Obituary Record

Sophia (Horstmann) Rathmann
Died on 3/21/1936

#1-Published in Pilot-Tribune, April 9, 1936

A penciled notation added her maiden name “Horstmann.”

FORMER RESIDENT BURIED IN IDAHO; MRS. SOPHIA RATHMANN, 82, WIDOW OF COUNTY CLERK HERE, DIES

Mrs. Sophia Rathmann, 82, widow of Chris Rathmann, one-time Washington county clerk, died March 21, at her home in Boise, Idaho, according to word received in Blair, her former home, this week. She had resided in Boise 26 years.

Native of Germany, she was born July 23, 1853, and came to the United States with her parents while an infant.

She is survived by four sons, John and Frank Rathmann of Boise; Fred of Rapid City, South Dakota; and Chris of St. Paul, Minnesota; two daughters, Mrs. R.B. Warren of Lake Wilson, Minnesota; and Mrs. George J. Hegsted of Hibbing, Minnesota. There are 17 surviving grandchildren and two great-grandchildren, in addition to a sister, Josephine Green of Omaha.

Rites were held at the McBratney Funeral Home in Boise, with burial in Morris Hill cemetery there.

#2-9 Apr., 1936 - The Enterprise

MRS. CHRIS RATHMANN FORMER RESIDENT, DEAD

Settled in Washington County in 1858. A Territorial Pioneer

Word reached Henry Rohwer of Fort Calhoun recently of the death of Mrs. Chris Rathmann of Boise, Idaho. Early residents of Blair will remember Chris Rathmann, one time an employee of the Cassetter bank and later, for a long term of years, county clerk of Washington county.

Mrs. Rathmann, as Sophie Horstman, at the age of five years, came to Nebraska from Davenport, Iowa with her parents. Mr. and Mrs. Frank Horstman and her uncle, the late John Richter, Sr., in August, 1858, and settled on a farm near Fort Calhoun. Here she grew to womanhood and met and married Chris Rathmann.

The husband passed away some forty years ago, and the wife, a resident of Boise, Idaho, died on March 21, and burial was made in the Boise cemetery on March 26th.

The first few years of her married life she and her husband lived on the farm now owned by August Procknow, and from there moved to Bell Creek (now Arlington) and then to Blair. While living in Blair their home was on the corner now occupied by the Conoco oil station. After the death of her husband, the family moved to a farm near Lake Wilson, Minnesota. The past fifteen years she has lived with a son in Boise.

Six children survive and grieve deeply their great loss.

Find a Grave Memorial # 60083531

Obituary courtesy of the Washington County Genealogical Society. Newspaper clippings on file at the Blair Public Library.

Printed in the Washington County Pilot-Tribune on 4/9/1936


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