Kraus Family

About the Kraus Family

A Devoted Follower

Michael Kraus was so impressed by William Keil that he let him speak out of his Pittsburg area farm home at various times during the early 1840s. Michael conduced one of the largest sums of money to the Colony treasury, and he was very active in helping to build the communal society. His attitude, shared more than a century later by his great-grandson George Kraus, was that it was the ideal of the Aurora Colony that ought to be remembered, not any personality conflicts with the leader. 

In 1855, Michael Kraus was killed when his horse, startled by a loud noise, threw Michael from its back and into the path of the hooves. Michael died from his injuries.

Memory Is Long

Elizabeth Giesy Kraus was a daughter of John Giesy, the brother to Christian Giesy. Elizabeth was quite young and living at Willapa Bay when her Uncle Christian Giesy drowned there in 1857. Her son John used to remark that Elizabeth was always afraid of letting her children swim in Aurora’s Pudding River because of what had happened to Christian.

A Legacy Of Generosity

Elizabeth married George Kraus, son of Michael Kraus, in 1879. She had been a tailor in the Colony and he was one of the shoemakers.  George was very instrumental in settling the Colony’s business, and after it ended he made his living as a shoemaker and hop grower. The couple had five children. Their son John, along with his two sons, John and George, donated the family home to the Aurora Colony Historical Society in 1969 and it was moved from its original site to the museum grounds.

Christina Grob Kraus, Wife Of Henry Kraus

Christina Grob Kraus came from a family of seven children and became the mother of five children herself. Though tiny in stature she was blessed with remarkable health throughout her life of 86 years. She had a voice of unusual quality, so hers was a prominent part in the musical circles of the Colony days. Near the end of her life at a gathering of a remaining few of the fine women who made Aurora history, they sang the dearly loved songs of long ago and her deep notes rang strong and true.