Johanna Caroline Wilhelmine (Pankoke) Bueltmann, 1838–1923

Johanna Caroline Wilhelmine Pankoke was born 23 March 1838 in Schildesche, Bielefeld, Prussia, the third child of Johann Friedrich Wilhelm Pankoke and Anne Margarethe Ilsabe Buschmann. The 1880 census indicates that Anna immigrated to the United States in 1861 and was naturalized in 1867. On that same census, she gave her birthdate as 1841, making the dates she gave for immigration questionable.

On 17 October 1863, in St. Louis, Missouri, Johanna married Friedrich Wilhelm Bültmann (whose surname became Bueltmann), a widower with a four-month-old son, Herman Frederick Wilhelm (William) Bueltmann. Although Friedrich Wilhelm and Anna were both born in Schildesche, it is unlikely that they knew each other until they met in St. Louis. Anna’s surname is spelled phonetically as Bankeker in the marriage record. Anna and Friedrich Wilhelm had six children together, but only two lived to adulthood.

1. 1. Herman Heinrich (24 August 1864–24 October 1865)
   2. Anna Wilhelmina (12 May 1865–25 August 1867)
   3. Johann Heinrich (15 January 1867–29 September 1876)
   4. Karl Heinrich Wilhelm (25 August 1869–28 July 1935) On 20 October 1910, Charles married Frances Rebman (19 September 1885–1 January 1962)
   5. Emma Katherine (16 March 1872–16 October 1876)
   6. Karl August (10 November 1874–15 December 1919) On 2 September 1902, August married Rosa Monika Miller (6 June 1873–19 May 1911)

The 1900 census indicates that Anna lived with Charles and August, her sons, at 2615 St. Louis Avenue in St. Louis. The two sons worked as teamsters in the coal and ice business. A 1903 business directory and the 1910 census listed her address as 1425 Clinton Avenue, St. Louis. When her son August’s wife Rosa died in childbirth in 1911, August and his four-year-old son August John “Gussie” moved to the Clinton Avenue address joining Anna, Charles, and Charles’s wife Frances, and Anna took care of her grandson. Following a major financial disagreement with Charles, Anna, August, and Gussie moved back to Anna’s home at 2615 St. Louis Avenue in St. Louis. The death of her son August in 1919 left Anna looking after her thirteen-year-old grandson alone. She was deeply affected by her son’s death, became depressed, and died of chronic myocarditis in 1923. She is buried in St. John’s Cemetery, in Bellefontaine Neighbors, St. Louis County.

Written by Faith Stern
May 2025

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