Philipp Neff's Life in New Orleans, Part I


Life in New Orleans Part I (1853-1862) When Philipp Neff first arrived in New Orleans, he lived in the "uptown" section of the city. Exactly where he lived and what type of work he did is not known. About a year after Philipp arrived in New Orleans, his sister Elisabetha Neff and her son Adam arrived in the city with Peter Villhard. They had traveled from Le Havre, France, on board the ship Mortimer Livingston, which arrived in New Orleans on 28 December 1854. They were on their way to Illinois, but may have stayed in the city with Philipp for several months.

The passenger list showed them as: Neff, Margaret 29 Adam 4 Villhard, Peter 23

Sometime within his first year in New Orleans, Philipp met Carolina Oser, who was an immigrant from Steinbach, Baden (Germany), where she was born about 1832. The names of her parents have not been determined. Philipp and Carolina Oser were married on 3 February 1855 by the Rev. Ernst Berger, who at the time was serving the German Lutheran Congregation of the City of Lafayette (today’s Jackson Avenue Evangelical Congregation). The original church marriage record notes that Philipp Neff was from "Dusenbach."

Today's Jackson Avenue Evangelical Congregation was formed in September 1845. Their first church, constructed in 1846, was located at the corner of Philip and Chippewa Streets. The original church and parish hallof the German Evangelical Church and Congregation in Lafayette.

It is likely that Philipp's sister, Elisabetha, and Peter Villhard were still in New Orleans at the time of Philipp's marriage to Carolina Oser. Peter and Elisabetha may have been married in New Orleans or nearby Jefferson Parish, but no record has been found. Sometime in April 1855, Peter and Elisabetha with young Adam Neff took a steamboat from New Orleans up the Mississippi River. While on the steamboat near Cairo, Illinois, Elisabetha delivered her second son, whom they named Peter Villhard. (Later, Adam Neff was given the name Adam Villhard.) By the summer of 1857, Philipp and his wife Carolina were living in downtown New Orleans, presumably in either the 8th or 9th ward. On 8 July 1857, they had their first child, Carolina Christina. Their second child, Franziska, was born 25 December 1859. Both children were baptized at the nearby German Evangelical Orthodox Church in New Orleans (today's St. Paul Lutheran Church). Sadly, Franziska died on 15 May 1860.

	In the 1860 city directory, Philipp Neff family was listed as living at No. 72 Port Street (in the old numbering system; the current number has not been determined). His occupation was given as "ship carpenter," as he was listed in city directories from 1860 to 1867. No. 72 Port Street was likely in block 147, between Chartres and Royal, on the uptown side. Detail, 1883 Robinson Atlas, Plate 19

In the 1860 federal census, Philipp Neff (enumerated as "Philip Nafe") was listed as being a "House Carpenter." He was apparently already successful enough to own his own home, since he was shown to own real estate valued at $1,000, along with a $200 personal estate. Listed with him was his wife, Carolina, and their daughter, Carolina, then three years old. (A larger image of this census record is available here.)

It would have seemed that Philipp Neff had everything in place for a happy life—a wife and child, a trade that was bringing him financial success, all in the growing and thriving port of New Orleans, then the 6th largest city in the United States. Unfortunately, the next few years, 1860-1862 were not kind to him. In May of 1860 his second child, Franziska died, and later that year, his first daughter Carolina died on 30 December. In 1861, with the outbreak of the Civil War, New Orleans was isolated from the rest of the country and cut off from the trade that made it one of the greatest ports in the world. Immigrants like Philipp Neff were caught up in this struggle. Able-bodied men in New Orleans either enlisted to serve in the army of the Confederate State of America or volunteered for one of the many New Orleans militia units intended to protect the city from a Union invasion.

	Philipp Neff is found in a muster roll of Company I of the 3rd Regiment, 1st Brigade, 1st Division, Louisiana Militia. An image of the complete muster roll can be found here. In April of 1862, New Orleans surrendered to Union forces and the militia units were disbanded. Jackson Barracks Military Library, New Orleans, Louisiana

On 13 July 1862, Philipp and his wife had a third daughter, Johanna Christina. Perhaps from illness or from the effects of childbirth, Philipp's wife, Carolina Oser Neff, died on the 22nd of July 1862. Her remains were interred in a wall vault in St. Vincent de Paul Cemetery, No. 1. Only a month later, Philipp lost his only surviving daughter, when Johanna Neff died on 24 August 1862.

In a span of seven years, Philipp Neff married and had three daughters, but by the end of the summer of 1862, he had lost them all. Left alone, Philipp soon found another wife, Carolina Leonhard. The story of their life together is found in the next section.

Go to next section: Life in New Orleans, Part II (1862-1876)

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