George Hermann Berghaus

George Hermann Berghaus¹

• Birth*: 25 September 1802; Germany; Birth date per FindAGrave; see the note under his father. Birth place per obituaries. His obituaries placed him from over seventy to seventy five, making him born before 1800.^2,3
• Marriage*: 16 December 1823; Lebanon Co., Pennsylvania; Spouse: Maria Rank⁴
• Marriage*: 17 November 1836; Jefferson Co., Kentucky; Married by James B. Britton (who a year later came from Louisville to Indianapolis to become pastor of the First Episcopal church there).; Spouse: Sidney Taylor⁵
• Death*: 26 December 1869; New Orleans, Orleans Parish, Louisiana⁶

Parents:

Notes

• Note*: George H. Berghaus was born in Germany about 1802 and immigrated with his family to Baltimore about 1812. He had short careers as a doctor in Lebanon County, Pennsylvania, in the 1820s, and as a failed liquor merchant in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, in the early 1830s. In the mid 1830s he married well in Louisville, Kentucky, and then became established as a slave owner and successful merchant in Mobile Alabama in the 1840s and 1850s. He had resided for some time in New Orleans by the time of his death in 1869. He married first Maria Rank in 1823, and second Sidney Taylor in 1836. He was living with a former woman slave at the time of his death.
• Note: While George Berghaus went by the title of "Doctor" all his life, only one found item suggests that he ever practiced. That is an 1827 newspaper article which lists seven doctors who viewed a particular surgical operation in Lebanon Pennsylvania, including Doctor Berghaus.⁷
• Note: In 1828 Dr. G. H. Berghaus of Myerstown was treasurer of the Lebanon County auxiliary of the American Tract Society.⁸
• Note: The packetship Monongahela sailed 19 April 1830 from Philadelphia for Liverpool with passengers Dr. Geo. W. Berghauz and Charles L. Berghaus.⁹
• Note: The daily journal of Charles Rawn, a Harrisburg attorney, names Dr. George H. Berghaus about 25 times in entries from 1832 to 1842. Berghaus lends Rawn his horse; they drink lemonade together; they spend many evenings at Rawn's office and at Miss Peacocks, whom Rawn marries in 1833; they go out of town on several pigeon hunts; Berghaus is stakeholder for several of Rawn's bets; Berghaus assigns monies owed him to Rawn. At the 26 Jan 1835 court session there is a judgment against Berghaus. The last entry indicating Berghaus is present was 4 Jan 1836: "Dr. Geo A. Berghaus is my office has been West and South."¹⁰
• Note: In May 1839 the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania ruled on a case from Dauphin county court of common pleas. Alter, Taylor and Dewey had apparently sued George H. Berghaus in the court of common pleas for payment of goods purchased and delivered. The evidence presented was the books of account, in the handwriting of partner Dewey. Dewey was in New Orleans and could not testify. The court of common pleas had held that Dewey's absence from the state was not sufficient reason to accept the books as evidence in place of Dewey's testimony. The Supreme Court disagreed, ruling in favor of Alter, Taylor and Dewey.
  Abstracted by the compiler.¹¹
• Note: In May 1840 the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania ruled on a related case from Dauphin county court of common pleas. Alter, Taylor and Dewey had apparently sued Henry C. Berghaus as a co-promisor for Doctor George H. Berghaus. Henry is identified as the father of George. Henry gave a promissory note made in Philadelphia 4 February 1836 for $2000 for debts incurred in twelve months. The Supreme Court ruled, in favor of Henry Berghaus, that the promissory note made in 1836 did not secure George's debts incurred after one year later. The case summary does not describe all the business transactions, but does show that George Berghaus made payments to Alter, Taylor and Dewey of $500 7 Nov 1834, $54 20 December 1836, and $1200 18 March 1837, and also that they shipped him champagne 29 March 1837.
  Abstracted by the compiler. Alter, Taylor and Dewey were Philadelphia wine and liquor merchants.¹²
• Note: 1840 US Census, Mobile, Alabama, indexed as: George H Berthoud, Berkhouse
  1 free white male 30-39
  1 free white female 20-29
  2 free white males 20-29
  10 slave males 24-3
  2 slave females 24-35
  2 slave males 10-23
  1 slave female 10-23
  13 persons employed in manufacture and trade
  1 person employed in learned professional engineers¹³
• Note: Baltimore Sun, 10 Feb 1843: "The cotton pickery of Mr. Berghaus, in Mobile, was destroyed by fire on the night of the 30th ult., with some twenty or thirty bales of cotton. This is the third pickery this gentleman has lost by fire within a few days."
  
  New Orleans Times Picayune, 19 Sep 1843: "An attempt was made on Friday morning last to set fire to the new cotton pikery of Dr. Berghaus, in the Orange Grove, in Mobile. The Advertiser says the fire was getting well under way when it was discovered and extinguished by some workmen in the vicinity. -- The incendiary escaped detection."
  
  ["The cotton pickery business is that conducted by persons firms or corporations, in which soiled or damaged cotton is reginned, repicked and rebaled, for which a charge is made." per a 1920 act of the Louisiana Legislature. Google books.]¹⁴
• Note: Deed Abstract: George H. & Sidney E. Berghaus of Mobile, 12 Nov 1845 sold 1/8th interest in Seminary tract, inherited by Sidney from her father Edmund Taylor, and acknowledged sheriff's sale of same. Recorded 27 December 1845, Jefferson Co. Kentucky Bk. 65, pp. 311-312.¹⁵
• Note: 1850 US Census. Mobile, Mobile, Alabama
  "G. H. Berkhouse, age 48, merchant, value of real estate $20,000, born Germany
  S. ", age 30, born Ky."
  [Not found in 1850 slave schedules]¹³
• Note: In April 1858 The 4th District Court of New Orleans voided a contract made by George H. Berghaus. Berghaus had bought a quantity of burning cotton in the Levee Cotton Press, whereupon the Fire Department quit fighting the fire. Berghaus negotiated a price with the Fire Department's Chief Engineer to continue fighting it, and they drew up a written contract, which was later contested. The Court found that the Fire Department had no right to enter into such a contract.¹⁶
• Note: 1861 New Orleans City Directory: G. H. Berghaus, residing St. Charles, c. Melpomene¹⁷
• Note: Obit: Commercial Bulletin, Dec. 27, 1869, page 1, col. 9: On Sunday, the 26th, at 9 o'clock A. M. Dr. Geo. H. Berghaus. His funeral will take place from his late residence, corner Barracks and Rocheblave streets, at 4 o'clock this evening.
  Obit: Tagliche Deutsche Zeitung, Dec. 28, 1869, page 8, col. 1: Abstract of translation: Dr. George G. Berghaus died Sunday, a very well known and esteemed person, more than 70 years old, born in Germany in America for 60 years, discontinued as a practicing physician 30 years ago, a widow for years.³
• Note: Intestate succession (probate) of George H. Berghaus of New Orleans, 1870, No. 33441.
  About 56 pages, contains in part, an invalid will, depositions taken by F. W. Hass proving Harrisburg heirs' relationship to decedent, a judgment recognizing the heirs and their shares, the total dollar amount to be distributed $13,561.85, guardianship documents, a petition to sell $1000 in coins to pay for funeral expenses, and other documents. The account and final distribution are not in the file. Abstracted by compiler. Viewed on FHL microfilm 568245.¹⁸
• Note: Lawsuit by Elvinia Lewis: George H. Berghaus died late December 1869, and by mid-February 1870 the probate court had published a judgment recognizing the Harrisburg family heirs. Among the probate papers was a will, found by Elvinia Lewis, in which she was the beneficiary; the court had ruled it invalid.
  Apparently in fall 1870 Elvinia Lewis filed suit against Colin J. Nicolson, who had acted as the court approved curator of George Berghaus' succession (similar to an administrator of a probate). A New Orleans newspaper printed Colin Nicolson's response to Elvinia Lewis' suit.
  According to Nicolson's response: He was a friend of George Berghaus. Elvinia Lewis was George Berghaus' housekeeper and former slave, and, as he later learned, George Berghaus' concubine. She had been paid a considerable sum from the estate for back wages due her as a domestic servant. Nicolson asserts that she was satisfied with the settlement until "she had squandered [her payment] in drunkenness and riotous living."
  [Abstracted by the compiler.]¹⁹
• Note: Not to be confused with: George Berkhouse of Jefferson Co., Pennsylvania
  1) FindAGrave: 1821-1891, Smith Cemetery, Jefferson Co.
  2) Book: Jefferson County Pennsylvania : Her Pioneers and People. Vol. II. Publ. 1917 J. H. Beers Co. Reprinted 1975 Unigraphic.: a) May 13 1869 George Burkhouse sold a farm in Beaver Twp. to Soloman Shaffer. (p. 569). b) Berkhouse Lutheran Church, Beaver Twp. Jefferson Co., with cemetery. (p. 212 & 493) [Now Bethlehem Lutheran].
  3) 1840 US Census: Porter; 1850 US Census: Beaver
• Note: Not to be confused with:
  1) Herman D. Buerhaus & Ann Maria Ritchley, married 4 Jan 1844, Baltimore, Maryland per FamilySearch website citing film #13694.
  2) Herman Buerhaus vs. Amelia Ann Buerhaus. Divorce, 21 July 1844. Baltimore County Court, Chancery Papers.²⁰