treetrack'n

K is for Friedrich "Fred" Kuehl (1837-1928)

I love old German church records. They are difficult to read and I usually can't read them entirely but what I find is sometimes golden. For example the entry for the death of Friedrich Kuehl.

Fred Kuehl was the second husband of my second great grandmother Louisa Doering. She married Fred after the death of her first husband, Gottlieb Wilkowski. When Louisa died, he went to live with their daughter Emma Kuehl and her husband William Boettcher. William was a tinsmith and Fred worked in the tin shop with him. They probably made household items like coffeepots, baking pans or milk pails. That is what I know from the census. 

The death entry, from what I can make out tells me more. He was born 6 Aug 1837. Okay, didn't know that. He immigrated to the United States in 1863. That's good to know too with such a common name. He was married twice. Hello, hold the phone. Who? Where? I haven't a clue. 

When he died he was living with Meta Buending Krebs, granddaughter of wife Louisa. That makes sense. He had outlived his immediate family. Now I know who stepped up to care for him. I think that the granddaughter, Mrs Wm. Krebs and Mrs Otilie Buending are listed because they are next of kin. So, no mention of the step-sons. or maybe they were caring for him. I need a better translation.

Here is the death entry, recorded at the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Watertown, Wisconsin. I think I have done most of the translation correctly.

233. Friedrich Kuehl, geboren on 6 Aug. 1837 in Deutschland. Came to America 1863. He was twice married. (?) in Horicon, Fort Atkinson and last at Wm Krebs, Lebanon, Mrs Ottilie Buending and (?) Mrs Wm Krebs.... He died on 26 Feb 1928, age 90 years, 6 months, 20 days. Burial on 29 Feb 1928, "Oak Hill" Watertown, Wisconsin.

 He was buried in the Oak Hill Cemetery on 29 Feb, 1928 in the Fred C Wilkowski plot next to his wife, Louisa. The cemetery records list myocarditis as a cause of death.