EMILIE AUGUSTE CHRISTINA SCHLUESSLER
Emilie Auguste Christina Schluessler (known as Amelia) was born November 25, 1876 in Sterling Township, Macomb County, Michigan to Christian Friedrich-Wilhelm Schluessler and Ernestine Emilie Auguste Werner (aka Emilie Schauer). She would one day become my paternal great-grandmother, mother of my grandmother, Ella Wellhausen Schulte. Amelia was the 5th and final child of Wilhelm and Emilie Schluessler, however, hers was a special birth in that she appeared with a twin brother, Albert.
She would be the only great-grandparent that I actually knew as she did not pass away until I was 16 and I remember her well.
On December 3, 1876, Amelia was baptized in the Lutheran faith at St. John's Lutheran Church in Fraser, Michigan.
I don't have much information about her childhood or school years but I do have a photo of my great-grandmother in a school play. This photo was a tin type and scanned very well. The young man with her in the boat is unknown. Despite knowing my great-grandmother, I naturally knew her as an elderly person and seeing her as a young girl in approximately 1890 was very interesting:
On February 14, 1895, again at St. John's Lutheran Church in Fraser, Michigan, Amelia married George Wellhausen. They had a wedding party of three couples and began their married life in Sterling Township, later moving to Utica, Michigan.
George and Amelia had two daughters - Gertrude and my grandmother, Ella, followed 10 years after Ella's birth by a son, George, Jr.
Here is a photo of mother and daughter, Amelia Schluessler Wellhausen and Ella Wellhausen Schulte in approximately 1925:
George and Amelia Wellhausen with grandson, Lynwood Wellhausen, in approximately 1935:
While Amelia's husband, George, passed away in 1938 at a young age, she continued to live in Utica and later lived with her daughter, Gertrude in Detroit. She was very social and enjoyed being with friends and family though one of her favorite things to do was to visit the cemetery where her husband was buried, sit there and eat lunch. Hmm, sounds spooky to me but it was known that "great grandma loved to go sit in the cemetery". Too bad she didn't utilize that time in the cemetery for genealogy research which she could have documented and shared with her great-granddaughter!
Here is a photo of Amelia in approximately 1942 with her three children, left to right, Gertrude Wellhausen Kolberg, George Wellhausen, Jr. and Ella Wellhausen Schulte:
Here she is again with her children in approximately 1955. This is the great-grandma that I remember:
On May 25, 1963 in St. Clair Shores, Michigan, Amelia Wellhausen passed away at the age of 86 and she was buried with her husband, George, in Utica Cemetery, Utica, Michigan.
My memories of my great-grandmother are of her babysitting my brother and I at different times and as an always pleasant and smiling person. She had a good long life, financial security and her grandchildren gave her pleasure. One could not ask for more.
Today I am thinking of her on this 145th anniversary of her birth.
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