The theme this week for 52 Ancestors is”Closest to your Birthday.” Perfect! I was born on the birthday of my great-grandfather, John F. Beermann (later changed to Biermann). He was born 6 June 1862 in Cincinnati, Ohio, to recent immigrants, William Joseph Beermann and Mary Elizabeth Maune Beermann. On 6 June 1880, John F. Beermann married my great-grandmother, Anne Schulte. It seems significant that they married the same day that John turned 18. Anne was just about 9 months older than John. I have to wonder if marrying on his birthday was a romantic gesture, or if it speaks to reaching the age of consent. Had John married one day earlier, I believe that he would have needed his father’s permission. Of course, 18 as an age is empowering as it carries most of the legal rights of being an adult.
On 5 June 1880 , the census was enumerated, and we have a snapshot of John’s life the day before his marriage. Despite what may have been a bad home life with a father who drank, Anne Schulte had not moved in with the Beermann family. The Beermanns were recorded as “Baarmann” in the census and the family, living at 18 Flint Street, was as follows:
Wm. Baarman 46
Eliza Baarman 40
John Baarman 18
Lizzie Baarman 12
William Baarman 10
Frank Baarman 7
Minnie Baarman 9 months
Missing is a sister, Mary, who was enumerated in the 1870 census and whose estimated birth year is around 1865. Presumably, she died sometime before she turned five. I have no death or burial record for her.
The 1880 Cincinnati directory lists William as a cigar maker. This is likely to be the way that John and Anne met. Anne’s father, John Schulte, was also in the cigar business. By 1881, John was listed as a chair maker, but he is still listed in at his parents’ address at 18 Flint; and in 1882, still with his parents at 32 Kenner Street. Most likely a newly married couple could not afford a place of their own, so they moved in with John’s parents. In 1884, John has a separate address. He is in the city directory at 15 Jones and he is now a foreman chair maker. At some point, John and his father-in-law, John Schulte, decided to open a saloon together. They are listed under this business in the Cincinnati city directories from 1887 to 1890. Perhaps they were in business together earlier than acknowledged through the directories. The Cincinnati Enquirer for Saturday, 21 May 1881, noted that a man with the name of Beermann was a saloon keeper:
Later, after the death of John Schulte, John F. Beermann returned to his career as a cabinet maker and he once again was promoted to the title of foreman.
John and Anne were blessed with the following children:
Clifford John Biermann
1884 – 1943
Mae Biermann
1886 – 1971
Anna Biermann
1892 – 1969
Hilda Biermann
1895 – 1990
John Joseph Biermann Jr.
1899 – 1995
John F. Biermann Family
The comment, “This family just came over from Russia,” was intended as a joke.
From everything that I have heard John and Anne Beermann were devout Catholics and they brought up their children accordingly. It must have come as quite a shock to them when my grandfather, John Junior, renounced Catholicism at the age of 19. John Junior had been an altar boy and the reasons for his decision to become Protestant are known only to him. He became vehemently anti-Catholic and I was in my teens before I realized that his parents and siblings were all Catholic.
John F. Beermann died on 19 March 1938 at the age of 75. He was listed on his death certificate as a cabinet maker at Pettibone’s; they were a manufacturer of uniforms, regalia, camp furniture, swords, flags, banners, buttons and caps. John is buried at St. Mary’s Catholic Cemetery in Cincinnati, Ohio.
John F. Beermann
Sharing birthdays and anniversaries is a tradition in our house. When our son was born, his due date was two days after our wedding anniversary. I said, please, please, please, let him be born any day, but on our anniversary. What day did he arrive? He showed up in this world on our fifth wedding anniversary, thus, claiming that day as forever his own!
I think that June is a beautiful time of the year. I always believed that it is the loveliest time for a birthday and it is the choice of many couples for their wedding day. I am delighted to share my special day with Anne and John.
Sources:
Williams’ Cincinnati City Directory – Various years