Katherine was called "Kate" or "Katie". She was born and lived in in Hampton, Dakota County, Minnesota all her life except for her last years when she resided in a nursing home in Fairbault, Rice County, Minnesota. Catherine was a mother and a wife of the town's furniture maker, coffin maker, and mortician. They were pioneer leaders in the Saint Mathias Catholic Church. They owned a farm in Randolph County for several years so that their children could attend high school as well as provide the family with another source of food. Katherine died in Fairbault, Rice County, Minnesota where she and her husband Cornelius lived in the final years of their lives in a nursing home.

Katherine was one of three living children born to Johann "John" Wertzler and Gertrude Gansen Nahl Wertzler. Her parents were married in 1881. They are both buried in Saint Mathias Catholic Church Cemetery in Hampton, MN.

Father:
Johann/John was born on 11 Jun 1854 in Aurora, Du Page County, Illinois to German immigrants. He was very likely a founding father of Saint Mathias Catholic Church and Hampton, Minnesota. His name appears on one of the stained glass windows of the church. He died on 04 Apr 1912 in Hampton, Dakota County, Minnesota. FAG# 80357071

Mother:
Gertrude was born in early April 1847 in Prussia, which is in present day (2014) Bitburg-Prum, Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany, possibly in the town of Waxweiler or Mauel. She immigrated to the US in 1868 at the age of 21. On 12 Jan 1869, Gertrude married Casper Nahl (1827-1880). Gertrude and Caspar do not appear to have any living children. However, during the 1875 Minnesota census, a Kate Eaton(32, Caspar's sister?) and a Joseph Eaton(1) live with Caspar and Gertrude Nahl. Kate Eaton does not appear in future censuses and Joseph is in Caspar and Gertrude Nahl's 1880 home as Joseph Nahl. Caspar passes away on 16 Nov 1880. The widow Gertrude Gansen marries bachelor John Wertzler in 1881. During the 1885 Minnesota census, one finds John Wertzler(30), Gertrude Wertzler(38), Katie Wertzler(3), John Wertzler(0) AND Joseph Nahl(11). Is Joseph Eaton Nahl the nephew of Caspar and Gertrude Nahl? Gertrude dies on 25 Oct 1917 in Hampton, Dakota County, Minnesota. FAG# 80357111

Siblings:
*Three unknown children, possibly infants, could have been fathered by either Caspar Nahl or John Wertzler; per the 1900 census which shows Gertrude has had six children, three of whom are living.
*John Andrew Wertzler (born ~1885, dies before Sept 1968) who married Bessie V. Paulson (~1890-1968)
*Mathias Cornelius Wertzler (1886-1951) who marries Katherine "Kate" Harrington Ferns (1888-1956; FAG# 104792418)

Katherine marries Cornelius Mathias "Neil" Daleiden on 29 Jan 1901 in one of the first, if not the first, marriage ceremony conducted in Saint Mathias Catholic Church in Hampton, Dakota County, Minnesota.

Their children:
*Gertrude Anne (1902-1992)
*John Cornelius (1903-2002)
*Edmund John (1904-1954)
*Agnes Anna (1906-1990)
*Alphonse Thomas (1907-1997)
*Odelia Josephine (1909-1993)
*Loretta Marie (1910-1992)
*Paul Gregory/George (1911-1987)
*Blandina Catherine (1913-1967)
*Arnold John (1914-1991)
*Herbert Mathias (1917-1968)
*Florence Lillian (1919-1998)
*Living

At the age of 84, Kate is widowed when Neil passes away on 01 Nov 1966. Less than three years later, at the age of 87, Kate joined him. They are buried together in Saint Mathias Catholic Church. Except for the brief time they lived in the nursing home in Fairbault, they spent their entire marriage living in Hampton, Minnesota in the home built by Neil, a block away from their furniture and funeral home business.

LFC, 18 Jan 2014.