Hicke Osterkamp (1819-1889)

Born: December 9, 1819

Died: July 25, 1889

Hicke Jansen Osterkamp was the first of his family to come to the United States.

He was born on December 9, 1819, in Hanover, Kingdom of Hanover, now in north-central Germany. At age 29, he immigrated to the United States by sailing on the Amy from the German port of Bremerhaven to New York, arriving on June 14, 1849. He settled in St. Louis.

On January 9, 1853, Hicke, age 33, married 24-year-old Caroline Nicolai in St. Louis. In the next five years, they had three children: Emil (1853), Robert (1856) and Julius (1858). Julius died before his second birthday, but Emil and Robert reached adulthood.

On June 10, 1857, Hicke purchased 80 acres from the U.S. government under the Land Act of 1820. Hicke and Caroline soon opened a family grocery in St. Louis. The business was successful, and by 1860, they owned real estate valued at $5,000 (about $110,000 in 2008 dollars) and had a personal estate worth $900 (about $20,000 in 2008 dollars). On October 22, 1860, Hicke filed his second set of |naturalization naturalization papers, thereby fulfilling the requirements for U.S. citizenship.

Hicke enlisted in the Union Army on May 7, 1861, shortly after the Civil War began, and served for three months as a private in the Second Regiment, U.S. Reserve Corps, Missouri Infantry, a newly formed unit consisting of mostly German-American citizens of St. Louis' Second Ward, between the |Soulard Soulard neigborhoodand Chouteau Avenue. Although much of Missouri's population sympathized with the Confederacy, the state's numerous German immigrants were generally pro-Union, in part because [http://www.mcwm.org/history_germans.html|"many could see the parallel between the Southern 'slave baron' vs. the feudal baron that denied peasants the right to own land in the old fatherland."

Three days after the regiment was formed, it took part in the |Capture Capture of Camp Jackson, a rebel militia camp |near near St. Louis. In the words of one survivor, the capture |"started a train of events which directly prevented the secession of Missouri, and indirectly the secession of the other so called Border Slave States, Kentucky and Maryland and Delaware." Hicke's company later guarded a bridge on the Northern Missouri Railroad for two months before mustering out on August 16, 1861.

After his Civil War service, Hicke returned home and continued to operate the family grocery with Caroline. However, times were hard. By 1870, the value of the family’s real estate remained $5,000 (about $80,000 in 2008 dollars), and their personal estate had declined to $500 (about $8,000 in 2008 dollars). To help his parents, 14-year-old Robert worked in a brickyard.

Hicke died of epilepsy at age 69 on July 25, 1889. He is buried at |Gatewood Gatewood Gardens Cemetery, formerly New Picker's Cemetery.

Family
Wife: Caroline Osterkamp (Nicolai) (1829-1884)

Children: Emil Osterkamp (1853-1914) Robert Osterkamp (1856-1915) Julius Osterkamp (1858-1860)

Grandchildren: Charles Osterkamp (1884-1947) Fred Osterkamp (1885-1947) Arthur Osterkamp (1887-1974) Walter R. Osterkamp (1888-1916) Walter H. Osterkamp (1890-1963) Clifton Osterkamp (1892-1959) Ella Osterkamp (1893-1894)

Greatgrandchildren: Roy Osterkamp (1912-2002) Nainon(?) Osterkamp (b. c.1921) Walter H. Osterkamp, Jr. (1924-1993) Susan McConnell (Osterkamp) (b. 1935) Waite Osterkamp (b. 1939)