The full page-view and detail below are photographs from the church books from the German Evangelical Protestant Church of Newark. Please see the marriage record of his brother for more details. Item number 140 records the marriage on July 16, 1854, of Friedrich Ecker, single, whose occupation looks suspiciously like goldsmith here, from Calw in Würtemberg and who is 25 years old; to Barbara Bohnenberger, single, of uncertain occupation, also from Würtemberg, and who is 31 years old. The witnesses are Johann somebody and Johann Fisher. The Bohnenberger family was a prominent one in Unterreichenbach and it is likely that the families knew each other even if the married couple did not. Recall too that the maiden name of Friedrich's mother Jullianna Rosina was also Fisher. It is clear that there was a considerable emigration out of that area of Germany. The family connections there would have been replicated here. Friedrich was the oldest of the four Ecker brothers who came to America. I do not know the immigration dates of the others, but William came over in 1854 as well. He seems to have had a close relationship with Friedrich and it is quite possible that he lived with this brother. Peter Hasselbacher |
