By Staff
Arends family migrated from Germany
By LYDIA GRIMES - Features Writer
One family that has not had too much said about it is the Arends or Ahrends family. Most of us know that there was a large population of German or German speaking people living in the early days of the area. Some of them are well remembered and some not so much.
The Arends family descend from the immigrant, John Nicholas Arends who was born 14 April 1824 in Prussia. He died 9 Feb. 1890 in the Brewton area. He could, according to Annie Waters, speak German, French and English.
He was first married to Theresa Bouvet, a French lady, abt. 1844 and they migrated to America in 1856 with four children. they lived in Mobile where he had a machine shop. His first wife died there Nov. 7, 1858 in a yellow fever epidemic. They were the parents of Mary Francis Arends (18 July 1849 in Prussia-3 June 1930) who married Joseph McAleer, Joseph Arends, Robert William Arends who became a Catholic priest, and Nicholas Arends (1853 in Prussia).
John Nicholas Arends married second on Dec. 26, 1864 to the widow of Patrick Farrell, Margaret Ann Brady Farrell. Patrick had drowned in Mobile Bay leaving Margaret with two children, Philip J. Farrell and Annie R. Farrell. It would appear that John Nicholas adopted these two children as they used the Arends name in everyday life.
Philip J. Farrell (Arends) was born 24 July 1859 in Missouri and died 23 Oct. 1882 in Brewton of yellow fever.
Annie R. Farrell (Arends) was born 18 Nov. 1861 and died 8 June 1911. She married John Hairston 4 July 1877. He was a merchant and worked for the railroad. They had Maggie S. Hairston who died in infancy in 1879 and Lucile A. Hairston (abt 1881) who married A. P. Wills who was a professor at Brewton Collegiate Institute.
Mary Francis Arends, daughter of John Nicholas Arends and Theresa Bouvet, married Joseph McAleer (Aug. 1847 in Ireland-19 May 1922 in Mobile). They lived in Mobile and were the parents of Minnie S. McAleer (Dec. 1871), Joseph N. McAleer (Aug. 1873), Robert W. McAleer (July 1875), John C. McAleer (Sept. 1879), Paul J. McAleer (Jan 1885), Vincent B. McAleer (July 1887) and Teresa Cecelia McAleer (May 1877-1964) who married David Damascus Langham Sr. (11 Dec. 1869-1933). Langham Park in Mobile is named for him.
John Nicholas Arends and Margaret Ann Brady Farrell had Aloise A. Arends (21 June 1867-16 May 1951) who married James Sowell (26 Aug. 1862-4 Dec. 1913), son of Charles L. Sowell and Annie Jernigan of Escambia County. They were the parents of Charles J. Sowell, Philip N. Sowell, Joseph Arends Sowell (1892-1966) and Samuel Sowell. Aloise, James and their son, Joseph Arends Sowell are all buried at Union Cemetery in Alco.
I want to tell you more about these families that have some, but not a lot written about them. The people were, at one time, part of the community and left their marks, not only in their descendants, but also in the work that they did.
John Nicholas Arends not only lived here in the area, he was the postmaster at Brewton for 20 years.
Next week I will get to another family.
Happy hunting!
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