Wilhelmina Becker

According to her death certificate, available at Family Search Labs, Mrs. Wilhelmina Becker, a widow, was born in Germany on June 6, 1833, and she died on October 1, 1911 in Lucas County, Ohio. Wilhelmina was the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John Kappen.
Wilhelmina Becker was buried at Oak Harbor Union Cemetery. Her tombstone is in the shape of a wooden chair, upon which is a pillow, and a scroll. On the pillow is inscribed the word MOTHER. One hundred years after the death of Wilhelmina Becker, her tombstone is still in wonderful condition. Mrs. Becker surely must have been loved by her family.

Monument of C. L. Danner

C.L. Danner's life is honored by this monument at the Union Cemetery in Oak Harbor, Ohio. The inscription reads:

C.L. Danner
Born
Aug. 24, 1838
Died
Nov. 1, 1914

The book PIONEER RECOLLECTIONS OF THE EARLY 30's and 40's IN SANDUSKY COUNTY, OHIO tells us that in the 1880's C. L. Danner had a hardware store in Oak Harbor, Ohio, in partnership with a young man named John Vogel. The death record of Louise Rose Catherine Danner, accessed at Family Search Labs, indicates that the full name of C.L. Danner was Charles Louis Danner. Louise Danner, wife of C.L. Danner, passed away on January 13, 1923, and she also is buried at Oak Harbor's Union Cemetery.

At the base of the monument is the name of the person who created Mr. Danner's tombstone, C. Schlenk, Sandusky, O.











Christian Schlenk was once the superintendent of Oakland Cemetery in Sandusky,Ohio, and he also sold tombstones for the Sandusky Monumental Works. Though this tombstone is almost 100 years old, the name of C. Schlenk is clearly legible. It appeared to be almost sparkling in the bright Ohio sunshine when I snapped the digital photo of the base of the Danner monument.

Piehl Family Lot in Union Cemetery

My great great grandparents, Ferdinand and Augusta (Jaensch) Piehl, and two of their children are buried in Union Cemetery in Salem Township, just outside Oak Harbor, in Ottawa County, Ohio. (Click on images to see a larger view.) Ferdinand and Augusta were both born in Germany,but came to the United States when they were still single. They were married at St. John Lutheran Church in Oak Harbor, by Rev. J. Bauch, on December 12, 1880. Early records sometimes list Ferdinand's first name as Gotthold or Gottlod. They had a total of nine children, the oldest daughter being my great grandmother Lena Piehl Yeager.



















Here is a family picture of the Piehl family, taken about 1906.


















Back row: Lena, Hulda, Christian, Emma, Martha
Center: Anna
Front row: Bertha, Ferdinand, Wanda, Augusta, Amanda

Ferdinand was a farmer, and he spoke only German. Amanda Piehl died on May 22, 1906, after contracting diphtheria. She was the first of the Piehl family to be buried in Union Cemetery.














Mrs. Augusta Piehl passed away on December 13, 1906. Her cause of death was listed as dropsy of chest.















The only boy in the family, Christian Piehl, died on March 4, 1913, at the age of 24.
















Ferdinand Piehl died on September 17, 1927, of heart disease.
















In 1995, I visited with Wilma Voight Hanck, the daughter of Emma Piehl Voight. She said that every summer there was a large family reunion at the Piehl farm. Aunt Bertha and Aunt Martha lived close by, and they always helped out. Wilma said there were enough cousins to have four baseball teams! There was a lot of delicious food, including thick homemade biscuits, and lots of visiting and family pictures were taken. Oh how I wish I could have gone to one of these reunions! After the death of Grandma and Grandpa Piehl, and their children began to have large families of their own, it seems that the tradition of the annual reunion ended.

Many thanks to cousins Al Hemminger and Fred Wargowsky, for helping me to learn more about the Piehl and Jaensch families.