Bernhard Friedrich's five sons account for all the present von Pressentin descendants in the United States. They are:
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Kurt Gottlieb Wilhelm, b. February 19, 1848. He died in Kalispell, Montana on November 1, 1917 at age 69.
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Karl Julius Otto, b. July 5, 1849. He died of influenza on March 7, 1924 in Sedro-Woolley, Washington, almost 75 years old.
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Bernhard Emil Max, b. February 11, 1856. He died in Spokane, Washington on June 22, 1931, at age 75.
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Adalbert Paul Friedrich, b. June 13, 1858. He died of stomach cancer in Seattle, Washington on November 15, 1922, at age 64.
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Otto Wilhelm Rudolph, b. September 26, 1862. He died in Bellingham on July 18, 1945, at age 82.
Following are brief biographies of each son, taken largely from the von Pressentin Family History Books I and III plus contributions from descendants of each of Bernhard Friedrich's five sons.
In April 1874 he visited his brother Karl in Manistee in the state of Michigan and was then employed as overseer and [Berechner: accountant?] in felling and processing of trees in the forests of this state. On January 5, 1888 he was married at Cadillac, Michigan Co., to Sadie Christine Belden, who was born on July 1864, daughter of farmer Sylvanus Belden of Carsonville Sanillac, Michigan Co., and Mary Hausinger. In the summer of 1894 he bought a farm in Kalispell, Montana. After Kurt's death on Nov. 1, 1917, Sadie was remarried to farmer Charly Atteberry on February 9, 1928. Kurt's grandson, Albert Kurt von Pressentin donated land to the State of Montana for a fishing access site, the "Presentine Bar" near Kalispell, MT.
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Born to Kurt and Sadie were:
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Soon after arriving in Birdsview, Karl was distracted from the work of building a house for his family by stories of gold in the mountains. He and five other early settlers, Otto Klement, Jack Rowley, Frank Scott, John Duncan and John Sutter set out to look for gold deposits which were rumored to be on the eastern side of the North Cascade Mountains. They hired two Indian guides and started off toward the Okanogan country by canoe, following the Skagit up to the Cascade River, then crossing the mountains at Cascade Pass and ending up at Lake Chelan. They found no gold in the area but they did become the first white men to cross Cascade Pass since the explorer, Alexander Ross, visited the region in 1811. In a second expedition that summer, they ascended the Skagit River all the way to Ruby Creek in the North Cascades where they did find traces of gold but were driven out by bad weather. [I found the account of this adventure, written by Otto Klement, at the Suzzallo Library, University of Washington.] Later Karl's two youngest brothers, Albert and Otto, followed him to the Skagit River Valley and settled in and near Birdsview. After Karl had settled in Birdsview, Wilhelmine and their three sons followed him there on January 12, 1878. Karl had many and varied occupations in Birdsview. He ran rafts of lumber from Minkler's mill at Birdsview to Sterling, Mount Vernon, Avon and LaConner. He sold cordwood to the steamboats plying up and down the river; scaled timber; made ox yokes and branding irons at home and sold them to loggers. At that time oxen were used to haul out the huge logs and the branding irons were used to brand the logs. For many years the von Pressentins ran the ferry by their farm. In later years Karl von Pressentin served as a Justice of the Peace, filing homesteads, proofs of claims, deeds and trying petty offenders.In 1889 Karl was elected probate judge of Skagit County for two years, which included substantial stays in court sessions at Mount Vernon. Later, he served as a United States Land Commissioner. In 1891 he was elected as one of the three Skagit County Commissioners and held this office from 1891 to 1893. In 1913 he visited his sister Agnes Müseler in Germany. During his last years he spent his time farming. See my biography of Karl and Wilhelmine. He died of influenza on March 7, 1924.
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Karl and Wilhelmine had six sons. 1. Bernhard VIII Karl, 2. Paul II Otto Karl, 3. Otto III Karl, 4. Franz Eugen, 5. Hans Dietrich Georg, 6. Karl X Christian,
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Bernhard Emil Max, born on February 11, 1856 at Höltkewiese, was apprenticed to a gunsmith in Berlin in the spring of 1872, but in February 1873 went to America with his parents and joined his brother Karl in Manistee, Michigan. In 1877 he bought the above-mentioned farm in Birdsview on the north side of the Skagit River which, however, he gave over to his brother Adalbert for 1,050 dollars. In February 1887 he traveled to Sardis, Ohio to visit his parents. Here he got to know his later wife Anna Drollinger (born January 30, 1869 at Wheeling ), to whom he was married on May 24, 1887. Returning to Birdsview, he bought another farm there, which he enlarged in 1889. On August 28, 1896 however, he disposed of this property and moved to Spokane in the state of Washington. Bernhard died in Spokane on May 28, 1960. This branch of the family has now died out.
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1. Guy Roger,
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Adalbert Paul Friedrich was the fourth son of Bernhard II and was born at Höltkewiese on June 13, 1858. He also immigrated to America with his parents in February, 1873 and was confirmed that summer in Wheeling. Adalbert was married in Muskegon, Michigan Co., on June 13, 1884 to Christine Köhler (born on July 15, 1864), a daughter of Christian Wilhelm Köhler of Marschalkenzimmern in Württemberg and his wife Barbara Anna née Arnold. In the fall of 1886, as we have seen above, he bought his brother Bernhard's farm in Birdsview, WA, which, however, he sold again in 1888 for $3,200. He then bought a property 5 miles farther west, which he also sold on August 8, 1888 for $8,500. In 1891 he then obtained another property near Hamilton for $8,600 and later set up a profitable mercantile business in Sauk City, where he was a notary. Later he had a store in Seattle. He died in Seattle of stomach cancer on November 15, 1922.
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Adalbert and Christine had six children. 1. Agnes Margarete, b. 1885 at Muskegon, Michigan. 2. Wilhelm Max Emil, b. 1887 at Birdsview, 3. Edward I Karl, b. 1889 at Hamilton in Washington State. 4. Walter I Hermann, b. 1892 at Sauk City, Washington 5. Olga Marie b. 1894 |
Otto Wilhelm Rudolph, the youngest son of Bernhard Friedrich, was born in Hölkewiese in Pomerania on September 26, 1862. In February, 1873 at the age of 11 he immigrated with his parents to Wheeling, West Virginia and later moved with them to Sardis, Ohio. In May 1887 he journeyed with his brother Bernhard to Grasmere near Birdsview, Washington Territory, on the upper Skagit River. There he procured a small farm, which he enlarged in 1889. On February 4, 1891 he married Laura Alice Kerns, who was born in Sardis on September 5, 1867, daughter of Isaak Kerns and his wife Marie nee Ober. After Otto had lived in his first house for a long time, he built a more modern one. The nearest town to Birdsview and Grasmere is Concrete, also on the Skagit River, a prettily situated spot with a large cement factory. Otto died at the hospital in Bellingham on July 18, 1945. Laura died in the hospital in Mount Vernon on July 10, 1945, a few days before her husband.
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