Have you looked at the amount of schooling your relatives had in the 1940 census? Just to see if my thoughts were correct, I looked up the claimed educational level of all my living ancestors at the time of the 1940 census. Anna Habben's 4th grade education coincides closely with the family's immigration to the United States from Germany.
- Charles Neill (great-grandfather-St. Albans Twp.)--8th grade.
- Fannie Neill (great-grandmother-St. Albans Twp.)--8th grade.
- Fred Ufkes (great-grandfather-Bear Creek Twp.)-8th grade.
- Tena Ufkes (great-grandmother-Bear Creek Twp.)-6th grade.
- John Ufkes (grandfather-Bear Creek Twp.)-4 years of high school.
- Mimka Habben (great-grandfather, Prairie Twp.)-8th grade.
- Tjode Habben (great-grandmother, Prairie Twp.)-8th grade.
- Dorothy Habben (grandmother, Prairie Twp.) 3 years of high school (she graduated the 4th year the next year).
- Cecil Neill (grandfather, Prairie Twp.)-8th grade.
- Ida Neill (grandmother, Prairie Twp.)-8th grade.
- Anna Habben (great-great-grandmother, village of Elvaston, Prairie Twp)-4th grade