AMAZING (November 2015)
It’s amazing to me. Here I am living my life not where I was born, not where any of my children were born, but where my maternal grandmother was born in 1859, and where my great-grandfather owned land around the railroad station in what was then called Centerville. Today it is called Woodstock and after 57 years I returned to this area, namely Woodstock, Illinois.
In a past Message I told you about how Jerry (Larkin) and I solved the mystery of why my grandmother’s eldest brother was born in Belvedere when she, her sister Josie, and her other two brothers were born in Woodstock. Her mother, Wilhelmina (Mena) Wiggenhorn of Watertown, Wisconsin had married Charles Kuhnert in l850 in Watertown and they supposedly were on their way back to Woodstock where Charles owned property, but the birth occurred before they could get there. That story is in the Message of June 1, 2015.
As I mentioned, Mena was a Wiggenhorn, but this message is about another Wiggenhorn who happened to come to Woodstock. When Mena and Charles were married in l850 so was another sister of Mena, Rosalia. This is her story because it also involves Woodstock.
Rosalia married Rudolph Diesel after he had been in Watertown, Wisconsin about eleven years. First they went to Paducah, Kentucky where Rudolph owned a furniture store. Now I’m sure you are wondering, what has that to do with Woodstock?
Kentucky was a border state during the Civil War and was sometimes under Confederate rule and sometimes under Union rule. Obviously the uncertainty and skirmishes that ensued in that area probably made Rudolph very nervous and that’s when he decided to move to Woodstock. After all, his wife had a sister there and he knew her husband Charles from Watertown.
However, the reunion didn’t last long, for shortly after they had been there, Charles decided to pull up stakes and he took his family to Waukegan. But Rudolph and Rosalia stayed, and he prospered in Woodstock. He became very successful in undertaking and cabinet-making which merchants often combined in those days. He is on record for becoming a trustee of Woodstock, a position he held for sixteen years. In the book “History of McHenry County,” it lists him as a member of the Masonic fraternity lodge chapter and commandery. Plus, the book says, he was one of the organizers of the Maennerchor in l870 and was its president for ten years. All in Woodstock.
He and Rosalia had two children. His son Charles was a watch-maker ultimately in Chicago and his daughter married Henry DeClerque, also of Chicago.
I don’t know when Rosalia and Rudolph left Woodstock, but he was prominent when he was here. Mena and Charles did not do that well in Waukegan but never did return to Woodstock. When Mena died in l871 in Waukegan, Charles married Bertha Zeese and moved to Johnsburg.
What is so amazing to me is the fact that my incidental return to this area ended up with my living in the little town of Woodstock, Illinois where my ancestors are a part of its history of 150 years ago.
In a past Message I told you about how Jerry (Larkin) and I solved the mystery of why my grandmother’s eldest brother was born in Belvedere when she, her sister Josie, and her other two brothers were born in Woodstock. Her mother, Wilhelmina (Mena) Wiggenhorn of Watertown, Wisconsin had married Charles Kuhnert in l850 in Watertown and they supposedly were on their way back to Woodstock where Charles owned property, but the birth occurred before they could get there. That story is in the Message of June 1, 2015.
As I mentioned, Mena was a Wiggenhorn, but this message is about another Wiggenhorn who happened to come to Woodstock. When Mena and Charles were married in l850 so was another sister of Mena, Rosalia. This is her story because it also involves Woodstock.
Rosalia married Rudolph Diesel after he had been in Watertown, Wisconsin about eleven years. First they went to Paducah, Kentucky where Rudolph owned a furniture store. Now I’m sure you are wondering, what has that to do with Woodstock?
Kentucky was a border state during the Civil War and was sometimes under Confederate rule and sometimes under Union rule. Obviously the uncertainty and skirmishes that ensued in that area probably made Rudolph very nervous and that’s when he decided to move to Woodstock. After all, his wife had a sister there and he knew her husband Charles from Watertown.
However, the reunion didn’t last long, for shortly after they had been there, Charles decided to pull up stakes and he took his family to Waukegan. But Rudolph and Rosalia stayed, and he prospered in Woodstock. He became very successful in undertaking and cabinet-making which merchants often combined in those days. He is on record for becoming a trustee of Woodstock, a position he held for sixteen years. In the book “History of McHenry County,” it lists him as a member of the Masonic fraternity lodge chapter and commandery. Plus, the book says, he was one of the organizers of the Maennerchor in l870 and was its president for ten years. All in Woodstock.
He and Rosalia had two children. His son Charles was a watch-maker ultimately in Chicago and his daughter married Henry DeClerque, also of Chicago.
I don’t know when Rosalia and Rudolph left Woodstock, but he was prominent when he was here. Mena and Charles did not do that well in Waukegan but never did return to Woodstock. When Mena died in l871 in Waukegan, Charles married Bertha Zeese and moved to Johnsburg.
What is so amazing to me is the fact that my incidental return to this area ended up with my living in the little town of Woodstock, Illinois where my ancestors are a part of its history of 150 years ago.