Does MPHS have photographs:
Address in Mount Prospect:
Birth Date: 1837
Death Date: 1905
Marriage
Date:
Spouse: Christine Geweke 1840-1913
Children:
Interesting information on life, career, accomplishments:
Wilhelm Linneman was the youngest son of Christian and Dorothia Linneman, the first German Family to settle in the area that is today Mount Prospect. They were originally from Hanover, Germany and arrived in 1847. They purchased 80 acres of farm land in Elk Grove Township from the U.S. Government for $100 (or about $2,000 today) and took the title in 1848. Over the years, they eventually grew this holding to 300 acres, at least 40 of which stayed in the family until the 1970s.
Soon after arriving they worked with the Busse Family to found a church. The two families established Saint John Lutheran Church in 1848. The Linnemann family bequeathed thirty acres of land to Saint John, to help get the church started and later, when the church fell on hard times, agreed to buy the land back at market price. Christian had been trained as a carpenter in Germany and he brought his tools and skills and used them to help build up the community.
Because Wilhelm was the youngest son, he was responsible for taking care of his parents in their old age. However this also meant that he learned the skills of his father and, while large piece of the family farm were given off as wedding presents, he ran the section that stayed with the parents. He learned to make trees into lumber for building houses with huge four person pit saws and he learned to plane these planks into good lumber. While the youngest son would have had a lot of responsibility, there were also advantages, such as learning useful skills.
Wilhelm had three children; Sophie, Louis, and Anna. Both Sophie and Anna married members of the Deeke family.
