August Frederick Hoeft (1875-1920)

This portrait photo came from my cousin Esther Betker.  Her mother Florence Haeft Demanouske Henry, my great aunt had a collection of old photos including this one. 

 August Frederick Hoeft was born in Wolfsdorf, Neumark, Germany, now a part of Poland , on 17 December 1875[1] to Karl and Ernestine Gransee Hoeft.  He was an uncle to my grandfather, Art Haeft.  He was born the same year as author Thomas Mann, poet Rainer Maria Rilke and psychiatrist Carl Jung. 

At the age of eight August's family left Germany for America. They sailed aboard the steamship Rhaetia of the Hamburg-America Line, on 4 April 1883. They arrived about two weeks later on 19 April 1883.  The Statue of Liberty did not yet exist in New York harbor so they would have landed at Castle Garden.  Chester A. Arthur was president of the United States. In the same year of 1883 the Brooklyn Bridge in New York opened for traffic and the first skyscraper in Chicago was built with ten stories.

Castle Garden  http://www.nps.gov/cacl/images/20100426110854.jpg

The Hamburg harbor manifest indicates the last residence for the Hoeft family was the village of Wilhelmsfelde in the Province of Pomerania.

From the manifest for the steamship Rhaetia. Staatsarchiv Hamburg Hamburg,Deutschland; Hamburger Passagierlisten; Microfilm No.: K_1729

Below is documentation of the Hoeft's arrival to the port of New York.

New York Arrival.Year: 1883; Arrival: New York, New York; Microfilm Serial: M237,1820 1897; Microfilm Roll: Roll 463; Line: 48; List Number: 446

The family settled in Green County, Wisconsin.  They rented and then owned a farm on West River Road in Cadiz Township just west of the Pecatonica River. August grew up on the farm and in 1898 at the age of twenty-three married Anna Hoeft of Watertown, Wisconsin.  In the first years of their marriage August and Anna lived on the Hoeft family farm.  Their first child, Alta, was born in 1898. She later married Paul Rufenacht. 

This 1900 U.S. Census image also show that August's sister Minnie Busjahn lived adjacent to the Hoeft farm with her family.

Year: 1900; Census Place: Cadiz, Green, Wisconsin; Roll: 1789; Page: 12B; Enumeration District: 0117; FHL microfilm: 1241789

August Hoeft Circa 1902

Two children, Henry born in 1901[2] and David in 1904 [3] died in infancy. A daughter, Mabel, was born in 1905. By 1910 August and his family had moved to a farm in Wayne Township, Lafayette County.  They farmed there the next ten years.

1910 U.S. Census entry for August Hoeft.  Wayne Township, Lafayette County, Wisconsin.

Year: 1910; Census Place: Wayne, Lafayette, Wisconsin; Roll: T624_1717; Page: 4A; Enumeration District:0053; FHL microfilm: 1375730

1920 U.S. Census entry for August Hoeft.  Wayne Township, Lafayette County, Wisconsin.

Year: 1920; Census Place: Wayne, Lafayette, Wisconsin; Roll: T625_1993; Page: 10B; Enumeration District:189; Image: 195

August registered in 1918 for the draft during World War I using Winslow, Illinois as the closest post office.[4]

August Hoeft's WWI draft registration card

 August died 7 March 1920 at the age of 44 of influenza. If it was related to the world-wide flu epidemic that started in 1918 is not clear.  He was buried at the Rock Lily Cemetery in Winslow, Illinois.[5]

From the probate record the document document below details the inventory of the August Hoeft farm as of 1920. August's son-in-law was the administrator.

Lafayette County (Wis.) Probate Records; Author: Wisconsin. County Court (Lafayette County); Probate Place: Lafayette, Wisconsin

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1 "United States World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918," database with images,FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K8QT-8JP : accessed 27 March 2016), August Hoeft, 1917-1918; citing Lafayette County, Wisconsin, United States, NARA microfilm publication M1509 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.); FHL microfilm 1,674,747.  

2 Death Record Entry for Green County, Vol. 3 , Page 139.  Birth date 15 Jan 1901  Martintown, WI.  Death Date 18 Feb 1901.  Peritonitis.

3 Wisconsin Historical Society. Wisconsin Genealogy Index: Birth Record Entry for Green County, Reel No. 79, Record No. 312; viewed online at http://www.wisconsinhistory.org on 3/27/2016.  Birthdate 5 February 1904. 

Wisconsin Historical Society. Wisconsin Genealogy Index: Death Record Entry for Green County, Volume No. 02, Page No. 0049; viewed online at http://www.wisconsinhistory.org on 3/27/2016.  Death date March 1, 1904.     

         

4 "United States World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918," database with images,FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K8QT-8JP : accessed 27 March 2016), August Hoeft, 1917-1918; citing Lafayette County, Wisconsin, United States, NARA microfilm publication M1509 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.); FHL microfilm 1,674,747.

5 Ancestry.com. U.S., Find A Grave Index, 1600s-Current [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012.