Early in the year 1850, at age 17 years old, Crescentia Stoeckle immigrated to America from The Kingdom of Wurttemberg accompanied by her immediate older sibling Richard Stoeckle. They were from Buchau (later named Bad Buchau for its natural warm spas), a village in south central Wurttemberg southwest of Ulm. Two years earlier their parents died three months apart prompting their move. Their mother Rufina Buck was their dad Jakob Stoeckle's second wife and he was fifty years old when Crescentia was born. She was their youngest child.

Sister and brother arrived in Wilmington, Delaware where their cousin Agatha Stoeckle settled two years earlier. During her first months in the city, Crescentia met Joseph Gully, a native of Alsace, France (fluent in German and French) and 19 years her senior. They married December 30, 1850 and birthed three children, all girls, Maria Rosanna (infant death), Mary Barbara and Josephine Elizabeth, before relocating several states west from Delaware to Lafayette County, Wisconsin. Their first son Jacob James Gully was born in the village of Mineral Point, WI and sons Joseph and Michael born on their 160 acre farm in central Fayette Township. Husband Joseph Gully died of unknown causes September 12, 1861.

On their farm in the wilds of 1861 Wisconsin, Crescentia had become a widow at the age of twenty-eight with five small children, the oldest was eight, and she was pregnant. As harvest continued, she relied on the help of neighbors or did the work herself. Her older children remembered sitting on top of their dad's coffin for the wagon ride to a local cemetery or more likely he was buried on their farm. Joseph Gully was age 48 at death. Five weeks after his death, Crescentia birthed their son Richard Walter Gully.

Two years later Crescens, as she was called, married Johann (John) Jaeger at nearby Willow Springs Township Catholic Church. Mr Jaeger was a native of Ebensee, Austria and had arrived in the USA at the Port of New Orleans about 1855. Their daughter Elizabeth was born in Fayette Township in January 1865 when, within a few months, the family sold out in Wisconsin and traveled 380 miles to Lake Henry Township, St. Martin, Minnesota. Together they had 8 more children, all born on their central Minnesota farm: Rosalia, Crescentia (Crazenz), John Michael, Anna, Catherine, Michael Anton (Tony), Leonard A., and Matthew P. Jaeger.

At age 44 years old on January 31, 1877, Crescentia died at home from birth complications and/or from consumption. Her many children remembered crowding around her deathbed as she bade them all to "be good". Their ages at the time of her death ranged from 22 years to 3 months old. (Her oldest daughter Mary had died 2 years earlier following childbirth)

Four years later on August 23, 1881, Mr. Jaeger died suddenly from a heart attack at age 56 years. He is also buried in St. Martin, MN Catholic cemetery. His grave is behind Crescentia's in the first row. Following his death, their younger children split up and were raised in separate homes.

Crescentia's sixteen children:

1)Maria Rosanna Gully 1851-1852 Wilmington, DE 0 children

2)Mary Gully Gilles 1853-1874 Spring Hill, MN 1 child

3)Josephine Gully Finneman 1854-1923 St. Cloud, MN 11 children

4)Jacob Gully 1856-1924 Willow Lake, SD 8 children

5)Joseph Gully 1857-1948 Lidgerwood, ND 8 children

6)Michael Gully 1859-1921 St. Martin, MN 6 children

7)Richard Gully 1861-1929 Lidgerwood, ND 9 children

8)Elizabeth Jaeger 1865-1887 Pierz, MN 0 children

9)Rosalia Jaeger 1866-1874 St. Martin, MN 0 children

10)Crazenz Jaeger Dahmen 1867-1892 Pierz, MN 5 children

11)John Jaeger 1868-1941 Hankinson, ND 11 children

12)Anna Jaeger Koller 1870-1895 Pearl Lake, MN 4 children

13)Catherine Jaeger Meyer 1871-1957 Pierz, MN 12 children

14)Michael Anton Jaeger 1872-1949 Mahnomen, MN 8 children

15)Leonard Jaeger 1874-1923 Shaunavon, SK 6 children

16)Matthew Jaeger 1876-1955 Vancouver, BC 7 children

Ninety-six grandchildren, three hundred twenty-six great grandchildren and over eleven hundred great great grandchildren.

Photos of Crescentia and her husbands Joseph Gully and Johann Jaeger have never been found.

Crescentia was called Crescens by her family and neighbors. The name Crescentia is an English translation of her German baptismal name Kreszenz. In her home village, her maiden name was spelled Stokle with an umlaut over the o and pronounced Stayk-la.

Crescentia's five years older brother Clemenz Stoeckle, 1827-1870, may have arrived in America in 1854. His naturalization intent record is dated October 1854, Philadelphia. Spoken oath of allegiance dated October 1868, Philadelphia. He married about 1854 and resided in Wilmington with his wife Mary Klineman and their seven children, four boys and three girls; Frederick, August, Jacob, Margaret (Hahn), Henry, Mary A. & Matilda born in 1869. Clemenz worked in the brewing industry and died in Wilmington at age 43 years old. Son Jacob died in St. Louis at age 52 and daughter Margaret Hahn lived many years in St. Louis but is buried in Glendale, CA, living to age 90 years old in 1955.

Brother Richard Stoeckle 2/6/1829-8/17/1903, married in Wilmington and with his wife birthed five children there. Later, they relocated to Ohio. He is buried at Mount Calvary Catholic Cemetery, Clinton Twp, Knox Co, OH. He was a carpenter. (Richard traveled to USA with Crescentia).

Crescentia had two known Stoeckle first cousins in America, siblings from her home German village of Bad Buchau. They both prospered and lived the rest of their lives in Wilmington, DE.

1) Agatha Mutchler Kleinstuber 7/1/1826-12/21/1914, married twice, five children, buried Cathedral Cemetery, Wilmington, DE

2) Joseph Stoeckle 5/31/1834-12/19/1893, married, five children, buried at Riverside Cemetery, Wilmington, DE Joseph was the State of Delaware's premier brewing tycoon and one of the city of Wilmington wealthiest citizens. His successful Diamond State Beer brand made the Stoeckle name equivalent with beer in Delaware for the next one hundred years. written by Gregory Dorr

Addendum---Albert Einstein's father, Hermann Einstein, was born and raised in Crescentia's home village of Buchau, Kingdom of Württemberg, son of Abraham Einstein and Helene Moos. Prior to World War II, there was a sizable and thriving Jewish population in Crescentia's home village of Buchau, later renamed Bad Buchau for its natural warm springs. Bad means bath in German language. In 1879, physicist Albert Einstein was born 38 miles northeast at Ulm, Germany.