52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: Week 16 "Should Be a Movie"

I think that a good screenplay could be developed around the life of my 2xgreat-grandmoteher Anna Helena (Schmitt) Fitzler.

In May of 1858, at the age of 24, she set sail from Antwerp, Belgium on the ship "Charles Cooper." Sailing with her were her future sister-in-law Anna Christina Fitzler and Anna Christina's 5-year-old son Wimar. They landed in New York City on 25 June 1858.

The Charles Cooper

Two weeks later at St. Patrick Catholic Church in LaSalle, Illinois, Anna Helena married Johann Wimar "Wymer" Fitzler in a joint ceremony with Anna Christina Fitzler and Johann Schloesser, most likely the father of Wimar, who became Wimar Schloesser. 

St. Patrick Catholic Church, LaSalle, IL

Anna Helena and her husband settled in Marshall County, Illinois, near the town of Henry, where her two brothers, Peter and Michael were already living. 

Wymer bought a farm in Hopewell Township. Over the years he was forced to take out several mortgages on it. His lack of success may have been a result of alcoholism The progression of the disease and its effects on those around the alcoholic always make for good drama in a film.

On 13 October 1885, Wymer fell to his death from the bridge over the Illinois River outside of Henry. He was returning home after a couple of days in Henry, where he spent at least the last day drinking. 

The climax of the film would be when the authorities come to her door to tell her about her husband's death Anyone who has ever cared about an alcoholic has imagined what that would feel like. I wonder what she felt? Grief. Anger. Relief. Shame. Guilt.  

There was probably an element of guilt since she quickly moved her family to Knox County, Nebraska where she had two married daughters living. She died there many years later in 1904. According to one of her obituaries, she was "known universally as Grandma Fitzler" and had a "kindly nature."

Her life may have been a rocky road, but I think she had a smooth ending. At least I hope she did.

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: Week 10 "Translation"

One of the things that frustrates me the most in working with my ancestors is trying to determine the spelling of names of some of my German immigrant ancestors. There are so many variations that appear in the sources that I find it hard to decide which one to use as the primary and how many of the variations to document.

Take my second-great-grandfather Fitzler (my papamapa). Here are all the variations of his given name in the records here in the US.

• Weimar: the Henry, IL newspaper report of his death and the coroners report
• Weimer: death certificate for his daughter (my papama)
• Wimar: 1854 marriage register entry, 1865 excise tax list
• Wimer: 1868 voter list, 1872 voter list, 1880 voter list, 1880 non-population US Census, wife's obit, 
• Wymer: 1865 IL Census, 1870 US Census, 1870 non-population US Census, 1876 voter list, 1880 US Census

There are probably many more records that could be located (land, children's marriage and death records, etc.) and maybe some of them would have even more variations. 

As far as German records go, I have not been able to locate any. So far. All I have to go on are two descendant lists (one for his father and one for his great-grandfather) that I received several years ago from an unknown researcher in Germany. In those documents his given name is Johann Wimar. That's the name I've decided to go with. But what to do with the five other variations that all leave off Johann? Which is his preferred one? Did he even have a preference?

Or let's look at the ancestors of my second-great-grandmother Julia Ann of Sheboygan Co., WI and Charles Mix Co., SD. Here is a list of all the variations of her maiden name that I have found in Wisconsin, New York, and Württemberg, Germany.

• Addlebush
• Adlebush
• Edelbusch
• Eitelbusch
• Eitelbuss
• Idelbusch
• Idelbush
• Idlebush

Again, I'm sure that when I find more records in the US, I'll find more variations. The Württemberg baptism records that I've found use Eitelbuss. That's the Last Name at Birth (LNAB) that I use for Julia Ann's father and grandfather. For her and her siblings born in the US, I use Adlebush because that's the one that's most common. It's also the name carved in stone on their father's grave marker in Sheboygan CO., WI. But what to do with all the other variations?

John Jacob Adlebush (1817-1901)

Then there are the German immigrants who sometimes anglicized their surnames. We have my  Toemmes to Thomas line (and even more variations in the book "Zwischen Saar Und Leuk" Familienbuch 1675-1900 : Der Pfarreien Freudenburg -- Weiten -- Trassem -- Kastel Sowie Der Orte Hamm) and the Schmitt to Smith line.

NE/SD Family History Road Trip (part 3)

Day 5, Wednesday, Oct. 23

Before leaving O'Neill, we stopped off at the quilt store so I could drop off the family history of our parents’ family that I had written in 2006 for my dad’s 80th birthday. My cousin Julie wasn't there yet, so I left it with one of her employees and my wife bought a pattern for a patchwork quilt skirt for our granddaughter. Then it was on to Creighton, NE.

We were early in arriving in Creighton so we drove around a little (very little since it’s so small) and saw the Catholic church, which is a newer construction than the building where my grandparents were baptized and married and where their kids (except for my dad) were baptized.

We went to the café and Pat arrived with her 86-year-old aunt, Flora Jean, who was married to my dad’s first cousin, Lawrence Mattern. Pat is my second cousin through one of my dad’s other Mattern cousins. Phyllis, one of my dad’s other cousins who still lives in Creighton, had business in Norfolk, NE that day so she was not able to join us. I learned that Mary Ann, another of my dad’s cousins with whom I had corresponded had passed away a couple of years ago.

Flora Jean knew our great-grandparents, John and Mary Huigens. She remembers them as very kind and warm people. I shared some of the documents and pictures I had brought about John and Mary’s life near Henry, IL and that of their parents. They told us how to find John and Mary’s old house in Creighton, but did not know where the farm was located. I had been unable to get the 1903 Knox County plat map I have to match up with Google maps and was counting on someone there being able to direct me. Pat and her husband own an appliance repair business and have a current plat map, so she took a copy of the old map with her to figure out who lives there now. Flora Jean also gave me a wonderful photocopy of a pair of large photos of John and Mary.

After we said good-by to Pat and Flora Jean, we drove by John and Mary's house. 

Julie knows the location of the house of our other great-grandparents, Frank and Margaret (Kennedy) Kain, but she couldn't figure out a good way to explain how to find it. She didn't know the address, just how to find it if she needed to.

Our next stop was St. Ludger's Cemetery. My brother and mother had been to Creighton three years ago and had sent me lots of photos of grave markers, but it was nice to be able to visit in person and pay my respects. My brother said it was strange seeing our rare name all over on tombstones. It did seem like every few feet Anne Marie and I were finding another Huigens grave marker. Not to mention Tharnishes and Matterns. We found the graves of both sets of great-grandparents who are buried there and that of a great-great-grandmother, Mary's mother.

Although we didn't find the Kain's house in town, I had, been able to find their farm in the 1903 plat map and had succeeded in locating it’s location on Google maps. We drove by the farm and I collected a small sample of dirt from it on our way out of town after visiting the cemetery. It felt good to be at the site where my Grandma Julia had been born. 

As we headed north to South Dakota, we passed through the little town of Bazille Mills, which my grandmother claimed as her birthplace.

Later that evening, we crossed over the Missouri River into South Dakota, land of my birth. OK, so I was born hundreds of miles from where we were, but still. We spent the night in Vermillion, home of the University of South Dakota, where several of my high school classmates had attended college. We stayed across from the street from the Dakota Dome, the schools stadium. I had been to USD a couple of times with the high school French Club to attend plays in French by Moliere and Ionesco. I probably also played there with the high school marching band. That was so long ago, I don’t remember everywhere that we played.

(to be continued)

Surname Saturday: 75 - Jacobs

Another German surname. There's a few more of them on the way.

1. Kevin Joseph HUIGENS

2. Joseph Anthony HUIGENS
3. Shirley Ann OGDEN

4. Joseph Andrew HUIGENS (b. 9 Mar 1891 near Creighton, Knox Co., NE, m. 18 Feb 1914 at St. Ludgers Catholic Church in Creighton, Knox Co., NE, d. 8 Nov 1957 in Rushville, Sheridan Co., NE)
5. Mary Julia KAIN (b. 19 May 1896 in Knox Co., NE, d. 29 Apr 1979 in Rushville, Sheridan Co., NE)

8. John Edward HUIGENS (b. 15 Jun 1862 near Henry, Marshall Co., m. 28 Jan 1884 at St. Mary's Catholic Church, Henry, Marshall Co., IL, d. 12 Apr 1949 in Creighton, Knox Co., NE)
9. Mary FITZLER (b. 22 Feb 1866 in Marshall Co., IL, d. 6 Feb 1949 in Creighton, Knox Co., NE)

18. Johan Wimer "Wymer" FITZLER (b. 23 Jul 1832 in Wolperath, Rhein Province, Prussia, m. at St. Patrick Catholic Church, LaSalle, LaSalle Co., IL, d. abt 1888 in Marshall Co., IL)
19. Anna Helene SCHMITT (b. 17 Aug 1833 in Eischeid, Rhein Province, Prussia, d. 20 May 1904 in Creighton, Knox Co., NE)

36. Wimar FITZLER (b. 29 Dec 1774 in Wolperath, Palatinate, HRE, m. 25 Aug 1820 in Neunkirchen, Juelich-Cleves-Berg Province, Prussia, d. after 1834 in Prussia)
37. Anna Margaretha FELDER (b. 9 Apr 1798 in Wiescheid, Palatinate, HRE, d. after 1834 in Prussia)

74. Heinrich FELDER (b. Niederhorbach, Germany)
75. Anna Christina JACOBS

That's it. That's all I have on my Jacobs line. Just a name for a great-great-great-great-grandmother from some time around the beginning of the 19th century.

Obit for Mrs. Helena Fitzler

Last night I was looking for Nebraska newspaper archives to see where I might be able to get access to news papers for Knox County or the town of Creighton. I came across the Nebraska's Newspapers site. This is a joint venture of the University of Nebraska–Lincoln and the Nebraska State Historical Society. I clicked on the Browse link and a map of Nebraska appeared with seven cities indicated. One of them was Norfolk, which is near Creighton, so I clicked on it. They had digitized images of issues from 1899 to 1912. A quick check in ancestry.com showed me that my great-great-grandmother Anna Helena (Schmitt) Fitzler died on 20 May 1904. So, I went looking for the issue of the Norfolk Weekly News-Journal for that week. Lo and behold, in the upper left hand corner of page 2 for the issue of 27 May 1904 was the headline "North Nebraska Deaths" and there it was.

NORTH NEBRASKA DEATHS

---

"GRANDMA" FITZLER OF CREIGHT-
TON PASSES AWAY

---

.
.
.
    Creighton, Neb. May 21.-- Special
to The News:  Mrs. Helena Fitzler of
Creighton died here yesterday after-
noon at 3 o'clock of old age.  She was
seventy-two years old and was born 
in Germany.  She came to this coun-
try with her parents, locating in Hen-
ry, Ill.  After the death of her hus-
band, Mrs. Fitzler moved to Creighton
and has made this her home for the 
past twelve years.  She owned prop-
erty in Illinois and owned her home 
in Creighton.
    She leaves six daughters and one 
son, John Fitzler, who is unmarried, 
and who is employed in the store of
Loeble & Son, of Creighton.  Maggie
Rublow, Mary Higgons, Lizzie Bloom,
of Knox county;  Mr. and Mrs. Peter
John of Sheldon, Ia., Helen Boisbors
of Mendota, Ill, Kate Schubert of 
Manson, Ia., were all here at the bed-
side of Mrs. Fitzler when the end 
came.
    The funeral will be held Sunday af-
ternoon at 3 o'clock from the Catholic
church, Rev. Father Windols in
charge.
    Helena Fitzler was a good old lady
and will be greatly missed by the cit-
izens and people of Creighton.  She
was known universally as "Grandma" 
Fitzler and her kindly nature had
made for her friends in every corner
of Knox county.

 Lots of great information! First, a more accurate date for her husband's death. I had been assuming it was between his appearance in the 1880 US Census and the 1900 US Census when Helena was listed alone in Creighton. This narrows that range down to sometime around 1892, twelve years before Helena's death. Awesome! Second, I now have the married names of all her daughters, even though the spelling on some is horribly butchered (it's Richling, Boisdorf and Huigens). These are my Grandpa Joe's aunts on his mother's side. Wunderbar!

However, I don't believe she came to America with her parents. I have her a on passenger list for the Charles Cooper with her future sister-in-law. I'll check the list for other Schmitt's but I'll be surprised if I find any. On the other hand, they would have been the grandparents for these seven children. If one of the daughters was the informant for this article, they probably knew better than me. On the third hand, on her death certificate, Helena's parents are listed as "Mr. Smith" and "Mrs. Helena Schmitt." If they knew their grandparents, why didn't they know their grandfather's name?

Several questions answered and a new one raised.

Tombstone Tuesday: John and Mary Huigens

This week I'm posting a picture of the grave marker for my great-grandparents. John Huigens was born in Illinois during the Civil War and died after World War II. That's quite a span of history.

Mystery Monday: The death of Mary Huigens

Where did my great-grandmother, Mary (Fitzler) Huigens die in Feb. 1949? I 'm not really sure. I sent away for a Nebraska death certificate because she lived in Creighton, NE for all of her adult life and is buried there with my great-grandfather. To my surprise, no Nebraska death record was found. I've checked the South Dakota death records on ancestry.com that cover this time period and she's not there either. That seemed a possibility because Creighton is close to the SD border.

As far as I know, all of her children lived in NE at that time. All I have to go on is a vague rumor that she died in Iowa and some of my dad's cousins remember something about a problem getting her body back on the train because of the blizzard of 1949.

The next step is to include her in a big order of Iowa death records when I've got the time and the money.

SNGF: Ancestral Name Roulette

This week's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun from Randy Seaver:

Here is your assignment if you choose to play along (cue the Mission Impossible music, please!):

1) What year was your paternal grandfather born? Divide this number by 100 and round the number off to a whole number. This is your "roulette number."

2) Use your pedigree charts or your family tree genealogy software program to find the person with that number in your ancestral name list (some people call it an "ahnentafel"). Who is that person?

3) Tell us three facts about that person in your ancestral name list with the "roulette number."

Like most everyone, my roulette number is 19. This method does not generate a very random number since most of us have a grandfather born around 1900. Maybe a few people will have a grandfather born before 1850 or after 1949.  Number 19 is the maternal grandmother of one's paternal grandfather.

Anyway, person #19 for me is my great-great-grandmother Anna Helene (Schmitt) Fitzler. Here are three facts about her.

1) She was born 17 Aug 1833 in Eischeid, Rhien Province, Prussia. August 17 is also the birthday of one of my brothers.

2) She arrived in the New York on 25 June 1858  aboard the Charles Cooper. She traveled with her future sister-in-law Anna Christine Fitzler and Christine's son, Wimer.

3) She married Johann Wimer Fitzler at St. Patrick's Church in Peru, IL a few weeks later on 10 July 1858. 

SNGF: Two Degrees of Separation

1) Using your ancestral lines, how far back in time can you go with two degrees of separation? That means "you knew an ancestor, who knew another ancestor." When was that second ancestor born?

All of my great-grandparents had died before I was born. So the middle person will have to be one of my grandparents. Here are the earliest born ancestors that each of my grandparents may have known.

Joseph Andrew Huigens (1891-1957) had to have known his grandmother, Anna Helena (Schmitt) Fitzler (1833-1904). They both lived near Creighton, NE according to the 1900 US Census. He would have been 13 when she died. It's possible he also met his other grandmother, Katherine (Toemmes) Huigens Wend (1827-1899). She died in 1899, when he was eight. In 1895 she was living in Iowa with her daughter's family. She died four years later in a mental hospital in Illinois.

Mary Julia (Kain) Huigens (1894-1979) only had one grandparent who did not die before she was born, her maternal grandfather, John Kennedy (1826-1913). She would have been 19 when he died. I have no idea if she ever made the trip to Clinton, IA to meet him, if he ever came out west to Nebraska or if they met somewhere in the middle in Iowa for a family gathering at her aunt's.

Emery Julius Huigens (1896-1984) probably knew all of his grandparents. He was 14 when the first of them died. They all lived near each other in south-eastern South Dakota. His paternal grandfather, James Robert Ogden (1836-1910), was the oldest and the first to die. Emery would have been 14 then. It's also possible but unlikely that he met his great-grandfather, John Jacob Adlebusch (1817-1901). He lived in Sheboygan Co., WI and was almost 80 when my grandfather was born. I doubt that my grandfather was taken to Wisconsin or that my great-great-great-grandfather made the trip to SD at his age.

Esther Louise (Johnson) Ogden (1902-1984) probably knew all three of her grandparents who were alive when she was born. The oldest of them was Harriet Alice (Howard) Strayer (1829-1914). They all lived in the Quad City area in Iowa and Illinois where my grandmother was born.

So I'm pretty sure the farthest back I can go is Esther Louise Johnson to her maternal grandmother, Harriet Alice Howard, born in 1829. There are two other definite possibilities in 1826 and 1827 with a very, very slim chance of 1817.

Thanks, Randy, for another great topic.

SNGF: Ahnentafel Roulette

This week's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun is to use a great-grandfather's age as a seed to calculate a semi-random number and write about the person with that ahnentafel number in your tree.

I decided to start with John Huigens, my father's paternal grandfather. I choose him because I know his birth year without having to look it up. He was born in 1862; next year is the 150th anniversary of his birth. Dividing by 4 gave me an ahnentafel of 37.

Number 37 in my tree is Anna Margaretha Felder. I previously wrote about the Felder line in this Surname Saturday post. Here are three facts I know about her.

1. She was born 9 Apr 1798 in Wiensheid, the Palatinate, Holy Roman Empire to Heinrich Felder and Anna Christine Jacobs.
2. She married Wimer Fitzler on 25 Aug 1820 in Neunkirchen, Juelich-Cleves-Berg Province, Prussia.
3. She had at least 6 children: Heinrich, Anna Christine, Anna Margaretha, a second Heinrich (I assume the first one died at a young age), Johann Wimer (my g-g-gf), and Wilhelm.

I've tried to be as historically accurate about the administration of the places as I can. It's all very confusing and hard to figure out who ruled where when in the Rhein.

Surname Saturday: 39 Peters

Stop me if you've heard this before: So I went into ancestry.com and there was this little leaf. Yup, I went last night to gather info for a post on another German line of ancestors and I found several family trees with birth, death and parent information for my ancestor Jakob Wilhelm PETERS. I incorporated the info for now. It will all have to be verified and properly sourced someday, but for now I'll post it with the caveat that it is unverified data.

1. Kevin Joseph HUIGENS

2. Joseph Anthony HUIGENS
3. Shirley Ann OGDEN

4. Joseph Andrew HUIGENS (b. 9 Mar 1891 near Creighton, Knox Co., NE, m. 18 Feb 1914 at St. Ludgers Catholic Church in Creighton, Knox Co., NE, d. 8 Nov 1957 in Rushville, Sheridan Co., NE)
5. Mary Julia KAIN (b. 19 May 1896 in Knox Co., NE, d. 29 Apr 1979 in Rushville, Sheridan Co., NE)

8. John Edward HUIGENS (b. 15 Jun 1862 near Henry, Marshall Co., m. 28 Jan 1884 at St. Mary's Catholic Church, Henry, Marshall Co., IL, d. 12 Apr 1949 in Creighton, Knox Co., NE)
9. Mary FITZLER (b. 22 Feb 1866 in Marshall Co., IL, d. 6 Feb 1949 in Creighton, Knox Co., NE)

18. Johan Wimer "Wymer" FITZLER (b. 23 Jul 1832 in Wolperath, Rhein Province, Prussia, m. at St. Patrick Catholic Church, LaSalle, LaSalle Co., IL, d. abt 1888 in Marshall Co., IL)
19. Anna Helene SCHMITT (b. 17 Aug 1833 in Eischeid, Rhein Province, Prussia, d. 20 May 1904 in Creighton, Knox Co., NE)

38. Johannes SCHMITT (b. 28 Feb 1790 in Eischeid, Palatinate, HRE, m. 24 Feb 1821 in Neunkirchen, Siegkreis, Prussia, d. ? in ?)
39. Anna Helene PETERS (b. 20 Jan 1799 in Niederwennersheid, Palatinate, HRE, d. ? in ?)

78. Jakob Wilhelm PETERS (b. 12 Aug 1746 in Hoff, Siegkreis, Rheinland, Prussia, m. 1780 in ???, d. 15 Mar 1817, Niederwennerscheid, Palatinate, HRE)
79. Anna Maria Kuepper (b. 01 Nov 1762 in Germany, d. 13 Dec 1824 in Niederwennerscheid, Palatinate, HRE)

156. Johann Wilhelm PETERS (b. ??? in Hoff, Siegkreis, Rheinland, Prussia, m. 14 Feb 1735 in Neunkirchen, Siegkreis, Prussia, d. ??? in ???)
157. Eva Maria ORTH (b. 15 MAR 1714 in Niederwennersheid, Palatinate, HRE, d. 6 May 1754 in Hoff, Siegkreis, Rheinland, Prussia) 

I will need to go back through my notes on this area of Germany and the history of its geopolitics; when did it go from the Holy Roman Empire to Prussia, etc. I like listing the historical place details rather than the current ones. In my mind, my ancestors were not born in Germany or North Rhein-Westphalia. Those geopolitical entities did not exist during their lives. Anyway, I put the locations in italics to indicate that they may not be accurate.  One more thing for my genealogy to do list: create a timeline of the geopolitics of the regions where my German/Prussian ancestors lived.

Fearless Females: Day 9

Yesterday's prompt for the Fearless Female Women's History blog challenge was:
March 9 — Take a family document (baptismal certificate, passenger list, naturalization petition, etc.) and write a brief narrative using the information.

Let's start with an announcement from the NY Times of 25 Jun 1858 of the arrival of the ship Charles Cooper. This comes from the on-line NY Times article archive.

The ship left from Antwerp, Belgium on 8 May 1858 and arrived in New York about 6 weeks later. "Coffin" refers to the ship's captain, Rufus Coffin. That makes it a much better kind of Coffin ship.

Here is the header and a bit of detail from passenger list.


The names of interest are Helena SCHMIDT(my great-great-grandmother, Anna Helena SCHMITT) and Christina FITZLER and her 5-year-old son, Wymer. Christina is the sister of my great-great-grandfather, Johann Wimar "Wymer" FITZLER.

Helena came from the village of Eishceid in the Rhein Province of Prussia. The Fitzler's from nearby Wolperath. They all would have attended the Catholic church in Neunkirchen-Seelscheid. So did Helena know the Fitzlers before they departed? I'm guessing that Helena and Christina traveled to Antwerp together, along with others from the area. There are several names on this passenger list that appear later records of Marshall Co., where these two women settled.

Only sixteen days after their arrival, on 10 Jul 1858 at St. Patrick's Catholic Church in LaSalle, IL. Christina married John SCHLOSSER and my great-great-grandparents married.

Did Helena SCHMITT come to America specifically to marry my great-great-grandfather? Had she known him back in Prussia? Or did Wymer's sister convince Helena to travel with her and marry her brother sight-unseen?

Fearless Females: Day 4

Today's prompt for the Fearless Female Women's History blog challenge is:
March 4 — Do you have marriage records for your grandparents or great-grandparents? Write a post about where they were married and when. Any family stories about the wedding day? Post a photo too if you have one.

Let's see where I stand with having sources.

Grandparents

Joseph HUIGENS and Julia KAIN, 18 Nov 1914 probably at St. Ludgers Catholic Church in Creigton, Knox Co., NE. I do not have church or civil records for this marriage. I do have a picture, though.
Emery OGDEN and Esther JOHNSON, 19 Mar 1929 probably at Morse Memorial United Methodist Church in Rushville, Sheridan Co., NE. Again, I don't yet have civil or church records for this marriage.

I have a newspaper clipping from the Rushville newspaper of 22 Mar 1929. The hand-written correction was made by my mother.




I also have a picture that was supposedly taken on their wedding day.

Great-grandparents

John HUIGENS and Mary FITZLER, 1 Feb 1884 at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Henry, Marshall Co., IL. I don't have any church records for this marriage and I have a surplus of civil records. Many years ago my mother sent off for a Certificate of Record of Marriage from Marshall Co. The date on that is 29 Jan 1884. A few years ago, I also sent off for the same record. Ther version I received states 24 Jan 1884. Clearly the people who transcribed the record had different opinions on that one character. To add to the confusion, the wedding announcement from the Henry Republican on 7 Feb 1884 states "Married, in the city, Feb. 1, at the German Catholic Church, by the Reverend Father Hout, JOHN HIGGINS and Miss MARY FITZLER." So is the date on the original certificate the date they obtained the license? I need to get to the courthouse and see the original marriage license.

Frank KAIN and Maggie KENNEDY, 14 Feb 1888 at St. Irenaeus Catholic Church in Lyons, Clinton Co., IA. Again, no civil or church records. Not even a picture.

William OGDEN and 1) Mary HERREN, 25 Jan 1895 in Elk Point, Union Co., SD, 2) Mary CHARBONEAU about 1939. No records or pictures for these either.

Gustaf JOHNSON and Rosabell STRAYER, 4 Sept 1899 in Rock Island Co., IL. No details and no church records, but I do have a marriage record index from an on-line database of Illinois marriages. And I have a picture.
So I really need to get busy gathering records, transcripts and originals at courthouses. I do have some church records and civil records for some of my great-great-grandparents.