This is the tombstone of Anna Maria (Heffner) Schumm, located in row 11 of Zion Lutheran Cemetery, Schumm, Van Wert County, Ohio. The marker is inscribed:
Anna M. Heffner
Wife of
Wm. Schumm
1855-1931
Anna Maria Heffner was born 7 December 1855 in Mercer County, Ohio, the daughter of George and Sophia (Martin) Heffner. She was baptized at Zion Lutheran Church in Chattanooga but the date of her baptism was not recorded. Her baptismal sponsors were John Becher and Anna Maria Becher.
Anna Maria Heffner grew up on the Heffner farm near Chatt and was confirmed at Zion Chatt on Palm Sunday, 21 March 1868, by Rev. George Heintz.
Anna Maria married William Schumm on 12 February 1874 at Zion Chatt. William was the son of Johann Friedrich and Magdalena (Meyer) Schumm, from Van Wert County. After their marriage William and Anna Maria resided in Blackcreek Township for a year or two and their first child Amelia was born there late in 1874. Amelia was baptized at Zion Chatt early in 1875. They probably moved to Van Wert County, near Schumm, shortly afterward because the rest of their children were baptized at Zion Schumm.
Anna and William were parents of the following children:
Amelia “Emilie” Marie (1874-1952), married Samuel William August Koch
John Henry “Hugo” (1876-1955), married Amalia Maria Schumm
Georg Frederick “Otto” (1876-?), married Alma B. Hoppe
Alexander “Rudolph” (1879-1913), married Bertha A. Liebmann
“Theodore” Henry Martin (1881-1944), married Doretta May Altheon
“Conrad” Adam (1883-1955), married Eva Meyers
“Bertha” Ottilie (1886-1947), married Henry W. Garrison
“Paul” Edwin (1888-1970), married Lydia Barbara Schumm
“Oscar” Albert (1890-1984), married Hilda Marie Schumm
Juliana “Julia” Gertrude (1895-1966), married Fred John Buechner
Note that Hugo and Otto were twins.
In 1880 the William Schumm family lived in Willshire Township, where William worked as a “house carpenter.” They lived a couple houses from my great-great-grandfather Louis Breuninger. [1]
Anna Maria’s husband William died 28 December 1906. She never remarried and raised their youngest children by herself.
In 1910, four years after William’s death, Anna Maria remained on the family farm with their three youngest children, Paul, Oscar, and Julia. [2]
In 1920 widow Anna Maria was living with son Paul, his wife Lydia, and their two children, Mildred and Delores. They lived one house away from my great-grandfather John Scaer and his family, who lived on Willshire Eastern Road. [3]
In 1930 Anna Maria was living with her son Oscar, his wife Hilda, and their children, Hildred, Harold, and Roman. Anna Maria was 74 years old then. [4]
Anna Maria died a year later, on 16 March 1931, in Harrison Township, Van Wert County, at the age of 75 years, 3 months and 9 days. She had fractured her femur in February and died from complications of the fracture. She was buried on the 18th. [5]
Her husband William is also buried in Zion Schumm’s cemetery and has a separate marker in row 8.
[1] 1880 U.S. Census, Willshire, Van Wert, Ohio, ED 154, p.456C, family 246, Schumm; digital image by subscription, Ancestry.com (www.Ancestry.com : accessed 14 March 2015); from FHL film 1255074, from NARA microfilm T9, roll 1074.
[2] 1910 U.S. Census, Willshire, Van Wert, Ohio, ED114, p. 1B, dwelling 15, family 15, Mary Schumm; digital image by subscription, Ancestry.com (www.Ancestry.com : accessed 14 March 2015); from FHL microfilm 1375251, from NARA microfilm T624, roll 1238.
[3] 1920 U.S. Census, Willshire, Van Wert, Ohio, ED 146, p.4B, dwelling 81, family 82, Paul E. Schumm; digital image by subscription, Ancestry.com (www.Ancestry.com : accessed 14 March 2015); from NARA microfilm T625, roll 1446.
[4] 1930 U.S. Census, Willshire, Van Wert, Ohio, ED24, p.2B, dwelling 42, family 43, Oscar Schumm; digital image by subscription, Ancestry.com, (www.Ancestry.com : accessed 14 March 2015); from FHL microfilm 2341624, from NARA microfilm T6256, roll 1890.
[5] “Ohio, Deaths, 19089-1953,” index and images, FamilySearch (www.FamilySearch.org : accessed 14 March 2015), Maria W Schumm, 16 March 1931; citing Harrison, Van Wert, Ohio; from FHL microfilm 1992426.