Early Years and the Birth of Children

Clara and Ferdinand's children were born from 1860 to 1878. 

As their children were born, letters flew back and forth between St. Paul and Germany, St. Paul and Cincinnatti.

Frieda's Scrapbook

Frieda tells about Otto's birth. Otto, born in 1873, was the couple's 4th child and the only one to be born in Germany.

Click on Descendants to continue the story of the Willius children.

The 1870s and early 1880s

From 1869 to 1881, the Willius family lived in a house at 394 East 5th Street. It stood on a hill between Hoffmann Av. and Commercial St. Martha describes it in "A Tree was Transplanted". 

From Frieda's Scrapbook

In 1872-1873 Clara took two of her children to Germany in the hopes of getting medical help for Robert. Robert, the second child, was lame. The cause was never clear. Ferdinand took them East to New York where they embarked on their journey and left Martha in Cincinnatti with her Uncle and Holterhoff cousins. While Clara was in Germany, Otto was born. Martha and Ferdinand stayed with the Gustav Willius family in their house on Dayton's bluff while Martha attended the school run by her grandfather, Robert T. Holterhoff.