Week 40 of 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks is broadly themed “October.” I went back through my ancestors looking for the first October date for someone I have not yet written about. Anna Schulte Beermann came up first.

Anne Schulte Biermann

You would think that I would know a lot about my great-grandmother. She was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, on 22 October 1861 and died there in 1931; my dad knew her until he was nine. Some years ago, I asked him what his grandmother was like. He responded, “I don’t know. I don’t think I ever heard her say two words.” I said, surely that couldn’t be true. Dad answered that “she probably talked with the women when they were all together in the kitchen,” but that he didn’t remember her saying anything around him.  Often I have seen her name as Anne, so that is how I will mostly refer to her.

Anne Schulte Biermann and John F. Biermann (Baier Farm, Illinois)

I don’t really know if his recollections were just poor, or if Anne was a simply and extremely shy woman. Years ago, probably sometime in the 1970’s, my grandfather Biermann made a cassette recording of his memories. I don’t know what became of it, but I am hoping that it may turn up in my father’s things. I imagine he would have spoken about his mother and father, so I would really like to locate that tape.

So, what do I know about Anne? Her father was Johann Heinrich Schulte from Lorup by Sögel in Lower Saxony, Germany, and her mother was Christena Ostendorf of Ibbenbüren in Westphalia. Christena, only 36 years old, died suddenly (probably of a stroke) in February of 1878 when Anne was 16 years old. Her brother Henry was just 10 and her little sister Minnie had just turned 6 at the time of their mother’s death.

Cincinnati Daily Gazette, February 28, 1878, Page: 4

From the family story, Anne’s life couldn’t have been too pleasant. We don’t know when their father became a drunkard, but the children were often summoned to come get their father to bring him home because he was inebriated on the street. On 6 June 1880, at the age of 18, Anne married John F. Beermann on his birthday. Anne and Minnie are supposed to have gone through Christena’s clothes and personal items to make a trousseau for Anne. Although a cigar maker by trade, John Schulte purchased a saloon with his son-in-law, who was a carpenter. This was probably not the best investment for either man as the business did not last.

Anne and John had five children, Clifford, Hilda, Anna, Mae and John, Jr.  Here is a photo of the entire family with their spouses.

Biermann Family – (left to right: John J. Biermann, Jr., Henry Schatz, John F Biermann, Gustie Schatz, Anne Schulte Biermann, Clifford Biermann, Bessie Lavin Biermann, Mae Biermann Sieter, Hilda Biermann Reinerman, Ed Reinerman, Anna Biermann (Frank), Katherine Schatz Biermann.

I am grateful to have photos of Anna with her family. It helps me feels as though I know her a little. She was a petite woman and, from what I have seen, she and her sister Minnie closely resembled one another. I am under the impression that Anne had a good life with her husband and children. She died on 27 March 1931 of arteriosclerosis at the age of 69. Her husband survived her by seven years.