Remembered in the family as Christel, also named Christina. Letters connect her household with Germany and America, and bring news of Reinhold and Selma.
Parents
Not yet established in this biography.
Spouse
Strongly identified with Gotthold August Leukroth, shoemaker; German and American records are discussed below.
Reinhold and Selma appear in the letters. Gotthold’s obituary reports one surviving son and three surviving daughters, plus two daughters who had died; the full family is not yet identified.
A place in the Hilpert family
Christel was the sister of David, August, Ernst, Friedrich. This relationship is recorded here from information supplied by the family.
The family knows her as Christel and also identifies her as Christina. Both names are kept here so that readers can recognize her in the family story.
Behind this name is a life we are still getting to know. This page will bring together the letters, photographs and records that can be connected with Christel.
Following the family correspondence
August’s letters offer a starting point for learning about the siblings’ lives in Germany. As the handwriting and names are checked, references to this family can be connected with the right person.
The correspondence below adds dated glimpses of this life. Uncertain names and relationships remain marked rather than treated as established facts.
What this page is based on
Name and sibling relationship supplied by the family in September 2026. The linked letter pages provide the documentary readings and distinguish direct statements from family identifications.
Christiane and Gotthold: separation and a new home
The German records name Christiane Friederike Hilpert and shoemaker Gotthold August Leukroth, married in Wiehe on March 24, 1850. An emigration entry adds an important link: Gotthold, born July 6, 1823, married in Wiehe since 1850, left for New York in summer 1852. His exact birth date and occupation also match the later American obituary, strengthening the connection between the German couple and the Mount Vernon family.
That obituary tells of a painful separation. It says Gotthold went ahead to avoid military service, expecting his family to follow. A seventeen-week illness prevented him from sending word of his whereabouts in New York. His family reached Baltimore expecting to meet him and instead faced a period without news. This is the newspaper’s retrospective account; the emigration register corroborates his departure, but does not name his fellow travelers or document their reunion.
The September 1852 family letter still describes preparations in Germany. Taken together, the sources suggest separate departures, but they do not establish everyone’s travel dates. We cannot yet place David’s mother on the same voyage.
In Mount Vernon, Gotthold’s obituary remembers both his livelihood and his congregation. It calls him a good businessman and describes his service as a class leader and Sunday-school teacher. He died of pneumonia on April 22, 1875. The notice names no children individually, but says his wife, one son and three daughters survived him, while two daughters had died before him. The letters’ glimpses of Reinhold and Selma belong alongside this account; the other daughters still need identification.
The obituary gives the marriage as spring 1849. The contemporary church entries instead record March 24, 1850. Christiane’s baptism gives June 13, 1824, while her American gravestone gives 1825. These differences are retained rather than silently reconciled.
Translation of the main entry: Gotthold Leukroth, a shoemaker, to New York; born July 6, 1823. Married in Wiehe since 1850. Emigrated in summer 1852.
The interlinear annotation is not fully deciphered and is omitted. This entry names Gotthold alone; it does not establish that his wife, children or mother-in-law traveled with him.
Brother Gotthold Leukroth died of pneumonia on April 22. He was born in Wohlmirstedt, near Wiehe, Prussia, on July 6, 1823, and married his now grieving wife in the spring of 1849. Wonderful, too, were God’s ways with them. To escape military service in 1852, Brother L. traveled to America, with the understanding that his family would follow as soon as possible. But an illness lasting seventeen weeks prevented him from informing his family of his whereabouts in New York. When they arrived in Baltimore, where they believed they would meet the father, they had to endure the trial of uncertainty without hearing from one another.
Yet through this trial the faithful God led Brother L. along the narrow path of life and finally brought him, together with his faithful wife, to us. He was here in Mount Vernon, Indiana, when we came to know him and his dear wife as members of this congregation, in which he proved useful as a class leader and Sunday-school teacher. The congregation has lost a faithful member, his family a head of the household, and the town a good businessman.
He bore his illness with patience. Several hours before his death, those standing around him began to sing the hymn “What a friend,” and he joined in with the last strength remaining to him. “The Lord has done all things well; hallelujah!” was one of his last utterances. Besides his wife, he leaves one son and three daughters; two daughters preceded him into eternity.
Mount Vernon, Indiana. J. H. Reihsen [signature reading provisional].
Translation of the obituary, preserving its account and religious language. Its spring 1849 marriage date conflicts with the church records, which give March 24, 1850. The travel difficulties and military-service motive are the obituary’s account, not independently established passenger details. The year of death is supplied by the newspaper issue date.
In the family’s own words
Christel’s household across the ocean
The American letters bring news of the recipient’s sister and of Reinhold and Selma. Friedrich later writes to his sister and her children. Identifying that sister as Christel uses the family context; the relevant salutations do not give her name.
The 1860 census brings the letter-writing family into view in Mount Vernon, Indiana: Gotthold, a master shoemaker, his household and children, and Mary Hilbert, aged seventy-seven and born in Prussia. Mary is enumerated within the same household, but the census does not state relationships. Her occupation appears to read “Servant.” She remains a possible connection to David’s mother, not an established identification. The adult woman’s name and age in this census also need care: the name is unclear and the age appears twenty-five. 1860 household.
In 1870, a strongly matching household includes George Leukrooh, forty-seven, a boot and shoemaker, Christena, forty-six, Reinhart and Salma. The family pattern supports a connection with Gotthold, but “George” does not establish a formal name change. Mary is not listed in this household; that alone cannot tell us whether she had died or moved. 1870 household.
A promising German family connection
Wiehe records name Christiane Friederike Hilpert, born June 13 and baptized June 15, 1824, daughter of Johann Gottlieb Hilpert and Hanne Charlotte, formerly widowed Vollrath. The same birth date and parents connect her securely to the bride who married shoemaker Gotthold August Leukroth at Wiehe on March 24, 1850. The unusual names, trade and family context make this a strong candidate for the American couple, but the transatlantic identity link remains unfinished. The American family gravestone gives Christina’s birth year as 1825, another difference to preserve.
Later comparison withdrew an early reading of Charlotte’s birth surname as Brandt. The records instead point to a Knau- name, appearing as Knaust, Knauft or Knauf in different readings and indexes. Earlier Vollrath records suggest a family connection with Ringleben, but which Ringleben remains unresolved. No verified marriage of Charlotte to Johann Gottlieb Hilpert has yet been located.
Follow recorded birthplaces and homes through the years. Numbers connect the map to dated records; gold marks a birthplace. Markers show approximate towns or regions, not exact houses. A recorded year does not establish an uninterrupted stay.
Christel (Christina) Hilpert
Dated entries correspond to the numbered places. Enable JavaScript to select entries and zoom.
The public letter describes the writer’s household, his wife (the recipient’s sister), and her children in Mount Vernon; profile identifies this sister as Christel from family context. Christel is not named in the salutation; identification is from family context and must remain qualified. Indiana is an editorial geographic identification.
The 1857 letter has an annotated/provisional year; do not make it an exact move date. Birthplace and dates are not established.
Present-day coastline: Natural Earth. Historical place names are retained in the records. The map and dated list also remain available without JavaScript.
