My Third Great Grandmother - Wilhelmine Ziese Maas

My 3rd GGrandmother Wilhelmine Ziese Maas was buried in Immanuel Lutheran Cemetery in Watertown, Wisconsin or was it the Immanuel Lutheran Church Cemetery in Lebanon, Wisconsin 6 miles away. The only mention I had of her was in an email about 10 years ago from a shirttail cousin. One email he mentioned Lebanon, and the next he mentioned Watertown. He did mention the stone was deteriorating as could be expected since she died so long ago. The hunt was on as we took a whirlwind genealogy tour the summer of 2016. I knew nothing about her other than her birthdate (1825) again from that early email.

Digging in my records, I found her listed as the mother of Bertha Maas Albrecht on Bertha's marriage record to Carl Ewald. Wilhelmine's spouse was listed as Johannes Maas. So now I had names of both GGG grandparents but little else. The Email from Bob also stated that Wilhelmine's full name was Ernestine Wilhelmine Ziese (asa Ziehse) and her husband's full name was Johannes David Maas. He died in a logging accident in Pomerania although no date was given. They both were from Trechel, Pomerania. Their daughter Bertha Emilie Maas was born December 15, 1846 in Basenthin, Pomerania. Still not much to go on about Wilhelmine and Johannes.

Before our trip, I took to the internet to see if I could find more. I used a Facebook Group called Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness and within minutes someone responded with the following.

The first image is the marriage of Johannes David Maas to Ernestine Wilhelmine Ziese in July of 1843.  The second 2 images are the complete baptism record of Wilhelmine Ziese which shows her full name of Ernestine Wilhelmine Henriette Ziese baptized in 1826. Her parents are Johann Ziese and Maria Duwen. My German is lacking so I will need to find a translator to read the rest of the record.

As we came to Lebanon first from Milwaukee, we stopped at the cemetery there. While we found many stones with the name Maas, we were unable to find Wilhelmine born in 1825. On to Watertown where we stopped at the store my GG grandfather Charles Goette had built. Talking to the current proprietor we were able to locate the Immanuel Lutheran Cemetery in Watertown so headed out there. It didn't take long and we found her!

She was born July 15, 1825 and Died June 5, 1919. Not knowing when she came over, I elected to search for some census records. Working backwards I hoped to find her in at least the 1910 and the 1900 Federal census. Possibly also the Wisconsin 1905 and 1895.

The 1900 Federal Census shows her living with her son Albert and family. She is 74 years old, widowed, had 8 children but only 3 are living in 1900. She arrived in the United States in 1888.  I have not found her in the 1910 census yet. So many questions. What were the names of all of her children, how many of them came to America, where did they settle? What port did she arrive? My guess on some of these are they are hidden because of spelling interpretations. I will keep searching.