52 Ancestors: Week 27 "Independent": Augusta Marie "Gussie" Gersbacher

My great-grandmother's sister Augusta Marie "Gussie" Gersbacher strikes me as an independent woman. My aunt Joan said that Gussie was something of a career woman and always had a job, unlike many women of her generation. Her marriages were brief, she never had children, and she moved halfway across the country. There is also an interesting family story about her!

Gussie was born on 29 January 1881 in Niederwihl (now part of Görwihl), Waldshut, Baden, Germany. She was the daughter of Johann/John Gersbacher and Kunigunde Dreier. When she was only two years old, she and her mother and siblings left Germany to join her father in St. Louis, Missouri. They sailed from Bremen, Germany on the Braunschweig and arrived in Baltimore, Maryland on 26 July 1883.

Gerspacher family, Braunschweig passenger list. Baltimore, Maryland. Passenger Lists of Vessels Arriving at Baltimore, Maryland, 1820-1891. Microfilm Publication M255. RG 36. 50 rolls. National Archives, Washington, D.C. Available from Ancestry.com. Baltimore, Passenger Lists, 1820-1964 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2006. 

After her mother died in 1893, her father abandoned the family. Gussie went to work as a laundress. Although the feminine form of her occupation was used in her 1900 United States census enumeration, she was incorrectly enumerated as a male!

1900 United States census, St. Louis City, Missouri, Ward 6, population schedule, enumeration district 88, sheet no. 5A. Available from Ancestry.com. 1900 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2004. 

Gussie married Emil Glaser, the son of immigrants from Baden, in 1903.

Marriage license, Emil H. Glaser and Gusta Gersbacker, 9 May 1903, St. Louis County, Missouri. Available from Ancestry.com. Missouri, Marriage Records, 1805-2002 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2007.Original data: Missouri Marriage Records. Jefferson City, MO, USA: Missouri State Archives. Microfilm.

Gussie and Emil separated by 1908, when Gussie was listed on the St. Louis city directory at a different address than Emil.

Gould's St. Louis Directory for 1908. St. Louis, MO: Gould Directory Co. Available from Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1821-1989 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.

In 1910, Gussie ran a rooming house and lived with her younger sister Annie.

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

Emil Glaser died on 12 August 1912. Although they were separated, his obituary stated that he was the "beloved husband of Gussie Glaser." (St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 14 August 1912, page 12.) Gussie remained in St. Louis until at least 1913.

Gould's St. Louis Directory for 1913. St. Louis, MO: Gould Directory Co. Available from Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1821-1989 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011. 

On 1 June 1916, Gussie married Roy Lee Parker in Santa Ana, Orange County, California. Her marriage record stated that she was a resident of San Francisco, California and that Roy was a resident of Denver, Colorado.

Marriage license and return, Roy L. Parker and Augusta D. Glaser, 1 June 1916. California, County Marriages, 1850-1952, database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K8DJ-XRB);  citing Orange, California, United States, county courthouses, California; FHL microfilm 1,290,107.

By 1918, Roy was living in Salt Lake City, Utah, and on his World War I draft registration card, he listed his mother as his nearest relative. Gussie remained in California. In 1920, she was working as a seamstress in Los Angeles.

1920 United States census, Los Angeles precinct 175, population schedule, enumeration district 433, sheet no. 15A. Available from Ancestry.com. 1920 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2010.

In 1921, Gussie was a clerk in the Argonaut Hotel.

Los Angeles Directory Co.'s Los Angeles City Directory, Including San Pedro, Wilmington, Palms, Van Nuys and Owensmouth. Los Angeles, CA: Los Angeles Directory Company, 1921. Available from Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1821-1989 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011. 

By 1927, Gussie lived in Pasadena and was working as a hotel waiter. She worked at the Hotel Vista Del Arroyo at that time, but later worked for the Huntington Hotel and the Maryland Hotel. She worked as a waiter at least through 1949.

Thurston's Pasadena (California) City Directory 1927, Including Altadena and Lamanda Park. Los Angeles, CA: Los Angeles Directory Co. Available from Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1821-1989 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011. 

 Thurston's Pasadena (California) City Directory 1934, Including Altadena, Lamanda Park, and San Marino. Los Angeles, CA: Los Angeles Directory Co. Available from Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1821-1989 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.

Augusta Marie Gersbacher Parker, SS no. 552-10-1611, 27 November 1936, Application for Account Number (Form SS-5), Social Security Administration, Baltimore, Maryland.

1940 United States census, Pasadena, Los Angeles, California, population schedule, Assembly District 47, enumeration district 19-472, sheet 2B. Available from Ancestry.com. 1940 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012.

Gussie died on  22 February 1969 at the Palm Grove Sanitarium in Duarte, Los Angeles County, California.

Augusta M. Parker death certificate. State of California, Department of Public Health. 22 February 1969.

Pasadena Star-News, 28 February 1969, page B-6.

Gussie was entombed at the Pasadena Mausoleum. However, that was not her final resting place. Her body was brought back to St. Louis, Missouri, and she was buried in the Gersbacher family plot (section 010K, lot 0024E) in Sts. Peter and Paul Catholic Cemetery on 22 December 1972. Her grave is unmarked.

Gussie Gersbacher

Mappy Monday: Pasadena, California, 1917

Pasadena, California. Automobile Blue Book, vol. 8, section 1, 1917. Available from the Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection.

This map, published in 1917, shows some of the roads and locations in Pasadena, California. My great-grandmother's sister Augusta "Gussie" (Gersbacher) Parker was living in Pasadena by 1927, and she continued to live there until her death in 1969.

Workday Wednesday: Augusta "Gussie" (Gersbacher) Parker, Hotel Waiter

Vista del Arroyo Hotel, 125 South Grand Avenue, Pasadena, Los Angeles County, CA. Historic American Buildings Survey, creator. Available from Library of Congress and Wikimedia Commons.

My great-grandmother's sister Augusta "Gussie" (Gersbacher) Parker worked as a waiter at hotels in Pasadena, California. The 1927 Pasadena city directory lists Gussie as a waiter at the Hotel Vista Del Arroyo.

Thurston's Pasadena (California) City Directory 1927, Including Altadena and Lamanda Park. Los Angeles, CA: Los Angeles Directory Co. Available from Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1821-1989 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.

Emma C. Bangs opened the original Vista del Arroyo Hotel in 1882. Daniel M. Linnard purchased the hotel in 1919 and commissioned the architectural firm Marston & Van Pelt to design a new two-story building in the Spanish Colonial Revival style. In 1926, H. O. Comstock purchased the hotel. He hired architect George H. Wiemeyer to redesign the hotel and add a six-story building. Bungalows were also built on the property. The dining halls, including the Sunset Room and the Spanish Room, overlooked the grounds.In 1943, the United States Department of War purchased the hotel and converted in into an army hospital. The building is now the Richard H. Chambers United States Court of Appeals.

The 1934 Pasadena city directory lists Gussie as a waiter at the Maryland Hotel.

Thurston's Pasadena (California) City Directory 1934, Including Altadena, Lamanda Park, and San Marino. Los Angeles, CA: Los Angeles Directory Co. Available from Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1821-1989 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011. 

The Maryland Hotel was located on Colorado Boulevard. It was a year-round hotel, not a seasonal hotel. The first owner, Colin Stewart, was from Maryland and named the hotel after his home state. It was later owned by Daniel M. Linnard. On 18 April 1914, the hotel was almost completely destroyed in a fire. Myron Hunt designed the new building, which opened later that year. The hotel was torn down shortly after 20 August 1937.

When Gussie filled out her application for a Social Security number on 27 November 1936, she stated that she worked for the Huntington Hotel Co.

The Huntington Hotel was originally called the Hotel Wentworth. It was built by Wentworth and designed by Charles Frederick Whittlesey in the the Spanish Colonial Revival style. The hotel opened in February 1907. There were heavy rains during the hotel's first season, so many potential guests went elsewhere, and the hotel closed at the end of the season. Henry Huntington purchased the hotel in 1911, and it was redesigned by Myron Hunt. It reopened in 1914 as the Huntington Hotel. Every evening, formal dinners were held in the Georgian Ballroom. The hotel was originally a winter resort, but in 1926 it began to stay open year-round, and an Olympic-size swimming pool was added. Stephen W. Royce later owned the hotel, and he sold it to the Sheraton Corporation in 1954. The hotel was renamed the Huntington Sheraton. The hotel closed in 1985, but reopened in 1991 as the Ritz-Carlton, Huntington Hotel. The hotel was purchased by the Langham Hospitality Group in 2008 and renamed the Langham Huntington, Pasadena.

Gussie worked as a waiter at least through 1949, but the later city directories do not list her place of employment.

References
Conyers, Patrick, Phillips, Cedar, and the Pasadena Museum of History. Pasadena: A Business History. Images of America. Arcadia Publishing, 2007
Early Views of Pasadena
History of Pasadena, California
History of the Huntington Hotel
The Langham Huntington, Pasadena
The Langham Huntington Pasadena Commemorates 100 Years of Enchanting Hospitality
Richard H. Chambers United States Court of Appeals
Vista del Arroyo Hotel

Census Sunday: She Hasn't Aged a Day in Twenty Years!

In 1940, my great-grandmother's sister Augusta "Gussie" (Gersbacher) Parker was enumerated as a lodger in the household of John and Mary Buckley in Pasadena, Los Angeles County, California.

1940 United States census, Pasadena, Los Angeles, California, population schedule, Assembly District 47, enumeration district 19-472, sheet 2B.

According to this census record, Augusta Parker was 40 years old. Her date of birth was 29 January 1881, so she was actually 59 years old - nearly twenty years younger than the record stated! Her place of birth is incorrect as well; she was born in Germany, not Missouri, although she came to Missouri when she was two years old.