Compiled and written by David R. Schleper, 2022

Margaretha Mary Wolf was born on September 8, 1841, in Tettingen, Perl, Merzig-Wadern, Saarland, Germany. Margaretha, at age 13, came to America in 1854 with her parents and siblings. Her parents were Johann “John” Wolff and Margaretha Gerardÿ.

In the Minnesota Valley MINT, Monday, June 15, 1981, by Sue Warmka, the Wolf family had been in Scott County for 127 years. John Wolf, Margaret Gerardÿ Wolf, and their six children, including Margaretha, arrived on July 4, 1854.

“Because of Tettingen’s location close to the Moselle River, many immigrants followed the stream to LeHarvre France and left the continent from there. They would have arrived in the port of New York, going overland to Chicago, and on to Galena, Illinois, where they traveled up the Mississippi River to St. Paul. From St. Paul, it would have been on to Shakopee via the Minnesota River and from Shakopee, they walked the distance to St. Joseph, carrying all of their possessions,” according to the article.

John declared the intention to become a United States citizen on May 19, 1855, a prerequisite to receive homestead land from the United States government. John and Margaret received from the United States for $150.00 ($1.25 per acre) the west half of the northwest quarter of section 26 and southwest quarter of the southwest quarter of Section 23 in Township 114, north of Range 23. This is Sand Creek Township, but they had bought it before the township was named so it went by numbers.

This paper was filed in Red Wing, Minnesota, the land office at the time for the territory of Minnesota, on September 12, 1855. This deed was signed by President Franklin Pierce on Nov 1, 1856, in the city of Washington. It is certificate no. 275 in volume 1 with the Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management, Eastern States Office in Alexandria, Virginia.

The land that John and Margaret settled on was hilly with heavy clay soil and covered with trees. Before the family could farm, they had to clear the trees, and they used the wood for erecting farm buildings.

On September 26, 1859, Margaretha’s parents donated three of these forty acres on the northwest quarter of the northwest section 26 to Rev. Thomas Grace, Bishop of St. Paul, Ramsey County. They were paid one dollar for the paperwork involved. This land is supposedly the cemetery of St. Joseph.

The Federal Census of 1870 shows John and Margaret living in Spring Lake Township, but with the death of John in 1873, Margaret went to live with her son Mathias and his family in Helena Township until her death from pneumonia in 1885.

Margaretha married Mathias “Matt Hennen” at St Mary of the Purification Catholic Church in Marystown on April 14, 1864.

Matt was born on February 20, 1833, in Bonerath, Rhineland-Palatinate, Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany. His parents were Johannes Phillipp Hennen and Anna Claudina Theis. Matt had come over from Germany to the United States with his two brothers, Michael and Johann. Johann was lost at sea during a storm on the way to America, either washed off the ship by a wave or fell overboard.

After marriage, Margaret and Matt Hennen farmed near Marystown, just like their parents before them.

Margaretha and Matt had five children: John, Matt, Margaret, Elizabeth, and Katherine Hennen. They were all baptized at the Marystown church.

Mathias “Matt” Hennen died on October 23, 1891, in Spring Lake, and was buried at St. Mary’s of Marystown Catholic Cemetery.

After Matt died, Margaret lived with son Matt, Jr. Her son John was a close neighbor, and she may have stayed with his family too, according to the John Wolf-Margaret Gerardy Wolf Family Tree book.

Margaretha Wolf Hennen died on October 1, 1909, in Spring Lake Township, and was buried at St. Mary of Marystown Catholic Cemetery in Marystown, Minnesota.

Bibliography

John Wolf-Margaret Gerardy Wolf Family Tree.

United States, Department of the Interior, Bureau of Land Management, Eastern States Office. Certificate No. 275. Vol. 1, p. 328. Bureau of Land Management, Eastern States Office, Alexandria, Virginia.

Warmka, Sue. Minnesota Valley MINT, 15 June 1981.