Jackson-Herman-Willig Family History
Our Family's Journey Through Time: 1677-1945
Henry Herman: born July 8, 1878 in Danvers, McLean County, Illinois, a son of Adam and Catherine (Hunger) Herman. He died following a time of illness with cancer at the family home in Bloomington, Illinois on August 22, 1942 and was buried in Park Lawn Cemetery in Danvers, Illinois.
Mary Ellen (Jackson) Herman: born June 24, 1896 in the farmhouse of her parents, Jury and Annie Jackson, who resided near Flat Rock, Illinois (the nearest Post Office) and the birth was recorded at the birth registry office in Robinson, Illinois in Crawford County. She died in Bloomington, Illinois on Nov. 19, 1987 and was buried in the Park Lawn Cemetery in Danvers, Illinois.
Marriage: Henry and Mary Ellen were married on Feb. 29, 1916 in Danvers, McLean County, Illinois.
Children (6): Dorothy Ann (Herman) Oertwig (born in 1917), Doris Catherine (Herman) Veach (1919), William Henry Herman (1921), Clyde Adam Herman (1923), George Wayne Herman (1924), and Delbert Jury Herman (1925). Walter Earnest Herman, born in 1905 to Henry's first wife, Frieda (Scharfenberg) Herman, became the stepson of Mary Ellen, and the half-brother of the Herman siblings previously named.
In or about 1910, Euris Jackson, Mary Ellen Jackson's oldest brother, decided to go to the Illinois State Normal University in McLean County, Illinois to pursue a teaching degree (see Jury Jackson's and Euris Jackson's family stories). That decision had a monumental effect on the future of the Jury Jackson family's history (including Mary Ellen). Jury and Annie Jackson decided to move from their home in Olney, Illinois to McLean County to help support Euris and Ethel during his educational quest. Some of the younger Jackson children joined them in the move, but Mary Ellen did not move with them; rather, she moved from Olney, Illinois to Vincennes, Indiana about 1914 where she got a housekeeping job. In McLean County, Jury and Annie first resided in Normal, Illinois where the university was, but a years or two later they relocated to the farming community of Danvers, a few miles west of Bloomington-Normal. In Danvers, Jury and his son, Everett, contracted to help a local farmer, Henry Herman, with his corn harvest; they stayed at Henry's farm through the duration of the job. While they were staying there, Mary Ellen came up from Vincennes, Indiana to visit her parents and family. Mary Ellen Jackson met Henry Herman . . .
Henry Herman was born on July 8, 1878, so he was nearly 20 years older than Mary Ellen. He had gotten married to his first wife, Frieda Emma Scharfenberg, on Sept. 1, 1904, in Danvers. Henry and Frieda were Lutherans and were evidently were married at the Lutheran church in Danvers where Henry was a member. They had one son together, Walter Earnest Herman, born Sept. 18, 1905 in McLean County, Illinois. Frieda died on Dec. 4, 1910 after several months of complications due to an unnamed illness, leaving Henry alone with a five-year-old son; Walter was then about 10 years old when Mary Ellen came to visit her parents at Henry's farmhouse. As an experienced housekeeper, Mary Ellen was hired by Henry Herman to cook and do housekeeping while Henry, Jury and Everett Jackson, and other hired hands were doing the harvesting.
In the fall of 1915, after the harvest was finished (and Euris had completed his initial studies at ISNU), Jury and Annie Jackson decided to return to Southern Illinois, but Mary Ellen did not want to move back with them because she wanted to stay and marry Henry Herman. So, when the rest of the family returned to Southern Illinois, Mary Ellen Jackson married Henry Herman on Feb. 29, 1916.
Henry continued to engage in farming in McLean County, Illinois, living in rural areas near Arrowsmith, Stanford, and Armington; in 1930, they moved to Downs. Six children were born to them: 1) Dorothy Ann in 1917, 2) Doris Catherine in 1919, 3) William Henry in 1921, 4) Clyde Adam in 1923, 5) George Wayne in 1924, and 6) Delbert Jury in 1925. (Walter Herman, Henry's first son, lived with the family until the early 1930s; on Sept.18,1933 he married Winnifred Henrietta Gunder and moved away.)
Henry Herman died at home in Bloomington, Illinois on Aug. 22, 1942 following a lengthly illness; shortly thereafter, his four sons went into military duty in WWII. Mary Ellen (Jackson) Herman passed away in a Nursing Home in Normal, Illinois where she had been a resident for about six years at that time.
************** Generations 10/11:
Walter Earnest Herman was born in Danvers, Illinois on September 18, 1905, the only child born to Henry and Frieda (Scharfenberg) Herman. [Frieda Scharfenberg was born in Congerville, Illinois on March 20, 1886.] His mother passed away on Dec. 4, 1910 when Walter was only five years old. In 1916, his father remarried to Mary Ellen (Jackson) Herman who became his step-mother. Henry and Mary Herman had six additional children who were the half-sisters and half-brothers of Walter. Walter married Winnifred Henrietta (Gunder) Herman in Mandan, Morton County, North Dakota on Sept. 18, 1933. Walter died in Hemet, Riverside County, California on Nov. 5, 1983 and was buried in Green Hills Memorial Park in Rancho Palos Verdes, California. Winnifred (Gunder) Herman died on July 19, 2012 and was also buried in Green Hills Memorial Park in Rancho Palos Verdes. The couple had no children. [Family research note: Winnifred was an active member of the LDS Church based in Salt Lake City, Utah and she submitted a considerable amount of Herman family research information which was deposited into the LDS research database.]
The first child born to Henry and Mary (Jackson) Herman was Dorothy Ann (Herman) Oertwig who was born in Stanford, McLean County, Illinois on Dec. 24, 1917 when her parents were living on a farm near Stanford. She married Lester William Oertwig, born in Vandalia, Illinois on Oct. 6, 1912, the son of Edward and Clara (Rebbe) Oertwig; Lester and Dorothy were married on June 27, 1927 in Bloomington, Illinois. For many years they operated a summer resort in Eagle River, Wisconsin and spent their winter months in Minonk, Illinois where they raised their family of three daughters, whose descendants form their continuing ancestral lineage. Lester Oertwig died in Normal, Illinois on Aug. 31, 1992 and Dorothy (Herman) Oertwig passed away on Nov. 8, 2006. They were both buried in the East Lawn Memorial Gardens Cemetery in Bloomington, Illinois.
Doris Catherine (Herman) Veach was the second child of Henry and Mary Herman. Doris was born on Aug. 23, 1919 in Stanford, McLean County, Illinois when her parents were living on a farm near that community. She married Edward Benton Veach in 1940. Edward Veach was born on April 24, 1917 in Frankfort, Franklin County, Kentucky, the son of Robert Roscoe Veach (1893-1977) and Emma J. (Tinsley) Veach (1898-1968). Following their marriage, Ed and Doris Veach were life-long residents of McLean County, living for many years near Hayworth, Illinois where they raised their three sons, and whose descendants form their ongoing family lineage. Later, Ed and Doris lived in Normal, Illinois where they were living when they passed away. Edward B. Veach died on March 4, 1991 and was buried in the Park Hill Cemetery in Bloomington, Illinois. Doris C. (Herman) Veach passed away on July 7, 2001 and was also buried in Park Hill Cemetery in Bloomington, McLean County, Illinois.
The third child of Henry and Mary Herman was a son, William "Bill" Henry Herman. He was born on April 23, 1921 in Atlanta, Logan County, Illinois where the family lived on a farm nearby. Bill married Anna Mae (Kleen) Herman on Nov. 29, 1941 in St. Louis, MO; she was the daughter of Garmer and Emma (Loerger) Kleen. Bill served in the US Navy in WWII, and after the war, he returned to Minonk, Illinois where he and Ann continued to raise their family, eventually consisting of one son and three daughters, whose descendants form the continuation of their family lineage. Bill owned and operated his own automotive body shop in Minonk for several decades and also served in the local American Legion Post, the Masonic Lodge, Township Government, Minonk Fire Protection District, and served two terms as mayor. Anna (Kleen) Herman was born in Minonk, Illinois on Feb. 7, 1920 and died in Minonk on Nov. 29, 2009. Bill lived to the age of 99, passing away in El Paso, Illinois on Oct. 2, 2020. Both Bill and Ann are buried in the Minonk Township Cemetery in Woodford County, Illinois.
Clyde Adam Herman, born on Feb. 19, 1923 in Atlanta, Illinois, was the fourth child of Henry and Mary Herman. He married Hazel Deloris (Leininger) Herman on June 9, 1946 in Decatur, Illinois. Hazel was born Jan. 8, 1928 in Arrowsmith, Illinois, the daughter of Henry H. and Elna Mae (Fossett) Leininger. Clyde served in the Army Air Corps in WWII and worked for General Electric Co. for 30 years in Bloomington, Illinois, retiring in 1985. Clyde and Hazel had three children: two daughters and one son, whose descendants form the ongoing lineage of their family. Clyde A. Herman died in Champaign, Illinois on March 18, 1989 and was buried in East Lawn Memorial Gardens Cemetery in Bloomington, Illinois. Hazel (Leininger) Herman passed away on April 26, 2012 and was also buried in East Lawn Memorial Gardens Cemetery in Bloomington.
Henry and Mary Herman's fifth child was George Wayne Herman, born in Armington, McLean County, Illinois on Feb. 22, 1924 when the family lived on a farm in that area. He married Annabelle Jeanne Crusinberry (Herman) on March 11, 1945 in Bloomington, Illinois. Annabelle Jeanne, born on Nov. 21, 1923, was the daughter of William R. and Anna C. (Schessler) Crusinberry of Bloomington, Illinois. George Herman served in the US Marine Corp in WWII and shortly after the war, George and Jean married and had a child born to them in Bloomington, Illinois. They soon moved to Nevada, then to California and two more children were born to them: a son and a daughter, whose descendants form the ongoing lineage of their family. George Wayne Herman died on Aug. 17, 1992 and was buried in the Riverside National Cemetery in Riverside, California. Jeanne (Crusinberry) Herman died on Jan. 18, 2004, but her burial location is undocumented.
Delbert Jury Herman was the sixth and youngest child of Henry and Mary Herman. He was born in Armington, Tazewell County, Illinois on Oct. 18, 1925, when his parents and siblings were living on a farm in that area. Delbert joined the US Navy in 1943 when he was 17 years old. He was stationed on a US Naval Base in Iceland; shortly thereafter, near Reykjavik, Iceland, he met his future wife, Ieda Jonasdottir (Herman). Ieda/Ida was born May 21, 1925 in Bjarnarey, Iceland, the daughter of Capt. Jonas Bjornsson and Dagbjort Octavia Bjarnadottir; Ieda grew up in Vopnafjordur, a small fishing village in Western Iceland. Delbert Herman and Ieda (Jonasdottir) Herman were married in Reykjavik, Iceland on April 25, 1945. After the War, they resided first in Normal, Illinois and briefly lived in Indiana, Iowa, and California before eventually settling in Bloomington, Illinois where they raised their growing family. Delbert and Ieda had ten children born to them: 7 daughters and three sons, whose descendants form the ongoing lineage of their family. Rev. Delbert "DJ" Herman became a minister in the early 1950s and served congregations in Central Illinois: Bentown, Bloomington, Pontiac, Peoria and Chillicothe. His wife, Ieda, served alongside Delbert as a partner in Christian ministry; in addition, she wrote articles and books, and spoke at a variety of Scandinavian events. Rev. Delbert "DJ" Herman passed away on Feb. 26, 2015 in Peoria, Illinois and was buried in the East Lawn Memorial Gardens Cemetery in Bloomington, McLean County, Illinois. Ieda (Jonasdottir) Herman died on Oct. 9, 2019 in Burlington, Iowa and was also buried in East Lawn Memorial Gardens Cemetery in Bloomington.
Notes on the Hermann Family immigration from Germany to the USA in the late 1860s (Henry Herman's ancestral lineage):
1) On Nov. 17, 1826, Christian Hermann married Maria Rudzinski in the Lutheran Church in Margrabowa, Ostpreussen [in English, East Prussia; at the present time, the name of the city is Olecko, Poland.]. Their dates of birth, and the identities and original locations of their respective parents is not known. This date of marriage is the earliest known record of the Hermann family whose descendants emigrated to America. Christian and Maria had 7 children born to them and christened in the same Lutheran Church in which they were married: Catharine (christened Nov. 11, 1827), Maria (March 22, 1829), Johann (Jan. 16, 1831), Adam (Oct. 6, 1833 [note: his gravestone in Danvers, Illinois lists his date of birth as Sept. 30, 1833; typically christenings occurred about a week after birth], Euphrosine (June 26, 1836), Mattis (Aug. 26, 1838), and Friedrich (Mar. 22, 1840).
2) Adam Hermann, son of Christian and Maria (Rudzinski) Hermann, married Catherin (Hunger) Hermann in March, 1858 in Germany. They had one child born to them in Germany, Katherina, on Jan. 9, 1859. When Katherina was about 10 years old in 1869, the family emigrated from Germany to America in search of a better life (as millions of other Germans and Poles from that region were doing in the latter half of the 19th century). The industrial revolution was calling. The most common migration route at the time was arriving in New York City, going up the Hudson River, proceeding through the Erie Canal, and then into the Great Lakes region. Evidently, the Hermann family followed this route because they settled first in the Township of Madison, in Lake County, Ohio, not far from Lake Erie. Madison had been incorporated in 1867 and records indicate a population of about 800 at that time. While living in Madison Township, a second child was born into the family on Aug. 10, 1875, George Hermann. Soon thereafter, the family moved west and settled in Danvers, Illinois, a growing farm community whose growth coincided with the arrival of the first railway passing through the town in 1869. Railroads of the time were advertising the rich, but relatively inexpensive, agricultural farmland. Settling into farm life in Danvers, Illinois, Adam and Catherin soon added more children to their family, all born in Danvers: Christian George (born Nov. 11, 1876), Henry (July 8, 1878), Mary (Jan. 23, 1879), and Adam (Oct. 10, 1880).
3) Henry Herman, son of Adam and Catherin (Hunger) Hermann, married Frieda Scharfenberg who was born in nearby Congerville, Illinois on Mar. 20, 1886, a daughter of Adam and Anna Christina (Rasbach) Scharfenberg of that community. Henry and Frieda were married in Danvers, Illinois on Sept. 1, 1904. They had one child born to them, Walter Earnest Herman, on Sept. 18, 1905 in Danvers. Only five years later, on Dec. 4, 1910 Frieda passed away after several months of illness; she was buried in Danvers. Henry remarried to Mary Ellen (Jackson) Herman in Feb. 1916. Their family story is recounted above.
Find a Grave.com (search individual names)
US Census Records
LDS Church Records in Salt Lake City, Utah
Max Jackson (son of Euris Jackson) Research on the Jackson Family History
Florence (Jackson) Herman-Willig personal family history correspondence with Doris Veach and her daughter-in-law.
Wikipedia articles: Margrabowa, East Prussia; Erie Canal and Madison, Ohio; Danvers, Illinois history