Alfred & Amelia Werner, Rock Island & Peoria County

Alfred Werner was sent to Illinois in 1897, along with a sister Amelia. He was settled in Rock Island county with Curtis Ellis in Milan, Illinois. Although Alfred was kept very busy with his work, Mr. Ellis reported that Alfred had taken part in some picnics and attended the Buffalo Bill Wild West Show in 1901. In 1900 Alfred was still living with the Ellis family, but by 1910, Alfred had a very good, if dangerous job as a fireman on the railroad. He was lodging with a couple in Galesburg. In 1917, Alfred was married to Anna C. Sommer in Knox County. At that time he gave the name of his father, Charles, but his mother's name was not revealed. Alfred and Anna next appeared in the 1930 census in Rock Island still and had two children, Helen and Warren. In 1940 Alfred was a locomotive engineer, and daughter Helen was calling herself Marjorie. No death dates are known for Alfred or his wife.

Amelia Werner lived in Chillicothe, Peoria County with the John Uhden family in 1900. The Uhdens were German, as were the parents of Amelia. Mrs. Uhden wrote to the asylum that Amelia did not want other people to know she was not their child, and that they let other people think that Amelia was their niece. In 1910 Amelia was rooming in another home in Chillicothe and working as a telephone operator. Family tree information shows that Amelia was married to John Harris and had two children: Mary Louise (1916) and John (1918). Amelia died in 1922 of tuberculosis at the young age of 34 and was buried in the Chillicothe City Cemetery, where the rest of her family rests.