ALTHAUS, Bertha Martha ³⁸⁰

  Allgemeine Notizen:

The following is taken from page 9 of the Kirchen-Buch Church Record Book of the Vereins-Kirche 1849-1870:

To Christian Althaus was born by his wife Anna, nee Behrns, on 14 August a daughter who on 24 August was baptized and received the names; Bertha Martha. Baptismal witnesses were: Bertha Basse, Martha Marzil Doss, Annie Cegen Decker, Dietrich Rode.

Note: She was the 16th girl of 26 children born so far that year. Also, note that the spelling of Behrns was incorrect.

According to my father William Scott Keyser, Sr., his grandmother Bertha Martha was shot and killed in 1937 by her neighbor. I am currently trying to locate newspaper articles in Fredericksburg to verify cause of death and who did it. "Martha" died April 11, 1937 and is buried in Der Friedhof Cemetery in Fredericksburg next to her husband Louis.

The Gillespie County Census of 1860 listed in Pioneers in God's Hill has her name listed as Mocy and sex as male. I suppose this was a childhood nickname and the census taker mistook it as a male name.

The 1910 census shows that Martha had 12 children of which 10 were still living at the time of the census.

Bertha heiratete Louis G. GARDNER am 7. März 1870 in Fredericksburg, Gilliespie Co., Texas, USA. (Louis G. GARDNER wurde geboren im Jahr 1839 und starb im Jahr 1921.)