Email me at: nhurley1010@hotmail.com
ADAM AND AMELIA WEBER
A Story of Happiness and Tragedy
Adam
and Amelia Weber, our immigrant ancestors from Germany, are a couple whose lives
are very intriguing, sometimes tragic. As
the research reveals more of the background, their story becomes more and more
compelling. I continue to search
for details from Germany to America.
Adam's service in the Civil War at the age of 44, Amelia's family name as
von Micol or Micol, the early deaths of four of their five children and Adam's
own tragic death on the tracks are all intriquing. All these topics are
bringing the picture of this couple’s life into focus.
Following is a timeline that outlines what we know so far.
 |
Adam
was born in 1821 in Mainz, Germany (Prussia at the time).
This is documented by Amelia's Civil War widow's pension records and
census records. These same records indicate his father was a sheepherder in
Altenstadt. |
|
Amelia
was born in 1833 in Vilbel, a small town just north of Frankfurt in southern
Germany. At the time of her birth this was also Prussia, as she
reported in the 1870 census.
Amelia’s parents were
Julianna (Weber) and Ludwig Micol, a master tailor. |
|
Adam and Amelia married on May 12, 1856, in Vilbel, Germany. The Catholic Church marriage record states that they received a dispensation from the church as well as legal permission to marry, since they were second cousins. Their census records indicate that they emigrated in 1857. |
| Adam and Amelia’s
first child, Henry Adam, was is born in Indianapolis in 1859 and baptized in
St. Mary’s Catholic Church. They
had three more sons, Herman, Franz and Theodore and one daughter, Amelia, by
1872. |
| Adam enlisted in the U. S. Army in February, 1865, in the last part of the Civil War. He served with the 143rd Regiment, Indiana Infantry. He was promoted from private to sergeant about a week after he was inducted according to National Archives records. |
| They lost one son at a year old in 1871. In 1876 they lost a daughter at 14, Amelia, and a son at 4, Herman, in a diptheria epidemic. In 1896 their 32-year-old son Theodore died. Harry Adam, our ancestor, was the only child to carry on this line, unless other family is yet to be discovered. |
| Tragedy struck
again on a cold Midwest morning at 5:00 a.m. when Adam
was “ killed by a Central Railroad engine at Noble Street in Indianapolis
on March 4, 1873.” The
newspaper reported that he was walking home from his job as a night watchman
and was found on the tracks, although he had walked in the wrong direction. The
coroner’s inquest stated the death was an accident. |
| Amelia
applied for a civil war widow’s pension in 1890 and it was awarded in
1892. She survived as a
dressmaker for the 20 years between Adam's death and this pension, living
with her sons, Theodore and Harry. |
| At
the time of the 1900 U. S. census, Amelia is living with her son, Harry Adam
at 533 South Alabama Street. He was
the co-owner of Weber & Zimmer Dry Goods on Virginia Avenue, just
a few blocks from their home. |
| Amelia
died in Indianapolis in 1913. By
that time she had 12 grandchildren by Harry and his wife Mary Anna (Keen)
and lived in the home on South Alabama with them.
In fact she died just two months after her grandson, Harry Lawrence
married Otillia Kuhn, to continue this line. |
to
be continued….
For other information on the Weber Family go the My Families Page or the Weber Photos page.
Nancy
Hurley
Copyright
October, 2003