Bachert Family

About the Bachert Family

Catherine Bachert joined the Bethel Colony with two small children in 1845.  She conduced $15.66 to the colony’s general fund. As a widow and mother in poverty, this amounted to the extent of her financial resources. Her son Michael Bachert grew up in the colony and came to Aurora in 1863. He remained a member until the final dissolution in 1881.

Catherine Bachert died and was buried at Bethel. Her daughter Mary Bachert married Daniel Keller and they remained in the Bethel Colony.

Descendants

Norman Bachert, the great-grandson of Michael Bachert through Michael’s son David (B 1863) carried on a correspondence with ACHS from 1980 to 1996. He donated family history and photographs and shared several family stories. Irene Bahm, the great-granddaughter of Michael Bachert through Michael’s son Andy (B 1879) also donated family history and photographs.

There are no current contacts with the Bachert family.

Quotes and Stories

Norman Bachert said, “What a godsend it must have been with two small children to find a heaven like this—-people who took her in and really made a home for her.

“When David Bachert’s wife died, David’s son Ralph was sent to live with his grandmother Mary Stahl Bachert.  When Ralph was twelve, in 1904, his grandmother died and he moved in with his Uncle Fred.  Ralph felt Uncle Fred was too strict and ran away to find his father, who was driving a beer wagon in Bellingham.  His father put him in a home and he ran away from there.  He wound up working on inter-island boats in the San Juan Islands where he eventually met his wife Elizabeth O’Niel.”  Norman Bachert was the second of their four children.