Charles Diethelm (1858 - 1878)

Born 5 May 1858 in Laketown Township, Carver, Minnesota

Ancestors

Died 18 Jul 1878 at age 20 in Laketown Township, Carver, Minnesota

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Pat Quinn [send private message]

Biography

Charles (known as Carl) was born May 5, 1858 in Laketown Twp (Victoria), Minnesota. He is the son of Carl Diethelm and Elisabeth Fessler and grew up in a log cabin on their farm in Laketown.

Around 1876, his parents moved the family to the west coast and they lived in California, Washington and Oregon over the next 2 years, while his oldest brother, Mike, stayed behind and ran the family farm. (See father's bio for details.)

News Report of Carl's Death

(Chaska) Weekly Valley Herald - 07/25/1878 pg 4

"DIED. At the residence of his father in Victoria, Laketown, on Thursday, July 18, 1878, Mr. H. Deithelm, aged 23 years. He was buried from the Catholic Church Victoria, Saturday July 20th and the funeral ceremonies were largely attended. He contracted his disease in Oregon, and came home to die among his kindred and friends. His parents and relatives have the sympathy of a large circle of friends."^[1]

His obit got his first initial and age wrong. (Searched for possible "Mr. H. Diethelm", but there was none, and he was 20, not 23.) The date of death matches young Carls'. According to another person's research, "family history" had it that he was gored by a bull, but the newspaper clearly said he'd "contracted a disease". Although the paper made mistakes, their version is more likely than a bull goring. Whatever his ailment, he traveled cross country with it and I can't see anyone surviving that journey with such a serious injury. Family lore may be mistaking his death for a nephew of his who died 20 years later at roughly the same age of "an accident".^[2] This incident may have been what brought an end to the Diethelm's wanderings on the west coast, and back to Minnesota.

Carl was only 20 years old when he passed away and he never married or had children. He is buried in St. Victoria Catholic Church Cemetery in Victoria, MN.^[3]

^[4]

Do you have information about Carl Diethelm? Please contribute to his biography. Everything on WikiTree is a collaborative work-in-progress.

Sources

1. ↑ Weekly Valley Herald - 07/25/1878.
2. ↑ On-line family tree originally found at: [1] but now no longer on line.
3. ↑ Photo headstone found at FindAGrave.com
4. ↑ MN & US Census records

Acknowledgments

Thanks to Pat Quinn for starting this profile.

Click the Changes tab for the details of contributions by Pat and others.