Our immigrant ancestor, Franz Adam KNAPP had a sister, Maria Katharina KNAPP, who was born 23 April 1785. On 28 Nov 1815, she married Johann Adam FABIAN in Furth, Odenwald, Germany.

The couple had six children: an unnamed male baby who lived and died 11 Sep 1815; a daughter, Elisabeth FABIAN, born 22 Sep 1816 who lived only to age four. She died 23 Oct 1820, presumably in Germany.

A  second daughter, Anna Maria FABIAN, was born 3 Jun 1820 in Wald-Erlenbach, Hesse, Germany. She married Nikolaus ZEIS on 28 Nov 1850 and died on 17 Sep 1907. As far as I know, the couple remained in Germany.

A third daughter, and the second girl to be named Elisabeth FABIAN, was born 17 May 1823 in Furth, Odenwald, Germany.With child mortality so high in those days, it wasn’t uncommon to rename babies with the same name until one survived to reach adolescence. This makes for a challenge for genealogists, however.

But back to Elisabeth FABIAN…

According to a website I found, she emigrated to the U.S. aboard a ship named “Garonne” which sailed from Rotterdam to New York, arriving in New York 5 Jun 1844. She was 21 years old. She emigrated with her future husband, Peter Phillip HELFERT from Germany to the U.S.

Elisabeth married Peter Phillip HELFERT about 1847 in Indiana. They lived in Ste. Marie Township, Jasper County, Illinois.

The couple had the following children:

• Margaret HELFERT, born 1848 in Indiana and died Oct 1849 in Jasper, Illinois.
• Maria Elizabeth HELFERT, born Oct 1849 in Gibson, Indiana. She married Isidore WEBER. Maria died 22 Feb 1889 in Jasper, Illinois, at age 39. She is buried in Holy Cross Cemetery in Wendelin, Pixley Twp., Clay County, Illinois. Her husband died 14 Dec 1914 and is also buried in Holy Cross Cemetery. The couple had five children: Mary H., Emma Susanne, Rosena Elisabeth, Charles H. and Frances R. WEBER.
• Bernard HELFERT, born 5 Dec 1850 in Jasper, Illinois. He married Anna Mary MICHL on 28 Jan 1878 in Ste. Marie, Jasper County, Illinois. Together, the couple had four daughters, one of whom died in infancy.
• Mary Gertrude HELFERT was one of a set of twin girls. Mary Gertrude HELFERT, as was her twin sister, Eva, was born 25 March 1852 in Illinois. She married Peter BUERSTER on 7 Oct 1873 in Jasper County, Illinois. Together, the couple had 12 children, two boys and ten girls!
• Eva E. HELFERT was the other half of the set of twin girls in this family. Eva was also born 25 Mar 1852 in Illinois. She died 27 Aug 1869, at age 17, in Ste. Marie, Jasper County, Illinois. I will have to find her death certificate and see why she died at such a young age. It must have been a devastating loss for her twin, Mary.
• Anna C. HELFERT was born in November 1856 in Illinois. She married Andrew PEARSON on 21 July 1878 and the couple had one daughter (as far as I know) named Mary.
• Male HELFERT, who died in infancy.

Peter Phillip HELFERT died in 1862 in Jasper County, Illinois, at the age of 47. He is buried in Old St. Peter’s Cemetery in Jasper County, Illinois.

His wife, Elisabeth FABIAN, remarried several times. She married her second husband, Anthony TURNER, on 9 Aug 1864 in Jasper County, Illinois. She married her third husband, George SCHNEIDER, on 19 Aug 1884, in Richland, Illinois. She died 12 Oct 1906, at the age of 83.