AUGUST GOTTLIEB KOLBERG
My maternal great-grandfather, August Gottlieb Colberg (Kolberg) was born on November 24, 1854 in Klein Tuchen, Kreis Bütow, Pommern, Germany. He was christened the following day, November 25, 1854, at the Evangelical Church in Groß Tuchen, Kreis Bütow, Pommern. His sponsors were listed as (1) August Colberg (likely the brother of his father), (2) August Goll, (3) Helene Litwinke.
It should be noted that at this time, in 2021, the former Evangelical Church in Groß Tuchen, Pommern, Germany is now a Roman Catholic Church in the renamed village of Tuchomie, Poland. This explains why the birth/baptismal certificate I received is in a Polish format though the Catholic Church in Tuchomie does have the original churchbooks from when the area was a part of Germany.
August was the third son of Friedrich Wilhelm Colberg, Sr. and Henriette Amalie Kautz of Klein Tuchen. This couple would eventually have 12 children with 11 sons and 1 daughter. Four sons and the one daughter died in childhood with 7 sons living to adulthood. These 7 sons were Friedrich-Wilhelm, Jr., August, Heinrich, Johann, Otto, Paul and Ferdinand Colberg/Kolberg (surname is shown with either spelling in the early churchbooks).
In 2008 when I visited the descendants of brother, Johann Colberg, in Berlin I was able to see Johann's journal in which he documented important dates of his parents and brothers. Here is August's entry, written by his brother, Johann showing that August was born on November 24, 1854 and that he later went to "Amerika":
On October 4, 1878 in Groß Tuchen, August was married to Bertha Kramp at the above named Evangelical Church:
They had at least three children while still living in Germany with two of the children dying in infancy.
August, Bertha and their three year old daughter, Hedwig, immigrated to America on the ship Lessing arriving at the port of Castle Garden in New York on November 28, 1883. They had traveled from the port of Hamburg in Germany, on to the port of Havre in France and then on to the US. Their name was spelled "Colberg" on the ship passenger list. Bertha's sister, Emilie Kramp, and Emilie's future husband, Friedrich Skibbe, also traveled with them on the same ship. Upon arriving in New York, they traveled on to Lincoln Township in Berrien County, Michigan to join August's younger brother, Heinrich, who had arrived a few years earlier.
Over the course of their years in the US, August and Bertha had a total of 6 more known children with one son dying in infancy. Times were hard, farming did not produce much income but the family still grew. Here is a photo of August and Bertha with their oldest daughter, Hedwig, sitting and their daughter, Amelia, standing:
In 1903, August owned 17 acres of land in Lincoln Township according to a plat book in the St. Joseph Public Library in St. Joseph, Michigan. The farm, home and property were located on Cleveland Avenue between what is now Rockey Weed and Linco Roads in Lincoln Township (Stevensville). I have searched for this property and located it by going out Cleveland Avenue, towards the town of Baroda, and found the property on the left side of Cleveland Avenue, the third farm before Linco Road.
By 1917, August was a laborer and tenant farmer with a house and lot on St. Joseph Avenue in Stevensville.
Besides farming, August was a cabinetmaker and he made such items as coffins.
While I don't have much definitive information on his life, the facts that I do have don't display a very happy lifestyle for August and Bertha. While August and his four brothers all became farmers in Berrien County, August's farm was probably the least productive. His wife, Bertha, had to supplement the income by picking berries on farms of the other brothers and then selling them for additional income. It also did not help that August had a propensity for alcohol and his wife, Bertha, certainly did not have a happy life.
Bertha Kolberg passed away first on February 26, 1915 and, interestingly, each of the 5 Kolberg brothers in the US lost their wives at early ages. It would appear that the hard work of farming alongside their husbands, coupled with the enormous number of children that they had, made the lives of the Kolberg spouses difficult and short.
In later years, August lived with his daughter, Amelia Mielke, and her family in Stevensville, Michigan
until his death on April 24, 1920 in Stevensville. He and Bertha are buried in City Cemetery in St. Joseph, Michigan.
When I was growing up, my grandmother, Ella Kolberg Kijak, never shared any information with me on either of her parents. While she was the baby of their family and was undoubtedly special to her mother, it just was something she never discussed. I only have the two above photos of August and only the one of Bertha but I am pleased to have what items I do possess and to have the limited knowledge of my great-grandfather that has been shared with me.
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