Johann Georg Bauer and Maria Barbara Schwartz

Johann Georg Bauer and
Maria Barbara Schwartz



John G. Bauer (1834-1915)     Barbara Schwartz (1840-1929)

Johann Georg Bauer was born 4 August 1834 at Siegritz, Oberfranken, Bayern, Germany. He was the son of Johann Krug and Christina Bauer. Maria Barbara Schwartz was born 10 January 1840 in the village of Almoshof, Mittelfranken, Bayern, Germany. Her parents were Johann Stefan Wedel and Sophia Schwartz. Nothing is known of their early lives.

The couple was married 14 March 1869 in Kraftshof, northeast of the city of Fürth. Barbara already had children, but their father is unknown. In the 1880s the Bauers were converted to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints while living in Wetzendorf, near Nürnberg. They were baptized 15 September 1888 in the Rednitz River by Peter Strebel. Shortly after, they began making plans to go to America. According to church records, Johann emigrated 1 June 1890 and Barbara followed a year later 22 August 1891.

Barbara bore eleven children. All of the children were born in and around the city of Nürnberg. Six of the children died as infants or at young ages in Germany. Four daughters (Margaretha, Esther, Magdalena, and Christina) came to America between 1890 and 1892. One daughter, Barbara, stayed in Germany.

Upon their arrival in the United States, the Bauers went to Provo, Utah for a time and then moved to Midway where daughter Magdalena had settled. There Johann worked as a laborer doing odd jobs and farm work. Later they settled in the Emerson Ward area of Salt Lake City where they spent the remainder of their lives.

Johann Georg Bauer died at the family residence on Emerson Avenue 20 December 1915. He was eighty-one years old. He was buried in the Salt Lake City Cemetery in a plot owned by the LDS Church. His grave is marked with a small, flat, bricklike stone that simply says "John G. Bauer". Barbara was a widow for fourteen years. She died 20 November 1929 at the age of eighty-nine. At the time of her death she was living on Roosevelt Avenue with her granddaughter Christine Bennett. She is buried in another part of the Salt Lake Cemetery with a more appropriate marker.


The Children

  1. Esther Bauer (1860-1861)
  2. Christina Bauer (1861-1861)
  3. Wolfgang Bauer (1863-1866)
  4. Margaretha Bauer (1864-1921) md. Andreas C. Housmann (Hausmann)
  5. See history of Andreas Christian Housmann and Margaretha Bauer

  6. Magdalena Bauer (1867-1953) md. Johann Leonhard Besendorfer
  7. Esther Bauer (1870-1944) md. Sixtus Gumbman
  8. Andreas Bauer (1873-1873)
  9. Barbara Bauer (1874-1955) md. Johann Deuerlein
  10. Johann Bauer (1877-1882)
  11. Christina Bauer (1879-1978) md. James Watson Lindsay
  12. Catherina Bauer (1882-1890)


Bauer Sisters: Esther, Christina, Margaretha, and Magdalena


Background of Bavaria and the Nürnberg Area

The Bauers and Hausmanns were Franconians from the Bavarian regions of Mittelfranken and Oberfranken. Most of what we know of them centers around the city of Nürnberg. It is helpful to know a little about the history of the area in order to do further research.

Franconia and Bavaria were among the largest duchies associated with the first German empire which was called the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation. Franconia or Franken is the land of the Frankish tribe from which the name of France was also derived. The most important city of Franconia during the Middle Ages was Nürnberg, which was declared a free imperial city in the year 1219. This city was very important to the main Roman Empire trade routes. It was a walled city.

Over the years there was much turmoil in the area with the Reformation, the Peasants' War, The Thirty Years' War, etc. There were many exchanges of power and realignment of boundaries. In 1803, Franconia was integrated into Bavaria. People of that area still refer to themselves as Franconians rather than Bavarians. In 1806, Nürnberg lost its imperial privileges and also became part of Bavaria.

Around 1840, the Industrial Revolution was taking place in Germany. Many villagers and farmers were forced to relocate in the cities for survival. It was at that time that a large move of emigration to the United States started.

Germany was unified under Otto von Bismarck when the second empire was founded in 1870. At that time, Bayern (Bavaria) was divided into 7 provincial districts which included Mittelfranken, Oberfranken, Unterfranken (all formerly Franconia) and Oberphalz, Niederbayern, Oberbayern, Schwaben (all from the original Bavaria). Today Bayern is referred to as a bundesland or federal state of Germany. The names Bayern and Bavaria refer to the same place. In 1949, each of the provincial districts was divided into smaller areas equivilent to our counties, each one called a kreis or landkreis. The regions, such as Mittelfranken, are used as administrative districts.

The most notable source of places and boundaries from 1870 to World War I can be found in a German gazetteer, Meyers Orts-und Verkehrs-Lexikon des Deutschen Reichs.Since the Bauers and Hausmanns came to American around 1890, the Meyers-Orts designations are appropriate. For example, the birthplace of Maria Barbara is written as Almoshof, Mittelfranken, Bayern, Germany.

Almoshof was a village located in an agricultural area referred to as Knoblauchsland or "garlic land". Known for raising and selling cabbages, carrots, and kohlrabi, it has been the vegetable garden of Nürnberg. Today, it is on the outskirts of the large city, simply a recreational area near the Nürnberg Airport. The city of Nürnberg is independent and not connected to a county. Nearly destroyed during WWII, it has been rebuilt and has moved way beyond the original walls. The large city has now swallowed up many of the villages that once surrounded it.