Wellemeyer, Elizabeth Catherine

Female 1876 - 1917  (40 years)


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  • Name Wellemeyer, Elizabeth Catherine 
    Born 30 Apr 1876  Garner, Hancock County, Iowa, USA Find all individuals with events at this location  [1, 2, 3
    Gender Female 
    Died 9 Feb 1917  Marshalltown, Marshall County, Iowa, USA Find all individuals with events at this location  [4, 5, 6

    • The following is a transcription supplied by Frances Gretchen (Klein) Leenerts of an obituary for Elizabeth Catherine Wellemeyer which she reported had appeared on 9 February 1917 in the Garner Signal, of Garner, Iowa, apparently borrowing from the Marshalltown Times Republican, of Marshalltown, Iowa.

           Death at 7:15 this morning claimed Miss Elizabeth Wellemeyer, supervisor of music in the public schools of the city, following a brief illness of three days' duration. Miss Wellemeyer was stricken suddenly and violently ill with uremia early Tuesday morning and suffered two convulsions before she was taken to Deaconess Hospital. During the three days following, Miss Wellemeyer never fully regained consciousness, and her temperature remained well above 100 most of the time. At 4:00 p.m. Thursday afternoon, the patient sustained another convulsion, after which her temperature went up to 108 and her action became much weaker. She passed into a stupor shortly after 6:00 p.m. Dr. W. L. Bierinf, of Des Moines, who was called into consultation on the case Thursday, said he believed meningeal complications had set in, but that nothing more could have been done for the patient. She had been in the hospital for a short time two weeks before with a bad case of grippe, but had returned to work for a week just previous to her last illness. Miss Wellemeyer came to Marshalltown in the fall of 1909 from Lamoni, where she had been teaching music in Graceland College. She took up the position of supervisor of music in both the grades and high school, and under her supervision the music of the schools had been developed into a real factor in the community. She worked on the idea that the whole city could in a measure partake of the appreciation of music through the school children, and with this end in view developed the glee clubs and chorus work and organized classes in musical history, harmony and appreciation of music. She was influential in standardizing the work in high school music so that pupils received credit for their music when entering college. In state musical circles, Miss Wellemeyer was well and favorably known. She was president of the music section of the State Teachers Association, and leader of the music section of the Northeastern Iowa Teachers' Association. In addition she represented the local schools at national meetings of music teachers in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania and Lincoln, Nebraska. At the time of her illness Miss Wellemeyer was just completing her plans for community singing, which was to include the schools of several cities in Iowa, and which was to be promoted between February 12 and 22, Lincoln's and Washington's birthdays. For the past six years Miss Wellemeyer had been director of the Methodist choir, and was also a member of that church. She had directed the high school glee clubs and orchestra, and was prominent in the institution of community singing in this city. At the time of her death she was also president of Der Deutsche Unterhaltungs Kreis.
           Catherine Elizabeth Wellemeyer was born at Garner, Hancock County on 30 April 1876, the eldest of a family of eight children. Her father, Rev. Frank H. Wellemeyer, was a minister in the German Methodist Church and Miss Wellemeyer's girlhood was spent in different towns in this state. She received her high school education in Decorah, and following this was graduated from the Iowa State Normal School at Cedar Falls. She then taught in the grades at Britt for a few years, before specializing in music. Going to Chicago she studied for three years in the American Conservatory of Music under Adolph Weidig, an authority on harmony, and also took several courses in public school music under W. L. Tomlins. After completing her work there she taught music for two years in Graceland College, Lamoi, coming to Marshalltown from there in 1909. Miss Wellemeyer was the third in her family to pass to the great beyond, her father having died in 1907 and a sister, Estella, in 1907. She is survived by her mother, Mrs. Mary Wellemeyer, of Charles City, four brothers and two sisters. These are: Miss Ruth Wellemeyer, principal of the high school at Charles City; Mrs. R. W. Merten, Guthrie, Oklahoma; Earnest Wellemeyer, mathematics teacher in Colton, California high school; Charles (Carl) Wesley Wellemeyer, teacher and farmer, Colesburg, Iowa; Arthur Wellemeyer, merchant, mortician, Klemme, Iowa; Ernest Edward, of Patterson, California and Fletcher, Principal of the high school in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The body was taken to the Methodist Church at 3:00 p.m. today and will be open to friends. The public schools will be dismissed at 3:00 p.m. to give the children an opportunity to go to the church. Burial will be in Concord Cemetery, Garner, Iowa next to her father.
    Buried Garner, Hancock County, Iowa, USA Find all individuals with events at this location  [6, 7
    Address:
    Concord Cemetery 
    Person ID I5552  Fiegenbaum
    Last Modified 28 Dec 2014 

    Father Wellemeyer, Rev. Frank Henry,   b. 11 Dec 1849, Warren County, Missouri, USA Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 2 Jul 1909, Rudd, Floyd County, Iowa, USA Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 59 years) 
    Mother Klaus, Mary Malvina,   b. 28 Jan 1853, Colesburg, Delaware County, Iowa, USA Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 29 Mar 1930, Charles City, Floyd County, Iowa, USA Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 77 years) 
    Married 3 Jun 1875  Colesburg, Delaware County, Iowa, USA Find all individuals with events at this location  [8, 9, 10, 11, 12
    Residence (family) Between 1896 and 1901  Hancock County, Iowa, USA Find all individuals with events at this location  [13
    • Because of Frank Wellemeyer's ill health, the family lived on their farm near Garner.
    Family ID F100  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  • Sources 
    1. [S175] Frances Gretchen (Klein) Leenerts, Descendants of Father Fiegenbaum (Chinook, Washington: F. Leenerts, 2002), page 62.
      Elizabeth Catherine Wellemeyer, child of Frank Henry Wellemeyer and Mary Malvina Klaus, was born on 20 April 1876 at Garner, Hancock County, Iowa.
           Gretchen Leenerts did not provide an explanation for her date of 20 April compared with the date of 30 April that appeared in her transcription of an obituary for Elizabeth Catherine Wellemeyer.

    2. [S175] Frances Gretchen (Klein) Leenerts, Descendants of Father Fiegenbaum (Chinook, Washington: F. Leenerts, 2002), pages 62-63.
      A transcription supplied by Frances Gretchen (Klein) Leenerts of an obituary for Elizabeth Catherine Wellemeyer which she reported had appeared on 9 February 1917 in the Garner Signal, of Garner, Iowa, apparently borrowing from the Marshalltown Times Republican, of Marshalltown, Iowa.
           "Catherine Elizabeth Wellemeyer was born at Garner, Hancock County on 30 April 1876, the eldest of a family of eight children. Her father, Rev. Frank H. Wellemeyer, was a minister in the German Methodist Church and Miss Wellemeyer's girlhood was spent in different towns in this state."

    3. [S113] Web site, IAGenWeb Project. Burial Index for all Hancock County Cemeteries. Submitted by the Hancock County Genealogical Society, 1986.
      Accessed March 2010. (http://iagenweb.org/hancock/Cemeteries/burialindex.html). Burial Index - W (http://iagenweb.org/hancock/Cemeteries/bi_w.htm).
           Wellemeyer, Elizabeth L; born: 1876; died: 1917; cemetery: Concord.

    4. [S175] Frances Gretchen (Klein) Leenerts, Descendants of Father Fiegenbaum (Chinook, Washington: F. Leenerts, 2002), page 62.
      Elizabeth Catherine Wellemeyer died on 9 February 1917 at Marshalltown, Marshall County, Iowa.

    5. [S175] Frances Gretchen (Klein) Leenerts, Descendants of Father Fiegenbaum (Chinook, Washington: F. Leenerts, 2002), pages 62-63.
      A transcription supplied by Frances Gretchen (Klein) Leenerts of an obituary for Elizabeth Catherine Wellemeyer which she reported had appeared on 9 February 1917 in the Garner Signal, of Garner, Iowa, apparently borrowing from the Marshalltown Times Republican, of Marshalltown, Iowa.
           "Death at 7:15 this morning claimed Miss Elizabeth Wellemeyer, supervisor of music in the public schools of the city, following a brief illness of three days' duation. Miss Wellemeyer was stricken suddenly and violently ill with uremia early Tuesday morning and suffered two convulsions before she was taken to Deaconess Hospital. During the three days following, Miss Wellemeyer never fully regained consciousness, and her temperature remained well above 100 most of the time. At 4:00 p.m. Thursday afternoon, the patient sustained another convulsion, after which her temperature went up to 108 and her action became much weaker. She passed into a stupor shortly after 6:00 p.m. Dr. W. L. Bierinf, of Des Moines, who was called into consultation on the case Thursday, said he believed meningeal complications had set in, but that nothing more could have been done for the patient. She had been in the hospital for a short time two weeks before with a bad case of grippe, but had returned to work for a week just previous to her last illness."

    6. [S113] Web site, IAGenWeb Project. Burial Index for all Hancock County Cemeteries. Submitted by the Hancock County Genealogical Society, 1986.
      Accessed March 2010. (http://iagenweb.org/hancock/Cemeteries/burialindex.html). Burial Index - W (http://iagenweb.org/hancock/Cemeteries/bi_w.html).
           Wellemeyer, Elizabeth L; born: 1876; died: 1917; cemetery: Concord.

    7. [S175] Frances Gretchen (Klein) Leenerts, Descendants of Father Fiegenbaum (Chinook, Washington: F. Leenerts, 2002), pages 62-63.
      A transcription supplied by Frances Gretchen (Klein) Leenerts of an obituary for Elizabeth Catherine Wellemeyer which she reported had appeared on 9 February 1917 in the Garner Signal, of Garner, Iowa, apparently borrowing from the Marshalltown Times Republican, of Marshalltown, Iowa.
           "Burial will be in Concord Cemetery, Garner, Iowa next to her father."

    8. [S175] Frances Gretchen (Klein) Leenerts, Descendants of Father Fiegenbaum (Chinook, Washington: F. Leenerts, 2002), p. 60.
      Frank Henry Wellemeyer and Mary Malvina Klaus were married on 3 June 1875 at Colesburg, Delaware County, Iowa.

    9. [S175] Frances Gretchen (Klein) Leenerts, Descendants of Father Fiegenbaum (Chinook, Washington: F. Leenerts, 2002), pages 60-61.
      A transcription of an obituary for Frank Henry Wellemeyer reported to have appeared on Wednesday, 14 July 1909 in the Garner Signal, of Garner, Iowa.
           "On 3 June 1875 he was married to Mary Klaus of Colesburg, Iowa."

    10. [S133] E. W. Henke, et al, Die Nordwest Deutsche Konferenz der Bischöflichen Methodistenkirche: Geschichtlich, Sachlich und Biographisch Geschildert (Charles City, Iowa: The Conference, 1913), pages 99-101.
      Biographical sketch of Rev. Frank H. Wellemeyer, deceased pastor of the Northwest Germany Conference. In German. Translation by J. Mark Fiegenbaum.
           "...on 3 June of the same year [1875] married Mary Klaus of Colesburg, Iowa."

    11. [S175] Frances Gretchen (Klein) Leenerts, Descendants of Father Fiegenbaum (Chinook, Washington: F. Leenerts, 2002), pages 61-62.
      A transcription supplied by Frances Gretchen (Klein) Leenerts of an obituary which she reported had appeared on Wednesday, 2 April 1930 in an unidentified newspaper of Garner, Iowa.
           "On 3 June 1875 she was married to Frank Henry Wellemeyer and to this union were born nine children of whom six children survive. Lois died as an infant in 1891. Estelle passed away in 1907 and Elizabeth in 1917."

    12. [S206] History of Delaware County, Iowa and its People, edited by John F. Merry; 2 volumes (Chicago: S. J. Clarke Publishing Company, 1914), volume 2, page 121.
      Biographical sketch of Samuel Wesley Klaus. "To their [John D. and Elizabeth (Hartbeck) Klaus] union were born six children, namely: Mary, the wife of Rev. F. H. Wellemeyer, of Charles City, Iowa;...."

    13. [S133] E. W. Henke, et al, Die Nordwest Deutsche Konferenz der Bischöflichen Methodistenkirche: Geschichtlich, Sachlich und Biographisch Geschildert (Charles City, Iowa: The Conference, 1913), pages 99-101.
      Biographical sketch of Rev. Frank H. Wellemeyer, deceased pastor of the Northwest Germany Conference. In German. Translation by J. Mark Fiegenbaum.
           "Failing health forced him to spend the years 1896-1901 with his family on the farm."