Heinrich (Henry) and Caroline emigrated from Hummendorf, located 70 miles north of Nuremberg in the Kingdom of Bavaria to the U.S. in c. 1840 with their three sons John c. 1836, Paul c. 1832 , and George Christopher. Henry was born in c.1810 and died in June 1878 and Caroline was born c. 1810 and her death is unknown. The Bauer family first shows up on Dutch Broadway in Fosters Meadow on an 1859 Wallinger map of the area. The map has the Bauer farm listed under the name “Bowers”.
George C. Bauer was born in October 1839 in Bavaria and Eva Barbara Kiesel was born in August 1846. They were married in c. 1867 and they had five sons and two daughters. Barbara emigrated with her parents John Conrad Kiesel and Maria Margartha Kocker from the Kingdom of Bavaria (See Kiesel family in website under History, Kiesel). George and his father, Henry were farmers on twenty one acres in Fosters Meadow. George continued working the family farm with three of his sons after his father passed away.
The Bauer family was actively involved in the original 1865 German Presbyterian St. Paul’s Church of Fosters Meadow. The church was known as St. Paul’s Presbyterian Church and was officially rededicated when rebuilt on September 4, 1904 as the St. Paul’s German Presbyterian Church. Today, St. Paul‘s is known as the Presbyterian Church of Elmont. Henry and Caroline were admitted as members of St. Paul’s Church in November 1870. Henry was elected as an elder in December 1871 and served for several years. George was admitted to St. Paul’s Church in May of 1866 and Eva Barbara was admitted in Nov 1865 and was a founding member. George was a church Elder in 1904 and did some carpentry work on the parsonage in July of 1904. Barbara was involved with the Ladies Society at St. Paul’s and was Vice President of the society in May of 1907. George and family donated a stained glass window (Photo of window in website under Gallery, St Paul’s Church) for the new St. Paul’s Church completed in 1905. George passed away in June of 1919 and Eva Barbara passed away in May of 1908. George is buried at the Lutheran Cemetery in Elmont (per death certificate) and Eva Barbara is buried at the Elmont Cemetery Elmont (per death certificate) New York.
The children of George and Barbara are as follows.
I - Margarethe (Maggie) Eva Bauer
Maggie was born in Fosters Meadow in c. 1867 and was murdered on August 14, 1876. She was eight years, nine months old at the time of her murder. The Brooklyn Daily Eagle newspaper reported that the assailant was captured in October of 1876 and confessed to the murder of Maggie. He was tried in February 1877 and pleaded guilty on the last day of his trial to second degree murder. Judge Armstrong, in pronouncing sentence, said to the prisoner: “The life of a little girl, who did you no harm, was taken by you, and nothing but the condition of your own mind and the doubt whether all your confessions could be submitted to the jury have saved you from the sad penalty which the law affixes to murder in the first degree. You gave yourself up to courses which led you to the commission of crime, and you are now to be banished forever from society. The sentence of the court is that you be imprisoned in the State Prison at Sing Sing, at hard labor, for the remainder of your natural life.” The Brooklyn Daily Eagle lists Maggie’s burial at the German Lutheran Church in Fosters Meadow, New York.
II - John Conrad Bauer
John was born in Fosters Meadow February 1871 and on died on 19 September 1896. He was 25 years old
. No additional information is available.
III - Henry George Bauer
Henry was born in May of 1873 in Fosters Meadow and Clara L. Hartford (Known as Annie) was born
c. 1883. They were married in October 1906 in Brooklyn by Henry’s brother the Rev. Christopher Bauer,
Pastor of the First German Presbyterian Church in Jamaica, New York. Henry worked the family farm with
his father and his brothers George Jr., Tony and George’s son Herbert. Henry and George's son
Herbert worked the truck farm into the 1940’s. Henry was elected as a church trustee of the St. Paul’s
Presbyterian Church at the member’s annual meeting in 1902. As a trustee he was actively involved with the
building of the New St. Paul’s Presbyterian Church in 1904-1905. Henry was first elected as a school board
member of the Union Free School District No. 16 in May of 1900. He served the Elmont School District No.
16 for 48 years and retired from the board in May of 1948. Henry’s service to the Union Free School District
No. 16 is acknowledged on a plaque in the Elmont School lobby on Elmont Road. Henry was also a
member of the local Republican Club. Henry Bauer served with the Belmont Hook and Ladder Company
No. 1from 1907 to 1934. Henry passed away at his residence in Elmont N.Y. in November of 1958 and
Clara passed away between 1912 and 1915. Burial locations are unknown.
IV - Christopher Bauer
Christopher was born in Fosters Meadow in October 1875 and Alice May Bickler was born in May 1876.
They were married at the First German Presbyterian Church in Bloomfield, New Jersey in November
1898 by the Rev. Henry Seibert. (See wedding photo in website under archives, marriage photographs);.
They had a daughter and two sons. Edith Olive May, Harold Christopher, and George Daniel Lloyd.
Christopher Bauer graduated from the German Theological School of Newark, New Jersey in May 1892
along with his classmate Augustus C. Espach (Rev. Espach became Pastor of St. Paul’s Church, Elmont,
N.Y. from 1903-1938).
He served in the following churches throughout his lifetime.
1 German Presbyterian Church in Manchester, New Hampshire from the spring 1898 to the spring of 1900.
2 German Presbyterian Church Meyersville, New Jersey from May 1900 to the fall of 1905.
3 First German Presbyterian Church in Jamaica, New York from the fall of 1905 until December of 1907.
4 Superintendent of the German Deaconess Home and Hospital, Cincinnati, Ohio from
February 1908 to June 1910.
5 Bethany Reformed Church located in Clara City, Minnesota from the fall of 1910 Fall to 1927.
6 His final church was the New Brooklyn Reformed Church in Ocean Hill, New York. Rev. Bauer served there from 1927 until his death in 1932. Alice May passed away at St. Mary’s Hospital at Rochester Minnesota in September 1926. Rev. Bauer is buried at the Fairmount Cemetery at Chatham, New Jersey and Alice is buried at the Bloomfield Cemetery, Bloomfield, New Jersey.
V - George Bauer Jr
George Jr. was born in Fosters Meadow in September 1877 and Wilhelmina (Minnie) David was born
in c. 1884 and was from Windheim in the Kingdom of Prussia. George and Minnie were married
in February 1909. The wedding ceremony was officiated by the Rev. Augustus Espach and took place at
St. Paul’s Presbyterian Church in Elmont, New York (See wedding photo in website under archives,
marriage photographs). Minnie immigrated to the United States with her family in 1892 from Germany
on board the S.S. Elbe. George and Minnie had three children, Carl Ernst George, Louise Eleanor and
Herbert Henry. George worked on the family truck farm with his father and his brothers Henry and Tony.
George served as an elder at the St. Paul’s Presbyterian Church in Elmont from March 1907 to March 1921.
George was one of the founding members of Belmont Hook and Ladder Company No. 1 in 1905 and served
until 1934. He was a First Trustee and also served as the treasurer in 1908. George’s son Herbert became
an attorney and practiced law from the Bauer farm on Dutch Broadway after graduating Washington and
Lee University in 1936. Louise married Alfred N. Krummenacker in 1934. George died in 1937 and Minnie
died in 1975. George and Minnie are buried at the Greenfield Cemetery in Uniondale, New York.
VI - Anton Albert (Anthony or Tony) Bauer
Tony was born in Fosters Meadow in April 1880 and Louise Sophia David was born in c. 1889 and was
from Windheim in the Kingdom of Prussia. They were married in December 1911. They had a son named
Albert George born in 1916. Louise immigrated to the United States with her family in 1892 from Germany
on board the S.S. Elbe. Tony helped work on the Bauer truck farm with his father and brothers into
the 1930’s and later went to work at the high school as a custodian.Tony secured the contract to carry
the Elmont mail in February 1905 and became the local mailman. Tony Bauer was one of the founding
members of the Belmont Hook and Ladder Company No. 1 in 1905 and served until 1934. Tony’s son
Albert became a mechanic and was living on the farm on Dutch Broadway in 1940. Tony died in 1968
and Louise died in 1983. Anton and Louise are buried at the Greenfield Cemetery in Uniondale, New York.
VII - Elenora F. (Known as Nellie) Bauer
Nellie was born in Fosters Meadow in March 1883 and Adolph (Ed) Voss Jr. was born in September
1881They were married in May 1905 by the Rev. Augustus Espach of St. Paul’s Presbyterian Church in
Elmont, New York. Ed was a driver of a bake wagon for George Schmidt of Queens and later was a
carpenter. They had two daughters and a son, Edna W., Marian I. and Harold A. Voss. Nellie
was the organist at St. Paul’s Presbyterian Church when she married Ed. She held this position for several
years prior to her marriage. On January 31, 1907 the Hempstead Sentinel reported that Nellie saved
two Rhodes children, ages 5 and 3 from their Rhodes’ family home that was on fire on Dutch Broadway.
The doors were locked from the inside and Nellie had to break out a window to retrieve the children.
Both parents were not at home at the time. Nellie passed away in 1939 at the Israel Zion Hospital in
Brooklyn, NY and Adolph passed away in 1919. Burial locations are unknown.
Foot note: Ernst Conrad Dietrich David and Bernhardina Narwold were from Windheim in the Kingdom of
Prussia. They immigrated to the U.S. in 1892. They had nine children William David, Ferdinand David,
Wilhelmina (Minnie) David (Married George Bauer Jr.), Fredrick (Fred) David, Louise David (Married
Anton (Tony) Bauer), Sophia David, Ernst David Jr, Charles R. David and Henry F. David.
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Submitted by George D. Bauer,
Great-Grandson of George C. Bauer Sr
Grandson of Rev. Christopher Bauer.
Email: lds5050@aol.com
December 2017