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Nicholas Gärtner was born on December 24, 1837 in Kiliansberg-Veitsteinbach, Kreis Fulda District, Hesse. Nicholas's parents were Andrew Gärtner & Maria Evan Henkel. He married Karolina Herbert (daughter of Nicolai Herbert & Sabina Klug) on May 27, 1866. Karolina was born on April 15, 1843 in Rückers, Hesse, Germany, Nicholas and Karolina lived in Rückers (or at least were living in Rückers when their third child was born).
Nicholas and Karolina had 12 children who were born in Germany:
Nicholas and Carolina arrived in the United States (New York) on Saturday, October 2, 1882 on the ship Habsburg (Hapsburg). At that time, Nicholas was 44 and his occupation was listed as "farmer." Carolina was 40 and her occupation was listed as "wife." Their last residence was listed as Germany and the port of embarkation was Hamburg. The manifest # was 336911. Traveling with them were their four surviving children: Theresia (16 years old); Josef (listed as 6 years old, but by my records, he should have been 10 years old); Johann Friedrich (4 years old); and Friedrich (listed as "Fiscens" - two years old, but by my records he was not even 1 year old). Within their family group was a 40-year-old man, "Bernard" whose occupation was listed as "saddler". His last name was listed as "Gaertner" but I cannot figure out who he was. He was listed immediately under 16-year-old Theresia. (See copy of ship passenger list under Gartner documents on this site.)
Once in America, Nicholas used the "Gaertner" spelling of his surname, Karolina used the "Carolina" spelling of her name..
Nicholas and Carolina had four more children after they arrived in the states:
Theresa Gaertner died on Feb. 7, 1895, and Joseph died shortly thereafter on Sept. 16, 1895. They are both buried in the family plot at St. Mary's Cemetery on Mt. Troy Road.
According to the 1900 census, the family was living on Turner Alley in the third ward of Allegheny City. Listed were: Nicholas Gartner, age 60; Caroline Gartner, age 57; Fred Gartner, age 20; Vincent Gartner, age 18; Rose Gartner, age 14. Neither Nicholas or Caroline were able to speak English, but the children did. Nicholas was a laborer with the railroad, Vincent was a laborer with bridge works and Vincent was a laborer at the cork factory. They rented their home. One interesting note about this census--Carolina says that she only had 3 children and that all 3 were surviving.
Mary Rose Gaertner died on April 5, 1906 and is buried in the family plot at St. Mary's Cemetery on Mt. Troy Road.
On the 1910 census, the family was still living on Turner Alley: Nicolas Gaertner, age 71; Carolina, Gaertner, age 62; Frederick Gaertner, age 31; Vincent Gaertner, age 28. In 1910, Nicholas says that he can now speak English, but Carolina still only speaks Germany. Nicholas does not have a job--under that column, it says, "own income." Frederick is a general laborer who was out of work for half of 1909, but Vincent was a machine shop laborer who did not miss any work in 1909. The family is still renting the home on Turner Alley. In this census, Carolina says that she was the mother of 14 children, but that only two survived.
I am still a bit confused about all these children, because the family group sheet from Germany does not quite match up to the listing on the ship passenger list...and the listing on the ship passenger list does not completely line up with the children listed on the 1900 census. Also, in the 1910 census, Carolina says that she was the mother of 14 children, and my records say 16 children. I think that I may need to write to the Diocese of Pittsburgh to see if their records can straighten this out a bit, and possibly take a look at St. Mary's Cemetery. (If anyone reading this has information on this family, please contact me.)
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