Jan Mimken Habben was born in Wiesens, Ostfriesland, Germany in 1859 and died in Elvaston, Hancock County, Illinois in 1939. He married Anke Hinrichs Fecht in Carthage, Hancock County, Illinois in 1881. Some clues about research and lessons learned from Jan’s life:

• Make certain your mother has clear title to property before she bequeaths it to you in her will.
• You can learn quite a bit about a someone’s family when they keep their original will and just add codicils to it as the situation involving one of their children changes.
• Never assume someone attended a church of the same denomination their entire life.
• It is possible to have a brother who has the same name as you (at least the same English name–their low-German names were different).

My ancestor table can be viewed on my site. Jann Mimken Habben is my great-great-grandfather.