Johann Heinrich Dietrich Christian Witte (1814 - abt. 1890)

Born 9 Sep 1814 in Landesbergen, Nienburg, Niedersachsen, Prussia

Husband of Sophia Dorothea Wilhelmina (Menze) Witte — married [date unknown] (to 1866) in Landesbergen, Nienburg, Lower Saxony, Germany

Descendants

Died about 1890 at about age 75 in Oldebolt, Sac, Iowa

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Biography

Prior to emigrating to America, there is not much known about Heinrich Dietrich Christian Witte's (Christian) life. He was born September 9, 1814 to parents Johann Heinrich Witte and Catharine Margarethe Hillmann.

The website GEDBAS has a geneology for his family and much of the information has proven to be true in census records, family history, and other sources. However, in incorrectly shows his wife as Wilhelmina Helmold. As noted below, other genealogy based on Christian's daughter's death record show him married to Caroline Wesenfeldt which is also incorrect (see explanation below).

Christian Witte was married to Sophia Dorothea Wilhelmina Menze. In fact, on his son Diedrich's marriage record, the name "Whl." (Wilhelmina) Menze was the name given in that marriage record as the mother of Diedrich Witte (see line 22 in image below).

Marriage Record of Diedrich Witte - Mother's name Whl. Menze

Caroline (Wesenfeldt) Albert (abt.1817-abt.1877) was wrongly shown as the wife of Christian Witte on his daughter's death certificate. She was the mother-in-law of Christian and Wilhelmina Menze Witte's daughter Louisa Witte Albert. When Louisa passed away, Louisa's son Frank Albert was the informant for the death record. Frank provided his father's mother's name (his grandmother Caroline Wessendfeldt Albert) instead of his mother's mothers name (his grandmother Sophia Dorothea Wilhelmina Menze) for the name of Louisa's mother on the death certificate. In other words, he got his grandmother's names mixed up and the wrong name was entered on the death certificate! Until the death certificate is corrected, this error will lead many genealogists astray.^[1]

Louisa Witte Albert Death Certificate showing INCORRECT name of mother.

The farm village that the Witte's all lived in was Landesbergen, Hanover district, Germany (or Prussia at the time). Christian and Wilhelmina had six children according to a GEDBAS genealogy and a family member who may have got the information from GEDBAS. All except Heinrich Witte have been shown to be accurate names for the children of Christian and Wilhelmina:

• Friedrich P. Witte, born April, 1841
• Caroline Witte, born April 20, 1848
• Heinrich Witte, born April 20, 1848 ??
• Louise Witte, born, October 14, 1850
• Sophia Witte, born November 4, 1854
• Diedrich Witte, born July 10, 1857

Nothing is known about Christian and Wilhelmina's presumed son named Henry reported in the GEDBAS genealogy referenced earlier.

Shortly after Wilhelmina's death in 1866, Christian and each of his children emigrated separately to live in the U.S. Christian emigrated by 1880 (actual date is not yet known). He was found in the 1880 census in Fairfield Township, Cedar, Iowa living with his daughter Louise Witte Albert and her family. Daughter Caroline, in Kansas, had lost three children to diphtheria in 1879 and her husband to typhoid in 1880 and he did spend time with her for a short while before she moved in 1882 to Nebraska and married again.

Both Christian and son-in-law Fred's father are widowed and shown as originally from Prussia in the 1880 census in Fairfield Township, Cedar, Iowa. The GEDBAS genealogy report mentioned above shows both the Albert's and the Witte's living in the same area prior to each of their emigrations.^[2]

Christian is found in the home of son-in-law, August and daughter, Sophia Witte Bugge in the 1885 State Census for Viola, Sac, Iowa along with son Dietrich (who married later in this same year).^[3]

Family history tells of Christian finally staying at his son Dietrich and daughter-in-law Sophia's home in Richland Township, Sac, Iowa some time after their marriage. He was living with them when he died there in Ida, Iowa in 1890, but apparently there is no marker for his grave.

Sources

1. ↑ "Iowa, Death Records, 1904-1951," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QPHQ-F4J8 : 8 April 2021), Christ Witte in entry for Louisa Albert, 29 May 1941, Clarence, Cedar, Iowa, United States; citing certificate #, State Historical Society of Iowa, Des Moines; FamilySearch digital folder 104052715.
2. ↑ 1880 Census: "United States Census, 1880"
   citing enumeration district , sheet , NARA microfilm publication T9 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.), FHL microfilm .
   FamilySearch Record: MDK1-5V4 (accessed 16 August 2022)
   FamilySearch Image: 33SQ-GYBW-93BD Image number 00343
   Louise Albert (28), wife, in household of Fred Albert (29) in Fairfield Township, Cedar, Iowa, United States. Born in Germany.
3. ↑ "Iowa State Census, 1885," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HY-6X49-BXL?cc=1803643&wc=M6LX-B23%3A145131001%2C145109601 : 1 April 2016), Sac > Viola > image 35 of 48; State Historical Society, Des Moines.

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