Andrew (Oehley) Ely (1832 - 1924)

Born 26 Aug 1832 in Rotenschrimbach, Saxony, Germany

Husband of Dorothea (Gujer) Ely — married 18 Mar 1867 in Kilbourn (Wisconsin Dells) Wisconsin

Descendants

Died 27 Dec 1924 at age 92 in Mauston, Wisconsin

Problems/Questions Profile manager: John Loomis [send private message]

Biography

--- The family name in Saxony was “Oehley” pronounced just about the way my surname is pronounced. The family in Germany was known as the “big Oehleys”. They were men of “extra” size and some of our distant cousins near Milwaukee have retained the size. Father’s mother’s name was Margaret Kau and she was a 100#er. Father got his size from her. --- His father (I believe) was a farmer or a farm laborer. I never heard him speak of any property which they owned. I do remember him telling me that his grandfather told him stories about the French soldiers straggling home from Napoleon’s defeat in Moscow. I asked for the tales but father could not remember them--maybe he thot I was too young. Father said that he quit school and went to work at the age of eleven and that he never increased in size from that time. I take it that he worked on the land. There were three children in his family. Two sisters and dad.--- Father was called up for military service when he reached 21. was rejected because of his size and called back when 22 and again rejected. He had saved enough money so that upon his rejection he hit for the USA. It took a month or more for his ship to make the crossing. That was 1854 and the motive power was wind. He headed for a 2nd cousin living in Milwaukee County (We called him Uncle Charlie and when I first met him he ran a saloon and farm in Miquau)??sp). that is the Katie Wolf family (you remember her). They cut the O off their name and became Ehley. Father decided to be a farmer and went to work for a family by the name of Wilkinson of North Prairie, near Waukesha. They undertook to teach him ENglish. ---The district school teacher boarded with them and we owe the present spelling of our name to him as well as its pronunciation^[1]

Sources

Excerpts from a letter of Elmer Ely to Florence Ely Loomis about 1944.

Footnotes

1. ↑ Entered by John Loomis.

Acknowledgments

Thanks to John Loomis for starting this profile. Click the Changes tab for the details of contributions by John and others.