Sunday's Obituary - Katherine Boegel

Catherine (Melzer) and William Boegel

I posted previously on how information can be wrong in obituaries and Catherine and her husband, William, were the examples I used.  I figured that it was about time to transcribe Catherine's two obituaries.  One is short, sweet and to the point (and lacking in genealogical excitement) and the other is certainly longer and filled with more detailed information.  Sadly, you can see what the obituary looks like for this longer one.  The newspaper must have been bound and when they microfilmed it the left side of the obit was a casualty.  Catherine's obituary was on the front page of the paper and on the far left side.  She was apparently important enough to have her passing make front page news, but the image doesn't do it justice.

As luck would have it the majority of the information that isn't visible in the crease is relative easy to make out, especially when comparing some things between both obituaries.  I'm a bit bummed about the name of the city/region in Austria that she was born in was lost in the microfilming process.  I haven't done any searching to recover the lost information, but at least I've got a good bit of it.  It should help (unless, of course, the information is wrong!).

Catherine and William are my husband's 2nd great grandparents.

Fond du Lac Commonwealth Reporter,  24MAY1927

"Expires at St. Kilian

Mrs. William Boegel Dies Today at Home of Son, Raymond

Although confined to her bed by illness for 10 days Mrs. William Boegel died unexpectantly at 7:50 a.m. today at the home of her son, Raymond Boegel, at St. Kilian, passing away in her sleep.  Surviving the deceased are seven children.  William of Kewaskum, John and Ray of St Kilian, Peter of St. Bridget, Mrs Catherine Bonleder of St. Kilian, Theresa at home and Mrs. Gebhart Strobel of Milwaukee.  The funeral will be held at 9 a.m. Friday from the Catholic church at St. Kilian.  Burial will be in the church cemetery."

The Campbellsport News,
26MAY1927

"Mrs. Catherine Boegel

Mrs. Catherine Boegel, age 80, passed away at the home of her son Raymond in St. Killian at 7:50 o'clock Tuesday morning following a (unk) years' illness.

Mrs. Boegel was born in Bischof (unk), Austria, December 12, 1846, and immigrated to this country at the age of 22 years settling at St. Kilian where she has since resided.  She was united in marriage to William Boegel on October 13, 1874, at St. Kilian.  Her husband preceded her in death four years ago.

She leaves to mourn four sons and three daughters namely:  William of Kewaskum; Kate (Mrs. Joseph Bonlender), John and Raymond of St. Kilian; Peter of Kewaskum; Mary (Mrs. Gebhard Strobel) of Milwaukee; and Theresa at home.  Two sisters and three brothers also preceded her in death.  She is also survived by 20 grandchildren and seven great grandchildren.

The funeral will be held Friday morning at St. Kilian's Catholic Church with burial in the adjoining cemetery.  The pallbearers are: Or(unk) Strobel of Milwaukee, Adelbert and Roman Boegel, Reynold and Oth(unk) Bonlender or St. Kilian and Ar(unk) Boegel of Theresa.  Rosemarie (Boegel) and Elvira Bonlender are the (unk) girls."

Sunday's Obituary - William Boegel

The Campbellsport News 26OCT1922

"Old Settler Called By Death

William Boegel, aged 73 years, died at the home of his son Raymond, in town of Ashford, last Saturday evening, after an illness of four weeks with diabetes.

Deceased was born near St. Lawrence, Wis., on December 21, 1848, and resided there until three years of age when he moved to the farm in town Ashford where he has since resided.  On October 13, 1874, he was married to Miss Kathryn Melzer, who preceded him in death.  He is survived by seven children, (all of whom, except William were at his deathbed) they are: William and Peter of Kewaskum, Mrs. Gerhard Strobel of Milwaukee, John, Mrs. Joe Bonlender, Raymond and Theresa living in town of Ashford.  He is also survived by two sisters, Mrs. Anna Majerus of Campbellsport and Mrs. Lizzie LaBelle of Stanley.

The funeral was held Wednesday morning at 10 o'clock from St. Killian's church, Rev. Father Reechel officiating and interment taking place in the adjoining cemetery.  The pallbearers were his six grandsons, Edgar, Erwin, Raymond and Reynold Bonlender and Roman and Oscar Boegel.

The deceased was one of our oldest settler and one of our highly respected citizens."

William Boegel is my husband's great great grandfather.  The obituary didn't tell me anything shocking there.  I knew that.  Just like I knew the names of his children and that he had at least 3 siblings.  The obituary lets me know that his sister Johanna obviously went by "Anna" and Elizabeth was obviously "Lizzie".

What I didn't know was that Anna was married to a man with the surname "Majerus".  I had her married to a John Altenhofen, and guess what?  I had no sources to support that!  I really need to get back to verifying my tree like I had started oh so long ago!  Now that doesn't mean that she wasn't married to a John Altenhofen, but it does mean that I'm got some researching to do to either verify a first marriage or rule him out.

Something else not in this obituary that I would have liked to see?  His parents' names.  I need to confirm them and it would have been helpful.  Time to order a death certificate (among other things). Back to work!