Meet Lawrence Huber

Lawrence Huber was my great, great grandfather, a German immigrant who lived in Quincy, Adams County, Illinois. My grandmother, Laura (Huber) Bockhold, always told me he came from Baden-Baden. I am starting this series of posts to explain how I found Lawrence Huber’s town of origin. But first, let me tell you about Lawrence and what I knew of him before I discovered his place of birth.

Lawrence was first noted in US records in 1844 when he bought 105 acres of land in Adams County.[1] Three months later, on 31 March1845, he married my great, great grandmother, Elizabeth Zopf at St. Boniface Catholic Church in Quincy.[2] They had the following children:

• Adam Laurenz, born 31 January 1847[3]
• Maria Regina, born 25 February 1849[4]
• Catharina, born 23 February 1851[5]
• Maria, born 2 July 1852[6]
• John Matthew, born 29 June 1854[7]
• Francis Lawrence, born 21 April 1856[8]
• George Matthew, born 18 September 1858[9]
• Elizabeth, born 27 January 1861[10]

Lawrence continued to buy property in Adams County near his original land. By the time of his untimely death in 1861, he owned 195 acres.[11]

Census records provide no clue to Lawrence’s origins, other than “Germany.”[12] The church records consulted are silent about this information.

Lawrence had a brother, Franz Xavier, who helped him run his farm from 1853 until the time of Lawrence’s death.[13] Franz Xavier was never named in the census enumerations that included Lawrence’s family. He might have been one of the twenty–to-thirty-year-old males on the 1855 Illinois state census. It is unclear who the other one might be. Perhaps it was a farm hand.

Lawrence died 6 May 1861 and his funeral record at St. Boniface states that he was forty-three years and ten months old, suggesting he was born about July 1817.[14]

This is all I knew about Lawrence’s short life. He was clearly a motivated man, having made the long trek across the Atlantic Ocean. He did not waste time before he bought a farm, married, and started having children. In spite of all available information, nothing is known of his origins, other than he was born in Germany and had a brother named Franz Xavier.

This is where the research story begins.

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[1] Adams County, Illinois Deed Book W:621, Lewis Kendall to Lawrence Huber, 31 December 1844; Recorder of Deeds, Quincy.

[2] St. Boniface Catholic Church (Quincy, Illinois), marriages, 1839–1857, p. 18, no. 4, Huber-Zopf; St. Boniface Rectory. The church has since closed and these records may now be found on Ancestry, “Illinois, U.S., Roman Catholic Diocese of Springfield Sacramental Records, 1853–1981.”

[3] St. Boniface Catholic Church (Quincy, Illinois), baptisms, 1839–1851, p. 64, no. 11, Adam Laurenz Huber.

[4] St. Boniface Catholic Church (Quincy, Illinois), baptisms, 1839–1851, p. 87, no. 37, Mariam Reginam Huber.

[5] St. Boniface Catholic Church (Quincy, Illinois), baptisms, 1839–1851, p. 117, no. 34, Catharinam Huber.

[6] St. Boniface Catholic Church (Quincy, Illinois), baptisms, 1852–1858, pp. 14–15, no. 73, Mariam Huber.

[7] St. Boniface Catholic Church (Quincy, Illinois), baptisms, 1852–1858, p. 76, no. 108, Joannem Mattheum Huber.

[8] St. Boniface Catholic Church (Quincy, Illinois), baptisms, 1852–1858, pp. 135–136, no. 105, Franciscum Laurentium Huber.

[9] St. Boniface Catholic Church (Quincy, Illinois), baptisms, 1858–1870, p. 28, no. 205, Georg Matthew Huber.

[10] “Mrs. Elizabeth Wolf,” obituary, Quincy Herald-Whig, 7 July 1929, p. 20, col. 7; digital image, “Quincy Historical Newspaper Archive” (https://www.quincylibrary.org/virtual-library/quincy-historical-newspaper-archive : accessed October 2025).  No baptism record has been found for her.

[11] Adams County, Illinois Deed Book 4, p. 274, Wm. Richards and Margaret Richard to Lawrence Hoover, 27 March 1848. Also, Adams County, Illinois Deed Book 15, p. 97, Adam Zoph and Theresa Zoph to Lawrence Hoover, 16 March 1854. Also, Adams County, Illinois Deed Book 15, p. 590, James C. Bernard and Thirza Bernard to Lawrence Huber, 16 March 1854. Also, Adams County, Illinois Deed Book 35, p. 194, Thomas Hughes and Rachel Hughes to Lawrence Huber, 9 January 1860.

[12] 1850 U.S census, Illinois, population schedule, Adams County, Melrose Township, p. 166 (stamped), p. 331 penned, dwelling 135, family 144, Lawrence Hoover; Ancestry. Also, 1860 U.S census, Illinois, population schedule, Adams County, Melrose Township, p. 770 (penned), dwelling 1676, family 1688, Lawrence Hoover. Also, 1855 Illinois state census, Adams County, Melrose, p. 97 (penned), Lorentz Huber household.

[13] Adams County, Illinois probate case file Lorance Huber (1861), Account of Frank X. Huber, 15 July 1861; Adams County Circuit Clerk, Quincy.

[14] St. Boniface Catholic Church (Quincy, Illinois), Funeral Book 2, p. 32, entry 33, Laurentius Huber.