DESCENDANCY of JOHANN CARL GOTTLIEB KEIL (b 1812 ... - Edler

“All-People”- Section 9b
{To Table of Contents}
CHARLES RICHARD KEIL (b 1874) and WILHELMINA A ZELLMER (b 1884)
and their descendants
from page 9b-3
Charles Richard's parents were Johann Carl Gottlieb Keil and Johanna Christiane Hiller
Wilhelmina's parents were Albert A Zellmer and Emilie Gustie Klug
Page 9b-18
I. Charles Richard2
Keil,
called C R as an adult, was called Dick by his sisters' families (their children
remember him as Uncle Dick). He was born 24 May 1874 Scott Township, Sheboygan Co WI, 1,2 and was
baptized 3 Jun 1874. His sponsors were Moritz Mueller, Caroline Groeser, and Helena Hubrich. 15
He married Wilhelmina A "Minnie" Zellmer 24 Oct 1905 Winneconne, Winnebago Co WI; two
children born Elgin, Kane Co IL. Her parents were Albert A Zellmer and Emilie Gustie Klug.
C R and
Minnie were known to their Edler grandchildren as "O'ma and O'pa Keil".
C R was a watchmaker and jeweller. He died 24 Dec 1944 Chicago, Cook Co IL, age 70, of a heart
attack, buried 28 Dec 1944 Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Cemetery, 2 on Route 96 just east of Kaukauna,
Outagamie Co WI, with his parents and the family of his sister, Augusta Emilie Keil Buelow.
Born 29 Feb 1884 Wolf River, Winnebago Co WI, Minnie died 1966 Elgin, age 82, buried Bluff City
Cemetery, Elgin. 2,12
With the marriage of Charles Richard Keil and Wilhelmina A Zellmer
our KEIL lineage is joined by our ZELLMER lineage
see {Section 8}
Based on the church records, we think Charles was christened Carl, but no one in the family remembers
him having that name. (Or, whoever entered the information into the church records may have inadvertently
recorded him as Carl because that would have been most frequently used in the community.)
In 1900 the census shows C R living alone in Winneconne, Winnebago Co WI. He worked in Neena or
Menasha before going to Elgin IL to learn the watch trade. After he married Minnie Zellmer in 1905, they
moved to Elgin where he worked for the Elgin Watch Company for over 30 years. In the latter part of his
career, he was responsible for inspecting and making final adjustments on watches before they were shipped. 12
FAMILY LIFE -- KFE remembers hearing about the next-door neighbors, Hazelbelle Perry and her mother,
who were almost like kin and with whom his mother, Pearl Keil Edler, maintained a long relationship.
Their daughters recalled that C R and Minnie didn't get on well. The girls often listened at the top of the
stairs to heated arguments that always started after they were put to bed. About 1933, shortly after his
retirement from the watch company, the couple separated. Minnie got the house, at 611 St Charles Street,
Elgin, and their daughters felt C R got the worst part of the agreement.
C R's LATER YEARS -- He returned to West Bend where he roomed with local families and operated a
small watch and jewelry shop in the West Bend Theater building. He also sold popcorn and candy to the
moviegoers. The last ten years of his life were spent there near the families of several of his sisters. In 1989
we visited West Bend and found the old theatre building, now in a restored "old town" section of the city.
In 1999 one of our cousins told us about her family's house where her Uncle Dick had a room when she
was a girl, and other cousins drove us by the good looking brick house.
C R collapsed and died of a heart attack at age 70 on 24 Dec 1944 (KFE clearly remembers the phone
call and his mother's grief on that Christmas Eve). It happened in a Chicago train or bus station on his way
to visit KFE's aunt Mildred Olsen and her family in Des Moines IA. C R's family gifts and even his
wristwatch disappeared, taken either by his discoverers or by the officials in Chicago.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
– PARTLY UNVERIFIED DATA FOR STUDY/REVIEW ONLY, PLEASE SEE {PREFACE} TO THIS DOCUMENT --