A letter written to Vicki from Nancy Blevins on July 7, 2003
Frederick Koenig/King is Mia’s grandma Bessie’s great-grandpa
Frederick Koenig/King cemetary headstone
I am finally sitting down to write you a brief history of the Koenig/King and Maiers/Myers families or should I say, what I know. I call this is good, the bad and the ugly as all families have their skeletons so I hope you will take the ugly as part of the family history.
To begin, Frederick Koenig had a brother (name unknown) that also came to America. We are not sure whether the brothers came together or seperately. The brother married Mary Ruffer first and they had two children, Nickalus and Elizabeth. We are not sure if the brother and Mary were married in Switzerland or Ohio. The brother died and then Mary Ruffer married Frederick and they had eight children in Defiance County, Ohio before Mary died in 1869.
In the meantime, or should I say down the road in Defiance County, Ohio, was A. Maiers/Myers who had married a Karolina Arnold. I believe I have found when she came to America which was 1854. Haven’t found her family yet but guess that she came with some relatives and/or friends. We don’t know what A. Myers full first name was. My mother says that she has seen it somewhere. It could be Adolf, Albert and so on. I have more work to do to discover his full name. A. Myers fought in the Union Army during the Civil War and later died from either war wounds or more likely sickness contracted during the war.
By this time Frederick and Karolina were both widowed so they married in Ohio in 1870. They had either three or four children. You will notice that I say four children as I am not sure. I have seen copies of Frederick Koenig’s pages from his bible where he lists all the children from his first and second marriages and also his two brothers’ children. There is listed both a Kaderina Koenig and a Katie Davon Koenig. This is another unsolved mystery. Frederick did not take Mary’s first two children to raise with her and also did the same for Karolina’s children. If you add up all the children there were 20 children out of three marriages!
Frederick Koenig/King obituary
Kaderina and Katie appear to have been born in Kansas and not in Ohio so Frederick and Karolina appear to have migrated to Kansas in about 1875 or 1876. The two oldest children appeared to have stayed behind in Ohio. They were married and grown up by the late 1870’s.
Now to the “ugly” part of this history. Basically, Frederick was a real mean bastard as he beat his kids and wife. He was a very “religious” man not necessarily a spiritual man who could spout the bible but was clueless to the fact that he was a hypocrite. Ever notice that not much is talked about Frederick in the family except the basics where he was born, died and where he came from, etc. The following story tells why.
This real life story is well known by enough family members to support its validity. I heard it when I was very young from my mother, aunts, grandfather Charley Myers, as he heard it from his dad Abraham Myers, who was very much a part of this story. Frederick would not allow Karolina to tell her children, particularly the boys when their birth dates were. She had a bible, which he would not allow the children to see because if the boys found out that they were of legal age, they would be able to leave his farm and he wouldn’t have the unpaid help and workers that he desired to keep. Did I forget to mention that dear old Frederick was also cheap? Therefore, my great uncle, John Myers, my great grandfather, Abraham “Abe” Myers and probably William Myers had enough of the physical and I am sure psychological abuse. I say William as there were three Myers siblings that were part of this real life drama and Uncle Charley Myers was too young. We know that Uncle John and Grandpa Abe were two of the men and somewhere the name of the third has been forgotten, at least by my family members.
These young men decided the only way out was to kill Frederick which was not a very carefully thought out or smart move on their part. I can imagine that they responded emotionally to their rather dire situation. Anyway, they trapped Frederick in the barn and were going to kill him. One of these Myers boys came to his senses and realized that it wasn’t a good idea to kill him. Instead, they beat Frederick up and told him that if he ever touched their mother or any of their siblings again they would kill him. Now, I am sure that there were still quite a few of both the Koenig and Myers kids still at home so you can imagine the scene when these young men marched into the house. Imagine telling Karolina what they had done and then asking to see the bible which is what they did. As I understand it, Uncle John and Abe were indeed 21 years or older. I am sure these young men repeated not only to Karolina but also their siblings what they had done and that if Frederick touched them in any way they were to find them. With that the three boys left the farm and were on their own. From what I know, Frederick’s days of beating up his wife and children had come to an end. My mother told me that the three men used to go visit their mother and siblings after they left which I am sure unnerved Frederick but kept him in line.
Now, the good part about this awful story is that the siblings whether Koenig or Myers stayed in contact with each other over the years. Frederick was never mentioned much in my family except to say that he was a mean bastard. Karolina was spoken of in more reverent tones. I can remember my grandfather, Charley talking about his aunts and uncles. Somehow the children were able to go on with their lives and remain involved with each other which is a minor miracle considering that some families have split over a lot less.
As it has often been said, one does not pick one’s family. Hope this has not been too upsetting for you.
Sincerely,
Nancy Blevins
Karolina Koenig/King
