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Subject: Re: Bertha Augusta (GERSKA) FELDHAHN (1860-1936) obit
Date: 16 Feb 2005 12:11:11 -0700
This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list.
Surnames: Feldhahn, Egger, Feuer, Garska, Garske, Fischer, Fisher
Classification: Biography
Message Board URL:
http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/an/YOB.2ACE/183.1.2.1
Message Board Post:
This is the info I have on Fred Feldhahn of Hay Springs, Nebraska. This is taken from an article 'Fred Feldhahn & Anna Louise Feuer and Bertha Garska' by Rosemarie Scherbarth Blundell in "Hay Springs, Nebraska - The First 100 Years (1885 - 1985)." If you find that this Feldhahn is related to your family and would like a copy of the complete article, email me at .
Johann Frederick William "Fred" Feldhahn was born March 17, 1859 to Johann & Wilhelmina Egger Feldhahn of Koenigburg, Germany, in the north of Brandenburg Province. When he was about 20 years of age, he served in the German army and trained as an infantry gunman. He was later promoted to the drummer division. On September 10, 1892, after 3 years of service, he was discharged. Fred left Koenigburg on March 24, 1883 and came to America, though he was still subject to call in the German army reserves for 2 years.
Fred worked as a hired hand until he homesteaded 8 miles northwest of Hay Springs, Nebraska. He became a U.S. citizen on March 25, 1902. He married Anna Louise Feuer on Nov. 21, 1887 in Chadron, Nebraska. She was the daughter of Louis/Ludwig Feuer & Sophia Feldhahn Feurer of Alt Rudnitz Brandenburg Province, Germany. They came to the U.S. and settled in Dodge City, Wisconsin. Anna Louise was born Sept. 4, 1859.
The Feldhahns attended the Lutheran Church in Hay Springs. Anna Louise was killed when the team she was driving while mowing hay got grightened by lightning and thunder and had a runaway, just as she was quitting for the day. She was thrown into the mower sickle and killed on Sept. 24, 1903. Left to mourn her passing was her husband Fred and daughters: Bertha 15, Marie 13, Lena 10, Martha 9, Louise 7. Two infant sons preceded her in death.
On Sept. 17, 1905, Fred Feldhahn married Bertha Augusta Garska Fisher, who had been the mother of ten children. Four of them had died, three were out on their own, and three were still at home, as was her aging father John/Johann Garske/Garska, for whom she was caring. Her husband Karl Fischer / Carl Fisher had died in Nov 1903 when his wagon went over an embankment, tipped over and crushed him.
They continued to farm on Fred's farm near Hay Springs. They built the new Commercial Hotel in Hay Springs, completed in 1911. All of the family then moved into the hotel with the exception of Marie, who was newly married. Fred sold his farm in 1916. He did not like the hotel business and sold it also and bought a farm adjoining the west side of Hay Springs. From there, the family moved to Council Bluffs, Iowa.
Bertha passed away on March 15, 1936 and is laid to rest next to her first husband Carl Fisher in Fairview Cemetery in Rushville, Nebraska. Fred passed away on Oct. 8, 1937 and is laid to rest beside his first wife Anna Louise and their two infant sons in the Hay Springs Cemetery.
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