{"id":1592,"date":"2026-10-31T17:35:36","date_gmt":"2026-10-31T17:35:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tim-roling.com\/?page_id=1592"},"modified":"2026-11-01T20:46:42","modified_gmt":"2026-11-01T20:46:42","slug":"bange-jacob-joseph-widmer","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/tim-roling.com\/?page_id=1592","title":{"rendered":"Jacob and Joseph Widmer in America"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<style>.family-topic-breadcrumb{font-size:.95rem;margin:0 0 22px}.family-topic-intro{max-width:68ch;line-height:1.7}.family-topic-menu{display:grid;grid-template-columns:repeat(2,minmax(0,1fr));gap:14px;margin:26px 0}.family-topic-menu a{display:block;padding:18px;border:1px solid #c9cec8;border-radius:4px;background:#f5f2e9;text-decoration:none;color:#293d30;min-height:52px}.family-topic-menu strong{display:block;font-size:1.1rem}.family-topic-menu span{display:block;margin-top:6px;color:#4f574e;line-height:1.55;font-size:.95rem}.family-topic-related{border-top:1px solid #d8d2c5;margin-top:32px;padding-top:18px}.family-topic-related a{display:inline-block;margin:6px 22px 6px 0}.family-topic-breadcrumb a:focus-visible,.family-topic-menu a:focus-visible,.family-topic-related a:focus-visible{outline:3px solid #98513b;outline-offset:4px}.wp-block-post-content:has(.family-topic-breadcrumb){max-width:960px;margin-left:auto;margin-right:auto}.wp-block-post-content:has(.family-topic-breadcrumb)>p{line-height:1.7}.wp-block-post-content:has(.family-topic-breadcrumb) :is(h2,h3){scroll-margin-top:24px}.wp-block-post-content:has(.family-topic-breadcrumb) a{overflow-wrap:anywhere}@media(max-width:600px){.family-topic-menu{grid-template-columns:1fr}.family-topic-menu a{padding:16px}}<\/style>\n<nav class=\"family-topic-breadcrumb\" aria-label=\"Breadcrumb\"><a href=\"https:\/\/tim-roling.com\/\">Home<\/a> \u203a <a href=\"https:\/\/tim-roling.com\/?page_id=11\">Bange family<\/a> \u203a Jacob and Joseph Widmer in America<\/nav>\n<p class=\"family-topic-intro\">The American evidence for the brothers, Joseph\u2019s florist business, and the conflicting Salisbury \u201cJohn\u201d reference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"jacob-widmer-parents\">More about Jacob Widmer<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Jacob Widmer died in Salisbury Township on September 29, 1932. His <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sos.mo.gov\/images\/archives\/deathcerts\/1932\/1932_00029366.PDF\">death certificate<\/a> gives his birthday as March 7, 1843, and says he and his father, Joseph Widmer, were born in Switzerland. It leaves his mother\u2019s name unknown and gives no Swiss hometown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In November 1915, Jacob Widmer made a trip from Salisbury, Missouri, to Highland to visit his brother. The <a href=\"https:\/\/louislatzermemorialpublic.historyarchives.online\/viewer?fn=highland_leader_usa_illinois_highland_19151116_english_4&amp;cid=3128\">Highland Leader<\/a> reported that he arrived Saturday morning to see \u201cJos. Widmer, of this city.\u201d The notice names them as brothers. A later report of Jacob\u2019s funeral adds stronger evidence connecting Jos. with the Highland florist Joseph Widmer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Source:<\/strong> <em>Highland Leader<\/em>, November 16, 1915, page 4, column 2, \u201cPersonal Affairs Briefly Mentioned.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"joseph-widmer-florist-1926\">Joseph Widmer, Highland florist<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Two Highland newspapers remembered florist Joseph Widmer after his death on March 8, 1926. Both gave his birthplace as Lucerne, Switzerland, and his birthday as March 6, 1844. They described the flower business he established in Highland in 1870 and his marriage that November to Josepha Rommerskirchen. A <a href=\"https:\/\/louislatzermemorialpublic.historyarchives.online\/viewer?i=f&amp;d=09291932-10151932&amp;k=widmer&amp;m=between&amp;ord=k1&amp;fn=highland_news_leader_usa_illinois_highland_19321004_english_8&amp;df=1&amp;dt=1&amp;cid=3128\">Highland News Leader notice of October 4, 1932 (page 8, column 2)<\/a> explicitly calls Jacob of Salisbury a brother of the late Joseph Widmer. It names members of the Highland florist\u2019s family among those who attended Jacob\u2019s funeral, strengthening that connection. The 1926 obituary\u2019s reference to \u201cJohn\u201d of Salisbury remains a conflicting detail, and the link to the proposed Swiss parents is still unproved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Journal named his sister as Mrs. Elizabeth Dabadon of St. Louis and listed two brothers, both called John: one in Salisbury and one in Seattle. The Salisbury name is a puzzle, not a reason to change John to Jacob. Neither obituary names Joseph\u2019s parents, and the two accounts disagree about his immigration and retirement years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Sources:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/louislatzermemorialpublic.historyarchives.online\/viewer?i=f&amp;d=03081926-03201926&amp;k=widmer&amp;m=between&amp;ord=k1&amp;fn=highland_news_leader_usa_illinois_highland_19260309_english_1&amp;df=1&amp;dt=6&amp;cid=3128\"><em>Highland News Leader<\/em>, March 9, 1926, page 1, column 4, \u201cVenerable Joseph Widmer Passed Away Yesterday\u201d<\/a>; <a href=\"https:\/\/louislatzermemorialpublic.historyarchives.online\/viewer?i=f&amp;d=03081926-03201926&amp;k=widmer&amp;m=between&amp;ord=k1&amp;fn=highland_journal_usa_illinois_highland_19260311_english_1&amp;df=1&amp;dt=6&amp;cid=3128\"><em>Highland Journal<\/em>, March 11, 1926, page 1, column 2, \u201cOctogenarian Passes On\u201d<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Source notes:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sos.mo.gov\/images\/archives\/deathcerts\/1932\/1932_00029366.PDF\">Jacob Widmer\u2019s Missouri death certificate, September 29, 1932<\/a>, certificate 28745 (official image filename 1932_00029366.PDF). E. J. Widmer supplied the information, but the form does not say how they were related. The birth and parent details were reported many years later. His mother\u2019s birthplace, as well as her name, is recorded as unknown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<section id=\"widmer-will-and-john-family\" aria-labelledby=\"widmer-will-heading\"><h2 id=\"widmer-will-heading\">Joseph\u2019s will names the family<\/h2><p>Joseph Widmer\u2019s will, dated February 18, 1888, survives in the Madison County court register in German with a certified English translation. It names sons <strong>Joseph, Moritz, Jacob and Johann<\/strong>, and daughters <strong>Anne (Anna) Rose, Elisabeth Debatin, Anna Zeiker and Mary Nagel<\/strong>. These are eight named child-beneficiaries, not necessarily every child ever born. Anne Rose and Anna Zeiker are separate people. The will does not name their mothers or supply Swiss birthdays.<\/p><p><strong>Source:<\/strong> Madison County, Illinois, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.familysearch.org\/ark:\/61903\/3:1:939V-W72D-P\">Will Record F, pages 100\u2013102<\/a>; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.familysearch.org\/ark:\/61903\/3:1:939V-W7VK-K\">associated proof record<\/a>. FamilySearch may require sign-in.<\/p><h2>John Widmer\u2019s marriages and first family<\/h2><p>The original St. Paul parish registers in Highland identify John\u2019s parents as <strong>Joseph Widmer and Anna Bog<\/strong> twice: in his marriage to Anna Maria Schuler on May 12, 1874, and his marriage to Maria Buehlmann on January 15, 1885. The spelling Bog is preserved as written, rather than silently changed to the Swiss Boog.<\/p><p>The parish baptism register records their son <strong>John Joseph<\/strong>, born June 27, 1879, and baptized July 14, naming John Widmer and Anna Maria Schuler as his parents. A later burial entry records Maria Widmer, born Schuler, wife of John, dying on <strong>April 22, 1884<\/strong> and being buried on April 23, in the thirty-second year of her age. It does not name a cemetery. This places her death before John\u2019s 1885 marriage.<\/p><p>The civil 1885 form\u2019s \u201c1st\u201d marriage entries and its license-date chronology remain anomalies; the new parish evidence does not explain them away. The American family connection is much stronger than before, while the Swiss identification and conflicting later birth details still require qualification. <a href=\"https:\/\/tim-roling.com\/?page_id=1593\">Read the Swiss comparison.<\/a><\/p><p><strong>Sources:<\/strong> St. Paul, Highland parish registers, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ancestry.com\/imageviewer\/collections\/61682\/images\/48917_302022005545_0283-00611\">1874 marriage<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ancestry.com\/imageviewer\/collections\/61682\/images\/48917_302022005545_0283-00642\">1885 marriage<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ancestry.com\/imageviewer\/collections\/61682\/images\/48917_302022005545_0283-00377\">1879 baptism, page 224<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ancestry.com\/imageviewer\/collections\/61682\/images\/48917_302022005545_0283-00819\">1884 burial, page 108<\/a>. These original images are in Ancestry\u2019s Diocese of Springfield collection and may require a subscription.<\/p><\/section>\n<section id=\"charles-widmer-spouses\"><h2>Charles Widmer: Helen and Ruth<\/h2><p>Charles\u2019s 1951 death certificate names <strong>Ruth<\/strong> as his wife and informant. Helen Depke was his earlier wife; her own death certificate records her death on <strong>March 14, 1934<\/strong>, naming Charles J. Widmer as husband and informant. No date for Charles and Ruth\u2019s marriage has yet been established.<\/p><p><strong>Sources:<\/strong> Missouri death certificates for Charles Widmer, November 6, 1951 (family-held original), and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sos.mo.gov\/images\/archives\/deathcerts\/1934\/1934_00012104.PDF\">Helen Widmer, March 14, 1934<\/a>, printed file 11467.<\/p><\/section><nav class=\"family-topic-related\" aria-label=\"Related pages\"><a href=\"https:\/\/tim-roling.com\/?page_id=11\">\u2190 Bange family<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/tim-roling.com\/?page_id=1588#widmer-walter-topics\">More Widmer and Walter chapters<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/tim-roling.com\/?page_id=1593\">The Swiss candidate family<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/tim-roling.com\/?page_id=1594\">The separate1871 marriage candidate<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/tim-roling.com\/?page_id=1604\">Full source notes<\/a><\/nav>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Home \u203a Bange family \u203a Jacob and Joseph Widmer in America The American evidence for the brothers, Joseph\u2019s florist business, and the conflicting Salisbury \u201cJohn\u201d reference. More about Jacob Widmer Jacob Widmer died in Salisbury Township on September 29, 1932. His death certificate gives his birthday as March 7, 1843, and says he and his [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":11,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1592","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tim-roling.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1592","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tim-roling.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tim-roling.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tim-roling.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tim-roling.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1592"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/tim-roling.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1592\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2006,"href":"https:\/\/tim-roling.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1592\/revisions\/2006"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tim-roling.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/11"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tim-roling.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1592"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}