Grandma Kurth with Homer William Paxton 1916

Grandma Kurth with Homer William Paxton 1916

Ferdinand Kurth, b. 6/2/1839, d. 5/27/18??, m. Frederick Henrietta Munshou September 1861  Their children:

  1. William Frederick (father of Anna F. Kurth)

  2. Bertha, m. George Hopf

  3. Charlie

  4. Barney

  5. Augusta, m. John Sales

William Frederick, b. 12/10/1863, d. 2/12/??, m. Margaretha Gosch 2/13/1889. Their Children:

  1. Anna Friederick, b. 2/25/1890, m. Homer Lovejoy Paxton

  2. Augusta b. 3/4/1892, m. Alfred Betson

  3. Marie, b. 4/27/1894, m. Fritz Hoppe

  4. William Frederick Kurth, b. 2/12/1893, d. 10/9/1960

  5. 2 other children died in infancy

The Kurth Family

 The Kurth family was from Germany.  There were five brothers of Ferdinand.  Carl went to Australia, August to South America (he had a wife and one son.  After his wife passed away he returned to Germany. Nothing was ever heard of him again.)  Nothing was heard of Carl.

Ferdinand married Friederick Henrietta Munshou of Newstertin, Pomerania in September 1861 in Germany.  Om 1882 he came to America alone and a year later his family followed him.  They settled in Orange Co., NY and later came west to Chadron, NE.  In 1890 Ferdinand homesteaded a farm in Fall River Co., SD.  Their children are listed in the genealogy list.

William Frederick married Margaretha Gosch who was from Germany.  She was one of five children.  Her mother died when she was 1 ½ years old of TB.  Her father married again and there were several children born to the second union, most of them remained in Germany.  Mararatha came to the US and went to Fort Robinson to be with a sister.  At Chadron she married William Frederick.

Ferdinand Kurth came to the US in 1880.  He came first at 11 years and returned when he was 15.  After six years he came to the US again.  The first time he came over he worked his way signing on the boat, Cambridge, which was rammed by another and soon sank.  The last time he came was in 1883.  He went to Goshen, NY.  William Friederick came to NY in 1884 on December 10.  He was 20 years old.  The ship on which he came was the Villorr.

William followed his father first of all the sons.  He worked in various places in NY State on farms.  Later he came to West Point, NE, where he worked on farms.  In Germany he was a railroad employee.

Ferdinand was caught ing the blizzard of 1888 while on his way to his homestead in SD.  He stopped near Waysid, NE where he took a pane of glass from a farmer’s house and stayed there until the blizzard was over and the farmer returned.  His team of mules was found in a clump of bushes nearby unharmed.

William Frederick helped bild the olad academy, the original mill and several old brick buildings in Chadron.