Franz Wilhelm Weick is my great-great-uncle born to Jacob Weick and Gertrude Huber on December 15, 1838, in Katholisch, Ketsch, Mannheim, Baden, Germany. Once he arrived in America, he used Frank as his first name.
Frank had several brothers and sisters, Eduard Albert, Otto, Eva (Donna) Katharina, Ludovikus, Louis, Verena Susanna, John Edward (my great-grandfather), and Richard Weik. The last name had several spellings over the years from Weick, Wike, Weck, and Weik.
Franz Wilhelm Weick came to America sometime in the year of 1855. It is not known if he came with family members or came by himself. His parents had settled in the Freeport, Stephenson, Illinois area along with his brothers and sisters. He was seventeen years old when he came to America.
He married on July 7, 1863, to Rachel Ursula Beck in Stephenson County, Illinois. At the age of twenty-one years old he signed up to be a Union Soldier on February 21, 1865, in Chicago, Cook, Illinois. He enlisted as a private in Company A, 11th Illinois Calvary. He was five foot and five inches, light colored hair, blue eyes, birthplace Germany. His job before enlisting stated he was a cigar maker. He mustered in under the command of Captain James Henry Coates. He only served part of a year. On September 30, 1865, he mustered out in Memphis, Tennessee by Captain Norton W Campbell of Company G, 12th Illinois Infantry Regiment and 110th US Colored Troops (USCT) Infantry Regiment.
Frank and Rachel started their family after he returned from the Civil War. Their first child was Annie Katherine born January 1, 1866, in Freeport. She was twenty-one when she married Joseph Peter Schade on June 16, 1887, in Portland, Multnomah, Oregon. She died May 30, 1930, in Portland and is buried there as well.
William was born in 1868 in Freeport and died about 1875 he was only seven years old. It is unknown what his cause of death was at the time. He is buried in Cedarville, Stephenson, Illinois.
Robert Peter Weick was born on September 10, 1870, in Freeport. He married Anna M Magelin in 1905 in Portland, Oregon. He died in Portland on April 20, 1947.
Frank died on December 29, 1908, in Freeport, Illinois and is buried there. I was recently sent a picture of the funeral home entry on Frank from Tim Weik who volunteers at the Stephenson County Historical Museum. Ursula Beck Weick died July 11, 1911, in Portland, Oregon.
If anyone has more information on this family please contact me and thank you.
Brumley Family Branches 