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Johann Samuel
Grenz
Johann Samuel Grenz was born in Gueldendorf
05 Oct 1838. He sailed from Le Havre and
Hamburg, Germany with his
family to New York on the S.S. Suevia, arrived
June 1, 1885 and went to the Eureka, South
Dakota area, South Of Artas (1900 census
found in Postal Township, Campbell County,
South Dakota). In the Eureka
History Book, he is listed as a charter
member of the First Baptist Congregation
Church organized June 21, 1886. According
to the Eureka Post Newspaper, he left for
California in April of 1904 after
living in the town of Eureka for one year.
He settled in Lodi. He was one of
the 17 charters member of the 1st Baptist
Church of Lodi in April 10, 1905.
1910 census he is found in Lodi with his
second wife
living in Lodi, San Joaquin County,
California. He is
found in the 1914 and 1919 City Directories
and is
listed as a gardener. He lived at 225
Stockton Street
in Lodi. I have been there and the exact
address no
longer exists, but it is a street of small
older homes
near the railroad tracks. A descendant of one
of
Samuel's siblings, Harold Grenz in Zillah,
Washington,
told me the following story: Samuel was
fairly well
off and helped a lot of families emigrate from
Russia
and was never paid back. South Dakota winters
were
very cold and Samuel didn't like to wear
gloves whenhe worked, so he decided to go to California
where the
weather was better and someone told him there
were
fruit trees there. His first wife Christina
Lutz,
died just a few months after they arrived of
"hypertrophy of the liver" per her death
certificate.
Georg Zeller (husband of Samuel's daughter
Rosina)
told the following story:
The first stop of the Grenz family was Marion,
South
Dakota. Here they stayed only two weeks,
while their
father bought household supplies, two yoke of
oxen,
two cows, two wagons and farm machinery. He
leased an
emigrant railroad car and loaded his new
possessions.
They came by train to the end of the track at
Ipswich,
Edmunds County, South Dakota. Here they
loaded their
supplies from the car to the wagons. They
harnessed
and hooked the oxen to the wagons and started
westward. Where to, no one knew exactly.
After
traveling 55 miles, they came upon a
homesteader. Here
their father stopped, unloaded the supplies,
filed a claim and established their
home.
Johann Samuel Grenz died of Diabetes on
25 Oct 1919
Contributed by Christa Grenz
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