Week 13: Worship (52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks – 2024 Version)

The theme for Week 13 is "Worship." The lives of many of our ancestors were shaped by their choices (or lack of a choice) in how and where they could worship. This week, consider an ancestor and how their worship practices influenced their life. Click here to see all the prompts for 2024.

I remember my mother telling me about her paternal grandmother. Her grandmother was Emma Sophia Thielke. She was a small woman; I believe under five feet tall. She was born on Jan 10, 1874 in Watertown, Jefferson County, Wisconsin. She married August Frederick Hafenstein on Nov 6, 1901 in Watertown, Jefferson County, Wisconsin.   

They lived in Columbus, Columbia County, Wisconsin at 239A West James St. This was the upstairs apartment of the home. The home doesn’t exist anymore, it was torn down many years ago, and between 2013 and 2015, it was made into a parking lot for the library. 

My mother had fond memories of getting to stay overnight at her grandmother’s house. She once told me that her grandmother, who was Methodist, my mother being raised Catholic, would get up real early on Sunday and go to her church for service. Then come back and take her granddaughter to a local Catholic Church and stay with her through that service. 

From this story, I have a feeling that her grandmother valued religion even if it wasn’t the religion that she worshiped. I think, most grandmothers would have been satisfied to drag their grandchildren to their own church. However, to take the time to attend two different services is remarkable.

Emma passed away on Mar 14, 1955 in Columbus, Columbia County. By then, my mother who was married, already had four of her own children. 

One final remark for genealogical purposes, Emma wasn’t my mother’s biological grandmother, because my mother was born out of wedlock before Emma’s son and my grandmother were married. My mother was two years old when her parents married. My mother did not know this fact until she was 18, and she never told any of her children that she was adopted. However, the stories she told about her grandmother and grandfather were stories about loving, adoring grandparents, who didn’t care if she was their biological granddaughter or not. She was their granddaughter in all the ways that matter!

Remember to have fun and Just do Genealogy!