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Jacob Kramer, Sr., may paternal grandfather, was born on April 30, 1868 in Birsula Ukraine, Russia. His parents, Jacob Kramer and Margarethe Albrecht, were of German descent and had moved there from Austria. Jacob's father was a teacher on the estate of a Russian Count. The estate was a village by itself and Jacob taught not only the Count's children but the children of the employees on the estate. On November 27, 1886 Jacob married Barbara Christina Lutz (born August 20, 1868 in Hotnungsthal, Russia). They had on son while living in Russia. Jacob Freidrich, born March 20 1888. Jacob, Barbara and baby Jacob emigrated to the United States in April 1889 along with other members of the Lutz Family (including Barbara's parents and seven brothers and sisters and their families and took up homesteading in Kit Carson County, Colorado near Burlington. While living there four more children were born; Margaretha, born July 12, 1889; Carl Henry, born August 18, 1891; Eduard (my father), born November 22, 1892; Lydia Louise, born February 21, 1894. During a drought Barbara stayed on the homestead while Jacob came to Denver and worked in a section gang of the Union Pacific Railroad. In 1896 Jacob Kramer and his family moved to the Atmore farm two and one-half miles north of Brighton. Barbara's sister Anna Marie (Lutz) Delventhal had moved to Brighton in 1891 and was instrumental in bringing the rest of her family, including the Jacob Kramer family, from the drought stricken Burlington area to the Brighton area. On September 12, 1904 the Jacob Kramers moved to a farm they bought from Henry Schloo which was located north of Brighton at the end of what is now road 2½ in Weld County. While living near Brighton, Jacob and Barbara had six more children Henry C., born April 30, 1896; Herman August, born August 19, 1897; Bertha Marie, born January 11, 1902; Clara Rosina, born February 21, 1903; August Gottlieb, born May 7, 1906 and Frieda Louise, born October 5, 1909. Jacob and Barbara lived on the Schloo farm until 1918 when they sold it to their son Eduard. They moved to 49 South 3rd Avenue in Brighton on May 4, 1918 and lived there until 1942. For three years they lived at 148 North 5th. They then lived for a short time in Greeley at the Bonell Nursing Home before moving back to Brighton to live with their daughters, Bertha Kramer and Clara Austin, where they remained the rest of their lives. Jacob died on July 18, 1955 and Barbara on March 9, 1958. They are buried in Elmwood Cemetery in Brighton. Seven of Jacob and Barbara's children lived to adulthood; Jacob, Carl, Eduard, Lydia (Obermeier), Herman, Bertha, and Clara (Austin) and, with the exception of Carl and Lydia, all of them spent their lives in the Brighton area. Bertha and Clara are the last remaining children and, although they are in their eighties, they remain active. They are noted for their fine embroidered cut-work and appliqued linens and tea towels, many of which are donated and sold each year through bazaars at Zion Lutheran Church. Barbara and Jacob had 19 grandchildren. Thoses who still live in the Brighton area are: Erwin Kramer, Kathryne (Kramer) Sandquist, Evelyn (Kramer) Tepe, and Marvin Kramer. |