52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks
Week 14
Prompt – It's Complicated
In the past several months I have been updating my maternal grandmother's siblings and families. It really was all straight forward if not tedious to fill in. In the past week I decided to do the same thing but on my father's side. That is I am looking into his mother's family, Elisabeth Dueck and her siblings.
Elisabeth Dueck was the 9th child of 15 children born to Johann Leonhard and Helena Dueck (Nee Peters). Johann and Helena were born in Mennonite colonies in South Russia. They married there on Sep 2, 1866. Their first 5 children were born in Russia. They immigrated to Canada leaving Hamburg on July 2, 1875 and arrived in Quebec on July 19, 1875. The two youngest Russian born children died on the same day 1 month after arriving in Canada. Their 6th child and first to be born in Canada was born two weeks after the death of its siblings. Sadly this child also died one month later.
Their 12th child died at 1 years of age. Their 13th child died at the age of 19. What I am saying is that not all 15 children lived to adulthood. None the less there is many siblings that I will work on.
I started with my grandmother's oldest sister, Helena Dueck born on May 12, 1848 in South Russia. Helena was 7 years old when she arrived in Manitoba, Canada with her family.
Helena's first marriage was to a man twice her age and on his 3rd marriage. They married on the 12 August 1888 in Rural Municipality of Rhineland, Manitoba, Canada. Helena was 20 years old and Peter Braun was 41 years old.
In Peter Braun's first two marriages he outlived his wives. I mention this because I presume Peter Braun's children from those two marriages would become Helena's concern. Let's look into Peter Braun's first two marriages.
He married Anna Ginter on August 30th, 1870. Their children are as follows:
Jacob Braun (1871- after 1903)
Peter Braun (1873-1873) XXXXX
Anna Braun (1875-1875) XXXXX
Peter Braun (1876-1945)
Anna Braun (1880-1926)
Anna Ginter died 5 months after Anna was born on Jun 23, 1880.
Peter Braun then married Anna Doerksen in 1881. Their children are:
Abram Braun (1882-Young) – before 1884 because name reused for next male baby. XXXXX
Katarina Braun (1883- about 1982)
Abram Braun (1884-1958)
Maria Braun (1885-1916)
Anna Doerksen died on July 1, 1888 in Rural Municipality of Rhineland, Manitoba.
Peter Braun then married Helena Dueck on August 12, 1888. That is one 1/2 months after his 2nd wife died. As I figure it, Peter Braun brought 6 children into this marriage. Peter and Helena's children are:
Johann Braun (1889-1974)
Helena Braun (1890-1956)
Aganetha Braun (1892-1925)
Elisabeth Braun (1894-1979)
Margaretha Braun (1896-?)
Kornelius Braun (1897-1897) Twin XXXXX
Wilhelm Braun (1897-1897) Twin XXXXX
Agatha Braun (1898-?)
Justina Braun (1900-1979)
Wilhelm Braun (1902-1981)
Henry Braun (1904-1981)
Gerhard Braun (1906-1908)
Franz Braun (1908-1908) XXXXX
Gerhard Braun (1909-1966)
Peter Braun died on January 29, 1910. He fathered 23 children. 6 died soon after they were born.
Helena Dueck then married Peter Klassen 5 months later on June 19 1910. They had 1 child together:
Cornelius Klassen (1911-1985).
However Peter Klassen was married before marrying Helena Dueck. He was married to Helena Hildebrand in 1885. Peter fathered 11 children with Helena Hildebrand. Only 5 of these children survived infancy.
Helena Dueck had no more children.
Peter Klassen died on July 21, 1946.
Helena Dueck lived until March 17, 1951 and was 83 years old.
To say that this family is complicated might be an understatement. It was the ultimate blended family situation. The early years in Canada were rough and not only for infants and children but for the adults as well. When a parent died it was expected that they would remarry soon after the death.
In my opinion, Helena Dueck, my Grand Aunt, was a super woman. I cannot fathom the logistics of running a household this big. Just imagine when her children married and had their own large families?
Wendy
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