Fiegenbaums in Brazil

In 1869, Ernest Friedrich Wilhelm Fiegenbaum (1838-1911) and Sophia Elisabeth (Berlemann) Fiegenbaum (1830-1907) emigrated from Ladbergen, Germany to the Empire of Brazil. They were accompanied by five of their children, ages 15 to 1 year:

A sixth child, Wilhelmine Fiegenbaum, was born in 1872.

The family settled in Linha Schmidt, a rural neighborhood in Colônia Teutônia, Rio Grande do Sul. Colônia Teutônia was established in 1858 and settled by Germans from the colony of São Leopoldo in Rio Grande do Sul, and from Germany (mainly Westphalia, Pomerania, Saxony, Bohemia and Silesia). Both Ernest and Sophia are buried in the cemetery of the Evangelical Church there.

Teutônia began its journey to municipal independence in 1981 and celebrates 24 May 1981 as its "birthday." In 1996, Linha Schmidt and a number of similar, small rural settlements associated with Teutônia and Imigrante were organized as the town of Westfália, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.

You can see a photo of Ernest and Sophia at the following page at CAPEF, a site devoted to genealogical research in Brazil:

http://www.genealogiacapef.com.br/index.php/br/familias-fundadoras/familia-fiegenbaum

The genealogical information here is in Portuguese, but should not be too hard to understand even if you do not speak the language.

In March, 2009, Elmo Fiegenbaum, of Florianópolis, Santa Catarina, Brazil, very kindly forwarded to me a copy of his genealogical research on the descendants of Ernest and Sophia (Berlemann) Fiegenbaum family in Brazil. I am in the process of adding this new information to our Family Database.

We can also direct you to a photo on our web site of one of the descendants of Ernst Friedrich Wilhelm Fiegenbaum, Ernest and Sophia's fifth child:
Carlos Enrique Villasboa Casco and Elisabeth Fiegenbaum Family of Teutônia, Brazil.

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