Philip and Carolina Filla

Philip and Carolina (Schatton) Filla are my 2nd great-grandparents. My knowledge of Philip is limited at best, but what I do know is that he was born in 1930, presumably in Prussia, Poland. I do not know who his parents were or if he had any siblings.

Thanks to June Kappelmann, the wife of my mom's first cousin, Don Kappelmann, I have the handwritten death notices for Philip dated 2 September 1898.

I have also obtained Philip's first and last immigration papers. 

First papers dated 12 September 1874

Final papers dated 27 May 1885

I have a bit more information on Carolina. I know that her parents were Albert Jos Shatton and Katherine Konek. I do not know if they immigrated to America or if they stayed in Poland. 

June Kappelann also provided for me three obituaries on Carolina Filla. What we learn from the collection is that Philip and Carolina married in 1857, Poland when Carolina was 22 years of age. They immigrated to America in 1865 and settled in Washington, Missouri. Born to Philip and Carolina were seven children, three of whom died in infancy, and one in childhood. The remaining three children lived well into adulthood, they were:
Gustave Filla
Hedwig (Hattie) Theresa (Filla) Westermeyer
John Florian Filla (my great grandfather)

In an effort to understand why on Philip's first papers it is stated that his former allegiance was with The King of Prussia, but in his last papers it was with The Emperor of Germany, I did a little historical research.

Thanks to ancestry.com for this lesson in history.

"Beginning in 1792, then in 1793, and again in 1795, the territory of Poland was parceled out to the primary powers bordering its territory, namely Prussia (Germany), Austria, and Russia. Between 1795 and 1918, Poland would no longer exist as a country."

" Poles would continue to fight for independence resisting control. Several rebellions for independence were launched against Russia, Prussia, and Austria. None were successful. In 1863, Russia's solution was to try and destroy the Polish culture by declaring Russian the official language. The Poles struggle persisted and near the end of the century, they had successfully established political parties in all three regions."

Here is a land map marking border changes:

I hope someday that research will lead me to the region of Poland they were from so that I can have a better understanding of their ethnic roots.