Diedrich Ludwig Wilhelm Kolze was born on 9 Nov 1836 in Nienhagen, Amt Neustadt am Rübenberge, Hannover, the third of five children of Johann Heinrich and Katharina Maria (Haverbeck) Kolze. He was baptized two days later on 11 Nov 1836 in Gilten, Amt Neustadt am Rubenberge, Hannover.
[1] He was usually called Wilhelm or William.
When William was about ten years old, he and his family came to the United States on the ship "James Perkins", leaving from Bremen and arriving in New York, New York on 28 September 1847. A Dorette (Dorothy?) Dierking was listed right after the Kolze family in the ship's passenger list, and they were all shown as being from the town of Nienhagen. She was likely the daughter of Christian Dierking, who settled near the Kolze family in Illinois.
[2]
On 29 May 1857 Wilhelm married Lisette Schlueter in DuPage County, Illinois, United States
[3]
They raised a large family of 11 children on their farm in Kolze, Leyden Township, Cook County, Illinois, near where O'Hare Airport is today.[4][5][6] The community was renamed Schiller Park in the 1920s. Their children were:
On 14 June 1881 William bought a 105 acre parcel of land and began construction of a huge 2 story house and inn which was painted white. When it was completed in 1884 it was larger than anything around and was used as an inn, carriage stop and milk depot and named the "White House". In 1932 the building was moved a short distance from its location on Irving Park Rd. It later became a restaurant called the Colonial Inn, but has since been torn down.[9]
William died on 23 June 1896, about a year after the death of his wife.
[8]
He was buried at St Johannes Cemetery, next to his church in Bensenville, DuPage, Illinois.
His grave was moved in the 2010s with the closure of St John's Cemetery to
Ridgewood Cemetery,
Des Plaines, Cook, Illinois.
[10]
Probate was filed on 2 July 1896 in Cook County, Illinois. In his will William named all his living children, leaving them land, his horses and household furnishings.
[7]
Also was a county Republican delegate and an enumerator for the 1880 census.[6]
Residence
1836-1847
Nienhagen, Amt Neustadt am Rübenberge, Hannover (Germany)
1850
Probably Cook County, Illinois, United States
The family does not appear in the 1850 census in Leyden Township, or anywhere in the indexes. His older sister Maria is listed with her husband Henry Messenbrink in Orland, Cook County, Illinois, and since the family traveled together to New York, it is likely that they also traveled together to Illinois and William and the rest of the family were somewhere in the area and either weren't enumerated in the census, or else the name was recorded or indexed incorrectly making it difficult to find the record.
1880 Leyden, Cook, Illinois, USA. Marital Status: Married; Relation to Head of House: Self.[6]
Research Notes
Nienhagen, Amt Neustadt am Rübenberge, Hannover and Gilten, Amt Neustadt am Rübenberge, Hannover are now merged into Gilten, Heidekreis, Niedersachsen, Deutschland (or Gilten, Heidekreis, Lower Saxony, Germany in English). Some sources will use Soltau-Fallingbostel instead of Heidekreis, but it was renamed to Heidekreis on 1 Aug 2011 (1)(2)
Naturalization before 1870 (listed as eligible to vote in 1870 census, but Cook County records were burnt in Oct 1871, so probably not possible to find records)
Sources
↑ Archion Publication: Location: Stuttgart, Germany; Landeskirchliches Archiv Hannover > Kirchenkreis Walsrode > Gilten > KB 1794-1852, Image 133, Page D 269, entry # 28, year 1836 (image linked to this profile)
↑ Ancestry.com. New York, Passenger and Crew Lists (including Castle Garden and Ellis Island), 1820-1957 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010. Date: 1847 September 28 Ship:
James Perkins
↑ "Illinois, Civil Marriages, 1833-1889," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q292-TBRP : 16 March 2018), William Kolze and Lisette Schlueter, 29 May 1857; citing Marriage, , DuPage, Illinois, United States, Citing Daughters of the American Revolution, Washington D.C. and Hancock County Clerk of Courts, Findlay, Illinois; FHL microfilm 007614205.
↑ 5.05.15.25.35.45.55.65.7 "United States Census, 1870," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M672-8KH : 12 April 2016), William Kolsa, Illinois, United States; citing p. 27, family 178, NARA microfilm publication M593 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.); FHL microfilm 545,712.
↑ 8.08.1 St. John's United Cemetery and Funeral List (Addison Township) Publication: Name: DuPage County (IL) Genealogical Society; Date: 1992;
↑ Oulund, June. Plow Shares to Jet Fields The Story of Schiller Park. Schiller Park Bicentennial Commission, 1976. pp13-16.
↑ Find A Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com : accessed 02 May 2019), memorial page for William Kolze (9 Nov 1836–23 Jun 1896), Find A Grave Memorial no. Find A Grave: Memorial #39634339, citing Ridgewood Cemetery, Des Plaines, Cook County, Illinois, USA ; Maintained by icedobe (contributor 46868126) .
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