Frederick and Bertha Burgdorff Fenner 
Frederick Fenner was born at New Chester in November 
1866, the eldest child of Henry and Lucy Fenner. He was 
baptized in the Evangeline Lutheran Church and raised on his 
parents' farm. He was married to Bertha Emmaline Burgdorff 
of New Chester in June 1890, by Warren Wilson, a Justice of the 
Peace at Grand Marsh. 
Frederick engaged in farming and lumbering for most of 
his adult life. He took his family to live in several different 
places-the first years in Coloma and Westfield, and most of the 
last 20 years in Clark County. He and Bertha had 13 children, 
four girls and nine boys. 
The patriarch of this large family, Frederick Fenner, died of 
diabetic complications in August 1939. Bertha went on to live 
with son Clarence in Eau Claire, where he ran a restaurant, until 
her death in July 1956. 
Those nine children of Frederick and Bertha Fenner not 
accounted for here went on to marry and start families-and 
stories-of their own. 
Edward and Annie Fenner Walker 
Annie (Adaline) Fenner was born at New Chester in 1868, 
second child of Henry and Lucy Fenner. She married Edward 
Walker of Grand Marsh in June 1889, at the Methodist Church 
in Westfield. They are known to have lived on a farm in Grand 
Marsh at some point, and when Annie died, she died at home in 
Cottonville. Their four children were orphaned while still 
young, as Annie died of typhoid fever in November 1902, and 
Edward died of tuberculosis in December 1903. He died in 
Knoxville, Iowa. 
Not much is known about the descendents of Edward and 
Annie Fenner Walker. Two of their childrens' names are 
unknown. One daughter, Chloe, died prior to 1935. Another 
daughter, Fern, married a barber, Fred Draeger, and lived in 
Sheboygan. Fern was raising their four small children, three 
girls and one boy, when she was shocked and killed by an 
electrical wire. One of those girls, Iva, married a Kentucky man 
named Sinnett and made her home in that state. Fern's son, 
Truman Everette, died while very young. 
Edwin and Eliza Beals Fenner 
Edwin Fenner was born in New Chester in 1880, fifth child 
of Henry and Lucy. He married Eliza Beals, also born at New 
Chester. They made their home in Sheboygan and later at West 
Allis. Edwin was a carpenter by trade. He and Eliza had two 
sons, John and Edwin Jr. 
Albert and Margaret Stelter Fenner 
Albert Fenner was born in January 1882, sixth child of 
Henry and Lucy Fenner. He became a farmer. He married 
Margaret Stelter, a widow with one daughter named Mavie. 
They were married at Margaret's home in Fort Atkinson, 
Wisconsin in December 1918. Albert died on his Adams County 
farm of pneumonia in February 1934. He and Margaret had one 
daughter, Lucille Fenner. 
 
Albert and Laura Fenner Gerth 
Laura Fenner was born in New Chester in 1884, seventh 
child of Henry and Lucy Fenner. She married Albert Gerth of 
 
New Chester and they lived on a farm adjoining Fenner's Lake. 
They had four children: Alvin, Frederick, Raymond and 
Dorothea. 
According to Betrha, "Laura's marriage to Albert was 
doomed from the start. She was very young and Albert was twice 
her age, besides being an only son - the youngest in a family with 
two children, with very wealthy parents. Albert was deaf and 
dumb almost from birth, but he was very well educated. He was 
naturally pampered from babyhood. He lived in North Dakota 
with his sister, and died in October 1942." 
Laura eventually divorced Albert and, with her youngest 
child Dorothea, went to Brainford, Minnesota. She met and 
married a man there named Norgard, a farmer and a widower 
with three children - one girl and two boys. He and Laura had 
one son together. Laura died in October 1942. 
Of her five children, Alvin Gerth died in infancy. Fredrick 
Gerth became a farmer in North Dakota, and Raymond Gerth, 
a baker in Milwaukee. He died in Spokane, Washington in 
August 1942. Dorothea Gerth married a man named Sellers and 
they had two sons and one daughter. Nothing is known of the 
son from Laura's second marriage. 
Raymond and Carrie Williams Fenner 
Henry and Lucy Fenner's youngest child, Raymond 
Fenner, was born at New Chester on Halloween Day, 1887. He 
married Carrie Williams of Big Flats. They never had children 
and made their home at Janesville for many years. Ray was a 
mechanic in a farm machine company, and later a truck owner 
and driver. 
Arthur and Effie Fenner Nelson 
Effie Fenner was born at New Chester in April 1891, the 
eldest child of Frederick and Bertha Burgdorff Fenner. She 
grew up in Coloma and after finishing her elementary 
education, completed a course of study in business at Portage. 
After graduating from the business school she worked for some 
time in the office of her father's lumber business. She then went 
to work at the Coloma State Bank as a bookkeeper. 
While working at the bank she met 41-year-old Arthur 
Olaire Nelson, a native of Joy, Illinois. They were married in 
November 1911 at the L. Smith home in Coloma. 
Arthur and Effie Fenner Nelson had four children: Lee, 
Alice, Norbert and Iris Nelson. Their first child, Lee, was born 
in Preston in August 1912 and died the same day. 
Roy and Flossie Fenner Shorey (See Shorey) 
Joseph and Rachel Fenner Roller (See Roller) 
William and Vera Bloss Fenner 
William (Bill) Earl Fenner was born at New Chester in June 
1893, third child of Frederick and Bertha Fenner. He married 
Vera Bloss at New Chester in October 1919 and they had two 
children: Sarah and Earl. 
The couple homesteaded at Jump River for several years 
after Sarah was born, but returned to Adams County and 
 
remained for the rest of their lives. Bill's main occupations were 
pulp cutting and trucking, although he also worked the canning 
companies alongside Vera for many years. When the Adams 
 
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