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ZERWEKH FAMILY, farmers, Sec. 22, P. O. Peoria. The mother of
this respected family is Rosina, daughter of Moritz and Dorothea Steinle, nee
Wunsch, and was born at Unterturkheim,
Wurtemberg, Germany, 23d February, 1823, and on the 20th day of
July, 1843, was married to John Jacob, son of George and Christina Zerwekh, nee
Diener, who was born in the same town 28th
April, 1820. This marriage united two of the first families of their
native town, the portraits of their immediate ancestors being
accorded a place in the royal art gallery. Mr. Zerwekh was a vine-yardist
and co-owner of a cement quarry. In the Winter of 1852-3 he disposed
of his interest in Germany, and immigrated to America, arriving at
Hagerstown, Maryland, on the 11th day of April, 1853, where they
remained a year; and then came to Peoria county and purchased a home
in Sec. 23, this township, which they occupied until 1874. they had
some means, which, with economy and industry, enabled them to secure
a good and comfortable home. In the Fall of 1864, Mr. Zerwekh was
drafted into the army, and on the 28th of November bade his family
good-bye, and joined the regiment. He was taken sick soon after he
reached Chattanooga, Tenn., and died in hospital at that place, 25th
January, 1865. Mr. and Mrs. Zerwekh had eleven children that grew to
manhood and womanhood, ad one that died in early infancy: Jacob G.,
born 18th February, 1844, married Mariah Whiting, 20th October,
1871; Rosina D., born 29th November, 1846; John, 11th April, 1848,
married Mary Whiting, 29th November, 1874; Christian F., born 6th
September, 1849, died from injuries received by a kick from a horse,
24th September, 1867; Wilhelmina J., born 18th December, 1850,
married Michael Bauer, 3d December, 1874. (Mr.
Bauer died in Wichita
county, Kansas, from poison administered by a man named Conway, 31st
December, 1879.) Christiana D., born 30th March, 1852, married
Charles Buschow, 18th February, 1878; William, born 24th March,
1854; Henry, born 9th January, 1856; August, born 1st May, 1858, and
Carl, born 9th May, 1863. On the 14th of December, 1865,
Mrs. Zerwekh re-married with George Henry
Graze, by whom she had one
child, Christian F., who was born 28th march, 1869. In March, 1874,
the family removed from the old home place on Sec. 23 to their
present residence, where Mr. Graze, the second husband, died 24th
March, 1875. On the 28th of April, 1873, Mrs. Z. left Peoria to
visit her old father and old home in Germany, her father then being
eighty-three years of age. Her father died in 1879, aged
eighty-eight years. Mrs. Z. owns one hundred and sixty acres of
land, valued at $35 per acre. The family are adherents of the German
Lutheran Church.
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