Emma Vetter
daughter, sister, mother, wife, grandmother,
widow
and
great aunt
Emma Vetter
is my great aunt – I never knew her or even knew of her growing up, but since
discovering my Deutsch family she has intrigued me with the events in her life.
At 9 in the
evening of Wednesday February 9th 1859, Emma was born. She was the first child of Louis Vetter and
his wife Mathilde Peters. They were
living in Väthen (now called Tangerhütte) in the Altmark area of the then
Prussian Saxony (now Sachsen-Anhalt). Louis was working as a Müllermeister at
his father’s Windmill.
A fortnight
later on Friday the 25th at the church in Tangerhütte, Louis and
Mathilde brought Emma to be baptised.
She was given the names of Mathilde Emma Bertha.
This is the Kirche in Tangerhütte (in 1859
called Väthen). In the far corner you
can see the font where Emma was baptised.
Emma soon
had a brother and sister, Ernst arrived a year later, and Lina in October 1861.
The first
of many changes was soon to happen for Emma.
In 1863
Louis Vetter bought the lease of a Windmill in Bittkau, approximately 12 kms to
the east of Väthen on the Elbe river.
Here Louis would be his own boss and build a miller’s business like his
father before him.
Life in
Bittkau for Emma would be much the same as it was in Väthen. Two more siblings arrived. Anna in 1964, and Theodor in 1866.
But again a
change was to happen to Emma surroundings.
Louis’s
mill did not go smoothly and he had to give up the lease and find other
work. He took a job as a baker in
neighbouring Cobbel, about 8 kms west.
But even here life did not settle for Emma. Another sister arrived, Mathilde.
But shortly
after Emma’s tenth birthday, she watched her baby sister go through convulsions
before dying at the age of just 8 months.
This occurred in the village of Kerkuhn.
In those 8 months Emma’s father had changed jobs twice and moved his
young family 65 kms away from any close family.
But even
with the loss of a sister, Emma soon had another sister and another change in
home. In 1870 Emma was now living in
Beesewege and a new sister, Agnes, had arrived.
But there were others also living in Emma’s home. He father was now running an inn in the small
village.
But even in
Beesewege life was only to last a year.
In Bismark, about 8 kms away from Beesewege, Emma’s father got a new job
as a flour dealer.
Life in
Bismark was to start for the family a settle life, well for a few years. Two brothers arrived, Max and Emil, but Max
only lived for 3 months before passing away from consumption.
But in
Bismark Emma was confirmed in the Evangelical Kirche. On the 6th of April, 1873, along
with 42 other 13 and 14 year olds, Emma partook in the ceremony that not only
made them full members of their church, but also in its way ended their
childhood.
But again
life would change, and Emma’s family moved again, heading north to
Heiligenfelde. Here Louis Vetter now
worked as millwright. No longer owning a
mill but as a worker. Another brother,
Alexander, arrived in May 1876.
In 1878
Emma was living in Beetzendorf, about 35 kms west of Heiligenfelde. I do not know if she was living with any of her
family but in March she left there and moved to Burg, a large town on the other
side of the river Elbe, and a good 80kms south of where she had been living.
In Burg
Emma had relations. Her father had 2
brothers and a sister living there. But
Emma did not move in with them. She was
there to work as a maid. Firstly, for a
Rudolph Lehmann for 4 years, then for an Otto Steinhardt.
It was
while working for Herr Steinhardt, that Emma would have learnt of the death of
her father.
At 2
o’clock in the afternoon on Saturday August 13th 1882, Emma’s
father, Louis Vetter committed suicide by hanging himself in
Heiligenfelde. It appears from the
church records that none of Louis’ family were living with him at that time.
A map showing the various villages where Emma lived during her youth.
This event
started many changes for Emma and her brothers and sisters – they all appeared
to leave the Altmark area soon after. A
short while later their mother also died, and within 4 years one brother would
be living in Berlin, one in Australia and the others move on to their own
lives.
On October
1st of 1883 Emma left Burg and firstly headed to Tangermünde, where
she met up with some of her sisters.
They immediately headed for Hamburg as Emma had got herself a job as a
cook, and was living on the 2nd floor of an apartment building in
Krayenkamp Platz near Sankt Michaelis Kirche.
On the
evening of the 26th of October 1883 Emma gave birth to a daughter at
the local maternity hospital in Pastorenstrasse Hamburg. The hospital was just
a short 2-minute walk around the corner from where she lived. The newborn baby was given the named Helene.
But
unfortunately 6 weeks later, little Helene died at Emma’s home.
Six months
later Emma’s life changed again. On May 16 1884 in Hamburg Emma married Louis
Emil Halm, and this changed her life.
She became the wife of a Hospital Inspector, and lived comfortably in
Hamburg. They had 2 children, Willy born
on the 28th of January 1886 and Charlotte born on the 16th
of April 1889. The family continued to grow, with Willy marrying 1911 to
Kätchen König, and by mid 1914 Kätchen was pregnant.
But in
August 1914 World War 1 started and Willy became a member of the 1st
Battalion of the 5th infantry regiment. He was a reserve Lieutenant. The regiment headed east and fought on the
Russian front, and at Goldap (now part of Poland) on the 9th of November
Willy died during combat.
The
devastation of losing her son, was soon changed with the birth of her 1st
grandchild. On the 20th February,
1915 Willy Eduard Henry Halm was born at the hospital where his grandfather
worked in Hamburg.
Emma’s
family continued to expand, with her daughter Charlotte marrying Ernst Emil
Riester on the 27th of August 1919.
Ernst was a war veteran and soon became successful working for the
German railways.
In 1936 Emma
and her husband left Hamburg and moved to Breslau (now Wroclaw, Poland). Their daughter and her husband were living
there.
On the 4th
May, 1941 Emma’s grandson, Willy Halm, died in Hamburg from epilepsy. He had married back in 1937. Whether he had family, and making Emma an Ur
Großmutter I do not know.
By 1940s
both Emma and her husband were in their 80s, and on the 30th of June
1942 Louis Emil Halm died from Altersverfall,
Aderverhärtung, Herzmuskelschwäche (Decline in age, hardening of the veins,
weak heart muscle).
Emma
continued to live with her daughter and son-in-law in Breslau.
With World
War 2 Breslau was not affected by any fighting until February 1945, when the
Russian Army approached the city. The
City had been declared a Festung (fortress) to be held at all costs, and
citizens were not allowed to leave until late January. Over 18,000 people froze to death trying to
leave Breslau, and by the end of the war over 40,000 citizens died in the city.[1]
I have
never been able to find any record of Emma’s death. Her daughter, Charlotte, and her husband,
made it back to Hamburg, and Charlotte died there in 1964.
I can only
assume that Emma died either in the bombing of Breslau or in the trek back to
Hamburg at the end of the war.
Her life
was full of so many highs and lows, that as I started finding details of her of
life over the years I thought pride in her and what she had done for her
sisters, and her children.
Louis
Vetter (1828-1882) = Mathilde Peters (1838-????)
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Emma Vetter (Halm) (1859-????) Theodor Vetter
(1866-1943)
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Alan Brady (1916-1995)
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Kevin Brady (1961-
A very interesting story Kevin... it's such a beautiful thing to trade your time to research someone elses. Bravo!!!
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