The Horn Family Papers, 1914-2022, and updated, contains biographical materials, photographs, letters, postcards, travel papers, scrapbooks, photograph albums, and a leather wallet. There are nine boxes of varying size, totaling three cubic feet. The papers are organized by size and alphabetically. Materials are in English and German. The majority of the collection consists of photographs of four generations of the Horn family. There are photographs of Wilhelm Horn in the German army in WWI and in the Stobs POW Camp in Scotland. Many folders contain Wilhelm and Anna’s immigration and citizenship documents for the United States and letters from the Horn Family in Germany sent to family members in Michigan. Wilhelm’s war service booklet, Wilhem and Anna’s German passports, and postcards are in German. Three folders contain educational materials from Frances Horn while she was in school. “My Wedding” by Frances Horn is a portfolio she made while in school of her ideal wedding. Wilhelm Horn’s military record is in German. Box 6 contains 2022 paper copies of digital documents that were originally contained on a CD. Box 4 is the only legal-size (.25 cubic foot) box with birth certificates, estate papers, immigration papers, and a membership paper for the Order of the Eastern Star. Five oversized photograph albums and scrapbooks complete the collection. The scrapbooks, mostly 1940s-1950s, were created by Elsie and Frances Horn. Besides photographs, these include programs from Saginaw concerts, Arthur Hill High School (Saginaw), the Saginaw Bears (a minor league baseball team), Detroit Lions and Tigers games, Central Normal School Homecoming, Saginaw sporting events, including track meets in which Fran competed, and Job’s Daughters (of which Fran was a member) photographs and programs, souvenirs from programs and dances, and newspaper clippings.
Processing Note: During processing 1.5 cubic feet of materials were withdrawn and returned to the owner as per the donor agreement, including duplicates, miscellaneous letters, blanks, reading materials, out-of-scope material, and miscellaneous publications. Five publications titles were separately cataloged, including four books and a newspaper.
Biography:
Wilhelm C.F. Horn (1895-1968) and Anna Maria Bertha (Dinse) Horn (1897-1969) emigrated from Loitz, Germany directly to Saginaw, Michigan in January 1922. Wilhelm had been a German Soldier in WWI, active for only a month when he was captured during the First Battle of the Marne and spent the rest of the war in Stobs POW Camp in Hawick, Scotland. He married Anna in 1921. With Germany losing the war, their economy was in shambles, and living there was difficult. Frederick Beuthin, a prominent businessman in Saginaw and a cousin of the Horn family, invited Wilhelm’s father to America to help with the farm located near Hemlock, Michigan, which supported Beuthin’s grocery store in Saginaw. Wilhelm's father was too old, so Wilhelm and Anna went instead. In January 1922, they came to America. They arrived in New York with $27, bought train tickets to Saginaw, and had $13 left with which to start their new life on Frederick’s farm. After a brief time of being treated poorly both on Beuthin’s farm and at the Saginaw County Poor Farm, Wilhelm got a job at General Motor’s Central Foundry (later known as Chevrolet Grey Iron) where he worked until retiring as a shipping foreman in 1956. They became naturalized American citizens in 1930 and 1941, bought a house in Saginaw (and later a cabin near Luzerne, Michigan), and raised two daughters, Elsie Frieda (Horn) Jansen, and (Mary) Frances (Horn) Peters. Wilhelm passed away in 1968 and Anna passed in 1969.
Wilhelm’s first daughter, Elsie Frieda Horn was born in 1925 in Saginaw, Michigan. She married Donald Merrill Jansen in 1946. Don served both in WWII and in the Korean War. They moved to Grayling, Michigan in the 1950s where they raised their family, supported by owning and operating Jansen’s Plumbing and Heating business. Both were very active in their respective Masonic orders. They had three children. Donald passed away in 1997 and Elsie in 2011. Both are buried in Grayling. Wilhelm’s second daughter, Mary Frances Horn, was born in 1932 in Saginaw, Michigan. She married Richard Howard Peters in 1954. Richard served in the Korean War. Following his military service, he worked for The Saginaw News as a display advertising salesman from 1954 until 1993. They raised four children. Frances passed away in 2016 and Richard in 2018. Both are buried in Saginaw. (This information was compiled by Horn family descendant, Sharon Wisniewski.)
