Arens, Theresa 1875-1954

ARENS, HENDEL

Posted By: Bob Arens (email)
Date: 7/29/2005 at 08:44:27

THERESA HENDEL ARENS (1875-1954)
Theresa Hendel, daughter of Phillip and Catherine, was born 03 April 1875 in Caledonia,
Minnesota. This date is also in the Houston County records and the baptismal records of St. Peter's
Church. She married Mathias (Matt) Arens on 16 October 1900, in Adrian, Minnesota. He was born 29 November 1877 in Alton, Iowa. They had nine children, four of whom died as babies: Julius (1904-1905), Nicholas (1906-1906), Vincent (1906-1907), and Veronica (1918-1918). Their other children were: Genevieve (1901-1989) who married Henry Slater, a widower with seven children. Their marriage took place on 21 February 1933 in Wilmont, Minnesota;Phillip (1902-1934), died of a ruptured appendix on the day he was to be married; Alphonse (1908-1966) married Rose Hartman (1912) and had seven children. He died in a tractor accident while working for Nobles County. Francis (1909-1991) manied Henrietta Remackel (1913) and had seven children; and Matthew (1913-1990) married Martha Ossefoort (1914-1996) and also had seven children. Theresa and Matt raised Doris Bauer, daughter of Margaret Hendel and William Bauer. Theresa died the lst of January 1954 and Matt died 15 March 1966 in Wilmont, Minnesota, and are both buried there. The Arenses had twenty-one grandchildren, 54 great -grandchildren, 32 great -great -grandchildren.

[Additional note from contributer, Bob Arens]
I, Bob Arens, grandson of Mathias (Matt) Arens, have often wondered why Matt left the Remsen-Alton, IA, area (where he was born, raised and went to school) to live at Adrian, MN. shortly after 1894 when his widowed Mother, Justina, married Christopher Hentges in Remsen, IA and moved to Montrose, MO. with her other children and new husband. Matt was born November 29, 1877 and would have been only about 17 years old at that time. I believe I've found the answer. It turns out that Philip Hendel and his family lived in Alton, IA. from 1888 to 1891 (they came from Caledonia, MN in 1888 and moved to Adrian, MN. in 1891). Philip's youngest daughter, Theresa, was born March 26, 1874 and would have been 14 - 17 years old during that period. Matt would have been 11 - 14 during that same period. I'm guessing that Matt took a 'shine' to Theresa during that time. Between 1891 and to time Matt actually moved to Adrian, they probably wrote letters to each other. When Matt did move to Adrian, he worked in Theresa's brother-in-law's wagon factory. She probably arranged the job for him. She worked in her father's hotel, where it's likely that Matt stayed. Theresa and Matt married each other on October 16, 1900 and, "the rest is history".[Information as of 11-8-01 compiled by Bob Arens of St Paul.FTW]