Anna Spoering - The Third Daughter

Anna Spoering Helmke

Another of Grandmother Ida Spoering Elling's older sisters -

The full baptized name is not yet known for Anna Spoering, but Anna was the third of the children to immigrate to the United States with her parents, Henry and Katherine Spoering.  Born on January 3, 1881, in Lehdren, she was just over a year old when she boarded the ship in March, 1882.

In the 1900 census, she lived with her parents, Henry, 55, and Katherine, 44, her two older sisters, and eight younger siblings in Monroe Township, Henry County, Ohio.  The children's ages ranged from 24 to 10 months. Anna was the first child in the family who was listed as speaking English, as her older two sisters could not at this time.



The future groom for Anna was George Jacob Helmke - the son of Henry D. and Anna Luderman Helmke.  Anna and George married on November 1, 1903.
Born in Okolona, George J. was a lifelong self-employed carpenter.

The couple settled into a house on Elm Street in Deshler, Henry County, and began a family there.  In the 1910 census, Anna reported that she had given birth to three children, but only one was living. Arnold Wilhelm Heinrich Helmke was born on November 7, 1905, and was 4 at the time of the census.  An unnamed son was born on March 3, 1904, and died the next day, and Paul Ernest Ludwig Friedrich Helmke was born on September 9, 1907, and died October 13, 1907.

St. John Lutheran Cemetery, Deshler

The family continued to reside in the Elm Street residence in Deshler Village into 1910.  More children were added to the family: Emil Adolph, Pauline Maria Wilhelmina, Harold Harmon, and Edmund Heinrich.  

By the 1930 enumeration, Anna and George had moved to 403 East Washington Street in Napoleon, where their home was valued at $3000.  He was a carpenter "by the day."  Only three children remained at home - Emil, 19, a laborer; Harold, 13, and Edmund, 10.

By the 1940 census, Emil had moved out and roomed at the Hummer's Hotel, run by Bertha Hummer, on Perry Street in Defiance.  He was a machinist working at the Machine Works in the city.  In the week of the census, he had worked 55 hours, and he was still a single man at that time.

That census also revealed that George and Anna both had a sixth grade education.  Two young sons remained at home with them  - Harold, 22, a fireman at the dog food company, and Edmund, 20, a machine operator at the same place.

 Anna Spoering Helmke died on November 2, 1956, and George J. followed on March 19, 1960.