Please if you would like more information, or if some of these people look familiar to you.
Henry (Johann Henrich) Hobein, a shoemaker, came from Werkel (today, part of Fritzlar ca. 25 miles southwest of Kassel), Hesse-Kassel to the USA, sometimes during the 1850s. (He is probably not the Heinrich Hobein who came aboard the ship Ammerland in 1852.) He lived in Chicago, IL, from 1858 to at least 1886. After his arrival he later sent for his mother, Catherine (or Katharina) to join his family in the USA (ship Atlantic, arrived in New York on June 16, 1865, from Bremen).
Henry had four sisters who lived to adulthood (two each of the same name!), but no surviving brothers. One of the sisters, Catherine (1828-1908), married Johann Georg Eberting (1818-1869). Their descendants can be found in Henry County, Missouri. Another sister, Anna Elisabeth (1830-1860), married Adam Heppe (1826-1866). This couple died in Germany, whereas two other sisters, Catherine Elisabet (1832-?) and Anna Elisabet (1837-1919), are said to have come to the U.S. The church books in Werkel did not have marriage or death records for either of them. Anna Elisabeth is known to have been living in Chicago from at least 1868, and she was married to Georg Friedrich Lutz (1832-1906). Their oldest daughter was born in Louisiana around 1858, according to census records.
The Hobein family is Protestant.
In 1859, Henry married Lydia Needham (see below), with whom he had two children: Henry Charles (1860-1937), and Elizabeth (1868), who died as an infant. Lydia also died around that time, possibly from complications of giving birth.
He subsequently married Anna Louise Bollman (Bollmann?), with whom he had another daughter, Emma (1869-1870), and three more sons: Walter Frederick (b.1870), Leopold Richard (b.1872), and Lincoln Washington Albert (1874-1875). I found baptismal records for all these children except Walter at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Chicago. I found the death record for Emma at that church, but have not found a death record for Lincoln Washington Albert.
In late 1874, Anna filed for divorce, which was granted despite Henry's vehement protests. After Lincoln Washington Albert died, Henry got custody of Walter and Leopold. However, in the fall of 1876, Anna kidnapped the 2 boys and disappeared without a trace. Henry Charles, who sided with his stepmother in the divorce proceedings, is thought to have assisted Anna with the kidnapping. He is known to have visited Peru as an adult, and one of my aunts thought he went there to visit his brother.
After the divorce, Henry started to exhibit mental problems, and some of his more bizarre escapades are mentioned in the Chicago Daily Tribune: On May 6, 1879 he threatened to kill his ex-wife's lawyer (headline "More Emotional Madness — A Shoemaker Wants to Shoot Col. Juessen"), and on May 4, 1881 the newspaper proclaims "In Hard Luck — An Insane Shoe-Dealer Visited by Burglars", except that the burglars he shot his gun at were imaginary. (Ironically, his store was then burglarized while he was locked up in the police station.)
After that, the details about Henry Hobein become murky: Catherine (his mother), Lydia, Elizabeth, and Henry Charles are all buried at Rosehill Cemetary in Chicago, but Henry is not. He is listed in Chicago city directories 1859-1886. A family story says that he moved to Kansas City, MO, and opened a store there, then was murdered in the "early 1900s," while trying to apprehend a burglar who had broken into the store. (Of course, this could have arisen from a confusion with the 1881 burglary affair.) I have not found him on the 1900 Kansas City census. However, a Henry Hobein/Hobin, shoemaker is listed in Kansas City directories for 1887 and 1888. A Henry Hobein, age 58, died on July 26, 1888, at City Hospital, Jackson Co., MO (the county that contains Kansas City), of a skull fracture. There is a high likelihood that the Kansas City Henry Hobein is my ancestor. I would like to know of any documents that prove or disprove the connection.
Also, any further information about his sister Catherine Elisabet, his wives, and about any descendants of Walter and Leopold would be appreciated.
With the help of a professional genealogist ( for a referral), I have found out a lot more about the Hobein family in Hesse-Kassel. The family name was frequently spelled Hohbein in the German records.
Mrs. Lieselotte Habenicht of Deute has been successful in finding records of the Euler/Eulert branch (ancestors of Henry's mother), and I am very grateful for her help.
The family is distantly related to the three brothers, Samuel, Dittmar, and Adam Hohbein, who settled around Harbine, Nebraska, and Bismarck, North Dakota. The common ancestor is 256. Johann Jacob Hohbein. See the website of Michael Wiest for details on that branch.
There is no known connection to the Hobein families originating from Hameln near Hannover, and whose descendents are concentrated near St. Louis (both, in Missouri and on the Illinois side) and Barrington (IL).
In most Hessian records the family name is spelled "Hohbein". The "h" was gradually dropped after immigration to the United States, but other spelling variants can be found in American records. However, there never was an "l" in the name (as in the famous Renaissance painter). The name is still pronounced in the German way, i.e., the "ei" is pronounced as in "Eisenhower".
I have recently been able to connect Henry's first wife, Lydia Needham, with her parents. The family of the shoemaker Arnold Needham and his wife Judith occurs on the 1841 census in St. Peter-Port, Guernsey, English Channel Islands, transcribed by Lorna Pratt. They crossed the Atlantic Ocean aboard the ship Evans from London, arriving in New York Harbor on June 21, 1852. The oldest daughter, Maria Ann (ca.1830-1891) is not listed as a ship passenger even though she eventually died in Chicago, but the immigrant children are: Amelia Judith (ca.1833-?), Lydia (1836-1868), Arnold Thomas (ca.1838-?), Albert John (ca.1840-?), Adolphus (ca.1845-?), and Edwin (ca.1849-?). The family is indicated to be born on Guernsey, according to the 1841 census, except for the father Arnold who is said to be born elsewhere in England.
ARNURIUS, AUEL, BOLLMAN, BORNKESSEL, EBERTING, ECKHARD, EULER/EULERT, FLIGHT, FREISE, GODOW, GRENTZEBACH, HAHN, HAWKINS, HEPPE, HOBEIN/HOHBEIN, HOCHSTETTER, LANGLOIS, LINDEMANN, LUTZ, MOMBERG, NEEDHAM, SANDMUELLER, SAUR, STIEBIG, STURMER, WASMUTH.
Mary Hobein, Woodridge, IL, USA. E-mail:
This page prepared by Urs Geiser. Last updated April 25, 2007