BEREND KLUKKERT
AMANDA JOHNSON
1847 -- 1920
1851 -- 1913

Berend Klukkert was born February 16, 1847 in Oudedorp, Prussia, now Altendorf, Germany. Church records show his mother's name was Fenne Harmsen; his father's name was Geert Klukker (The "t" was pronounced but not spelled out in the Platt Deutsch dialect of this area next to Holland). It is believed that Berend came to America in 1868 to avoid service in the Prussian Army, however the U.S. Congress was encouraging settlement with the Homestead Act. Berend came to Fredericktown where there were many German settlers, lead miners and farmers; it is not known what Berend did for a living but he didn't buy a farm until 1874.

Amanda Jane Johnson was born November 15, 1851 in Fredericktown, Missouri to Edward Albert and Elizabeth Pinkerton Johnson. Amanda met Berend some time between 1868 and 1872; they were married in Fredericktown, February 4, 1872 by a Justice of the Peace. Before leaving Missouri they had bought and sold two farms and had six children:
Fritz b. Dec-11-1872
Minnie b. Dec-23-1874
Lillie b. Dec-12-1875
Fannie b. Feb-6-1878 - d. 1884
Garrett Henry b. Dec-6-1879
John b. Oct-24-l881

In 1881, Berend brought his family to Anderson; they filed a Declaration of Homestead on March 30, 1885. The couple had five more children, three who survived:
Jennie b. Jun-4-1884
Harry b. Jan-31-1888
Benjamin b. Aug-20-1885

In 1888, they bought 127 acres on the County Road parallel to the railroad tracks between Redding and Anderson; they had orchard, vineyard, grain, and truck garden. The oldest son, Fritz sold vegetables and wine to miners and villages high in the hills; he even sold his team and wagon before taking his profit back home.

Berend, also, opened a bakery in Anderson. Both operations were successful because Berend made several trips back to Germany and on at least one occasion took Amanda with him.

The 1900 Census shows sons Garrett, John, Ben, and Harry as farm laborers, but the 1910 Census shows that Berend had sold the farm and retired to a small house in Anderson; sons John and Harry were living with them and listed as working in the Anderson Klukkert and Sons Bakery; Ben is listed as Proprietor of a Bakery in Redding.

On March 3, 1913, Amanda Johnson Klukkert passed away; she had suffered a stroke sometime during the previous year and gradually weakened until her death. She was buried in the IOOF Cemetary in Anderson.

By 19l6, Berend had gone to San Francisco to live with Lillian Klukkert his unmarried daughter until his own death April 20, 1920. His body was buried in Anderson beside his wife and two of their children in the lOOF Cemetary. His tombstone refers to him as Bernard the Americanization of his name and the form most often used as a middle name by his descendants.

Source: Shasta Historical Society

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