From the Buck Grove Centennial Book (Buck Grove, Crawford County, Iowa), page 242:

John Weller was born Dec. 14, 1856, in Schleswig Holstein, Germany and came to the US as a young man. We don't know much about his family, only that he left a brother in Germany. John settled in Mills County, Ia. He would cut firewood and haul it with a team to Council Bluffs to sell, then planted corn between the tree stumps. Here he met Emma Thies, who was working in the Bluffs.

Emma was born in Schleswig Holstein, Germany February 22, 1872 and came to America with her parents at age 18. Jochim and Anna Thies would earn money to pay the passage to America. The first child who came was Henry, who settled in Washington State, he was a wheat farmer. He then married and had four children. Joseph came in 1887, settled in Osceola county, Iowa, and died in the snow storm of 1888. Anna, Mrs. George Neuman, of Westside came at a different date. In June 1890 the parents and 5 children, Hans, Hannes, Emma (Weller), Mary (Dose), and Kate came to the US and settled in the Westside-Arcadia area. Minnie and 2 infant babies are buried in Germany. Hans and Hannes married and settled in the Denison area. Mary lived in Danbury and Kate passed away at age 27.

John and Emma (Thies) Weller were married February 1893 and settled in Mills County, Iowa, where they built a cabin in a clearing. Four children were born here. Later they moved to Earling, Ia., and then to Washington township, Crawford County, Ia. They resided on one farm 9 years and then bought the "home place", two miles east in 1906 now known as the Tony Schaben farm. The area was also known at "Pretty Prairie". It was here where John became sick following a tooth extraction which would not heal. He had made trips to Council Bluffs and it was diagnosed as cancer. He passed away in May of 1911. He left a widow, age 39 to rear 11 children alone on the farm. At the time, Emma was in bed with a new baby just five weeks old. She had what was called "milk leg", a complication of child birth. She managed to stay on the farm with the help of good neighbors. In the summer of 1920, she moved into Buck Grove with the youngest daughter, Margaret. The unmarried family members stayed on the farm. Ed and Hilda Weller had rented the home place until they bought a farm of their own. Emma was janitor of St. John's Lutheran Church for she lived next door. The house was sold after her death and it burned down about 1950. In 1926 she bought a Ford Coupe which her daughter Margaret learned to drive, so they had many enjoyable trips to visit family and friends. She loved to dance so attended all the dances in Buck Grove to dance with her lady friends. Even at home she would turn on the polka music and dance with her broom. Emma was a prominent citizen of Buck Grove until she passed away July 6, 1943. Their children were as follows: Olga (1893-1982) married Henry Beermann, they had eight children. Henry (1894-1919) who joined the Army in 1918 was stationed at Camp Gordon, Georgia and died of a ruptured appendix. Johanna (1895-1981) married William Beermann, they had two daughters. Bill passed away in 1923. She then married Willie Nulle in 1926 and they had 4 children. George (1897-1965) married Clara Rath, they had four children. Edward (1898-1968) married Hilda Gottsch and they had seven children. Two of their sons, Glen and Lowell, were killed in a train accident in 1948 at Aspinwall. Edward and his wife were killed in a car accident in front of their farm home in June of 1968. Elfrieda (1900-1983) married Otto Boege, they had a daughter and a son. Katherine (1902-1971) married Alfred Gottsch, they had three children. Anna (1904- ) married Louis Rickers, they had five children. Minnie (1906- ) married Walter Brockmann, they had a daughter and a son. Alvina (1909- ) married Victor Kohlbeck. Margaret (1911-1976) married Henry Brus, they had nine children.

There were 47 grandchildren which includes four sets of twins. A set born to Olga came prematurely and died at birth and Edward, Anna, and Margaret also had twins. Three members of John and Emma Weller's family, Anna in Denison Care Center, Minnie in Carroll, and Alvina in Fort Worth, Texas, are still living.