Mary Malvina (Klaus) WELLEMEYER

WELLEMEYER, KLAUS, HARTBECKE, MERTEN, MELCHER

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 7/20/2010 at 18:53:19

28 January 1853 -- 29 March 1930

Mary Malvina Klaus was born on a farm near Colesburg, Iowa on 28 January 1853. Her parents were John D. Klaus and Elizabeth Hartbecke Klaus, both of whom were natives of Hanover, Germany. Her childhood and youth were spent in the farm home, and she attended the rural school in her home district, and the normal school at Galena, Illinois. From the time she was ten until she was fourteen years of age she suffered from ill health. Her physical condition was such that she was not able to attend school regularly. Then her health improved and remained normal during most of her life. For four years she was a teacher in the rural schools located near her home. These were strenuous days, for the country schools were overcrowded, the enrollment in one of her schools being 60 pupils. 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. The husband was called from his labors 2 July 1909 at the age of 59. Mahlon Allen Wellemeyer, son of George L. and Aurilla Wellemeyer, was left an orphan at the age of seven months by the death of his mother. The deceased gave to this boy a home, and a mother's care for eight years. For a year following their marriage, Frank and Mary Wellemeyer lived on a farm near Garner. But the urge to the ministry, which had been strong for years, became imperative, and in 1876 Mr. Wellemeyer was assigned to a pastorate at Sleepy Eye, Minnesota. His companion entered upon her duties as pastor's wife and assisted with enthusiasm. It was not an easy road to travel. During those early years in Minnesota, the grasshoppers destroyed the farm crops and the pastor's salary almost reached the vanishing point. In 1896, after twenty years in the active ministry, Rev. Wellemeyer moved with his family back to the farm, remaining there for a period of five years, after which he returned to the pastorate. During those busy farming years, in 1897, Mrs. Wellemeyer was elected conference secretary of the Women's Foreign Missionary Society, holding this office for sixteen years. Part of the time she acted as treasurer also. Her duties called for a great deal of correspondence work, the letters being written by hand in the most painstaking manner. This work was usually done at night or in the wee small hours of the morning and was persisted in until her eyesight failed her. Her service in this capacity was her greatest contribution to the welfare of the church she loved. The interests of the church and the welfare of her family were both held in the very highest esteem. Her home duties were as faithfully attended to as to her church work. The declining years of her life were spent in the homes of her children, especially that of her youngest daughter where she was always shown every attention. On a page in the family record of the old family bible, penned in her own handwriting, we find this motto: "God and His Work first." These words strike the keynote of her life.

The following near relatives mourn her passing: one brother, Rev. W. H. Klaus of Colesburg, Iowa; four sons, Carl W. of Colesburg, Iowa; Ernest E. of Patterson, California; J. F. of Kansas City, Kansas; two daughters: Mrs. R. W. Merten of Guthrie, Oklahoma and Mrs. Ruth Melcher of Charles City, Iowa. Also sixteen grandchildren survive.