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Wilhelm Friedrich Fiegenbaum
1862 — 1929
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Wilhelm Friedrich Fiegenbaum
This studio portrait was made in 1886 at Higginsville, Missouri. At that time, Wilhelm would have been about 23 or 24 years old.
Wilhelm was the fifth of 12 children born to Hermann Heinrich and Wilhelmine Florentine Charlotte (Wehrmann) Fiegenbaum. His parents recorded his name, Wilhelm Friedrich, the date and time of his birth, and the date of his baptism in their own family register. The event may also be found in the baptism register of the deutsche evangelische Kirche am Charette (known since 1957 as Immanuels United Church of Christ) at Holstein, Warren County, Missouri.
He was confirmed in the same church in 1876, but at that time the written sources identify him as Friedrich Wilhelm.
In 1893, he married Henriette Caroline Amelia Starkebaum. On the marriage certificate he is William F. Fiegenbaum.
His published obituary in 1929 refers to him has William Frederick Fiegenbaum.
The rearrangement of given names is not an unusual phenomenon in the genealogical history of our family. And even more familiar is the migration of a name from the language of origin to an anglicized version which fits more easily into the culture of the new homeland.