Michael⁵ Diederich (John⁴, Johann Nicolaus³, Paul², Nicolaus¹) was born 17 December 1843 at Arbach, Province of the Rhineland, West Germany, the son of John and Anna (Clasen) Diederich.

He was killed by a train on 20 November 1876, age almost 33, near West DePere, Brown County, Wisconsin. The funeral was held ____________________, at ___________ Church, _________, and he is buried in Mount Olivet Catholic Cemetery at DePere.

Michael Diederich's baptism is recorded in the register of St. Remigius Catholic Church at Retterath which contains this entry for 17 December 1843, translated from the Latin:

Michael Diederich of Arbach, 17th. Born and baptised, Michael, the legitimate son of Joannes Diederich and of Anna Clasen, married couple of Arbach. Lifted from the holy font by Michael Gundert of Liersthal and Gertrude Clasen of Arbach, both of them married.

See Kirchenbuch Retterath, Abt 72/685, no 2, p 74, now preserved in the Bistumsarchiv (diocesan archive) at Trier. Retterath is in the Archdiocese of Trier.

Michael Diederich came to the United States with his parents between 1844 and 1847. He never married. According to the 1850, 1860, and 1870 censuses, he lived with his parents on their farm at Town of Lawrence, Brown County.

His tragic death was reported in the DePere News on Saturday, 25 November 1876, p. 3, as follows:

Killed By The Cars.—Early on Monday morning last Michael Diederick, of West DePere, deliberately put an end to his own existence by walking on the railway track of the Chicago & Northwestern, at one of the Lawtonville crossings, as the southern bound passenger train approached the depot. At least this is the generally expressed view of the sad affair, and there appear to be good and sufficient reasons for looking at it in this light. From boyhood Mr. Dedrick has been a hopeless invalid and cripple from inflammatory rheumatism, and at times it is said so great were his pain and suffering as to bereave him of his reason. It is therefore thought that, tiring of his life, he took this means of putting an end to it. He was terribly crushed and mangled and life was not extinct in his remains for some minutes after they were taken up for removal to his home.

The poor victim's plan for putting an end to his troubles was well-calculated not to miscarry, as at the point he took to carry it out there is a sharp curve as well as a perceptible decline in the track, and the engineer in charge of the train could not, no matter how much he desired to, stop it in time to prevent the execution of the plan.

In fairness to Michael, it should be noted that I have been told that he was deaf and crippled and probably did not hear the approaching train as he walked home along the tracks. The story in the newspaper may have been instigated by the railroad company in an effort to forestall a lawsuit.

His death is recorded in the Liber Matrimonii et Defunctorum (marriage and death book) of St. Mary Catholic Church at DePere, p. 35, but there is no death certificate in Brown County records. His gravestone reads:

Michael Diederich
Died
Nov. 20, 1876
Aged
32 years, 11 ms
& 5 ds

The gravestone inscription would indicate that he was born 15 December 1843 and while it is conceivable that he was not baptized the same day he was born, as the church records indicate, it is more likely that his age at death was incorrectly calculated.