I started researching my family in 1998, and has been my passion ever since. I hope you can find some information to connect my family to yours. It's always nice to meet new cousins!
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A Geneology Collection by Debbie Mills
Wilhelm Hall
Born: 2 Feb 1784, Zuplich, Kreis Colonge, Westphalia, Germany
Parents: Matthias Hall
Siblings: unknown
Marriage: Nov. 1809 to Catherine Anna Schmelzer in Zuplich, Germany
Children: Petronella (1810-1853), Mathias (1810-1859), Anna Cecelia (1813-1891), A. Katherine (1815-1886), Henry (1817-1901), Mathias (1819-1890), Anna Barbara (1823-1867), Michael (1829-1901), Gertrude (1831-1917)
Death: 25 May 1868, Ashford, Fond Du Lac Co, Wi
Biography:
Wilhelm Hall came to America in May 1849, about 2 years after his son Mathias settled in Ashford, WI. He came with his wife, daughter Anna Cecelia (Dreikosen) along with her husband and children. Although many people started leaving Germany in the 1840’s because of widespread poverty, there was a revolution in Prussia (northern Germany comprising half of country) in 1848 which caused even more to immigrate to the US. It is said that when Wilhelm came to the US in 1849, it was under even further adverse conditions. Family history has it that his eldest daughter, Anna Cecelia, was working as a maid for the Kaiser Frederich Wilhelm III, and became pregnant by him in 1835. After Frederick III died in 1840, his son and successor, Frederich Wilhelm IV, apparently did not like the threat of an illigetimate heir, as he and his wife never had children. It is said that troops were sent to Sinzenich to the home of Anna Cecelia, who was now married to John Dreikosen, and told them they had 3 days to leave the country, as they wanted the family and her illigetimate daughter gone. Perhaps his brother William I was more to blame, as he would be next in line to the throne if Freiderich III had no children. They were required to leave through Antwerp, Belgium, so there would be no record of leaving from a German port. So apparently this is why Wilhelm and his wife came to the US, although some of their children were already there. There is, of course, no proof of this story, and many families make claims of having some royal blood. Short of some proof such as DNA testing, the story remains folklore.
The Hall’s and Dreikosen’s sailed on the ship “Louisiana”, and they arrived on July 3, 1849, although I have not confirmed this. There was another Hall family (Pierre) traveling on the same ship at the same time who may have been related, although they cannot be located in the 1850 or 1860 US census.
Census:1860 WI census, Fond du Lac, Ashford:
Michael Hall, age 30, farmer, born Prussia
Lena, wife, age 23, born Prussia
William, age 4 born WI
Bartholomew, age 2, born WI
Lena, age 1, born WI
William Hall, age 76, grandfather, born Prussia
1850 WI census, Fond du Lac Co, Ashford:
William Hall, age 67, farmer
Ann C. age 63
Michael, age 21, laborer
Margaretha, age 18
Petronella, age ?42
Wilhelm Hall, age 67, farmer, Ann C. age 63, Michael age 21, laborer, Margaretha, age 18, Petronella, age ?42
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