IDFirstMiddleLastDOBDODCOD
146JohnGottlobNachtriebN/A1/28/1876drowned

veteran
exhumed
purchaser
cemetery
N/AFALSEN/AAdams Street

lot
plot
N/AR7 G11
relations
Rev. Christian H. Nachtrieb (father)

comments
Berea lists his date of burial 30 January 1876, his age at death as 15 years old. The account of his death was reported in the Grindstone City Advertiser on February 10, 1876: "Gottlob Nachtrieb, aged about 15 years, son of Rev. C.H. Nachtrieb, agent of the German Methodist Orphan Asylum of this place, while playing with other boys on the quarry track where it crosses Baldwin Creek, about 150 feet from its confluence with Rocky River, about four o'clock on Friday afternoon last, fell into the stream which is only about twenty feet wide at this point, but at that time, deep and very rapid, and was carried out into the main stream and drowned. His body was found about noon on Sunday by some boys who were playing near the river, opposite the residence of Sam'l Daniel's, near the line between Middleburgh and Olmsted townships, a distance of probably four miles, by the bend of the river, from the point of starting. It had passed over two mill dams and through the narrow and crooked channel at the rocks below the railroad, and lodged in a bend in the river, where, when the water subsided, it was left about fifteen feet from the edge of the stream. It appears that at the time of the accident young Nachrieb had a piece of plank in his hands and was obstructing the drift wood as it came along, and was thrown off the bridge by the force of the current. An effort was made by several partles to catch him as he passed under the track near the iron bridge on Bridge street, although there were at least a hundred people on the bridge and on the bank of the river, within ten minutes after the accident occurred. The search continued till 11 o'clock at night. On Saturday a raft was constructed and the river searched with hooks and ropes, and on Sunday a still larger force turned out, but no one went far enough down the stream. The deceased was a student of German Wallace College, and very highly esteemed. This is the third death which has occurred by parties falling into the river within a few rods of the same place, during the last six months." The students of German Wallace College, where John was attending, passed resolutions in honor of him. "Resolutions Adopted by the Students of G.W.C., Feb 1st 1876, in Memory of J.G. Nachtrieb. Whereas, It has pleased Divine Providence in his inscrutable ways again to send the messenger of death among us, to call from the stream of time into the ocean of eternity our loving and youthful friend, J.G. Nachtrieb, a member of our college; therefore, Resolved, That while we mourn the loss of our fellow student, we recognize In this decree the hand of Wisdom, and feel confident that all is well. Resolved, That in his decease the college looses a diligent, promising and amiable student, to whose probity of character and genial social qualities we cheerfully bear testimony. Resolved, That we tender to his bereaved parents and relatives in this their great affliction, our heartfelt sympathies, and that we will always treasure the memory of our deceased young friend with all the favor due such example of agreeableness and early piety. Resolved, That the Grindstone City Advertiser be requested to publish these resolutions, and that a copy of them be sent to the grief stricken family. C.E. Plock, W.F. Griewe, P.C. Haas, J.P. Funk H.S.Kaup" On 10 February 1876 the Grindstone City Advertiser reported: "Rev. Mr. Nachtried[sic] would be pleased to have any one who finds the coat of his son who was drowned recently, to bring the same to the store of J. Kurtz It was lost off while the boy was in the water." The Berea Enterprise ran an article in 1932 where it was mentioned that John was "possibly son of man connected with Orphanage, if so drowned". This has been confirmed. Christian Nachtrieb bought lot 185 from FrelkBrown. Today John's stone stands in fair shape, although weathering has deteriorated much of the stone's orginal writing. A transcription of a headstone was recorded in 1904. "John Nachtrieb, student at G.W. College, died Jan 28, 1876, age 15 yrs, 2m, 6da". The stone was only partly legible in 2007; it is in German and the following words can be read clearly "JOHN GOTTLOB NACHTRIEB"--"STUDENT…Wallace Collegium"--"Died…Jan 1876". German translation needed.

sources
E. S. Loomis and D. T. Gould, "Inscriptions from the Old Berea Cemetery," 1904; Adams Street Cemetery folder, Berea Historical Society Grindstone City Advertiser, 3 February 1876, 10, February 1876. Berea Enterprise, 24 June 1932, p.1 c.1-2, p.6 c.5-6