After reaching the United States, Bernhard and his family first went to Wheeling, West Virginia on the Ohio River. However, in the spring of 1874 they moved to Sardis, Ohio about 50 miles southwest of Wheeling in Monroe County. Sardis is also on the Ohio River. I have found little information about Bernhard's brief stay in Wheeling, West Virginia. I don't know if he had a contact there who helped him get settled in the United States, or why the family chose to re-settle in Sardis, Ohio.
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Bernhard Friedrich von Pressentin and his wife, Emilie Braun von Pressentin Date and location of photo not known. --From the collection of Bernhard's great-granddaughter, Pauline von Pressentin Kemmerich |
For whatever reasons, Bernhard and his family moved to Sardis in the spring of 1874, one year after their arrival in the USA. The family history says that Bernhard and his family lived there on the interest of a small capital and from a small shop. [The "small shop" may have been a tavern; the 1880 Census lists Bernhard's occupation as "saloon keeper."] By the time of the 1880 US Census, apparently all of Bernhard and Emilie's sons had left Sardis, except for the youngest son, Otto, who is listed as 17 years old and a "laborer." [See 1880 census records on "Appendix" page]
While their five sons all left Sardis, and eventually settled in the Pacific Northwest, Bernhard, Emilie and their youngest child, Margarete ["Maggie] stayed in Sardis. Maggie eventually took over operation of the "shop." I have two documents signed by her, as “Maggie v. Pressentin, of Monroe County, Ohio.” [Sardis is in Monroe County.] The documents deal with the final payment of a mortgage held by her and are dated March, 1901. Maggie had loaned $350. to my grandparents, August and Barbara Kemmerich on July 12, 1897. The Kemmerichs lived in Birdsview, WA across the Skagit River from Karl von Pressentin.
Later Maggie lived in Allegheny, PA. Volume II of the Family History [page 357] states that Margarete died in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania on April 4, 1904 at age 39, shortly before she was to be married.
Bernhard died in Sardis, on January 3, 1893 at the age of 78. Emilie was almost 83 years old at the time of her death on Feb. 1, 1908. Bernhard, Emilie and Margarete were all buried in Sardis.
Sardis, Ohio
"Sardis is an unincorporated community in southeastern Lee Township, Monroe County, Ohio. Although it is unincorporated, it has a post office with the Zip code of 43946. It lies at the intersection of State Routes 7 and 255. An Ohio River town, it lies below Hannibal and above New Matamoras."
Aerial View of Modern-Day Sardis, Ohio |
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The location of Sardis, Ohio is indicated by red star. Wheeling, W. VA is just north, also on the Ohio River.
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