JOHANNES "JOHN" AMOS MOLL
(1863 - 1945)
Johannes "John" Amos Moll was born on May 2, 1863, on a farm in Mound Township, (just outside of what is now Altamont), Effingham County, Illinois. His parents were Amos Rodolf Ludwig Moll and Justine Marie Beccue Moll both originally from Prussia (Germany). He was named after his uncle, Johannes "John" Moll, his father's brother, who was killed at age 23 during the Civil War at the Battle of Antietam.
John was raised on the family's farm with his four sisters, Albertina, Augusta, Martha, and Mary. The children grew up speaking German. As a young boy John worked on his parents' farm. He attended the Bethlehem Lutheran School, five and a half miles southwest of Altamont, where classes were taught in German. In 1873 there were 123 students in the school.
According to the Effingham County marriage records for the year of 1884, 21 year old John Moll and 16 year old Wilhelmine Berg were the witnesses at the marriage of Wilhelmine's brother Charles Berg's wedding as he married Rickey Yonnk on November 26, 1884. This could have been their first meeting, but more likely not since John was not related to either side, and could have been a family friend. It was commom in those days for young people to meet at the weddings of their relations and then get married some time after.
Less than four years later, on April 8, 1888, at age 24, John married 20 year old Wilhelmine "Minnie" Berg. Minnie was the daughter of August Berg (1818-1890) of Sack Amt Ahlfeld, Hanover, Prussia and Henrietta Havekost Berg (1828-1893) from Grosslide, Hanover, Prussia. The Berg family came to this country in 1863 settling first in Plano, Illinois. Later they moved to the Blue Point neighborhood and from there to the Bethlehem area in 1873. Minnie was born in Moccasin Township on March 17, 1868 and had two brothers and two sisters all born in Prussia. John and Minnie were married in the Bethlehem Lutheran Church by J.G. Hild, M.G. The marriage was witnessed by R. Moll and Martha Moll, John's sister.
Together they had five children. Albert Amos August Moll was born on February 11, 1889. Then on December 21, 1896 Walter William Moll was born. Next came a girl Lorna, on February 28, 1899, followed by Louis Fredrick Moll on May 12, 1902. Lastly, came Codelia Marie Johanna Moll on April 5, 1908.
In the 1900 U.S. Census, John was a 37 year old farmer, living on his 80 acre farm in West Township, Effingham County, with his wife and his children: Albert, then 11 years old and in school, Walter three years old and Lorna, one. His wife of 12 years, Minnie, recorded that she had given birth to five children, of which three are still living, so sometime before 1900, two of John and Minnie's babies died.
In 1905 John sold this farm and bought 160 acres in Altamont. The 1910 census found John in Mound Township of Altamont. He was then 46 years old and the owner, free and clear, of his farm. He was living with his wife of 23 years, Minnie. Also living with them were Albert, who was a 21 year old farm laborer, plus Walter 13, Lorna 11, Louis 7, and Cordelia 2.
Soon after this census was taken, John's wife Minnie caught a bad case of pneumonia and on February 11, 1911 she died. With no wife to care for his small children and a farm to run, John sent his two year old daughter Cordelia and eight year old son Louis to live with his sister Mary. At that time Mary was 37 years old, single and keeping house for her parents.
Two years after the death of his wife, in 1913, at 40 years old, John married a woman from Schobenier, Illinois, by the name of Anna Sophia Friedericke Meyer Rohlfing. She was a 42 year old widow with three young daughters: Olga, aged 10, Ida aged 9, and Anna aged 3.
It was decided that John's daughter Cordelia would remain with her Aunt Mary and the rest of the children lived with their father and his new wife. This situation, however, did not last long. At age 22 Albert was the first to leave home, heading for Mt. Pulaski, north of Altamont, to do farm work. Walter soon followed him to Mt. Pulaski at about 13 years old to also work on a farm. Lorna left home at age 15 to work in Springfield.
John's oldest son Albert became a blacksmith in Altamont, Illinois. In 1915 he married Christina Braasch, also of Altamont, and had one child, Gustav Frank John Moll in 1920.
Walter married Ellen Helena Armstrong of Mt. Pulaski in 1918. He worked in Springfield on horse cars for one year and then returned to Mt. Pulaski. Here his two daughters were born, Mary Ellen Moll in 1919 and Virgina Francis Moll in 1923. He worked for the telephone company there for 10 years and then bought a home, built a greenhouse, and went into the nursery business.
Lorna was never heard from again after she left for Springfield.
The 1920 U.S. census found John, then 56 years old, and his 48 year old wife, Anna, living with his 16 year old son Louis, a farm laborer, and his three step-daughters, Olga, 16 years old, Ida, 15, and Anne, 11. Also living with them was a new son, Martin, born on January 1, 1919.
Sometime that year Louis left home at age 16 to work on a farm in Mt. Pulaski. From there he worked for Caterpillar Tractor Company in the heat treat department for 30 years in Peoria. He married Ruth Whitaker in 1924 and had four children: Gerald Louis Moll in 1926, Marilyn Ruth Moll in 1934, Madilyn Irene Moll in 1939, and John Fredrick Moll in 1941.
Cordelia married Fred Harold Ellis in 1932. She worked for the phone company in Altamont and then they moved to Decator and later Bloomington, Illinois, where she worked for The State Farm Insurance Company for 40 years. She and Fred had no children and retired in Altamont, Illinois.
John Moll was a good carpenter, handy at fixing most anything concerning wood. He built his own house at the age of 57. He farmed with horse power. The crops he raised were corn, oats, and some beans for feed. He harvested his crops with a threshing machine and the help of neighbors.
The family had cows for milk and to sell and two pigs mostly to butcher for meat to eat. They also had chickens and ducks. John butchered the hogs, and then cured and smoked his own meat in a special smoke house he built. The milking was done by hand and they made their apple butter outside in a cauldron.
Martin Moll remembers a visit to the farm from his step-brother Walter Moll and Walter's daughter Virginia Moll (O'Rorke)who lived north of Altamont in Mt. Pulaski. Although Virginia was Martin's niece they were about the same age, Virginia being about 5 years old and Mart about 8. Martin and Virginia went into the pasture in search of a new born calf that was out there with its mother. They searched and searched but couldn't find the calf because the mother had hid the calf for its own protection. When they returned to the house, Mart's father, John, told them he knew they wouldn't find the calf but he didn't want to spoil their adventure.
John and his family walked to church every Sunday. John didn't have a car and he had sold his horses when his son Mart was a child. Then when Mart was older and could drive, he got a car. John did not travel much, except a time or two when he went by train to Springfield, Illinois.
Later John's farming changed as modern conveniences became available. He was able to enjoy the new things and take life a little easier in his last years. Holidays and birthdays were always celebrated with the children and their spouses coming to visit. They generally had a meal, either dinner or supper.
John continued to live in Altamont for the rest of his life which ended from a stroke on June 9, 1945, at the age of 83. He had also had prostate trouble. His second wife Anna outlived him by 16 years, dying in Altamont, September 8, 1961, from a stroke she had had two weeks prior.
John is buried in the Union Cemetery of Altamont, in the Moll family plot near his parents and his first wife.
John's son Martin inherited his farm. A few months after his father's death, Martin married Hildegard Marie Siebert. He was in the service at the time. When he returned from the service in December of 1945, he and his new wife lived with his mother. Mart and Hildegard had two children, Delores Ann in 1950 and Lyle Martin in 1955. Mart's son and family continued to live on the family farm.
Compiled by Julette O'Rorke Uebner, great grandaughter of John Moll, from the U.S. Census records of 1880. 1990, 1910, and 1920; the marriage record for Effingham County; notes taken by Eugene O'Rorke in a 1970's interview with Cordelia Ellis (daughter of John Moll); and a letter from John Moll's daughter-in-law, Hildegard Moll (wife of his son Marin Moll); Altamont Area Centennial 1871-1971, published by the Altamont News.
1863 - 1945 (82 years)
