Maria Louisa Dierking

My paternal Grandmother is "Eleanor" Elizabeth Sophia Drewel Kleager Weise.  Her father is Louis Henry Drewel.  His mother is Maria Louisa Dierking.

Maria Louisa Dierking has been a mystery to me.  No one in the family knew much about her.  I think that was because she died so young, and her husband re-married twice.

Maria was born 8 April 1845 in the area of Beaufort, Franklin County, Missouri.  She married young at age 18, to Friedrich Wilhelm Drewel, bore six children in the following 12 years, and died 14 May 1875, at age 30, a few days after giving birth to a daughter, Louise.  She is buried in the St. John's Lutheran Church Cemetery, Beaufort, Missouri.

Who are her parents?

That is the hard question.  The only thing I had to go on for many years were the 1850 and 1860 Census Records in Franklin County.  It wasn't that I couldn't find a Maria Louisa that was the appropriate age, it was that I could find 3 about the same age!

Recently, I found a 4 page typed "Dierking Family History" in the regional archive in Franklin County that had no sources, no dates and no authorship, but that stated that there were 3 Dierking brothers that  immigrated from Hanover, Germany to Franklin County.

That makes sense, as there are plenty of Dierkings in Franklin County in the 1850's, 1860's, and 1870's.

But these 3 brothers are even more confusing.  Who knows what three German given names they each had, as to date I haven't been able to find the baptism records in Germany.  When they came to America they seemed to settle into being called: (the eldest) "John", (the middle) "John F." and (the youngest) "George".  Except when the eldest "John" goes by "Georgen" or "Jurgen".

John and John F.??  George and Georgen??  I hope they knew who they were talking about!

And you know what else?  They ALL had daughters named "Maria Louisa Dierking" - three first cousins - who varied in age by about six years between the 3 of them.  No wonder I've been confused for years!

But for now, I believe my great-great grandmother Maria Louis Dierking is the daughter of John "Jurgen/Georgen" Dierking (born about 1796 possibly in Stockendrebber, Hanover, Germany) and his wife Dorothea Meriah/Mary of unknown last name (born about 1798 in the same area in Germany).

They are confusing brothers and cousins!!