While in Parkston, SD for great-grandma's 90th birthday, I had a chance to stop by Immanuel Lutheran, rural Dimock, to drop off the altar flowers in honor of Grandma. Since it was a nice day and I had my camera, I started walking the cemetery to get a better idea of who and how everyone is connected in the Geidel and Wegehaupt families.
Pastor Otten came over to talk to me while taking a break from yard work on the parsonage. Over the course of his time at Immanuel, he's gotten to know the Wegehaupt families and he showed me through the cemetery.
He pointed to one Wegehaupt plot and mentioned- "they're related, but distant." He wasn't sure how they were connected, so of course as I'm driving back to town, I start thinking how I can unravel it.
The "Distant" Wegehaupts
The so-called distant Wegehaupts aren't that distant in terms of where they're buried.
Fritz (Senior) is the first Wegehaupt settler in the Hillside/Flensburg area of Douglas County, SD.
Notice the Wegehaupt graves behind their's.
The two standing stones are:
- Emma Wegehaupt (1875-1918)
- Another family marker for Wegehaupt, for:
- Adolf (1880-1946)
- Bertha (1884-1876)
Fritz (Junior) is buried in a different section of the same cemetery.
So who are Emma, Adolf and Karl?
A little hint can come from their immigration papers, which are available from Ellis Island.Arrival in New York from Hamburg on the SS Amerika October 24, 1906.
| Name | Marital Status | Age |
|---|---|---|
| Henrietta Wegehaupt | widowed | 57 |
| Emma Wegehaupt | single | 34 |
| Adolf Wegehaupt | single | 26 |
| Magdalena Wegehaupt | single | 16 |
| Martha Wegehaupt | single | 16 |
Brackets connect these 5 together for the remaining questions:
- Nationality: German
- Last Residence: Minkowske
- Destination: Hillside, SD
- Whether going to join a relative or friend; and if so... [their] name and complete address: Fritz Wegehaupt, Hillside S.D.
Fritz Sr.'s German "Vacation"?
While digging a little more, there are some more clues to this mystery.Item 1: Fritz leaves Germany, again
A search of German port departures on Ancestry.com found a Fritz Wegehaupt leaving Hamburg, Germany on 6 January 1901. The German record lists his age as 42, his occupation as "landmann" (farmer), his residence as Flensburg (another name for the German settlement in this part of Douglas County, South Dakota) and his nationality as American.Item 2: Fritz's passport
The passport itself is gone, but his passport application is still on file. On August 28, 1900 he applied for a passport, saying he'd be out of the country for less than 2 years. He has the passport sent to an address in New York, NY (which I read as the "Evangelical Lutheran Pilgrim House"- which matches the address of the Lutheran Pilgrim House at 8 State Street, New York) So it appears he plans to be in NY around early September to board a ship to Germany, then spends about 3-4 months in Germany.So why go back to Germany?
- Settle an estate?
- Receive an inheritance?
- Visit a dying family member?
Post-script: The other three Wegehaupt women
Henrietta and the twins appear in the 1910 census for this part of Douglas County, by the 1920 census they've moved to Delmont.- Henrietta dies in 1921 and is buried in Zion Lutheran Cemetery, Delmont.
- The twins appear to never marry and die in 1981 (Magdalena) and 1991 (Martha)
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