I have finally found the first people in our family tree who have Peoria connections. Cory and I have ancestors who were in Illinois, and some not far from Peoria, but Adolph and Eve are the first to actually be here.
Adolph and Eve aren’t direct line ancestors and Eve is the daughter of Philip Gerwig and Eva Magdalena Braun who I uncovered in a research project earlier with year as the family of Dorothea Gerwig who married John Perlette, Cory’s 3x great grandfather.
As I was researching Dorothea, I did as much research as I could on her sister Eve as well to see if there were any documents listing both of them with their family.
When I found this city directory from Peoria in 1865 I was intrigued and needed to know more.
The New Jerusalem Church is also known as the Swedenborgian Church and while the church is no longer in Peoria, it does still have congregations around the United States.
While neither Adolph’s obituary nor his wife’s provide much in the way of family details it does detail a very interesting life story. It mentions Canton, IL rather than Peoria, IL as a residence, but the two are relatively close and he may have lived in both places during his time in the area. He started a colony of believers in Kansas and seems to have been fairly respected. The obituary details are from the archives of the Swedenborgian Church and are found in The New Church Messenger, June 8, 1910 on page 386.
Thanks to the Peoria County Library we also know where the church was located. Peoria City and County Illinois Volume I, by Col James M Rice and published in 1912 lists The New Church. Jefferson St near Hamilton is right downtown Peoria near the current Courthouse
Cory and Nicole Family History 