Karl (Carl) and Karolina (Carolina) Deutscher – Mount Hope Cemetery, Ellis, Ellis County, Kansas

Carl first set foot in Ellis County in 1900 when he visited his friend, Samuel Glass. He was looking for land to raise his family and avoid military conscription for his older sons.

Two years later, Carl had returned home to Austria, where his wife, Carolina, and ten children boarded a train to Bremen, Germany. Then, finally, they arrived in New York and boarded another train that took them to Ellis, Kansas.

Carl and Carolina were born in Austria in 1859 and 1861, respectively. They were married on November 16, 1880. Between 1881and 1901, fourteen children were born. The ten children who made the trip to America ranged in age from twenty to one year old. Carolina was six months pregnant with her fifteenth child when they left their homeland.

Carl purchased two-quarters of land four miles west of Ellis and moved his family into a two-room house. Unfortunately, two weeks after settling in America, little Melanie passed away at eleven months old. However, happiness returned to the family as Reinhold was born in September. Henrietta “Yetta, the sixteenth child, was born on November 20, 1903.

Tragically, as Carl was working to prepare for the spring planting, he became overheated, developed pneumonia, and died in March 1904 at the age of forty-four. Carolina showed courage, fortitude, and resiliency as she and her older sons took over the responsibility of the farm. Eventually, the farm prospered, and debts were paid.

Besides the death of Melanie, seven-year-old Ludmilla Agatha Karolina died in 1903. Carolina succumbed to liver cancer and passed away on May 25, 1915.

Carl, Carolina, Melanie, and Ludmilla share the same stone in Mount Hope Cemetery.

Note: I am working on updating my website to add stories from Ellis County. In the meantime, I have stories from three counties and over 30 cemeteries to read. You can also contact me through my website or the Ellis Review.

Personal Note: Did Steve from Minnesota receive my message?