St. Paul's Lutheran Cemetery

St. Paul's Lutheran Cemetery

Druid Hill Park
Baltimore, MD

(Owned & Maintained by

Cemetery Restoration Update

"Volunteers are restoring cemetery" - The Baltimore Sun July 10, 2011

Cemetery restoration continues, but additional funding is badly needed. A stone man was hired for 2 days at $800 per day. His plan was to work from the front to the back so there was order. He seems to be putting plots in order. The work consists of straightening markers for the corners of the plot and straightening name markers. He is taking the smaller stones 75- 100 lbs, putting them in straight lines, digging them out of the dirt. He has put up 3-4 foot monuments that are 3-4 inches thick. It is so exciting to see the imprint of where they used to lay at the back of the stone, or the dirty faces of the stones which were lying face down and are now standing upright. It is kind of like going on an Easter egg hunt to find what he has done. I think he is giving us a lot of bang for our buck and the cemetery is reflecting an orderliness. But there is a long, long way to go. Funds are desperately needed to restore the remainder of the cemetery. Proceeds of the sale of the below booklet "St. Paul's Cemetery in Druid Hill Park" has raised $678 with the author donating all of the cost of both publishing and mailing the book.

If your family lies buried in this cemetery, or if you cherish preservation of the history, heritage and lives of the early Baltimore German community, won't you consider purchasing the history booklet and/or donating to the restoration project?

St. Paul's Cemetery in Druid Hill Park

A twenty-four page booklet "St. Paul's Cemetery in Druid Hill Park", is being offered by Martini Lutheran Church in Baltimore, Maryland as a way to raise funds to help restore badly damaged tombstones and monuments in the "German" cemetery, St. Paul's. For a decade in the 1980s, vandals entered the peaceful cemetery and wrecked havoc on the grave markers.

The booklet is a complete history of the cemetery using original source material found in the files of Martini Lutheran Church. There is a sprinkling of Baltimore history, a detailed account of the cemetery's deed, the dedication ceremony by Second German Evangelical Lutheran Church, St. Paul, a brief history of the church and her 3 daughter churches, the rules of the cemetery, which were written in German, an account of the restoring of the cemetery by Martini over the last few years, and pictures.

Orders and donations should be sent to Martini Lutheran Church, 100 W. Henrietta Street, Baltimore, MD 21030. There is a $5 handling fee for the booklet, but the remainder of your donation is tax deductible. Please write Attn. Sandy Harper on the envelope. Checks should be made payable to Martini Lutheran Church. Please include Cemetery Restoration on the "For" line of the check. Questions can be addressed to Sandy Harper. All proceeds from the booklet will go to righting and repairing the badly damaged stones.

It happened so quickly as to have been a dream. The discovery that my ggg-grandmother had immigrated to America, leaving behind a husband who died two years later, was a complete surprise. That fact had not been recorded in the family chronicle passed on to me by my great-aunt Lill. The knowledge that she must have stayed in Baltimore was tempered by the fact that I wasn't able to find her location on any census record. Not finding her living with a son, I became certain that the key to locating my ggg-grandmother was discovering the identity of the men who her daughters married. That answer came in the form of the discovery of my Web Page by a descendant of daughter Maria Christiana Reisinger, who immigrated to Baltimore in 1852. The newly discovered identity of Maria's husband, Nicolaus Ruppel, led this researcher to a search through the entire 3rd Ward of Baltimore 1860 Census in a quest to uncover the family hidden by a longtime spelling error. Success came in the person of Maria Reisinger. living in the household.

A chart passed down through the Ruppel family held another clue: Druid Hill Cemetery. But a "Google Search" for that burial spot located nothing except another researcher searching without luck for the same cemetery. An expert on Baltimore was required. That person took the form of our Baltimore-native business partner's father, who indicated that there was a Druid Hill Park in Baltimore, which might contain a cemetery. The search was narrowing! A very descriptive "Google Search" located St. Paul Lutheran Cemetery in Druid Hill Park, and a internment transcription booklet which could be purchased on-line. The day the book arrived felt like Christmas and the 4th of July. Buried in Lot 199 was the Nicholaus Ruppel family and Maria Reisinger.

With much excitement I contacted my fellow ggg-granddaughters and we began plans to have the person closest to Baltimore visit the cemetery to take digital pictures. Pat's first trip to Druid Hill Park yielded no results.

Contacting Martini Lutheran Church proved the answer to our search. Pat was informed that the cemetery is kept locked all the time, with only one person holding the key. She made an appointment to meet the St. Paul's Cemetery Committee Chairman at Druid Hill Park at Noon on Tuesday, August 16, 2004.

The weekend prior to Pat's cemetery visit, I started to have a nagging feeling of unhappiness regarding not being present at the moment of discovery. By Monday I was convinced that Baltimore should be in my itinerary for Tuesday. Our business partner's wife agreed to join me in the excursion, since her husband's family was also buried in the same cemetery.

We set out for Baltimore at 7:30am, allowing extra time for the traffic we knew would slow our travel near the Beltway in Washington, DC. Our arrival at Druid Hill Park was promptly at 5 minutes before Noon. Our parties were waiting as planned and the three cars made the final leg of the journey to the cemetery entrance.

The gate finally stood in front of us as we exited our vehicles. The excitement was unbearable! Would there be a tombstone? My mind had already prepared my emotions for the fact that there might not be. With the cemetery plot map in hand we walked in what appeared to be the correct direction and were greeted from a distance by a large broken monument that read Ruppel. Rushing to the area we located a smaller monument to its rear that read Reisinger. Our wildest dreams had come true. We had found our ggg-grandmother!

Cemetery Photographed August 16, 2004.

History of St. Paul's Lutheran Cemetery

The site at Druid Hill Park was the second site for a cemetery for Second Evangelical Lutheran Church on Saratoga and Holliday Streets. Four and a half acres were bought from Francis L. Hilberg and his wife. The deed specified that no part of the property could be used for a butcher shop until 5 years after the sale of the land. (Evidently this was a common thing to do when one sold a piece of property.)

In 1854-1855 the bodies of the departed from the first cemetery were moved to Druid Hill under the supervision of sexton, Meier. The cemetery is older than the park.

An 8 grave lot sold for $50 with a dollar fee for perpetual care. Ten dollars would insure perpetual care for life.

A dedication ceremony was held on the third Sunday in Advent, December 10, 1854. Pastor Keyl (brother-in-law of Dr. Carl Walther, who came over from Saxony and settled in Missouri with Walther and started the Missouri Synod) and other clergy were in attendance. The ceremony of dedication was attended by almost all of the congregation.

While the congregation was singing "Jesus Christ My Sure Defense", the group walked the length of the cemetery gathering under the large oak in the middle of the heart section of the cemetery. There was a crypt nearby. The tree gave shadow to the future resting place of the dearly departed.

There were tears in the eyes of most of the attendees. Before the sermon, the choir sang "Selig sind die Toten, die dem Herrn sterben". And after the Lord's Prayer, the congregation sang two verses from Johann Herman's song, "O, God, Thou Faithful God."

The large oak tree in the middle of the heart section of the cemetery stood proudly until 2007, when it blew over in a storm and had to be removed.

When the congregation agreed to disband into 3 churches, the 3 churches were lawful owners of the cemetery. Since then the ownership and care for the cemetery falls on Martini Lutheran Church.

Courtesy of Sandy Harper, Martini Lutheran Church Historian

Mutter

M. C. R.

M. Reisinger

Geb. 26 Jul 1802

Gest. 17 Mar 1868

Maria Barbara Beilstein was born in Bürglen, Canton of Bern, Switzerland, the daughter of George Nicolaus Beilstein of Lichtenberg, Hessen-Darmstadt and his wife Elisabetha Salome "Lissette" Bickel, a native of Jalsberg, Canton of Bern, Switzerland. Marianne's birth occurred while her father, obviously a Hessian mercenary, was serving in the French Army's occupation of Switzerland. The young family moved back to Lichtenberg following their daughter's birth. Maria Barbara "Marianne" Beilstein married Rohrbach native Johann Georg Reisinger in the village of Wembach on October 20, 1825. The couple made their home and raised their family in that same village, where her husband and father-in-law practiced the stocking weaver trade. Marianne departed Bremen in late 1859 on the ship Columbia with her two youngest children, arriving at the Port of Baltimore on January 17, 1860. Her new home in America was with her daughter Maria Christiana, who had immigrated to Baltimore in 1852, and Maria's husband Nicolaus Ruppel, also a native of Hesse-Darmstadt. Following her 1868 death, Maria Barbara Beilstein Reisinger was buried in the Ruppel family plot, which sits in a corner of St. Paul's Cemetery, near a tennis court.

When we (her ggg-granddaughters) located the grave, the top part of Maria Barbara Beilstein Reisinger's tombstone was knocked from its base, lying flat in the dirt most probably since a 1986 cemetery vandalism. The husband of ggg-granddaughter Pat Marshall raised the top portion of the tombstone (shown in the original position in which we found it to the right) revealing a nest of small snakes underneath. Righting the marker section and brushing off the years of dirt that had accumulated, Mr. Marshall revealed the word "Mutter" engraved on the top of the marker. With much fondness and an ever increasing familiarity we greeted our ggg-grandmutter. It was a moment to cherish.

Evangelish-Reformiete Kirche Bürglen (Brügg, Bern) Switzerland - July 28, 1802
Name of child: Maria Barbara BEILSTEIN
Parents: Georg BEILSTEIN of Lichtenberg in Hessen Darmstadt and Lisette BIKEL of Cronay, daughter of the master weapon maker in Jendberg/Jensberg
Witnesses: Hans Georg BEILSTEIN, the fathers brother
Maria Barbara BIKEL, of Cronay, nee HUESS (maternal grandmother)
Rosina KRIEGER of Vuissens, nee BIKEL

Evangelische Kirche Ober-Ramstadt (Kr. Darmstadt)
Johann Georg Reisinger and Maria Barbara Beilstein married October 30, 1825 in Wembach.
The Groom is the older son of citizen stocking weaver Thomas Reisinger of the affiliate of Wembach and his deceased first wife Catharine Pastre. He was born in Rohrbach 15 July 1792. He is a widowed stocking weaver from Wembach. The bride was born July 28, 1802 in Bürglen in the Canton of Bern, Switzerland. She is the unmarried daughter of Georg Beilstein of Lichtenberg, who at the time of her birth was serving in the French Army. Her mother is Lisetta Bickel was born in Cronay Switzerland, the daughter of the Wasenmeister of Jensberg, Canton of Bern, Switzerland. She is now the wife of Johann Andreas Diehl of Lichtenberg.

Nicolaus Ruppel

Geb. (Unreadable) 1822

Gest. 4 Jan 1894

Maria C. Ruppel

Geb. 16 Mar 1833

Gest. 29 Aug 1893

1860 Baltimore Co, MD Census, 3rd Ward, p. 637, #146-203, Carpet Weaver
1870 Baltimore Co, MD Census, 3rd Ward, p. 526, #1316-1764, Carpet Weaver
1880 Baltimore Co, MD Census, ED 28, p. 480A, Carpet Weaver, 2nd Precinct, 3rd Ward, 121 South Bond St., #112-133
1890 Baltimore City Directory, 252 South Bond, Weaver

Maria Christiana Reisinger was born in the village of Wembach in the Grand Duchy of Hesse-Darmstadt, the daughter of Rohrbach native Johann Georg Reisinger and his 2nd wife Maria Barbara Beilstein, who was born in Bürglen, Canton of Bern, Switzerland but grew up in Lichtenberg, Hessen-Darmstadt. Maria Christiana Reisinger immigrated to America from the Port of Bremen on the ship Adler, arriving at the Port of Baltimore on September 20, 1852. She married Nicolaus Ruppel, who was also a native of Hesse-Darmstadt.

The final resting place of Maria & Nicolaus Ruppel is marked by what must have once been an impressive monument. Today the top portion of the tombstone sits knocked to the ground behind and to the right of the massive base it once rested upon. Maria Reisinger's marker keeps watch over the stones of her daughter and son-in-law. The plot also holds the remains of two additional Ruppel individuals, their relationship to Nicolaus Ruppel not known to this researcher.

Maria Reisinger Ruppel - Baltimore Death Index

Maria Reisinger Ruppel Death Certificate

Evangelische Kirche Rohrbach (Kr. Dieburg)
Seite 499 - Jahr 1833: On the 16 March 1833 at 10 o'clock in the evening was born, according to the notification of Johann Georg REISINGER, a German resident and weaver in the affiliate village Wembach by his second wife, Marianne nee BEILSTEIN, the first daughter, the fourth child. The daughter was christened on the 24th of the same month and received the given names Maria Christiana. Witnesses are: The village resident and colonist Johann Paul BERGOINT of Hain and his wife Maria nee HALM The village resident Philipp VIERHELLER of Lichtenburg and his wife Christiane nee DIEHL, which signed the Protocall with me, the minister who baptized the child and the father of the child. The first witness Maria BERGOINT will sign with three XXX, since she is unable to write.

Fredrich Kowalick

Geb. 9 Aug 1825

Gest. 24 Mar 1900

Lissette Kowalick

Geb. 21 Feb 1837

Gest. 2 Dec 1911

The next order of business was to find daughter Lissette, known to be buried in Lot 89 with her husband Fredrich Kowalick. A surprise was the fact that the lot was shared with a Westerman family, whose names were not included in the internment transcription book. The Westerman family sharing Fredrich Kowalick's Lot 89 must be that of daughter Annie B. Kowalick, who married John L. Westerman. The adjoining tombstones of Fredrich & Lissette Kowalick have been pushed over by vandals and lie flat with the engraved side facing upwards.

1870 Baltimore Co, MD Census, 7th Ward, p.6, #77-87, Currier
1880 Baltimore Co, MD Census, 2nd Ward, 3rd Precinct, Supv Dist 1, ED 21, p. 368, #20-21, Confectioner
1910 Baltimore Co, MD Census, Ward 6, p 10B, 10 Irvine Place, Enumerated in the household of her daughter Annie B. Westerman

Evangelische Kirche Rohrbach
Seite 634 - Jahr 1837 Translation: Page 634 - year 1837: On the 21 Feb 1837 at 1 AM at night was born according to information given by Georg REISINGER, a German resident in the affiliate Wembach and his wife Marianne nee BEILSTEIN and the same was christened on the 5 Mar 1837 and received the given names Elisabetha Margaretha.Witnesses are: The single Margaretha DIEHL of Lichtenburg, a maternal step sister. Elisabetha SCHALLER, daughter of the resident Johann Adam SCHALLER of Niederodau.(not yet confirmed –about 14 years or younger) Proxy for the young Margaretha DIEL stood her mother Marie SCHALLER nee REISINGER in her stead. They sign the Protocol together with the father and me, the minister.

Elisabetha Margaretha Reisinger was born 21 February 1837 in the village of Wembach, Grand Duchy of Hesse-Darmstadt. She was the daughter of Johann Georg Reisinger and his 2nd wife, Maria Barbara Beilstein. She immigrated to America with her brother Johannes George Reisinger, sailing from the Port of Bremen on the ship Johannes and arriving at the Port of Baltimore on 7 June 1853. She married Fredrich Kowalick, probably in Baltimore, MD.

In Teurem Angedenken

Ernst Theodore Rudolph

Geb. 26 Sept. 1860

Gest. 28 Nov. 1905

Ernst Theodore Rudolph was probably a son of Ernst Rudolph, owner of Lot 82, and his Vogel wife. Included in the internment transcription book are additional family members for which we did not find readable tombstones. The elder Ernst Rudolph (Lot Owner) was married to the daughter of William & Amelia Vogel, who are also buried in the plot. Buried in adjoining Lot 81 (Bruggeman Lot) is Emil Vogel, son of William & Amelia Vogel, and his wife Wilhelmina Bruggeman. Also interred in the Bruggeman Lot is the stillborn child of Carl Ruppel and his wife Selma Emilia Vogel.

Bruggeman Lot 81

Try as hard as I might, it was impossible to read the inscriptions that were on the large marker in the Bruggeman Lot. There are inscriptions on two sides, which appear to be for different family groupings. The side pictured to the left includes the names of Bruggeman individuals. The side pictured below could be for the Vogel family. The lot owner was Frank Bruggeman, who is buried in the plot along with his wife Charlotte, son August, Julia A. Bruggeman (probably the wife of August), daughter Wilhelmina and her husband Emil Vogel, and the stillborn child of Carl Ruppel and his wife Selma Emelia Vogel.

The tombstone appears to include the word Vogel. The person was born Sept.1812, which doesn't match any of the internment records for this plot. The death date appears to be 1897.

Frank Bruggeman

1860 Baltimore Co, MD Census, 20th Ward, Baltimore City, p. 343, #89-95, Carpenter

Emil Vogel

1870 Baltimore Co, MD Census, 13th Ward, p. 316, City of Baltimore, #298-331, Portrait Painter
1880 - Enumerated in the Baltimore Co, MD household of Carl (aka Charles) Ruppel

Carl "Charles" Ruppel

1860 Baltimore Co, MD Census, Baltimore, Ward 13, p. 449, Segar Maker, Living in household of Justice Nass, #2718-3485
1870 Baltimore Co, MD Census, Baltimore, 18th Ward, p. 1B, #12-12, Cigar Maker
1880 Baltimore Co, MD Census, 19th Ward, Precinct 1, p 17C, Collector of Accounts
1900 Baltimore Co, MD Census, 10th Precinct, 19th Ward, ED 250, p. 142, #98-98, 2107 Baltimore Block D

Anna M. Ruppel

Geboren

d. 2 April 1815

Gestorben

d. 29 Aug 1887

The burial location of Anna M. Ruppel, called Maria in the internment transcription, is in Lot 106. She is indicated to be the Widow of Heinrich Ruppel. Surnames known to be buried in Lot 106 are: Ruppel, Arnold & Riedel. The 1862 burial of Heinrich Ruppel is the oldest recorded burial in this Lot. The area surrounding the grave of Anna Maria Ruppel is grassy and holds no surrounding stones. Her tombstone has been pushed over by vandals and lies flat with the engraved side facing upwards.

The tombstones shown to the left have been knocked off their base with the engraved side facing the dirt. They were too heavy to be raised. The area in which the stones lie leads one to believe that they might be part of a Ruppel plot.