Christ Wille, 1822 -1896

WILLE, HUCKSHOLD, TRUHE

Posted By: David Reineke
Date: 10/25/2015 at 09:03:22

I translated the following obituary from Der Carroll Demokrat, a German-language newspaper
published in Carroll, Iowa, between about 1874 and 1920. The obituary was originally published on Friday, 1 May 1896. I have kept the name and place spellings as they were in the article. I have added some explanatory notes of my own at the end. It reads as follows:

Christ Wille

Christ Wille of the Third Ward in Carroll died on Sunday morning between 4 and 5 o’clock at the
advanced age of 74 years, 11 months, and 16 days, as the result of a heart ailment after he had
received last rights from the Reverend Pastor Lothringen from Denison. Old age and illness had
afflicted the elderly gentleman for some time, such that it had been feared since the previous
autumn that the time of his passing was not far off. And since 8 days before his death his dear
wife suffered a stroke leaving her paralyzed on one side, all hope of maintaining the old
gentleman’s health was lost. He sleeps softly now in the Hereafter. The deceased was born in
Luedersfeld, Principality of Schaumberg-Lippe, Germany, came to America in August 1860, and
settled in Illinois. In 1865 he moved to Winneshiek County, Iowa, and in 1874 he moved to Carroll County. At his grave mourn his dear life’s companion and 5 children, namely: Christoph and Henry in Cook County, Illinois; Mrs. Sophia Huckshold in Omaha; Wilhelm in Carroll Township; and Mrs. Anna Maria Truhe in Roselle. Old Mother Wille now makes her home with the last-named daughter.

The burial took place Monday afternoon at 4 o’clock outside St. Paul’s Lutheran Church. The
flower arrangements were magnificent. A granddaughter from Omaha placed a wonderful wreath of real flowers on the casket. The formal service by the Reverend Pastor Lothringen was impressive and hardly a dry eye remained during the moving funeral sermon. The crowd of mourners paying their last respects to good old Papa Wille was extremely large. May he rest in peace.

NOTES: The deceased’s full first name could be Christoph. The obituary lists Luedersfeld as the
place of birth. There is a German town of that name (also spelled “Ludersfeld” with two dots
above the u) about 15 miles west of Hannover.