Family of FRED WETTEROTH & SOPHIA WAGNER
Compiled by Robert Buecher,
5400 Pernod Avenue, St. Louis, MO 63139
E-mail: rgb7847@aol.com
[revised: 10 June 2006]
[This information corrects
and updates the family sketch that was published on page 573 of the HISTORY OF ST. CLAIR COUNTY, IL, VOLUME 1,
published in 1988]
________________________________________________________________________
Fred Wetteroth was born at
St. Louis, Missouri, on Sunday, 25 February 1844. He was the third and final child and second son of George
WETTEROTH (1810-1845) and Anna Katharina MUELLER (1805-1887). Both parents had emigrated from their native
Hessen Darmstadt. His father was a
blacksmith in St. Louis and the family resided on the west side of Sixth, north
of Chestnut. Fred was baptised with the
name "Johann Friedrich Wetteroth" on 14 April 1844 at Millstadt by
Rev. Johann Jacob Riess of Zion Evangelical Church [1]. His Godparents were Johann Peter Wetterroth [his paternal uncle]
and Georg Friedrich Hartmann.
His parents moved to
Millstadt [then called Centreville] in St. Clair County, IL sometime in 1844 or
1845. His father, George, died there on
13 September 1845 [2] , when Fred was only about
1 1/2 years old.
On 18 February 1852, Fred's
mother, Anna Katharina, married her second husband, George WAHLENMEYER [3] . George was employed as a
cooper and most likely trained both his step-sons, Louis and Fred, who also
became coopers.
Fred WETTEROTH was married
in Millstadt to Miss Sophia WAGNER on 9 August 1870. The ceremony was performed by Rev. Albert Zeller of Zion
Evangelical Church [4] . The marriage is also recorded with the Clerk of St. Clair County,
IL [5] There were three sons and three daughters born to this marriage.
His wife, Sophia WAGNER, was
born at New Orleans, Louisiana, [6] on Friday, 20 December
1850. She was the second child
and second daughter of blacksmith, Michael WAGNER (1820-1869) and Sophia WAGNER
(1825-1886). Her parents moved to
Millstadt (then called Centreville [7] ), Illinois, sometime in
1851 or 1852, where her father ran a blacksmith shop for about 10 years on East
Washington Street.
Fred WETTEROTH was employed
in Millstadt mostly as a cooper. There
is also a notice in the Millstadt news column of the Belleville newspaper in
1885 that "Fred Wetteroth has commenced working in the Union coal
mine." [8]
Fred was one of the 32
charter members of the Millstadt Union Fire Company when it was organized on 6
August 1871 by the name of the Centreville Union Fire Company. Fred was also a charter member of Aurora
Lodge No. 567, Independent Order of Odd Fellows when it was started in
Millstadt on 17 April 1875. When he
died, he was also a member of the Union Aid Society of Millstadt which was
organized in 1866.
Sophia WETTEROTH, nee
WAGNER, died in Millstadt at the young age of 41 years and 2 days from
"consumption" [tuberculosis] on Tuesday, 22 Dec. 1891 [9] . She was buried in the Old Millstadt (Centreville) Cemetery [10] on Dec. 23 with funeral
services conducted by Rev. Henry Buchmueller of Zion Evangelical Church [11] . The Bible verse for her service was Timothy I, chapter 4, verse
18.
Her weathered tombstone has
the following inscription in German:
[Translation]
Sophia Sophia
Gattin von wife
of
Friedrich Wetteroth Friedrich
Wetteroth
Geb.
d. 20 Dez. 1850 born the 20 Dec. 1850
Gest. d. 22 Dec. 1891. died
the 22 Dec. 1891
The following article
appeared in the Sept. 3, 1897 issue of the MILLSTADT
ENTERPRISE, page 1:
SAVED A BIG WRECK.
While
walking along the track last Sunday morning,
Fred
Wetteroth found a mule fast in the trestle this
side
of Darmstadt. It was traintime and Mr.
Wetteroth
rushed
up the track and around the curve just in time
to
flag the train on the straight piece of track be-
tween
the station and the trestle. The grade
to this
trestle
is heavy and the track curves only a short
distance
west of it and but for the timely warning of
Mr.
Wetteroth, our train with its crew and the many
passengers
that morning might have been badly wrecked.
Fred moved to Belleville
sometime after this and is listed on page 281 of the 1901-02 Belleville City
Directory as: "Wetteroth, Fred G. cooper, r [residence] 817 Centerville
av.". This is the same address as
his oldest daughter, Sophia, who had married Fred Ullrich.
Fred Wetteroth suffered a
stroke [12] near the end of February 1905 . He was in critical condition and taken to
St. Vincent's Hospital in Belleville.
Fred died about 3 a. m. on
Thursday, 18 April 1907 at the home of his daughter, Mrs. Sophia ULLRICH, at
817 Centerville Ave., Belleville. The
cause of death as recorded on his death certificate [13] was "chronic bronchitis". He was age 63 years, 1 month, and 24 days
and his surviving descendants [14]
were two sons (William Wetteroth at St. Louis and Richard Wetteroth at
Chicago); two daughters (Sophia, wife of Fred C. ULLRICH, and Hilda WETTEROTH
of Millstadt); and two grandchildren (Anita and Pauline ULLRICH). The funeral took place on the afternoon of
April 20 from the residence of his brother, Louis WETTEROTH, at Millstadt, to
the Old Millstadt Cemetery. Rev. Pessel,
of St. Paul's United Church of Christ, Belleville, officiated at the funeral
services. His tombstone has the
following inscription:
Friedrich J.
Wetteroth
GEB. D. 25 Feb. 1844 [born]
GEST. D. 18 Apr. 1907 [died]
The following 6 children
were born to Fred Wetteroth & Sophia Wagner:
1.) Sophia
WETTEROTH
born: 22 August
1871 Millstadt, IL
died: 24 May 1952
Belleville, IL
married: Fred C. ULLRICH on 29 December 1897 in
Millstadt, IL
2.) Louis
Karl WETTEROTH
born: 3 September
1873 Belleville, IL
died: 30 January
1894 St. Louis, MO [15]
3.)
Elizabetha Amalia WETTEROTH
born: 20 January 1876 Millstadt, IL
died: 17 July
1878 Millstadt, IL
4.) William
Fred WETTEROTH
born: 3 December
1879 Millstadt, IL
died: 2 November
1934 St. Louis, MO
married: Ida WAGNER on 20 June 1901 in St.
Louis, MO
5.) Richard
WETTEROTH
born: 20 January
1882 Millstadt, IL
died: after 1907
possibly in Chicago [16]
6.) Hilda
Katherine WETTEROTH
born: 20 May 1885
Millstadt, IL
died: 27 January
1961 Belleville, IL
married: George H. BUECHER on 26 November 1908
in Millstadt, IL
[1] Zion Evangelical Church, Millstadt, IL; baptism records, year 1844, entry # 9.
[2] St. Clair County, IL, Intestate Records, page 44
[3] George Wahlenmeyer was born on 26 January 1822 in Kaisersbach, Wuerttemburg.
[4] Zion Evangelical Church, Millstadt, IL; marriage records, year 1870, entry #10
[5] Clerk of St. Clair County, IL; marriage license # 3920
[6] Belleville POST (a German language paper), Belleville, IL; obituary of Sophia Wetteroth, Thursday, Dec. 31, 1891; page 5, column 3
[7] Millstadt was originally founded in March 1837 with the name of “Centreville” since it was mid-way between Belleville & Columbia. The new town of Centreville was platted & surveyed on 13 March 1837 with 40 lots. This is the part of town roughly bounded by Washington, Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe Streets. On Sept. 14, 1878, the Board of Trustees of the Village of Centreville passed a revised ordinance to change the name of the village to “Village of Millstadt”.
[8] Belleville Weekly Advocate, Belleville, IL; issue dated March 13, 1885, page 4
[9] Belleville Weekly Advocate, Belleville, IL;
obituary of Sophia Wetteroth published on December 25, 1891, page 5, column 2
[10] The Old Millstadt Cemetery is also known as the
“Centerville Cemetery” and is located at the corner of South Jefferson and West Harrison
Streets. It was established on May 4,
1844 on land owned by Henry Randlemann.
A complete list of the tombstone inscriptions from this cemetery was
published in the St. Clair County [IL] Genealogical Society Quarterly, Volume 10
(1987), No. 2, pp. 65 - 87
[11] Zion Evangelical Church, Millstadt, IL; burial records, year 1891, entry # 24. The entry is written in German script.
[12] Millstadt ENTERPRISE, Millstadt, IL; Friday, February 25, 1905, page 5
[13] Illinois Death Certificate # 11806
[14] Belleville WEEKLY ADVOCATE, Belleville, IL; his obituary published in the “Millstadt Items” column on Friday, April 26, 1907, page 5, columns 3 & 4; also another obituary published in the Millstadt ENTERPRISE, Millstadt, IL; issue of Friday, April 26, 1907, page 1
[15] he was killed when a gun was accidently discharged by his friend, Leon Grossman
[16] the April 1907 obituary of his father, Fred, lists Richard as living in Chicago. Nothing further is known of his whereabouts