Loss - The Schickler Family of Ludwigsburg - Week 12 of #52Ancestors

 Looking through my family tree, it wasn't uncommon for a married couple to lose several children at a young age, or for either the husband or wife to die while there were still young children in the house. 

One sad story in my tree, my great-great-grandparents Gottlieb Wilhelm Schickler and Marie Frederike Haufler may be the saddest loss story of all. 

1846, November 30   Marie Frederike Haufler was born in Marbach, Wurttemburg, the oldest child of Gottlob Friedrich Haufler (1820-1899) and Christine Catherine Haas (1819-????).

1848, April 18 Gottlieb Wilhelm Schickler was born in Ludwigsbugb, Wurtttemburg, the second child and oldest son of Jacob Schickler (1816-????) and Louise Gikeleitner (1826-????)

1873, February 11  Gottlieb Wilhelm Schickler and Marie Frederike Haufler married in Ludwigsburg

Ancestry.com. Württemberg, Germany, Lutheran Baptisms, Marriages, and Burials, 1500-1985 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2016.
Original data:Lutherische Kirchenbücher, 1500-1985. Heiraten 1759-1884. Ludwigsburg

1873 November 6   Wilhelm Friedrich Georg Schickler was born in Ludwigsburg, oldest child of Gottlieb and Marie

1874 November 23  Karl Julius Theodore Schickler was born in Ludwigburg, second child of Gottlieb and Marie

1876 June 27   Georg Paul Schickler was born in Ludwigsburg, third child of Gottlieb and Marie

1877 December 17  Alfred Gotthold Schickler was born in Stuttgart, Wurrtemburg, fourth child of Gottlieb and Marie

1878 January 21  Karl Julius Theodore Schickler died in Stuttgart, age 3, second child of Gottlieb and Marie

1880 March 26  Alfred Gotthold Schickler died in Frankfurt am Main, Hesse, age 2, fourth child of Gottlieb and Marie

1881 March 14  Alfred Hermann Schickler was born in Frankfurt am Main, fifth child of Gottlieb and Marie

1884 July 4  Alfred Herman Schickler died in Stuttgart, age 3, fifth child of Gottlieb and Maire

1884 July 22 Eugen Hugo Schickler was born in Stuttgart, sixth child of Gottlieb and Marie

1884 July 28 Eugen Hugo Schickler died in Stuttgart, age 6 days, sixth child of Gottlieb and Marie

1885 June 12  Gottlieb Wilhelm Schickler died in Stuttgart, age 37, leaving his pregnant widow and two sons Wilhelm age 12 and Georg age 9

1885 August 2 Helene Julie Schickler was born in Stuttgart, seventh child of Gottlieb and Marie 

1886 April 29 Helen Julie Schickler died in Suttgart, age 8 months, seventh child of Gottlieb and Marie

1887 November 24 Marie Fredericke Haufler, widow of Gottlieb Wilhem Schickler, died in Stuttgart, age 41, leaving two sons Wilhelm, age 14 and Georg, age 11. 

According to family stories, after Marie's death. the surviving sons were sent to live with their parents' families - Wilhelm with his mother's family the Hauflers, Georg with his father's family the Schicklers.

For Wilhelm - this mean joining the family of his mother's sister Wilhelmine Sophie Haufler (1859-1895) and her husband Johan Georg Beller (1855-1900), a baker in Brooklyn, New York. 

Within a few weeks of his mother's death. young Wilhelm traveled to Rotterdam, Netherlands where he boarded the ship Rotterdam alone. He arrived at the port of New York on December 26, 1887, age 14, just over 4 weeks since his mother's death. 

The ship's passenger list for Wilhelm indicates that he was 23 years old - he wasn't he was just 14. 

Three years later, in August 1890. his brother, Georg Paul, also age 14, sailed alone either from Boulonge Sur Mer, France or Rotterdam on the Maasdam, arriving in New York on September 15, 1890, presumably reuniting with his brother Wilhelm. 

For all the family tragedies of both Gottlieb and Marie and five of their seven children dying within a 14 year period, the story does have some happy endings. 

Wilhelm Friedrich Georg Schickler  - known as William Frederick George Schickler in U.S. records, married Catherine Frederica Geiser (1877-1956) in October 1896, six months after becoming a naturalized U.S. Citizen. Wilhelm and Catherine had seven children, including my grandfather, all of who lived to adulthood. Wilhelm was a baker in New York, he even owned his own bakery for a few years. Wilhelm and Catherine were active in German social societies in New York City. He participated in singing events with other German bakers as a member of the Boss Bakers Singing Society. In 1927, Wilhelm and Catherine spent time in Germany, where he performed with a choral group there. He died in Queens, New York in 1936. 

And as for Georg Paul - he converted to Roman Catholicism in 1893, and three years later donned a Capuchin habit as a novice at St. Mary Monastery in Butler County, Pennsylvania. Within the Capuchin Order, he took the name Brother Sebastian. After completing his novitiate year, he made a simple profession of his vows, and served as a cook for his Capuchin brothers serving in West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Kansas. While serving in Kansas, he became a naturalized citizen on February 2, 1925 under the name Sebastian Schickler. He also served as a Sacristan in Pennsylvania and Kansas. His final assignment was working with native lay brothers at  training center in Puerto Rico, where he died in 1963.