SUNDAY'S OBITUARY - Frederick Horst (Apr 1867-Aug 1867)

Frederick Horst, called Freddy by his family, was born on April 1, 1867 in Mobile, Alabama. He was the sixth child of my great-great-great grandparents Martin Horst (1830-1878) and Apollonia Weinschenk (1829-1908). - he was the tenth child of Apollonia, who had been widowed before marrying Martin. Their first child together, and Freddy's older brother, was Charles Frederick (1856-1912), my great-great-grandfather.

Before Freddy was born Apollonia had given birth to three daughters and six sons. Three of those sons had died very young: Ferdinand Berg, her first child with husband Tobias Berg (1819-1853), was born December 10, 1847 and lived just 8 days; Samuel Berg was born in May 1850 and died on the 23rd of the same month; and William Horst, her fourth son and child with Martin, was born February 23, 1863 but lived only sixteen months, dying on July 5, 1864.

Freddy was born three years after the death of little William and two years after the end of the Civil War. The Horsts were still in the liquor dealership business but were having difficulty getting their customers to pay their bills. Times were very hard all over the South as the entire economy struggled to recover from the war. They were also in the middle of building their new home - the same one which stands today at 407 Conti Street.

On January 12th, 1868, Martin wrote a letter to his younger brother Charles (1835-1900), living in Metropolis, Illinois, to catch him up with his family's happenings, and complained of the difficulties he was facing:

"I am just now finishing up my new dwelling I have been building wich (sic) cost me twenty-six Thousand dolls. Seven Thousand more than I calculated on; and when I began last spring I only had twelve Thousand cash hoping at that time to collect by Jan. 1st at least 6 or 7 thousand dolls. that I could draw out of my Business but so far I have not been able to collect one doll. of this money and probable (sic) never will; as most people who owe any money are taking the benifit (sic) of the Bankrupt Law and then (sic) there is a very poor showing."

On August 27, 1867, five-month-old little Fredy died. A notice was placed in the local Mobile newspaper the following day:

In the same letter written in January of the following year Martin concludes by filling his brother in on his family:

"My family are all well. Last Aug. I lost my little Boy Fredy five months old and have but four Children now three Boyse (sic) and the youngest a little Girl 2 1/2 years old. All in good health and spirit."

Two more children were born after little Freddy's death - one son and one daughter. Both lived long and full lives. Freddy Horst is my 3x-great-uncle.