Auguste (Koch) Bremer, 1853–1922

Auguste Louise Koch was born on 25 April 1853 in Kemberg, Kreis Wittenberg, Germany, as the oldest of three known children of Christian Friedrich Koch and Amalie Henriette Tatkowsky. She was baptized on 8 May 1853 at St. Marian Evangelical Church in Kemberg. Kemberg is about fifty miles southwest of Berlin and six miles south of Wittenberg. Her parents were listed as Christian Friedrich Koch, schuhmacher (shoemaker) and Amalie Henriette geb Tatkowsky of Oberplotz. She married Herman Bremer on 26 April 1873 in Berlin. The couple emigrated in 1884.

In June 1887, Augusta L. Bremer received a diploma from the Missouri School of Midwifery of St. Louis. An advertisement for the school in a city directory indicates “The regular course begins each year on the first Monday in March and the first Monday in September. A specialty of treating diseases of women and children. Ladies will find the best accommodations during confinement.” The school was located at 2022 North Ninth Street.

Augusta Bremer was listed in city directories from 1888 through 1911 as a midwife showing she practiced all that time. She delivered almost all of her grandchildren, but no records exist of her other deliveries so it isn’t known how many babies she delivered during her career.

Why she decided to practice midwifery is an interesting question. I assume her English speaking skills were limited in the early years so it is amazing that she could go to school and learn a technical subject in English. Few women had an occupation in those years. She had a sign outside their home on the wall saying “Augusta Bremer, midwife.”

Family members say she spoke English better than her husband. She was called Grossmama (grandmother) by her grandchildren.

Augusta Bremer died at home on 8 September 1922 at age sixty-nine years, four months, and fourteen days of chronic interstitial nephritis and paralyzed left arm and leg. She is buried in Frieden’s Cemetery in section E, lot 43-C with her husband.

Written by Marian McCreary
June 2017

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