If your last name is Linhorst or if you have a Linhorst in your ancestry, you will want to save this date: Saturday, June 21.
One of those Linhorst descendants, Stan Linhorst, said a family reunion is planned for the descendants of Johann Hermann Linhorst and Anna Maria Elisabeth Auf der Beck who immigrated to America from Steinhagen, Germany, in 1852 and made their home in the Sandy Valley area of Jefferson County soon after.
Stan, one of the reunion organizers, said all descendants are invited to the event, which will run from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. and will include food, fun, family trees, photos from Germany and a bit of family history. The first part of the reunion will be held at Zion Lutheran Church, 9700 Zion Lutheran Church Road. At 5 p.m., the celebration will move to Villa Antonio Winery, 3660 Linhorst Road.
More than 100 people from 10 states have registered already, Stan said.
To attend, RSVP by emailing him at StanLinhorst@gmail.com or to Don Linhorst at donald.linhorst@slu.edu. Relatives may also email them for more information or visit the Linhorst Relatives Facebook page.
Stan said it will be a chance to renew acquaintances, meet cousins and keep family stories alive.
Moving to America
Stan, a retired journalist who lives in Syracuse, N.Y., said Johann and Anna departed from Germany by ship and arrived in New Orleans in 1852.
“They came up the Mississippi River and soon after, settled in Jefferson County,” he said. “There are many, many descendants.”
Herman Henry Linhorst was the son of Johann Hermann Linhorst and Anna Maria Elisabeth Auf der Beck who came to the Hillsboro area in 1853.
Stan said four of the couple’s children were born in Germany. The oldest died in infancy, and another daughter died during the long voyage to America.
“That was very common for people to die on these long ocean voyages because the sanitation was nonexistent,” he said. “They had to bury one child at sea. Then after they arrived in Missouri, they had four more children.”
Stan said the six remaining children went on to have large families.
“So, there are a lot of us,” he said. “Fast-forward about 170 years and a lot of us are scattered all around the country.”
A love of family history
Stan, who grew up in Nebraska, said he got reacquainted around 2015 with his second cousin, Don Linhorst, who grew up in the Goldman area. Their fathers had been close.
Don, a retired professor who lives in Glen Carbon, Ill., traveled to Germany in 2017 and met up with some of his fourth and fifth cousins in Steinhagen. He said two of the cousins had compiled extensive genealogy in Germany and shared that with him, which he, in turn, shared with Stan, who traveled to Germany in 2023.
Don and Stan are working on separate books about their family’s history.
“I had told Don, ‘you know if you ever have a family reunion down there, I’d love to see if I can come,’” Stan said. “So (Don is planning one), and he roped me into helping plan it. There’s been quite a few other people involved in planning it, but Don, I would say, is the instigator.”
Other reunion organizers include Doris Rex of Paw Paw, Ill.; Larry Linhorst of Hillsboro; Lois Pooker of Festus; Paul Zimmerman of De Soto; and Sarah Heinemeier of Durham, N.C.
“That’s how it came about, and we thought it would be great because we enjoyed reconnecting, seeing each other after almost 50 years, having not been in touch, and we slowly began reaching out to others and then it snowballed,” Stan said.
Don said he is excited that more than 100 relatives have RSVP’d so far.
“It makes me feel good that other people have an interest in the Linhorst family and want to make or renew family relationships,” he said.
This photo was taken in February 1939 at the 87th birthday celebration for Meta Louise (Dittmer) Linhorst, widow of Herman Linhorst, outside her farm home in Sandy Valley about 2 miles from where Herman’s parents settled. She is pictured in the second row, center.
Stan said Zion Lutheran Church was founded the same time his ancestors settled in Jefferson County, adding that the church would have been the center of social life for these small pioneering communities. He said several descendants still attend the church, and one of them, Rebecca Pooker, is currently the president of Zion’s church council.
Stan said at least part of the farm that Johann began developing in the 1850s has remained in the family and is still owned and operated by a great-great-great-grandson, Richard Lindwedel.
“Isn’t it remarkable that 172 years after Johann bought his first land, part of the farm is still in the family?” Stan said.
Stan believes the farm was passed from Johann to his son Henry to his son Ed to his daughter Esther Linhorst Lindwedel to her son Richard Lindwedel.
He believes the Linhorst family has made an impact on Jefferson County as farmers and even as public officeholders. One descendant, Anita Thomure, who died in 1992, was a Festus city treasurer. Stan’s grandfather, Martin H. Linhorst, served on the Hillsboro R-3 School District school board, and another descendent, John Linhorst, currently serves on the R-3 board.
Stan said female descendants of Johann and Anna married men with last names Baumbach, Biegner, Dittmer, Dohack, During, Lindwedel, Noack, Plack, Pooker, Schmitt, Schoor, Steinbach, Temming, Tiffany, Thomure. Male descendants married women with last names Bauman, Kerckhoff, Mangelsdorf, Schulz and Sherwood. He said the Linhorst family has left a mark on Jefferson County’s growth and progress for more than 170 years and now number in the hundreds spread throughout America.