Vierling Sisters

As we know, I try to do an annual sweep of our family tree to see if anything new can be found with regard to my open questions, and at the top of that list is the question of whatever became of our 2nd g-grandparents, Peter Schaefer and his wife Maria Magdalena Vierling. There's still nothing new about Peter Schaefer --- it's almost certain that he died in Murray, Iowa and was likely buried in an unmarked grave there. But maybe a few more clues have popped up about Maria (aka Mary), who returned to Brooklyn and was last seen there in the 1900 census.

When reviewing yet again Maria's family, we know that she came from Dorndiel in Hesse, her parents were Georg Vierling and Maria Magdalena Boll, and that several of her siblings also came to America. Because the males are always easier to track, I've already spent some time looking at Maria's brothers, Adam and John Vierling. Adam spent his life in Brooklyn, and John eventually moved to Rhode Island. I thought surely that if Maria came back to Brooklyn as a widow with little kids, not only would her brothers have helped her out, but likely she might have been buried with one of their families when she died. The last time I was in NY, I visited the Most Holy Trinity Cemetery where Adam Vierling's family is buried (Most Holy Trinity is also where Maria was married to Peter Schaefer), but the cemetery records don't indicate any Mary Schaefer buried in that plot. I haven't checked RI cemetery records, but I have my doubts that our Mary would have been there when she died (some time after 1900 census).

This time around, however, I took note of Maria's arrival to NY on 7 May 1866. She was 16 years old, and she was accompanied by her 21-year-old sister, Catharina. I'm thinking if there was a closeness between siblings, it would have been between these two sisters. So what happened to Catharina (also spelled as Katharina)?

Catharina Vierling became the wife of Carl "Charles" Deckelman(n). She had several children, but those who survived to adulthood were Mary Louisa (Schultz), Eva (Fay), Katharina (Ostendorff), Frank J., and Adam. Catharina died in 1891 at the age of 47, and she was buried at St. John's in Middle Village. This was the clue I was looking for --- perhaps our Maria is buried at St. John's? The interment records for St. John's are now online, but whether our Maria is there is not sure (not knowing when she died is a bit of a problem). But this clue still calls for more investigation.

Meanwhile, it's somewhat uncanny how much the trail of Schaefer and Deckelman descendants have in common:

• From 1889-1892, we find Mary Schaefer living at 277 Devoe, just a few doors down from 271 Devoe where the family of Charles Deckelman was found. But Charles was a saloonkeeper, and after her sister died, I think Mary decided she needed to relocate. 
• From 1897-1899, we find Mary at 100 Bushwick. I'm wondering if she got there by way of Charles Deckelman's brother, Philip Deckelman, who lived at 125 Bushwick at that time. But Philip was in the same line of business as his brother, so I think Mary was still looking for a different residence. 
• The last we see of Mary Schaefer is at 895 Grand St. in Brooklyn where she was enumerated in 1900. This is the exact address where her nephew, Frank John Deckelman, lived for over 20 years starting some time just before WWI. Probably not a coincidence. 
• From 1920-1930 (about), Charles Schaefer lived with his family at 401 Seneca Ave. in Queens. After that, our grandfather, George Schaefer, lived at 1703 Palmetto St. in Queens before moving to Avenue W. Before 1940, Charles Schaefer's first cousin, Frank John Deckelman Sr. had moved from 895 Grand St. to 586 Senaca Ave. in Queens, and subsequently moved to 1665 Palmetto St. Up to WWII, these Schaefer-Deckelman cousins were never far from each other.

I've been thinking alot about sisters lately. Their bonds and their impact on their family's direction can be and has been and will always be significant. In this case, our 2nd g-grandmother, Maria Vierling, who was only 16 when she came to America, married at age 20 and traveled half-way across the continent, only to return to NY 10 years later as a widow. Maria had several Vierling siblings in Brooklyn, but it was her sister, Catharina, who Maria sought out. But their Sister Support System could not hold up to the world of grief still ahead: in 1890, Georg Vierling, the family patriarch, died in Germany; in 1891, Maria's beloved sister Catharina died, followed a few years later by Catharina's husband, leaving the youngest Deckelman children as orphans, and in 1893, Maria's oldest son, 22-year-old Louis, also died. How did Maria endure?

I have to close my eyes for a moment of quiet to fully appreciate the strength of our gg-grandmother's character. In 1866, two young Vierling sisters had come on their own to a country where English was not their native language and to a city that was bursting with both opportunity and deadly misfortunes (disease, unemployment, World Wars). Neither Vierling sister lived an easy or a long life in America, but it seems clear to me that in having each other, they together instilled the drive to move forward in the next generation. Without one sister, the fortitude of the other could not have been the same, which, I am convinced, enabled the surviving children of both sisters to find their way into a better future.