The Catholics: Youngblut, Simmerl, Hottua, & More

Diekirch and Esch-Sur-Alzette

My first cousin is married to a fella' quite different from the rest of our Protestant or atheist/agnostic family. His family on all sides came from completely Catholic roots. Additionally, his forefathers came from Ireland and surprisingly, the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, a small country in Western Europe abutting Belgium, Germany, and France.  Today, I want to talk a little about the Hottua's and Simmerls, of Luxembourg.

Oberfeulen, Diekirch, Luxembourg is a village of about 300 souls in the commune of Feulen and Canton of Diekrich.  This village was a rural, agricultural one. ANGELA HOTTUA was the daughter of Petrus Hottua (the name was Hothoi until this generation) and Catherine Glesener and was born in on 16 Feb 1806. Petrus and his family were blacksmiths.

She married Theodore Simmerl on 14 Feb 1827 in Oberfeulen. Theodore was born on 26 Sep 1797 in Oberfuelen and  was the son of Joseph Simmerl JR and Marie-Jeanne Gilson.

Theodore was a teacher from 1825 to 1830. In 1848, he took up being a "white painter," which was a painter who painted house facades with white chalk, a common practice of the era. Theodore died in 1855 after he and Angela had 12 children.

Daughter Susan, born 02 Apr 1831 in Oberfeulen, had a child out of wedlock of an unknown father at age 25, according to church records, was baptized and born on 30 Dec 1856, and listed as "Filia naturalis," meaning she was illegitimate.  In the 1852 and 1855 censuses she is listed as maid in the Jean Manderscheid household in Oberfeulen.  We can only guess who the father might have been.
Susan, and her unmarried brother, Peter, went to America, arriving in May 1857 in New York. They moved on to Luxemburg, Liberty Township, Dubuque County from there. They had left Susan's daughter Barbara with grandmother Angela in Luxembourg (along with her three sisters).

Liberty Township was first settled between 1838-1851 by English, Irish, Luxembourg, and German immigrants. By the mid-1850s, about 60 families requested a Catholic church, and the first frame structure was built in 1861 and dedicated in 1865.

Susan Simmerl & Frank Youngblut

After six months, Susan married recent immigrant Frank Jungblut/Youngblut in Dec 1857.  The couple began farming outside Gilbertville, in Black Hawk County and would have 9 children of their own; seven of whom survived to adulthood. They retired to Gilbertville in their old age.

Frank, too, hailed from Luxembourg, having been born in Aspelt, Esch-Sur-Alzett, near France.  In Luxembourg, he had been a farm worker. He emigrated in 1852 through New Orleans, making his way up the Mississippi River until he arrived in Dubuque County and then on to Black Hawk County. He worked as a farm hand in Black Hawk County for a few years until he could purchase his own land at a whopping $9 per acre. He took part in the community and was an active Catholic. According to records, he aided in building the slabs of the first Catholic Church in Gilbertville, Immaculate Conception.

Peter Simmerl sent for mother Angela and niece Barbara, and they settled Granville, Sioux County, Iowa.  Angela died in 1897, after living some time with son Peter. Barbara married in 1876 to Henry Bunkers, and they lived in Granville during their lifetimes and raised 11 children.

Frank died on 11 May 1892 in Gilbertville. Susan survived an additional 15 years, having lived with daughter Anna Youngblut Wendling in Independence and then with son John.

Mrs Youngblut died at the home of her son John in Fox township Sunday evening at 6:00 o'clock, after a lingering illness of several months. Deceased has lived here for many years on the farm now occupied by her son Frank H, having come here with her husband in the forties. Her husband preceded her in death about 15 years ago. Mrs Youngblut lived in Washburn several years and until last winter when she started to visit with her daughter, Mrs J Wendling, near Independence, where she became sick, but was removed at her request to the home of her son John some time ago. She will be buried tomorrow (Tuesday) at 10:00 o'clock in the Catholic cemetery here. She leaves seven children to mourn her death - John of Fox township, FH of Cedar township, Josephine of Indiana, Anna near Independence, and Mary at Marion, Sophie at Washburn and Susie, Boyd, Iowa all of whom are married.

Semi Weekly Reporter Friday, May 25, 1906, Waterloo, Iowa