Rutherford Genealogy Research Organization

Dorpat, Dorbath, Dorpath
(also see Kerler/Kuener)

The Descendants of Dr. Joseph Kaspar Dorpat & Nurse, Rosette Wibel ... both Civil War medical workers in the Union Army out of Iowa. Just a year or so ago, I was fortunate to be contacted by a Dorpat relative that had a family list of names that led me to a great find that was right in the Milwaukee area where we lived at the time, completely unknown to us.
See the pictures below for Rev. LG & Bertha Dorpat at St. John's Evangelical Church and Cemetery, in Greenfield, Milwaukee County, WI for some of the story...

Dr. Joseph Dorpat, Union Army

This is the back of a Wedding Card sent to us in 1970 by Martin Dorpat, great-uncle to my husband, George on his maternal grandmother Marie Dorpat Bernhardt's side.

This was the beginning of my Genealogical obsession that has developed since then.

and this is the front... although Uncle Martin had mistakenly identified the relationship, it is a treasured card that started it all for us.

Joseph and Rosetta Wibel Dorpat

Dr. Joseph Dorbath, Civil War Pension Record

You'll notice the spelling for his name is Dorbath here. The name varied from Dorpat, to Dorpath, to Dorbath and I'm sure there are other variations. Dorpat is an old European name. Doing a web-search on www.altavista.com will show where it comes from.

Click on picture, (to the left), and it will become larger to see better.

Along with several copies of Census Records, this is a great find I was able to obtain via Ancestry.com for Joseph Dorbath. It is a list of Civil War Soldiers or Widows Survivals-1862-1863

Double-click on the picture, (to the right), and it will open larger to see it better.

Joseph Dorbath.Civil War Soldiers Survival-1862-1863

Our recent discovery in Greenfield, Wisconsin includes:
Reverand Lorenz G. Dorpat & Bertha Kerler Dorpat, with one of their daughters, Beata, and baby Mathilde.
Lorenz (L.G.) & Bertha are my husband George Rutherford's Great Grandparents, on his mother's side.

The Reverand, who went by his initials, L.G., is the son of Dr. Joseph Kaspar Dorpat & nurse, Rosette Wibel. Rev L.G. and his wife, Bertha Kerler Dorpat, and some of her Kerler and Kuener relatives are buried at St. John's Evangelical Church Cemetery, including her parents Edward Kerler & Mildred Kuener and her grandfather, Johannes (John) Kerler.

See the KERLER family page of photos for more pictures and the information about the other major find this summer...a book about the Kerler & Frank families during the 1840s-1860s.

Siblings of L.G. were Dr. Louis Dorpat b.1871, Jeannette b.1864 and Chrysostomus (John or JC) Dorpat (1869-1953).
I've had some contact with other Dorpat descendants of L.G. & Louis who live in Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Washington state, and there are other local Dorpat descendants in the Milwaukee area.