Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Whatever Happened to the Other Linneman Brother?


Elizabeth Linneman (Mem) had four older brothers: Christian, Gerhard, William and George. They arrived in Baltimore in 1904 from Germany and were all in Monessen by 1917, except for William. In their mother's obituary, William was listed as residing in Chicago in 1930 so I did a little digging.

The first record that I found for William in Chicago was in 1916. On
January 4, 1916, William married Emma Schultz, a widow with 4 children. Emma was born in Russia, but was often listed as German, and arrived in Baltimore from Bremen in 1906 with 3 of her children. Her husband Rudolph Schoning (Schonig) was already in Chicago and died sometime between 1910 and 1915 (Emma was naturalized in 1915 and was listed as a widow). William and Emma had a daughter, Emma Linneman, on April 3, 1916 (yes, just three months after their marriage).

In all of the records, William and Emma lived on the northwest side of Chicago in the Logan Square and Bucktown neighborhoods, which were immigrant areas of the city at the time that they settled (German and Norwegian). William was listed often as a woodworker, carpenter or furniture finisher. He died in 1951 and Emma died in 1952; both are buried in Elmhurst, IL. In both of their obituaries, their five daughters were listed (Emma and her order siblings) plus they had 20 grandchildren and 16 great-grandchildren.

Here is the only picture that we have of William. It is from a portrait taken in Germany around 1904.

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