Photo found on multiple websites including Ancestry and Family Search
Chauncey was the 3rd Great Grandfather of Eugene Norbert Wiesner.
Here is how they related:
When Chauncey Commodore Hitt was born on August 23, 1812, in Delaware, New York, his father, Isaac, was 27 and his mother, Anne Moore Hitt, was 25. He married Frances Elizabeth Walter in 1839. They had seven children in 15 years. He died on November 14, 1874, in Door, Wisconsin, at the age of 62, and was buried there.
Here is a photo of Chauncey’s wife Frances Elizabeth Walter Hitt that I found on Ancestry and Family Search web sites.
photo from multiple web sites including Ancestry
Stories of Chauncey’s life are told in a publication called: “History of Door County, Wisconsin: the county beautiful” Chauncey is listed as one of the first persons to buy land in Door County.
From some of my other research, it appears that just shortly before Chauncey’s death he bought a boarding house attached to a saw mill and turned it into a tavern and saloon to be run by his son Charles. I believe the property was named the “Eagle Hotel.”
These are very small print, and I only have dates and not the names of the newspapers:
9 October 1873 26 March 1874
I found these death notices:
From Find a Grave28 November 1874 Green Bay Weekly Gazette, Wisconsin
When Adaline Wiesner was born on September 21, 1912, in Wisconsin, her father, Jacob, was 33 and her mother, Emma, was 32. She married Lloyd Corbisier on January 21, 1934.
They had three children during their marriage. At the age of 61 she divorced Lloyd. She died on December 21, 1978, in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, at the age of 66, and was buried
there.
It was difficult to research the life of Adeline. I found some date details, but was unable to find the “story” of her life. Adeline was an older sister to direct descendant Norbert “Nick” Wiesner. Adeline was 5th in the birth order and descendant Nick was the 7th in birth order and he was also the youngest child.
Adeline was born on September 21, 1912 in Wisconsin. Her mother was Emma Bork born in 1880 and her father was Jacob Wiesner, Jr. born in 1878.
In the 1930 census, Adeline was 18 years old and lived in Nasewaupee, Door, WI. She still lived with her parents but lists her occupation as seamstress in a dress making shop. Her father lists his occupation as farmer on a dairy farm.
On January 21, 1934 she was 21 years old and joined in marriage to Lloyd Corbisier.
A private law (see attached-next page) indicates that Lloyd was occupied for some time by the U.S. postal service in Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin.
A 1958 city directory from Green Bay, Wisconsin, shows his occupation as construction.
A Wisconsin divorce index shows that at the age of 61, Adeline divorced Lloyd. She died at the age of 66 in Sturgeon Bay, Door, Wisconsin and was buried there.
Burial:
Schumacher Cemetery
Sturgeon Bay
Door County
Wisconsin, USA
Plot: Section 2
Lloyd’s grave marker indicates
that he is a U.S. Navy veteran.
Burial:
Stevenson Cemetery
Door County
Wisconsin, USA
Adeline and Lloyd had 2 or 3 children. I was able to find documentation of their two sons, and only some slight evidence of a daughter.
These children would have been the 1st cousins of Eugene Norbert Wiesner.
Some evidence suggests the daughter’s name was Marlene. No other information available. The eldest of the two boys was James Larry Corbisier 1935-1989.
The youngest son was Robert Roland Corbisier 1937-1989 from Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin.
see photo of grave marker on next page.
I have spent quite a bit of time trying to find ancestry documents on the 4th great grandfather of my grandson. His name was George Eugene Heald, but he used his middle name “Eugene.”
Eugene was born on August 27, 1844, in Antwerp, Jefferson County, New York. His father, Nathan, was 29 and his mother, Adelia (Hoard) Heald, was 25 at the time of his birth.
Eugene was 21 years old when he married Agnes Hitt (the 4th great grandmother of my grandson). They had seven children together. It was their first born, Frances “Fannie” Adelia Heald, who would continue on my grandson’s direct ancestry.
The picture below is of Eugene’s 1st wife, Agnes Hitt Heald.
Later, Eugene would marry again to Angeline “Angie” Berriault. There were no children as a result of the 2nd marriage.
In a 1928 news article, Eugene is an elderly man and reflects and describes himself, “I am a regular down east Yankee.” He was describing the place of his birth and his origins. This wonderful news article from 20 August 1928, Green Bay Press-Gazette, gave me much of my information about Eugene. Here we find out that his father was part of the gold rush to California in 1848.” This made Eugene’s father absent for some time during Eugene’s early childhood. After his family moved to Missouri for a period of 4 years, they finally moved to Clay Banks, Wisconsin.
One way to piece together part of Eugene’s life is to study the U.S. Census records. In 1870 (age 25), he is living with his wife Agnes in New York and is employed as a teamster. The only children listed on this census record are Fannie (my grandson’s 3rd great grandmother) and Hattie. Sadly, Hattie died young. See news article:
In the 1870 census, Eugene is living in Clay Banks, Door County, Wisconsin. In the 1880 census, Eugene describes his occupation as a farmer. By the time of the 1900 census, he is married to his 2nd wife, Angeline. His first wife Agnes had died the year earlier in 1899.
Eugene was a soldier in the Civil War, but I have not found military records at this point.
News clipping below is from 20 May 1926 – Green Bay Press Gazette.
He died on August 10, 1930, in Algoma, Wisconsin, at the age of 85, and was buried in Door, Wisconsin. The tombstone marker lists his name, his first wife Agnes, their young child Hattie who died when she was only 2 years old, and also listed is his second wife.
Here is the order of descendency from Eugene to my son-in-law (the 3rd great grandson of Eugene Heald).
George “Eugene” HEALD (1844 – 1930) 3rd great-grandfather of son-in-law
In a news article from 16 April 1936, we learn that Jacob Wiesner had 19 grandchildren and 32 great grandchildren. So, now I ponder how many great great grandchildren can also claim a direct ancestry link to Jacob Wiesner, Sr. ? I don’t know the answer to that exact question, but I do know that my son-in-law is one of Jacob’s great great grandsons. What do you know about Jacob? Are you also a direct ancestor? Please write and let me know! Any family photos, documents, links, or stories would be welcomed.
Jacob’s story started in 1842. He was born in Bavaria and arrived in the US at approx. age 2. The fact that he had a foreign birth must not have been a popular story for this family and therefore in later accounts (including a 1936 news article) there is a claim Jacob was born in New Jersey. I don’t think so. Most of the U.S. census records point to a different story and a birth in Bavaria. Why would this fact be “re-written”? That is an open ended question!
According to census records, I believe that Jacob Wiesner was born on June 28, 1842, in Bavaria. At the time of Jacob’s birth, his father, Michael “May”, was 25 and his mother, Margaretha Stehren, was 24.
I believe that Jacob would have been the oldest of six children.
What can I discern about his childhood? There is so very little information on his family that might help to answer that question. The 1850 census shows the Michael Wiesner family living in Milwaukee. Jacob would have been 8 years old at the time of this census and he is not checked off as attending school. I don’t know if this is because he did not attend a school or because the census taker simply did not check this off.
An 1860 census states that Jacob (now 18 years old) is a farm laborer and that leads me to believe that he might have been working his father’s farm. That is only my hunch. This same 1860 census shows that the family now lived in West Bend, Washington County, Wisconsin. Clearly, the family had moved during the 10 years time from the time of the previous census when they had been in Milwaukee.
In the 1870 census for Michael Wiesner (Jacob’s father), Michael was then age 53. Jacob is not listed in this census record as he no longer lived at his father’s home. Michael lists his occupation as farmer. Jacob’s siblings George and Catharina were still at home and recorded to be in school. The value of Michael’s real estate was 3,000 (higher than most in the area they lived). Michael still resided in West Bend, WI.
It is finally from the 1900 census that I am able to tell when Michael immigrated to the United States. There he lists his date of immigration as 1844 and we know that his son and the study of this blog, Jacob Wiesner, was born in 1842. Thus, I conclude that Jacob was born in Bavaria and brought to the states at a very early age.
I chanced upon some newspaper articles that help tell a story about Jacob and contain the only photographs that I have found of him. From an article in 1936 we learn that as a youth, Jacob ran away from home to join forces with the Union army in the Civil War. His parents found him and brought him back home, but he would later re-enlist and served (mostly with the 48th Wisconsin) until the end of the war. ” With Sheridan he helped hold Missouri in line with the Union cause” He was mustered out at Fort Leavenworth.
Jacob and Wilheimme “Minnie” had 8 children. I have accounts for only 5 of those children. In Wilheimme’s obituary it says, “five of eight children survive their mother.” This causes me to think that there may have been child or infant deaths of the 3 children that I cannot account for in my research. So, to review the relationships to our family, Jacob and Wilheimme were direct ancestors and great great grandparents of my son-in-law. It was their child Jacob “Jake” Wiesner, Jr. who would be the great grandfather of my son-in-law. Yes, Jacob was a very popular family name!
The children of Jacob and Wilheimee “Minnie” Wiesner were:
CHILD 1 (Our direct ancestor)Jacob “Jake” Wiesner, Jr. 1879-1953 married Emma Wilhelmine Caroline Bork
CHILD 2 Christine Wiesner 1873-? (no other information available)
CHILD 3 Johanna Wiesner 1876-1957 married John Sperber
CHILD 4 William Wiesner 1880- ? Married Mary Petersilka
CHILD 5 Minnie Wiesner 1884-1948 married Fred Sperber (she married a brother of her sister Johanna’s husband)
Jacob was 77 years old at the time of his wife’s death. He lived until age 93 and became one of the oldest living Civil War veterans of his time.
In the 1910 census we find Jacob and wife Minnie living with son William (a farmer) and William’s family in Door County, Nasewaupee, WI. Jacob was 67 years old at this time and now lists his birth place in the census as New York (in other words, he changed the story). Perhaps, in the sense of an immigrant, this was a type of “birthplace” for him. Jacob does say that the birthplace of his parents was Germany.
In the 1920 census Minnie and Jacob are in their 70’s and now reside in a rented home. Once again, Jacob lists his birthplace as New York while Minnie lists hers as Germany. At this time, Jacob lists his occupation as “retired.”
In the 1930 census, Jacob is a widower and lives with his daughter Johanna “Hanna” and her husband John Sperber in Door County, WI. Finding this census was confusing as all other written news accounts say that from the time of Minnie’s death in 1920, Jacob Sr. had lived with his son Jacob “Jake” Jr. Another question to explore…
It does appear that Jacob died at the home of his son Jacob, Jr. with a legacy of being one of the first pioneer farmers and a Civil War veteran of the Union Army. Also, a direct ancestor of our family line.
It has been a pleasure to explore Jacob’s life. I hope that this story will reach out to others who share Jacob as their direct ancestor!
The couple seated in the center of the photo are Jacob Wiesner and his wife Minnie Erdman Wiesner
When Lyle Schmiling was born on March 1, 1938, in Wisconsin, his father, Elbert, was 26 and his mother, Olive, was 22. He had one brother (Lee Schmiling) and one sister (Joann Emma Schmiling Wiesner).
He married Beverly Maedke on October 4, 1958. They have four children. Their daughters are Jill Rae Schmiling born in 1959, Shelly Jo born in 1962, and Terri Lynn born in 1965. His son, Steven was born in 1969.
Lyle passed away unexpectedly on June 21, 2016. His obituary may be found at http://www.schinderle.com/obituaries/Lyle-Schmiling/#!/Obituary
When Joyce Lucille Shaw was born on June 25, 1922, her father, Zebina “Eugene” Shaw, was 34 and her mother, Martha Rockwell, was 32. Both of Joyce’s parents had been born in Wisconsin, but they went on to have all of their children in Ohio.
Joyce’s mother, Martha, was one of 16 children! Joyce’s father, Z. Eugene, was one of 7 children! So, Joyce had MANY aunts,uncles, and cousins!
In the 1930 census, Joyce is 7 years old. Z. Eugene (Joyce’s father) lists his occupation as an engineer working for the city. This census also shows Joyce had an older brother, Robert (born in 1916) and an older sister, Colleen (born in 1920.) In this census, the family address is 415 Water Street, Bucyrus, Ohio. (In 1930, Beth, the youngest child of Martha and Eugene had not yet been born.) Joyce’s sister Beth was 10 years her junior and was not born until August 17, 1932.
Joyce was only 17 years old when her father Eugene died.
Joyce married Norbert “Nick” Donald Wiesner on June 25, 1943 when she was 20 years old. She had three children by the time she was 25. All of Joyce and Nick’s children were born in Wisconsin. Joyce and Nick’s son was EJ’s direct ancestor and EJ’s Grandfather, Eugene “Gene” Norbert Wiesner. Gene Wiesner was born on 26 March 1944 in Wisconsin. Joyce and Nick also had 2 daughters, Emogene and Sandra Ann.
Joyce died on June 28, 1990, in Waukesha, Wisconsin, at the age of 68. Her husband, Nick, remained a widower until his death at the age of 78 in 1999.
When Elbert Emil Schmiling was born on January 29, 1912, in Algoma, Wisconsin, his father, Carl Schmiling, was 36 and his mother, Alma Runke, was 30.
He married Olive Viste on August 22, 1936. They had three children during their marriage.
His wife Olive passed away on January 1, 2002, in Algoma, Wisconsin, at the age of 86. They had been married 65 years. He died just a little more than a month later, on February 5, 2002, in his hometown, at the age of 90, and was buried there.
The following is written my Joann Schmiling Wiesner:
“My father, Elbert Schmiling, for a very short time, managed a hardware store in Forestville. Primarily he was a teacher in Rio Creek and middle school principal in Kewaunee, and he could be called a ‘gentleman farmer’ as he lived on 40 acres and harvested some crops, sometimes raised pigs, chickens and sheep. He often rented pasture to other farmers who needed pastureland for their heifers.And when the young cows broke through the fence, Dad was never home; therefore, my Mom, brothers and I chased them back to the pasture….just an aside!!
Over the course of 21 years, Alma Runke and her husband Carl Schmiling, had 10 children. Alma and Carl were direct ancestors of my son-in-law and were his Great Grandparents. The photo of Carl below is from a family collection of my son-in-law.
Alma was born in Wisconsin in 1881 to Heinrich “Henry” Runke, Sr. (sometimes spelled Ruhnke) who was of Prussian birth and Wilhelmina “Minnie” Bruemmer. Alma’s father is recorded as being a pioneer in the raising of alfalfa crops and helped to develop agriculture in Northeast Wisconsin.
Alma’s birth and death dates are available from several sources including this “Find a Grave” website link: http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=92203025&ref=acom She was born on 20 July 1881 and died at the age of 81 on 13 December 1962. She is buried at Evergreen Cemetery in Algoma, Kewaunee County, Wisconsin.
Alma was only 18 years old at the time of her marriage to 24 year old Carl Schmiling on 20 February 1900. They were married at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church. Their first child, Beatrice Schmiling, was born only 7 months after the marriage when Alma was a mere 19 years old. In the 1900 census (the year of the marriage and Beatrice’s birth) Carl and Alma were living with Carl’s parents and family. In this census, Alma is listed as daughter-in-law to the head of the household, Albert Schmiling. At that same time, 4 of Carl’s siblings were also a part of the household. Carl was employed as a farm laborer on his parent’s farm.
Alma had three sons and seven daughters with her husband, Carl Schmiling between 1900 and 1922. Yes, a span of 22 years from the oldest to the youngest of the children.
By the time of the 1910 census, Alma was 28 years old and Carl was 34 and they now lived in their own household (Although, I do not know at what point during those 10 years that the move to their own household had occurred). Now, they had their own home to live in and in the 10 years of marriage they already had 5 children.
It was interesting to me that even though Alma’s marriage to Carl Schmiling would eventually end in divorce, they are still laid to rest together under a single headstone at Evergreen Cemetery in Algoma, Kewaunee County, Wisconsin. Alma was 45 years old at the time of the divorce in 1926.
The next photograph shows a later property dispute in 9 Nov. 1939:
In the 1920 and 1930 census the name Schmiling has now become Schmeling without explanation. I do not know the reason for this spelling change, but it is interesting to note that Carl’s obituary states his name as Carl Schmeling. In the 1940 census (after the divorce) Alma is now living with son Gordon and also lists her name as Alma Schmeling.
One of the “finds” I made on Ancestry was this message board https://www.ancestrylibrary.com/boards/surnames.ruhnke/44.1.1.2.1.2.1.2/mb.ashx It describes Alma’s father’s relationship to his daughters, “The Ruhnke daughters were quite outspoken. They resented that their father only sent sons to college, and they bristled under his very strict discipline.” Make sure to visit the message thread!
The photographs below are from the family collections of my son-in-law.
Milton was the older brother of E.J.’s direct ancestor Norbert “Nick” Wiesner. This means that Milton Wiesner was the great great uncle of E.J. Wiesner. The featured image above shows from left to right: Milt Wiesner, his sister Ella Wiesner, and his brother Nick Wiesner.
The 1920’s census shows that Milton’s father had been born in Wisconsin, while his mother had been born in Germany.
Milton was one of the youngest of 7 children. His oldest sister, Ella Wiesner, was 14 years his senior having been born in 1903! The twins, Clarence and Florence were born in 1906. Sister Anita had been born in 1910 and sister Adeline was born in 1912. Milton then arrived in 1917 and E.J.’s direct ancestor Nick was born in 1920.
Milton’s Obit:
Milton W. Wiesner, 90, of Bellingham, Wash., formerly of Elroy, died on Sunday, Sept. 9, 2007, at his residence. He was born on May 27, 1917, in Door County, to Jacob and Emma (Bork) Wiesner. Milt served in the United States Navy from 1942 – 1945 serving on the USS LST 197 as a Lieutenant. (http://www.navsource.org/archives/10/16/160197.htm) On April 8, 1943, Milton was united in marriage to Dorothy Ogilvie in New York City at the Riverside Church. Milt has lived in numerous destinations before settling in Elroy in 1975 where he was President of Midor, Ltd, Ridge Road Farms, Elroy Community Dairy, member of the Elroy United Methodist Church and the Elroy Rotary Club and very supportive of numerous civic projects. He is survived by his wife, Dorothy; daughters, Cheryl (Ronald) Wright of Bellingham, Wash., Susan (Steven) Schweikhardt of Ridgefield, Wash., and Pamela (Larry) Olbrich of Vancouver, Wash; seven grandchildren; and seven great-grandchildren. Besides his parents, he was preceded in death by four sisters and two brothers. Memorial services will be held on Saturday, Oct. 27, 2007, at 11 a.m. at the Elroy United Methodist Church with Reverend Steve Ward officiating. Burial with military rites will follow at the Elroy City Cemetery. The Picha Funeral Home, Elroy is assisting the family. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the Elroy United Methodist Church. Picha Funeral Home – Elroy, WI, http://www.pichafuneralhomes.com
Midor Ltd.: This is taken from Midor.net on 8/26/2013
Midor was established in 1976 by Milt and Dorothy Wiesner. Midor began as a brokerage firm for milk commodities used in the feed industry. A significant part of Midor’s customers were veal growers which led to Midor becoming a manufacturer of milk replacers for the veal industry. In 1993 the veal milk replacer and liquid veal feed business was sold to Alto Dairy Cooperative Today Midor is currently owned by Debra Parrish, and Judy Green. Midor has grown into a blending facility with two bagging lines, warehouses, bulk loading capacity, and an in house laboratory. Our products are shipped from coast to coast and our exports are growing each year. The customers we serve are some of the largest feed and pet food manufacturers in the world. Our ingredients or blends are sold to companies that make food for dogs, cats, pigs, cattle, fish, horses, sheep, and calves. Midor also adds value to products that are in distressed. We do this by sorting, grading, and grinding. We may be able to improve the texture, flowablity, and grade of distressed products. We are rapidly growing in our custom blending services. Repackaging in bags, tote, or bulk.
Norbert “Nick” D. Wiesner was born on October 5, 1920, in Wisconsin to Emma Wilhelmine Caroline Borck, age 40, and Jacob Johann Wiesner, age 40.
“Nick” married Joyce Lucille Shaw on June 25, 1943, when he was 22 years old. His wife Joyce passed away on June 28, 1990, in Waukesha, Wisconsin, at the age of 68. They had been married 47 years.
“Nick” and Joyce had 3 children. Their oldest was their son, Eugene Norbert Wiesner. (see the 2nd photo below of Eugene Wiesner with his parents!) Nick and Joyce also had 2 daughters, Emogene and Sandra Ann.
The article below is about the draft lottery and is from the 18 March 1942 in the Green Bay Gazette (page 42)
WWII draft registration form Feb 16, 1942digitally enhanced photo
telling life stories 