Herman Scherle immigrated to the United States in 1846 at
the age of 35. His father, Franz Anton, had died in 1840. Herman
must have inherited part of the family farm, and he had purchased
other property. When he asked the Ehrenstetten City Council permission
to immigrate, he was refused. He sold off his rather extensive
holdings, but the proceeds did not cover all his debts.
He was denied passports. There were seventy two people immigrating
from Ehrenstetten, and somehow he, his wife, Johanna, and their
five children were able to join them on their exit from Germany.
The immigrants with permission to leave received allotments from
the City Council of Ehrenstetten of potatoes, and other food
stuff for the voyage. 1850 was a period of revolution in Germany,
and these immigrants were leaving the termoil and fighting caused
by the civil wars. They were leaving beautiful, fertile farms,
and it must have been a very difficult decision to sell out and
leave their homeland.
The Ehrenstetten immigrants sailed into New Orleans in 1846.
In 1847 Herman and his family settled in Paewaukee, Wisconsin.
Seven years later he moved to Genessee, Wisconsin where he spent
the remainder of his life. Herman continued to be a farmer, the
one activity he knew best. He and Johanna had seven more children
in the United States.
Herman died in 1877 at the age of 62 years, 11 months. The
following was taken from his obituary:
Mr. Scherle received a common school education such as Germany
then afforded. He had a remarkable tact and love for literature.
He was very well read and posted in history, and seemed as if
he had the history at his finger's end. He had no other profession
than that of farming having been one from boyhood. He greatly
admired nature in her countless forms, and therefore became opposed
to all forms and all varieties of religious beliefs and believed
that the basis of knowledge was in studying nature.
He was a man of a large compassionate heart, never turning
away the poor from his door. He sympathized with the poor and
distressed both in religious and financial sense. He was an honest
man, and believed that honesty was the best policy. No man was
ever cheated by him knowingly for he detested those who would
do anything dishonest. In politics he never took an active part.
At first he was a Democrat, but when the rebellion broke his
sympathies were with the enslaved Negro, and consequently he
joined the Republican party where he remained until the Greely
campaign of 1872 when he joined the reformers and strongly opposed
the Grant administration. Since then he has been conservative.
married Johana Federer Aug 4, 1840. She was born May 7, 1816
Germany.
Children
1(i). William Shirley May 30, 1841 Baden Germany
1(ii). Theodore Shirley Mar 25, 1842 Baden, Germany,
died Oct 10, 1916. He married Mary O'Neal Nov 28, 1872
Paradise Valley, Humboldt Co. Nevada.
1(iii). Henry Shirley May 28, 1843 Baden, Germany,
died Nov 25, 1900 San Francisco, California. He married Amelia
Bussse Oct 23, 1869 Virginia City, Nevada.
1(iv). Mary Theresa Shirley Oct 12, 1844 Baden Germany,
died July 3, 1907 Dayton, Nevada. She married Alexander A. Bowland
Nov 12, 1874 Vivan Mill, Nevada.
1(v). Jane Shirley Feb 7, 1845 Baden Germany, died
Nov 16, 1923 Hebron Illinois. She married Erastus Stanton Libbey
Nov 12, 1871 Carson City, Nevada.
1(vi). Sophia Shirley Oct 11, 1848 Wailesha, Wisconsin,
died Aug 12, 1933 Fullerton, California. She married Robert A.
Cooke Nov 12, 1874 Vivian Mill, Nevada.
1(vii). Louisa Shirley Feb 15, 1850 Waukesha, Wisconsin,
died Mar 29, 1878 Gold Hill, Nevada.
1(viii). Franklin Pierce Shirley Sept 11, 1852 Milwaukee,
Wisconsin, died July 10, 1915 Virginia City, Nevada. He married
Harriet Carrier April 10, 1889 Dayton, Nevada.
1(ix). Victoria Shirley May 10, 1854, ____, died Mar
29, 1933 ____. She married William Colaton.
1(x). Herman D. Shirley Dec 27, 1856___, died
July 10, 1905 Sutro, Nevada.
1(xi). John J. Shirley (Dr.), Dec 27, 1856, died Nov
26, 1945 Sutro, Nevada
1(xii). Henrietta Shirley Jan 11, 1859 Waukesha Wisconsin,
died Jan 24, 1941 Fullerton California.
Herman Anton Scherle