Cammin and Slettin (Stettin?) are also mentioned as place of birth for Augusta. There must be something wrong with either Amelia's indicated birth date (July 12, 1854) or that of her sister Augusta (June 12, 1854). Perhaps one of them is off by a year, or more likely one of them is off by a month, which would mean they were twins. The 1870 census does list them both as being 15. That census also lists them as "working farm".
Ref 397 gives the obit for Augusta's daughter, Augusta, and gives her name as "Wegner".
Ref 401 gives the marriage of Julia Zellhoefer, daughter of Franklin, to Elwood Florin, son of William, June 15, 1935.
It is possible that Martin is a son of our Wilhelm. Please see the last note in this section for a listing of the reasons that lead us to SPECULATE that he might have been. In all of the notes below, Wilhelm refers to Julius Fredrich Wilhelm Wegner, born around 1807, likely died around 1865 in Schl�nwitz Pomerania, husband of Hanna Marie Zenke and Caroline Romig. All said and done, it is unlikely that Martin is a son of Julius Fredrich Wilhelm Wegner. The search for a possible connection, however, has become something of family lore, so I include the notes below that describe that search, and describe what we refer to as the "LaValle Wegner's" (LaValle, Wisconsin).
In the twentieth century, there has been periodic contact between descendents of Wilhelm's son Herman and descendents of Martin's son Ferdinand, all which were designed to try to determine how or if the families were related. These are the contacts I know of: Herman's son Oscar apparently visited there as a young adult. Do not know what caused him to go there, possibly family stories of relatives living there (to my older siblings, do you remember when he first went there, or why, or specifically who he talked to? Did he go to the homestead farm on Wegner Road?). Later, Oscar and his daughter Trudy, when she was about ten (about 1942) visited the farm. In August of 1989, this same Trudy and her sister 'Vita again visited the area and talked to Ferdinand's daughter Emma, and to Wilma, the wife of Emma's brother Leo. They may have talked to others as well. In June of 1998, Trudy and 'Vita's brother Andy and his wife and family visited the farm and talked to Tom Schlough, Leo's daughter's husband. In February of 1999, I (Andy) talked by phone to Arthur and Alvin, twin sons of Ferdinand's son Ewald; and shortly after that sent them, their sister Melissa (Mrs. Ernie Walder) of Florida, and Emma (and her daughter) packages of information on Wilhelm's family and on the information as we understood it about Martin's family and the possible connections between the families.
Martin's granddaughter Emma <1001.7> indicates that family stories say Martin and his first wife had at least two sons, and that these sons went to Brazil.
It is not known what happened to the first wife, but it is known that Martin remarried and that their first child, Ferdinand, was born in 1865.
Emma's story is that in 1866 Poland took over parts of Germany causing disruption of the population. I cannot find any reference to this in history books, but in the summer of 1866 there was a major conflict between Prussia to the north and Austria to the south. It may be this war that is being referred to, or perhaps some side skirmish of it involving opportunistic Polish nationalists. Martin, his wife, one-year old Ferdinand, and presumedly Ferdinand's half-brothers as well, fled to Russia. As remembered by Emma, her dad Ferdinand often told the story told to him by his parents: "When the soldiers came marching through, we laid flat in a wheat field. Your mother nursed you to keep you quiet. We prayed you would not cry and that we would not be discovered." They were successful in fleeing to Russia, but stories of bayonetted babies and severed breasts suggested others in similar situations were not nearly so fortunate. If their son Ferdinand was born in the Kolmar region of Posen (near Schneidemuhl), and they fled when he was one year old, this is likely the region they fled from. After some time, they decided they "didn't like Russia", and they returned to Germany I do not know where in Russia they went or how many years they were there or if they returned to the same place in Germany they had left from (see below). Arthur Wegner indicated that it was believed the family at some point were servants to the royal family.
At some point we should try to access Prussian military records to try to get those of Martin who we know was in the military at some point. We should also check for those of Wilhelm's sons Carl, Gustave, Albert, and Edward, who would have ranged from 31 to 20 at the time of the 1866 Austrian/Prussian war! Arthur Wegner says that in addition to the picture of Martin in full military uniform, they have two smaller pictures of men they thought may have been Martin's brothers. They also appear to be in uniform, but a more simple uniform, possibly one such as a butler would wear with metal buttons and no collar. One picture has a date of 1865 on it (possibly a photo studio date). Martin may have been in the "home guard" military unit.
We are to some extent using the terms Prussian and German interchangably, but actually Germany did not exist as a nation during the period -- until the German Empire was reformed in 1871, at which time most of the empire was composed of the former Prussian provinces (East Prussia, West Prussia, Posen, Pomerania, Silesia, Brandenberg, Saxony, Electorate of Hesse, Westphalia, Rhine, Hanover, Holstein, Schleswiss, Nassau, etc).
Emma says that, "In those days, Russia and Germany bordered each other". This is in a sense true, because Poland was entirely gobbled up by Austria, Prussia, and Russia, in three stages, called "partitions": first in 1772, second in 1793, and third in 1795, at the end of which the borders of Russia were adjacent to those of Prussia, along the east border of East Prussia in the north and then even further east to the south. This would mean that to "move to Russia" would not necessarily involve a very long move, into what is now eastern Poland. Technically, this area that Russia partitioned from Poland should not be called Russia -- I believe it was called "Congress Poland". We should also remember however that Catherine the Great of Russia invited large numbers of Germans to move into the heartland of Russia during the late 1700's and well into the middle of the 1800's, so they may have moved there as well.
Please note that it was in the years immediately after 1866 that the other members of our Wegner family emigrated to the United States, probably for the same reasons that Martin migrated with his family.
Either while in Russia, and/or after returning to Germany, they had three other children, Gustave, Wilhelmina, and Matilda Agnes (went by name Agnes). There was another child, Herman, but it is not clear whether he was born of Martin's first marriage or his second. Emma says her dad Ferdinand said he had both a brother Herman and an uncle Herman. It is told that Ferdinand's brother Herman became sick and was taken in the middle of the winter to the nearest doctor thirty miles away. He was diagnosed as having mastoiditis of the ear and was treated, but he "died on the way home. It was so cold." He was just three years old. There may, in fact, have been many other children that died (see notes for Martin's son Ferdinand).
In 1891 (?) Martin and his family made plans to come to the States, but he became ill and died "just before the ship sailed". Ferdinand's grandson, Arthur Wegner, said that Martin had gone to Konigsburg (not the larger Konigsburg in the north, but one about 100 miles west of Schneidemuhl. Konigsberg was about 75 miles southwest of Schlonwitz) to secure visas and passports (permits to emigrate?) and became caught in a blizzard and caught pneumonia. The story goes that he had to walk about 60 miles to get to Konigsberg. If this were true, at the time they must have lived closer to Konigsberg than Schneidemuhl. Gustave's daughter Ruth (see reference 158) says they left from Ruscovia (Ruscoria?), Germany. Do not know where this is. After Martin's death, Emma said, his second wife, his oldest son Ferdinand (age 26), and Ferdinand's younger siblings came anyway, and that some woman used Martin's emigration permit papers to come to American.
In a letter from Ruth Hjelmeir (grandchild of Martin, child of Gustave) from California (?) to Melissa Wegner (Mrs. Ernest Walder), Florida, dated Dec 19, 1998 (reference 158), Ruth said that Martin had 11 or 13 children, and that while they were waiting to get on an old cattle boat to go to America, Martin and all but four of the children died of some disease. Ruth says they left from Ruscovia (possibly spelled Ruscoria), Germany (I think she means when coming to America, as opposed to when they fled to Russia years before). Don't know where Ruscovia is. Ruth said her dad was only seven when they came over, and that he NEVER talked about that trip or about the period he lived in Wisconsin, except to say that he didn't like it. Reference 158 has pictures of Martin as a young man, and pictures of Martin's grandchildren Reinhold, Agnes, and Ewald, plus more recent pictures, and obits, and 1900 census for LaValle Wisconsin.
They settled first at Reedsburg, Wisconsin, then in 1894 on a farm near La Valle, Sauk County, Wisconsin. Ferdinand suddenly had heavy family responsibilities. His daughter Emma observed that he raised two families: his siblings and his own children.
These are the reasons that we believe Martin may be a son of our Wilhelm:
1. Emma <1001.7> (born 1906), Martin's granddaughter, remembers an uncle Herman coming to visit them in LaValle (or remembers her dad Ferdinand telling of such a visit -- although Emma herself could have remembered as she would have been 23 years old when our Herman <4,5> died. Our Merle <45>, great grandson of Wilhelm <2,3>, born in 1915, remembers that there was a Ferdinand, somehow in the family.
2. In Wilhelm's first family, there is a large gap in years between the birth of Carl in 1835 and Albert in 1844. If Ferdinand (born 1865) was the first child of Martin's second marriage and if there were two children from his first marriage, about 1838 would be a reasonable date for Martin's birth, well inside the gap of years. Also note that Martin's second wife was born in 1842. Again 1838 would be a reasonable birth date for Martin, since the men tended to be a few years older than their wives.
3. There were common stories that were told by Wilhelm's son Herman <4,5> (as remembered by Herman's son Oscar <20>), and also as told by Ferdinand (as remembered by his daughter Emma): The migration to Russia and of the two sons going to South America (even though Oscar's and Emma's stories about the South American emigration would have been off by a generation from each other)
. Oscar remembers that it was Wilhelm's sons going there, but Emma tells that it was her grandfather Martin's sons (which would be Wilhelm's grandsons -- if Martin is indeed Wilhelm's son). Norman <130>, who was the oldest son of Herman's fourth child, Hank, also remember's stories being told at family reunions of one branch of the family going to South America. 4. The family of Martin Wegner had other parts of the family in this country, with whom they never made substantial contact. Martin's son Ferdinand indicated that 2 or 3 of his uncles emigrated to the United States. Ferdinand's daughter Emma recalls that it was told that Ferdinand's mother had written a letter to the rest of the family shortly after their arrival, but that it apparently never went through and they never made contact. "The families never found each other." After saying this, Emma made a comment about a Beyers family being related to Martin's family (perhaps descendents of one of the uncles mentioned above?). As a possibly-related aside, Emma's husband's brother, Herb Hendrichs, had a daughter who did some checking while in Germany and reportedly found info that the Ferninand Wegner of Sauk City, Wisconsin (b. 1850, d. 1940, buried Black Hawk, Wisconsin Cemetery) was somehow related to the Martin Wegner family.
5. 'Vita and Trudy Wegner <25 and 27>, in their visit with Emma Wegner <1001.7>, saw stong facial resemblences between photos of members from the two families.
6. We're starting (perhaps long since) to grasp at straws here, but the two families tended to use the same given names (Gustav, Herman, Wilhelmina, Ewald, Emma, etc). These are of course common German names, but other Wegner lines I've checked often have quite a different mix of names.
7. I need to raise one other factor, that, may in fact make it less likely the families were related. Martin's son Ferdinand was listed as being born in Wesnednik, Kolmarisz (Kolmar? District, which is now Chodziez in Poland), Posen, Prussia. His birthplace was also listed as "near Schneidemuh" (Schneidemuhl?, now Pila or Pita, Poland). These two locations for his birth are consistent with one another because Schneidemuhl is in the Chodziez area of Poland. Schneidemuhl is about 50 miles southeast of Schl�nwitz (the likely area of residence of Martin's speculated father, Wilhelm). Schneidemuhl is on the border between the Posen and West Prussia provinces of Prussia. It is of course possible that Martin, as an adult, migrated those 50 miles to Schneidemuhl, or more likely when they returned to Germany from "Russia", they did not come back to the same place from which they had left (if they fled in 1866, and Wilhelm's known children emigrated to Wisconsin in the period 1867 to 1869, there may not have been any family to return to in Schl�nwitz). Martin's great grandson Arthur Wegner, indicated he remembers hearing that when they fled to Russia, they had left from East Prussia, which is some distance from Schneidemuhl.
Also, see notes on her first husband, Martin and on her second husband Fredrick. After Martin died and she came to America with her children, she married Fred Hamermeiester. Johanna's granddaughter Emma said her grandmother was a blond (not sure this refers to Johanna or to Emma's maternal grandmother). As a possibly related aside, there is a Wegner(?) cemetery marker that is shaped like a ship that they came to America on in a cemetery in Waushara County, near Red Granite and Silver Lake, south of Hwy 21, near a park. Vita Wegner Lanser, daughter of Oscar, indicated, "There is only one Wegner and one Draeger buried there. Emma's grandmother was a Draeger."
Birth order is believed to be Ferdinand, Wilhelmina (10 years younger than Ferdinad), Matilda, then Gustave. It is not known whether Herman was from his dad's first or second marriage, which of course causes considerable uncertainty as to his birth date. He died, presumedly in Germany, at the age of three of mastoiditis of the ear. He had been taken thirty miles in the middle of the winter to the nearest doctor, but died on the way home.
It is possible that Martin is a son of our Wilhelm. Please see the last note in this section for a listing of the reasons that lead us to SPECULATE that he might have been. In all of the notes below, Wilhelm refers to Julius Fredrich Wilhelm Wegner, born around 1807, likely died around 1865 in Schl�nwitz Pomerania, husband of Hanna Marie Zenke and Caroline Romig. All said and done, it is unlikely that Martin is a son of Julius Fredrich Wilhelm Wegner. The search for a possible connection, however, has become something of family lore, so I include the notes below that describe that search, and describe what we refer to as the "LaValle Wegner's" (LaValle, Wisconsin).
In the twentieth century, there has been periodic contact between descendents of Wilhelm's son Herman and descendents of Martin's son Ferdinand, all which were designed to try to determine how or if the families were related. These are the contacts I know of: Herman's son Oscar apparently visited there as a young adult. Do not know what caused him to go there, possibly family stories of relatives living there (to my older siblings, do you remember when he first went there, or why, or specifically who he talked to? Did he go to the homestead farm on Wegner Road?). Later, Oscar and his daughter Trudy, when she was about ten (about 1942) visited the farm. In August of 1989, this same Trudy and her sister 'Vita again visited the area and talked to Ferdinand's daughter Emma, and to Wilma, the wife of Emma's brother Leo. They may have talked to others as well. In June of 1998, Trudy and 'Vita's brother Andy and his wife and family visited the farm and talked to Tom Schlough, Leo's daughter's husband. In February of 1999, I (Andy) talked by phone to Arthur and Alvin, twin sons of Ferdinand's son Ewald; and shortly after that sent them, their sister Melissa (Mrs. Ernie Walder) of Florida, and Emma (and her daughter) packages of information on Wilhelm's family and on the information as we understood it about Martin's family and the possible connections between the families.
Martin's granddaughter Emma <1001.7> indicates that family stories say Martin and his first wife had at least two sons, and that these sons went to Brazil.
It is not known what happened to the first wife, but it is known that Martin remarried and that their first child, Ferdinand, was born in 1865.
Emma's story is that in 1866 Poland took over parts of Germany causing disruption of the population. I cannot find any reference to this in history books, but in the summer of 1866 there was a major conflict between Prussia to the north and Austria to the south. It may be this war that is being referred to, or perhaps some side skirmish of it involving opportunistic Polish nationalists. Martin, his wife, one-year old Ferdinand, and presumedly Ferdinand's half-brothers as well, fled to Russia. As remembered by Emma, her dad Ferdinand often told the story told to him by his parents: "When the soldiers came marching through, we laid flat in a wheat field. Your mother nursed you to keep you quiet. We prayed you would not cry and that we would not be discovered." They were successful in fleeing to Russia, but stories of bayonetted babies and severed breasts suggested others in similar situations were not nearly so fortunate. If their son Ferdinand was born in the Kolmar region of Posen (near Schneidemuhl), and they fled when he was one year old, this is likely the region they fled from. After some time, they decided they "didn't like Russia", and they returned to Germany I do not know where in Russia they went or how many years they were there or if they returned to the same place in Germany they had left from (see below). Arthur Wegner indicated that it was believed the family at some point were servants to the royal family.
At some point we should try to access Prussian military records to try to get those of Martin who we know was in the military at some point. We should also check for those of Wilhelm's sons Carl, Gustave, Albert, and Edward, who would have ranged from 31 to 20 at the time of the 1866 Austrian/Prussian war! Arthur Wegner says that in addition to the picture of Martin in full military uniform, they have two smaller pictures of men they thought may have been Martin's brothers. They also appear to be in uniform, but a more simple uniform, possibly one such as a butler would wear with metal buttons and no collar. One picture has a date of 1865 on it (possibly a photo studio date). Martin may have been in the "home guard" military unit.
We are to some extent using the terms Prussian and German interchangably, but actually Germany did not exist as a nation during the period -- until the German Empire was reformed in 1871, at which time most of the empire was composed of the former Prussian provinces (East Prussia, West Prussia, Posen, Pomerania, Silesia, Brandenberg, Saxony, Electorate of Hesse, Westphalia, Rhine, Hanover, Holstein, Schleswiss, Nassau, etc).
Emma says that, "In those days, Russia and Germany bordered each other". This is in a sense true, because Poland was entirely gobbled up by Austria, Prussia, and Russia, in three stages, called "partitions": first in 1772, second in 1793, and third in 1795, at the end of which the borders of Russia were adjacent to those of Prussia, along the east border of East Prussia in the north and then even further east to the south. This would mean that to "move to Russia" would not necessarily involve a very long move, into what is now eastern Poland. Technically, this area that Russia partitioned from Poland should not be called Russia -- I believe it was called "Congress Poland". We should also remember however that Catherine the Great of Russia invited large numbers of Germans to move into the heartland of Russia during the late 1700's and well into the middle of the 1800's, so they may have moved there as well.
Please note that it was in the years immediately after 1866 that the other members of our Wegner family emigrated to the United States, probably for the same reasons that Martin migrated with his family.
Either while in Russia, and/or after returning to Germany, they had three other children, Gustave, Wilhelmina, and Matilda Agnes (went by name Agnes). There was another child, Herman, but it is not clear whether he was born of Martin's first marriage or his second. Emma says her dad Ferdinand said he had both a brother Herman and an uncle Herman. It is told that Ferdinand's brother Herman became sick and was taken in the middle of the winter to the nearest doctor thirty miles away. He was diagnosed as having mastoiditis of the ear and was treated, but he "died on the way home. It was so cold." He was just three years old. There may, in fact, have been many other children that died (see notes for Martin's son Ferdinand).
In 1891 (?) Martin and his family made plans to come to the States, but he became ill and died "just before the ship sailed". Ferdinand's grandson, Arthur Wegner, said that Martin had gone to Konigsburg (not the larger Konigsburg in the north, but one about 100 miles west of Schneidemuhl. Konigsberg was about 75 miles southwest of Schlonwitz) to secure visas and passports (permits to emigrate?) and became caught in a blizzard and caught pneumonia. The story goes that he had to walk about 60 miles to get to Konigsberg. If this were true, at the time they must have lived closer to Konigsberg than Schneidemuhl. Gustave's daughter Ruth (see reference 158) says they left from Ruscovia (Ruscoria?), Germany. Do not know where this is. After Martin's death, Emma said, his second wife, his oldest son Ferdinand (age 26), and Ferdinand's younger siblings came anyway, and that some woman used Martin's emigration permit papers to come to American.
In a letter from Ruth Hjelmeir (grandchild of Martin, child of Gustave) from California (?) to Melissa Wegner (Mrs. Ernest Walder), Florida, dated Dec 19, 1998 (reference 158), Ruth said that Martin had 11 or 13 children, and that while they were waiting to get on an old cattle boat to go to America, Martin and all but four of the children died of some disease. Ruth says they left from Ruscovia (possibly spelled Ruscoria), Germany (I think she means when coming to America, as opposed to when they fled to Russia years before). Don't know where Ruscovia is. Ruth said her dad was only seven when they came over, and that he NEVER talked about that trip or about the period he lived in Wisconsin, except to say that he didn't like it. Reference 158 has pictures of Martin as a young man, and pictures of Martin's grandchildren Reinhold, Agnes, and Ewald, plus more recent pictures, and obits, and 1900 census for LaValle Wisconsin.
They settled first at Reedsburg, Wisconsin, then in 1894 on a farm near La Valle, Sauk County, Wisconsin. Ferdinand suddenly had heavy family responsibilities. His daughter Emma observed that he raised two families: his siblings and his own children.
These are the reasons that we believe Martin may be a son of our Wilhelm:
1. Emma <1001.7> (born 1906), Martin's granddaughter, remembers an uncle Herman coming to visit them in LaValle (or remembers her dad Ferdinand telling of such a visit -- although Emma herself could have remembered as she would have been 23 years old when our Herman <4,5> died. Our Merle <45>, great grandson of Wilhelm <2,3>, born in 1915, remembers that there was a Ferdinand, somehow in the family.
2. In Wilhelm's first family, there is a large gap in years between the birth of Carl in 1835 and Albert in 1844. If Ferdinand (born 1865) was the first child of Martin's second marriage and if there were two children from his first marriage, about 1838 would be a reasonable date for Martin's birth, well inside the gap of years. Also note that Martin's second wife was born in 1842. Again 1838 would be a reasonable birth date for Martin, since the men tended to be a few years older than their wives.
3. There were common stories that were told by Wilhelm's son Herman <4,5> (as remembered by Herman's son Oscar <20>), and also as told by Ferdinand (as remembered by his daughter Emma): The migration to Russia and of the two sons going to South America (even though Oscar's and Emma's stories about the South American emigration would have been off by a generation from each other)
. Oscar remembers that it was Wilhelm's sons going there, but Emma tells that it was her grandfather Martin's sons (which would be Wilhelm's grandsons -- if Martin is indeed Wilhelm's son). Norman <130>, who was the oldest son of Herman's fourth child, Hank, also remember's stories being told at family reunions of one branch of the family going to South America. 4. The family of Martin Wegner had other parts of the family in this country, with whom they never made substantial contact. Martin's son Ferdinand indicated that 2 or 3 of his uncles emigrated to the United States. Ferdinand's daughter Emma recalls that it was told that Ferdinand's mother had written a letter to the rest of the family shortly after their arrival, but that it apparently never went through and they never made contact. "The families never found each other." After saying this, Emma made a comment about a Beyers family being related to Martin's family (perhaps descendents of one of the uncles mentioned above?). As a possibly-related aside, Emma's husband's brother, Herb Hendrichs, had a daughter who did some checking while in Germany and reportedly found info that the Ferninand Wegner of Sauk City, Wisconsin (b. 1850, d. 1940, buried Black Hawk, Wisconsin Cemetery) was somehow related to the Martin Wegner family.
5. 'Vita and Trudy Wegner <25 and 27>, in their visit with Emma Wegner <1001.7>, saw stong facial resemblences between photos of members from the two families.
6. We're starting (perhaps long since) to grasp at straws here, but the two families tended to use the same given names (Gustav, Herman, Wilhelmina, Ewald, Emma, etc). These are of course common German names, but other Wegner lines I've checked often have quite a different mix of names.
7. I need to raise one other factor, that, may in fact make it less likely the families were related. Martin's son Ferdinand was listed as being born in Wesnednik, Kolmarisz (Kolmar? District, which is now Chodziez in Poland), Posen, Prussia. His birthplace was also listed as "near Schneidemuh" (Schneidemuhl?, now Pila or Pita, Poland). These two locations for his birth are consistent with one another because Schneidemuhl is in the Chodziez area of Poland. Schneidemuhl is about 50 miles southeast of Schl�nwitz (the likely area of residence of Martin's speculated father, Wilhelm). Schneidemuhl is on the border between the Posen and West Prussia provinces of Prussia. It is of course possible that Martin, as an adult, migrated those 50 miles to Schneidemuhl, or more likely when they returned to Germany from "Russia", they did not come back to the same place from which they had left (if they fled in 1866, and Wilhelm's known children emigrated to Wisconsin in the period 1867 to 1869, there may not have been any family to return to in Schl�nwitz). Martin's great grandson Arthur Wegner, indicated he remembers hearing that when they fled to Russia, they had left from East Prussia, which is some distance from Schneidemuhl.
Do not know if Martin's first wife died or if they were divorced.
His granddaughter Emma <1001.7> indicates that family stories say that Martin and his first wife had at least two sons, and that these sons went to Brazil.
His granddaughter Emma <1001.7> indicates that family stories say that Martin and his first wife had at least two sons, and that these sons went to Brazil.
1900 LaValle township census say "Hameister", and that he emigrated from Germany in 1882, and that he and Johana had been married for 8 years. Gustave was still living with them working as a farm laborer at that time.
Also, see notes on her first husband, Martin and on her second husband Fredrick. After Martin died and she came to America with her children, she married Fred Hamermeiester. Johanna's granddaughter Emma said her grandmother was a blond (not sure this refers to Johanna or to Emma's maternal grandmother). As a possibly related aside, there is a Wegner(?) cemetery marker that is shaped like a ship that they came to America on in a cemetery in Waushara County, near Red Granite and Silver Lake, south of Hwy 21, near a park. Vita Wegner Lanser, daughter of Oscar, indicated, "There is only one Wegner and one Draeger buried there. Emma's grandmother was a Draeger."
Also see the notes for Ferdinand's father. Have Ferdinand's obituary and his Petition for Naturalization (they are both part of reference 102). Obit says he is from Wesnednik Kolmarisz. Melissa Wegner Walder, Florida (tel: 941-434-2717), called in Dec of 2001 to say she had obtained a copy of Ferdinand's passport (!) from Emma's son (see other notes for who Melissa and Emma are), and that it also says he is from a place called Wesnednik (or some such spelling). She is sending a copy. It is the passport in fact that the obit info likely came.
I believe the Kolmarisz (Ferdinand's birth place) refers to the Kolmar district of Posen. The Kolmar district is known as Chodziez in current Poland, although there was a city of Chodziesen in previous times as well. Ferdinand's Naturalization Petition in the US gave his place of birth as "near Schneidemuh, Germany". A "Schneidemuhl" (now Pila or Pita, Poland) was located in West Prussia near the Posen border about 50 miles southeast of the Labes/Schievelbein area of Pommern and about 16 miles north northwest of the city of Chodziesen. His naturalization petition also says he left the port of Bremen and arrived in New York June 2, 1891.
At the age of one year, he moved with his parents to Russia. They later returned to Germany, and Ferdinand was in the military (have picture of him in uniform) and was honorably discharged (again, refer to notes on Ferdinand's father).
Emma said that her dad Ferdinand said he had both a brother Herman (who died at the age of three, presumedly in Germany) and an uncle Herman (our Herman(?), son of Wilhelm Wegner of Jefferson/Walworth counties Wisconsin?).
In 1891 at the age of 26, Ferdinand came to this country with his mother and younger siblings. His dad had planned to come, but died just before the ship sailed. The ship Fouldiri (spelling?) left Bremen and arrived in New York. Ferdinand's daughter Emma said that the Schmidt and Beyer families came over on the same ship, and that at least the Beyer's were believed to be related to them. In a 1999 conversation, Alvin Wegner, son of Ferdinand's son Ewald, said they came over on a cattle boat to Baltimore and that they had somehow gotten separated from other brothers going to Argentina (not sure if this means brothers of Ferdinand, or brothers of Ferdinand's dad Martin). In any case, they came to Reedsburg Wisconsin, but moved to a farm near LaValle, Wisconsin in 1894. He also said, Ferdinand's mother, Johanna (maiden name Draeger), came over with four or five large trunks, that were still in the family (some of them?). Ferdinand's daughter Emma comments that her dad "had a very hard life". Not only did he raise his own family, but his siblings as well. He never went to school or learned to read and write, but he apparently provided well for his family. Emma says he gave each of his brothers and sister fifty dollars when they married -- a sizable gift in the 1920's.
In 1894, he moved on to a farm in the township of LaValle where he lived till his death. The home farm is located a little northeast (?) of LaValle on Wegner Road, off of county "V". I am not sure of my directions in the area. When I visited the area in 1998, we drove east on Hwy 33 from LaValle, turned left on "V", then left onto Wegner Road. A couple miles down the road, a large sign proclaims you are at the "Johnny and Anna Wegner" farm. It is a modern farm with large blue Harvester silos that sits on the top of a rise on the inside corner of a right turn in the road. This is a truly beautiful area, with ridges and valleys and sharp knolls, with wooded areas and sweeping open vistas. The hilly areas were being grazed by dairy cows. We dropped in unannounced on Tom Schlough, a friendly guy in his thirties(?), who along with his teenage children seemed more than willing to take a break from the machinery repair job they were doing, to talk a bit. Tom is the husband of Janice Wegner. Janice is the daughter John Wegner who is the son of Ferdinand's son Leo. He said that the original farmstead was the then-abandoned set of buildings (at least the house looked abandoned) about a half mile further down the road. This original farm was on the right, on a straight section of Wegner Road, sitting several hundred feet off the road part way down a hill (We climbed a fence, and dodging many fresh cowpies, walked partway down the hill toward the buildings and took some pictures). It is possible that in earlier days the road ran closer to the buildings?? Arthur Wegner (Ferdinand's grandson) said a tornado went thru the valley in 1905 or 1905 close to the homestead destroying a nearby house, that had been built just like the house on the Wegner homestead. Arthur also tells that in the early years there was a log cabin in the valley near the homestead that Indians used to stay in when the weather got cold in the winter.
I don't know when the farm that now has the blue silos was established. Ferdinand's sons Paul and "Rheich" (Rheinhold?) reportedly worked the farm (one of the farms?) together for years, probably in the 1920's, before they got married. Oscar Wegner <20> (son of Herman Wegner of Jefferson/Walworth counties who was the son of Wilhelm Wegner and Caroline Romig) and Oscar's daughter Trudy <27> visited the farm(s) in about 1941, even then trying to establish their relationship to our family. The farms remained in the family, and were being farmed by Ferdinand's grandson John (son of Leo) and his wife Anna in 1988 (when they were again visited by Trudy, this time accompanied by sister 'Vita <25>). In the 1998 visit, I learned that lightning had struck the farm in 1996 and had burned the barn, after which the current modern metal buildings and Harvester silos were erected, and that the current dairy farm had 900 acres. In 1998, Johnny's mother, Wilma St.Claire Wegner was still alive and living in Reedsburg, Wisconsin. See notes for Ferdinand's father for a more complete discussion of other visits by the "Jefferson County Wegners" to the "LaValle Wegners".
Ferdinand's grandson, Arthur Wegner (Ewald's son), told of an old family bible (possibly even a Guttenberg bible) that was in the family that contained many pages of genealogy information in it. In about the 1950's, the bible reportedly was in the possession of a daughter of Martin Strampe who was a son of Wilhelmina Wegner (married name Strampe). Wilhelmina was a sister of Ferdinand. I understand that Martin had a son (with a mental deficit?) and two daughters, one that went to Missouri and was dead in 1999, and the other still alive in Minnesota. Reportedly, the bible somehow got into the possesion of the University of Minnesota, where a daughter may have been going to school. In about 1983 there was a Madison Wisconsin TV news story that the University sold an old bible at an auction "because they had another one of the same kind" (it is not known if the one sold was the Wegner family bible or not). The news story indicated that the family had sued to get the bible back, but apparently a judge ruled against them. It is believed that the pages with the genealogy were copied from the Wegner family bible and that the Strampe family may still have them (Ewald's son Arthur remembers Martin showing him copies of the pages when he and his father visited them in Minnesota), and that the University may also have copies. The Strampe family is reportedly from the Onamia area of Minnesota (north of Minneapolis on Hwy 169, near the south end of Mille Lacs lake). It should also be noted that the Max Kates Institute for German American Studies, 901 University Bay Drive, Madison, Wisconsin was formed in 1983 and was known to be collecting old German Bibles and other German documents. It may be worth checking their collection.
Arthur Wegner indicated that there were boxes of letters stored at the homestead farm in LaValle, some of which had been correspondence to family relatives (in Germany? elsewhere in Wisconsin?), but that they were stored in a woodshed and were ruined by water leakage. Do not know if any of them were saved.
Ferdinand died in 1947 in Reedsburg at the age of 82. His funeral was at St. John's Lutheran Church and he is buried in St. Peters Lutheran cemetery. He was survived by eight children, 19 grandchildren, one great grandchild, a brother, Gustave of Minneapolis and a sister, Mrs. Glen Beaman of Monrovia California.
Also see notes for Barbara's husband Ferdinand. Barbara died in 1917 at the age of about 43 and was buried in St Peters Lutheran Cemetery (city?). She was a member of St John's Lutheran church (city?). She was originally Catholic but converted. Her husband's petition for naturalization (my copy does not indicate a date of signature), says she was 38 years old at the time of the petition, apparently quite a few years after he emigrated in 1891. Her grandson, Arthur Wegner, says she emigrated earlier than her husband, to Twin Valley Minnesota, then moved to Wisconsin. Township LaValle, Sauk Cty, Wisconsin 1900 Census says Barbara was born July of 1877, that she was born in Germany and emigrated to USA in 1893.
Lived in LaValle Wisconsin in 1947. Wife's name was Anita. She died in 1998 and is buried in LaValle cemetery.
Lived in Reedsburg, Wisconsin in 1947.
Paul lived in LaValle Wisconsin in 1947, was a carpenter in the Baraboo, Wisconsin area then in the Rice Lake, Wisconsin. In 1988, he lived in Rice Lake (tel = 1-715-234-3912).
Emil lived in Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin in 1947 and in Berlin, Wisconsin in 1986.
Birth order is believed to be Ferdinand, Wilhelmina (10 years younger than Ferdinad), Matilda, then Gustave. Do not know where Herman fits. Might even be from Martin's first marriage.
Gustave and Annie Marie were married Jan 21 or 22 of 1908 or 1904.
Annie's parents were from Sweden and came to America with six children and built a farm house in Harris, Minnesota, then Annie was born and a sister, plus two boys that were born and died and buried there. Caleb, one of Annie's nephews and his family still lived and farmed there in 1999.
Birth order is believed to be Ferdinand, Wilhelmina (10 years younger than Ferdinad), Matilda, then Gustave. Do not know where Herman fits. Might even be from Martin's first marriage.
Had two daughters and one son. Son reportedly had some type of mental deficit. One daughter lived in Missouri, but was dead in 1999, while the other daughter was alive in Minnesota. Their cousin Gloria Strampe who lived in the general area of Baraboo, Wisconsin in 1999, apparently knows where the surviving cousin lives, etc. It is reportedly one on Martin's daughters that had the German bible with Wegner genealogy that somehow got into the possesion of the University of Minnesota.
Had no chidren.
Matilda went by name Agnes. Matilda Agnes was married to a Glen Beaman, and they lived in Monrovia California in 1947 (so says brother Ferdinand's obit). Birth order is believed to be Ferdinand, Wilhelmina (10 years younger than Ferdinad), Matilda, then Gustave. Do not know where Herman fits. Might even be from Martin's first marriage.