Johann Heinrich "Henry" Kleiboeker was born January 1801 in Neuenkirchen, Germany near Osnabrück. Henry was born in Neuenkirchen, near the Kleyböcker Hof in Hinnenkamp. He was baptized in the Neuenkirchen Church on May 3 1801 and his sponsors were:

1. Joh. Hinrich Höpker
2. Hermann Henrich ???
3. Margaretha Elisab. Rüter ?

At the age of 33, he left Bremen on March 17, 1834 and arrived Baltimore on May 19th, after 64 days (9 weeks and a day). According to the Passenger List recorded in Baltimore on May 19, he was accompanied by two women, both over the age of 17 and one child under 5 years of age. It is unclear whether these were sisters, wife, children or otherwise. Henry traveled from Baltimore to Cincinnati by wagon via the National Road to Wheeling WV and then by steam paddle wheeler down the Ohio from Wheeling to Cincinnati. According to all found records in the USA, Henry initially lived in Cincinnati, where his first child Johann Friedrich was born. Henry then moved to Indiana in 1837 where he bought 240 acres of land near Brownstown, Indiana, not far from Cincinnati. Over the years various documents including the land purchase spelled his names various ways, Klabecker, Klaybaker, Claybaker, etc. But even though his descendants settled on Claybaker, his first record to America, the passenger list from the Ship Magdalene in May, 1834 and his last record, his tombstone in 1862, both spell his name as "Kleiboeker", as seen below.

We are lucky enough to have a record made by one of Henry Kleiboeker's fellow passengers on that very ship, Magdalene. J. H. Zur Oveste who was from Rieste, a nearby village to Neuenkirchen wrote many letters back to his family about his journey from Germany to Indiana and his new life in the USA. JH ZurOveste's mother was Catharina Erdbrügge, who was a sister of Elisabeth Erdbrügge. Elisabeth Erdbrügge was married to Christian Menke Kleyböcker who was the Colon of the Kleyböcker Hof in Hinnenkamp. So JH Zur Oveste is a nephew of the Kleyböcker Family that rebuilt the Hof / Farmstead in 1815. And in fact, a letter JH ZurOveste wrote in 1846 to his parents, asks them to greet the Kleyböckers for him. It is very likely that many of his letters were read by the Kleiboekers in Neuenkirchen and Gehrde. Henry's trip to America and these letters written by JH Zur Oveste most likely influenced Johann Heinrich "John" Kleiboeker (1830-1900) to leave in 1851.

Henry Kleiboeker must have been struggling with friends and family not spelling his name correctly or was not that worried about his name’s spelling.

Only two places are there written records about him that spell his name per his German ancestry. On the Passenger record when he immigrates to America in 1834, he is listed as Henry Kleibocker. When he buys homestead land from the US Govt in 1839, his name is spelled Henry Claybecker. And on his will, which is oddly dated Jan 28th, 1862, after he has already passed, it is spelled Henry Klabecker.

His children and grandchildren all speled it Claybaker. But his tombstone says: J. Heinrich Kleiböcker, died 31 Jan 1862, at the age of 62 years (in German)

Henry Kleiboeker originally was located in Cincinnati when he arrived in the US in 1834. He arrived in Baltimore on the Ship Magdelene and took the “National Road” with other fellow Osnabrückers from the ship to Wheeling WV. There they boarded a Steam paddlewheeler to Cincinnati. In Cincinnati he and Catherine gave birth to their first child, Johann Friedrich Nov 27, 1836.

On May 17th 1837 he bought land (240 Acres) in Brownstown Township, Section 8 , see attached picture from 1878 plat map. At that time son Hermann and daughter Catherine Darlage owned two parcels totaling the original acreage. His wife owned an additional 80 acres that must have been bought later.

Marriage
Date: 1836
Place: Cincinnati, Hamilton, Ohio, USA