"Blumenberg' or 'Flower Mountain' is the name of two places in Germany" according to Elsdon C.
Smith, in his book American Surnames (Chilton Book Company, 1969).
Blumenberg is probably a "place name" meaning it originated as "Louis, from Blumenberg". The
name Blumenberg is not extremely common in the United States, but there are several. Probably not
all are related, but their ancestry may have all originated in one of these two villages in the area of
Hamburg, Germany.
Louis and Christina (Bartels) Blumenberg
Ludwig, or Louis Blumenberg, the emigrant was born January 10, 18211in Oldenrod, Germany, near Hanover. He married Christina Bartles, who was born in 1823 in Hanover, Germany. The date
of their marriage is unknown, but their first child, also named Louis, was born in 1847, and Henry L.
their second, was born March 2, 1849. Both were born in Hanover, Germany.
When Henry was about six months old, Louis and Christina and their two sons, together with
Christina's brother Henry, left Germany on the Bark Mississippi and arrived in New Orleans on
December 5, 1849. According to Dawn Detring’s research, in “an article about Louis H. Klunder from an 1879 county history, The Directory of Lee
County, Iowa. It stated that in September 1849, his parents started for the United States
and came on to Cape Girardeau, Missouri, where they remained until the spring of 1850;
then they went to Lee County, Iowa.
What was the connection? I went back to the passenger lists, this time looking for the
Kluender/Klunder family. I found them arriving in New Orleans on December 5, 1849
on the ship "Bark Mississippi." Immediately following their names was a dark ink
smear. It looked as though the page had water damage. You could barely read the names
Henry Bartels and Ludwig Blumenberg! They were three of five families traveling
together to the United States from Sehnde, Germany.”2According to the International Genealogical Index - North America, a Henry Blumenberg was
married to an Augusta Hense on December 4, 1849 in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. This would have
been the day before Ludwig and his family arrived at New Orleans. I don’t have any information on
this couple, but wonder if it may be possible that this is a brother to Ludwig, since he named his
second son Heinrich or Henry. If this was Ludwig’s brother it would give credence to the family
story that four Blumenberg brothers came from Germany to the United States. Up until now I have
assumed that the four brothers were Ludwig’s sons, two of whom were born in Germany and two in
the United States, but there may be another generation of brothers that we don’t yet know.
Since we know Ludwig and Christina and their two sons came on the “Bark” Mississippi we can get
a better idea of what the ship was like from an article entitled “The Voyage By Sailing Ship” taken
from the Mecklenburg Vorpommern website by Carol Gohsman (Goosman). She described a
“bark” as “a three-masted vessel with foremast and mainmast square rigged and the third mast fore
and aft rigged.”
We don't know how long the Blumenbergs remained in Cape Girardeau, but about eleven years later,
by the time of the 1860 Census, they were living at Commerce, Missouri, in Scott County.