John Martin Woessner Sr.

J.M.Woessner Sr.
Born
April 28, 1813
Died
Nov. 1, 1854
Aged 41 years
5 mos. & 3 days

J.M.
Woessner Jr.
Born
Oct. 31, 1845
Died
Oct. 24, 1878
Aged 33 years

John Martin Woessner Sr. Headstone

Photo Credit: Rosa G. Gonzales

1. Biography

His record written in stone in Old Bayview Cemetery reports that John Martin Woessner, Sr. was born 28 April 1813 in Wurtenburg, Germany. There he married and had his first children. Then the young family decided to travel to the new world. They first entered Texas in the 1840s at Indianola before proceeding on to Corpus Christi. His son Charles Henry, the first of the children born in Texas, would return to Indianola to find his bride. Tragedy, however, seemed to trail John Martin as well as those named for him. His son John (born in Wurtenburg in 1839) would commit suicide. His son John Martin (born in Wurtenburg in 1845) would died in his early thirties in 1878. His grandson J. "Martin" (son of John Martin Woessner, Jr.) would shoot 20 year old Walter Dove when he himself was only 19 year old. John Martin Woessner, Sr. died only a short while after the family moved to Corpus Christi as his gravestone notes that he died 1 November 1854, one of the years of a bad yellow fever epidemic that touched many families in Corpus Christi and throughout the coast. While the family knew much tragedy, they also had their share of joys. Matriarch Annie Woessner would live to a good old age. Their son Charles Henry would marry and have three lovely daughters who also married into prominent south Texas families. Their daughter Mary Woessner would marry into the pioneer Wrather family. Their son William would marry the daughter of pioneer George Wilmot. They would leave many descendents who later spread out over the United States while leaving a sizable number in south Texas to celebrate their heritage and add to the cultural diversification that enriched the early settlement of Corpus Christi. Many of the Woessner, Wrather, and Wilmot family members can be found in Old Bayview Cemetery.

Research and transcription: Michael A. Howell

2. Birth Certificate