Where this comes from

Notes & open questions

Elmer's parents, confirmed. Earlier versions of this site marked Edward Albert Weppner as Elmer's likely father. The 1931 biography of Edward in Niagara Frontier settles it: it names his wife as Delia E. Kraus and his children as Elmer Kraus, Raymond John and Caroline Delia.

July or September 1834? The 1906 county history says the family settled in Buffalo in July 1834. The ship’s register and the 1931 history show that they landed at New York on 23 August and reached Buffalo on 18 September. The Doll family, Blandina’s parents, did reach Buffalo in July: they landed at New York on 21 June 1834 and reached Buffalo on 1 July.

Augustus’s birth. The Westhofen baptism register gives 6 December 1783. His headstone, which gives his age at death in March 1869 as 84 years and 3 months, points to December 1784, and his age on the 1834 passenger list and in censuses to about 1785.

Blandina’s birthplace. The 1931 history says she was born at “Innsbruck, Germany.” Her 1852 marriage entry gives her parents as “ex Ensbach … in Baden,” and WikiTree places her birth at Önsbach, near Achern, so “Innsbruck” looks like a garbled Önsbach.

August’s children or Charles’s? Ancestry trees list several of August F. Weppner’s children, Harold, Ruth, Oliver, Ralph and Paul, under his brother Charles. WikiTree, the 1931 biographies of Oliver and Paul, and Oliver’s 1964 obituary all place them with August and Josephine, and this site follows them.

Two Arnold H. Weppners. There were two. The 1880 census lists an Arnold, 15, in Francis Weppner’s household; the 1900 directory lists Arnold H. Weppner as foreman of Francis’s Weppner Provision Co., living at Francis’s house; and Catherine Dantzer’s 1915 obituary names an Arnold H. among her sons. His younger cousin Arnold Henry Weppner (1878–1962) was August F.’s son, as WikiTree and Oliver’s 1964 obituary show.

Dates that differ. Where WikiTree and other records disagree, this site gives the record closest to the event and notes the difference: Jacob’s birth (29 September or 29 October 1820), August F.’s birth and death (26 August 1854 in his baptism record, 11 August in a 1931 history; 13 or 15 October 1930), Edward’s death (28 or 29 January 1914), Josephine Gebhard’s birth (1866 or 1868), David F.’s birth (1929 or 1930), Philip Born’s birth (7 May 1799 in family trees, about 1804 by his headstone), Anna Maria Born’s death (26 July 1889 on her headstone and in her obituary, 28 July in a probate notice) and Blandina’s death (13 or 16 October 1910). WikiTree’s 1930 death date for Josephine can’t be right: she was living in 1931 and is in the 1934 directory.

Which bank? The 1931 history says Edward A. Weppner spent his whole career at the German-American Bank, but that bank was organized in 1892, and the 1900 directory lists him as assistant cashier of the German Bank. By 1904 he was cashier of the German-American. The family story that he saved “the German Bank” fits the events of 1904: Appleyard controlled both banks, the German-American survived its run, and the German Bank failed.

Arnold’s birth. The 1931 biography of his son Edward gives 9 September 1829. The same history’s biography of his grandson Oliver gives 5 September 1825, which matches the other records.

Edward C. David's 2010 obituary calls his brother “Edward M.” Family-tree records give the full name Edward Charles, which matches Edward's own obituary.

The twins. Frank Arnold and Charles A. Weppner were both born on 3 April 1862. Online trees sometimes mix up their wives and children. This site follows each twin's own record.

Two August F. Weppners. Arnold's son August F. (born 1854) ran the meat market. Francis's son Augustus F. was a cousin of the same name.

Where the market began. The 1898 history says August's market was “established by his father in 1845.” Catherine Weppner's 1915 obituary describes her own father's shop on Exchange Street, where Francis worked.

Zell. The 1906 biography says “Zell, Rhine-Bavaria,” meaning the Palatinate, and WikiTree places the family there from about 1817 to 1829, before a move to Pfeddersheim near Worms. Some online trees place Zell in Upper Bavaria instead.

The family in Germany. WikiTree’s researchers have traced the Weppners of Westhofen back to Johannes Balthasar Weppner, born there in 1696, through the Catholic registers of the Diocese of Mainz. Augustus’s mother, Maria Anna Sabina Albert, is still a brick wall: her mother’s family name isn’t known, and neither are her death date or her husband’s.

Still missing. Where and when John Weppner died, as a prisoner at Salisbury, North Carolina, or in a Washington hospital after his release; the early records of Frank C. and Albert M. Weppner, who aren’t on WikiTree yet; and where Barbara Stumpf was first buried in 1858, before the United German & French Cemetery opened.

Charles G. Herger. WikiTree gives his death as 1930. Ancestry trees give 20 March 1933.

Still to place. David F. Weppner's obituary also names grandchildren Erin, Lori and Sophia, and their parents aren't recorded here yet. Living relatives are listed by name only.

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