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Used with permission by Amy Jonson Crow.
This is my second post for Amy Johnson Crow’s 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge. You can read more about the Challenge, and find other bloggers’ submissions linked on Amy’s blog No Story Too Small.
Last week I profiled in great detail all of the current information I have on my husband’s third great grandfather, Christ Roessler. So, this week, I thought I’d share the little bit of information I have on his wife Louisa. Her maiden name of Mansderfer/Mansderver is from Christ’s Pension Questionnaires filled out in 1898 (1) and 1899 (2) (see Christ’s post). The birth information I have for Louisa is found on her burial monument (12 Feb 1835) and is supported by the given ages in the census records. In the 1870 (3), the earliest census record I have found for the family so far, she is listed as 35 years old and having been born in Baden, putting her birth date around 1835. In the next census, 1880 (4), she is listed as 44 years old and being born in Bremen, birth date around 1836. I’m not up on my German principalities and timelines, etc so I’m not sure on which they came from, her birthplace matches Christ’s on both [Christ’s last census, 1900, stated Germany as his birthplace].
- Christ Roessler Household, Pittsburgh, PA 1870
Christ Roessler Household, Pittsburgh, PA 1880
I know from one of her husband’s pension papers that Louisa died 5 July 1898 (2), and have a photo of her monument stone in the Birmingham Cemetery in Pittsburgh, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania (see below) that lists her death date on 7 Jul 1898. The “Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh City Deaths, 1870-1905” database, indexed on FamilySearch.org, lists her death date as 5 Jul 1898 (5), but her age as 53 with a birth year of 1845, which is possibly transcribed incorrectly, I will have to find the originals if possible.
There seems to be a Roessler family plot there, but I have not been here myself to know who all is in that area. A representative of the Birmingham UCC Church (this is the church the Roessler family were members of, and associated with the cemetery) connected me with a woman named Sharon (email dated 20 Jun 2013) who checked the cemetery for me and gave me the following information on the Roesslers in Birmingham Cemetery:
Christ Roessler military stone died 24 Mar 1909
Louisa died 7 July 1898 [wife of Christ]
Albert C Roessler age 57 died 22 Dec 1933 [son of Christ & Louisa]
Marie age 80 dies 4 June 1958 [wife of Albert C Roessler]
Albert C Jr. age 42 died 28 Nov 1944 [son of Albert C & Marie]
Clara W. age 79 died 9 Aug 1974 [wife of Albert C Roessler Jr]
Walter R Roessler 1 month died 26 Apr 1923 [I *think* he is a son of Albert Jr & Clara]
Jacob died 11 Jan 1894 [son of Christ & Louisa]
Christopher Roessler 1855 – 1902 [son of Christ & Louisa]
Mary Roessler age 84 died 14 Apr 1941 [wife of Christopher Roessler]
Photo credit Karen Young
Roessler Family plot at Birmingham Cemetery. Large monument includes Louisa, wife of Christ Roessler, and their son Albert Charles (and wife Marie), military headstone of Christ to the left. Footstones along the tree line are believed to be a part of this plot as well. Photo credit Karen Young
So, according to her headstone, Louisa was born 12 Feb 1835 and died on 7 Jul 1898, having lived 63 years. According to the pension papers, Christ and Louisa were married either on 22 Feb (2) or 3 Mar 1855 (1), which would put Louisa at just 20 years of age, once I get into those microfilmed church records held at the University of Pittsburgh Archives, I hope to be able to find their marriage entry, as well as the children’s births. I do not have any clue as yet to Louisa’s emigration to the United States, and if she married in Pittsburgh at the age of 20, she may have come to the US with family. I have not researched the Mansderfer name. She had at least 6 known children with Christ: Christopher, Henry, Lizzie, Caroline, Albert C, and Jacob. Jacob was not included in the pension papers (see previous post) as he died in 1894, prior to the first questionnaire Christ completed in June 1898.
My wishlist for Louisa
- Try to find Louisa’s entry into the United States, did she travel with any family or friends?
- Research the Mansderfer/Mansderver name
- Thorough research of the Church records for Louisa’s maiden name (confirmation of pension record info), marriage entry, children’s births, death records
- What was Pittsburgh life like during the Civil War while Louisa was home, seemingly alone, while Chris served his adopted country, with small children to care for?
- Contact the Allegheny County Courthouse for the actual record entry for Louisa’s death in the “Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh City Deaths, 1870-1905” indexed on FamilySearch.org
- Department of the Interior Bureau of Pensions Questionnaire dated 15 January 1898, signed 6 June 1898.
- Department of the Interior, Bureau of Pensions Questionnaire dated 6 January 1899, signed 9 January 1899.
- “United States Census, 1870,” index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/MZL7-NF3 : accessed 15 Jan 2014), Louisa Rosler in household of Chr Rosler, Pennsylvania, United States; citing p. , family 302, NARA microfilm publication M593, FHL microfilm 000552792.
- “United States Census, 1880,” index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/MW6G-MPZ : accessed 15 Jan 2014), Louisa Reissler in household of Christ. Reissler, Pittsburgh, Allegheny, Pennsylvania, United States; citing sheet 279A, family 1, NARA microfilm publication T9-1095
- “Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh City Deaths, 1870-1905,” index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/KFGS-MTG : accessed 15 Jan 2014), Roessler in entry for Louisa Roessler, 1898.
Braiding Trees 
I have many German/Prussian ancestors, and am right there with you. There are so many variations in information and they are hard to pin down. Good luck!
Glad to hear it’s not just me, Sally! There’s a lot of history in that area and the constant political changes are very confusing for me to keep track of… Has anyone done a good overview book or website on these areas? Could Baden have ever been linked to Bremen? Perhaps one was born in Baden and one in Bremen and the confusion is provided by Christ and Louisa themselves when being interviewed for the census enumerators? Christ names his birthplace in the 1907 application as Baden…but we know from his 1898 and 1899 questionnaires that his memory is a little loose, as demonstrated by his children’s birth dates.
Anyhoo, thanks so much for reading about Louisa!
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Hi Jodi, I also have a picture of Louisa with her son Albert, his wife Marie and daughter Erma. I can email it to you!
Yes, that would be amazing!!! Thank you! So excited to see it!
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your e-mail address here isn’t jumping out at me, but I just ran across this – I am searching for the location of the cemetery this congregation used before they moved to the present site. Anyway, my point is that death records for this church have just been put online – you can find Louisa as #55 on p. 20 of Series III Reel 5 here: http://digital.library.pitt.edu/cgi-bin/f/findaid/findaid-idx?type=simple;c=ascead;view=text;subview=outline;didno=US-PPiU-ais197730
Tony! I cannot begin to thank you enough for bringing my attention to the digitized records! Your eagle eyes found just the record I needed! I am a member of a group on Facebook for Baden Genealogy and within 5 minutes of posting the entry for a transcription I got this from another member: Louise Rössler nee Mannsdörfer, born in Bauschlott, Baden, on 12 Feb 1835 (not certain about the 3?) She leaves behind her husband Christoph Rößler and five children. Died on the 5th and buried on the 7th of July. Pastor A. Schramm.
A confirmation of her maiden name AND the town she was born in?! And if that weren’t enough, another member informed me that the town’s church records ARE ONLINE! I can hardly believe my luck today! And it all started with your help in finding Louisa’s entry. Thank you.