Melchers of Cloppenburg/Oldenburg and Charleston, South Carolina

The earliest of this family whom we know about was Franz Bernard Melchers, born about 1775 in Oldenburg. He and his wife, Anna Maria Driver, had at least one child, Caspar Adolph Franz, born in 1802 in the local village of Krapendorf.

Caspar and his wife, Margaretha Adelheid Mellman, who was born in 1800 in Badbergen, had seven children all born in Cloppenburg between 1826 and 1838. A handful of them emigrated to Charleston, South Carolina, as did their parents. The large German community there was a distinct attraction for emigrants with its German-language Lutheran church. St. Matthews.

Their eldest son Franz Adolph, born in 1826, established the first (and only) German-language newspaper in Charleston, Die Zeitung. He's pictured above in a daguerreotype, posing with a copy of his newspaper. The daguerreotype is part of the Library of Congress collection.

Another son, Theodore, married Helena Philippine Elise Josephinne Müller, oldest child of the Rev. Ludwig Müller and Caroline Laurent Müller. Theodore posed in full military regalia about 1875 in Charleston.

Caspar and Margaretha Melchers died within a few days of each other in October 1852 and were buried at Hampstedt Cemetery, then the cemetery associated with St. Matthews German Lutheran Church. When the cemetery was abandoned in 1860 they were re-interred at Bethany Cemetery, the new St. Matthews burial ground.

According to 1881 naturalization record via Ancestrylibrary.com Theodore came to Charleston on 27 December 1848, was made a citizen in 1854, applied for new certificate in 1881 because certificate of citizenship was lost and court records were destroyed. He had lived for 30 years in Charleston and two in New York City. He died in 1907 in Charleston. His wife Helena lived until 1834 and died at the age of 90 in Summerville, a suburb of Charleston, in 1934.