Bio: Doernenburg Family (History)
Contact: Marsha Hosfeld 
Email: Shashie50@aol.com

 

Doernenburg Family History

Compiled by Marsha Cowen Hosfeld

 

Maria “Mary Ann” Doernenburg was born 10 February 1865 in Germany (Prussia), the first child of Friedrich “Fred” and Wilhelmine “Minna” Doernenburg.  Her father left for the United States shortly after her birth, and she and her mother followed him three years later.  Although Minna’s obituary says that they lived in Sheboygan Co. and then Superior, Wisconsin, before moving to Abbotsford, the 1870 Census shows Mary and her parents living in Webster Township, Houghton County, in the upper peninsula of Michigan.  Two of Mary’s sisters were born in Michigan: Ottelia “Tillie” in September 1870 and Petronella “Nellie” in May 1878.  Two more children were born to the couple in Wisconsin: Edith in February 1882 and Frederick, Jr. in June 1884.  Mary’s son Theodore, my grandfather, was born in January 1885, and so was only six months younger than his Uncle Fred.

 

Mary was married to Frank Edward Cowen on 20 January 1882 at the home of the groom’s sister, Mrs. Sarah Stannard, in Holton Township, Marathon Co., Wisconsin.  The couple had a home in Abbotsford and later moved to a farm just east of town.  Their children were: Theodore “Ted” (1885-1980, married Mary Elizabeth “Elsie” Schwermer); Frederick “Fred” (1887-1975, married Vera McGill); Archibald “Archie” (1894-1971, married Hazel Bliss); and Minnie (1898-1963, married Dewey F. Kunde).  Mary developed puerperal septicemia (blood poisoning) after Minnie’s birth, and died less than two weeks later, 9 March 1898.  My grandfather remembers being called home from school to say goodbye to his mother.  He was 13, and she asked him to look after his brother Fred who was 11, and he promised her he would.

 

The Cowen and Doernenburg farms were along what is now Spruce St./SR-29 east of the Clark County line; this road divides Twp 29-Holton and Twp 28-Hull in Marathon County.  The Cowen farm was on the north side of the road and the Doernenburg farm was on the south side.

 

Her parents and siblings:

 

Fred Doernenburg, Sr. (8 January 1834 - 25 April 1922) was born Johann Friedrich in Laupendahl, Germany, to Heinrich Doernenburg & Anna Regina Trappenberg (his death Certificate names them Henry Doernenburg & Doernut Runn).  His occupation is listed as Joiner (1865 ship passenger list), Laborer (1870), Railroad Car Smith (1900), Farmer (1905), and Retired Farmer (1920).  He also owned several pieces of property in Abbotsford and the surrounding area.  His first farmland was purchased from the Wisconsin Central Railroad, 6 November 1878.  It was just over 48 acres in Marathon County, NW ¼ NE ¼ Sec 5 Twp 28 N Range 2 E (later maps show W ½ NE ¼).  This property adjoined the Homestead property purchased by the Cowen family, which is, no doubt, how Mary and her future husband, Frank Cowen, met.  Fred also purchased lots in the village of Abbotsford: Block “I” lots 1 & 2 (in 1884), and Block “J” lots 10, 11 & 12 (in 1891).  Mary Cowen purchased lot 15 in Block “A” (in 1884).  These were all located along Second Street, north and south of Birch Street.  Fred died in Abbotsford in 1922 and was buried in Colby Cemetery.  There is a large DOERNENBURG headstone, but no smaller markers showing names and dates.  In addition to Fred, Sr. and Minna, other family members may also have been buried there.

 

Minna Doernenburg (31 May 1845 - 18 November 1909) was born Wilhelmine in Mintard, Rheinland, Prussia, Germany (her obit says Kreis Düsseldorf).  Her death certificate gives her father’s name as “Jno” from Prussia, and lists her mother’s place of birth as Esen, Germany.  I recently found a ----Source indicating her parents were Johann Wilhelm Doernenburg, born 1809 in Laupendahl, Germany, and Anna Maria Catharina Kremer, born 1815 in Rellinghausen, Germany.  Minna was a midwife for many years, and the mother of five children.  Another daughter may have died in infancy.

 

    (1) Mary (1865-1898) was the oldest. 

 

    (2) Ottelia “Tillie” (1870-1912) married Anton Petska.  They had no children, but she cared for her niece, Minnie Cowen.  Tillie died of TB at age 41.  Her obit says she was buried in Colby Cemetery, but I found no headstone.  She and her husband, who died 3 years earlier, may have been buried in the Doernenburg plot.  (3) Petronella “Nellie” (1878-?) married Alonzo L. Brooks of Chicago, 2 April 1894, in Abbotsford.  The couple had a son, Arnold.  The marriage ended before the 1900 Census, but I do not know if it was through death or divorce.  In December 1904, Nellie became the third wife of Victor M. Spurney, a widower with three children.  It may not have been an official adoption, but Arnold Brooks began to use Spurney as his last name.  The family lived in Milwaukee, and I have no information on Nellie after the 1930 Census.  Arnold married Edith Ballard and settled in Clinton, Iowa, where he died in 1971. 

 

    (4) Edith (1882-1965) cared for her father after her mother’s death.  Shortly after he died, she married widower John B. Thompson and joined him in running the Thompson Hotel in Abbotsford.  Her step-daughters were Irene Marie Thompson (married Albert Henry Nelson, 26 March 1918) and Adeline V. Thompson (married Alvin Pierce Anderson).  John died in 1936, and in 1940 Edith married widower Frederick L. Earl, father of four grown children.  The youngest, Edna Earl, married Louis Cattanach, Jr., in Owen, Wisconsin, 2 August 1941.  Edith passed away in 1965 and was buried in Abbotsford Cemetery next to John Thompson.

 

    (5) Frederick, Jr. (1884-1934) married Sarah Schmidt (Smith), daughter of August F. and Bertha Kolberg Schmidt, in August 1906.  Sarah died at age 18, five days after giving birth to a son, Fred, in May 1907.  In September 1908, Fred Jr. married Louise “Lizzie” Hagen in Dorchester, Wisconsin.  The couple had three sons: Lloyd (1910-1985), Donald (1912-1926), and Kenneth (1918-1941).  They separated before the 1930 Census.  Fred, Jr. died in Antigo, Wisconsin, and was buried in Dorchester Cemetery beside his wife Sarah and their son Fred (1907-1921).  Louisa and her son Donald are buried near the Hagen Family plot in the same cemetery.  In Antigo, the Sparks-Doernenburg American Legion Post No. 3 was named to honor Kenneth Doernenburg, who died on the USS Oklahoma at Pearl Harbor.

Related Links:
Doernenburg Family (Timeline)
Cowen Family (History)
Cowen Family History
Cowen Family (Timeline)

 

 

 

 


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