There you are Mr. Robert W. Wuerz...

 I finally found the correct Robert W. Wuerz.  Robert Wuerz is my husband's 2nd great-grandfather.  He is the birthfather of Conrad Francis Wuerz, my husband's great-grandfather.  We didn't have much information regarding him at all.  His Granddaughter, Marion Inez Wuerz Schaal, my husband's grandmother, didn't know anything about him.  Her father, Conrad, was raised by his step-father James Fraser and there was never any real mention of his birth father.  I have been searching for him for years.  I got distracted a few years ago by who I thought was him but it turned out to be the wrong Robert Wuerz.  Here's how I finally located him.

As I tend to do, I just randomly picked a person to work on.  A few months ago I was working on Robert Wuerz.  I did a search on Ancestry.com in the Missouri Wills database.  My husband's family lived in Illinois just across the river from St. Louis, MO so I often expand the search into that state.  I looked for "Wuerz" and came across a will for a Conrad Wuerz but it wasn't my husband's great-grandfather.  

Right there in the will it says, "I also give and bequeath to each and every one of the children of my deceased son Robert W. Wuerz, the sum of One Dollar"

Well, there we have him!  Robert W. Wuerz the son of Conrad Wuerz.  Robert had passed away by the time Conrad wrote this will in 1908.  This fits the information I already have.  Robert's wife Annie remarried in 1902.  We know that Robert was gone by this 1908 document, is it possible he died before 1902 when Annie remarried?  I decided to search Newspapers.com for any information, limiting the dates to 1901-1902 as I believe he had to have been alive in 1901 as Annie gave birth to a second son in 1902 before she remarried; however, I do know that it's possible that the second child was her new husband's.  

CLIPPED FROM

Daily News-Democrat

Festus, Missouri

09 Jan 1902, Thu  •  Page 2

There it is!  Robert Wuerz died the Friday before January 9, 1902.  I pop over to timeanddate.com and look at the calendar for 1902 and figure out that the Friday before was January 3, 1902.  I now have a supposed death date for Robert and can now look for more documentation for Robert.

I tried to search specifically for Alton, IL newspapers for an obit from there but came up empty.  I'm not sure that the papers for that time period for Alton are online yet.  I'm now requesting a search for a death record for Robert Wuerz from Madison, County, Illinois County Clerk.  And now we wait to see what information they may have.  

 I know I'm on the right track now.  Since I've added Conrad Wuerz as the father of Robert Wuerz, the DNA has been connecting appropriately with the descendants of Conrad.  

Apparently, Robert was less than truthful on his marriage license when he married Annie Lawless.  As far as I've seen, he was not born in Chicago, IL and his parents' names were incorrect as well.  

As always, I will keep on searching.