St. Mary's Ridge, Wisconson (Joseph Weibel Sr. Details)
This is a scan from the book titled “Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church – St. Mary’s Congregation – St. Mary’s Ridge, Wisconsin – 125th Anniversary 1856-1981”
The Joseph Weibel, Sr. Family
One of the earlier settlers on St. Mary’s Ridge was the Joseph Weibel, Sr. family.Joseph was born on March 25, 1831 at Alsace Lorraine, France.On July 22, 1856, he was married to Katherine Kast at Alsace Lorraine.Katherine was born on May 5, 1831.They traveled to St. Clemens, Canada.They had nine children:Joseph, born on June 13, 1858; John; Clemens; August; Mary; Catherine; Elizabeth; Theresa and Clara.In 1866 the family moved from Canada and settled down on the farm across from St. Mary’s School, on St. Mary’s Ridge, where they worked the land, had a blacksmith shop and a saloon.
Joseph Jr. was eight years old when they came to St. Mary’s Ridge and he had to serve as an altar boy for there were very few boys around to serve Mass.As Joseph Jr. grew up, he helped his father in the blacksmith shop shoeing horses, and so forth.On June 17, 1884, he married Emma Sophia Heintz of Sullivan, Wisconsin.She was born on January 3, 1864.Her parents were Michael Heintz, born on March 29, 1824 and Eva Katherine Boltz, born on March 12, 1831.Prior to his marriage, he had to clear some land to build a log house.Although the house was not finished when they were married, his wife Emma helped nail on the laths, ready for plastering.He had to clear the 80-acre land and during the winter months, he made ties by hand and hauled them to town with horses where they were used on the railroad tracks.At that time a post stamp on a letter cost 2-cents, but being very poor, he did not have the 2-cents so his wife could mail a letter to her mother.Many years later, they bought another 40 acres of land from Henry Newkirch.They were blessed with nine children:Mary Katherine, born on July 19, 1885, married on January 10, 1912, died on December 19, 1951; John, born on May 22, 1887, married on May 16, 1934, died on March 11, 1952; Leo Joseph, born on July 8, 1890, married on June 1, 1915, died on March 30, 1964; Henry Bernard, born on September 23, 1892, died on October 9, 1977; Clemens Joseph, born on December 28, 1895, died on December 21, 1896; Anna C. Weibel, born on June 4, 1897 is still living in La Crosse; A. Clara, born on December 4, 1899; Elizabeth Emma, born on August 8, 1903 and Edwin Peter, born on December 8, 1905.
Clara, Elizabeth and Edwin live on the home farm on St. Mary’s Ridge.Mary Katherine married George Miller of Sullivan, Wisconsin in Jefferson County.John married Otillia Hennecke of Bowdle, South Dakota.Leo married Mary Artz of Hoven, South Dakota.Emma’s parents, Michael Heintz and Eva Katherine Boltz were married on February 17, 1853 by a priest on the ship as they crossed the ocean on the way over to the United States of America, from Limersheim, Bavaria, Germany.They were on the ocean for six weeks and settled in Jefferson County in Sullivan, Wisconsin.Some of the unique ways of living were:butter was made at home and taken to Norwalk to be sold for 4-cents a pound.Wool was spun into yarn to be made into stockings, sweaters, caps, mittens and whatever they needed.The home that Clara, Elizabeth and Edwin occupy was built in 1899.A portion of it is built of logs.When Emma Weibel, their mother, died in 1956, she was 92 years and six months of age.