This post is a re-working of a post I did for a Thriller Thursday back in 2013 about my 1st cousin 3x removed, William F. Ochs. He was the nephew of my great-great grandfather Heinrich Ochs (or Henry Oakes).
William F. Ochs was born January 28, 1880 in Michigan. He married Amelia Hartwig Hamilton on August 14, 1911. Amelia (born 1871) had previously been married to Herman Hamilton and had 7 children with him. Herman died in 1903.
According to a January 16, 1913 Detroit Free Press article titled ‘See Stepfather Slay Wife; Then End His Own Life,’ Amelia’s 2 youngest children, Florence and Ella were at home with their mother when William came home to their farm in Dearborn after a two-week bender. He had a shotgun and shot Amelia in the head as she was trying to escape out the back door. He then went out on the front porch and shot himself in the head. The two girls ran to a neighbor who then notified the sheriff.
According to the death certificates, they both died around 8 PM on the night of January 15th The inquest ruled it a murder/suicide.
Amelia was buried in Woodmere Cemetery in Detroit. Unfortunately, her daughter Ella died in 1924 at the age of 21 of pneumonia. Ella is buried near her sister Laura and her family, also in Woodmere.
52 Ancestors #44 (Oct. 29-Nov. 4) – Frightening
Wells & Wilson Family History 