Wilhelm, Bertha Russ – 1856-1938

BIRKENHOLTZ, HUMMEL, LOTZ, MAGG, MCCOMB, RUSS, VERHUEL, WILHELM

Posted By: Donna Sloan Rempp
Date: 8/27/2016 at 16:54:46

Bertha Russ Wilhelm, the daughter of Leonard and Katherine Russ, was born in Wuertenberg, Germany on January 6, 1856 and died at her home near Prairie City, Iowa, Friday morning January 28, 1938. Her age at the time of death being 82 years and 22 days.
When she was 14 years old her father and mother emigrated from Germany moving to the United States and located in the vicinity of Monroe, from that time, which was in 1870, until the time of her decease she lived in the neighborhood of Monroe and Prairie City.
She was united in marriage to Louis Wilhelm, who also came to the United States from Germany the same year her father and mother did at Newton, Iowa on March 19, 1877. After their marriage they moved to a farm just four miles east of Prairie City where she lived for 61 years. To this union four children were born.
One sister precedes her in death, Mrs. Augusta Hummel who left one daughter also named Augusta. Augusta Hummel was but six weeks old when her mother died, and has lived with her aunt ever since.
She will be remembered as a kind and loving mother by her children who mourn her departure. She was always ready and willing to help when able. She had been in fair health until about a year ago, but only for about two weeks was she bedfast.
She is preceded in death by her husband who died on January 19, 1929, and also one sister, Mrs. Augusta Hummel. Left to mourn her death are two sons, George and Louis a home, and two daughters Mrs. Mary Birkenholtz of Monroe, Mrs. Lucy Mathilda Verhuel of Newton, her niece, Augusta Hummel, three sisters, Mrs. Mary Magg of Prairie City, Mrs. Katherine Lotz of Monroe, Mrs. Lucy McComb of California, seven grandchildren and four great grandchildren, besides other relatives and a host of friends.
Funeral services were conducted Sunday with a short service at the home and later in the Baptist Church by Rev. J. M. Carlson. A quartette of girls, Almeda and Gerdena Green, Dorothy and Helen Van Rysyk, sang: “Nearer My God To Thee,” “We Are Going Down the Valley,” and “God will Take Care Of You.” Miss Lorraine Ford played the piano. The body was laid to rest in the Monroe Cemetery. The pallbearers were Gerrit Schut, Walter Schut, Neal Jabaai, Chas. Roberts, Jesse Newel and George Roberts.
Source: Monroe Mirror; __ February 1938