AMERICA THE GREAT MELTING POT

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Direct descendant is highlighted in red

FATHER

Johann Friedrich Gröninger

MOTHER

Anna Margaretha Rumlin

HUSBAND

Johann Michael Helfer

CHILDREN

1. Maria Elisabetha Helfer
    b. 4 Jan 1812

2. Margaretha Helfer
   b. 15 Jul 1814

3. Barbara Helfer
   b. 25 Jan 1817

4. Johann Heinrich Helfer
   b. 3 Jan 1821

Christina Katharina Groninger
by Susan Brooke
May 2015

Christina Groninger was born 04 Apr 1786 in  Hermersbergerhof, Pfalz, Bayern, the oldest child of Johann Heinrich and Anna Margaretha Rummel Groninger.(1)   She most likely grew up on the Lindenbrunnhof Estate where her father farmed.  She married Michael Helfer 08 May 1809 in Vorderweidenthal when she was  23. (2)  He was an older man aged 36 and his first wife had just died.  They had 4 children between 1811 and 1821, all born in Vorderweidenthal. She was a sponsor to her brother George's son, George in 1827.  Her husband, Michael, died in December of 1829 leaving Christina a widow with four children, the youngest of whom was only 8.  From the settlement of her husband's estate we learn that the couple had owned a "residential building" with stalls and other belongings in Vorderweidenthal on the church alley next to the church.  Michael had also owned 37 acres of farmland  plus another 67 acres of farmland which he had brought into the marriage. (See estate documents on page for Michael Helfer."
Even though her husband Michael died in 1829, the estate did not get settled until Aug 14, 1837.  By this time Christina and her brother Mathias had booked passage on the ship Equator to emigrate to America. (3)  On board the ship was her husband's nephew, Andreas Helfer and another family named Dutt.  They had all filled out forms giving their destination as "Ohio."   They were headed to what is now western Pennsylvania near Pittsburgh.  By the time of their departure her oldest daughter, Elisabeth, had married Charles Veiock.  On the ship's passenger list he was listed as Charles "Fayock," and Christina and her other three children were also listed with the surname of "Fayock." Margaret was 21, Barbara 20 and Henry 16.  As mentioned, there was also a family named Dutt on board.  Their son, Jacob, was 23.  Maybe Barbara Helfer and Jacob Dutt had a shipboard romance.  They married at the Smithfield United Church of Christ in Pittsburgh just three months after the ship landed.
There is no record of Christina, per se, in the Smithfield Church records, but there is a record for her daughter Elisabeth and her husband "Karl Veiock" baptizing their daughter, Anna Maria, 1841.  Christina's daughter, Margaret Helfer, married George Zimerle in the Smithfield Church in 1839.  Her daughter, Barbara Helfer, as mentioned before married Jacob Dutt in the Smithfield Church on Nov 20, 1837. 
In the early 1840's the family moved from the Pittsburgh to the Louisville area.  Two of her children, Henry Helfer and Barbara Helfer Dutt, settled in "Portland" one of the six original townships of the Falls of the Ohio.  It is now part of the greater Louisville area.  The other two children were about 15 miles away, on the other side of the Ohio River, in Morgan Township in Harrison County, Indiana. (4) In the 1850 census George Zimmerle (husband of Margaret Helfer), George Groninger (brother to Christina) and Michael Feock (father of Charles who married Elisabeth Helfer) were all listed on the same page.  They were farmers.  The value of George Zimmerle's land was $450.  George Groninger listed the value of his land at $400.  Elisabeth Helfer died in 1849 and her husband, Charles Veock remarried.  In 1850 his land was valued at $300.  On the same page with Charles Veock was "Mudus" (Mathew) Groninger.  The value of his land was $600.  All in all the children and two brothers that were farming appear to have been prospering.
But back in Portland - Louisville, they were having a harder time.  Henry Helfer was a boatman as listed in the 1844 Louisville City Directory.  His first wife died in 1852 and then he died July, 29, 1856 at the age of 35.  His only surviving daughter, Lena Helfer, was sent to live with her maternal grandparents. Her grandfather, Franz (Frank) Kusler, in the 1867 Louisville directory was listed as a "huckster," Citizens' market, r. Front, Portland.
Christina's daughter Barbara Helfer, married to Jacob Dutt, had given birth to 10 children by the time she was 40 in 1857.    Jacob was also a "huckster" living on Grove between Front and Market.  When Barbara died in 1859, his oldest son, Henry Dutt, was 18.  However, his youngest three children were 5, 4 and 2 years old.  Christina at some point had come to live with them.  They needed her to help raise these youngest three children.  In the 1860 census of Louisville, Christina is listed as Christina Helfer, servant, aged 80 living in the household of Jacob Dutt. (5)  She was actually only 74.
Christina probably died shortly thereafter, having outlived three of her four children.  Margaret Helfer married to George Zimmerly was the only one of her children still alive and she had moved to Richland County, IL so Christina had no children living near her.

Sources

(1) Birth Record

"Christina Katharina Grueninger" born 04 Apr 1786 "Annweiler (BA, Bergzabern), Bayern, Germany" 

(2) Report of Uwe Porten, German researcher  

(3) Ships Passenger list
23 Aug 1837

		Fayock    Charles       31                 Elizabeth     29                 Christina     69                 Margarete   21                 Barbara      20                 Henri          16                 Jacob           2