Georg Moritz Gotsch, 1795–1878

Georg Moritz was born on 21 May 1795, near Wittenberg in Düben, Saxony, to Johann August Gotsch and Johanna Christine Steinfeld. Johann August was an artillery officer in the Saxon army. Georg’s education began with the Fuerstenschule, continuing at Meissen’s St. Afra. When his father secured a position as police inspector in Leipzig, Georg was enrolled at St. Nicholai. His father wanted Georg to “receive the beautiful gifts of God and surrendered him to be a preacher of the Word of God,” according to Der Lutheraner, the forerunner of today’s Lutheran Witness. From there Georg continued his education at the university in Meissen to prepare for the holy ministry, followed by three years of intensive studies at the University of Leipzig. One honor and degree after another, Georg finally earned his Doctor of Theology degree.

Following graduation, no pastorate was available so he took tutoring positions in various places. One of those places, Lößnitz, is where he met his future wife, Johanna Emilie Friedrich, who he married on 25 February 1825. She was the daughter of a wealthy merchant. Georg and Johanna were the parents of nine children. On the day the last child was born, Johanna got out of bed and had a fatal fall when she tripped over a toy wagon. By this time, Georg was pastoring a congregation in Mühlau, Saxony.

The next year he married his second wife, Louisa Amalie Kirchheim. She was the daughter of Rev. Friedrich Wilhelm Kirchheim and Antonie Dorothea Christiane Commatzsch. Five more children were fathered by Georg and this wife, all born in Ziegelheim.

In May 1852, Georg took his growing family to America aboard the bark Wieland. The family settled in Indiana where Georg had bought a farm as he had resigned from the ministry in Saxony. He knew nothing of this occupation and eventually sold the farm, returned to the ministry, and accepted a call to an Indiana congregation.

During the time in Ripley County, Indiana, Louisa died. The following year, Georg married yet again. Emilia Josephine Friederika Strobel became his wife in Cincinnati, Ohio. Georg took a call to a church in Black Jack, Missouri, and served a few short years. There, the first of four daughters was born to them.

A call was sent to Georg from a congregation in Memphis, Tennessee, which Georg accepted. In Memphis, three more daughters were born; and a son from his first marriage died in the Civil War. Finally, in 1875, Georg retired from the ministry and with his family boarded the steamboat Grand Tower bound for St. Louis. He lived the remainder of his life in St. Louis until his death on 3 June 1878. After his funeral at Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Georg was buried at Concordia Lutheran Cemetery on Bates. Georg is certified as a member of “First Families of St. Louis.”

Written by Cheryl Gross
May 2018

© 2018 St. Louis Genealogical Society