John Roethe
(Jan. 2025)
John (Johann) Gottlieb Roethe (pronounced Row-thee) was born Jan. 25, 1842 in Prussia. His parents were Johann Gottlieb Roethe and Johanne Elisabeth Schrodter, both who died in Prussia. While in Prussia John served as a volunteer in the cavalry service of the Prussian army for 2 ½ years, and served in the war between Prussia and Austria in 1866. In 1869 John Roethe boarded the ship S.S. Union in Bremen, Germany and sailed to America.
He arrived in NY on May 8, 1869, along with a Kirchhoff family of eleven, one being Wilhelmina Kirchhoff. Roethe first settled in St. Clair Co., Illinois for six months, then moved to Humboldt Co., Iowa where he bought a farm of 150 acres. He then moved to Webster Co., Iowa and bought a farm of 320 acres. According to a Jan. 1908 Clackamas Co. “Official Register of Electors” it was in Iowa where Roethe naturalized to become a U.S. Citizen. And it was in Webster Co., Iowa where he married his shipmate, Wilhelmina Kirchhoff (also spelled Kirchhof) on April 23, 1870, and from this union they had three children – Edward Ernest, Hedwig, and Otto Paul Roethe. Sadly, Wilhelmina died in Webster County in 1876, leaving John Rothe a widower with three children. In 1876, still in Webster Co., John remarried, to Anna Scheriff where the family was enumerated in the 1880 census. Unfortunately Anna also died, in 1881, while still in Webster Co.. Again John married, in Feb. 1882, to Christine Alwiene Kunnert (a.k.a. “Alvina Kunert) in Colfax Twp., Webster Co., Iowa. From this union there came two daughters, Emma and Lena Roethe – Emma possibly having been from a former marriage of Alvina’s.
In 1888 John Roethe moved his family to Oregon, first briefly renting land in Bethany in Washington County, but in 1889 he purchased 120 acres from Rudolph & Anna Staub in Clackamas County and commenced farming it. Staub’s land had originally been part of William Starkweather’s 220 acres which he had acquired in Sept. 1887 but had sold 100 acres of it to John J. Naef the following November 1887. John Roethe’s 120-acre farm stretched from the Willamette River east to today’s Harold Ave., and from halfway between today’s Naef and Roethe Roads south nearly to today’s Ina Ave. In those early days there was a river boat landing at the foot of today’s Hillside Drive where farmers would load their harvest onto a sternwheeler to be taken to Portland or Oregon City. The landing had originally been called “Starkweather Landing”, as the property had belonged to William Starkweather. Later on the Roethes renamed it the “Roethe Bros. Landing” and it was used for fishing, pleasure boating, floating lockers and a gathering place for people. In 1893 Roethe granted a 40 foot wide easement to the East Side Railway Company for a “double track motor railway”. Speaking years later about the part of their farm on the upper, level ground the Roethes commented that there must have been a school on their property, as they had plowed up much broken glass and slates (the “Riverside School”, 1866-1890).
In 1900 John & Alwiene Roethe purchased another 8.23 acres along the Willamette River immediately south and adjacent to their farm property. This property had been part of the 47 acre Henry Naas property, whose estate was administered by Charles Risley after Naas’ death in 1889. John and Alwiene subsequently deeded this 8.23 acres to their son, Edward Ernest Roethe, in 1904.
Though neighbors, the relationship between the Roethes and the Naefs was not always harmonious. In 1892 a dispute erupted between John G. Roethe, and his neighbor to the north, John J. Naef, over the ownership of a manure pile (an important resource for farmers) located on their shared property line. Both claimed ownership based on their perceptions of the location of the boundary line between them, and manure was important to their farming. A court case eventually ensued, and the line was ultimately agreed upon by an exchange of deeds between Otto Naef and John G. and Alwiene Roethe on Oct. 17, 1907.
That same month and year, Oct. 1907, John Roethe sold the easternmost 104 acres of his farm to Simeon H. Covell and David N. Smith. It consisted of that portion of Roethe’s land east of today’s River Rd. (the “Rinearson & Milwaukie Rd.”) to today’s Harold Ave. The following year Covell and Smith platted that property as “Covell”. Roethe retained his remaining 16 acres of the original farm, from today’s River Rd. to the Willamette River.
In 1909 John & Alwiene platted some of the remaining 16 acres of their farm as “Roethe’s Willamette River Front Lots”, much of which became that of their son, Edward Ernest Roethe, who continued farming the upper, level portions nearer River Rd. In later years Roethe descendants developed the property near the river into a rental business of summer cottages, with garages at the top of the hill.
In the 1910 census John G. and Alwiene Roethe were still living in Oak Grove., but by 1920, due to failing health, they had removed to Lodi, California to be near their daughters Hedwig Klostermann and Lena Kirchhof. John died in Lodi on May 4, 1921. Alwiene continued living there until her death on May 13, 1938.
Roethe descendants continued living near Rothe Station and the surrounding area well after John and Alwiene departed to California – and still do. Today the Roethe legacy continues through those descendants, a road named for the family, a trolley station referenced in hundreds of old real estate ads, and the names of several subdivisions.
Credits: Roethe family gathering May 4, 2011; John & Linda Roethe interview May 16, 2011; Roethe family tree of Thelma (“T.J.”) Roethe; Portrait and Biographical Record of the Willamette Valley, by Chapman Publishing Co. 1903, John G. Roethe, p.378; Clackamas County Deeds; Clackamas County Surveyor Information System (CCSIS); Ancestry.com; FamilySearch; Roethe family photos; Roethe property abstract of title; The Gretchen Roethe Property by Lisa Bentley, researched by Michael G. Schmeer and John & Linda Roethe 2014;
