Where is Mathilde?
The life of Friederike Mathilde Peters
Frau Müllermeister Vetter
1838 - ?
I first saw my great grandmother’s,
Mathilde Peters, name in September 2007 when I obtained a copy of Theodore
Wilhelm Vetter’s (her son) first marriage certificate. Although at the time I still could not
confirm that she was indeed my great grandmother.
In October 2009 I found documentation that stated
Theodore Wilhelm Vetter was my paternal grandfather, so I started looking for
his birthplace. When first living in
Adelaide he named the house where he lived, Tangermünde, so I searched for a
place called that, and on November 8, 2011 I found Friederike Mathilde Peters.
This is her story, I don’t know how it
finished but this is her story so far.
Friederike Mathilde Peters was born on June
26th 1838 in Tangermünde, which is on the Elbe river in the then
Prussian province of Saxony (now Sachsen-Anhalt). She was the youngest child of Wilhelm Peters
and his wife Christine Breyde. Wilhelm
was an Ackermann, a farmer, and his family had land at Langensalzwedel, to the
north of Tangermunde
Mathilde
Peters’s birthplace on the corner of Lange str. and Scheunen str., Tangermünde[i]
On July 29th 1838 the local
Pastor, Pfarrier Zieger, visited the home of Wilhelm and Christine Peters, and
while there baptized the month old Mathilde.
Why she was baptized at home we do not know, but it would most likely
have been due to either the health of the new born Mathilde or that of her
mother.
Mathilde had 5 godparents, Frau Catharine
Zander from Fischbeck, on the other side of the Elbe, Frau Dorothea Strawesand
from Weißewarth, south of Tangermünde, 2 local farmers, Herr Andreas Branfur
and Herr Christoph Henning, and also her aunt, Carola Breyde, who lived with
the Peters family in Lange str.
Mathilde’s childhood was typical of many
families that time, and typhoid fever (Nervenfieber) and
consumption (Abzehrung), what we now call Tuberculosis, were
prevalent. On May 3rd 1841
Mathilde’s 5 year old older sister Dorothea died from the disease. Just five years later when Mathilde was 7 her
father passed away from typhoid fever, he was 41 years old.
This left Mathilde’s mother with 3 young children and
a farming business to manage. In those
days women could not directly be responsible for the management of a business and of their family, so Mathilde and her older
brother and sister were given a guardian who would be responsible for any decisions
that had to be made on their behalf.
Herr Modesky, who lived next door to the Peters family in Lange Strasse
was given this role.
When I first found Mathilde in 2011 it was because I
had found the record of her marriage with August Ludwig (Louis) Vetter in 1858
in Väthen (now Tangerhütte).
Tangerhütte is about 20 kms to the south of Tangermünde. I do not know why or how Mathilde came to be
living their in 1858, as her mother was still living in Tangermünde, as were
her brother and sister, who both had married and families by this time. The only connection I can find is that her
uncle Franz Peter’s wife, Catharine Luise Gruß came from Väthen and perhaps
Mathilde was sent there to work or help with members of her family.
On the 30th of April 1858, not yet 20,
Mathilde married Louis Vetter at Väthen, a local miller (Müller), whose family
had lived in the area for nearly 30 years.
Herr Modesky, Mathilde’s guardian, had given his agreement to the
marriage.
The
altar in the church at Tangerhütte where Mathilde Peters and Louis Vetter were
married on April 30th 1858.
Mathilde was now married, and for a young woman in
those days it meant having a family and maintaining a home for her husband and
family. For the next 3 years Mathilde
did that in Väthen, and during that time Louis became a Master Miller
(Müllermeister). They had 3 children by
now, all born a year apart, Mathilde Emma Bertha in 1859, Louis Adolph Ernst,
in 1860 and Lina Aline Helene in 1861.
In 1864 Mathilde and Louis moved their family to
Bittkau, where Louis had taken on a Windmill (Windmuhl) of his own. He had
previously worked for his father in Väthen.
Bittkau is about 12 kms to the west of Väthen and is directly on the
Elbe river. While in Bittkau Mathilde had two more children, Anna Bertha in
1864 and Ludwig Theodor Wilhelm in 1866.
The
font in the church at Bittkau where Mathilde stood holding her son Ludwig
Theodor Wilhelm Vetter in May 1866.
Being a Müllermeister and being responsible for his
own Windmill proved too much for Louis, and within 4 years of moving to Bittkau
the young family had moved again. They
were now in Cobbel, a village back between Bittkau and Väthen, and here Louis
took on the work of a Master Baker (Bäckermeister). And it was here that Mathilde gave birth to
her 6th child, Mathilde Friederike in 1868.
But the family soon moved again and within a year of
their last child’s birth, the family were living in Kerkuhn, about 75 kms north
of where they had been living, and here Mathilde experienced the loss of her
young baby. Little Mathilde Friederike
died there aged only 7 months from convulsions.
Louis was now listed back as just a Miller but he was listed as a
landowner.
However the family moved again, and just over a year
later Louis was now an Inn-Keeper (Krügwirth)
at Beesewege, a village about 30 kms south of Kerkuhn. Again Mathilde establish a home for her
growing family and here she gave birth to another daughter, Meta Agnes Hedwig
in 1870.
But even being an Inn-Keeper did not allow Louis to
hold a occupation for long, and within 2 years he again had moved Mathilde and
their family. This time to the village
of Bismark, about 8 kms west of Beesewege.
And here Louis took on another occupation, that of a Flour Dealer (Mehlhändler). While living in Bismark Mathilde gave birth
to two more children, Louis Emil Max in 1872, who died aged only 4 months from
consumption, and Ludwig Emil in 1873.
While Living in Bismark Mathilde became a bit more
settled. She established friendships
with some families, and was asked to be godmother to a number of their
children. Also there was a family
connection here. Her sister’s
brother-in-law, Johann Gottfried Eckstädt, lived with his family here.
But again Louis could not keep the job, and in 1876
the family were now living in Heiligenfelde, about 28 kms north of
Bismark. Here Mathilde gave birth again,
this time to Alexander Reinhold. Louis
Vetter was described as Millwright so he was no longer the owner or boss of the
windmill, but an employee.
The
church at Heiligenfelde – here in 1876 is the last place I know that Mathilde
was at.
But this is the last reference I can find of
Mathilde.
On August 13th 1882 Louis Vetter hung
himself in Heiligenfelde, and was quickly buried the following day. There is no
mention of his family at all in the registration of his death and burial so I
do not know if Mathilde was also in Heiligenfelde at that time.
Less than 2 years later in May 1884 Mathilde’s eldest
child, Mathilde Emma Bertha, got married in Hamburg. On her marriage certificate it states that
both her parents were deceased.
What happen to Mathilde?
Did she die after Louis committed suicide?
Did she die before?
There are so many questions to these last years of her
life but I hope that she had a good life and that although she did not get to
see all her children grow up that she did get to enjoy time she had with them
as they moved from village to village.
Friederike Mathilde Peters
1838 –
|
Theodore Wilhelm Vetter
1866-1943
|
Alan Louis Brady
1916-1995
|
Kevin Reginald Brady
1961-
Kevin R. Brady
30 April 2017
[i] Photo taken of a model of Tangermünde in the 1800s that is in the
museum underneath the Tangermünder Rathaus. http://www.tangermuende.de/de/museen/article-106040000127.html
