mersiowsky - 3-13-2013 at 06:19 PM
The Texas Mersiovskys
By
Weldon Mersiovsky
Phyllis Mersiovsky Bardo
Michelle Bardo Thorley
On April 1, 1848, in the kingdom of Saxony in eastern Germany in the village of Steindorfel, a daughter is born to Andreas Mirtschin and Magdalena
Domschke. They name her Maria Theresa but they call her Theresa. She grows up probably spending her time helping with household chores from a very
young age, playing with the children of other tenant farmers and, if very fortunate, receiving a little schooling. At age nineteen she gives birth to
a child whom she names Gustav Mirtsching. According to church records he was born July 15, 1867 in the village of Hochkirch. The father is listed as
Johann Carl Rentsch. It appears that she never marries him.
On February 20, 1869, almost two years after the birth of Gustav, she marries Carl August Mersiovsky who is 25 years old. He was born in Weigsdorf on
March 11, 1843. They move to New Weigsdorf where their first child, Gustav Adolph is born the next year on March 12, 1870. Their young family
continues to grow with the birth of Karl August 18 months later on September 10, 1871. He lives only three months, dying on October 31, 1871. William
Ernst is born a year later on September 6, 1872. Two years later Julius Hermann is born on October 27, 1874. Theresa now has 4 young boys – Gustav,
Adolph, Ernst, and Hermann. They bring her great joy as well as the many challenges that come from raising four young boys. In her heart of hearts she
secretly wishes for a daughter when she becomes pregnant again.
About the same time she becomes pregnant, her husband Carl August tells her that he is not feeling well. He no longer has the energy he needs to work
and soon becomes weaker and weaker. Theresa takes care of him as well as she can with four boys under foot and pregnant with her fifth child. In late
summer, she finds her dear August slipping away from her. He dies of pneumonia on August 21, 1875 attended by Theresa with her children by her side.
They were married for six short years. Overcome by grief and sorrow Theresa, only 28 years old, must decide what to do with her young boys, Gustav
(8), Adolph (5), Ernst (3) and Hermann (1). During this time of great sadness, only six months after the death of her husband, great joy comes to her
in the birth of her first and only daughter born April 5, 1876. She calls her Linna. Oh how she wishes that August could be there to enjoy this
beautiful gift and hold his only daughter in his arms.
She finds solace and comfort with the Mersiovsky family. They come to her aid and help her with her young family. Carl Leberecht, August’s 25 year old
cousin, is one or those that comes to assist with the family and he soon falls in love with Theresa. They are married on October 15, 1876 in
Cunewalde, a little more than a year after August’s death. Theresa is grateful to have Leberecht enter her life and is thankful that he is willing to
become a father to her five children. A year later, Carl Emil is born on September 28, 1877 and Theresa now has six young children – five of which
are under the age of eight. There is surely never enough time in the day to do all that has to be done in caring for such a young family. At the same
time the religious and political situation in Germany is becoming increasingly intolerable. Theresa and Leberecht have a lot on their minds: How do we
want our children to grow up? What will they become here in Germany? Like all parents, they want the best for their children.
They finally decide with heavy hearts that they must leave their home and family in Germany for a better life in America. On the trip to the coast
where they will board a ship to America, Theresa begins to feel ill. Leberecht assures her that things will be better in America and that all she
needs is a little rest. She gains some of that rest during the steamer trip on the SS Nurnberg which sails from Bremen and Havre, Germany. On the trip
they meet a young man named Julius Koch. He is a 25 year old laborer from Austria and they soon become good friends. To Leberecht’s dismay, Theresa
still does not feel well and they are afraid that when they arrive in America the family will be put in quarantine or, worse still, sent back to
Germany if she is found sick. So together with Julius Koch and the ship’s captain, August Geyer, they arrange to have the children registered under
the name of Koch. When the ship docks at New Orleans, Julius Koch takes the children, Gustav (11), Adolph (10), Ernst (8), Hermann (6), Linna (4) and
Emil (3), with him and they pass through customs as his family. To the young children this is a frightening experience, given the possibility they may
never see their parents again. Lots of tears are shed and prayers offered that they might remain a family here in this new country. Fortunately, their
prayers are answered. Theresa and Leberecht are able to clear customs and the family is reunited. From New Orleans, the family makes their way to
Texas. It is not known whether the ship continued on to Galveston or whether they traveled by train or some other transportation from New Orleans to
Texas. The journey is long and hard and the stress eventually takes its toll on Theresa who becomes sick with typhoid fever. On December 12, 1880, at
32 years of age, she dies in the arms of Leberecht – her husband of only four years – while her children stand weeping by her bedside. What is to
become of them now that both their father and mother are gone? What more can they endure?
Leberecht, a man of great compassion, continues to care for his children and stepchildren for the next six years. He realizes that he must have help
to care for his young family and soon meets and marries another young widow, Carolina Wilhelmina Richter Bittner. They are married on November 28,
1886 by the Justice of the Peace in Giddings, Texas. Joy fills the hearts of the children as they welcome a new mother into their lives. Wilhelmina
cares for them as lovingly as their own mother Theresa had.
Wilhelmina originally lived in Walburg, Williamson, Texas. She, like Theresa, had a child by a man to whom she was not married. Herman Wilhelm Neitsch
was born to her on June 25, 1882. The father refused to marry her and married another woman instead. However a year later on January 23, 1883
Heinrich Bittner of Warda, Texas married her and together they have a daughter, Martha. When Martha was only two years old, her father dies and
Wilhelmina is left alone with two young children under the age of 4.
In 1886, when Leberecht is 35, he and Wilhelmina blend their families together and help one another to care for the eight children [Gustav (17),
Adolph (16), Ernst (14), Herman (12), Linna (10), Emil (9), Herman (4) and Martha (2)]. Wilhelmina and Leberecht soon have two more children of their
own. Carl Robert is born on November 11, 1886. Death strikes again as little Martha dies on 1 May 1887, only three and a half years old. Gerhard Max
is born on July 17, 1888 – however, he dies just 15 months later on October 23, 1889.
With a family of eight to care for Leberecht decides to buy a farm from Andreas Vetter on April 22, 1890. He has seven boys to help him farm with the
oldest, Gustav, being 21 years old. Gustav farms with his family for 1 more year before he marries Marie Mickan. Adolph helps on the farm for 5 years
and then marries Mary Lorenz. Ernst helps for 6 years before he marries Anna Jacobik. n May 14, 1904, at the age of 47, Wilhelmina dies from
tuberculosis in Serbin, Texas. Julius Hermann, Emil, Herman Wilhelm, and Robert continue to help their father on the farm. A year after Wilhelmina
dies, on August 20, 1905, Leberecht marries another widow, “Grandma” Marie Kurio Wukasch. On February 14, 1907, three years after Wilhelmina’s death
and only two years after his marriage to the widow Wukasch, Leberecht too succumbs to tuberculosis, dying at the age of 49.
In 1914, when St Peter's Lutheran Church reunites with St Paul's Lutheran Church, the Maria Mersiofsky that is on the list of returnees is the widow
of Leberecht Mersiovsky. She lives until 1 Sep 1915.
In his will, Leberecht leaves the farm in Serbin, Texas to Emil, his son by Theresa, who is now 30 years old and never married. When Emil dies in 1927
at the age of 50, the farm passes on to Robert – Leberecht’s son by Wilhelmina – who is now 41 years old.