Gertrude Turck, also spelled Türck or Turk, was born in 1840, probably in Vendersheim, a town about ten miles from the cathedral city of Mainz in western Germany. She emigrated to Moline with her parents, George Turck and Anna Bloedel, in 1861. Two brothers, Jacob and John, and a sister, Elizabeth, also emigrated. Family information suggests there were five other siblings, but they have not been identified.
Gertrude married Martin Weber in 1861 in Moline. The couple had three children.
Martin ran Moline's first brewery out of a building next to his house. In the fall of 1873, when he felt his health was failing, Martin sold out and announced that he was taking a long vacation in Europe with Gertrude and her 16-year-old niece, Mary Bertges. On the eve of the journey, however, Martin died, just 43 years old.
Still eager to visit her homeland, Gertrude made her European journey the next fall, but had to rearrange her life, taking boarders in her house to make ends meet. Through the years she was helped by her son Ben, who lived in the house, and daughter Mary, who lived in an apartment next door with her husband Fred Baas. Fred took over the management of the boarding house in 1880. It provided Gertrude with a steady income by providing lodging to laborers in the nearby factories and mills and, in later years, entertainers working at the Moline Theater across the street.
Gertrude was a well-known personality in Moline, affectionately remembered as "Grandma Weber" in her obituary when she died in 1909.
Through her maternal grandfather, Gertrude was a half-first cousin of Sarah Bloedel and Catherine Bloedel. They were the wives of, respectively, Frederick Weyerhaeuser and Frederick Denkmann, lumber barons whose business originated in the neighboring city of Rock Island. Sometime after Martin Weber's death Weyerhaeuser bought the Weber brewery building and used it as a warehouse.
Gertrude married Martin Weber in 1861 in Moline. The couple had three children.
Martin ran Moline's first brewery out of a building next to his house. In the fall of 1873, when he felt his health was failing, Martin sold out and announced that he was taking a long vacation in Europe with Gertrude and her 16-year-old niece, Mary Bertges. On the eve of the journey, however, Martin died, just 43 years old.
Still eager to visit her homeland, Gertrude made her European journey the next fall, but had to rearrange her life, taking boarders in her house to make ends meet. Through the years she was helped by her son Ben, who lived in the house, and daughter Mary, who lived in an apartment next door with her husband Fred Baas. Fred took over the management of the boarding house in 1880. It provided Gertrude with a steady income by providing lodging to laborers in the nearby factories and mills and, in later years, entertainers working at the Moline Theater across the street.
Gertrude was a well-known personality in Moline, affectionately remembered as "Grandma Weber" in her obituary when she died in 1909.
Through her maternal grandfather, Gertrude was a half-first cousin of Sarah Bloedel and Catherine Bloedel. They were the wives of, respectively, Frederick Weyerhaeuser and Frederick Denkmann, lumber barons whose business originated in the neighboring city of Rock Island. Sometime after Martin Weber's death Weyerhaeuser bought the Weber brewery building and used it as a warehouse.
Gertrude Turck, also spelled Türck or Turk, was born in 1840, probably in Vendersheim, a town about ten miles from the cathedral city of Mainz in western Germany. She emigrated to Moline with her parents, George Turck and Anna Bloedel, in 1861. Two brothers, Jacob and John, and a sister, Elizabeth, also emigrated. Family information suggests there were five other siblings, but they have not been identified.
Gertrude married Martin Weber in 1861 in Moline. The couple had three children.
Martin ran Moline's first brewery out of a building next to his house. In the fall of 1873, when he felt his health was failing, Martin sold out and announced that he was taking a long vacation in Europe with Gertrude and her 16-year-old niece, Mary Bertges. On the eve of the journey, however, Martin died, just 43 years old.
Still eager to visit her homeland, Gertrude made her European journey the next fall, but had to rearrange her life, taking boarders in her house to make ends meet. Through the years she was helped by her son Ben, who lived in the house, and daughter Mary, who lived in an apartment next door with her husband Fred Baas. Fred took over the management of the boarding house in 1880. It provided Gertrude with a steady income by providing lodging to laborers in the nearby factories and mills and, in later years, entertainers working at the Moline Theater across the street.
Gertrude was a well-known personality in Moline, affectionately remembered as "Grandma Weber" in her obituary when she died in 1909.
Through her maternal grandfather, Gertrude was a half-first cousin of Sarah Bloedel and Catherine Bloedel. They were the wives of, respectively, Frederick Weyerhaeuser and Frederick Denkmann, lumber barons whose business originated in the neighboring city of Rock Island. Sometime after Martin Weber's death Weyerhaeuser bought the Weber brewery building and used it as a warehouse.
Gertrude married Martin Weber in 1861 in Moline. The couple had three children.
Martin ran Moline's first brewery out of a building next to his house. In the fall of 1873, when he felt his health was failing, Martin sold out and announced that he was taking a long vacation in Europe with Gertrude and her 16-year-old niece, Mary Bertges. On the eve of the journey, however, Martin died, just 43 years old.
Still eager to visit her homeland, Gertrude made her European journey the next fall, but had to rearrange her life, taking boarders in her house to make ends meet. Through the years she was helped by her son Ben, who lived in the house, and daughter Mary, who lived in an apartment next door with her husband Fred Baas. Fred took over the management of the boarding house in 1880. It provided Gertrude with a steady income by providing lodging to laborers in the nearby factories and mills and, in later years, entertainers working at the Moline Theater across the street.
Gertrude was a well-known personality in Moline, affectionately remembered as "Grandma Weber" in her obituary when she died in 1909.
Through her maternal grandfather, Gertrude was a half-first cousin of Sarah Bloedel and Catherine Bloedel. They were the wives of, respectively, Frederick Weyerhaeuser and Frederick Denkmann, lumber barons whose business originated in the neighboring city of Rock Island. Sometime after Martin Weber's death Weyerhaeuser bought the Weber brewery building and used it as a warehouse.
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