Sorgmann/Kordt Surname

The Souhrada Family Website

SORGMANN/KORDT Surname

By Karen (Williams) Souhrada

Half of our immediate maternal lines come from German roots that appear to have immigrated to Illinois, in the United States around 1879-1882; settling first in the Murphysboro, Jackson County area. It is apparent from early records that Mathias was first employed as a coal miner, but he ended his life according to family lore, as a traveling salesman. Mathias and Mary Sorgmann (nee Kordt) were the parents of nine children, all born in the state of Illinois. Their fifth child was born with the name of Ignatius Joseph Sorgmann and he in turn married Marie Rosalie Hartmann in 1920 [for more information on Marie’s Bohemian roots, visit the HARTMANN/VALTA section of this website.] My mother Edna Sorgmann is the only child and daughter of Ignatius Sorgmann and his wife Marie. Ignatius was a metal foundry worker for all of his adult life, in Detroit, Michigan. We know the most detail, and really very little more, on these early Sorgmann-Kordt families from the interesting marriage license issued in Illinois, and in it we read that Mathias Sorgmann emigrated from Austria, and that Mary Kordt was born in Essen, Westfalia, Germany. It is of interest to note that it is from these German relatives that we inherit our practice of Catholicism. The British/Irish members of our tree were reputed, according to Grandpa Don Williams, to have been followers of “William of Orange”; hence Protestants (from research, we find records of their participation in M.E. or Methodist Episcopal churches early on, then Methodist and Presbyterian in the more recent times, in Pennsylvania.)

Marriage License: Issued January 18, 1887, Jackson county, Illinois

Marriage Certificate and License on file in Murphysboro, Jackson County, Illinois court

Marriage License for Minor (Mary Kordt, "age of 16, next birthday" with parents approval) on file. Marriage Return for the Illinois State Board of Health, to the County Clerk's Office (Jackson County), states:

Name of Groom: MATHIAS SORGMANN

Place of Residence: Murphysboro

Occupation: Miner

Age Next Birthday: 30 years; Color: White; Race: German

Place of Birth: Plachoel Stein---, Austria

Father's Name: VINCENT SORGMANN

Mother's Maiden name: JULIANA COSHUTUIC(?)

Number of Groom's Marriage: First

Full Name of Bride: MARY KORDT

Maiden Name, if a Widow, ----------

Place of Residence: Mount Carbon

Age Next Birthday: 16 years; Color: White; Race: German

Place of Birth: Essen, Westfalia

Father's Name: WILLIAM KORDT

Mother's Maiden Name: CATARINA BRAUNKAMP(?)/BRAUNKAUF

Number of Bride's Marriage: First

Married At: Murphysboro in the County of Jackson and State of Illinois, the first day of February, 1887

Witnesses to Marriage: HENRY BORGSMILLER & LIZZIE BORGERS (?)

Celebrant: FEDERICH BERGMANN

Naturalization Record:
[Source: extracted from the book #523, Naturalization Records of Jackson County, Illinois]

Sorgmann, Mathias, from Austria.

Declaration of Intention, 9 June 1887; Petition for Final Papers, 18 April, 1892; Final Oath, 18 April 1892.

Witnesses, John, Stoelzle and Henry Borgsmiller

Naturalization Records of the court of Jackson County, Illinois: on page 34 we have a petition which states that on June 9, 1887, Mathias Sorgman renounces all allegiance to Francis Joseph, Emperor of Austria, to whom he had originally been a subject. It is signed as Mathias Sorgman and noted with a 'X' made his mark, indicating that he probably could not write.

April 18,1892 court action for the final certificate of naturalization, noted in ledger on page 257; filed at the Jackson County court in Murphysboro, Illinois, concerning Mathias Sorgmann, and witnessed by John Stoltz & Henry Borgsmiller. On the same page # 257, dated February 1, 1892 is found the final certificate of naturalization for WILLIAM KORDT where he renounces allegiance to William II, Emperor of Germany; witnesses were Dominic Aimo & John McMahon.

Henry Borgsmiller, on page 557 of ledger, is found legal action of a minor for the petition, final oath and certificate of naturalization is filed on February 1, 1898. He swears that he emigrated from Germany and has been in the United States for the previous 11 years. He foreswears allegiance to William II, Emperor of Germany. Witnesses on his behalf are William Kordt & Rufus Hardy

Soundex Code: # S625

1900 Federal Census: St. Clair Co., IL (ED 111, Sheet 3B, Line 61)

Sorgman, Mathias, head, Born February 1845; parents and self in Germany; 56 years old, marriage 1 of 13 years; naturalized in 1882 and here in country for 18 years (thus arrived 1882); coal miner, can read, not write and can speak English; rents a home

Sorgman, Mary, wife; born February 1871; 29 years of age; parents & self born in Germany; 1st marriage of 13 years; 7 children born and 6 survive; can read and write and can speak English.

Sorgman, William, son; born June 1888, 12 years of age, born in IL; attends school

Sorgman, Gertie, daughter, born February 1890; 10 years of age, born in IL

Sorgman, Mathias, son; born October 1892, 8 years of age; born in IL

Sorgman, Ignatz, son; born September 1893; 7 years of age, born in IL

Sorgman, Anna; daughter, born July 1895; 4 years of age

Sorgman, Frank J.; son; born January 1890; age 4/12 months.

1910: Census record only found (to date) for Mary Sorgmann, who responds as widow-head of house. This is by the 23rd year of marriage for the couple, so they seem to have been less than amicably separated, as Mathias will not die until 1929, some ten years after the death of his wife Mary Kordt Sorgmann. Mary is reputed to have been employed as a cook at a local hospital, while Mathias seems to have “taken to the road” as a traveling salesman.

Gertrude (nee Sorgmann) Patient; 29

Sorgman, Ignatius, 27 years

Sorgman, Anna, 23 years

Sorgmann, Joseph, 13 years

Sorgmann, Frances,8 yo

1910 > Illinois > ST CLAIR > 7-WD BELLEVILLE Series: T624 Roll: 321 Page: 201

Sorgman, Mary, head, 39; appears to respond as a widow [note: husband Mathias dies in 1919]

Sorgman, William, 19; miner; coal mine

A sad ending for Mathias Sorgmann is recounted in the following news accounts:

[Source: East St. Louis, IL "Daily Journal", page 2, column 8; Monday evening, June 10, 1929:]

Man Swept from Railway Bridge at Belleville

Matthew Sorgman, 72, a retired coal miner, of Belleville, was instantly killed yesterday afternoon when he was swept from a railway bridge near the county seat by a train. The engineer of the Louisville & Nashville train, W. Hadley, of Evansville, Indiana, told Belleville authorities he did not see the aged man who was lying alongside the track on the bridge until it was too late to stop the train. Sorgman is survived by four sons and two daughters. Funeral arrangements had not been made pending the inquest.

[Source: East St. Louis, IL " Daily Journal", June 12, 1929, page 10 column 1:]

Funeral Services at Belleville for Retired Miner

Funeral services for Matthew Sorgman, 72, retired coal miner of Belleville, who was killed late Sunday when he was struck by a Louisville & Nashville train were held at St. Peter's cathedral in Belleville this morning with interment in Green Mount cemetery. Sorgman was struck while he lay on the end of the ties of a trestle. He was believed to have seen the train approaching and realizing that he could not run to either end of the structure in time to escape the train lay down on the end of the ties to let the train pass over him. The pilot of the engine knocked him from the trestle.

Burial in Belleville, Illinois at Green Mount, Cemetery. Information about the train accident, coroner's inquest and burial arrangements taken from microfilm copy of the newspaper: Daily Advocate, of Belleville, IL for June 10, 1929. Article also states that Mathias came to the US while a young man (death certificate states that he had been in the U.S. for 50 years; then look for immigration abt. 1879), and married at age of 32 years old[Marriage Certificate states he was soon to be "30" years of age].

The information on Mary Kordt Sorgmann's death certificate was given by Fred Patient, her son-in-law. The address at the time of her death was 518 St. Charles Street, Belleville, IL.

State wide IL death index listing:

SORGMANN MARY Female/White ? age certificate #0035723 DOD1919-10-16 ST CLAIR BELLEVILLE date filed 19-10-17

Death Certificate Information used for details on parents; address at time of death is 512 Walnut Street, Swansea, IL. (Information states that the length of residence in this city where death occurred was 4 years). Informant for death details is son-in-law Fred A. Patient of Belleville, IL

State wide IL Death Index information:

SORGMANN MATHIAS M/W ?age certificate #0820231 DOD1929-06-09 ST CLAIR ST CLAIR TWP filed:29-06-12

IGNATIUS JOSEPH SORGMANN is better known to us, as he is the father of Edna Elizabeth Sorgmann Williams, our mother and grandmother. Ignatius “called Ignatz by his wife Marie”, was born September 3, 1893 at Du Quoin, Perry County, Illinois. On the 28th of October 1920 at St. Peter’s Cathedral, in Belleville, Illinois he married Marie Rosalie Hartmann, born July 4, 1901 at Stary Osek, Bohemia. The marriage was performed by the Reverend William Hoff, and the witnesses were Frank Hartmann, brother of the bride, and Frank Tedlacek. To them was born a daughter, Edna Elizabeth Sorgmann on December 21, 1925. Ignatius was a veteran of World War I. From military records we find, that he enlisted June 1, 1917 from St. Louis, Missouri, and his Service Serial number was 1027985, and his Social Security number was 363-05-4791. Ignatius served in the U.S. Army during WW I, and his “First enlistment period” was “with Mexicans at Nogales, Arizona"; this “Period ending August 27, 1918).” Next, he was a “Sergeant with Company G, 86th Infantry; also 16 Company 4 Recon. BN, 162 D.B.; Muster out at Camp Pike, Arkansas March 11, 1919. Believed to have received a bonus for Military service from the state of Illinois; paid out March 11, 1919 at Muster for $157.97).” From his obituary notice, we find that he had been a member of the Roose Vanker American Legion Post in Detroit, Michigan, and a member of the Rough Riders Post #516. The Belleville newspaper The Daily Advocate" notes in an article, that on June 26, 1919 Ignatz J. Sorgman filed for discharge from service.

In his adult life, Ignatius’ occupation was as a metal foundry worker, eventually reaching the master craftsman level. In 1998, his daughter and granddaughters still possess several fine examples of his metal working ability. These take the form of three nut crackers (a dog and two alligators), and a toad door-stop, which his granddaughter’s all played with when they were children!

Sometime after Ignatius and Marie had celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary, Ignatius was injured in an automobile accident, and his health never fully recovered. In his late 50’s, he became more incapacitated and was admitted to a Veteran’s Hospital in Long Beach, California. Marie had moved her ill husband to that part of the United States, as that was the closest VA Hospital facility to Las Vegas, Nevada, where her daughter and family lived. Marie split her time between Las Vegas and Los Angeles during these years. Travel by train took her for visits with her daughter Edna, and her growing family in Vegas for "break times", and then primarily living in an apartment as a boarder of landlady Mrs. Anderson (whom we older grandchildren came to call "Grandma Anderson" from our visits to L. A.), while she commuted back and forth to the V. A. hospital where her husband was being treated. After 3 years, 4 months, 3 weeks and 3 days spent in this hospital, Ignatius Sorgmann passed from this earth on December 21, 1954. This was the occasion of his daughter Edna’s 29th birthday. Burial was at Memory Gardens, Las Vegas, Nevada. The new widow Marie eventually moved to Las Vegas to be with her daughter, son-in-law Donald Williams and her five granddaughters. We had so many wonderful years with Gram as we all grew to maturity, losing her in her 90th year (August 1991). What a life she led, often marveling that she immigrated on the famous steamship “Carpathia” in 1904. She started her life in a time of horse & buggy travel and lived long enough to see a man land on the moon. What a fan she was of “Star Trek” and now she is out there enjoying the “celestial dance”.