Annie Woessner
Annie
wife of
J. M. Woessner, Sr.
born Apr. 2, 1816,
died Oct 20, 1889
Photo Credit: Rosa G. Gonzales
1. Death Notice
2. List belonging to Annie Woessner written in German
Provenance: Mrs. Willie Lee Biggio Jones and Rebecca Lee Jones
3. Biography
Her record written in stone in Old Bayview Cemetery reports that Anna Woessner was born 2 April 1816 in Wurtenburg, Germany where her parents had also been born. There she married John Martin Woessner, Sr. and had his first children. Then the young family decided to travel to the new world and first entered Texas at Indianola before proceeding on to Corpus Christi. Her son Charles Henry, the first of the children born in Texas, would return to Indianola to find his bride. Annie had a difficult life as a pioneer in the coastal bend. She lost her husband only a few years after settling here. John Martin Woessner, Sr. had been born on 28 April 1813 and died 1 November 1854, one of the years of a bad yellow fever epidemic in Corpus Christi. Then she lost her son John Martin Woessner, Jr. (also born in Wurtenburg 31 October 1845) at a young age when he died 24 October 1878. This was also difficult on his young widow and the children. Most difficult, however, was probably the lost of her eldest son John Woessner (born in Wurtenburg 23 June 1839). John was a early merchant of Corpus Christi who ran a very vibrant business downtown, but when he went through some financial reverses he committed suicide on 10 September 1884. Apparently German was not well understood in south Texas because the family appears in the census records under various names. In the 1850 federal census (Nueces County, page 139A), Annie and John are under the name "Wasner". In the 1860 federal census (Nueces County, page 287B), Annie is listed under the name "Weesner". Only in the 1880 federal census (Nueces County, page 13A) does Annie appear with her son Willie under what looks to be "Woessner". She is living near others who would share some similar language and culture, Hanna Gould of Nassau (Germany) and the Baldesweilers of Alsace. Anna Woessner died 20 October 1889 and was buried near her husband and the children that had preceded her in death.
Research and transcription: Michael A. Howell