ANCESTOR NO. 14: MARY AUGUSTA FELDWEG (1874-1960)

 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.[5] As a single woman, Mary kept a low profile. City directories didn’t name her, like a young woman with a job would be listed, and she didn’t appear in Newark newspapers’ social or church columns.

On May 20, 1896, she married Oscar Bruguier, a young druggist whose parents were also German immigrants. They were married at the same church that baptized her.[6] Below is the church issued marriage certificate in German. Bertha and Robert were her witnesses, but since both her parents and her sister and brother had that name, we can’t tell who exactly witnessed the marriage for her. Oscar’s brother Paul was another witness. The picture shows Jesus turning water into wine at a wedding.

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Oscar and Mary probably had this photo taken when they married in 1896.

 

Over the next two decades, Mary had eight successful pregnancies, raising these children:

·       Alma Bertha Bruguier, born on April 1, 1897

·       Lillian Mary Bruguier, born on August 30, 1898

·       Irene Anna Bruguier, born on January 4, 1900

·       Viola Bertha Bruguier, born on November 11, 1902

·       Harold Oscar Bruguier, born on July 12, 1905

·       Oscar Robert Bruguier, born on September 23, 1908

·       Warren Kenneth Bruguier, born on July 16, 1911

·       Laverne Audrey Bruguier, born on March 23, 1918

I wonder if they had ten birthday parties every year?

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Births from the family Bible. Geburten means births in German.

 

A group of people posing for a photo AI-generated content may be incorrect.

Since Harold was born in 1905, this photo was probably taken about 1907. My grandmother Viola is on the left. Mary was in her early thirties.

In 1905 the family lived at 155 Hamburg Place, a three-family building.[7] After Oscar’s father Francis died, Mary and the family moved in with his mother at 431 Lafayette, but after she moved to live with her daughter Minnie around 1914, Oscar and Mary bought their own house at 887 South Nineteenth Street.[8] It was a three-story house, not counting the basement and attic.

Mary’s brother Rob, although married, had no children. He also had a glass eye. My grandmother Viola remembered that Uncle Rob would come over to visit, take out his glass eye, and chase the little girls around the house with it![9]

 

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Mary, Oscar, and an unidentified child from their son-in-law Bert Field’s photo album. He was probably Bert and Irene’s son. The background of this photo is very surprising.

 Mary had a large house to maintain, and after all those children were grown up, Mary and Oscar rented out part of the upstairs to a lodger. Their son Bob (Oscar Jr.) lived downstairs with his family.[10] I am a little surprised that the couple in their seventies lived upstairs and the young family lived on the ground floor.

My mother left a written account of Mary, her grandmother. She called her grandparents Ma and Pa, probably shortened from Oma and Opa, the German names for grandparents. My mother remembers that when she and her sister Joyce would visit, their grandmother would put a nickel in their hands, and say, “Don’t tell Pa.” Due to inflation, a nickel then was about the equivalent of a dollar today.[11] Mary had many grandchildren, and she’d save coins in a mayonnaise jar to give to them.

My mother recalled wonderful Christmas parties at her grandparents’ house. This photo is   dated December 25, 1938. Oscar is not there, so he probably took it. Mary in the middle is quite blurry, unfortunately.

A group of people posing for a photo AI-generated content may be incorrect.

L-R, back: Alma, Laverne, Lillian, Mary, Viola, Irene

L-R, front: Harold, Warren, Bob

Mary knew how to crochet. I have inherited this afghan she made, probably after her children were grown. Notice the scalloped border.

A close up of a fabric AI-generated content may be incorrect.

On October 9, 1950, Mary’s husband Oscar died at home of cancer.[12] Since she and Oscar owned their home, she was able to continue living there.[13] Some of my widowed ancestors had to move in with family or live in a boarding house. The social safety net then was weaker than it is today.

 

A group of people posing for a photo AI-generated content may be incorrect.

Mary’s 80th birthday party at Alma’s house, photo taken May 15, 1954.

L-R, rear: Herbert Downs, Perce Rogers, Carl Parker, Joyce Downs Parker, Bert Field, Alma Bruguier Rogers, Mary Feldweg Bruguier

L-R, middle: Viola Bruguier Downs, Irene Bruguier Field, Jeanne Steenburgh Kvernland, Jack Kvernland, Lillian Bruguier Steenburgh

L-R, front: Iris Stafford Field, Al Field, Peggy Downs Bruguier, Ernie Hancox; Bob (Oscar Jr.) Bruguier, lying down.

I’m indebted to Bob’s son Ron for identifying the people I didn’t know.

Mary passed away on November 28, 1960, and was buried in Fairmount Cemetery in Newark, where her husband was also buried.

 

 

 

 

 


[1] St. John’s Second German Lutheran Church (Newark, Essex County), Feldweg, 1874; “Baptisms by Child’s Name,” database, Newark Religion (https://newarkreligion.com/courtbapchild/bapcf.php: accessed 8 Oct. 2025).

[2] Ibid.

[3] "New Jersey Deaths and Burials, 1720-1988", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FZ2T-L3T: accessed 19 January 2020), Julia Feldwig, 1877.

[4] “1880 United States Federal Census,” database with images, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com:

accessed 8 Oct. 2025); entry for Maria Feldweg in household of Robert Feldweg, 101 Morton St., ED 78, 13th Ward, Newark, Essex County, New Jersey, p. 85A (stamped), dwelling 177, family 429, line 13, image 41 of 44.

[5] Newark, Essex County, N.J., Deeds, N23: 144, Sophie Trümpi to Robert Feldweg, 21 February 1887; “Deeds, 1688-1901; index 1688-1909 [Essex County, New Jersey],” FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSYH-G94K-P?i=77&cat=215486: accessed 16 April 2021), image 78, FHL film 907679, DGS no. 8354779.

[6] The address, 140 Court Street, was that of St. John’s. Also, it says “St. Johann’s Kirche.”

[7] “New Jersey, State Census, 1905,” database with images, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/61557/images/48181_548688-00728?pId=542278 : accessed 25 Nov. 2020) > Essex > Newark, Wards 11-13 > image 729 of 1387; Oscar Brugier, [sic] 155 Hamburg Pl., 12th Ward, Newark, Essex County, New Jersey, p. 7B (penned), dwelling 77, family 146; from NJ State Archive, reference no. L-04, film 14.

[8] Newark city directories are available at Ancestry.com, showing their addresses.

[9] This feature was noted on his WWI draft card.

[10] 1950 census, Newark, N.J., ED 30-673, p. 7, dwelling 74.

[11] CPI Inflation Calculator (https://www.in2013dollars.com/us/inflation/1940?amount=0.05 : accessed 5 Oct. 2025).

[12] Essex County, New Jersey, death certificate no. 37293 (9 Oct. 1950) Oscar R. Bruguier; New Jersey State Archives, Trenton, N.J.

[13] Newark city directory, 1957, p. 334; Ancestry.

 

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