Wilhelmine Klein

Wilhelmine or Wilhelmina Klein was the fifth of six children of Friedrich and Charlotte Klein (née Braehm or Brehm).^[1] Wilhelmine’s father worked as an instmann, i.e. as a propertyless day laborer, on the estate of the Lehndorffs in Groß Steinort, where he also lived with his family.^[2] There Wilhelmine died 38 years later unmarried.^[3] The child mentioned on her tombstone was most likely Heinriette Klein, who was born illegitimate in 1881.^[4] Heinriette’s grandfather and Wilhelmina’s father Friedrich probably commissioned the tombstone: Unlike his wife Charlotte, who died the previous year, he survived his daughter.^[5]

Psalm 27:10 reads: “If even father and mother leave me, the Lord receives me.“^[6]