My Genealogy Hound

Adam Puchta. Among the German settlers who came to Gasconade County were John Henry and Mary (Schulteisz) Puchta, natives of Ober Kotzau, Bavaria, Germany, born in 1802 and May13, 1810, respectively. The father had previously been married, and by this union three children were born, only two living: Frederick and John Adam. The mother of these children died in 1832, and June 22, 1833, the father married Miss Schulteisz, who bore him eight children, seven now living: Catherine, Margaret, Anna, Charles, Mathilde, Emil and Pauline. The first three were born in Germany, and the rest in America. The father, while in his native country, was a farmer and butcher by occupation. In 1839 they sailed for America and made their home in Gasconade County, where both spent the remainder of their days. He lived to be fifty-five and she seventy-seven years of age. Both belonged to the Evangelical Church. The second child born to the first marriage, John Adam, was born in Ober Kotzau, Germany, November 27, 1831, and came with his parents to Hermann, Mo., in 1839. April 15, 1853, he drove an ox team to California, and was there nearly three years, mining gold. After returning he married Miss Clementina Riefenstahl, daughter of George Riefenstahl, one of the early settlers of Hermann. By this marriage he became the father of one child, a daughter, deceased. In 1858 his first wife died, and in the following year he married Miss Bertha Riefenstahl, who was born in 1838, and who was a sister of his first wife, and the first girl baby born in Hermann, Mo. She bore him two children, one son and one daughter: Clementine (deceased,) and Henry John, who was born April 4, 1861. Mr. and Mrs. Puchta are members of the Evangelical Church, as was also his first wife. He settled in the woods, cleared a fine tract of land of 100 acres, and has been successfully engaged in farming and wine-growing. He has held the offices of school director, roadmaster, etc., and is a Democrat in his political belief. His brother, Frederick, also came to Hermann, Mo., in 1839.