Shelby County TN Archives Biographies.....Meinrath, Jacob 1832 - November 17, 1873 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/tn/tnfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Robert Davidsson robertid@hotmail.com April 12, 2012, 9:15 am Source: Meinrath Family Records Author: Robert I. Davidsson Jacob J. Meinrath of Shelby County, TN, was a Swiss immigrant who served and defended his adopted river city of Memphis working as a bookkeeper, merchant and a volunteer in the 1st Tennessee Heavy Artillery Regiment during the Civil War. Jacob was born in 1832. He was the oldest of three sons of Caspar and Anna Barbara Meinrath of Neunkirch, Switzerland, and the first to immigrate to America. The town of Neunkirch was (and remains today)a small farming community in the Klettgau Valley of Schaffhausen Canton. He was part of a great wave of emigration from Switzerland between 1845-1855 due to poor economic conditions and an expanding population. During the 19th century, each Swiss canton was responsible for the social welfare of its free citizens. Due to overpopulation, the local canton councils often gave families financial incentives (typically 400 Swiss francs or six months wages for a singole working man) to emigrate to other countries as a means of reducing this public burden during frequent periods of economic recession. Jacob Meinrath, later followed by his younger brothers Adam and John (Johan), responded to advertisements in Swiss newspapers offering organized crossings of the Atlantic from the port of Le Havre, France, to America. The sea voyage from Le Havre cost between 80 to 100 Swiss francs, with a 40-franc surcharge for food during the trip, and an additional 60 francs for the overland coach ride and lodging from Switzerland to the coast of France. The "Register of Vessels Arriving at the Port of New York" recorded Jacob T. Meinrath arrived at the port of New York on Aug. 23, 1848. He crossed the Atlantic alone as a 17-year-old youth aboard the sailing packet-boat "Onward". The passenger list recorded his middle initial as "T" for Taubler which was his mother's maiden name. After processing at the Castle Garden immigration station, located at the Battery Park waterfront of New York City, Jacob Meinrath followed the Ohio and Mississippi river systems south to the city of Memphis. During the 1850s he worked as a bookkeeper in Memphis.(His ancestors in Neunkirch were often listed as kauffmans - merchants - by trade.) The 1859 Tanner Memphis City Directory listed his place of business on Union Street, with a residence on Elliott Street. Jacob Meinrath married Phoebe F. (Febby) Choate of Tennessee on Dec. 1, 1853. The ceremony was officiated by Justice of the Peace James Rose. The couple had one daughter, Ida, who was born on March 22, 1856. The 1860 U.S. Census also listed Febby's 15-year-old sister, Margret Choate, as a member of the Meinrath household. Soon after the beginning of the Civil War,an artillery militia unit - popularly called "Captain Robert Sterling's Tennessee Heavy Artillery Company - was organized April 30, 1861 in Memphis to protect the city from the threat of union gunboats on the Mississippi River. At age 30, Jacob Meinrath volunteered as an artilleryman to help defend his city. He advanced to the rank of corporal in the Tennessee Heavy Artillery. Sterling's Tennessee Heavy Artillery Company was mustered into the Confederate army on Aug. 21, 1861. Corporal Meinrath served with Captain Sterling in Battery Number One, composed of three smooth-bore 32-pounder cannons at Camp Polk, Columbus, Kentucky between August 1861 and March 1862. On March 12, Captain Sterling moved his command of three smooth-bore and one rifled cannons to Battery Number Two at Madrid Bend during the Battle of Island Number 10. Ironically, less than 100 miles to the east, Jacob Meinrath's younger brother, Adam, enlisted in Company "M' of the pro-Union 3rd Kentucky Cavalry Regiment in September 1861. Adam Meinrath emigrated from Switzerland in May 1852, and was working on a farm outside of the town of Owensboro, KY, when the Civil War began. He served two tours of enlistment in the 3rd Kentucky Cavalry between 1861 and 1865. Although they fought for opposing armies, the two brothers never met in battle. For three days, March 15-17,1862, the Confederate shore batteries at Madrid Bend were bombarded by Union gunboats. The artillertymen at Madrid Bend were evacuated the night of April 7, 1862 to avoid capture. Jacob Meinrath was one of just 66 men reamining in Captain Sterling's Company "E" to survive the Battle of Island Number 10 and the long march back to Memphis on April 14. The remnants of Sterling's Tennessee Heavy Artillery Company were refitted in Memphis and reorganized as the 1st Tennessee Heavy Artillery Regiment on May 10, 1862. A total of 21 men from Sterling's orginal command were enrolled in Company "C" of the regiment. On June 2, 1862, the Tennessee Heavy Artillery regiment embarked on the steamer "Golden Age" for a voayage from Memphis to Vicksburg. While at Vicksburg,the regiment responded to major Union bombardments on June 28, 1862, and again from July 12-27, 1862. During the seige of Vicksburg, the regimental history reported 391 shots were fired the night of April 2, 1863 when Union ironclad gunboats made the river passage past shore batteries. The final act of defiance by the 1st Tennessee Heavy Artillery Regiment was the sinking of the Union gunboat "Cincinnati" on May 27, 1863. Between 500 and 600 artillerymen surrendered to General Ulysses S. Grant's army at Vicksburg on July 4, 1863. The regiment was paroled by the Union army for six months, and interned in Alabama and Georgia, until the U.S. and Confederate governments ended the furlough and declared the artillery regiment "exchanged" on Dec. 20, 1863. By Feb. 1, 1864, the 1st Tennessee Heavy Arillery received permission from the Adjutant and Inspector General's Office to rejoin the war. The regiment reported to Fort Morgan, Ala., on April 3, 1864 and remained stationed there until the fort was reduced by bombardment in August 1864 by Admiral David Farragut during the Battle of Mobile Bay. The final posting record for the regiment was Nov. 19, 1864 in Shreveport, LA. After the war, Jacob Meinrath returned to his family in Memphis and resumed his career as a bookkeeper. In 1870 he worked for Podesta & Company. According to the Boyle-Chapmen 1872-73 City Directory, he later established a retail grocery in Memphis on Hernando Road, between Clay and South streets. He was working as a grocer at the time of his death on Nov. 17, 1873. His obituary in the Memphis Appeal newspaper states a funeral service was held at 8 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 18 at his Hernando Road residence. The City of Memphis Register of Deaths recorded his cause of death as consumption. He was 43 at the time of his death. Jacob Meinrath's widow, Febby, and daughter, Ida, continued to live in Memphis until 1876. The 1880 U.S. Census listed her residence in the town of White River, Woodruff County, Arkansas. She was a widow, living with her 24- year-old daughter,and working as a farm laborer. Her daughter, Ida E. Meinrath, died three years later,on March 19, 1883, and is buried in White Chruck Cemetery in Woodruff County. Following the path of his elder brothers, Jacob Meinrath's youngest borther, John (Johan), emigrated from Swtizerland to America with his family the same year that his daughter, Ida, died. They settled in Texas and prospered. Today, Jacob Meinrath's great-great nephews and nieces reside in Texas, Tennessee, Florida and other places across America. ## Additional Comments: NOTE: The author, Robert I. Davidsson, is Jacob Meinrath's grat-great nephew. Sources: Meinrath Family records, U.S. Census, Memphis Appeal Archives, Shelby County Register of Deeds, National Archives & Records Administration, Ancestry data files. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/tn/shelby/bios/meinrath16bs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.poppet.org/tnfiles/ File size: 8.3 Kb