Matthias Trares is first on the transcript of the passenger list of the Ariosto that I wrote about in my previous post. So we’ll begin our discussion with him.

Although we know Matthias emigrated to the United States in 1840, we don’t know the reasons why he left Germany. It could have been due to political unrest, a lack of work, or just the desire to start over in a new country that offered more opportunity.

Some Trares researchers believe that Matthias was conscripted into military service in France. Matthias may have fought in Napoleon’s army. Napoleon Bonaparte’s Russian campaign did not end well, i.e., the battle of Waterloo.

When the Russian campaign ended in disaster and the Napoleonic army returned to France, perhaps Matthias used his mustering out pay to book passage for himself and his family to America. It was good timing, since many of his Hessian neighbors were also making the journey so they could all travel together.

Matthias Trares was born in Feb. 1891 in Darmstadt, Hessen, Germany. He married Elisabeth Katharina Helmling in 1808 in Germany. She was the daughter of Johann Peter and Maria Margaretha (Schäfer) Helmling. The couple had six children:

Matthias Trares owned a farm in Suffield Township, Portage County, Ohio. He first appears on the 1840 U.S. Federal Census in Portage County, Ohio. His wife, Elisabeth, dies on 5 Oct 1865. Matthias then moves in with his son, John Lewis Trares. He lives out the rest of his days as a widower living with John Lewis and family. He is buried in Saint Joseph Catholic Cemetery, Section H2, Row 1, Randolph Township, Portage County, Ohio, along with his wife, Elisabeth, and four of their six children: Agnes, John Lewis, Barbara, and Margaret.

I have written about what happened to John Sebastian Trares here, if you wish to learn more about the Missouri branch of the Trares family. John Sebastian moved west seeking his fortune. He did quite well for himself in Missouri, becoming a pharmacist and a merchant. He must have been the adventurous type, since he is the only member of this family to leave Portage County and go west. All of the other children stayed close to home.

In the table above, notice that Agnes Trares married John F. Knapp, Sr., who was the son of Franz Adam and Eva Elizabeth (Jost) Knapp. Franz Adam Knapp is our immigrant ancestor who donated the land for St. Joseph Catholic Church, cemetery, and school in Randolph, Portage, Ohio.

Agnes’ brother, John Lewis Trares, married Mary Ann “Nancy” Knapp, the daughter of John Adam and Elizabeth (Andes) Knapp. John Adam Knapp was the younger brother of our immigrant ancestor, Franz Adam Knapp.

Agnes and John Lewis Trares’s younger sister, Barbara Trares, married John Adam Kline. John Adam Kline arrived in the U.S. on the same ship (Ariosto) that Barbara did. John Adam and Barbara (Trares) Kline had eight children, one of whom was Henry C. Kline, father of Florence Cora Kline.

Flora Cora Kline was born 19 Feb 1904 in Rootstown, Portage, Ohio. She was the daughter of Henry C. Kline and Elizabeth Klein. She married John Lewis Knapp on 24 Sep 1924 in Portage County, Ohio. John Lewis and Florence (Kline) Knapp had six sons: John Paul, Donald Hubert, Bernard Augustus, Thomas H., Raymond William, and Gary Frederick.

Matthias Trares and some of his descendants are listed in the Birkenhoerdt Project website, as are the Knapps, Mays, etc: https://www.birkenhoerdt.net/getperson.php?personID=I79002