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Diedrich Bicknese

Louise Luetgert's brother, he was a farmer. He came to the United States on the ship Main, sailing from Bremen to New York, arriving on November 12, 1872. He was 15 at the time. His sister, Louise, 17, was also aboard. When Louise disappeared, Diedrich searched for his missing sister while Adolph Luetgert seemed nonchalant about the whole affair. He ended up testifying as a key witness against Luetgert.

Born: September 22, 1857, in Landesbergen, Hannover, Germany.
Variations of name: Diedrick, Dietrich.
Home in 1897: Wood Dale, Illinois.
Died: April 12, 1901.
Buried: Zion Lutheran Church in Bensenville, Illinois.

His wife, Louise Sophie Rabe, moved to Montana with her children following his death; she returned to Illinois in 1929. She died January 29, 1957, in Melrose Park, Illinois. Diedrich had several children, perhaps as many as seven. His children changed the spelling of the family name to Bicknase: Lydia Sophia (1884-1974), who married Frederick Wilhelm Tegtmeier and had 12 children; Wilhelm (b. 1885); Friedrich (b. 1887); Adele; Emma; Edward; and Emil.

View the Luetgert-Bicknese family tree.

Pictures: Chicago Daily News, Sept. 11, 1897 (right); Chicago Journal, Sept. 11, 1897.