It was in the small village of Vieux-Lixheim, Lorraine, France that Antoine JACOB was born on Saturday, February 14, 1824. He was the 2nd son and the 2nd youngest of 7 children born to Jean-Thiébault JACOB and Jeannette SCHULER: Georges, Marguerite-Jeannette, Barbara, Catherine, Marguerite, Antoine, & Catherine-Josephine. Jeannette SCHULER was from the nearby village (4 miles) of Eich, which is now part of the town of Réding, nearly a northeast suburb of the city of Sarrebourg, France. There were several well-known and famous people from this area of Lorraine, including St. Joan of Arc and Pope Leo IX. Lorraine is the home of Quiche Lorraine and the Cross of Lorraine. The people of this area of Alsace-Lorraine speak both French and German, and back in the day, they spoke the Luxembourgisch & Alemanisch dialects, which are closer to German than French. You’ll see their names spelled differently in both languages. As an example, Antoine in French, Anton in German, Thiebault in French, Theobald in German. Close to the Vosges Mountains and the Verdun Forest, the area markets itself as the “best of everything German and French” in Europe. Lorraine borders Alsace, Belgium, Luxembourg and Germany, including Aachen, Germany, where the remains of Charlemagne were believed to have been enshrined in the year 814.

Antoine’s father (whose German nickname was Diebold or Diepold) died in 1829 when Antoine was 5 years old, and an older sister, 19-year old Catherine died the following year on November 1, 1837. Six months later, 14-year old Antoine, his mother, and 4 remaining sisters travelled across northern France to the port of LeHavre, where they boarded the ship “Albany”, leaving for America. They arrived in New York City on June 7, 1838. Their oldest brother Georges JACOB remained in France, but their aunt Marguerithe JACOB and her husband Georges MARTZLOFF soon came to America. Eleven months later, the family was at the wedding of their sister Barbara “Barbe” JACOB to Felix MAURATH at the Old Cathedral in St. Louis, which had been built and dedicated just 4 years earlier in 1834, the year that Felix’s family had arrived in America. Through family legend, it’s believed that the two families knew each other back in Europe, as Felix’s home village of Unzhurst, just across the border in Germany, was only about 45 miles east of the JACOB family home in Vieux-Lixheim, Lorraine, France. After arriving in New York, the JACOB family travelled to Ohio, and then on to St. Clair County, Illinois and across the Mississippi River to St. Louis, MO.

The JACOB family ended up living with Felix and Barbara MAURATH in St. Louis until they were all married and on their own. Barbara died in childbirth in 1842, and Felix married her younger sister, Catherine Josephine JACOB in 1844. Sadly, by the year 1870, their mother Jeannette (aka Johanna, Anna or Hanna in German) JACOB ended up in a home for the “aged & infirm” in St. Louis.

Antoine came to be called Anton, Anthony and Tony. Somewhere along the way, his surname of JACOB came to be misspelled as JACOBS. He had been trained as a tailor by the well-known “Tailor Klein” in St. Louis, and then as a tinsmith, silversmith and metal worker. When he was 21 years old, he joined the US Army at Jefferson Barracks during the Mexican War on May 15, 1846, and was a member of Captain Nicholas Wochner’s Company E (Missouri Fusileers), Colonel Easton’s 1st Regiment Infantry, St. Louis Legion, Missouri Volunteers, with a subsequent reenlistment in the Cavalry (Mounted Infantry). Between enlistments, he used his Bounty Land Warrant in 1847 to apply for 40 acres of land in Clinton County, Illinois. He was described as having dark hair, dark eyes and dark complexion. He was mustered out at Jefferson Barracks in October, 1848. After the war, Anton was often seen walking the streets of St. Louis, proudly wearing his uniform with his cavalry sabre at his side. On February 15, 1850 at age 26, he became a Naturalized Citizen in St. Louis along with his brother-in-law Jean-Baptiste ROHR (married to Marguerite Jeannette, aka Johanna), whose family was also from the same area of Lorraine, France. Soon after, Anton ventured to California for the Gold Rush (then known as the “gold fever”), and he lived and mined in Township 1 of Tuolumne County, California.

Anton came back home to St. Louis around 1853. He married Barbara Anna GERARDI, who had been a servant for his oldest sister, Marguerite “Jeannette” (aka Johanna in German) JACOB-ROHR. The Rohr family soon moved to Millstadt, Illinois, as did the Maurath family later on in 1864.

Barbara GERARDI was born June 9, 1832 in Rheinbach, Westfalen, Germany, located just a few miles southwest of the former German capital of Bonn. Just a few miles further west is the shrine of “Charlemagne” in Aachen Cathedral, Germany. Barbara was the daughter of Heinrich GERARDI and Elisabeth FALKENSTEIN.

On Sunday, January 8, 1854, Anton and Barbara were married in St. Vincent DePaul Catholic Church in Soulard (St. Louis) by Father Johann Gerhard UHLAND, and they had their wedding reception party across the street from the back of the Church at the home of his brother-in-law, Felix MAURATH, which was also Anton’s home at the time. St. Vincent DePaul Catholic Church, built in 1844, still stands to this day, and can be seen along Interstate 55 as one travels south on that highway from downtown St. Louis. Anton and Barbara came back to St. Vincent DePaul to have their first few children baptized there, after moving away from St. Louis.

Anton and Barbara moved to Carlyle, Clinton County, Illinois in 1854, where they spent the remainder of their lives. In May, 1855, he again used his Bounty Land Warrant (awarded to him for his service in the Mexican War) to apply for an additional 120 acres of land in Clinton County. The family of 12 lived on E. Fairfax St. in Carlyle. Anton had remained in the hardware and tinware business after settling in Carlyle, and eventually went into partnership with William S. MARRIOTT, as “stove and tinware manufacturers”.

Anton JACOB’s best friend was a young man from his home village of Vieux-Lixheim, Lorraine, France by the name of Anton “Anthony” HUBERT, well-known in the history of Carlyle. Anton Hubert had come to America around 1840 with some of his brothers, and after first coming to St. Louis, he moved to Belleville, Illinois and then to Clinton County around 1842. He came back to Belleville around 1849 to get married, and then settled in Carlyle. Hubert’s daughter Kate married Fred Schlafly, a brother of August Schlafly, whose descendants are the founders of Schlafly Beer in St. Louis. The Schlafly (originally Schlaefli) family had come from Solothurn, Switzerland. Interesting that these best friends from Vieux-Lixheim, Anton Jacob and Anton Hubert, ended up in Carlyle together. They recalled that their fondest memory as boys in their home village, was making their First Holy Communion together (St. Adelphe Parish). They were close neighbors in Vieux-Lixheim and in Carlyle, and remained close life-long friends, living only about a block from each other.

Anton JACOB / JACOBS died at his home 731 E. Fairfax St. in Carlyle on Monday, June 25, 1883 and wife Barbara died 32 years later on August 8, 1915. They are buried in Section G, Row 18, Graves 33 & 34 in St. Mary’s Catholic Cemetery, Carlyle, Clinton County, Illinois. Most of their children are also buried in St. Mary’s.

Ten Children were born to Anton and Barbara JACOB (dates are approximate):

NOTE: The Anton JACOB family is not to be confused with the family of Jacob & Dora JACOBS who also lived in Carlyle at the same time, but were not related in any way. Jacob & Dora JACOBS had come from Germany, and also had children named Elisabeth, George, Johanna, Dory and Emma. Nor is the Anton JACOB family to be confused with Sadie & William H. JACOBS, son of James Jacobs from Nigbee, MO.

ALSO NOTE: Several families from the village of Vieux-Lixheim, Lorraine, France had settled in and around Carlyle and St. Louis, including: Ackermann, Hubert, Jacob, Martzloff, Rohr, Schuler, Weissrock (Wisrock), and others.

Whoever uses any info from this bio, please give credit to John Maurath and to the Clinton County, IL usgenweb site.

Submitted by: John L. Maurath

Click on the letters below to see an index of obituaries starting with that letter