Wahl – Opening Doors in Brick Walls

Earlier this week I wrote Lëtz Play! Can You Top This? A Marriage Record With 15 Events in which I shared the marriage record[1] of my children’s sixth great-grandfather Jean Baptiste SCHAEFFER (1752-1819). It was a second marriage for both the bride and groom. Jean Baptiste was first married to Catherine SCHAACK (1752-1801). Nicolas SCHAEFFER was their first known child. I doubt he was their first born as they were married 9 February 1777 in Heiderscheid[2] while Nicolas was not born until 14 July 1783 in Merscheid.[3] I’ve found four of his siblings, all born later and in Merscheid, but the search for older siblings is still underway.

Nicolas SCHAEFFER was twenty-six years old when he married the twenty-nine years old Theresia GREISCH on 19 February 1810 in Esch.[4] The bride and the groom were working as day laborers at the time of their marriage. Nicolas was living in Merscheid and Theresia in Eschdorf. The groom and his father and the bride and her mother left their mark on the marriage record.

The marriage took place in Esch, today known as Esch-sur-Sûre in the northwestern part of Luxembourg. It is not to be confused with Esch-sur-Alzette in the southwestern part of the county. Nicolas and Theresia are one of the many sets of fifth great-grandparents in my children’s family tree.

Theresia GREISCH was the first child of Nicolas GREISCH (1759-1803) and Susanne ROLLINGER (abt. 1757-1819). She was born on 24 May 1781 in Eschdorf,[4] ten months after her parents married on 11 July 1780 in Wahl.[5]

Theresia’s place of birth is, as yet, undocumented. She had at least six siblings, five born in Eschdorf, and one in Brattert. Baptismal records have been found for these children. At the time of her marriage, Theresia’s place of birth was given as Eschdorf. When she died the informant gave Wahl as her place of birth. Three census listings were found, each has a different place of birth: Eschdorf, Wahl, and Dellen. For the time being, I will list the date and place of birth found in the 1810 marriage record[4] but will continue to search for a baptismal record to confirm or refute the date and place.

UPDATE (13 June 2017): Linda, a Luxembourg researcher who has helped me out several times during this year’s 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks series of posts, located the missing baptismal record for Theresia GREISCH in Wahl. She was baptized on 17 April 1781 and was born the previous day.

1781 Baptismal Record. Luxembourg, registres paroissiaux, 1601-1948 (images), FamilySearch (original records at Luxembourg National Archives, Plateau du Saint-Esprit, Luxembourg), Wahl > Baptêmes, mariages, sépultures 1779-1793 > image 25 of 148. 1781 Baptismal Record (left page, 2nd entry).(https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-99WS-SJQ?cc=2037955&wc=STH8-D5S%3A1501211501%2C1500913302 : accessed 13 June 2017).

At the time of their marriage, both Nicolas and Theresia had lost one parent. Catherine SCHAACK, Nicolas’ mother, died on 28 November 1801 in Merscheid[6] while Nicolas GREISCH, Theresia’s father, had died on 21 January 1803 in Eschdorf.[7]

Brothers marry Sisters

Three months after Nicolas and Theresia’s marriage, his brother Jean Pierre married her sister Catharina on 22 May 1810.[8] Catharina was in a family way when the marriage took place as five months later, on 10 October 1810, a son was born.[9] Wouldn’t it be interesting to learn how they met and who knew whom first?

The SCHAEFFER-GREISCH Children

From the different records found I believe the SCHAEFFER-GREISCH couple remained in Eschdorf during their entire married life. All of their children were born in this small town.

Ch 1: Bernard (1811-?) was born on 8 August 1811.[10]
Ch 2: Marguerite (1813-1815) was born on 15 September 1813.[11] She lived less than a year and a half, dying on 16 March 1815.[12] Her mother was pregnant with her third child at the time of Marguerite’s death.
Ch 3: Catherina (1815-1898) was born 14 April 1815.[13] She was my children’s fourth great-grandmother.
Ch 4: Susanne (1818-1863) was born on 31 March 1818.[14] She was a twin.
Ch 5: Marguerithe (1818-1818) was born on 31 March 1818.[15] She was Susanne’s twin and lived only nine days, dying on 9 April 1818.[16]

In 1819 the children Bernard, Catherina and Susanne lost the only grandparents they ever knew. Their maternal grandmother Susanne ROLLINGER died on 15 May 1819 in Eschdorf[17] and their paternal grandfather Jean Baptiste SCHAEFFER died on 22 November 1819 in Bourglinster.[18]

Ch 6: Elisabetha (1821-1882) was born on 4 November 1821.[19]
Ch 7: Catherina (1823-?) was born 7 December 1823.[20]

No trace of the oldest child and only son, Bernard, or the youngest daughter, Catherina, has been found. Of the seven children born to Theresia and Nicolas, only three are known to have survived to adulthood.

Three Daughters Marry

The oldest living daughter Catherina SCHAEFFER married Frederich GRISIUS (1805-1852) on 3 July 1833 in Hoscheid, Kanton Vianden, Luxembourg.[21] Their story was told in 52 Ancestors: #36 The GRISIUS-SCHAEFFER Family – Working for a Living.

Susanne SCHAEFFER, the next oldest daughter, was the next to marry. She married Jean BERTHOLET (1812-1864) on 17 May 1841 in Mecher, Wiltz, Luxembourg.[22]

The youngest of the three living daughters, Elisabetha SCHAEFFER married Thomas JUSTE (1816-1883) on 28 Jan 1843 in Heiderscheid, Wiltz, Luxembourg.
[23]

I had to do a lot of browsing to learn more about Susanne and Elisabetha. With only their marriage records, I wondered where I would be able to find them after the events.

I looked into Elisabetha first. Her husband was from Nothomb, a small village in the commune of Attert, in the Province of Luxembourg in Belgium. At the time of their marriage, he was living in Heiderscheid (Luxembourg). Not finding any immediate trace of them there, I took a chance with the FamilySearch records for the Province of Luxembourg in Belgium. I located birth records for eight children born between 1848-1867 in Parette, a village in the commune of Attert, as well as death records for four children who died in the 1850s. But I still had a large gap between 1843 when they married and 1848 when their first child was born in Belgium.

I then checked for Susanne whose husband was born in Holtz in the commune of Perlé in western Luxembourg near the Belgium border. Jean BERTHOLET was living and working in Béiwen (Bavigne) when they married. Béiwen was in the commune of Mecher in Luxembourg where I found their sad story. Susanne gave birth to at least five daughters. Sadly, the first died before the birth of the second, the second before the third, and the third before the fourth. Then the fifth also died after only three months. Only the fourth daughter, Anna born in 1854 lived. However, the question remains, how long? Susanne died in 1863 and her husband in 1864 leaving Anna an orphan. She may have lived with her uncle Johann MERSCH (who had married her father’s sister) immediately after her father’s death but this is not definite as the child seen on the 1864 census in his household was named Susanne, an 11-year-old servant girl. By 1867 a very young Anna BERTHOLET, 14 years and 2 months, was working as a servant for an unmarried female farmer, Anna Catherine PROBST in Béiwen. No trace has been found of her after 1867.

Once I knew more of each of the daughters I came back to Nicolas and Theresia to see how their lives continued after their daughters married.

1843 Luxembourg Census for Nicolas SCHAEFFER in Eschdorf, Heiderscheid (cropped).

On 14 December 1843, a peculiar census[24] was found for Nicolas SCHAEFFER. He was living in Eschdorf which was expected. By this time, his daughter Catherina was well established in Hoscheid with her husband Frederich GRISIUS and their three young sons. Elisabetha had been married less than a year and as mentioned above, missing during this time period. Daughter Susanne, her husband Jean BETHOLET, and their daughter Elisabetha were living in Nicolas’ household. The daughter’s birth record has not been found but her presence was not unexpected as I had found her 1845 death record in the commune of Mecher. Also on the census sheet was Theresia GREISCH, Nicolas’ wife and mother of Susanne, but her name was crossed out. Was she away from home, perhaps visiting with Elisabetha who has not been located?

On 6 December 1846[25] and on 31 December 1847[26] Nicolas and Theresia were the only persons in his household in Eschdorf.

1846 Luxembourg Census for the Bertholet-Linden household.

On 19 December 1846 Elisabetha and Susanne, both married, were found with their husbands in the BERTHOLET-LINDEN household, Susanne’s parents-in-law, in Bavigne. Each had a daughter.[27]

Theresia GREISCH died on 26 May 1848 in Eschdorf.[28] Her husband Nicolas was not found on the 1851 or 1852 census. He died 10 April 1855 in Eschdorf.[29]

Seven months after her father died, Catherina who was widowed in 1852, remarried. The 40 years old bride married Nicolas WIRTZ, a 22 years old young man, on 30 November 1855 in Hoscheid.[30]

Susanne SCHAEFFER who had been living in Béiwen (Bavigne) died on 25 June 1863.[31] She left a husband and daughter.

Elisabetha SCHAEFFER died on 19 November 1882 in Aubange.[32] She appears to have been visiting with her son, a butcher, who declared the death. It was recorded in the Aubange register[32] as well as the Attert register[33] as this was her normal residence. She left a husband Thomas JUSTE who died the following year on Christmas Day.[34] The four sons who may have continued the JUSTE line have not been researched.

Catherina SCHAEFFER, my children’s ancestress, died on 16 January 1898 in Hoscheiderdickt. at the age of 82 years.[35] She outlived her young second husband who died in 1882[36] after nearly 27 years of marriage.

I’m glad I took the time to research this family further. Although it was sad to find so many small children’s deaths, it was satisfying to be able to learn more of Catharina’s parents Nicolas and Theresia and her sisters Susanne and Elisabetha.

And now before you leave, I’d like to share a milestone.

Yesterday morning Opening Doors in Brick Walls had a visit from Poland. I don’t know who it was or what they were viewing. The person who visited made my view counter click over from 99,999 to 100,000 views since I started blogging in January 2014. I’d like to thank all my readers, followers, and visitors for making me feel special and helping me to stay motivated to continue writing about my genealogy research. It’s much appreciated.