2 Williams

Margarete Baumann had 2 men in her life. The first was a german soldier, who died in World War 1. That is all we officially know about him., although there is evidence that his name was Willhelm Then, after coming to the United States in 1923, Gretel fell in love with William Abraham, the brother of the pastor of the Lutheran Church she attended. Gretel and William married in 1926. This is my grandfather. Unfortunately, I know very little about him either, because he died in 1930, from the effects of being gassed and shell shock. This was also from World War 1, only William Abraham fought for the Allies. My mother, Margaret, was 2 years old when her father passed away.

Willhelm ???

I am calling him William 1. Yes, it sure looks like a wedding portrait to me too. We were always told that they were just engaged before he went to fight for the Kaiser in WW1. Willhelm was a young german soldier that Gretel was either engaged to. or married to if I interpret the photo as it looks. Date on the back is 1916 . The rest has to be translated. Wilhelm was killed in World War 1, sometime after 2016.

William Abraham and Margarete Baumann wedding portrait, 1926. This is my grandfather. William also fought in World War 1, except as an American soldier, despite his german ancestry. William served his country as an engineer, as a support to troops on the Western Front. As a result of his exposure to poison gas, and suffering from shell shock, William died in 1930, 2 years after the birth of their daughter, Margaret. Margaret was my mother.