This section about William Kelm, my grandfather’s older half-brother, has been in progress for a long time. Like his father, William left his country of birth to pursue new opportunities. With my United States naturalization interview looming, I was excited to find new documents (and a photo!) about William and his intent to become a United States citizen. These new discoveries helped add more information to my very sparse biography.
Please excuse my citations. I am still working on making decisions about standardizing my citations.
William Kelm was the youngest and only surviving child of Julius Kelm and his first wife, Serafina Albert. He was born in Winnipeg on May 24, 1907, a year after his parents arrived from Volhynia (see this blog post). His birth registration names Josephine Herman as his mother (I had made a note in this 2020 blog entry about checking the original birth registration, and Josephine Herman is recorded as William’s mother and it is not a mistranscription of Serafina. Whether or not this was the mistake of the informant is unknown, but Serafina raised William until her death in 1910).[1]
On September 7, 1925, William, nineteen years old, took the train to St John, North Dakota, his destination, Hansboro, North Dakota.[2] His immigration records describe him as five feet and ten inches tall with dark brown hair and hazel or brown eyes, his “little finger on left hand crooked in second joint.”[3] He arrived in the United States as a farm labourer, but eventually became a landscaper and tree surgeon.[4]
In 1933, William formally declared his intent to become a citizen of the United States for the second time. On this document, William states that he is married to Leora Anderson, born in Houghton, Michigan, in 1906.[5] William and Leora married in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on August 19, 1933.[6] The newlyweds lived in Minneapolis, Minnesota.[7] Discovering the identity of this first wife made me wonder if there was another William Kelm, but the date and place of birth matched, and the document also mentions William’s “crooked finger on left hand.”[8] Between 1933 and 1937, William and Leora lived in Minneapolis.[9] In 1938, the Minneapolis city directory lists Leora as working as a clerk and living alone at 2313 Colfax Avenue, and that William had moved to St Paul, Minnesota.[10] Leora died on June 13, 1939, in Washington (county), Minnesota, at the age of thirty-two.[11]
When William married his second wife, Ann Maher, in December 22, 1938, the marriage record indicates that William is a bachelor and neither divorced nor widowed.[12] William and Ann lived in St Paul and had three daughters: Janet Lee (born 1939), Judith Ann (born 1945), and Joette Marie (born 1951). William and Ann divorced in 1978.[13]
William became a United States citizen on April 24, 1940.[14] He died February 15, 1991, in Ramsey, Minnesota.[15] He is buried in Sunset Memorial Park Cemetery in Minneapolis.[16]
Descendants of William Kelm and Ann Maher
William Kelm (b. 24 May 1907 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada; d. 15 Feb 1991 in Ramsey, Minnesota, USA)
m. (19 Aug 1933 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA) Leora Marie Anderson (b. 28 Oct 1906 in Houghton, Michigan, USA; d. 13 Jun 1939 in Minnesota, USA)
m. (22 Dec 1938 in Grant, South Dakota, USA) Ann Mary Maher (b. 14 Jan 1917 in Osakis, Minnesota, USA; d. 20 Apr 2000 in Saint Paul, Minnesota, USA)
- Janet Lee Kelm (b. 06 Oct 1939 in Ramsey, Minnesota, USA)
- Judith Ann Kelm (b. 13 Jul 1945 in Ramsey, Minnesota, USA) m. (11 Jun 1966 in Ramsey, Minnesota, USA) Richard Wilton Lofstrand (b. 06 Jan 1940 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; d. 14 Jan 2012 in Bartlett, Illinois, USA)
- Joette Marie Kelm (b. 08 Jul 1951 in Ramsey, Minnesota, USA)
[1] [“William Kelm birth registration, 1924”], Manitoba Government, Vital Statistics, certified true copy issued 05 Oct 2021
[2] [“William Kalm, 1925”], U.S., Records of Aliens Pre-Examined in Canada, 1904-1954, National Archives, accessed 21 Dec 2021 through Ancestry
[3] [“William Kelm declaration of intention, 1926”], North Dakota, U.S., Naturalizations, 1873-1952, State Historical Society of North Dakota, accessed 21 Dec 2021 through Ancestry; “William Kalm, 1925”
[4] [“William Kelm declaration of intention, 1926”]
[5] [“William Kelm declaration of intention, 1933”], Kansas City, Jackson, Missouri, United States records, National Archives, accessed 26 Jun 2025 through FamilySearch
[6] [“William Kelm and Leora Anderson marriage record, 1933”], index only, Minnesota, U.S., Marriages from the Minnesota Official Marriage System, 1850-2022, Minnesota Association of County Officers, accessed 26 Jun 2025 through Ancestry
[7] [“William Kelm declaration of intention, 1933”]
[8] Ibid.
[9] [“Leora M. Kelm and William Kelm city directory listing, various years”], Minneapolis, Minnesota, City Directory, U.S., City Directories, 1822-1995, accessed 27 Jun 2025 through Ancestry
[10] [“Leora M. Kelm city directory listening, 1938], Minneapolis, Minnesota, City Directory, 1938, U.S., City Directories, 1822-1995, accessed 27 Jun 2025 through Ancestry
[11] [“Mrs Leora Marie Kelm death record, 1939”], index only, Minnesota, Death Index, 1908-2002, Minnesota Department of Health, accessed 27 Jun 2025 through Ancestry
[12] [“William Kelm and Ann Maher marriage record, 1939”], South Dakota, U.S., Marriages, 1905-2017, South Dakota Department of Health, accessed 21 Dec 2021 through Ancestry
[13] “Divorce Index 1976 Thru 1979,” Vital Record Information System, Minnesota Department of Health, accessed 22 Dec 2021 through Ancestry
[14] “No. 4650067,” Minnesota, U.S., Federal Naturalization Records, 1896-1989, accessed 21 Dec 2021 through Ancestry
[15] [“William Kelm death record, 1991”], index only, Minnesota, Death Index, 1908-2002, accessed 22 Dec 2021 through Ancestry
[16] “William Kelm,” Find a Grave, accessed 22 Dec 2021 through https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/135386250/william-kelm
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