The Philippsburg and Östringen records, Cecilia’s 1895 obituary, and the birth-date and surname questions still retained in the account.
A promising lead for Rosa’s earlier life turns up in Philippsburg. A contemporary Catholic register duplicate records Anna Rosa Walter born on June 27, 1842, and baptized on June 29, daughter of Franz Walter and Cäcilia. The modern municipal index says August, but the original record clearly says June. A clearer 1841 entry for the same parents supports Buchmüller as Cäcilia’s maiden name. These names fit Rosa’s 1871 Highland marriage. Cecilia’s 1895 obituary, discussed below, now strongly connects this German family with Rosa Widmer of Salisbury, Missouri. Rosa’s conflicting birth dates and passenger-list age remain unresolved.
Source note: Generallandesarchiv Karlsruhe, 390 Nr. 3965, Catholic birth section, page 386, entry 38 (Bild 37), contemporary duplicate dated June 29, 1842. Compare the 1841 entry for Johann Joseph Walter, page 359, entry 11 (Bild 4), which gives Cäcilia’s surname as Buchmüllerin. That spelling supports Buchmüller; the 1842 reading remains qualified. It does not resolve the ambiguous Buchmüller/Burkmüller wording in the 1871 Highland record.
We can now follow this German family a little further. Franz Walter and Cäcilia Buchmüller married at Östringen on November 22, 1832. A certified extract copied into the Philippsburg register calls witness Joseph Buchmüller II the bride’s brother. An Östringen entry records Cecilia Buchmüller born and baptized on January 26, 1811, daughter of Joseph and Gertraud, née Kimling. Her name, parents and town make her a strong match for the 1832 bride, though the marriage entry gives no age. The missing link turned up in Cecilia’s 1895 obituary: it names her daughter as Mrs. Rosa Widmer of Salisbury, Missouri, and repeats Cecilia’s Östringen birthplace and 1832 marriage to Frank Walter of Philippsburg. Together, these records strongly connect the German family with Rosa in Missouri.
Franz’s 1832 marriage extract also names his father, Sebastian Walter, a citizen and farmer in Philippsburg, and his late mother, Maria Eva Heilig. A Philippsburg death entry records Maria Eva, née Heilig, Sebastian Walter’s wife, dying on December 13, 1817, aged 33. The names and place line up. Franz’s own birth record is still needed to settle the competing January 1807 dates.
Two Östringen death entries also fill in the lives of Joseph Buchmüller and Gertraud Kimling, the couple named as Cecilia’s parents. Joseph died on May 11, 1825, aged 54; his entry names Gertraud as his wife. Gertraud died on February 16, 1845, aged 70, recorded as Joseph’s widow. Neither entry names their parents, so these records fill gaps without taking the line back another generation.
Sources: The Philippsburg register, 390 Nr. 3963, page 11, §13 (Bild 44), preserves a certified copy of the Östringen marriage entry. December 8, 1832 is the copy’s certification date, not the wedding date. The Östringen register, 390 Nr. 683, entry 7 (Bild 27), records Cecilia’s 1811 birth and baptism. Joseph Buchmüller II has not been matched to a particular birth record.
