August Heinrich Friedrich Wilcken

August Heinrich Friedrich Wilcken -August Henry Frederick, 1837 - 1886, age 49, was born in Eckhorst, Holstein, Germany on February 17, 1837 and was Christened in a Lutheran parish in Rensefeld, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany on March 27. August's oldest brothers, Georg and Adolph went to South America to work for the Bank of Germany and try their hand at cattle ranching. August and his brother, Carl, decided to join Georg and Adolph in Argentina (Carl, to avoid recruitment in the Danish army). August returned to Germany shortly thereafter, Carl ended up in New York. Carl joined the US army and was sent with Johnston’s army to Utah, He deserted and joined the church, serving a mission to England-then to Germany. Upon returning to Germany, he taught and baptized August, his widowed mother, and three nieces (orphaned from his sister Anna) and returned to Utah along with 246 saints on the S.S. Nevada. They arrived in Salt Lake City on June 26, 1873 (Deseret News 1873, 0625). “When he was forty-three years of age, August Wilcken was sent on a mission to the natives in Arizona and Mexico” (Fox). He helped translate missionary tracts in Spanish and English. He proselyted in Oxumba and the surrounding area, forming the “”second formal branch of the church in Mexico” (Tullis). In a private letter from Elder Wilcken to the Deseret News received on Feb 1, 1882, He reports that he baptized three new members, blessed six children, and took part in a very interesting meeting. He also reported that a “portion of his time is occupied in teaching the German language to a number of pupils who he has formed into a class” (Deseret News 1882-02-01). Upon returning home, August reported that services were held weekly in Tecalco, Chimal, San Andres and Cuhauhistia, and that “quite a number have been added to the church. In absence of Apostle Moses Thatcher, Elder Wilcken presided over the Mission” until his release (Deseret News 1883-05023). “On returning to Salt Lake City [in 1883], he resumed an interrupted courtship” with Mary Ann Sansom. Mary Ann Sansom was the first of eleven children born to Charles and Mary Sansom, in Salt Lake City on January 6, 1855. She attended school in the Twentieth Ward Meeting House and was taught by many qualified teachers, including Karl G. Maeser (Fox). Later, she also taught in a church elementary school. “It is strange that so diminutive a woman (she stood exactly five feet tall) should have won the fancy of a man of six feet four, eighteen years her senior. She declined [August's] first proposal, but relented on his return from a second mission to Mexico in 1883” (Fox). The Deseret News reported on 01-02, August and Mary Ann were “Married -Yesterday Morning at 10'0clock, the ceremony was performed by President Joseph F. Smith which united in holy wedlock Brother August Wilcken and Miss Mary Ann Sansom. The bride is the daughter of Charles Sansom, Esq. In the evening a family reception took place at his residence, when the bride and bridegroom were made recipients of any amount of good wishes and earnest congratulations. We heartily Join” (Deseret News 1883, 01-02). Their first daughter, Anna Theresa Wilcken, was born on November 25, 1884. Around this time, August was employed as the Territorial Legislator Chaplain. While expecting their next child, August passed away from liver complications on September 30, 1886. His son, August Sansom Wilcken, was born November 27, 1886. The Newspaper reported “Peace to the remains of a good and useful man, and comfort and resignation to the loved ones left behind.” Anna Wilcken Fox, a niece observes “I think I am safe in saying that Uncle August was a gentleman in every sense of the word. He was morally clean, intelligent, educated, friendly, sincere, somewhat reserved, but kindly always, and always courteous” (Fox). After August's death, Mary Ann moved in with her parents to raise her young family. “For many years, she was a copyist in the office of the Salt Lake County Recorder” (Fox), where she was able to provide a living while her children grew. Later, she lived with her sister, then her daughter until she passed away on February 11, 1924. by SnelgroveRyanScott1 ------------------- August Heinrich Friedrich Wilcken: Born 1837, and a bachelor when he came from Germany to Utah in 1873, he was baptized LDS that year, then in 1874-1875 he traveled on a mission to Mexico with Helaman Pratt, Antoine W Ivins, Daniel W Jones, and others. He was already fluent in Spanish, because about 1860 he spent an extended time in Argentina with his oldest brother George -Guillermo and they had him prepare the initial Missionary Tracts to share with the Mexican contacts. He returned to Utah, then again went to Mexico, and served from 1881-1883 as the Mexican Mission President in the Mexico City area. (Replacing him was Antoine W Ivins, then later Helaman Pratt as Mission President). When he returned to Utah, in May 1883 he applied for US Citizenship, then married his sweetheart, Mary Ann Sansom. They had a daughter born in 1884, then in September 1886, August died, with a son being born 6 weeks later in November 1886. At his death, he was Chaplain of the Utah Legislature; his widow filed a claim saying he had been promised $4 per day to serve but had only been paid $1.50 per day. She received a settlement of $150. by Roger G Ward