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ANCESTOR NO. 16: ROSANNA McGUIRE (~1842-1903)

My great great-great-grandmother Rosanna McGuire is another brick wall ancestor. So far, I have found no birth or marriage record for her, so we have no information about her parents or where she came from. She is also our most scandalous ancestor. Rosanna was born in Ireland, probably about 1842, and emigrated to America about 1855, settling in New York City . [1]  She was one of the fortunate ones who survived the terrible Irish Famine that killed over a million people from 1845 to 1849. In about 1860, she married an American-born son of German immigrants, John Joseph Körner. Over time, the name morphed to Kerner and then to Kirner. On May 27, 1861, Rosanna gave birth to John Joseph Kerner Jr., and on February 12, 1864, she had a second son, William Henry Kerner. [2] The family moved across the Hudson River to Jersey City, New Jersey about 1867. Rose’s last child, George Washington Kerner, was baptized at St. Boniface , a Catholic church attended mostly by German immi...
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NOW, THE GREAT GREAT GRANDPARENTS' GENERATION: ANCESTOR NO. 15: JOSEPH KIRNER, SR. (~1837-1907)

  Joseph Kirner is a brick wall ancestor . That means he is the most distant Kirner ancestor for whom I can NOT find evidence of parents. Every document found that names him occurs in the second half of his life. No baptism or marriage record has been found for him, and he is not found in any census record until he was in his mid-thirties. He was born in New York City, and his parents were German immigrants. [1] His surname evolved from Körner to Kerner to Kirner, and was sometimes assumed to be Kernan, Kearny, or Kiernan , an Irish name. His trade as a bricklayer, also called a mason, helps distinguish him despite the recorded name variations. On a few documents, he was named John Joseph, but most called him Joseph. German men of the era often had the first name John (Johann) and went by their middle names. Joseph probably married Rosanna McGuire/Maguire in 1860 in New York City, judging from the age of his eldest child, John Joseph Jr., who was born on May 27, 1861. [2] Hi...
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Location: Jersey City, NJ, USA
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ANCESTOR NO. 14: MARY AUGUSTA FELDWEG (1874-1960)

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 Besides myself, Mary Feldweg is the only twin in recent generations in my family. She was baptized Marie Auguste Feldweg at St. John’s (Second) German Lutheran Church in Newark, N.J., along with her twin sister Julie Bertha Feldweg in 1874. [1] They were the daughters of Robert Feldweg and Bertha Mühlpfordt , German immigrants. [2] Their birthday was May 15, 1874. They had an older sister, Henrietta Elizabeth , called Lizzie . Mary’s only brother, Robert Jr., was born on October 13, 1876. Due to the close bond between twins, even though she was only three and a half years old, Mary may have never forgotten when her sister Julia died on Nov. 21, 1877, of enteritis . [3] Could it have been food poisoning , appendicitis , or some other illness? Did the rest of the family have it, but survive? Mary’s younger sister, Bertha, was born on Feb. 28, 1879. Mary and Lizzie were already attending school in 1880. [4] In 1887, their parents bought a house at 37 West Street in Newark ...
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