Bruce Morton Garver who manages this Memorial and has written the following "bio" is a great-great grandson of Wilhelm Lotz (1807-1878).
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Wilhelm Lotz (1807-1878) was born on September 2, 1807, at Aßlar, Kreis Wetzlar in the Grand Duchy of Hessen-Kassell within the Rheinbund (Confederation of the Rhine), a confederacy (1806-1814) of sixteen German monarchical principalities -- a confederacy created in 1806 by the French Emperor Napoleon I as an ally and "satellite" dependency of the French Empire. Wilhelm Lotz's father is Johann Georg Lotz who was born on Nov. 13, 1778, at Aßlar, Kreis Wetzlar in the Duchy of Hessen-Kassel within the Holy Roman Empire (of the German Nation) and died on December 21, 1853, at Aßlar, Kreis Wetzlar, in the Kingdom of Prussia. Wilhelm Lotz's mother is Anna Elisabethe Judith (Donges) Lotz who was born on Oct. 8, 1780, at Aßlar, Kreis Wetzlar, in the Duchy of Hessen-Kassel and died during the year 1838 at Aßlar, Kreis Wetzlar, in the Kingdom of Prussia. Kreis Wetzlar has been transferred from the Grand Duchy of Hessen-Kassel to Prussia in 1814 by the Congress of Vienna at which the victorious allies -- Great Britain, the Russian Empire, the Kingom of Prussia, and the Austrian Empire dismantled the Napoleonic French Empire and reordered the political map of Europe. Wilhelm Lotz's years of birth (1807) and death (1878) are clearly incised upon his gravestone at Hamilton's Greenwood Cemetery in Section A, Lot 47. Circa 1830, Wilhelm Lotz wed his distant cousin Magdalena Lotz (1807-1890) in Kreis Wetzlar of the Kingdom of Prussia, perhaps even in her hometown of Niederlemp, Kreis Wetzlar, close by his hometown of Aßlar. Together they raised nine children, all of whom grew to adulthood,. Eight wed, and seven had children of their own. The first of Wilhelm's and Maggie's nine children to die was the eldest, Helene Wilhelmina ("Mina") Lotz (Schneider, 1832-1864) who died at the age of thirty-two in 1864. The last to die was Anna Marie (Lotz) Schiecke (1847-1930) at the age of eighty-one. The longest lived was the seventh-born child, Katherine "Kate" (Lotz) Burkhardt (1843–1927), who died at the age of eighty-three. This was a truly remarkable achievement in longevity in an era when infant mortality remained high into the later nineteenth century.
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Bruce Garver's GENERAL HISTORY OF THE EXTENDED LOTZ FAMILY in the context of Hessian, Prussian, and American history may be viewed on the Memorial to Henry (Heinrich) Lotz, Sr., the eldest son and third-born-child of Wilhelm Lotz (1807-1878) and Magdalena ("Maggie") (Lotz) Lotz (1806-1890). Henry (Heinrich) Lotz, Sr., is also the great-grandfather of Bruce Garver, who manages the Memorials of eight of the nine children of Wilhelm and Maggie Lotz.
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This "bio" of Wilhelm Lotz will be completed before the end of August 2022.
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CAPTION TO THE FIRST PHOTOGRAPH: This photograph was made at Aßlar, Kreis Wetzlar, Prussia, in 1892 by John Daniel Lotz (1872-1959) during one of two years when he studied piano and violin in Munich under the direction of world-famous composer and pianist Josef Pembaur the Elder. This photograph depicts the birthplace -- the building on the right -- of the six daughters and three sons of Wilhelm Lotz (1807-1878) and Magdalena (Magtalena / Maggie) Lotz Lotz (1806-1890), including their first-born son Henry (Heinrich) Lotz, the father of John D. Lotz (1872-1959) and the great-grandfather of Bruce Garver who manages this Memorial.
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CAPTION TO THE SECOND PHOTOGRAPH (This JPEG is best viewed in its enlarged "original" form): This postcard depicts four views of Aßlar on the River Dill in Kreis Wetzlar, Prussia, in the German Empire at the turn of the 19th to the 20th century. The Evangelical & Reformed (Protestant) Church is at the upper left. At Hamilton, Ohio, many of the Lotz family members converted to German Methodism, a new Protestant denomination established by German immigrants in the United States. Its principal organizer and evangelist was William (Wilhelm) Nast of Cincinnati, Ohio.
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CAPTION TO THE THIRD PHOTOGRAPH: On Nov. 3, 2017, as twilight descended, Bruce Garver photographed the joint gravestone of his great-great grandparents, Magdalena (Magtalena) Lotz and Wilhelm Lotz (1807-1878). Wilhelm was born at Aßlar, Kreis Wetzlar, in the Grand Duchy of Hessen-Kassell within the Rheinbund (Confederation of the Rhine, a satellite confederacy of German principalities allied to Napoleonic France. The fact that Wilhelm's and Maggie's gravestone is incised in the German language probably indicates that they continued to speak German better than their adopted English language in contrast to their nine children who mastered English and acculturated fairly rapidly in their adopted county, the United States of America.
CAPTION TO THE FOURTH AND FIFTH PHOTOGRAPHS: Each of these photographs and the one above nicely capture the appearance of the joint gravestone of Magdalena (Magtalena) Lotz and Wilhelm Lotz (1807-1878) in different seasons and at different times of day. Great-great-great grandchild P. Carman photographed the joint gravestone on February 11, 2014, under a cloudy winter sky. Debbie Adams added a floral arrangement before photographing the joint gravestone of her great-great-great grandparents in the bright sunlight of June 5, 2015. All three gravestone photographs testify to the fact that lives and achievements of Magdalena and Wilhelm Lotz are still honored and fondly commemorated.