PHILIPPI FAMILY


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Submitted by great grand daughter of Matthias and Christina and grand daughter
of John (the youngest one), Rita Neustifter 


19:00 08/31/1999
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Matthias and Christina (Brust,Miller) Philippi traveled by wagon to
Oconto County in April of 1893. With them came their children Mary Ann, Joseph,
John, Peter, and the youngest, Christine. Also with them were Mother Christina's
three children, Catherine, Margaret, and John, from her first marriage to John
Muller (changed to Miller), who had died when she was still pregnant with their
youngest. As a widow had worked in the Philippi household in Germany, helping to
raise Matthias' children and care for his ailing first wife. After the death of
Matthias' first wife, the couple married and began a third family of their own.
Each family had a son named "John" and it was a common joke that "your John and
my John are picking on our John". 

The Philippi and Brust families have been traced back in what is now Germany,
but was the Rheinland earlier, for many generations. Family legion says that the
family was originally from France. In 1754 the Philippi family resided in
Bergheim Erft in the norther Rheinland, later moving to Heckenbach farther south
along the Rhein River. Here they married into local families, such as the
Philipsens, who have been traced back to the beginning of record keeping in
Heckenbach in 1616. The family prospered in farming, blacksmithing, inn keeping,
wine making and beer brewing through both Germanic and French rule by Napoleon,
then under Prussian rule when Germany was united in 1871. The many wars were
beginning to take a toll in illness, loss of male family members in army
battles, and a badly failing economy in western Germany. Three of Matthias'
eldest sons, John, Matthias, and Anton decided to seek their future in
Wisconsin, where cousins already lived in Brown County. 

The German government took a dim view of young men leaving and demanded that
they return, which Matthias could not make happen. In 1883, the family left
behind all they knew and nearly all they had in a dash to Antwerp for passage to
New York. The Prussian lead government had threatened to put The now 53 year old
Matthias in jail and take the family property. There was no time to raise money
by selling land and material items. Christina was 7 months pregnant and had to
make a long flowing cloak out of new curtains, to hide beneith. Pregnant women
were often not allowed to sail, since the jouney was hard and if they were sick
when they got to America, port authorities would refuse them entry and the
shipping company had to pay for their return trip. 

Two daughters, Elizabth and Catherina, ages 17 and 11, from Matthias' first
marriage were pursuaded, at the last minute by uncles, not to go and were never
seen by their father again. This haunted both Matthias and Christina, who had
cared for them since they were babies. The family first settled in Humbold
Township, Brown County, near the town of New Frankin where Christina gave birth
to their first American child, son John, just 6 weeks after arriving. Two more
children were still to come. Matthias was age 59 and Christina was 45 when their
last child was born. They farmed and worked in the lumber industry, and
Christina was a trained and experienced midwife, both before and after moving to
Oconto. That first day in Oconto, the three youngest boys stood in the doorway
of the log cabin and cried. They had left a green and growing Brown County home
for the three inches of snow that fell overnight in Town of How, and were sure
they would starve to death "way up north". Fortunately, their new home had
greatly improved soil, and the family prospered, building a fine Victorian home
and large barn in the late 1890's. Sadness befell the family in 1894 when
daughter Mary Ann died two weeks before her 16th birthday. She was never
mentioned among the family and it is thought that she drowned, possibly in a
swollen Pecor Creek that ran throught the family land. The eldest son John, also
Matthias, Peter and Anton spred out over Wisconsin and raised large families.
Christina Miller became Sr. Stephana of the Order of Saint Francis and was a
leader in anesthesiology for many years in Wisconsin and northern Illinois. John
Miller moved to California. However, Joseph, John, Christine, and half-sister
Margaret (Miller) stayed in Oconto County where they married and farmed, leaving
many progeny who still inhabit the county. 

Submitted by great grand daughter of Matthias and Christina and grand daughter
of John (the youngest one), Rita Neustifter