Ruth, Ellwood and Naomi
George and Mary had six children. Emma’s obituary of 2002 names her surviving brothers and their parents as George Wesemann and Mary Knoll Wesemann, and all six were Mary’s.
| Child | Birth | Death | Married |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ruth Esther | 17 December 1908, 5715 N. 4th Street, Olney | 16 May 1997, Philadelphia | Nicholas Reitter, Jr., 27 July 1929 |
| Ellwood George | 30 July 1910, 525 W. Girard Avenue | 26 May 1915, Philadelphia Hospital for Contagious Diseases | |
| Naomi Carrie | 11 October 1911, 5715 N. 4th Street | 26 June 2001, Wayne, Pa., aged 89 | Everett Paul May, 9 July 1948 |
| George Foster | 5 November 1913, 5715 N. 4th Street | 31 March 2000, Banning, California, aged 86 | Ida Mae Lauterwasser, 27 January 1935 |
| Elmer Fredrick | 6 November 1918, 5715 N. 4th Street | 3 December 2002, Philadelphia, aged 84 | Pearl Zoe Branchide, 22 June 1940 |
| Emma Knoll | 25 November 1923, Northeastern Hospital, 2859 E. Allegheny Avenue | 5 June 2002, Murray, Kentucky | Louis Kulscher, 16 September 1942; Clarence C. Metzger |
Ruth Esther married Nicholas Reitter, Jr. (10 April 1905 to November 1982) on 27 July 1929 at Zion Lutheran Church in Olney, with Pastor Bela Shetlock officiating, and the reception was held at Nick Sr.’s home on Route 412 at Bucksville. The license was registered on 29 June 1929, with her father’s consent, since Ruth was twenty. They lived at 1971 Elston Street in West Oak Lane, a house they bought for $5,500 and that the 1940 census valued at $4,000. From 1947 they had a small home on Route 611 at Ottsville, in Upper Bucks County, and from the early 1970s they lived on Napfle Street in Northeast Philadelphia. Their four children were Ruth (born 1930), Gladys (1935) and two more, born in 1937 and 1942. Ruth and Nick are buried together at Forest Hills Cemetery, Philadelphia, Lot 68, Nassaue section, under a bronze plaque reading “Together Forever”. Nick’s own family, and Ruth and Nick’s descendants, are the subject of the Reitter Family section.
Ellwood George, the second child, was born on 30 July 1910 at 525 W. Girard Avenue, when his father was a baker of 35 and his mother 26. He died on 26 May 1915, aged four years and ten months, at the Philadelphia Hospital for Contagious Diseases, two or three hours after he was admitted. The address in the Bible’s entry, 3016 N. Germantown Avenue, was probably the family’s home at the time.
Naomi Carrie married Everett Paul May on 9 July 1948. He was born on 24 October 1919 at Hepler, Crawford County, Kansas, went by his middle name, and died in Philadelphia on 18 February 1991. He had served in the U.S. Navy in the Second World War, and so the couple lie at Indiantown Gap National Cemetery, Annville, Lebanon County (Section 9-B, Site 508), rather than with the family at Hillside. Naomi died at Wayne, Chester County, on 26 June 2001. They had a daughter, born in 1949. Her first husband descended from Wilhelmina “Minnie” Knoll, so their daughter is probably a great-great-granddaughter of Charles Knoll twice over, once through each parent (see Knoll and Weiss Families). That great-granddaughter of George Washington Wesemann became the family’s genealogist, and her work runs through this book.
References
- Find A Grave memorial 100060895, Emma Knoll Wesemann Metzger, carrying her Paducah Sun obituary text; also the Morning Call obituary, 2002.
- The Wesemann Family Bible, Births page, transcribed in full, family archive scan, 2026.
- FamilySearch. “United States, Census, 1910,” familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MGWD-NL9, George W. Wesemann household, Philadelphia Ward 17; “Pennsylvania, Civil Marriages, 1677-1950,” familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q29M-G94Y, George W. Wesemann and Mary M. Knoll, 10 Sept. 1907; “Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, City Births, 1860-1915,” familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QPHB-RJM3, Ruth Ester Wesemann, 17 Dec. 1908; “United States, Census, 1940,” familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KQX7-9B8, George Weseman household, Philadelphia Ward 42; and “United States, Census, 1950,” familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:6X13-JKMC (May M. Wesemann in the Nicholas Reitter household) and familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:6X1M-WGF5 (George F., Ida May and George F., Jr., Wesemann), Philadelphia. The 1940 image (image 452 of 747) was viewed 24 Sept. 2026; see also “United States, Census, 1940,” familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KQJP-LG1, Nicholas Reitter household, Philadelphia, including Ruth, 31, and familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:KQ43-4YJ, George F. and Ida Mae Weseman household.
- The Wesemann Family Bible, Deaths page, transcribed in full, family archive scan, 2026.
- Death record, Elwood Wesemann, Philadelphia, 1915, family archive transcript Read the record
- Find A Grave memorials for the Wesemann line, consulted 2026, Elizabeth Cosbey/Crosby Wesemann and George Willford Wesemann (Hillside Cemetery, Roslyn); George Foster Wesemann and Ida Mae Lauterwasser Wesemann; Naomi Carrie Wesemann May and Everett Paul May (Indiantown Gap National Cemetery); Clarence C. Metzger (Murray City Cemetery, Ky.).
- Obituary of Elmer Fredrick Wesemann, Philadelphia Inquirer / Legacy.com, December 2002.
- sortedbyname.com, a Social Security Death Master File/vital-records aggregator, genealogy printout supplied and consulted 8 August 2026.
- The Wesemann Family Bible, Marriages page, transcribed in full, family archive scan, 2026.
- Nick Reitter, Jr. and Ruth Wesemann Reitter, a family memoir written by their four children (Ruth, Gladys, Doris, and Nickie), 2018–2019, transcribed 8 August 2026.
- FamilySearch. “Pennsylvania, County Marriages, 1775-1991,” familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q2ZW-ZJDX, entry for Nicholas Reitter and Ruth E Wesemann, marriage-license registration, 29 June 1929.
- Marriage license consent, Nicholas Reitter and Ruth E. Wesemann, Philadelphia, 1929, family archive transcript Read the record
- Ancestry.com. “Pennsylvania, U.S., Birth Certificates, 1906-1917”: George Foster Wesemann (191298), Ellwood George Wesemann (131050) and Wm Fred Wesemann (48034); and “Pennsylvania, U.S., World War II Veteran Compensation Application Files,” William F. Wesemann and Elwood [name withheld], 1950. Read on the images.
- Find A Grave memorial 155681031, Elwood George Wesemann.
- Descendant report (outline form), George Washington Wesemann, genealogy-software printout, family archive transcript