Claus Albers, Family Records - Benton County, MO ****************************************************************** ****************************************************************** File transcribed and contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Homer R. Ficken USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, material may be freely used by non- commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material, AND permission is obtained from the contributor of the file. Unauthorized use for commercial ventures expressly prohibited. All information submitted to this project remains - to the extent the law allows - the property of the submitter who, by submitting it, agrees that it may be freely copied but NEVER sold or used in a commercial venture without the knowledge & permission of its rightful owner. The USGenWeb Project makes no claims or estimates of the validity of the information submitted and reminds you that each new piece of information must be researched and proved or disproved by weight of evidence. These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by other organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for non-commercial purposes, MUST obtain the written consent of the contributor, OR the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. ****************************************************************** ****************************************************************** For deposit in Benton County Archives: Excerpts from a family record written by Claus Albers in 1889. The Albers family lived in north Benton County from 1839 to 1847. Claus Albers and my ancestor Peter Ficken came to USA together, married sisters Rebecca and Gesche Knoop in Cincinnati, and came west with the Knoop family. Claus & Rebecca Albers died in Warsaw, Illinois. Peter & Gesche Ficken both died in Benton County, Missouri, she in 1852 and he in 1879. The Albers, Ficken, and Knoop roots are all in the area northeast of Bremen, Germany that 90% of the German settlers of Cole Camp, Mo vicinity came from. "I came to America in 1836. Rebecca Knoop my wife ... was the second daughter of John & Anna Knoop. Rebecca Knoop came to America with her parents, brothers, and sisters in 1838. My wife's father died of bilious fever in Benton County, Mo in 1843. Her mother died near Versailles, Mo of dropsy of the heart --- 1869... We Claus Albers and Rebecca Knoop were united in marriage --- 1839 in Cincinnati, and moved to St Louis Mo. where I engaged in the grocery business for a half year and then removed to a farm in Benton County Mo. near my wife's parents and brothers, where we resided about 8 years in the primitive fashion of the pioneers - in a log house first consisting of one room but soon enlarged to two. Here I shot turkeys from the door and deer from the farm yard. At this place in 1844 we united with the German M. E. Church, having previously been members of the Lutheran Church, and our house became a preaching station for the Methodists, until the little society consisting of about eight families built a log church on our farm. In 1847 we moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin ... We then moved to Nauvoo, Illinois also in 1847... In 1851 we moved to Warsaw, Illinois..." The Albers, Ficken, and Knoop families were in Benton County by 1840, but only John Knoop is listed in the census that year, and it is believed all were then sharing the Knoop household. In 1839, John Knoop bought 40 acres from James Allard near the Morgan Co border east of Cole Camp, but in 1840 another 40 acres of U. S. land about 2-1/2 mi SE of Cole Camp, and it is believed this was their residence at time of 1840 census. Claus Albers bought U.S. land in 1840 and 1843. Peter Ficken bought 40 acres of U.S. land in 1839, and the three homesteads were about a mile apart. The 1843 death date for John Knoop is in error, as his will was filed October 1842. In later 1840's his widow and sons joined the Albers family in Illinois, but returned to Benton and Morgan Counties mid-1850's. The Knoop's also joined the German M. E. Church, but the other families cited are unknown. Peter Ficken remained a Lutheran, and is buried in Immanuel "Monsees" Lutheran Cemetery, near his first homestead. Submitted by Homer R. Ficken, greatgreatgreatgrandson of John Knoop.