Anna Maria Hertel was born the 25th of April 1857 or the 25th of October 1859 to Anna Maria Meunch and John Theobald Hertel in the town of Herman, Sheboygan county, Wisconsin.*

Family lore says Anna's mother, Anna Maria was from Karspa, Germany but census records indicate France. John Theobald was from Elbach, Alsace-Lorraine, France.**

Anna Maria's siblings included, in order of birth: Louise, Joseph, Catherine, Anna Maria, Gertrude and Josephine (twins), Johannes, Elisabeth, Peter, and Mary Anna.***

Anna Maria married Alexander Andrews on the 31st of May, 1878 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. They had the following children: Alford/Alfred, Elias, Robert, Leonard, Blanche, Edgar, Viola, Gertrude, Dewey, Agnes, and Raymond.

The first three or four children were born in Plymouth, WI and all the children starting with Viola were born in Thorp, WI. Thus we believe the family came to Thorp in about 1891.

Anna Maria died 14 Oct 1946 at the age of 89. She is buried at Rierside Cemetery outside of Withee, Clark County, Wisconsin.


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*Her birth date as recorded by the state of Wisconsin Birth and Christening Index is 25 April 1857. The 1860, 1870, and 1880 censuses all provide "about 1860" as her birthdate. In the 1900 census she provided October 1858 as her date of birth. Her headstone also provides the October 1859 date but her obituary states she was 89 years old at death, which gives credence to the 1857 birth date.

**John Theobald's burial place is unknown so we will leave this information here. His parents were Catherine Durliath and Pierre Hertel. They were weavers (tuissant in the French records). His siblings were Catherine, Sebastian, Jean, Marie Anne, Marie Agathe, and Joseph. Catherine and Jean died in France. Marie Anne and Marie Agathe's fates are unknown but when John came to the USA in 1851 he was with one brother (probably Joseph since Sebastian came a year or so later with his wife and children) and one sister. Sebastian, Joseph, and John Theobald all left France to settle on the east coast of Wisconsin, in the Sheboygan area. John Theobald was born in 1819. We do not know the year he died. He does show up in the 1880 census living in Herman, Wisconsin, as a widower.

***Since neither of Josephine's parents has burial information, we cannot link to siblings at this time, except in this way:

Louise married John T Hertel,
Joseph (1853-1924, married Theresa Steinhaus, wife buried in Wildwood at Sheboygan / we are looking for him)
Catherine Hertel married Joseph Frane,
Anna Maria Hertel married Alexander Andrews,
Josephine Hertel married Abram Butler,
Gertrude Hertel married Benjamin Miller and then Bernhard Schemmer (but is buried as Miller),
Johannes Hertel married Louisa Belle Williams,
Elisabeth Hertel married John Krippes (they both died in 1892 and are buried at "the Catholic Cemetery" in Sheboygan),
Peter Hertel married Anna Kretsch, and
Mary Anna Hertel married James Dower.