The Scrapbooks
When I was growing up I loved visiting my grandmother, Martha Claussen and my two aunts, Frieda and Clara Claussen, A special treat were the scrapbooks hidden away in a dark cupboard. The scrapbooks were filled with funny old pictures and amazing stories of long ago times and best of all they were about the people that came before me, my great grandparents and their great grandparents before them. I spent hours curled up in a chair imagining a trip across the ocean in a sailing ship or saddened by a sorrowful letter from an orphaned teenager.
Aunt Frieda spent many years collecting the old photographs, letters and documents which she pasted into the scrapbooks. When she died the scrapbooks became mine. I will donate them to the Minnesota Historical Society where they will become a part of the "Ferdinand Willius Papers" housed in their archives. Before then, however, I want to share them with all far flung family members. Fortunately the wonders of modern technology make it possible.
Aunt Frieda spent many years collecting the old photographs, letters and documents which she pasted into the scrapbooks. When she died the scrapbooks became mine. I will donate them to the Minnesota Historical Society where they will become a part of the "Ferdinand Willius Papers" housed in their archives. Before then, however, I want to share them with all far flung family members. Fortunately the wonders of modern technology make it possible.
Frieda organized her scrapbooks around the ancestry, siblings, lives and descendants of Ferdinand Willius and his wife, Clara Holterhoff Willius. Enjoy! You may discover relatives you didn't know you had and ancestors that amaze you.
The Minnesota Historical Society Archives
The Minnesota Historical Society has a collection of family papers housed in its archives. Martha Claussen and her sister Henrietta Willius, daughters of Ferdinand Willius, donated their father's genealogical materials to the society in the 1930's and 1940's. At the present time there are 9 boxes, of family documents housed in their library. These are available to the public for research purposes. Among the materials are many letters written in German which are now being translated for the library by a volunteer. They make fascinating reading. So far the translations cover the years 1814, before Ferdinand was born in Germany, to 1873, after he had established a successful banking business in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Ferdinand Willius Descendant Chart
The chart shows how Frieda Claussen and Betty Cowie are related to Ferdinand and Clara Willius. Betty is the daughter of Elizabeth Claussen Herrmann.
