Friedrich Heinrich Riedesel was born December 17, 1889 in Wunderthausen to Johann Georg and Katherine (Riedesel) Riedesel. His father was by then the owner of the house and property known as Weymers. He was the eighth of eleven children.

The entire family emigrated to America in the early 1900s. His sister Emilie Lisette had gone in 1902 as a newlywed and  sister Luise went in 1903. The remaining family traveled on the ship Rhein out of Bremen, landing in New York on October 13, 1906.

Fred, as he was known, worked on the family farm but eventually married Ethel Mae Diller on April 18, 1931. She was born December 18, 1903 in Louisa County, Iowa. They had no children but a 14-year old girl was living with them in 1940; the Census said she was Lucille Riedesel and a daughter, but I think those were mistakes. Ethel had a sister Lucille and it was not uncommon for childless couples to “borrow” a child to help run a farm. Fred was naturalized on April 7, 1936. By 1940 they were farming in the Buffalo Township of Scott County, Iowa.

Fred died on February 9, 1977 and Ethel on June 15, 1962. They are buried in St. Paul’s Cemetery in Wheatland.

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Obituary of Fred Riedesel
Ancestry