WILHELM WITTE
Wilhelm Witte
Born: 1808 Died: ____?_____
He joined Zion Presbyterian Church, Fosterburg, Illinois on March 28, 1861
Married: Amalie (Amelia) Witte on __?__ in ____?____
Born: 1809 Died: ____?_____
Wilhelm and Amalie came to America on the ship “New Orleans” from the port of Bremen in Germany. They landed in New Orleans, Louisiana on May 25, 1860 with their three grown children.
Note from 3/24/2005: There was a huge tornado that took many buildings in Fosterburg, Illinois in 1948, so no records or evidence of their graves were found in any cemeteries in or around Fosterburg. Did they leave with Philipp? Did they die before Philipp left? If so, did he bury them in his plots in Fosterburg without stones? And what of Amalie and Wilhelm, their other children? Didn’t they want to take care of their parents? Wilhelm and Henretta have a very nice stone in the Woodburn cemetery, but no other Witte names are present.
Children:
Amalie Witte (27 at time of arrival in US)
Born: 1833 Died: _____?______
Wilhelm (William) Witte (24 at time of arrival in US)
Born: 1836 Died: _____?______ Buried: January, 1909 in Woodburn Cemetery, Fosterburg, Illinois
Married: Henrietta, who died on August 30, 1906 and was buried in Woodburn Cemetery, Fosterburg, Illinois – (no maiden name, birth date is known.)
Ernst Phillipp Witte (23 at time of arrival in US)
Born: 12/1/1837 in Lippe-Detmold, Germany
Joined the Zion Presbyterian Church in Fosterburg, Illinois on March 28, 1861.
Died: 9/11/1910 in Marion, South Dakota.
Buried in Germantown Cemetery, Chancellor, South Dakota.
Note: No mention of the name “Ernst” in the Zion Church records in Fosterburg or at Dubuque.
On March 28, 2005 records were found in the Library of the University of Dubuque in the Archives. A book identified as “Minutes of the convention of German Presbyterian Preachers (Ministers) and elders of the Northwest 1862-1889” was found listing Phil Witte several times. A Certificate of Incorporation of “The German Presbyterian Convention of Ministers and Elders in the West” dated August 14, 1868 was handwritten in this book. Most of the minutes were written in German, but the wording of this certificate is in English. One of the things that stood out was that German, Dutch and English would be used, but the minutes would be “chiefly in the German language.”
Trustees of the incorporation were Rev. Gottfried Moerz, Jacob Conzett and Conrad Knackstedt. A. VanVliet was the first signer. Then a listing of all the ministers and elders present at that time showed Phil Witte in line #52. (He must have been an elder.)
Another section in the book written in English in 1880 was regarding some “unrest” among the ministers and elders. Some must have made allegations of mismanagement of the school at Dubuque. Others said these people knew nothing about it and instead of doing their own research into the problem were using hearsay as truth.
Phil Witte must have been an ordained minister by 1883 because his name is listed as being from Prairie Dell, Illinois in May of that year. Monetary amounts were noted at each name on this page ranging from the 100’s down to almost nothing. After Philipp’s name was the amount of $32.50. It might have been the amount of money given by his church to the Convention.
April 30, 1885 shows Phil Witte as attending the Convention, but no church was identified.
Married: E. Anna Weimers (spelling may be Wiemers according to sources in Fosterburg, Illinois on March 24, 2005)
Born: 8/2/1843 Died: 5/19/1878 in Fosterburg, Illinois
Date of marriage: _____?_______ in ___________?_______________
Joined the Zion Presbyterian Church in Fosterburg, Illinois as Anna Wiemers on August 4, 1864.
(The date of their marriage must have been around that same time – at least between 1864 and 1869 when their first child was born. Since she didn’t arrive with the Witte’s at the same time, she may have lived in or near Fosterburg for quite some time, but it is doubtful that she was born there since so many of the Germans came during that time.)
Children:
Lydia Witte Highstreet Born: 1/26/1869
Baptized as “Lidia Karolina” Witte in Zion Presbyterian Church, Fosterburg, Illinois on February 28, 1869. “Philipp Witte and Anna” as parents.
(Found in Session records on Zion Church on March 24, 2005)
Christina Rebecca Witte Plucker Born: 12/1/1872 (Grandmother of Jean)
Emma Witte Coleman
Martha Witte Ludwig
Anna Witte Born: (date) Died: 6/19/1878
(There is speculation that the mother, Anna, died in childbirth and the baby, Anna, died just a month later. However, the birth and death dates of both “Annas” are suspect. For instance, in a Witte genealogy, p.76, it notes that little Anna died at age one.)
Note from 3/24/2005: The Witte grave site was found in the Fosterburg cemetery. The cemetery records show “Phil Witte” owning 10 plots, but visible is only one large stone with two small stones on each side. It looks like mother (Anna) and baby (Anna) were buried together. The sandstone marker has worn away quite severely, but some of the lettering is still visible. Here is a picture and a partial translation of the wording. Translation was very difficult since it was written in Platt Deutsch, not High German. No other Wiemers names were found in the community and no one remembered the name other than to say they must have moved away.
Anna Witte, the mother, was born August 2, 1843 and died March 19, 1878. The baby, Anna Witte, was born March 2, 1878 and died June 19, 1978. The wording is very faint, but speaks of her righteousness and faithfulness so that when she stands before God she will get into Heaven.
The 1880 census records from Madison County, Illinois, noted the following persons in the William Witte family:
William Witte 72
Amelia 72
Philip 42
Henrietta (Voss) 18
When Phillipp was 42, he would have had four children, Lydia (11), Christina (7), Emma and Martha (both younger), so he may have hired Henrietta to take care of them for him. While she was his “housekeeper” he may have decided to marry her.
Note: According to his obituary, Phillipp (spelling from obit) went to Dubuque to Seminary the same year Anna died, 1878. But no date is given for his marriage to Henrietta.
Second wife:
Henrietta (Harriet) Voss
Born: 1862(?) Died: 1933
Marriage date: unknown
(Jean Straatmeyer’s grandmother, when speaking of her step-mother, said that she was a “wicked step-mother.” She made the girls do all the work while she did nothing. If this woman was only 18 or 20 years old when she married Phillipp, it is no wonder the older kids called her the “wicked step-mother.” Since she came from Louisiana*, she may have had servants so she might not have known how to cook. When Bill (Phillipp’s brother) married Mary, he said it was the first good food he ever had!) (* Cindee here: if Henrietta was from Louisiana and that's where their ship landed, isn't it possible that they hired her as a servant in Louisiana and brought her along to Illinios?--see below)
Children of Phillip & Henrietta:
Infant son (No birth dates for three of four children – Obit notes five children)
Lena Witte Hippen Born: 2/7/1890 Died: 7/27/1984
Anna Witte Tellingheusen
Carl Fredrick William (Bill) Witte Died: 1955
Married 2/22/1910 to:
Mary Johanna Handwerk Born: 5/10/1894 Died: 3/1/1985
Children of Bill & Mary:
Ernest Witte – married ?
Elma Witte – married Lee Mabee. She died 9/29/99.
Ellory Witte (died circa 1970) – married Mercedes
Eunice Witte – married Raymond Ries, died: 1/14/2000
NOTE from Jean Straatmeyer: Uncle Bill and Aunt Mary (my father’s aunt & uncle) lived in Marion, South Dakota and when I was young, we would visit there quite often. Eunice, although older than me, would pay a lot of attention to me. They had a very nice home and a beautiful garden with a fish pond in the back yard.
Evelyn Witkop, age 84, of Sioux Falls, SD, on Thursday, March 16, 2000, tells that “no one ever talked of Henrietta’s beginnings.” She said neither her mother nor her grandmother ever discussed Henrietta’s family, how she met Phillip or how she got from Louisiana to Illinois. Evelyn Witkop said she was 16 or 18 years old when her Grandma, Henrietta Witte, died.
On Phillip’s tombstone in Germantown Cemetery, there is a loose square of cement with the word, “Anna” or “Anne” on it. According to Mrs. Witkop, this is the name of his daughter, Anne Tellinghuisen, who died when she was young, although already married and had a child.
Mrs. Witkop said that both of Philip Witte’s wives and his daughter are buried with him at Germantown. (We believe that is not true since Anna’s grave marker was found in Fosterburg on March 24, 2005.)
Evelyn Witkop on 3/16/2000 said she remembers John & Christiana Plucker very well and that they would often come to visit. She said Grandma was (in her estimation) “The best example of a real lady.” She would always be wrapped in a blanket. She would get out of the old Marquette, bring her blanket along with her and wrap herself up in it (her legs) during the visit. Mrs. Witkop said that Christina Plucker had such a “kindly face.”
Henrietta Voss was probably 71 years old when she died. She married two more times after Phillip Witte. She was Mrs. Van Gerpen and Mrs. Ben Cornelius – in that order, but nothing is known of those unions. She is said to be buried in the Germantown cemetery with Phillip Witte and that Bill Witte was put in charge of getting her name on the tombstone. He never did. It is still a “sore subject” with Evelyn Witkop, his niece.
Phillip was 40 years old when his first wife, Anna Weimers, died. He was 42 (+/-) when he married Henrietta Voss. He was 72 years old when he died.
Henrietta was 48 years old when Phillip died. And she probably died in Marion, but there was a fire in Marion that burned old city records, so no obituary could be found.
So Henrietta was 16 when she got married to old Phil at 42 years old!!!???? (Cindee added this)
Compiled by Jean E. Straatmeyer
March, 2000 and March, 2005
4/3/2005
No comments:
Post a Comment