Today’s post begins with a baby girl being born and baptized in Friedheim. Louise Helena Engelmann was born on December 7, 1852, so today would be her 173rd birthday. She would be called Helen during her life, so I will use that name. Helen was the daughter of Edward and Adelheid (Weise) Engelmann. Before I move on with Helen, let me point out that her mother was an original 1839 immigrant who was part of the Gesellschaft. Her Weise family came to America aboard the ship, Republik. We can see the Weise names on that ship’s passenger list below. Adelheid was called just 1/2 year old on this list. They were from Langenchursdorf, Germany, which is where Rev. C.F.W. Walther was the pastor.

Adelheid Weise really has me scratching my head. Do the math. If she was a baby in 1839 and her daughter is born in 1852, then she would have been about 14 years old when Helen was born. Not only that. Adelheid Engelmann’s gravestone says she was born on December 4, 1838. The ship, Republik left Germany in November of 1838. Was she born at sea? Zion on the Mississippi usually notes when babies were born at sea, and there is no indication of such a birth in that book. And not only that. According to a record found in the Trinity, Friedheim books, Adelheid Weise was confirmed at that church in April of 1851. Then there is also a marriage record in those books that says Edward Engelmann married Adelheid Weis ein July of that same year. That would indicate that Adelheid was just 13 years old when she got married. This has my head spinning.

Helen Engelmann was baptized at Trinity Lutheran Church in Friedheim. An image of her baptism record is shown here.

Helen is found in the 1860 census at the age of 7. Her mother was listed as being 22 years old, so there was a difference in age between mother and child of 15 years. Helen’s father was a merchant in the Apple Creek Township.

Prior to the 1870 census, the Englemann’s made a move to Cape Girardeau, Missouri. In that entry, Helen was 17 years old, and her father was a notary public.

Helen would get married during the next decade, so we will now take a look at the man who would become her husband. His name was William H. Willer, who was born on June 29, 1848. William was the son of John Frederick William and Johanna Justina Wilhelmine (Jahns) Willer. I have no baptism information for William, nor was I able to locate him in the 1850 census. It also appears that his father had died at some point along the way, because his mother married a man named John Roetjer in early 1860. So, when the 1860 census was taken, we find a Roetjer household living in Cape Girardeau. William looks as if his name was William Roetjer, and he was 11 years old. John Roetjer was a cooper.

I was also unsuccessful at finding William in the 1870 census. Then, on August 22, 1872, William Willer married Helen Engelmann at Trinity Lutheran Church in Cape Girardeau. A transcription of this couple’s church marriage record is shown below.

I think the Willer’s had 6 children. In the 1880 census, there were 3 children in the Willer household. Also living with them were William’s mother, Wilhelmine Roetjer, and his sister named Minnie. William was a clerk in a store.

A lot of years passed by between the 1880 and 1900 census entries, and it would be nice to know what kinds of occupations William had over those years. What we do know is that in the 1900 census, William was called a city assessor. There were still 3 sons living with their parents, and two of them were part of the work force.

The 1910 census shows the same 5 household members that were seen in the previous census entry. This time, William is called a justice of the peace in Cape Girardeau.

The last census in which we find William was the one taken in 1920. William had the same occupation. Just one single son was living with William and Helen.

William Willer died in 1921 at the age of 72. His death certificate below also indicates that William had been a justice of the peace.

Helen is found as a widow in the 1930 census. She was living with her son, Fred, who was called a stationary fireman for a meat packing plant.

Helen Willer died in 1934 at the age of 82. Her death certificate gives her birthday as December 7, 1851, not 1852. So, she may have only been 81 at the time of her death.

William and Helen Willer are buried in the New Lorimer Cemetery in Cape Girardeau, but Findagrave.com does not have gravestone photos for them.

William Willer had a father named William. He also had a son of his own named William. That son was called Willie in one of the census entries. That means there were at least 3 generations of Willie Willard’s. I guess I just find a name like William Willer to be rather interesting. And it caused me to make a new folder for the surname, Willer, in our “GFT Images” folder because today is the first occurrence of that name on this blog.