Family:John Wessel and Anna Schnoor (1)

In 1891/92 John Wessels homesteaded 160 acres of land in Kansas. He left his wife Anna and son Henry in Iowa. The story goes that a claim jumper jumped his claim and he shot the man. He was cleared. He came back to Iowa to get his family and homestead his claim. Jacob Schnoor, Anna's father did not like John and he feared retaliation if they went back to Kansas. John was frustrated. He left his gun and suitcase with the Schnoors. He left his son and wife and left on a train out of Stuart, Iowa and went back to Germany. He never returned to the United States. Henry Wessel occasionally received a letter from his aunt Eliese and cousin Mathilda in Germany. As related by Loyd "Red" Wessel, son of Henry Wessel.

1.   The Wessel name originally had a "s " on the end in Germany.