This is another informational posting which is meant to correct serious mistakes made by other researchers who have not taken the time or made the effort to examine the original vital records in German sources.

This posting is about a peson known as Theodor Dresen in Cross Plains, WI, who, when he died in 1926, was referred to as the olders person in Cross Plains.
Obituary in State Journal, Tuesday, Aug. 10, 1926
OLDEST RESIDENT OF CROSS PLAINS DIES - THEODORE DRESEN, WHO MOVED TO TOWN IN 1856, DEAD AT 92 - The oldest resident of Cross Plains, Theodore Dresen, passed away Monday afternoon at the age of 92. He was born in Weisbaden [sic], Germany, April 4, 1834 and came to Cross Plains in 1856. Besides his widow, Mrs. Anna Maria Dresen, 86, he leaves 4 daughters, 27 grandchildren and 59 great grandchildren. The Dresens had been married for 65 years.

Elsewhere on the internet you will find that another researcher has placed this Theodor in the family of a Theodor Dresen who lived in Widdersdorf, Prussia [see family in my other posting]. The birthplace mentioned in the obituary above is a red herring about as big as a blue whale. I recently was shown a death card of this Theodor, and it clearly states he was born in the town of Weilerswist, Kreis Euskirchen, a few miles southwest of Cologne. The birth date listed on the death card is incorrect.

The following is the family into which Theodor was born, taken from the civil birth registrations of the Burgermeisterei of Weilerswist. Although Theodor and his sister, Anna Margaretha, were know as Dresens in Wisconsin, that was not their birth surname. The surname Dresen or Dreesen is in the records of two children, but the surnames most commonly found are Drehs or Drees.


Mathias (Drees/Dresen/Dreesen) Drehs b: Bet. 1792 - 1797
.. +Catharina Schaefer b: Bet. 1799 - 1800
Children:
........ 1 Joseph Leo Drees b: June 28, 1821 in Weilerswist, Kreis Euskirchen, Rheinland, Prussia
........ 2 Heinrich Dresen b: September 8, 1823 in Weilerswist, Kreis Euskirchen, Rheinland, Prussia
........ 3 Gertrud Drees b: November 3, 1824 in Weilerswist, Kreis Euskirchen, Rheinland, Prussia
........ 4 Maria Catharina Drees b: March 28, 1826 in Weilerswist, Kreis Euskirchen, Rheinland, Prussia
........ 5 Mathias Dreesen b: October 18, 1828 in Weilerswist, Kreis Euskirchen, Rheinland, Prussia
........ 6 Agnes Drehs b: February 27, 1831 in Weilerswist, Kreis Euskirchen, Rheinland, Prussia
........ 7 Theodor (Drehs) Dresen b: April 2, 1834 in Weilerswist, Kreis Euskirchen, Rheinland, Prussia d: August 9, 1926 in Cross Plains, Dane Co., Wisconsin
............ +Anna Maria (Stump) Stumpf b: October 18, 1840 in Sindorf, Kreis Bergheim, Rheinland, Prussia d: September 21, 1927 in Madison, Dane Co., Wisconsin m: Abt. 1860 in Cross Plains, Dane Co., Wisconsin
........ 8 Conrad Drees b: August 23, 1836 in Weilerswist, Kreis Euskirchen, Rheinland, Prussia
........ 9 Anna Margaretha (Drees) Dresen b: August 23, 1836 in Weilerswist, Kreis Euskirchen, Rheinland, Prussia d: May 20, 1865 in Cross Plains, Dane Co., Wisconsin
............ +Johann Stumpf b: December 21, 1837 in Sindorf, Kreis Bergheim, Rheinland, Prussia d: December 26, 1910 in Pierz, Morrison Co., Minnesota m: July 18, 1861 in Cross Plains, Dane Co., Wisconsin
........ 10 Catharina Drehs b: February 14, 1839 in Weilerswist, Kreis Euskirchen, Rheinland, Prussia

There may be other children in this family, because the microfilm I examined ended with birth records from 1840. Also, I have not examined death records to see if any of the children died young.

Notes for Theodor:
Birth record from Weilerswist Zivilstandsregister [LDS 2057649] - 1834 #28
Theodor Drehs, b. Weilerswist, 2 April 1834
s. of Mathias Drehs, 40, Tagloehner [day laborer] & Catharina Schaefer, 32, Tagloehnerinn [day laborer]

Marriage record in St. Francis Xavier church, Cross Plains, WI, only has names of bride and groom and witnesses.

Copy of death card obtained from Jake Dresen, Pine Bluff, WI - Nov. 2004
-Translation from German: In pious memory of Theodore Dresen. Born at Weilerswist, Germany, April 4, 1834. Died at Cross Plains, Wis., August 9, 1926