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Family of Adolph and Elisabeth (Maiworm) Stessman Adolph (abt 1858 - abt 1858), twin of Joseph, died in infancy Joseph (abt 1858 - abt 1858), twin of Adolph, died in infancy Frank A (abt 1861 - 1898), married Gertrude BLANKE Mary (12/8/1862 - 8/13/1917), married Anton MERTENS John (5/15/1864 - 4/13/1944), married Elisabeth (Bertha) SCHNEIDER Elisabeth (abt 1866 - unknown), died at age 8 Theodore (9/15/1869 - 6/28/1954), married Elizabeth (Bertha) HUETTEMAN |
Adolph Stessman (Steßmann) was born May 19, 1823 near the small village of Meggen, Westfalen, Preussen. He was the third child of Heinrich Stessman who was born in this area of Germany about 26 years before. Adolph was educated and grew to manhood in Meggen. Upon reaching the age to serve in the military he was not called upon because his father had died and he was caring for his widowed mother.
Adolph married Elisabeth Mayworm (Maiworm) on November 6, 1857, the marriage recorded at Kirchhundem, Westfalen, Preussen. Elisabeth was born about 1832 in the neighboring village of Maumke, only a couple of kilmometers southwest of Meggen. Both villages are located between some mountains at the river Lenne in beautiful Sauerland. At the time this region was part of the Westfalen district of Preussen (Westphalia district of Prussia). Prussia was one of the separate German states prior to their unification under Otto von Bismarck about 1870.
Adolph Stessman helped on the construction of the Westphalia Railroad which was operated in connection with the sulphuric rock mines of the Ruhr Valley in the Westfalia province of west-central Germany. After marriage to Elisabeth (Bertha) Maiworn (Maiworm), they lived in Meggen, county (Kreise) of Olpe, district (Regierungsbezirke) of Arnsberg, state of Westphalen, Prussia, and later moved to Am Rott 29 in Maumke. They lived in the same house where Elizabeth was born. It was of stone construction like many of the houses in the village. It had a slate roof with timbers exposed on the outside. Adolph kept a daily paper in Maumke and also farmed small patches outside the village. He grew rye, potatoes and vegetables. they had one cow, a few pigs and some chickens. Adolph and Elisabeth had seven children: Adolph and Joseph, twin boys who died shortly after birth; Frank; Mary; John; Elisabethm who died at age eight; and Theodore. Theodore, and perhaps his brothers, were employed at the I'enne-Ruhr Iron Works, one of the industrial steel plants of the Ruhr Valley.
Having reached the age of military training Frank Stessman, the eldest surviving son, set out for the U.S. in the early 1880's and found work in Detriot, Michigan. It was here that he married Getrude Blank on May 05, 1885. Due probably to the poor economic conditions of the time, the remaining Stessmans would soon set out for the U.S. as well. The second oldest, Mary, married in Germany about 1885. Her husband, Anton Mertens, a son of Heinrich and Theresa Anna Mertens, was already living in Shelby County, Iowa and made the trip back. Anton and Mary Mertens arrived in the U.S. in August of the same year, listing their destination as Earling, Iowa. The other members of the family followed the next year and arrived from Antwerp to New York aboard the ship Waesland on April 29, 1886. They listed their destination as Detroit to join Frank. The ship list for the Waesland lists the family as Adolf Stessman (60), Elisab (55), Johann (25) and Theod (17).
Frank and Gertrude Stessman had two children in Detroit: John and Florentine. Frank was listed as a machinist at 429 Orleans in Detroit in 1890. For the same year Adolph was listed as a laborer, John a machinist, and Theodore a blacksmith, all at the address of 83 Jay in Detroit. On May 26, 1891, John Stessman married Elisabeth (Bertha) M Schneider in Detroit. She was a daughter of Caspar and Josephine (Huetteman) Schneider. On October 18, 1894, at Old St. Mary's Church in Detroit, Theodore Stessman married Elizabeth (Bertha) Huetteman, a daughter of Frank and Bernadina (Wessel) Huetteman. Frank and Josephine Huetteman (Hüttemann) were brother and sister, so John and Theodore Stessman's wives were 1st cousins.
By the latter half of the 1890s circumstances began to change for the Stessmans. Adolph's wife Elisabeth passed away on February 13, 1896. Frank Stessman, still in his thirties, died in Detroit in 1898. It was about this timeframe that sons John and Theodore moved to Shelby County, Iowa, near where Mary (Stessman) Mertens was living. By 1900 John was farming in Union township and Theodore was farming in Grove township, Shelby County.
Adolph Stessman later died on May 25, 1910 near Earling, Iowa and he is buried at St. Joseph's Cemetery in Earling. The families of Mary Mertens, John and Theodore Stessman continued farming in the Shelby County area, raising their families. Mary passed away at the age of 54 on August 13, 1917, and she is buried at St. Peter and Paul Cemetery in Defiance, Iowa. John and family remained in the Earling area and he lived to be almost 80 years of age, passing away on April 13, 1944. John is buried at St. Josephs in Earling. Theodore and family farmed near Panama, Iowa and he died at almost 84 years of age on June 28, 1954. Theodore is buried in St. Mary's Cemetery at Panama.
Article compiled by Dennis Walsh, July 2004.