Tombstone Tuesday–Elizabeth Wilhelmine (Hiller) Huffman

Elizabeth Wilhelmina (Hiller) Huffman, Kessler Cemetery, Mercer County, Ohio (2015 photo by Karen)

Elizabeth Wilhelmina (Hiller) Huffman, Kessler Cemetery, Mercer County, Ohio (2015 photo by Karen)

This is the tombstone of Elizabeth Wilhelmine (Hiller) Huffman, located in row 8 of Kessler Cemetery, Mercer County, Ohio. The marker is inscribed:

Elizabeth
Wilhelmine
Wife of
Frederick
Huffman
Died
Oct. 9, 1895
Aged
20y. & 18d.

Elizabeth Wilhelmina Hiller was born 21 September 1875 in Jefferson Township, Adams County, Indiana, to Jacob and Martha (Sundmacher) Hiller. The Hillers attended church at Zion Lutheran Chatt and she was baptized 30 September 1875, with Michael Kuehm and his wife Elizabeth as her sponsors. Elizabeth was confirmed at Zion on Palm Sunday, 30 March 1890. She sometimes went by the name of Lizzie.

Elizabeth was enumerated in only one census, the 1880 census, where she was enumerated as Lizzie, age 4, living with her parents and five siblings, George, 11; John 9; Henry, 8; Mary 7; and Edward, 1. [1]

Elizabeth Hiller married Frederick Huffman on 2 November 1893 at the home of her parents, married by Zion’s Rev. J.F.C. Soller. Frederick, who sometimes went by the name of Fritz, was the son of Ferdinand and Elizabeth (Herzog) Huffman. [2] This surname is spelled Hoffman or Hoffmann in some records.

Frederick Huffman was born 1 July 1867 in Liberty Township, Mercer County, Ohio. Both of his parents were born in Germany. The Huffman’s attended Zion Chatt from the church’s beginning.

Elizabeth Wilhelmina (Hiller) Huffman, Kessler Cemetery, Mercer County, Ohio (2015 photo by Karen)

Elizabeth Wilhelmina (Hiller) Huffman, Kessler Cemetery, Mercer County, Ohio (2015 photo by Karen)

Elizabeth (Hiller) Huffman died 9 October 1895, at the age of 20 years and 18 days. The church records do not give the cause of her death but they indicate that Samuel Hunzicker was in charge of her funeral service on the 11th. Hunzicker may have been a substitute pastor. Elizabeth died about a month after her younger brother Jacob Edward Hiller and she is buried between him and another brother, Heinrich G. Hiller.

Edward, Elizabeth, Heinrich Hiller, siblings, Kessler Cemetery, Mercer County, Ohio (2015 photo by Karen)

Jacob Edward, Elizabeth, & Heinrich Hiller, siblings, Kessler Cemetery, Mercer County, Ohio (2015 photo by Karen)

It appears that Frederick and Elizabeth did not have any children.

During the research of this family I found a connection to my Brewsters. Elizabeth’s widowed husband Frederick Huffman married Callie (Brewster) Tester on 6 January 1898. Their marriage was record at Zion Chatt and indicates that Frederick was from Mercer County and Callie was from Adams County, Indiana. Lucinda Caroline “Callie” Brewster was the daughter of Daniel and Sarah (Fetters) Brewster and was born 17 July 1874. She married William A. Tester on 13 April 1891 [3], but I do not know how that marriage ended. Daniel Brewster is my great-great-grandfather. Callie died 10 June 1907.

Frederick Huffman died 16 February 1940 in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and is buried in Greenlawn Memorial Park there. [4]

 

[1] 1880 U.S. Census, Jefferson, Adams, Indiana, ED 133, p.50B, dwelling & family 51, Jacob Hiller; digital image by subscription, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 27 Oct 2015); from NARA microfilm T9, roll 263.

[2] Records of Zion Lutheran Church, Chattanooga, Ohio, and “Indiana Marriages, 1811-2007,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org : accessed 27 Oct 2015), Fred Hoffman and Lizzie Hiller, 2 Nov 1893; from Adams, Indiana, Marriages, Vol. 1, p.298; from FHL microfilm 2321357.

[3] “Indiana Marriages, 1811-2007,” database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org : accessed 4 Dec 2015), William A. Tester and Lucinda Caroline Brewster, 14 Apr 1891; from Adams Indiana Marriages, Vol. F, p.294, from FHL microfilm 002321471.

[4] Find a Grave (www.findagrave.com : accessed 4 Dec 2015); Frederick G. Hoffman memorial #99040333.

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