There are many different ways that this lady's name has been spelled, including Margarete, Marguerite and Margaret. This biography will use Margaret until the actual spelling can be verified.

Margaret was the daughter of German immigrants Christian Friederich and Christina Seivert Obenland.

Christian Was amember of a large family that had lived in Wurttemburg area for centuries. He arrived in New York in 1872. His wife had arrived in 1866. The couple were married in Champaign, Illinois in 1874.

Margaret was one of 9 children born to the couple. She had 5 brothers; Carl, George, Fred, John and Albert. Margaret had 3 sisters; Katherina, Alice, and Natalie.

The family lived near Rankin, Vermillion Co., in Butler Township, Illinois. There the children were born and raised. Christian, Margaret's father, was a farmer.

Margaret married George Winterrowd, from Mattoon, Illinois in 1913. The date and place is unknown at this time. Margaret became known as "Bessie".

The couple lived in Mattoon during the 1920's and 1930's. They had one daughter, Irene, who was born Sept. 26, 1918. Irene married Francis H. Baker in 1941. Francis passed away in July, 2006 and Irene in September of the same year.

George worked as a laborer and later was a manager for an oil station.

In the 1920 Federal Census, the family was living at 617 S. 14th St. in Mattoon. The 1930 Federal Census shows them living in the same town. They own their home, which had a value at the time of $2,500.

At some point, the family moved to Colorado, where George passed away. Margaret was living at 1409 Carla Ave. in Arlington, Texas at the time of her death. She died in Midcities Hospital in Grand Prairie, Texas of cardiac arrythemia due to arteriosclerotic heart disease. She was 75 years old.

Both George and Margaret are buried at Resthaven, in Mattoon...a fitting place, as that was where they began their life together.