Anke Hinrichs (Fecht) Habben

Anke Hinrichs Fecht was born in 1860 in Wiesens, Ostfriesland, Germany and died in Elvaston, Hancock County, Illinois in 1941. She married Jann Mimken Habben in Carthage, Hancock County, Illinois in 1881. Some lessons and clues I learned from researching Anke:

• Take care with getting non-English names correct. For years, I thought Anke’s birth name was Antje because she’s listed in many records as Ann or Anna.
• Middle names that are “last names” are not necessarily the maiden name of the mother. Hinrichs was a patronym based on the first name of her father, Hinrich.
• Five dollars was a lot of money in 1941. That’s how much Anke gave her granddaughter Dorothy as a wedding present in that year. Dorothy was my grandmother.

My ancestor table can be viewed on my site. Anke is my great-great-grandmother.