Admittedly, the above is mostly speculation based on family tradition with a leap from what is known about the general German emigrant to a specific family. Before moving on to the HEBBE family history that can be documented, I want to extend my special thanks to Christoph’s now deceased granddaughters Helen Stein and Irene (Hebbe) Cline. Helen generously shared her memories of the grandparents she knew and stories told by her elders. She lived near extended Kansas relatives her entire life and corresponded with numerous more distant cousins. She was the unofficial guide for all who made the trek to the old Hebbe homestead in northeastern Kansas. She was a wonderful resource and is greatly missed.

    Irene, whose family moved to Oklahoma, enjoyed repeating the stories she had heard.  She also assisted with identifying people in the old photos. Although she apparently didn’t respond to his accompanying letter, she retained the family tree compiled by Ernest Wolf in the 1950s. (For those who might wonder, his Poetter family is not related to Mattie (Potter) who married Christoph’s son.)

    I’m especially grateful to another descendant from the Wisconsin Hebbes, Phyllis Vanderwegen. She was most generous in sharing information and pictures.  Everything herein on the Wisconsin family not otherwise identified as coming from Wolfe or Gottlieb’s daughter, is from her.
  
    Information from Phyllis and Helen narrowed the Hebbes' home as probably near or perhaps between the villages (now spelled) Gollancz and Budzyn. Golanz, Province Posen, Germany comes from the early 1940s application for a delayed Kansas birth certificate filed by Martha Menger.  Martha asked her Aunt Emma Steinke for help completing line asking the mother’s birth place. At the time Emma was visiting Helen and commented that that’s where they all came from. Budzyn as the birthplace of the HEBBEs comes from Wisconsin tradition. Both villages are located North or a bit Northeast, of the larger city, (now spelled) Poznan, in present day Poland.  They can be seen on a map that is contemporary with Christoph’s birthyear. The map was reproduced by Jonathan Sheppard Books, Albany, NY from the original 19th century engraving:  Die Preussischen Provinzen Preussen und Posen, Dabei Uebersicht des Preussischen Staats auch Ungeb v. Konigsberg u.v. Danzig   Neue Bearbeitung des Entwurps v.1819 v. Ad. St.   1833, Revised 1845.

    In August 1997 David and Nadia Starr journeyed into recently-opened-to-Westerners Poland to search for Christoph’s native land. He reported:   We had time to visit the villages Linda told us were likely the home of Mom’s grandparents. We took lots of pictures, wandered around the cemetery, had to stop the police to find one village, and generally created quite a commotion – tourists are not common in these small towns.   I’m sure the immigrants felt right at home in Kansas. It’s very much the same rolling farm land. The villages are in better shape than many small towns in Oklahoma, very provincial, but modern, for the most part. We found very little standing that might have been there in the mid-19th century. The area is VERY Catholic, and I don’t wonder that Mom’s relatives left if they were Lutheran.  I found only Catholic churches, with not a hint of Protestantism anywhere. The police we stopped for help said they had never heard the name HEBBE and based upon the names we saw on tombstones, stores, phone books, etc., I don’t believe it was native there.

    Family records compiled by descendants from Christoph’s siblings indicate Christoph was the third of three sons and youngest of nine children. His obituary, usually not considered a error-free source for a birth date, is now the only printed source we have: December 13, 1828.  Over the years he gave Prussia, Germany and Poland as his place of birth [census records, Old Settlers of Jefferson County Reunion, Intent to become a U. S. citizen].  According to Helen Stein, in 1951 the family, when warned of approaching floodwaters, moved all the important papers and heirlooms to the second floor.  Little did they dream water would rise above the second level of their sturdy two-story-plus-attic home.  Christoph’s family Bible and his personal copy of his naturalization papers were among the treasures lost.

    Nothing specific was passed along regarding Christoph’s parents or his life in Prussia. Thus we don’t know if Christoph grew up on a farm or above his father’s workplace in a small village.  In either case, the land or the father’s shop passed to the eldest son; younger sons were expected to learn a trade. Christoph’s next older brother is reported to have died (1848) while away from home learning a trade. We know nothing about Christoph’s apprenticeship other than he was a blacksmith. Boys were usually 10 to 12 years old when they began their training and continued until they were 21. During this time they were paid nothing more than the clothes they wore, food they ate and discipline received. The life of an apprentice varied depending on the disposition of the master and the teenager. At the end of service, a few tools of the trade were usually provided.

    The summer of 1853 Christoph said goodbye to his friends, relatives and his native land. He made his way to the port of Hamburg, Germany where his name is listed as a passenger on the sailing vessel Talleyrand.  His name appears as:  HEBBE, CHRISTIAN 24 [year old] male [occupation] SMI – “smith”. [Germans to America: Lists of Passengers Arriving at U.S. Ports, 1850-1855 vol. 5 May 1853-October 1853, edited by Ira A. Glazier and P. William Filby.  Scholarly Resources, Inc. Wilmington, DE, pages 439-441]  The passenger Christian is undoubtedly this Christoph as both spellings of the given name are Anglicized to Christopher. Christoph was 24 years old that summer and he was a blacksmith. Lastly, Hamburg is the nearest major port from Province Posen. We like to think he traveled with others he knew; but, he is the only HEBBE on board and none of the surnames of passengers are found associated with him later. The list does negate Helen Stein’s theory he met his future wife on the way to America.

     The Talleyrand arrived at the port of New York City the first of October, 1853.  We assume, because none is reported by tradition, Christoph arrived in New York City without any contacts. Thus it was solely up to him to find a place to live, food to eat, and a job. All this and he didn’t speak a word of English.  According to the story told by Helen Stein he walked along the streets until he found a blacksmith shop. He hung around until the smithy was interrupted from his task.  Christoph then quietly stepped up to the forge and continued working the task at hand. When the smithy returned, Christoph respectfully stepped aside until the next interruption. If things were going in Christoph’s favor, the smithy was interrupted when performing a different function each time. Thus Christoph, without speaking English, demonstrated his expertise and desire for a job. Perhaps he hung around several shops before he was eventually hired.

    He remained in New York City several weeks, perhaps even a few months. Undoubtedly he was saving as much money as he could.  In all likelihood Fredricka, his youngest and still single sister, joined him in New York City and they went west together. This conclusion is based on the evidence both married before the group headed by eldest brother Gottlieb arrived. An unanswered question is how everyone traveled from New York City to Milwaukee. Two modes of transportation come to mind:  rail or water passage through the chain of Great Lakes. One can only imagine their thoughts as the scenery, so different from the landscape of their childhood, passed by them.   

    According to Helen Stein (who probably heard it directly from her grandmother):  Sophia Maria Weisz was born 27 February 1835 near the village of Meiningen in Saxony, Germany.  At the age of 18 she and a cousin spent 51 or 52 days on a sailing vessel, landing in New York City. From there, they made their way to Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

    There are several early 1850s passenger lists showing a Sophia Weisz on board; but, none stand out as the correct Sophia.  Everyone regrets not asking Helen Stein the gender of her traveling companion; all assumed it was two single females traveling together.  However, Sophia’s passage may have been an exchange for her assistance in caring for her cousin’s young children.  The only information about Sophia’s family and her life before she emigrated comes from a story involving Kansas neighbor, John F. Geopfert, born 1831. Their families were neighbors back in Saxony. Sophia’s sister wanted to date a young man her father didn’t like and he forbade her to do so. However, Mr. Weisz approved of John. So John picked up and took home the Weisz sister; but, she spent the intervening date time with the other young man.  It’s a small world: although John and Sophia took different paths to America and both spent time elsewhere in the states, both are now buried in the same Kansas cemetery.

    Another unknown is how or where Christoph and Sophia met in Milwaukee. Church records show they were married April 10, 1855 at the Grace Lutheran Church in front of witnesses Frantz Hesse and Gustav Schulz.  His sister, Fredricka Hebbe, and blacksmith Julius Fethke were married in the same church the summer before.  Now known as Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church, it is located on Broadway Street near the seafront.  The pastor who officiated at both weddings was the well respected and known for his good deeds  Rev. John Muhlhaeuser; the church was commonly referred to as "Muhlhaeuser’s Church."  [Religion in Early Milwaukee by Annabel Douglas McArthur.]  Pictures of the present structure (erected circa 1900) were taken March 2004.
 
    The Hebbes and Fethkes made room for emigrating relatives in 1855.  The group we know about was composed of the eldest brother Gottlieb Hebbe, his wife and an unknown number of their children, plus his wife’s parents and probably her brother. Also with them were orphans Bertha and Emil Schultz, children of Mary Augusta (Hebbe) and Christopher Schultz, both deceased. And lastly, another Hebbe niece, Paulina Sufelda, whose mother (given name unknown) was also deceased.  In this case Paulina’s brother chose to remain in Prussia with their father.  Tradition from one of Gottlieb’s descendants is this group looked down from the upper deck onto the people traveling in steerage. They didn’t tarry along the way but continued to Milwaukee where they reportedly spent several weeks with Christoph and the Fethkes.  Perhaps the wives and children remained in Wilwaukee while the men searched the Wisconsin countryside for good farm land. The widow Wilhelmina (Hebbe) Steinke and her two daughters appear to be the last Hebbe sibling to emigrate. They ended up in Lawrence, Kansas. Other HEBBE siblings traveled separately and their stories weren’t passed to later generations.

    It appears all the Hebbes left Milwaukee by early 1856.  The others moved to the more central part of the state but Christoph and Sophia went South to Chicago.  There he found work with the Union (later the Union and American) Car Works.  Daughter Paulina was born there in July 1856 and son John Otto in January 1858.  Chicago is an assumed birth place for Paulina; but, Illinois is listed as Otto’s birth place in several sources. [1860 and 1880 census; obituary]  According to Helen Stein Christoph was a resident of Chicago when he became a U. S.  Citizen. When we hear about the Great Fire of Chicago (1871), images of buildings ablaze and smoke filled skies come to mind. We don’t think about the destruction of whatever was inside those buildings. But one prized Hebbe heirloom went up in flames that night: the official record of Christoph Hebbe becoming a naturalized citizen of the United States.  In a bit of irony, his personal copy was lost in the 1951 Topeka, Kansas flood.  But only the exact date is really lost. Christoph began the change of citizenship process while a resident of Milwaukee in March 1855.  Luckily his declaration of Intent to become a Citizen [B]was retained in that city and it has his birthplace noted on it. We can narrow the date of their move to Kansas as “after Otto’s birth January 1858, but before 1860.” That they were in Kansas before 1860 is corroborated by the 1860 Mortality Schedule. According to Helen’s reading:  Pauline Hebbe died in January 1860 at the age of 3 years after being ill for 7 days.  Otto’s obituary says the family moved to Kansas in 1859. That’s a good estimate of the year he changed his citizenship status as well.

    Family tradition says they first settled in  the community of Rising Sun, Kansas, across the Kaw River from Lecompton, then the capitol.  Christoph set up a blacksmith shop and tried to keep out of the local politics. That wasn’t easy. They had landed square in the middle of "Bleeding Kansas." Conflict, often breaking into violence, between free and slave-state factions embroiled the territory. An anecdote mentioned in an 1883 sketch on Christoph suggests area ruffians thought it fun to terrorize the foreign smithy.  Paulina’s death from malaria was the last straw: the Hebbes moved to the nearby community of Medina.

    Here Christoph established another blacksmith shop, but this time he also rented a few acres of farmland to try his luck at growing things.  Son William Christopher was born near Medina April 11, 1861. We don’t know how long the Hebbes remained in any one place. The dates mentioned in the sketch are off when compared with other things. Their third move was into the hills north of Perry. According to a son-in-law, when asked why he left the rich bottom lands for the hills, Christoph replied, “to get away from malaria.”  Christoph once again opened a blacksmith shop and they moved into another log cabin.  That is all Helen remembered her mother saying about the homes lived in before the stone house was built.  In November 1867 Christoph at last realized his dream of owning his own land. How proud he must have been that day! The second and largest tract he purchased became the home place where the stone house and three large barns (according to Helen’s memory) were eventually built. In all, Christoph purchased four tracts, all from the railroad. 

    Frank Hebbe, born August 13, 1874, always told Helen he arrived with the grasshoppers. He was referring to an insect invasion of Biblical proportions. Helen remembered her mother’s telling of the event: It got very dark about noon, then the hoppers started coming and the chickens started to eat them. Soon, however, they were so thick that the chickens became afraid and went into the chicken house.

    According to Helen’s mother Mary Sophia, the three oldest children [John, William and Carl] started to school at the same time.  None could speak English and of course the teacher didn’t speak German.  She insisted she couldn’t teach them anything until they understood English. Christoph and Sophia decided the family would speak only English at home from that day on.  Helen never heard her grandparents speak anything but English; however, William C. when pressed by his granddaughters, Glendon and Eileen, would say a few German words before shooing them away to play elsewhere.  Mary Sophia related: My little friends thought it was strange to hear my parents talk but it didn’t seem strange to me. The stonemason spoke English but he had a nephew helping who did not speak English so their conversation was in Swedish. Now I could understand why my friends thought the way they did about my folks.

     A stonemason was hired by Christoph to help build a stone house, probably like the ones he remembered from his childhood. The house was still standing in the late 1980s when Helen Stein gave us a tour. Helen directed my husband, the driver, while I took notes of her comments and stories. This portion of her commentary began as we turned from the county road into the lane leading to the house: This field was all in blue grass pasture.  I remember a hammock stretched between two trees; it may have been these two cedar trees in front. In the spring we’d go across Wild Horse Creek (across the field behind the house) to gather wild strawberries in the woods over there.  The room out front is the hired hand’s room. I remember the wide windowsills filled with plants and light in the dining room area. I remember a warm, homey place when visiting my grandparents.  (From the back door leading into the kitchen):  There was a pie-shaped cupboard here by the doorway. I remember eating a strawberry pie that came from that cupboard on one visit.  The fireplaces at each end of the house were not real, but had black iron stoves for heat.  There were three barns that I know about and at least two of them burned to the ground. Emma was burned around the neck while helping to put out one of the fires. She carried the scars the rest of her life. One sister-in-law blamed another one for setting the fire; there was ill-will between them. But other family members figured that Tom Stalons fell asleep smoking and set the hay afire.  He was thought to be a “goof off” and too willing to let the hired hand do his work if he could get by with it.

    Great-granddaughter Glendon (Hebbe) Starr described the house, adding her memories of stories told by her grandfather William C.: The year was etched in the stone above the front door, but is partially hidden by a porch that was added later. I have forgotten the exact date, but believe it was 1869 as my Grandfather said he was nine years old. He helped by carrying many of the native stones from which the house is built.  The house was built on a knoll overlooking the bottom land of a creek that flows through the farm.  From the front the house appears to be a two story; but at the back it shows it was a three story structure. The lower level was built as a root cellar where all kinds of vegetables and fruit were stored for winter. My grandparents described the wonderful aroma of apples and such so vividly I could almost smell it myself.

    Another thing of interest in the house:  a pipe ran from the kitchen under ground and down the slope to the pig pen. Swill or slop,  poured into the pipe at the kitchen end,  would end up in a hog trough at the other end. This saved many steps. Water for the family’s use was obtained from a spring.  The walls of the house are at least a foot thick.  From the outside, the windows appear to be tall and narrow. The view from the inside is vastly different. They are just as tall, but much wider as they were built at an angle. This lets more light into the interior of the house and also made the house easier to heat in winter and it was cooler in the summer.

    Returning to stories related by Helen’s mother, Mary Sophia (Hebbe) and her Aunt Emma (Hebbe) Stalons:  Fairmont was the name of the public school the Hebbe children attended. It was located at the top of a hill about two miles south of the homesite and the kids walked to school each way. It was a seven-month school year. The teacher probably boarded with a family, but I have no recollection of any mention of a teacher being with them. Aunt Emma told of walking to school across the fences when the snow crusted over in the winter and it was piled up along the fence rows. Emma did not go past the eighth grade; I’m not sure about the others.

    The parents must have gotten the children out of bed at a very early hour for each child was expected to complete chores before walking two miles each way to school. Mother also told about her brother Albert and she milking cows before going to school – there were no milking machines in those days. Mother told about Carl and she having to replant some corn. She dropped the corn and Carl covered the grain. She wanted to change jobs, but Carl said she could not keep up. She insisted and they made the change – Mary was then determined to keep up. Carl stopped moving in order to drop another grain into a hole and Mary hacked his foot with the hoe, cutting the foot and sending him to the house. She had to finish the job all by herself.  Just a case of brother and sister fussing.

    Christopher and Sophia joined the nearby Methodist Church because there was no Lutheran Church in the area.  Helen Stein had two stories to tell about the Methodist Woman’s group: When Emma [born 1877] was a baby and Sophia was holding her in her arms, she found a louse on Emma’s head. Well Sophia combed every child’s head and also Christopher’s, but couldn’t find any lice. She then combed her own and there she found the louse. Ladies had been at the house that day and put their hats on Sophia’s bed and that was the source.  Another time the Ladies from the church met with Sophia and she served them cake. They said the cake was very good, but she remarked to the family afterwards: “If they knew goose fat was used in the cake, they probably wouldn’t have liked it.”  With that large a family, nothing was wasted.

    Another story Helen related shows how frugal and disciplined they were:  The family had plenty to eat but they were not to put butter and jelly on the same slice of bread. Mary liked butter and once tried to butter one side of the bread, then turn it over and put jelly on the other side. Christopher at that time asked her to get him a glass of milk from the kitchen. Mary thought that was strange since he didn’t drink milk and when she came back with the milk, he was examining the slice. She never told me what he said but she knew that stunt didn’t work. 

    When asked why they didn’t want the children to have both butter and jelly, Helen explained: They started from scratch and were saving all they could in order to make a living. There were nine kids and they couldn’t afford for all nine to have both butter and jelly on their bread. Each person had enough to eat, but it was too extravagant for all to have everything.   Emma, the youngest daughter, told of having only two new cotton dresses each school year. One year her two dresses were made from the same fabric.
 
We have two undated photos of Sophia and one of Christoph. The pictures of them in their fifties or sixties appeared at the beginning of this document. This portrait of a younger Sophia, perhaps at age 30 or so, was taken by "F. F. Mettner, Photo. Artist, Lawrence, Kansas."

    Among the treasures that came down to our family are the carpentry tools made by Christoph and given to his son William.  As is noted on Glendon's note accompanying the picture, William "broke out the [hammers'] handles to keep anyone from using them in fear they would be ruined or stolen."
 
    Christoph’s obituary  indicates he was ill for several years before his death. He died at home February 6, 1910.  Helen Stein wrote: I was 6 years old when grandpa died and to me he seemed to be tall and slender but I think he was just medium height. I remember his funeral which was held in the parlor of his home. It snowed that day; we went to the cemetery in the snow. The casket was plain, black and narrow. My grandmother died about a year and half later [October 28, 1911] and I have no remembrance of her death and funeral. I do remember her as very pleasant and small. She was at our house at Grantville one Memorial day and asked me to pick some wild flowers on the hill near our house to take to the cemetery. Travel in those days was horse and buggy and no frequent visits.

    The state of Kansas didn’t issue death certificates at the time Christoph died. However, we do have a record for Sophia's death. Christoph’s Last Will and Testament, signed 23 October 1902, was filed 8 March 1910 and recorded at pages 42 & 43 of Book F.  The Final Accounting of the estate is dated 19 April 1916. There is a list of heirs in the accounting of Sophia’s estate 6 September 1913.