a 200th wedding anniversary

Tomorrow (21.9.2026) will be the 200th wedding anniversary of the founding couple of my Krefeld Clan:

Wilhelm Düselmann * 13. 8.1804 Krefeld + 17.12.1865 Krefeld

and

Elisabetha de la Strada * 17.12.1804 Krefeld + 15.12.1882 Krefeld.

I blogged a list of the descendants we knew back in 2009 in one of my first blog entries on family history, and this has led to to additional information (we now know of 13 children, with the girls brought up catholic and the boys protestant to reflect the different confessions of the parents, 32 grandchildren, and hundreds of fascinating people further down the line) as well as to real life meetups with several relatives I was previously unaware of, so this wedding held in Krefeld 200 years ago is a bit special. I was slightly tempted to try and organise a family event for the occasion, but that would have required actual people skills which I don't have so I'll just commemorate the day with another blog entry.

Sadly we don't have photos of bride nor groom, although both lived long enough to suggest they may have had a portrait taken in their old age. Incidentally, the oldest surviving photographs made by Nicéphore Niépce date from 1826 as well. A wedding photo or our couple would have looked interesting, because the first of the 13 children was born eight weeks and two days after the wedding, on 18.11.1826.

What we have is the actual marriage certificate:

Photo of a photocopy of what appears to be the original marriage entry in the archives of the town, with the signatures of the newlyweds and their witnesses, and surviving parents. First we have what must be the presiding official. Then, in larger handwriting, Margaretha Düselmann (nee Wilsberg, mother of the groom), Wilhelm Düselmann (groom), Hermann Düselmann (brother of the groom, born 1798), Elisabetha Delastrata (bride), then in the bottom line Heinrich Siecher (?) or something similar, who allegedly was a brother in law of the bride but I don't have a matching name on my records. And the last name I can't decipher at all. Even though the mother of the bride, Margaretha de la Strada (nee Giesen) was present as well so should have signed.

The fathers of both families had died a few years before the wedding. Note also that Elisabetha's older sister Maria Catharina de la Strada married Jacob Joseph Nolden at the same time.

I've blogged about Krefeld as one of my "lost cities" here (although it is not quite lost, some distant relatives still live there).

Further revelations relating to the Krefeld Clan are tagged #düsselmann.