The Wehrell Family Renunion

Our Cousin Bill discovers possible Wehrell third cousins of ours in Selestat, Alsace and pays them a visit—Jean Wehrell, his wife Marguerite, and his son, Virgile.  Jean’s daughter Cecile is away at college.  In late 1991, Bill had been on a work assignment to Basel, which lies on the other side of the Rhine from Alsace, France.  He combs the Alsatian phone books for listings of Wehrells and their addresses.  He heads for the nearest one in Mulhouse.  The resident at that address turns out to be a widow in her later years surviving her Wehrell husband and with no English language ability.  A bit flumexed by Bill’s explanation in mixed French and English of why he has knocked on her door, she thinks quickly and redirects Bill to the only other Wehrell she knows—Jean Wehrell, whom she does not know personally, but whom she does know through a newspaper article about the college in Selestat where Jean is a teacher.  She gives Jean’s address to Bill and sends Bill on his way north on a two hour drive to Selestat where Bill eventually knocks on Jean’s door unannounced and is taken in by the family.  The rest is Wehrell family history.