Barbara Voegele née Mueller, (1847-1916)

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Birth: 4 December 1847, Frankfurt, Germany

Death: 23 January 1916, Seabeck, Kitsap County, Washington

Relatives in Seabeck Cemetery: Edward Voegele

American Revolutionary War Patriots*: None.

Disclaimer: These lines have not been officially proven by NSDAR standards

Barbara Voegele née Mueller was born on December 4, 1847, in Frankfurt, Germany, the daughter of Simon Mueller; her mother’s name is unknown. In 1873, seeking opportunity in a new land, Barbara immigrated to the United States. That same year, another German immigrant, Edward Voegele—born November 20, 1849, in Berlin to Robert Voegele—also arrived in America. Their journeys would soon converge.

Barbara settled in Michigan, and on September 11, 1875, she married Edward in Union City, Branch County. Together they began building a life marked by perseverance and movement across the growing nation. In 1881, while living in Wausau, Wisconsin, Barbara gave birth to their son, Emil Henry. Six years later, in 1887, their daughter, Emma Hilda, was born in Columbus, Ohio.

Around 1889, Barbara and Edward brought their young family west to Washington Territory, where they purchased a 160-acre homestead in the hills above Seabeck. There, Barbara helped establish and sustain the family farm, raising her children in the rugged but promising environment of the Puget Sound region. Life on the homestead demanded resilience, and Barbara was at the heart of the household during these formative years.

In 1902, the family moved to Seattle, where Edward found work first as a cook and later as a carman making deliveries by horse and wagon. Yet Seabeck remained home in spirit, and by 1907 Barbara and Edward had returned to their farm.

One colorful story preserved by Seabeck historians reflects the character of life during those years. A longtime resident recalled Edward hunting bear in his coveralls, carrying a small toy poodle tucked into the bib while armed with a double-barreled shotgun. On one occasion, after shooting at a bear as it leapt a log, Edward set the dog down to investigate. When the dog did not bark, he assumed the bear was dead—until he himself jumped the log and landed squarely on the very-much-alive animal. The bear tore off his clothes before he managed to scramble back to safety, remarkably uninjured. Such stories form part of the vivid frontier backdrop against which Barbara lived her daily life of work, family, and community.

Barbara died in Seabeck on January 23, 1916, at the age of sixty-eight. Her death certificate listed “cerebral hemorrhage” and “interstitial nephritis” as causes of death. The Kitsap Herald published her obituary on January 28, 1916, under the headline “Seabeck Pioneer Dies.” It noted that she had come to Puget Sound with her husband in 1889 to take up a homestead near Seabeck, where she lived for most of the remainder of her life. She was remembered as a pioneer woman of the community, and was survived by her husband and her daughter, Mrs. Arthur G. Davis, who lived near Seabeck.

After Barbara’s passing, Edward gradually sold portions of the homestead. By 1926, only twenty acres of the original 160 remained in his possession. He eventually moved to Seattle to live with their son Emil and worked intermittently as a laborer.

Edward died in Seattle on February 15, 1930, at the age of eighty, from pleurisy and “old age.” He was laid to rest beside Barbara in Seabeck Cemetery.