Lorenz Christian Hornschuch (always called Christian) was christened in Heidersbach, state of Thuringen, Prussia, on Sept. 5, 1847. He came to America in 1861at the age of 14 with his mother Rosanna and sisters Emilie and Rosamunde (already married to Gustav Scheubel), arriving New York City on Apr. 26, 1861 aboard the the ship "Ottilie" from Bremen, Germany.
Once in America the family settled in Ashland, Schuylkill Co., Pennsylvania. This locale was no doubt influenced by the presence there of his brother Edward (who had emigrated the previous year) and eldest brother "Lawrence" who came to America at the age of 19 in 1852. In 1870 Christian married Wilhelmine (Wilhelmina) Lucinde Guenther, who also was born in Thuringen, Prussia, in 1852 to her parents Friedrick Ernst and Anna Maria (Hornschuch) Guenther. Ernest was a miner who had come to America on the same ship with Christian in 1861along with Ernst's wife and four, possibly five, of his children including Wilhelmina.
Sometime between 1876 and 1879 Christian and Wilhelmina moved to Oregon. The transcontinental railway was completed in 1869, therefore they may have taken a train as far as they could. However, their final destination of Beaver Creek, Clackamas County, Oregon, indicates that at least the latter part of their journey was by wagon, because the U.S. railway system did not extend that far north at that point in time.
It was in Beaver Creek that the family settled on Highland Road where they were known to have lived through 1910. The Pennsylvania census shows next-door neighbors of the Hornschuch's as the Guenther and Robert H. Schuebel families, the latter of whom would later turn up as neighbors again in Clackamas County, Oregon. 10 |