Ancestors

Wilhelmina Coldewey

Wilhelmina Coldewey was born in Germany on 6 September 1833. Her obituary names her birthplace as Hamstedt. She came to America young, in 1848 by the 1900 census. In 1859, by her memorial, she married Heinrich Friederich Christian Thiele, a Westphalian baptised at Lahde in Kreis Minden in 1827. For fifty-four years she lived in Washington township, Allen County, Indiana. Their son Louis was born in October 1860, and in 1900 she and her husband were living in Louis's household.

She died at half past five on the morning of Wednesday 9 February 1910, two weeks after a stroke. She was seventy-six; the paper said seventy-seven. The Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette reported the next day: "Mrs Wilhelmina Thiele, seventy-seven years of age, wife of Fred Thiele of Washington township, died at 5:30 Wednesday morning. Death was due to a stroke of apoplexy suffered two weeks ago. Mrs Thiele was born in Hamstedt, Germany. She came to America at an early age and for the past fifty-four years had been a resident of Washington township." She left her husband and six children: Fred Thiele of St Louis, Louis Thiele, Mrs Christian Schaefer, Mrs William Schmidt, and William and Henry Thiele.

The funeral was at Bethlehem Lutheran church. She is buried in its cemetery under a small stone that reads WILHLMINE THIELE 1833-1910, the cutter having dropped a letter.

Coldewey is a name of the Hannover, Bremen and Oldenburg country, not of Kreis Minden, where her husband and most of the Fort Wayne settlement came from.

If Wilhelmina Coldewey is in your family, start your own tree.

Cite: Heirology, "Wilhelmina Coldewey (1833-1910)", https://heirology.com/ancestors/wilhelmina-coldewey-1833-1910-9956be.