A couple of years ago, I wrote about my third great grandmother Elisabetha Scheid Bold after I had discovered she came to America to follow her children as a widow. It was a surprise that she was on a passenger list with her daughter Rosa, leading to a reunion with her children. In the very the least, she reunited with those that had stayed in New York City.
Who is Elisabetha to me? She is the mother of my immigrant second great grandmother Emilia Anna Bold Leies. Elisabetha was born in 1822 in Rodalben, Germany to Johann Jakob Scheid and Catharina Buchler. She was baptized by the oldest brother of her future husband, Father Peter Bold. Elisabetha married Franz Jacob Bold in 1842 in Nunschweiler, Germany. Their children Emilia, Alexander, Anna Maria, Richard, Ferdinand, and Rosa came to the United States under the following circumstances:
- Emilia came about 1866 at age 23 to Wooster, Ohio. It is a mystery who she came to meet and reside with until her marriage to my second great grandfather Johann Leies. He too arrived in 1866. I should note I do not know the year of their marriage.
- Alexander came in 1866 at age 16 to Wooster, Ohio.
- Anna Maria came in 1867 at age 15 to New York City. I do not know who she stayed with until she married in 1868. Her first cousin Franz (Frank) Scheid was also an immigrant that year and he may have already been living in New York City.
- Richard came at age 17 in 1871 with his brother Ferdinand who was 13. Richard went to Chicago and stayed with Alexander who had moved to Chicago until he married. They both became Chicago police officers.
- Ferdinand stayed in New York City. I speculate that he stayed with his sister Anna and her husband, also from Nunschweiler, Jacob Leies until he married. Ferdinand and his family were living in the tenement that collapsed and is known to history as the Grand Street Tenement Disaster. His wife and child survived. His in-laws perished.
- Rosa came with her mother Elisabetha in 1880 at age 19 to New York City.
I have so many questions. What could it have been like for Elisabetha to send her young children across the ocean without her? What was that bad in Nunschweiler that caused her to do this? Was it something at home? We will never know why. She may have even thought she would never see them again. I wonder if she had a reunion with her Chicago children, especially my ancestor Emilia.
In 1900, according to the census, she was listed as aunt to the head of household Jacob Werlein. Because I am unable to map their relationships to Elisabetha, I can’t determine whether she was the aunt to Jacob or his wife Louisa. Elisabetha passed away in 1906 in New York City. She outlived all of her children except Alexander.
Does anyone reading this know of Elisabetha? I would love to hear from you!
Do you have additions, comments or deletions? Please feel free to email me at the address below!
-cinziarosagenealogy@comcast.net
Cinziarosa's Descendants (c) 