William Herman Eschenbaum

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William Herman Eschenbaum ``````
(Schmidt) Eschenbaum. John had immigrated from Germany in 1882 and settled in Coal City being
a coal miner for 20 years. It is said that John complained that he only saw the sun once a year,
Christmas Day. John's best friend was Josepha's brother and that is how they met. As I understand it ````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
John & the Schmidt friend came over first and later brought over their families. John brought over his
father, Christian and mother Maria and his brothers and sisters. John and Josepha had a large family.

John & Josepha Eschenbaum Family

    This photo was taken in Illinois before their move to South Dakota in 1907. All the children came to
South Dakota except for Mary who is in the back row. She had married and remained in Illinois.
Agnes died of Acute Pulmonary Phthisis on 19 Nov., 1906. She was almost 11 years old.
Of interest, John shaved his beard off shortly after this photo. Needless to say, Josepha was very upset
with him arguing why he didn't do it before the photo was taken.

       Back row:      Henry, Mary, Josephine, Caroline
      Second row: William, John [Father] Josephia [Mother] Agnes
      Front row:      Herman, Magdeline, Elizabeth, Anna [baby]

Francine Mary & Joseph Schmidt

This couple are Bill's maternal grandparents. They immigrated from Germany and settled in
South Dakota homesteading land west of Orient, South Dakota about 3 miles east of the Christ Hansen
farm. Joseph had quite the history being in a couple of wars for the Kaiser, and a craftsmen. He got
tired of warring and wanted a more peaceful life. One of his son's was John Eschenbaum's best friends,
thus meeting Josepha. Sadly, Joseph was killed in 1898 being stomped by a bull at his farm. He had sons
who had farms nearby. It was decided to give the farm to their sister Josepha to get her closer to the
family. Also, John had communicated that he was eager to leave the miner's life.

Thus, John brought his family by train from Illinois to Faulkton, So. Dak. to begin their new life. Bill
was 13 years of age. Memories I was told was that the boys were very disappointed with South Dakota
coming from the lushness of the hills in Illinois. Bill remembered riding in the wagon from Faulkton to
the farm about 15 miles away. He had to hold his mother's pet bird and cage all the way, while his
siblings walked the way behind the wagon.

This photo was taken circa 1915-1916 with 3 of his sisters and parents. You can see that the beard
is missing though this is about 8 years later. Bill in the back.

     Photo of the Eschenbaum brothers.... William & Herman in the back.
         Henry front left, their nephew, one of the Kenny boys from their sister Mary and brother-in-law.
         Patrick Kenny, Mary's husband, circa 1916. This was taken in Illinois from family reports. They had returned several
        times to visit their sister Mary.

Summer of 1918

Left to Right: Herman Eschenbaum, Helen 'Keppen' Eschenbaum, Carrie or Elizabeth Eschenbaum, John Eschenbaum, Joseffa 'Schmidt' Eschenbaum, Ida 'Hansen'
Eschenbaum holding baby Kenneth, William Eschenbaum holding baby Melvin, and Anna 'Eschenbaum' Keppen.

Interesting photo I found in the Hansen archives. William (Bill) back left. The other men "unknown" at the moment.
I do know in the front of the car is Herman Eschenbaum with Elizabeth a sister. I have no other information about
this photo, whether it was on the Eschenbaum or Hansen farm. The farms were only about 3 miles apart and since
Bill was courting Ida they spent a lot of time at the Hansen's.

Graves of John & Josepha [ Josephine] Eschenbaum & Joseph and Francine Schmidt are located in the
Catholic cemetery on the western border of Orient, South Dakota. Click on the photo and they will
enlarge. I did this especially for the Schmidt grave markers which are iron crosses and in German.
You can see the fields of the South Dakota prairie behind the Schmidt grave markers. Francine's has
a new cement base and they covered the name.....grrrrr

Josepha died from complications of diabetes at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. 1863-1921
John died from a heart attack at the hospital in Faulkton, SD. He was preparing to leave for home from
the hospital and was struck down. 1863-1930.

John & Josepha Joseph Francine

Mike Keppen, grandson to Anna Eschenbaum Keppen (youngest daughter) has done an extensive
genealogy search of his family. If you are interested it is a great resource in tracking the Eschenbaum
family. Click "surnames" and you will begin the journey.

http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/k/e/p/Mike-Keppen/index.html

In September of 2009 I went to Diamond, Coal City, Spring Valley and Morris Illinois visiting the area where William
and his siblings were born. William 'Bill' was 13 years old when moving from Illinois to South Dakota. I knew of the
Illinois 'Eschenbaum's" but did not know much about them. So, I visited the home where Christian died and the "
cemetery where he and and great-grandfather's brother were buried. I also met Joan Eschenbaum Kauzlaric whose
grandparents are Henry and Lena Eschenbaum of Spring Valley. Click here for that report.