This week I want to start looking at the children of Anna Maria Ratermann Woltering to see if they can provide any clues to her birthplace and date. There are six documented children who immigrated to the Clinton/Madison Counties area in Illinois. The eldest was Henry.
Henry Woltering had two marriages. His first wife was Catherine Vosholler. The marriage record is found in the St. Paul Church, Clinton County, Illinois records available at Family Search. It identifies his father as Dieterich Woltering and his mother as Anna Mariae Ratermann and says he is 31 years old. There is, also, a county record of this marriage but it adds no other information. Their marriage date was 18 Apr 1872.
Henry's second marriage was to Francisca Bole on 23 Apr 1883. This record is also available at Family Search and adds nothing to his information. There is also a county marriage record of this marriage and it adds the information that Henry Woltering is from Merzen.
Identifying his birthplace and using the birthdate on the family tree given to me, I was able to use Matricula Online to identify four churches with baptismal records in Merzen. In the St. Lambertus Catholic Church records, on 1 July 1840, the entry is found for Henry. This was an exciting discovery. This record identifies his birthplace as Sudan which I still need to locate on a map. His mother is Maria Ratermann and father is Dietrich Henrich Woltering.
Henry died 11 Nov 1812 according to the St. Rose Church Records and was buried 15 Nov 1812. He was 72 years old. No cause of death is given.
Well, we've placed Anna Maria in Merzen. Using the records of the four Catholic Churches, perhaps we will be able to find the remainder of her children.
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