Ann, my angel

The descendants of Anna Engel Waldmann
protagonist of the novel "Ann Angel's Freedom"

Some of the readers of the novel "Ann Angel's Freedom" may be curious about the future of Ann Angel. I have to admit that we made up the love story between Angel and Friedrich. That's the difference between fiction that is basing on facts and pure facts. On this side, you'll find the facts about Ann Angel's later life.

Anna Engel (that's the German spelling of her name) married Johann Jobst Knost Colon Wesseler of Harpenfeld July 12, 1810 in Bad Essen (well, Bad Essen was just called Essen at that time). Colon means that Johann Jobst Knost was the owner of the Wesseler farm in Harpenfeld, parish of (Bad) Essen, and therefore was called Wesseler. He was a widower and his first wife had been the heir of that farm. Her name was Anna (Maria) Elisabeth Wesseler and she had died November 1808 (by the way: her grandmother was Catharina Clara Waldmann). Unfortunately, Johann Jobst Knost Colon Wesseler died just 11 month after the marriage. He and Anna Engel did not have any children.

The next heir of the farm (a son from Johann Jobst's first marriage) was just 7 years old and so Anna Engel had to remarry for a man was needed on the farm. Her second husband whom she married July 23, 1812 was Johann Clamor Eilert (08.10.1772 - 04.12.1836) from Wehrendorf. He, too, adopted the name Wesseler. This marriage was blessed with 7 children:

1. Anna Maria Elisabeth (07.09.1813 - 02.10.1826)
2. Adam Heinrich
3. Johann Heinrich Ludwig
4. Anna Maria Elisabeth
5. Christine Clare Engel
6. Johann Clamor (31.07.1824 - 31.07.1824)
7. Anne Marie Engel (03.01.1826 - 30.03.1828)
So two daughters and a son died in childhood.

Anna Engel herself died November 12, 1836 in Harpenfeld. Her second husband Johann Clamor Eilert Col. Wesseler survived her just a few weeks.

Johann Adam Averbeck Colon Waldmann, Anna Engel's stepfather, wrote down his last will in December 1834. He left 50 Thaler to all his godchildren. Adam Heinrich was one of them. But there's a constraint. Adam Heinrich will get this money just in case that he comes back from America. So he left for America before this last will was written. He never came back - and all his siblings followed him.

Hereafter, you'll find information about the four children of Anna Engel Waldmann who survived childhood. The paragraphs start with a picture of their baptism entry taken from the church records of Bad Essen. You'll see that the name Wesseler at that time was spelled with just one "s" and without the second "e".

Taufeintrag

Adam Heinrich Wesseler was born January 15, 1816. He reached the United States Apr 19, 1834 on bord of the Constitution. So he was just 18 years old when he went on his way to the New World. He settled in St. Charles County, Missouri.
On May 28, 1846, he married Louisa Toern (or Terre). Three sons were born to this marriage:

1. Adam Heinrich (29.08.1847 - 15.09.1847)
2. Heinrich Wilhelm (11.07.1849 - 18.07.1849)
3. Johann Ludwig (11.07.1849 - 17.07.1849)

Louisa died July 16, 1849. It's said that she and the twins died of Cholera but for they died shortly after the birth of the children, it's also possible that Louisa died in childbirth and that the twins were not strong enough to survive. Louisa and her children are buried on the Wessler Cemetery in St. Charles. They're maybe the first who were buried there for the cemetery is named after them.

Adam Heinrich remarried about 1850. His second wife is Elisabeth Mette (17.10.1827 - 13.11.1888) who was born in Prussia. This marriage was blessed with 7 children:

1. Wilhelmine, born abt. 1852
2. Gustav H. (13.04.1858 - 04.02.1859)
3. A. E. Maria (21.04.1859 - 15.07.1894)
    married John H. Ch. Stelzer in 1879
4. Henry Bernard (06.07.1861 - 21.07.1942)
    married Katharina Sophie Knoerchild in 1887
5. Caroline, born abt. 1864
6. M. Gottfried (13.04.1870 - 13.04.1870)
7. Sophie, born abt. 1872

Adam Heinrich Wesseler, who lost an "e" and so was spelled Wessler, died October 13, 1898 in St. Charles County.

Taufeintrag

Johann Heinrich Ludwig Wesseler was born January 26, 1818 in Harpenfeld. He married Anna Maria Engel Strubbe (17.05.1822 - abt. 1842) July 14, 1842 in Essen. The couple emigrated in 1842 but Anna Maria Engel died on sea and so never reached the States. Six years later, Johann Heinrich Ludwig Wesseler remarried. His descendants didn't know about their ancestor's first wife until they got to know me in summer 2007. But some of them keep a family treasure of which they didn't know how it came into the family:

wedding chest

So the couple took her wedding chest with them and we are lucky that it never got lost. It's showing the bride's name and the year they married and it's maybe the only heirloom that Anna Maria Engel Strubbe left behind.

Johann Heinrich Ludwig Wesseler, too, lost his second "e" and like his brother, he settled in St. Charles County, Missouri. The place is called Weldon Springs. He remarried Dec 18th, 1851. His second wife was Catharina Margarethe Sophia Wulfekammer and she was born in Tecklenburg/Westfalia. This marriage was blessed with 12 children:

1. Louise (27.02.1853 - 25.01.1943)
2. Katherine Wilhelmina (27.02.1853 - 03.11.1946)
    married Andreas Christian Jungermann in 1871
3. Anna Maria (01.10.1854 - 09.09.1872)
4. Henry Herman (16.10.1856 - 19.01.1899)
    married Emma Sophia Langeman in 1883
5. Fred W. (09.10.1858 - 14.01.1960)
    married Marie Heisler Stovner
6. Friederika (21.07.1860 - 12.03.1920)
    married Conrad Siedentop
7. John (01.07.1862 - 13.01.1935)
    married Leana Tress
8. Emma (28.06.1864 - 31.03.1925)
    married August Blase
9. Gustav (06.11.1866 - 26.09.1944)
    married Christina Gardner in 1897
10. Anna (25.05.1869 - 01.06.1869)
11. Katherine (20.06.1870 - 07.07.1870)
12. Louis Godfrey (14.07.1875 - 25.04.1964)

The youngest son still could remember that his grandfather adopted the name Wesseler and that his true name was Eilert.
Johann Heinrich Ludwig Wessler founded a farm and again, we are lucky, that there's a photo of him infront of his house.

Wessler farm

Wessler farm, Weldon Springs, Missouri, abt. 1890
Conrad and Friederika Siedentop,
Sophie, Johann Heinrich Ludwig and Louise Wessler

In July 2007, a family reunion took place in Granbury, Texas. This was the cause for Gerald Wessler to search the web for information about his ancestors - and he found this website. So that's how the contact between us was made.

Wessler farm

Johann Heinrich Ludwig Wessler died Oktober 1, 1894 in Weldon Springs.

Taufeintrag

Anna Maria Elisabeth Wesseler was born Aug 4, 1820 in Harpenfeld. She married Johann Friedrich Dierker (09.07.1816 - 29.12.1882) abt. 1840 in Essen who was also born in Harpenfeld. This couple had 10 children, 7 of them were born in Germany:

1. Johann Friedrich (13.03.1841 - 13.08.1912)
2. A. Ludwig/Louis (02.09.1842 - 1883)
    married Dora Minthrop
3. Christine Eleonora (17.09.1844 - 23.07.1911)
    married Heinrich Wisler
4. Anna Maria Elisabeth (17.09.1848 - 06.06.1925)
    married Georg Urban
5. Gerhard Heinrich (15.03.1850 - 05.02.1902)
    married Louisa Wilhelmina Krietemeier
6. Ernst F. (08.09.1851 - 1887)
    married Betty/Bertha Oetting
7. Wilhelm/William F. (05.07.1853 - 28.04.1923)
    married Adeline Schelp
8. Sophia (born abt. 1856/1857)
9. John Henry (17.03.1860 - 08-12-1832)
    never married
10. Louisa (born abt. 1863/1864)

The family emigrated abt. 1853 (the 7th son was still born in Harpenfeld) and settled like her older brothers in Missouri. The Dierker family, too, was farming, first in Franklin County, later in Saline County. A grandson, Otto F. Dierker, became a M.D. and lived in Lincoln County, Kansas. His biography - which also gives some information about his ancestors - is publised in the web:
http://skyways.lib.ks.us/genweb/archives/1918ks/biod/dierkeof.html.

Taufeintrag

Christine Clare Engel Wesseler was born May 31, 1822 in Harpenfeld. She emigrated in 1842 together with her brother Johann Heinrich Ludwig ans his wife. She married Friedrich Wilhelm Hampe Dec 19, 1844 in St. Charles County, Missouri. They had four sons:

1. John (1850 - ?)
2. Herman (1855 - ?)
3. Louis/Lewis E. (11.01.1859 - 23.05.1934)
    married Ollie M. Mitchell in 1885
4. Philipp Henry (04.02.1862 - 13-05-1924)
    married Katie G. Hoehns in 1886

The census of 1880 also shows a daughter named Mina H. Comp, born abt. 1864. Maybe she's a stepdaughter of F. W. Hampe. Later, the surname was spelled Hampy which made searching for them difficult. That's all we know about them by now.

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