John Edward (Eduard) Colbrunn
John Edward (Eduard) Colbrunn was born 9 Mar 1841 at Brake, Germany, as the son of Eduard COLBRUNN and wife Augusta Colbrunn. John was the youngest child in the family. In 1848 at the age of 7, his mother brought him and his siblings via the ship Ann Welsh into New York Harbor on 11 December 1848 and eventually to Rockport County, Ohio, where she purchased 100 acres in Rockport. At the time, Germany was in political and religious upheaval; over 100 other inhabitants of their area left Brake to make new homes in America. After John’s father settled his affairs, including the sale of his linen mills and home, he joined his family in Ohio in 1850. It was difficult for the family to leave Germany. Their linen mills had won awards for exhibiting fine damask linen at the Berlin Exhibition of 1844. Germany would not allow Eduard to take printed plans of the mills out of the country, but Eduard had a photographic memory and had the mills’ plans in his head. At Eduard’s death in 1868, he owned more than 600 acres of property in what is now Cleveland Ohio; as was the German custom, most of the property was inherited by the eldest son, Frederick A. Colbrunn, not John.
On 27 Nov 1866 in Cleveland, Ohio, John married Sarah Ann DUCKER (b. in Germany, 29 December 1845; died 18 July 1903 in Cleveland.)
John and Sarah Ann had ten children including Minnie Mae Colbrunn (Nichols), (born 14 Jan 1872 at Cleveland, OH), from which child descends this line to a member of Laura Belle Stoddard Tent 22, Daughters of Union Veterans of the Civil War 1861-1865.
Sarah Ann DUCKER
Headstone of John E Colbrunn in Monroe Street Cemetery, Cleveland, Ohio
John died at Cleveland, OH on 19 Mar 1913 and is buried in Lot No. 1, Section 8 in the Monroe Street Cemetery in Cleveland, Ohio next to his parents and wife.
John Edward Colbrunn was enrolled in April 1861 at Cleveland, OH and was honorably discharged in 1862.
[Source: Civil War Pension File #(Certificate # SC20533]
John and the 7th Regiment participated in these 1861-62 engagements:
26 Aug 1861 at Cross Lanes, WV.
26 Aug 1861 at Cross Keys, VA.
28 Aug 1861 at Cross Lane, VA.
23 Mar 1862 at Winchester, VA.
24 May 1862 at Strasburg, VA.
9 Jun 1862 at Port Republic, VA.
At the battle of Port Republic, John was wounded in his right leg and right forearm leading to his disability and honorable discharge. He returned to Cleveland, became an American citizen on March 13, 1863, married and raised 10 children and owned and operated a dry goods store. He suffered pain for the rest of his life because of the wounds incurred at Port Republic. John Edward Colbrunn lived his last years near many close family members. His grandson Kenneth D. Nichols recalls: “I remember my grandfather, John E. Colbrunn as a very formal person, very pleasant, but no stories for me. In my mental vision, I see this erect man, carrying a cane, as he walked slowly along the sidewalk coming toward my house. He lived about a quarter of a mile away on Berea Road.”
The 7th Regiment, without John, participated in other engagements including:
9 Aug 1862 at Cedar Mountain, VA.
18 Aug 1862 at Culpeper, VA.
1 Sep 1862 at Manassas Junction, VA.
17 Sep 1862 at Antietam, MD.
25 Nov 1862 at Harper’s Ferry, WV.
27 Dec 1862 at Dumfries, VA.
[Source: Historical Data Systems, comp. American Civil War Regiments, Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 1999.]
John’s name is carved in Tablet 3 of the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument located at 3 Public Square, Cleveland, Ohio
Tablet 3, Soldiers’ and Sailors” Monument, Cleveland, OH
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