|
|
|
||||||||
|
*my direct-line ancestors. The (-4G), etc., indicates the number of generations before Erven Thoma. I am not sure about the surname of Emilie. If her son Carl Eugen is really my great grandfather, then Amelung is correct. However, the Illustrated Encyclopedia & Atlas of Madison County, IL has C. for her middle initial (see p. 126). She came from Minden in Germany. Her parents and siblings are unknown to this compiler (Erven Thoma). She and her husband left their city of Minden in Prussia, traveled to the port of Bremen, embarked on board the ship "Peter Godeffrey" and arrived in New Orleans on 15 Dec. 1851. Both Emily and her husband were 27 years old at the time and his occupation is given as engineer. Their destination is just given as U.S.A. Their son is not listed on the passenger arrival list or in the index, the series of books "Germans to America". The underscore in the surname (Tha_e) in the Germans to America indicates that the fourth letter is not legible, but in the microfilm of the passenger arrival list, the letter looks like a "k". The husband's initials in the passenger list are given as "C. H.". (The book "Vivat Amerika" lists the son as emigrating in 1864.). However, children below a certain age were not always listed by name on passenger lists. Family tradition has Eugene was a baby when he immigrated. - - - - - - - - - - her life in Illinois until her second marriage (Apr. 1865) - - - - - - - - - -On the Illinois State Census for 1855 (Oct.) there is listed a C. Thake (between 30 and 40) in Caseyville in St. Clair County. With him is a child below 10 years of age (no name given, but probably Eugene), a woman between 30 and 40 (no name given, but perhaps Emilie), and another man between 30 and 40 (no name given), for a grand total of 4. The last man may have been a boarder or a hired hand. There is an Emilie Thake listed with Charles Thake in the 1960 Fed. Census taken in Caseyville, St. Clair County, IL There is another person listed but I can not read the name. Perhaps it is Eugenius, the Latin form or Eugene. (The son, Eugene, is definitely listed in the 1870 Census.) In this 1860 Census Emilie's age is given as 34 and her birthplace as Prussia. Her husband's age is given as 35 and he is a painter also born in Prussia. Sometime between the 1860 Census and April of 1865 her first husband Charles (Carl) Thake died. I have not been able to find any notice or certificate of his death or burial. Nor have I found any burial site.
After the death of Charles Thake, she married William E. Miller (15 Apr. 1865) in St. Clair County by a justice of the peace. No ages or places of birth or parents are given on this license. (However, calculating from the birth date in William's biography, his age would be 36.) No maiden name is given on the license either. The certificate is #1416 in the IRAD Archives at Southern Illinois University, St. Clair County Marriage Licenses 1807-1976. The index to these marriages was compiled by the Illinois State Genealogical Society and copied onto microfiche ID 1985562, page #19,281. - - - - - - - - - - from her second marriage (Apr. 1865) to the 1880 Census - - - - - - - - - -The 1865 Illinois State Census for Caseyville seems to be lost. At first the family lived in Caseyville, then moved to Madison County. The 1866 Gazetteer of Madison County, IL lists a Wm. Miller, a farmer, in township 6 north, range 8 west in the Dorsey P.O. zone. This may be where the family lived before buying the farm or it could be a different Wm. Miller. In 1869 She and her second husband bought and moved to the farm (the Moffitt Place) on St. Louis Rd. in Collinsville Township, Madison County, IL, 3/4 mile outside the old city limits of Collinsville. A drawing of the farm appears below. The 1870 Fed. Census for Illinois (microfilm roll 251, page 215) shows her living with her husband, William, her son Eugene Taacki (sic!), and several farm hands in Collinsville township. The farm was on St. Louis Rd. about 3/4 mile outside Collinsville's old city limits, Madison County. The value of the farm real estate is $17,000 and the personal property is $2000. William is 41, is from Ohio, and is a farmer. Emilie is 44 (?), is from Prussia, and is the housekeeper. Eugene is 18. The farm is in township 3, range 8, Madison County, Collinsville P.O., p. 37. Census was taken on June (?) 6, 1870. Between 1869 and 1873 William Miller was elected Police Magistrate of Collinsville, and then Justice of the Peace of the Collinsville Precinct by a large majority. The marriage record (8 Nov. 1872) of her son, Eugene, says he (and, of course, his mother) were living in Madison County, IL. The Illustrated Encyclopedia & Atlas of Madison County, IL, (pub. by McCormack, 1873) has a short biography of William E. Miller on p. 126. It says they are living on the farm pictured on p. 128 of the same book (see picture below). That farm used to be the Moffitt place and is located 1/2 mile west of Collinsville. In this biography, Emilie has the middle initial of "C". See William's web page for more details of this biography. Emilie was the only godparent for the baptism of her granddaughter, Emilie Florence Thake (-2G) on 11 Apr. 1880 at the Independent Evangelical Protestant Church (Unabhangigen Evangelische Protestantischen Kirche) at Webster St. (later called Tyler) and 13th St. in St. Louis.
The 1880 Fed. Census for Illinois (Madison County, June 21, district 28, page 2, 11th dwelling visited) shows Emilie living with her husband, William Miller, and a couple of Irish farm hands and an English-born servant girl, still in Collinsville township. Her name is spelled Amelia E. and her age is 55. She and her parents were born in Prussia. Note that this middle initial is different than the middle names given in the baptism record of Carl Eugen Thake. Her son has already married and moved to St. Louis, MO. Her husband's age is given as 51 and his occupation as farmer. He was born in Ohio and his parents in Virginia. - - - - - - - - - - from the 1880 Census to her death (May 1904) - - - - - - - - - -Her second husband, William E. Miller, must have died between the 1880 Census (detailed above) and the 1900 Census (detailed below) because he is listed in the former whereas Emilie is identified as a widow in the latter (if the 1900 Census listing refers to our Emilie). However, since I have doubts about the 1900 Census listing, he could have died after that Census. In any case William was buried in Glenwood Cemetery, Collinsville, Madison Cnty., IL. He owned lot 57 in section E which is where he was ultimately buried. No interment date appears in the chuch/cemetery records. There is a Amile (or Emile) Miller in the 1900 US Fed. Census (June 2, district 42, sheet 1, line 47) for Collinsville Township, Madison County, IL. She is a farmer and a widow, head of the household. Because she is born in July 1832 (age 67) and because she had 5 children, I do not believe she is the same one. She is a farmer, and she and her parents were born in Germany. As yet I have not found any other Emilie (Amelia) Miller in this Census.
A death certificate for a Mrs. Emily Miller from the Madison County Clerk (#52714) says she was 81 years old and lived in Illinois 40 years. She was a housewife. It gives the place of death as Collinsville and the time of death as about 5 AM on 11 May 1904 after a 14 day illness. The cause was cerebral hemorrhage with a contributory cause of a degeneration? of blood vessels. She was buried in the Public Cemetery on the 13th of May 1904. It looks like her first name was first written as Amelia, which was scratched out with Emily written over it. No middle or maiden name was given. No parents', husbands' or informant's names were given. Also, no birth date was given, but she was born in Germany. There is no husband listed and no indication that she was a widow. Note that the age on this certificate does not match the age in the 1880 Census. According to family tradition she was buried in a cemetery in the Collinsville area next to her grand daughter Emilie Thake. On the death certificate of Mrs. Emily Miller detailed above, it indicates that she was buried in the Public Cemetery. According to a researcher "Public Cemetery" usually meant Glenwood Cemetery. The same researcher said that indeed there is an Amilia (Emily) Miller buried in an unknown location in Glenwood. The researcher gave the same age that is on the death certificate and the address of St. Louis Rd. which matches that on the drawing of Emilie's farm (see above), At an earlier date, her granddaughter Emilie Thake (-2G) died and was buried (7 May 1888) in Glenwood in section E, lot 27. Our Emilie Amelung (or her husband) bought the lot in Glenwood to bury her. Some time after Emilie Amelung died, the cemetery administration wanted to move the graves (perhaps to build the small road that presently cuts across the lots) and notified the owners. This may have been as late as 1944 when Emilie Amelung's grandson Erven Thake died and it was a decision for her granddaughter Cecelia Thake. But, in any case, the bodies of the two Emilie's were never moved to a new location by her grandchildren after 1936.
I do not know when or where her two husbands died or where her first husband was buried. Various relatives of her second husband are also buried in Glenwood Cemetery (see his page for more details). -------------------------------------------- There was also a Wilhelmine Charlotte Emilie Amelung who married a Carl Heinrich Take on 27 Jul. 1849 at the St. Marien Evang. Church in Minden (LDS film #0442163).
Created Mon. Apr. 3, 2000. Updated 30 May 2006.
|
Brother 
