A Genealogy Biography by Laura Stolk, 2019
Louisa Holtgreive was born in Königreich Hannover (the Kingdom of Hanover) in the year 1863. Her parents were Frederick Joseph Holtgreive (Fred) and Elizabeth Schawe (Lizzie).
Louisa’s mother had eight children in all, but only Louisa and her two brothers, Henry, and Frederick, survived childhood. Those three children gave her and their father twenty-five grandchildren. Though many children in those days died young of illness or accident, by the time Fred and Lizzie were living out their old age in the next century, they were surrounded by many loved ones.
Louisa’s father was a farmer who was also a skilled carpenter and notorious for his strength. They lived in the northern part of present-day Germany.
In 1871, the Kingdom of Hanover was conquered by Prussia and Hanover became a state in the German Empire. Louisa was seven years old. When the empire was being formed, there was much unrest. People began emigrating to avoid the draft, to escape the antiquated caste system, and to find work and opportunity in a trade industry.
In 1884, when Louisa was twenty years old, the family migrated to the United States. Louisa traveled with her younger brother, Frederick, and their parents. Her older brother, Henry, followed separately a couple of years later.
They left Bremen, a port city on the river Weser, which led to the North Sea. The
Holtgreive family’s journey began by first getting to Bremen. Their exact origin is not yet known, we just know that they lived “near Hanover”. So, they could have walked, traveled by cart, steamboat or train to get to the port. Once there, they likely had to wait for some time before actually boarding their ship.
The ship was the SS. Ems. It was the second voyage for this ship. After about seventeen days at sea, it arrived in New York City on Friday, June 13, 1884. The ship would have come into port and passed the Statue of Liberty on its left. The passengers would have waited upon the ship for approval to disembark and then they were processed through immigration at Castle Garden, which was across the bay from Ellis Island, where the operation was later moved.
There is an immigration record at Castle Garden that confirms the information found in the passenger log for the ship. It shows Joseph, Elisa, Louisa and Frederick Holtgrewe, their ages, and perspective occupations.
On the date of their arrival, there was a slight incident at Castle Garden:
Louisa, Frederick H. who was fifteen, and their parents, Joseph Frederick and Elizabeth who were forty-nine and forty-five, made their way west to Cincinnati, Ohio. There was a very good network for railroads, which is likely how they came.
Cincinnati was the largest city in Ohio. Many immigrants from Germany were, and had been, moving to this area. Woodworking was one of the major industries there and Louisa’s father was listed as a carpenter the year following his arrival to Cincinnati, even though his passenger record had indicated his occupation as “farmer”. Also, he went by Frederick or Frederick J., henceforth.
There are some issues with verifying Louisa’s brother, Henry, in immigration. We know that he migrated in 1885, but there are two possible people in the records that could be him. It boils down to this:
- Either he was the Henry Holtgrewe who migrated from Germany sometime during or before 1886 and stayed in New York for a short time at 323 E 43rd St., while working as a saloon keeper. He then naturalized in New York on October 6th, 1886, with Herman Fricke, a tailor, as a witness. The same year, 1886, he came to Cincinnati. (dob = 1862, exact age match)
- Or he was the Henry Holtgrewe who left Amsterdam on August 2nd and arrived in New York on August 18th 1885 or 1886, where the passenger record was lost. He then came to Cincinnati and naturalized there on November 5, 1887, when his migration was recorded twice, once for 1885 and once for 1886. (No age indication.)
Though the exact migration record cannot be pinned down, Henry Holtgrewe was Louisa’s brother and this is verified by the close proximity in which they lived, sometimes even the exact address, and by the fact that his parents and her parents are verified with the same names and dates of birth. Henry Holtgrewe would later become notorious as the Cincinnati Strongman. He was a saloon keeper and known for his feats of strength and miraculous accomplishments.
When Louisa’s family came to Cincinnati, there were several people with the same or similar surname. The variation in spelling included: Holtgrewe, Holtgrefe, Holtgrieve, Holdgrieve and so on. The families can be distinguished by the spelling of their surname in the Cincinnati Williams’ Street Directory compared with the street of residency and occupation. Below is a brief synopsis of the main families in Cincinnati with this surname. Louisa belonged to the family in the last description. (See Williams Street Directory Images at end.) It’s possible that all of the families were related in some way. They shared the same or similar occupations, streets, and first names:
1873-1880, David Street, Holtgreive: One family was that of Herman Holtgreive. He was a stonecutter. He and his wife, Elizabeth, lived on David Street with their son, Henry J., who was also a stonecutter. Herman died in 1874 and his wife and son continued to live at 91 David for sixteen years following Herman’s death.
1873-1895, Wilstach Street, Holtgrewe: Another family was Herman Holtgrewe, his wife, Mary, and their children, Lizzie, Henry, and Emma. They
lived on Wilstach Street for many years. Their occupations were porter, clerk, tailoress, and dressmaker.
1874-1890, West Liberty, Holtgrewe: A third family was that of Herman Holtgrewe. He married Louisa and they had a daughter, also named Louisa. This Herman was a stonecutter, too. They lived on West Liberty Street. His daughter, Louisa, was a Milliner (hat maker), who married William Steinriede and had a daughter named Louella.
(Bernard Amshoff lived on this same street before he married.)
1876-1898, Sherman Avenue: Catherine Holtgrewe (widow) moved from her son’s house and lived with her two daughters on Sherman Avenue. Elizabeth was a seamstress and Emma was a scholar (age 12). (Bernard and Louisa lived on this street twice.)
1883, Mulberry Street, Holtgrewe: Frank Holtgrewe lived with his wife, Maria (nee Leonard), with their son, George, on Mulberry Street.
1885-1912, Linn Street, then Denham Street, Holtgreife/Holtgrewe: Frederick J. Holtgreife, his wife, Elizabeth (nee Schawe), and their children, Henry, Louisa and Fred H., lived on Linn Street. Addresses over the years included: 106, 226, 228, 230, 294, 311, and 322. In 1890, they moved to Denham Street and the addresses included: 158, 160, 167, 185, 1782, 1784, and 1787. vi
A year after arriving in Cincinnati, Louisa Holtgrewe married Bernard Amshoff. He had migrated from Neinborg, Westfalen, Germany (Prussia) in 1881. Bernard was a cabinet maker, as were Louisa’s father and, later, younger brother. Curiously, once Bernard came to Cincinnati he moved to a new address nearly every year; some years he moved twice.
Bernard first lived at 10 Donnersberger in 1882. In 1883 he lived at 64 Main Street. In 1884 he lived at the northeast corner of Hopkins and Freeman.
The couple married on November 11, 1885, in St. Joseph’s Church, located on the corner of Linn and Laurel Streets. This church had German-speaking clergy. The church was torn down in 1890 to make way for road expansion.
In the years to come, Louisa had seven children. She and Bernard moved frequently, sometimes living with Louisa’s parents or brothers, and always in close proximity to her family.
When they first married, they lived at 14 Sherman Avenue. A year later, they lived at 550 West Liberty.
In September of 1886, Louisa and Bernard welcomed their first child, Catherine Mary Amshoff. At this time they lived at 80 Flint Street.
They moved to 9 Florence Street and then 226 Linn Street in 1888. This was the first year Louisa’s brother, Henry, appeared in Cincinnati. He was a waiter and lived at 294 Linn Street with his mother, father and brother. Louisa had her second child, another little girl.
In 1889, they still lived at 226 Linn Street. Linn Street was located near the riverfront on the west side of downtown. The address 230 Linn Street is common to all members of this family at some point and was also the address for the Occidental Athletic Club. This was a wrestling arena and older brother, Henry, owned a saloon located at this address.
In 1890, Bernard and Louisa lived at 158 Denham St. in North Fairmount. They had a baby boy, but he died of croup after only a day. On that same day, their daughter, Elizabeth, died. Both children are buried at St. Joseph’s Cemetery.1
Seven months later, Bernard and Louisa were at 230 Linn Street and baby Rose was born on November 29, 1890.
Another year later, in 1892, they were back in Fairmount at 160 Denham Street. William
Frederick Amshoff was born on 11-25-1892. Henry J. Amshoff was born on 11-15-1894.
In the mid-1890’s, Louisa’s brother, Henry, was becoming notorious in Cincinnati. At first, he was known as the West Side Hercules. He wrestled and lifted weights. Once his strength became known, he began lifting other things – once the entire Reds Baseball Team. He often used his strength to help people and was in the newspaper continuously for things such as rescuing a carriage from the railroad tracks, thwarting a would-be murderer from attacking his victim, and stopping a robbery in progress by knocking the heads of the robbers together. His wife was Christina Foppe. They had seven girls and three boys.
Louisa’s other brother, Fred, was married to Anna Goeding. They had seven children. Fred was a carpenter, as were their father and Louisa’s husband. Fred usually lived with his parents. In 1894, he was listed at a separate address for the first time.
In 1895 Bernard and Lousia still lived at 160 Denham Street. There was someone new listed at their address: J. Bernard Amshoff. It is suspected that this was Bernard’s older brother.
Louisa’s father lived next door at 158 Denham. He was listed as J. Frederick, for the first time. Usually, he was just called Frederick. This coincides with their migration record which stated Joseph Holtgrewe. Henry was at 415 Central and Fred was on Carll Street.
Bernard and Louisa continued to live on Denham Street until 1898. There had been a city ordinance in 1896, which caused house numbers to change. So, their new number was 1784.
Louisa had another baby. They named him Bernard, but he died on October 3, 1897.
In 1898, Bernard and Louisa and their four children moved to 1121 Sherman Avenue.
In 1899, they moved to 2558 Trade Street, and this is where Louisa died. She was only 36 years old when she passed on a Thursday near midnight. Her cause of death was blood poisoning, which resulted from a retained placenta. The death rate for this period was very high, despite the many advances that were being made.
Louisa’s oldest child, Catherine (Katie), was thirteen when her mother died. Rosa was eight. William was seven and Harry was five
Bernard remarried quickly – within a few months – to Josephine Sund Pielage. Josephine was 29 and Bernard was 41. Josephine was also a widower. She had lost her husband, Herman, in 1895, on the day before Christmas. He had been a blacksmith and he died of pneumonia. Josephine and her first husband had lost two children when they were very young. When she married Bernard, Josephine had an eight-year-old son named Bernard Pielage, so he was the same age as Rose.
In the years to come, Bernard and Josephine had two children together. John Bernard Amshoff was born in 1901 and Josephine Amshoff was born in 1909.
In 1907, Louisa’s parents celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary.
Their father died in 1909 when he was 67 and her mother died in 1920 at the age of 83.
Louisa’s brother, Henry Holtgrewe continued to achieve notoriety. Sadly, he died on
New Year’s Day 1917. He was only 55. Below is a collection of articles about Henry Holtgrewe, the Cincinnati Strongman.
Louisa’s four children lived on to have families of their own and many descendants still live in the Cincinnati area.
The pictures of the Amshoff family are courteously of a descendant and many thanks for sharing!
https://www.libraries.uc.edu/content/dam/libraries/arb/docs/naturalization/hc-citizenship-f-k.pdf
2 Possible Naturalization Records for Henry Holtgrewe
Newspapers.com can be searched for all available Henry Holtgrewe articles.
The saloon was located at 6th and Sycamore. This is where the Red Fox is located today.
1930 Of Note: Frederick lives in between two Birck families. His niece, Hilda, Henry’s daughter, married Otto Birck. Looks like Bertha Holtgrewe, Frederick’s daughter married Harry Birck.
Comparison of Williams Street Directory Entries for Holtgrewe and Amshoff:
| 1874 |
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| 1877 |
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| 1878 |
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| 1879 |
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| 1880 |
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| 1881 |
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| 1882 |
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| 1883-1886 |
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| 1887-1890 |
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| 1891-1893 |
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| 1894-96 |
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| There was a city ordinance in 1896 regarding renumbering of house numbers. |
| 1897 |
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1The verification for this is based upon the address and assumed typo on the death record, which reads 185 Denham Street. This appears to be a transcription error. To convolute this further, a 1 month old girl by the name of Elizabeth Amshoff died on the same day. There is no address given for Elizabeth and her parents aren’t listed. Their child that was born on 10-30-1888 was a female who died before 1900. This was probably Elizabeth, which means there was also an error on her burial record, which states 1 month old. This means that two of Louisa’s children died on the same day. St. Joseph’s cemetery may have further information, however only one child, Elizabeth, is listed on their burial records, even though the boy’s death card states St. Joseph’s Cemetery as the place of burial.
2This was probably Bernard’s brother. He usually went by the name Barney. He was a laborer. There was mention of a Jos. Amshoff way back in 1874. He was later called Barney Amshoff and worked at Evers and A Co. This Barney Amshoff also lived in Fairmount. His occupations through the years were cattle dealer, servant, driver and dairy hand. He was a teamster. Evers and A. was perhaps a dairy farm owned by a man named Bernard Evers. He also lived with Herman and Elisabeth Kruse in some instances. In the 1880 census his date of birth is found to be 1849. There is also a Catherine Amshoff, who was a domestic and lived with Barney in Fairmount. After J. Bernard is listed at the same address as Bernard and Louisa, he is not listed until the 1920 census when he is again at Bernard’s address. It’s possible that J. Bernard (a.k.a. Barney) was married to Catherine and he was Bernard’s brother. (Later, in 1901, Bernard had a son and named him John Bernard Amshoff.)