Kaiser-Rhode family

Anne M. Kaiser (Mar 1865-Jul 1939) was the daughter of Johann Jacob Fritz Kaiser ((Apr 1834 - May 1903) and Louisa Eliza Rhode ((Aug 1935-Nov 1908) Their marriage date is unknown at this time but it took place in Wittenberg, Germany.

The family came over in Aug 1885 on the ship the General Werder from Bremen to New York. They had seven children with them some of which were already adults. Their names were; Fredrick Fritz (1885-1939) who remained single.

Pauline Kaiser(1861-1945) She married Henry Heinrichs and they had three children including Louise Pauline Heinrich who married John Diedrch Ramm. Paul Peter Heinrich who married Francis Rupple. Herman Otton Heinrich who married Gertrude D Lesard.

Mary Eliza Kaiser (1869-1895) She remained single.

August Kaiser Sr. (Dec 1881-Oct 1929) who married Amelia Gregorson in St. Paul. They had three sons name (1) Leonard M Kaiser who married Dorothy L Beuch and they had a son and a daughter. (2)Eugene H Kaiser who married Marie F Schouweller and they had a son and daughter. (3)George A Kasier who married Elsie G Miller. They had two girls and a son.

Bertha Kaiser (Sep 1875-1947) married Fredrich W Riechelt in 1895. They had one daughter named Eleanor. They family moved to Califonia and set up boarding houses where they prospered until their death. Eleanor never married.

Mathilda R Kaiser (Jan 1880-Feb 1945) married Edwin A Hempel in 1898. They had no children.

Gehrmann-Fiss & family

August Gehrmanns parents were Charles, Earl Gehrmann (1827-1896)and Henerietta Fiss (1827-1900) were married about 1852 in Prussia. The came to America, via Ellis Island on May 26th 1874.

They brought seven children. Wilhelm ( 1855-1912), Herman John (1857-1934), Johanna (1888-1950), Ida (1861-?), Albert F (1863-1945), August F (1868-1913), Bertha (1971-1914). Emil Franz was born in St. Paul (1875-1950) Of these children only Ida and Albert have been hard to track. Ida may have died in childbirth because there is a grave with her name in the family plot in Elmhurst cemetery. An Albert Gehrman who may have been a nephew.

Charles Earl Gehrmann was a tailor by trade. They owned their own home of Sherburne in St. Paul. Of the children Wilhelm remained single. Herman married Henrietta Fick and they had 8 children. Johanna married August K Stuewe and they had 3 children.
August married Anna Kaiser and they had 5 children. Bertha married Albert H Schultz and they had 6 children. Emil married Ernestine Wittwer and they had 2 sons.

Gehrmann-Kaiser Union

Bertha Gehrmanns parents
were August F. Gehrmann
(1868-1913). Pictured
on the left. August
came over from Prussia
in 1875 onthe ship
Marko Polo with his
parents.

August was 7 years
old at the time and
his parents sent him
to a Lutheran school
because their religion
was very important to
them.
When he became an adult learned the trade of being a tinner,
now known as a sheetmetal worker.

Anna Kasier, pictured on the right, (1865-1924) came with her parents from Wittenberg, Germany in 1885 on the ship General Werder. Her family was Catholic's. Anna was already a young lady on her arrival on these shores. Within a short time she met August and they fell in love. There was one problem; that was their religious differences. In 1889, they decided to run away to Salk Center, Mn and get married in the Catholic Church. The result was that Augusts family disowned him and refused to acknowledge their marriage.

The couple continued to life in Salk Center for the next 5 or 6 years where they
had three children, including Paul Anton ((1890-1955), Bertha Catherine (1891-1971),
Walter John (1894-1942). Then they moved back to St. Paul to find more work. The Gehrmann side of the family did not forgive the couple and severed all ties. During the next years they had 2 more chldren. Arthur Charles (1896-1963)and Theodore Joseph (1899-1966).

August died under unusual circumstances and was found in the basement of his home.
Anna, who never learned English, and unable to support herself, became extremely depressed and died of heart failure.

Bertha Gerhmann McEachran remarries

Pictured above are left to right: Paul, Anna Elvera, Mary Leone and Bertha in about 1930.

After the death of her beloved Hugh McEachran, Bertha went to work for a German immigrant man who owned his own restaurant. He hired her as his cook for the business. She became close to him and admired the fact that he was so good to her girls. She married Paul Robert Helmut Scharfenberg (1881-1861)in 1921.

After their marriage Paul built Bertha and the girls a lovely home in St. Paul. Meanwhile, he earned his money by boot-legging during prohibition. As a result he was occasionally in trouble with the law. The business must have been profitable because he moved the it several times so he could continue to sell the liquor under the table.

Finally, Bertha demanded, that he quit the illegal business and get a legal job. He went to work for a big company that built refrigerators. While working, an appliance fell on his foot and he developed gangrene. The disease spread into both legs and he ended up a double amputee for the last ten years of his life.

An interesting note was that when Bertha was married to Hugh, she meet a
lady who told her that in her future was a man who had wheels instead of legs. Bertha thought the woman was crazy. Forty years later she found that in deed the
woman was correct.

Gerhman-McEachran

Hugh Patrick McEachran (1887-1918)
and Bertha Catherine Gehrmann (1890-
1971) were married in 1910 in
St. Paul,Mn. Hugh left school at St.
Johns University in Mn to marry Bertha.
After their marriage Hugh went to work
for the city as a conductor
on the street car lines in the city.

Pictured below are their two daughters, Mary Leone McEachran
born in (1912-1984)and Anna Elvera McEachran born (1914-1984).

In 1918 the family all came down with a lethal flu bug that sweep
the country. First the children got sick and Bertha nursed them
back to health. Then Hugh got sick and went to bed. Then Bertha
became ill.

Meanwhile the neighbors dropped off foods, for the children then
ages 4 and 6 years old, who were milling around the house.


When Bertha awoke from her illness three days
later, she discovered Hugh laying
beside her. Her husband had died
while she slept. She was a widow
at age twenty seven.