Klindt Family Story

Claus Klindt moved from Fahren of Holstein, Germany to Maquoketa Iowa in 1871 with his wife Esther Brockman.  They had their six teenage children with them.  The Franco-Prussian War had started the year before and that might have been the reason for the move.  Their son Wilhelm Klindt would be a farm hand in Iowa and then after marriage in Arkansas.  His five siblings would stay in Iowa for many decades and it was with good fortune that I was finally able to trace the family using their obituaries.

Johann Rödelsperger and his wife Dorothea Luft would move from Hesse State of Germany in 1846 to New York State and then to Michigan.  One of his sons also called Johann Rödelsperger would live in Michigan and then move onto Arkansas.  This second Johann would change his name to John Raedels.  His daughter Cora would marry Wilhelm Klindt in 1896 in Arkansas.  In 1907 they would have a son Fred William Klindt.

James Arwine was born in 1799 in Pennsylvania.  He would marry Mary Ellen Martin in 1822 in Anderson County, Tennessee.  She herself had been born there to North Carolina natives.  Most vital records of the Midwest and West are kept by county and not by town.  There were no towns but just farmland spread throughout the county.  Marriage records would typically not note the names of the parents.  People moved a lot out West seeking better farms and better ranches.  In 1844 David Lively Arwine was born to this couple.  David would fight in the Civil War for 145th Regiment, Indiana Infantry.  After the war he would settle in Tarrant County of Texas.

Henry David Smith and Sarah Ann Murphy would marry in 1867 in Brown County of Indiana.  They had many children including Eliza Annie Smith who was born in 1877 in Indiana.  The family would move to Arkansas and that is where Eliza would marry David Arwine in 1909 in Benton County.  In 1911 they would have a daughter Grace Marie Smith.  There the four families would unite when Fred Klindt and Grace Smith would wed in 1931 in Benton County.  Ruby Klindt would be born to the couple.