Henry (Also known as Heinrich), the youngest brother, left Germany in 1880 at the age of 15. 1880-1884 was the height of German immigration to America, as a budding industrial revolution became a transition period where many young people may have gone searching for greener pastures. However, it is also possible that Henry was leaving to avoid the conscription which took place at age 18. He was processed at an emigration office in lower Manhattan, Castle Garden - Ellis Island was yet to be opened. There are no records of Henry traveling by ship, as is true for other Oehlkers, leading my grandfather to often say they swam the Atlantic.
Henry first lived in Brooklyn where he got married and had two children, Phillipena (died in infancy) and Henry Jr. Sometime between 1897 and 1900 it appears that the family moved from New York to New Jersey, followed by the death of Henry's wife Caroline in 1906. He soon remarried Anna Martens from Northern Germany with whom he had 6 more children. Rebecca and Elisabeth, twins, died within a month of their birth, and William, whom my grandfather is named after, died at 12 years old from tetanus. The other three children, Walter, John, and Meta, all lived to see the early 2000s. John, my great-grandfather, passed soon after I was born, but we were still able to meet each other. John is survived by my leg of the Oehlkers family, currently ending at my 2 year old nephew, Caleb William Oehlkers.
"As a child I remember Henry as an elderly short man who had little to say and appeared on the gruff side. We would often visit his house to eat those thick gingerbread cookers which Grandma (Anna Martens Oehlkers) baked and to work in the basement shop building toys from scraps of wood. Grandfather would wander in occasionally but seldom spoke to us, and we were somewhat in fear of him. Once, however, when I was struggling to cut a length of rope for a toy rifle, he came over and said, 'Here, let me show you.' He took the rope, placed it on an iron block, picked up a hammer and hit the rope until it parted. He handed the pieces to me and walked off. Under that gruff exterior was a desire to be helpful."