This part of my family story begins in a corner of Europe where Switzerland, Germany, and the Alsace-Lorraine area of France meet.
Carl Lorenz of Neiderhauser, Germany married Susan Gilbert of Alsace-Lorraine, France. They lived in the Lorelei area of Germany on the Nader River and had at least two children. One was a boy about whom nothing is known. The other, a girl, was Elizabeth Lorenz, born in 1835.
When Elizabeth was 18 years old, she and her brother came to the United States. They shipwrecked in the Caribbean Sea. Elizabeth made it to New Orleans and then to Ironton, Missouri. She worked as a housemaid in Ironton and married William Horbach.
Elizabeth and William moved to Alma, Wisconsin, a Swiss settlement on the Mississippi River. There they owned and ran the Union House Hotel, formerly known as the Deutsch House. They had one son, William. When her husband, William Horbach, died, Elizabeth continued to run the hotel by herself.
Hans Jacob Mueller of Schaffhamen, Switzerland married Anna Bollinger of Lohlinger, Switzerland. They lived in Lohlinger and had one known child, Louis, born in 1836. It is not known when Louis Mueller came to the United States but he fought in the Civil Was with the Minnesota Iron Brigade. He was at the battle of Gettysburg.
After the death of her first husband, Louis Mueller married Elizabeth Lorenz Horbach. They continued to live in Alma, Wisconsin and, presumably, run the Union House Hotel.
Elizabeth and Louis had five children: Herman, Amanda, Louise, Ida, and Nettie. Elizabeth and Louis divorced in 1879. Louis went on to marry Hedwig Schroeder Weber in 1882. They had one son, Louis. They lived on a small farm at the edge of Alma. Louis Mueller died in 1899.
Elizabeth's two oldest sons, William Horbach and Herman Mueller, went west. They homesteaded at Indian Prairie near Spokane, Washington. In 1900, Elizabeth and her youngest child, Nettie also moved to Spokane. Elizabeth continued to live there until her death in 1920.
Louise Mueller, daughter of Elizabeth Lorenz and Louis Mueller, married John Henry Joyce in Galesburg, Illinois. They had four children, including my father, John Paul Joyce who married Gladys Clayton.
John H. Joyce loved to tease his wife Louise Mueller. He called her "my little Dutch girl."
Last revised 09/13/00