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id	first	middle	last	dob	dod	cod
123	Louise		Kraft	12/13/1818	4/26/1893

veteran	exhumed	purchaser	cemetery
	FALSE		Adams Street

lot	plot
	R1 G3 west face

relations

John (husband)

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John, also known as Johannes, and Louise Kraft were early immigrants to Berea from Prussia. They were the first converts to Methodism to be accepted as full members of the church in Berea, 8 September 1856. All who wished to join the church had to enter a "class" of probationers for 6 months, attend services and lessons, and report to a class leader, who was a lay member of the congregation noted for piety. Three absences would result in the probationer's being dropped from the class. To illustrate how difficult the passage through the probationary period was, there were 28 members in the class of 1863, and 15 of them were dropped "on account of immoral conduct," "too strong a lust for dancing," or "bad gossip" (History of Methodism in Berea 3-4). John and Louise Kraft were enumerated in the 1870 census in Berea. John gave his age as 44, occupation as retail merchant with $4000 real estate and $4000 personal property, born in Prussia, a US citizen. Louisa was 50, keeping house, also born in Prussia. There are 8 deeds in his name on the Cuyahoga County Recorder's Office web site dating from 1863-1873; these have not yet been researched. John's death was reported in the Grindstone City Advertiser on 3 September 1874: "Died. Kraft—At his residence in Berea, September 1st 1874, John Kraft, aged 48years, 6 months and 28 days. The funeral of John Kraft, was attended this afternoon by his late residence with services by Rev. J Rothweiler." Louisa was enumerated after his death in the 1880 census, an invalid at the age of 62, living on her own but next door to the family of Godlib [Gottlieb] (38, a farmer) and Wilhelmina Kraft (44); their children were William (13), Robert (11), Louisa (10), and Theodore (8). Her death in 1893 was not mentioned in the local paper, the Berea Advertiser. John bought lot 144, where his family monument is located. Made of dark gray granite, the stone has weathered extremely well, although the obelisk was broken off its base by vandals and repaired. The inscriptions were recorded in 1904 and 1934, and still say the same: "Hier Ruht John Kraft, Geb. Feb. 3, 1826, Gest. Sept. 1, 1874" and "Hier Ruht Louise Kraft, Geb. Dec. 13, 1818, Gest. Apr. 26, 1893."

sources

History of Methodism in Berea, 1843-1976. Berea, OH: N.p., 1976. 1870 US Federal Census, John Kraft household, Series: M593 Roll: 1193 Page: 424 1880 US Federal Census, Louisa Kraft and Godlib Kraft household, Series: T9 Roll: 1009 Page: 217b-218 "Number of burial lots and price," Adams Street Cemetery folder, Berea Historical Society John Kraft death notice, Grindstone City Advertiser, 3 Sept 1874 E.S. Loomis and D. T. Gould, "Inscriptions from the Old Berea Cemetery," 1904, Berea Historical Society "Cuyahoga Cemetery Inscriptions," Vol. I, compiled by the Western Reserve Historical Society, 1934 Kraft monument photograph, Jeremy Feador, 2006.