click on any thumbnail picture for a larger version with captions January 24, 1786 - August 28, 1868 Joseph Hubert Steffens was the first child and only son born to Jean-Baptiste Steffens and Marie Elizabeth Charneaux.  Jean-Baptiste was a farmer tending the fields inside and around the Chateau Chibourg estate in Luxembourg employed by Hubert Joseph Charneaux, a Justice of the Peace for the Austrian government.  Hubert's daughter Marie became enamored with Jean-Baptiste, they eventually married and started a family.  Joseph Hubert was the first to arrive.  Joseph received his first education from the Abbe Du Cheret, a French immigrant who was domiciled with Marie's father from 1790 until the return of Louis 18th to the throne of France in 1814 (the end of the French Revolution). Joseph grew to manhood, assisting his father on the farms of the Chateau until he was conscripted into the French army in 1804.  He served in the 108th regiment of the line under Napoleon from 1805 to 1809 and made the campaigns of Germany and Poland.  He was in the great battles of that time, including Austerlitz, Friedland, Radisbon, and Wagram, in which he received a wound to the knee disabling him from further service.  After a year in the hospital he received his discharge and a pension of 446 francs a year. After returning from the war he received the appointment of Forester, an office of some consequence in the rural districts of Luxembourg.  He married Marguerite Mathelin on May 24, 1815.  They lived at his father's house (Bois Rond) for a year, and then bought a house from his sister Marianne, which he and Marguerite ran as a tavern until 1822.  He then returned to Bois Rond and carried on the farm for his father.  After the revolution of 1830, successive reversals of fortune forced him to leave the farm and take up the position of school teacher.  In 1836 he settled back in with his parents and family at Heinstert, and again received the appointment of Forester, a position which he held for over a decade. Joseph and Marguerite left Luxembourg in 1849 with two sons (Joseph Jerome was one), two daughters, and two grandchildren and immigrated to the United States crossing the Atlantic on a ship.  It is believed that journey took a year and a half to make, hampered by numerous storms on the North Atlantic Ocean, the ship being disabled during one of those storms, and numerous other accidents happening along the way. Upon arrival in New York, they continued their journey to Wisconsin with a number of other Belgian immigrants and eventually settled near Freedom, Wisconsin.  Joseph laid claim to a tract of land near Freedom and started a farm on which he a Marguerite lived the remainder of their lives.  Joseph later claimed 40 acres of land for each of his sons (Joseph Jerome among them) from the US Government under an act passed for the reclamation of Wisconsin swamp lands.  This land would remain in the possession of the Steffens family for several generations with farming as the general livelihood during that time. Milwaukee Sentinel, July 13, 1865 GOLDEN WEDDING Mr. Joseph Steffens and wife celebrated their fiftieth anniversary of their marriage at Appleton, on the 5th.  Mr. Steffens is over 80 and his wife upwards of 70 years of age.  Mr. Steffens fought in the Emporer Napoleon's Army at the famous battles of Ho, Jena, Wagram, Austerlits, etc., and is still drawing 500 francs per year, awarded to him by the Emporer Napoleon I. In the photograph it is assumed that Joseph Hubert is the gray bearded man in the center with the stocking hat on his head and Marguerite is on the far right end.  Joseph died 3 years after this photo was taken on August 28, 1868 in Appleton at age 82.  Marguerite survived him by another 4 years, dying in Appleton on August 13, 1872 at age 79.  Together they started the Steffens family heritage in the United States, and our legacy in the Wisconsin area.