Johann Gerhard Wellman was born on June 6, 1816 in Alsage, Germany. Johann is Walt’s great, great grandfather.

Johann Gerhard was the son of Johann Gerd Fredrich Wellman and Luzia Margaretha Hoemme. He was born in Alsage by Ankum. I know very little about his family, not even if there were siblings. I have found a few places where his date of birth was given as June 5th, but have not found any written records to confirm either way. His place of birth has also been listed as Besten, but I have not been able to confirm that.

On February 28, 1848, Johann married Catherina Maria Heil. I wrote about her here. They were married at St. Nikolaus Church in Ankum. I have a few pictures in the post about Catherine that shows the interior.

Johann and Catherine had 7 children. Three sons chose to come to the United States and settled near West Point, Iowa. Two children died without marrying. The other two raised families in Germany.

Johann Gerhard Wellman died on November 24, 1888, less than a month after his wife.

I wrote about the number of families from this are of Germany in the West Point area in this post.