I cannot imagine what it would have been like for a small child of 3 to travel across the ocean to her new home on a twelve week journey. I wonder if she even remembered the trip at all being so young. But journey she did with her parents Cordt Heinrich Helberg and Maria Ann Bruggeman Helberg and her siblings. The story goes that after arriving in America they journeyed by canal west across NY and settled in Napoleon, Ohio.
Her younger sister Maria died on the journey and her father arranged for a burial at the new location in Napoleon. He also helped to found a new congregation, Zion Lutheran Church with the help of Dietrich Badenhop. A group including Mr. Helberg from this congregation helped to form what is today St. Paul's Lutheran Church.
Sophia met and married William A. Freytag on 17 Nov. 1865. The Freytag family moved into the area a few years after the Helbergs. The couple had 10 children.
Sophia lived in Napoleon, Ohio her entire life. She would be remembered in later life as having a good sense of humor and sitting in her rocker reading her bible.
Her husband William died on 18 Dec. 1921 at the age of 83 and she would pass on 16 March 1936 at the age of 90.
I am very lucky to have a copy of Focus on the Freytags by William H Freytag 1978 which are his memories of this family and have helped in giving me clues on where to find documents for the vital records of its members. If only everyone wrote down their memories of their grandparents and great grandparents we would have a glimpse into what their life must have been like "back in the day".
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