Thurston County, Washington Stories
Dickgiesers in Tumwater
My great grandfather came from the village of Langenbrucken (now Bad Schonborn),
which is north of Karlsruhe, Germany. The family departed Hamburg, Germany on 21 Feb 1872.
They crossed on the vessel WESTPHALIA via Harve, France, and arrived in New York
on 8 Mar 1872. On 4 Nov 1872 he
filed his declaration of intent, and on 30 Sep 1880 received his citizenship,
with G. ROSENTHAL & Wm. BILLINGS as witnesses.
He settled in Tumwater with his wife Juliana (TROFF) DICKGIESER and his
6 children: William, Catharina, Harry, Charles, Rosa & Pete. The
DICKGIESER family stayed in the Northwest area.
Marzall DICKGIESER drowned on 28 Jan 1882, when he fell into the Puget
Sound from the Tumwater foot bridge. (Articles: 3 Feb 1882: Puget Sound
Weekly Courier & Washington Standard) and his body was recovered 10 Mar
1882 (Articles: 10 Mar 1882: Washington Standard & Puget Sound Weekly
Courier). In all cases the name was misspelled DEGEASTER, DICKEASER,
DEGEASER, DEGUISER).
Article from Washington Standard 3 Oct 1902: Mrs. Julia DICKGEISER [misspelled]
died suddenly Wednesday night, at the home of her son Charles, in Tumwater,
of heart disease. She was a native of Germany, 67 years of age, and came to this country
with her husband and family early in the [18]70's. They lived for a time on
Bush Prairie. Her husband was accidentally drowned in the bay, falling
from a bridge at night, in the winter of 1882. She leaves seven grown
descendants, all residents of this community.
I have collected quite a
bit of data on the DICKGIESER family, but lack information on their travel adventures coming from
New York to Tumwater with 6 children. (Could anyone direct me to some sources?) At that time
most travel was done by train, and the railhead to Olympia at that time was Tenino.
Albert E. DICKGIESER
Monroe, WA
Story © A.E. Dickgieser, 1996
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