Jim, Thanks so much for your reply. Wilhelmina's case has been really hard for me to break through. Your help will be a real asset. Here is some more information that I know on her case. She married Philip Hammer in 1862 in Lincoln Twp, Eau Claire County, WI Her children were born in Bridge Creek Twp, Eau Claire County, WI in 1863 John 1865 Herman Philip 1867 Carl Gustav She reportedly died in 1869. Philip was a lumberjack. I have found him living in Menomonie, Dunn Co, WI in the 1860 census, enumerated with the Knapp, Stout Lumber Co. I could not find a correct listing for Kuehn or Kuehn with a Wilhelmina of the right age in Wisconsin. Philip served for 5 months in 1865 in a Wisconsin regiment mustered out at the tail end of the Civil War. The unit never saw any action. I looked for the family of Wilhelmina and Philip in the 1870 census, hoping to find her still alive or Philip enumerated alone with the kids. Unfortunately I did not find a trace of the family. I do know that Herman never lived anywhere else but Eau Claire County in his entire life, so it is not possible that they would have been counted in another state. What is the likely cause of not finding the family is that Wilhelmina had died and Philip had left the kids with family and gone back to a lumber camp, one that did not get counted in the census. Since the 1870 census is still based on head-of-household the children would have been counted in with someone else's family. Now, I have found no record of any additional family of Philip's in the area, like parents or brothers. Most of the other Hammer's in the area are Norweigen not German. As far as I can determine it appears he came alone to the U.S. as a young man. He was 30 in 1860 however, so he did marry late. Wilhelmina on the other hand is likely to have traveled with family of some type, a brother at the least, as her crossing would have been around or before 1860. I have searched the Eau Claire County sites and found a listing for a Johann Daniel Kuhn dying in Fall Creek, shortly after the turn of the century. It lists his age as within the range of being Wilhelmina's father. I could not however find a listing for a death of a wife of Johann Daniel. If he is buried in Fall Creek with an Anna beside him then it is likely Wilhelmina's parents. Names of this era are so difficult to search by as the Germans regularly have a first name of Anna or Maria that goes unused in daily life. Without middle names of Wilhelmina's parents the search is even more difficult. The thing with this whole search that I find most desturbing is that no one knows were Wilhelmina is buried. If you come across any information on that, I am distraught that we do not know where to honor her. My father mentions a time when his father took him to a small family plot of graves, out behind a corn field north of Augusta. He was very young and doesn't remember where the plot is. It could be that Wilhelmina is out there. My great-aunts that are 90 and 84 years old however don't know of any such plot existing. Thanks for offering your help. I bet you didn't think you would get a novel in return for a simple gesture. Thanks again. Let's hope we find something. April >From: JI31313@aol.com >Reply-To: WIEAUCLA-L@rootsweb.com >To: WIEAUCLA-L@rootsweb.com >Subject: Re: [WIEAUCLA] Wilhelmina Kuehn - Lost Mother >Date: Thu, 17 May 2001 22:35:26 EDT > >Hi April > > > My name is Jim and I grew up very near to Eau Claire. I have been >doing a >lot of research in the Augusta and Fall Creek areas. The Kuehn name is >quite >common in the area. I have one or two in my family file now. I will keep my >eyes open each time I go home to see if I can help you!!!!!!!!!!! > >T.T.F.N. >Jim >JI3131@aol.com > > _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com