Ernst Warnke

Ernst Warnke (sometimes spelled Earnest Warnkey) is buried in Block 70 of Sandusky's Oakland Cemetery. The date of his interment was June 8, 1866, and the cause of death was listed on the cemetery interment card as "killed by horse." He was age thirty at the time of his death.

In the register of settlers listed in the book SANDUSKY THEN AND NOW, there are three members of the Warnke family who were considered pioneer settlers of Sandusky: Carl, Ernst, and Franz Warnke. A search on the immigration records portion of Ancestry Library Edition indicates that several members of the Warnke family emigrated from Germany in 1854. Carl, Wilhelm, Ernst, Emilie, and Charlotte Warnke were on the ship George Canning, which arrived in New York City on May 22, 1854. An 1860, a Sandusky City Directory shows a Charles Warnke working as a shoemaker in Sandusky. Charles is often the Americanized form of the name Carl.

While we do not know a great deal about Ernst Warnke, he must have been a brave young man to have left his native land and start a new life in the United States.