Our Story Continues . . . The Kaup Family in Westphalia

Updated on: May 27, 2020

CHAPTER 9

JOSEPH JOHANNES FERNDINAND KAUP known as PAULJÜRGEN and (1) ANNA MARIA CATHARINA BERNHARDINE WILHELMINE ELISABETH RUTHER and (2) ANNA CATHARINA ELISABETH GÖDDE-DAUBEJOST

1787 – 1857; 1792 – 1829; 1809 – 1845

Joseph Kaup’s first marriage, to Elisabeth Ruther, allows one to witness and understand a great deal about family and farm life in early nineteenth-century Prussia since there are numerous legal documents concerning Joseph, Elisabeth, Joseph’s father, and Elisabeth’s father which survive to this day.

In addition to the inheritance and marriage-related documents, there were several other documented events in the lives of Joseph and his family which shed light into their lives.

Joseph and Elisabeth married in 1816 and had at least three children. Elisabeth was heiress to Hof Pauljürgen, a plot of land that included a house, a barn and a stable in the southwest section of the town of Büren, specifically Nr. 25 on the street now called Briloner Straße (at the corner with Rosenstraße).

Our Story Continues . . . The Kaup Family in Westphalia

Updated on: May 27, 2020

Upon their marriage, Joseph became Joseph Kaup-Pauljürgen, resident and inheritor of Hof Pauljürgen.

Elisabeth died shortly after the birth (and death) of her unnamed child in October 1829, most likely due to complications during childbirth.

In 1831 Joseph married Catharina Gödde-Daubejost and together they had at least six children.

In the early morning of April 30, 1842, a fire broke out down the street from Joseph and (now) Catharina’s house. The fire destroyed over 25 buildings in that part of Büren, including Hof Pauljürgen. Two years earlier, Joseph had built a sheep pen on a parcel of land north of Büren, along the road towards Brenken. (An engraved stone from 1840 mentioning Joseph and Catharina mark this place.)

After their residence was destroyed in Büren, Joseph and Catharina built a new residence where the sheep pen was.

This Hof Pauljürgen still exists and remains in the family to this day.

Our Story Continues . . . The Kaup Family in Westphalia

Updated on: May 27, 2020

Of the two known surviving children of Joseph and Elisabeth, the eldest, Maria Katherine Elisabeth (b. 1824) died at the age of 25 in 1849. Johann, the eldest surviving son (b. 1826), was heir to Hof Pauljürgen and in 1855, the farm passed to him.

Of Joseph and Catharina’s six known children, three of them emigrated to the United States, two became nuns in the St. Vincent Order in Paderborn, and one died at the age of four in 1846. The three emigrants were the three sons of this second marriage, and thus had no claim to the farm at Hof Pauljürgen. Christopher Ferdinand (b. 1831), Karl Joseph (b. 1834), and Aloysius Herman (b. 1844) settled (at least initially) in Cuming County, Nebraska.

The five surviving children of Joseph and Catharina’s marriage received a severance payment of 1000 reichsthalers from their older half-brother, Johann, once they reached adulthood or married, and before that point, Johann housed his half-siblings and paid for their education.