Bratnober Family History

August and Maria Eva Merten Bratnober came to America with their children from Prussia in 1854 onboard the Isaac Webb. August was a harness maker, Maria was a midwife and the Bratnober family was poor. They had five children in common, who were photographed together in about 1885. These children were, from left to right: Augustus Charles, Louisa Caroline, Rudolph "Ralph" Henrick, Pauline Albertina, and Earnest "Henry" Wilhelm. The Bratnobers first settled in Hazel Green, Wisconsin in 1855 and later moved on to Fort Dodge and Waterloo, Iowa, after the Civil War, beginning in 1865.

By the time of the reunion we also hope to introduce a new edition of a book by the eldest of these five siblings:
	THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF AUGUSTUS CHARLES BRATNOBER
This two-hundred-page autobiography, of which there are just a few copies in the family, will be published in its first modern, public edition with several excellent photographs in 2003.     Augustus Charles Bratnober (1842-1918) was an observant Civil War infantryman (Tenth Regiment of Wisconsin) who vividly describes the great movement of men and the rough struggle for survival that they endured. He further describes the Battle of Chickamauga, where he was captured and taken prisoner to Richmond, Virginia. Here he's part of a daring escape attempt that almost succeeds before he is exchanged to the North on the assumption that he is nearly dead.     In addition, the book details the family's early years in Prussia and their later rugged pioneer days of farming, butchering and harness-making, as they contribute to the early development of Hazel Green, Wisconsin; Galena, Illinois; and Fort Dodge and Waterloo, Iowa. In the 1880s, Augustus moves on to explore and describe the West including Texas, Mexico, Montana, Washington, and California.