiana in a little town named Denver, close to Peru, Indiana. I also have a photo of Otto and Eva taken in their later years, which was sent to my mother by their daughter Berniece (correct spelling). Mom always said Berniece was her best friend. They grew up together, as my mother lived in the area long enough after my grandfather’s passing to have graduated from Rockford High School.

    (As a side note, my sister in Indiana recently sent me Herbert Brandt’s obituary. Herbert was my mother’s first cousin and Berniece’s brother, who very recently passed away at the age of 99. I remember Herbert as a young man, and he was of course Otto’s son.) Herbert and his wife, Anna, were living at the time of our visits with Otto and Eva, who owned a large dairy farm just outside Willshire.

    I have a number of items that belonged to Clarence, as my grandmother always called Samuel Clarence, that had been in his trunk for many, many years. And I have the trunk as well. She kept everything, including a huge cache of letters she had received throughout her lifetime, many from Clarence. Clarence was obviously well-to-do and was a meticulous record keeper, as I have many of his financial records as well. My five siblings also have many of these records. It was so unfortunate that Clarence passed away at the young age of 37, when my mother was only seven years old. He was movie-star handsome additionally, I might add–just incredibly nice-looking!

    I have a large photo of him on my fancy French desk in my living room, plus another photo of him there with my grandmother. After Clarence passed away, my grandmother eventually remarried and then moved with her second husband and three children, plus two step-children, to Indiana. But she had a brother who lived in Willshire almost his entire life, and that was Luther Wolfe. Perhaps you knew of Luther. Luther was a well-known gunsmith, and after he had lost his wife and my grandmother had also lost her second husband, Luther would come to visit her almost every weekend. She lived to be 94.

    I recently discovered something very interesting posted online that was totally unexpected, and that was the will of Louis or Lewis (Ludwig) Brandt, my great-grandfather. I can’t imagine who posted it there. My mother always said he was enormously wealthy, which the will certainly discloses to be true. All I know about him is that he was considered to be a personal banker for many of the citizens of Mercer County. Much mention is made of real estate in the will, and I happen to know that this real estate consisted mostly of farms he had purchased for many of his sons, including Clarence.

    If I had more time, I would love to do much more family research. You must find your research time to be endlessly fascinating. But since my husband has Parkinson’s and I am now a full-time caregiver, I am kept quite busy caring for him, along with keeping everything else going too. Maybe some day…

    So I will end this drivel for now, but if you should know anything more about the Brandt Bible, I would love knowing also. Thank you so very much! Judith

    1. Will do! I hope she still has the Bible for you.

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