More on the Masch sisters of the former Kries Stolp, Pomerania

Family Group Sheet (FGS) is compiled from data in the International Genealogical Index and those of my own research.

Genealogy can be very complicated. As shown in the FGS above for George F. Masch and his two marriages and as discussed in a previous entry, George's daughters, Henrietta Masch (m. Ferdinand L. Tuschling) and Johanna L. H. Masch (m. Johann Kramp), were HALF-SISTERS. They were both born in Kreis Stolp, Hinterpommern (eastern Pomerania in English), and immigrated to Clearfield County, Pennsylvania, in the latter part of the nineteenth century; settled in Beulah Village; and became charter members of the St. John's German Lutheran Church in nearby Houtzdale.

Furthermore, Mrs. Henrietta Masch Tuschling had 9 children, most of whom were christened in the parish and Lutheran Church of Gross Deubsow, Kreis Stolp, Pommern. They were Bertha, Matilda, Alwine, Johann, Albertine, Hermann, Hulda, Karl, and Gustav. Henrietta arrived at Castle Gardens, NY, in May 1888, with 5 surviving children and a servant named Emily Masch, age 37, who was obviously related to the group. Not to get too complicated, but I believe she was another one of Henrietta's half-sisters (see chart above). Henrietta's spouse, Ferdinand Ludwig Tuschling, was not on board. Perhaps he had sailed earlier as so many immigrant, family men had done. Daughter Alwine Tuschling was listed as a wife, 22 years old, but later in September of the same year, 1888, she had a church wedding at St. John's with Wilhelm Wagner. Son, Karl Tuschling, was married at St. John's in 1896, and the parish record there states he was born in Manfitz (sic., probably Mahnwitz), Kr. Stolp. Thanks to Mrs. Elke Rennhack Lorz, I know that daughter, Augusta Albertine Bertha Tuschling, died in Nov 1868, about a year after birth, at Dumroese, Kr. Stolp.

By the 1900 census, Henrietta Masch Tuschling was a widow living in Beulah Village, PA. Two of her children had migrated to Port Huron, St. Clair County, Michigan, and three remained in Houtzdale: Bertha Alwine, and Gustav. Son, Gustav, soon moved to Port Huron.

Henrietta's son, Karl Tuschling, probably would have stayed in Houtzdale, near his mother, especially since he married a local German immigrant girl, Bertha Wagner. But, it was not that simple. Bertha Wagner was the step sister of my grandfather, Otto Streich. Bertha's father, Charles Wagner, was the second husband of the former Henrietta Hohnke who was previously married to Karl Striech. Bertha Wagner and Otto Streich were raised in the same farm house in West Houtzdale from the age of seven. However, the marriage of Bertha Wagner and Karl Tuschling did not go well. The story goes that Karl and Bertha were living with Karl's mother, Henrietta, who became very demanding on her daughter-in-law. So, Bertha's father told her to come home to the Wagner family farm and live there. However, Karl, could not get along with HIS father-in-law. Shortly after the birth of Bertha and Karl's second child, Karl abondoned his wife and young family and went to Michigan to live. He eventually married another woman, Hulda Bolduan, and they settled in Port Huron, MI, and had more children. I don't know if Karl ever divorced his fist wife Bertha. Bertha's two children, a girl and a boy, took their mother's maiden surname, Wagner, as their own. The girl, Ella H. Wagner, married Charles Robert Grove. The boy, John Wagner, never married.

Otto Strike and Bertha Wagner (see above) were raised in the same farmhouse; both wound up losing their spouses. Bertha's husband left her with two young children who eventually took back their mother's maiden surname.

The 1900 Census for household of Charles Wagner and Henrietta (Strike), nee. Hohnke, in West Houtzdale, Clearfield County, PA, included Charles' daughter, Bertha, as a single mother of girl and a boy surnamed Tuschling. Henrietta's children by a previous marriage to a Strike, Julius and Martha, were also living in the household. Henrietta's oldest biological child, Otto Strike, had left the farmstead and was working as a coal miner in the adjoining county of Cambria, in Barnesboro, PA.

As I said in the beginning, genealogy can be very complicated, but look again at the Masch Family Group Sheet above. George Masch's first wife was Caroline Cramp; and his second, Caroline Wollenschlager. The first child of George's second marriage, Johanna Luise Henrietta Masch, married a Johann Kramp. OK, couldn't Cramp and Kramp be spelling variations of the same family name? In other words, couldn't Cramp and Kramp be related?

I hate to do this to you, but I have one instance in which Cramp and Kramp were the same person! When Mrs. Johanna (Masch) Kramp arrived at Castle Gardens, NY, on the S.S. Werra, with her family of 6 children, they were listed on the passenger list as "Cramp". This is only a problem for genealogists. Incidentally, Johanna Kramp had two more children in America before she died early, at age 46, in 1891.

Other than than the two half-sisters, Henrietta and Johanna, and perhaps a third half-sister, Emily, I do not know the fate of the other children of George Masch and his two wives.

I guess we will never know the answer to all the questions that come up in our genealogical research. But we have SOME answers. And that's good enough for me and Bobby McGee.