Notizen zu dieser Person
Birth: Mar. 26, 1856
Death: Jun. 29, 1938
Jay County
Indiana, USA
Born in Schulitz, Posen Dist. of Prussia, the second of eight children of Karl and Elizabeth Hoffman Witt, he immigrated from Berlin to Hamburg and arrived on 20 April 1881 on the S. S. Circassian at Boston with friend, Gustav Pretzlaf, who latermarried his sister, Ernstina.
Both men worked for Hiram Sibley Estate of Ford Co. as carpenter/laborers.
On Jan. 14, 1885 Gust married Augusta Fritz in Anchor, IL. Eventually they had 7 children. While Gust hired out to Sibley Estate, Augusta and the children farmed a small plot near Fairbury, IL.
About 1887/8 Gust and his family moved to Rochester, NY where he worked as a cabinatemaker/ joiner for C. J. Hahden Furniture Co. on Exchange St. About 1891/2 the Witts returned to Sibley, IL. Gust worked there as farm laborer and as Sibley School janitor for 18 years.
He became a naturalized citizen in Pontiac on Oct. 27, 1896. Augusta died in 1899 and Gust married widow Margretha Fornoff Strauss of Pekin, IL on Jan 1, 1903. Two of her children also joined the Witt family in Sibley.
Widowed again, Gustav died while visiting his son Bill in Portland, IN. He was a member of St. John's Lutheran church of Sibley, IL.