Johann Ernst REINHART, son of Jacob REINHARDT and Anna Martha STEINMETZ, was born on July 31, 1811, in Holzhausen, Germany. He was baptized on August 2, 1811, in Holzhausen at the Evangelische Kirche. Ernst Reinhart was married at the age of 33, on March 24, 1845, to Anna Elisabeth KÜCH, age 21, the daughter of school teacher Balthasar KÜCH and Sophie BIEHL, residents of Holzhausen. The KÜCH name was later Americanized to KEICH or KIECH.

The family emigrated from Germany in 1853, leaving Bremen on the American ship Harvest, and arriving in Baltimore on June 3. Volume 5 of Germans to America 1850-55 lists the following: REINHARDT, John E., age 44, farmer, from Hesse, village unknown; Anna-Elizabeth, age 38; Ferdinand age 9, child; Wm. age 6, child. They were settled in Lorain County, Ohio by the time of the 1860 Census, in Russia Township.

By about 1865, the family had relocated to Summerfield Twp., Monroe Co., Michigan. A description of the community at the time describes it as a "township and post office of Monroe county, on the line of the Adrian and Monroe branch of the Michigan Southern and Northern Indiana railroad . . . The post office of "Summerfield" is situated at a village known as "Petersburg," a station on the above railroad. The place has one church, occupied alternately by the Methodist and Presbyterian societies; a Masonic lodge, two stores, a saw mill, flour mill, and hotel. The river Raisin runs through the village, and furnishes an excellent water power. A portion of the township is heavily timbered, with good soil, balance is mostly timbered openings, with warm sandy soil, and occasional wet prairie. Population, 1,000. (Michigan state gazetteer and business directory for 1863/1864)

Ernst Reinhart died on 26 Mar 1886 in Summerfield Twp., Monroe Co., Michigan. The death certificate listed the cause of death as paralysis. He was buried in Deerfield, Michigan.

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Küch Family
Anna Elisabeth KÜCH (or KEICH) was born March 18, 1821, in Holzhausen, Germany, the daughter of school teacher Balthasar KÜCH and Sophie BIEHL. On March 24, 1845, she married Johann Ernst REINHART, in Holzhausen. She died on April 8, 1879, in Summerfield, Monroe County, Michigan. Her obituary described her: "Sister Ann E. Reinhart, aged 58 years. She was born in Germany, but had been in America twenty-seven years. Sister Reinhart gave her heart to God in her younger days, and has been his in every sense of the word for twenty-five years. She leaves a family of seven children, all who are members of our church at Lagura, having just given their hearts to God in our meeting there. Mother had not a single cloud between her and God, but when her two youngest children gave their hearts into the Master's keeping, she was like Simeon of old, all ready to depart in peace. Her disease was consumption She ceased her suffering many hours before she died, and fell into a peaceful sleep from which she did not wake until the master called."

Anna was the sister of Ferdinand KÜCH (later KIECH), who married Rosina Katherine SCHABER. Ferdinand was the first to emigrate to America. It has been said that he came to avoid transcription into the German army. "Legend has it that his father was a professor of music, and that his parents died when he and his sisters were very young. He was apprenticed to a wheelwright and has said conditions were very hardand he would many times gladly have had another piece of bread to eat." When he came he took a job clearing land near Elyria, Ohio. The story says that his first earnings were spentbringing his two sisters to America (Information from The Craighead County Historical Quarterly, Summer 1970). In fact, the record shows that the first to be married (at age 19) was the middle child of the three, Elisabeth Sophie KÜCH, who married Johannes ESCHTRUTH on September 4, 1842, three months after the death of her father. Anna married in 1845, at age 24, and the youngest of the three, Ferdinand, married May 10, 1852, in Elyria, Ohio. Ferdinand was eight years old when his mother died, and fifteen at the death of his father.

The Reinhart, Keich, and Eschtruth families held an annual reunion, one year in Michigan at the Reinhart home, the next year in Ohio. The reunions were held from approximately 1909-1924, the last recorded reunion on August 20, 1924, as the newspaper clipping indicates.

Balthasar KÜCH was the son of Johann Christian KÜCH and Anna Gertrud REIDT. He was born December 27, 1778, in Nentershausen, Germany. On August 17, 1817, he married Marie Sophia BIEHL, daught er of Heinrich BIEHL and Barbara Elisabeth JÜNG. He died June 11, 1842, in Holzhausen.

Holzhausen Evangelische Kirche

The Holzhausen church that the Reinhart family attended, was built in 1713. It was in use as a church until 1915 when a new church was built. Later the old building served as the fire-brigade equipment house.The pulpit of the church is currently displayed in the local history museum at Eschwege. (Click on the photo to link to a local Holzhausen website describing the church, and which includes additional photos).

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Obituary - John Reinhart
The deceased was born in Elyria, Ohio, January 17, 1859 and was married to Eliza Atkinson in Michigan, December 24, 1882. In 1886 they moved to Kansas and came to Oregon in 1905 During the last 22 years he lived in the vicinity of Silverton. He had been in poor health for several years but always had a cheery word and did his share of the farm work with his son. He died suddenly, Monday morning, February 6, 1928 at his home in the Silverton hills at the age of 69 years, 19 days. Funeral services were held Wednesday, Feb. 8, at the chapel, Rev. Hartie of the M.E. church officiating, interment was made in the Silverton Cemetery. Mr. Reinhart was a member of the Modern Woodmen of America for the past 30 years. The lodge had charge of the services at the grave. He leaves to mourn his passing his wife Eliza A., a daughter Mrs. H.J. Winter of Silverton, his son John A. and two grandchildrenFranciska and Maurice Winter, also two sisters and a brother, Mrs. Lizzie Burton and Jake Reinhart of Deerfield, Michigan and Mrs. Joshua Atkinson of Hamlin, Iowa. Portland relatives attending the funeral were Mr. and Mrs. Robert Reinhart, Mr. and Mrs. Will Young, Misses Matie, Hattie and Ardith Young, Mrs. H.M. Manning, Misses Henrietta and Belle Manning, Mr. and Mrs. R.A. Manning and daughter Elise, Mr. and Mrs. W.H. Buschman also Richard Buschman of O.A.C. Corvallis.