harold schiffman haroldfs/family/keller.html
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History of the Keller (Zercher)--Hauck
and Weis--Roser Families of Germany and St. Louis
Harold Schiffmanhttp://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/~haroldfs/family/keller.html
Map of Southwest Germany
Zerchers came from Zürich (Switzerland) after 1648
Zercher means “person from Zurich” in Pfälzisch dialect
‘Zercher’ became the family name of several different families who emigrated to Hassloch from Switzerland after 1648
When Opa ‘Keller’ came to St. Louis, his name was Friedrich Zercher—he changed it for some reason after he got to St. Louis
Sounded funny in American pronunciation?
The name Zercher
After 1648, Peace of Westfalia ended the religious wars
Cujus Regio, ejus Religio (Whoever the ruler was, his religion [Protestant or Catholic] became official)
People who didn’t accept that religion had to leave Many parts of Europe were devastated by the 30
Years War and 100 years war, so they recruited people to resettle in their territories
Our Zercher ancestors would have been Protestant refugees from some Catholic canton in Switzerland
Hassloch was a Protestant ‘island’ in a larger Catholic area
Why did the ‘Zerchers’ leave Switzerland?
For some time there was some mystery about the Keller name and whether it was Keller before Frederick and Barbara Hauck Keller left Germany. Catherine may have discovered this when she discontinued her compilation of the history of the Keller and Weis families, and Mathilda and Merl Schiffman came across some evidence when they visited Germany in 1971 and asked Cousin Heinrich Denzer (from the Weis side of the family, see below) to phone the town clerk in Hassloch and see if they could locate records. When they arrived the next day in Hassloch the clerk excitedly told them that there was no Keller family that fit the description they had given (names, birthdates), but there was another family named Zercher with the same first names and birthdates. This was somewhat disturbing, and since Mathilda felt that Grandpa Philip Keller had not wanted anyone to go to Hassloch to look up family (he conveyed a sense of debt or obligation owed to someone there) Mathilda felt that the name may have been changed to hide something, or anyway was connected with Grandpa's perception that there was a black mark against the family name. Leon Scherrer indicated to me much later that Tante Emma had also told him of once finding some letters in a dresser when she was a child with the Zercher name on them, but couldn't figure out what it meant.
First inkling that there was a name change from Zercher to Keller
Friedrich Zercher came to St. Louis in 1893. No record of his arrival in America
Barbara Hauck Zercher and Elisabeth (10), Philipp (8), Adolph (6) and Emma (2) arrived at Ellis Island on the S. S. Colombia on June 15, 1894. Her sister Mary and her child were also with them.
They took a train from NJ to Buffalo, then on to St. Louis. But they mistakenly got off the train in East St. Louis and there was confusion until they got reunited with Opa.
Coming to America
Born in Trier (Kurpfalz), Germany on Sept. 14, 1858, the son of Elisabeth Bach Weis and Joseph Weis.
Josef Weis of Trier
Trier, Kurpfalz in 1842
Trained as a sculptor at the Cathedral in Trier, then left to come to America to avoid the Prussian draft
Sometime before 1884 he met Katarina Roser in St. Louis and they were married in that year
Founded a marble works—Weis & Jennett
Josef Weis, later in life
Weis & Jennett Marble Works, South St. Louis
Marriage License of Josef Weis and ‘Katie’ Roser, in St. Louis, on 17th of September, 1884.
Married by Justice of Peace because Josef was Catholic and ‘Katie’ was Protestant
Katarina Roser and Family Katarina Roser was
the daughter of Magdalena Reinacher Roser and Christian Roser and was born Oct. 29, 1864 in Tutschfelden bei Kenzingen (Baden)
Tutschfelden is also an isolated Protes
Tutschfelden, now part of Herbolzheim
Tutschfelden is a Protestant hamlet surrounded by mostly Catholic towns (also a relic of 1648)
The Roser family homestead, in the Weinstrasse, in which Katie was born, still in Roser hands. This picture dated 1906
Oma Weis (a.k.a. Katie Roser)
Seems like Katie Roser didn’t like to have her picture taken very much because there aren’t any of her as a girl or young woman except the family picture back in Tuschfelden.
Katie Roser left Germany after her mother died and her father remarried.
Other sources indicate she left on Sept. 10, 1882, and arrived in October 1882.
She went first to Indiana, to stay with an ‘Aunt Imhof’ and then on to St. Louis.
Worked in a boarding house, where she met Josef Weis
A sister, Luisa, also came to St. Louis later and married a Kümmerle, also from Tuschfelden
Oma comes to St. Louis
Some letters she wrote Mathilda in German in 1940
Dear Mathilda, Merl, Gordon, Harold.
I received your letter along with the birthday greetings, and I’m glad that you have not forgotten me. I wanted to write for so long but kept putting it off until now. I always ask your Mother, how you are doing, and am always happy, when I hear that you are doing well, and are all healthy. We are having cold weather now, winter has arrived; last week it was so nice and warm. I think your children have been looking forward for a long time now to Christmas, and are hoping for nice gifts. Herewith I send you a check, so buy something for the children and yourselves, and I hope that you’ll have good times for the Holidays, and hope this writing finds you in good health. I continue to be healthy, so far, and can still do my own housework, although sometimes it is difficult for me, with my 76 years, now thank God, it’s still possible, [taking it] slowly. Now I wish you all a merry Christmas and a good, blessed New Year, and take care until we meet again.
Grandma, Greatgrandma Catherine Weis.
St. Louis, December 17. 1940
Translation of letters
2907 Missouri Avenue
Claudia and Harold visit, October 2007
Keller family home on Missouri Avenue, near the corner of Pestalozzi Street. Grandpa built this house for the family, and they lived in the upper apartment
Weis family home on S. Jefferson St., St. Louis
Joseph William Weis, born June 20, 1985 Friedrich H., born Nov. 28, 1886 (died March
18, 1894 after a short illness) Mina Katherine Weis Keller, born April 22,
1889 Gustav Adolph Weis, born Oct. 3, 1890 Karl Johann (Carl John) Weis, born Sept. 14,
1892) Frank Christian Weis, born Dec. 24, 1899
Children of Katie & Josef Weis
Born Dec. 5, 1884 in Hassloch married Friedrich Wilhelm (later Frederick
William) Wilking on August 28, 1907 Also known as Lizzie or Lizette. Was an
excellent seamstress Died September 4, 1908, after giving birth
to Arnold Philip Wilking on (date?). Arnold married Martha Brumby of Louisiana
on November 3, 1937
Elisabeth Keller (Zercher) Wilking
Arnold Philip, (born July 4th, 1940)
Myrtle Angele (born February 20, 1943)◦ Now known as Myrtle Blanton
Richard Bruce (born August 22, 1950)
Children of Arnold and Martha
Philip was taken to a German-medium church-sponsored school but refused to answer the questions put to him by the principal (Arnold Wilking’s grandfather)
He then entered the public school, and advocated strongly for English-medium for all his siblings—the language of opportunity.
Mina and Philip(p) may have attended the same public school (Clinton), but also their families attended the Ebenezer Church
Mina Weis meets Philipp Keller
Ebenezer Church, drawing by Edna
One of the fewpictures we have of Grandma Kelleralone, i.e. not in a family contextMina was known as ‘Minnie’ in English
Mina Weis Keller standing
Philip Keller as a young man
Mina and Philip’s wedding invitation and marriage license:
Wedding took place on September 10, 1910
Philipp and Mina’s wedding picturewith Gustav as best man and Emma as Maid of Honor
Title page of Bible given to Phil & Minnie on their wedding day by their Sunday-school class
Phil, Minnie and Mathilda in a lighter moment
Tante Emma in a more informal situation…
The first five Keller girls
The first three… The first five…
As young women
Mathilda, in College Edna, aged 16
Lillian, in high school
High SchoolGraduation picture
Catherine
Family home at 526 Sheffield Avenue,
Webster Groves. Grandpa designed and
built this house
Stained-glass windows in doors between dining room and kitchen at 526 Sheffield
Maid carrying platter of hot food Butcher tempting cat
Grandpa Keller’s Naturalization Certificate, June 6, 1941
1947 reunion photo
Grandma and Grandpa later…
Five sisters, 1989
Daughters with Grandpa at Charles and Jan’s Wedding
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