Anna Maria Gersbacher

Anna Maria "Ann" Gersbacher was born 130 years ago today, on 25 August 1886. She was the first American-born child of my 2nd-great-grandparents John Gersbacher and Kunigunde Dreier.

St. Louis, Missouri birth register, August 1886. Ancestry.com. Missouri, Birth Records, 1847-1910 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2007.

She was baptized on 10 September 1886  at Sts. Peter and Paul Catholic Church in St. Louis, Missouri.

SS. Peter and Paul Catholic Church (St. Louis, Missouri). Baptisms, 1878-1900. Baptism of Annam Mariam Gerstbacher. Family History Library microfilm 1871462. https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CS79-KCFT-D?i=436&cat=657997

After her mother died on 6 January 1893, her father abandoned the family. Her older sister Paulina (my great-grandmother) went to work as a servant, and hid Ann in her room. Eventually Ann was discovered, and Paulina was fired. After Paulina got another job as a servant, Ann went to live with a woman in a wheelchair. Ann told her niece Margaret (my maternal grandmother) that the woman had a cane and often hit her. Paulina visited Ann every week, but did not find out what was going on right away because the woman always stayed in the room with them during the visits. By 1900, Ann was living with her brother Joseph and his wife and son.

1900 United States census, St. Louis Ward 6, Missouri, population schedule, enumeration district 85, sheet no. 2B, family 49. Ancestry.com. 1900 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2004.

By 1908, she was living with her sister Gussie Glaser, and did laundry work.

Gould's St. Louis Directory for 1908. St. Louis, MO: Gould Directory Co. Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1822-1995 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.

Gussie ran a rooming house. Ann was still living with her in 1910.

1910 United States census, St. Louis City, Missouri, Ward 7, population schedule, enumeration district 111, sheet no. 5A, family 118. Available from Ancestry.com. 1910 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2006. 

By 1930, Ann had met her husband, Fredrick Taschner, and was living with him and his mother. Although Ann and Fred were listed as married in the 1930 U.S. Census, a notation on Ann's baptismal record shows that they married on 19 May 1934, so they may not have actually been married at the time of the census enumeration. However, Ann was Catholic and Fred was divorced, so it is also possible that they had a civil ceremony and then had a church wedding after he obtained an annulment.

1930 United States census, St. Louis, Missouri, population schedule, enumeration district 288, sheet no. 29A, family 479. Ancestry.com. 1930 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2002.

1940 United States census, St. Louis, Missouri, population schedule, enumeration district 96-66, sheet no. 11A, family 210.Ancestry.com. 1940 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012.

Ann's husband Fred died on 26 January 1952.

Ann died on 2 March 1978. She was buried on 6 March 1978 in Sts. Peter and Paul Catholic Cemetery, St. Louis, Missouri, section 010K, lot 0024E.