Sundays Musings

Julie told me that she knew Joseph Nosseck was married twice before because of the 1900 census. He had indicated that he had been married twice. I was wrong the first wife was not a Catherine, at least not that I know of, I am now on the quest to find the name of the first wife. When I find young women who have died early I suspect that they most likely died in childirth. With the going C-Section rate at about 30% one can imagine that these woman could not deliver their babies and died. That is a staggering statistic, almost one third of the woman could have died. Then another group would have died from infection following the delivery. Those are very sobering numbers when you think about it.

The Library has many microfilms and the equipment is hard to manage. I think this is because of the age of the films and the readers as well. I tried to put on one roll but I could not get it to fit. The hole was round and the peg was square. I talked to a lady and she said I had to do everything reversal Turn the roll over, insert it where the receiving reel would go, and use the rewind button to get it to go forward. My supposition was that someone just moved it to the receiving reel and put it away on the wrong reel.

The death indexes are from 1893 to 1906. The more recent are in the PA Archives of Vital Statistics and have to be ordered. Where are the ones from before 1893, is the only place they are located at whatever church they had attended? The death index does not contain Katie Stross death. Was she buried under her maiden name, or did she die in a county other than Allegheny?

Where the three Nosseck men (Joseph, John and Edward) brothers?

TRIP TO THE CARNEGIE

 

Today I went for a trip to the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh   Genealogy Department

I was again perusing the microfilms looking for “my people.”  Katharina Sperl’s first husband Anton died of Typhoid Fever in 1899.   

In the 1900 census she was a widow and in 1910 she was married to Joseph Nosseck.   I was looking for Joseph and Katharine’s marriage date and any other information.    

My friend/cousin Julie told me that she had thought he was married two times before he married Katharina.  I have to write and ask her why she had thought that…..

The unusual thing was in the microfilmed records I found his marriage to Katie Stross in 1888 and again to Katie Stross in 1896.  When I looked for one of them it had a marriage of John Nosseck to another woman.   I am thinking that John might be Josephs brother.    I do not know if he married Katie, divorced and married her again or the records are in error.

What I did find was Joseph’s marriage to Katharine Sperl, 15 February 1904.   On another record I have from a death look up is the death of Edward Nosseck in 1901.   Edward was a baby who died from “brain fever.”   Meningitis???

In 1901 Katie was still alive and by 1904 Joseph had remarried, so her death was sometime in those three years.    I have to search Stross on Ancestry.   Each answer begets another question.

I should have named my blog,

Each Answer Begets Another Question.

 

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

 

 

 

Who are you?   This man is someone in the Sperl Family.  I have a suspicion that he  is Christof Sperl  b. ca. 1832 in Bohemia and d. 1902 in Millvale PA

TOMBSTONE TUESDAY

This is the side of the tombstone below. This is Katharinas first husband and my husbands great grandfather Anton. Two of their children died in 1891 and one in 1892, I imagine she never thought that Anton would died at an early age.

TOMBSTONE TUESDAY

This is another tombstone of the Sperl Family. These are some of Katharinas children. Anton, Johann, and Margaretha. There are also children buried in St. Mary's Cemetery in Lawrenceville, which is a section of Pittsburgh. They also had a daughter Barbara who was married and died in her twenties.

EASTER 1915, CELLE GERMANY

 

This picture was taken Easter 1915.   The title Easter 1915 was written on the back, in German.  I like the minister in the middle with the Elizabethan type collar and the black robe.    

My grandmother is sitting, first girl, second row on the right.   I recognized her picture because I have many pictures of her as a child.  

She was born in 1900, that would be a good year, you would always know how old you were.  She does appear to be about fifteen years old.   What I thought was interesting is in the Catholic Church   they all wear white for their  Confirmation.  Was it not the fashion, were the Germans more practical to wear a nice dress that could be used again.  Or was it the fact that they were in the midst of WWI?   

That is something I will probably never know.  I think it is amazing that even during a war, the religious celebrations went on.

If I can find the Church records I could find out more about my family in Germany.

 

TOMBSTONE TUESDAY

I finally downloaded my tombstone pictures from my backup CD. It is a good thing I have things backed up two or three times.

Katharina Rauscher Sperl Nosseck was my husband great grandmother. She is buried in St. Anthony Catholic Cemetery in Allegheny County PA. Joseph Nosseck was her second husband. According to the census records Joseph had been married two times before, all three of the women were named Catherine/Katharina. I have to find out more about them.

Can anyone out there translate the inscription? I know it starts out Here in this rose garden, and mentions wife and children.

Katharina lost many children. I think the only Sperl child that lived was Chucks grandfather John. She had two other children by Joseph Nosseck and they had two daughters who also lived to adulthood.

I have a lot of questions yet to be answered.