Bernhardt Kloepfer
1824-1908
The following is from"Kloepfer-Klöpfer Genealogy & More" by William Wesley Kloepfer and Bill Kloepfer, 1993. William Wesley Kloepfer is the great great grandson of Dionys Klöpfer, a descendant of Jorg Klopfer (Family # 5, Klöpfer, Kloepfer, and Kleopfer). Bill is his son. For more information contact Wes Kloepfer, 142 N. Angeleno Avenue, Azusa, California 91702.
Bernhardt Kloepfer and Mary Walburga Harrer
Due to the following news clippings we have learned quite a bit about Dionys's eldest son, Bernhardt (Bernard) Klöpfer/Kloepfer (1824-1908)/84 yrs. Bernhardt was sixteen years of age on his arrival in the USA.
From the Evanston, Illinois Historical Society, 29 June 1901
Pioneers' Golden Wedding
Mr. and Mrs. Bernard Kloepfer who live in Gross Point, and are well known by many Evanston people, as are some of their descendants who live here, celebrated their golden wedding last Monday. They are the oldest living settlers of New Trier Township. A few feet from the house in which they live on the outskirts of Gross Point stands a log cabin, now used as a barn, which was the home of Klöpfer's father as well as of the newly married people half a century ago. This is probably the oldest building in the township, for when it was erected in 1840 there were but three others within a mile of it.
Kloepfer is 77 years old, and asserts he has not been sick a day in his life. He came from Baden, Germany with his father, who was a burgermeister, in 1840. From Ohio to Chicago the trip was made in ox carts, taking six weeks. After stopping in Chicago for a few days they went to Gross Point. What is now a rich farming district was then heavily timbered, and swamps which in the spring shut off communications with Chicago. Forest fires also threatened the small German colony at times. In speaking of the roads, Kloepfer told of an instance in which it took four teams of oxen to pull an empty wagon. It was in the spring and all the flour was used up, necessitating a trip to Chicago. Two teams were hitched to the wagon, and it took until night to reach the city. The return trip the next day was made along the lake shore. When east of Gross Point he started to drive across through the brush, there being no road. When a little west of what is now Evanston, the wagon became stuck, and two more teams of oxen had to hitched to it before it could be pulled out.
Mrs. Kloepfer (1832-1912)180 yrs, now 69 years old, lived at Niles at the time of her wedding in 1851. She came from Germany with her parents in 1845 and settled in Niles when there were but a half dozen houses here. She and her husband have lived on the same land ever since their marriage although the farm today contains but ten acres. As their children have grown up the farm has been divided, the old people keeping only enough for their own use.
Mrs. Kloepfer tells of a time when they were living in the log cabin and she saw and counted thirty deer in one herd within a quarter mile of the farm. Foxes and wolves also abounded in the woods. Wood was hauled to the city in those days by ox team and was sold at $2 a load. The sheriff used to make an annual visit and impose a nominal tax, and government land could be had in the neighborhood.
Mr. Kloepfer has eight children, twenty-seven grand-children and two great-grand-children. He has never been away from his home longer than two or three nights and always is busy about the small farm.
Clipping from the Chicago Evening Post, 27 July 1901
Eloquent Old Buildings
History of a German family that has spent half a century at Evanston. Evanston's Historical Society is making a special effort to obtain photographs of such old buildings as have been left standing that mark the early stages of the city's development and to gather all possible information concerning them. Decrepit appearing shanties and old log barns have thus become eloquent of the early days. Men and women who had barred their doors against wandering Indians or shielded their little ones from prowling wolves have been found still peacefully tilling the soil around the outskirts of the city.
One of the most interesting couples now living in Gross Point is Mr. and Mrs. Bernard Kloepfer. Besides being the oldest living settlers in New Trier Township they point with pride to a record of eight children, twenty seven grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. Shown on their farm is Bernard and wife Mary sitting, standing is their daughter and son-in-law Mr. and Mrs. Merch and Miss Kate Kloepfer. Gross Point was the early Mecca for Germans who arrived in Chicago seeking homes. This was partly due to the few who had already settled there wrote glowing accounts to the fatherland of the fertile soil and heavily timbered tracts of land that only needed patient industry to become converted into productive farms, and partly to the pernicious activity of land owners and agents who laid violent hands on the unsuspecting emigrants.
Leaving Germany in 1840, Mr. Kloepfer's father was a burgermeister in Baden, Germany. Thither he came with his family in 1840, making the journey from Ohio to Chicago in six weeks by means of an ox cart. Promptly upon his arrival he was taken in hand by Wendell Ellis, who sold him 100 acres (note this parcel was actually 160 acres of record) of land for $200. On this ground the log structure shown was erected, and here young Bernard grew up, married and reared his own family. As the worldly goods of the farmer increased the log house was turned into a barn and the family moved into the more modern and commodious house which adjoins it.
The house is situated about a mile and a half northwest from where the road from the Wilmette station crosses the Niles road. "When first built," says Mr. Kloepfer, "it stood in the midst of tall timber, which covered the surrounding country and was an important source of revenue." The trees were felled and the wood hauled by ox teams to Chicago, where it was sold at $2 a load, and it is stated that Matthew Laflin and George Couch, the late Chicago capitalists, frequently drove their teams up the Green Bay Road in quest of logs and firewood. The usual route north lay across the ridge, or Green Bay Road, which was the stage route, and along this road many of the early settlers located. In fact, Mr. Kloepfer states, he would have settled there if he had not run afoul of Ellis. From this road the patch across the prairie was marshy during the spring and early summer. And the teams frequently became stalled. Corduroy roads were built in many places, but as a rule the timber was gotten out in the winter and hauled to the east side of the prairie while the ground was frozen.
Mrs. Kloepfer came to Gross Point from Germany with her family in 1845. She was married at Niles in 1851, and only a few weeks ago the old people celebrated their golden wedding, surrounded by the two generations that have grown up under the shadow of the old log house. Only three or four families lived in the vicinity when the Kloepfers first arrived. Among these were George Foster, the Crain brothers, Mr. Hill, Benjamin Emerson, Carl Eisemann and John Schultz.
CHILDREN OF BERNHARDT KLOEPFER AND MARY HARRER
In addition to Dennis Kloepfer (see Chapter X), Bernhardt's family was:
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