Among the treasured family documents in the possession of Anna Younker Miland, is this letter revealing Fauerback/Allen family history. Anna isn’t sure who wrote the letter, but at the end, it says that it was Clara (Allen) Fauerbach who is telling the story and providing the information. The story is about people who all lived at Maple Hill, Kansas.
Since the scans of this letter may be difficult to read, I’m going to transcribe them here.
“Grandpa Fauerbach (Mom’s father) {This would have been Henry and Charlotte (Kemp) Fauerbach}
Frank’s mother, Charlotte (Kemp) Fauerbach, was a Quaker girl. Her father, Thomas Kemp, was a ship builder on the Chesapeake Bay. He was a 6′ tall Frenchman and his wife was a cute little Quaker girl. She wore bonnets and a cape with all her dresses.
I (Clara Allen Fauerbach) worked for the Fauerbach’s when she {Mrs. Kemp} stayed there one summer. She would wash the dishes for me once in a while. She never used soap in the dish water, only one cup of sweet milk.
Frank’s mother’s Father {Thomas Kemp} and two of her {Kemp} brothers fought in the war between the North and South. They were in the South {Confederate}. Her father and one son were killed in the war. One son came home after the war was over. He brought his dead father’s Kentucky Rifle home with him and gave it to his little brother, Sherman Kemp. Sherman Kemp and his wife came from Missouri to visit his sister, Charlotte (Kemp) Fauerbach. He gave that Kentucky Rifle to Charlotte’s son, (my husband) Frank Fauerbach.
Grandmother Fauerbach (Charlotte Kemp Fauerbach) was a cousin of President Willliam Henry Harrison. President Harrison was a big, nice looking man and had a lovely wife and large family.
Frank’s father, Henry Fauerbach, came from Hanover, Germany {to America} when he was nine-years-old with his parents. They lived in Streeter {Monroe County} Illinois for a long time. Henry Fauerbach got a job from Uncle Sam {meaning the US Government} hauling government things. He and dozens and dozens of men hauled the things in covered wagons and the oxen pulled the loads. They were surrounded by Indians for several days in Colorado and finally the military men came to their rescue. They put the wagons in a circle with the oxen in the center.
Grandma Fauerbach (Mom’s mother) {Charles August and Matilda (Peterson) Allen}
My father: Charles Allen, came from Stockholm, Sweden with his parents when he was 19 years old. They lived in Rockford, Illinois where they all learned the English language.
My mother: Matilda Peterson, came from Stockholm, Sweden with her Aunt and three cousins, and they found place in Rockford, Illinois where they all learned to talk and read the English Language. Rockford was a Swedish town.
Papa {Charles Allen} and my Mama {Matilda Peterson} got acquainted there and got married there. Then they came to Topeka to live for a while and then came to St. Marys, Kansas where Grandpa’s brother, Frank Allen, {Grandpa Allen’s brother not his son Frank}.
Remember, this is the way Grandma {Allen/Fauerbach} wrote to me April 25, 1965.
She wrote one time about how Grandpa’s father {Henry Fauerbach} liked horses and Grandma’s {Charles Allen} dad liked mules but I can’t find the letter.”
Wouldn’t we all love to have letters like these???
