Johann Caspar was born in 1764 as the youngest son of Johann Philipp and Anna Clara Wagenbach. Very rare in this family of farmers, he became a professional military reaching the rank of lieutenant in the German Landwehr. Like his brothers Jacob and Johannes he initiated an important Seuling branch, descendants of which still live in Germany today. His marriage with Anna Maria Einhäuser, in 1788 and of course in Alten-Buseck, produced seven children, at least four of whom eventually married. In 1813 they have moved into the Einhäuser residence at Großen-Busecker Straße 18; interestingly, the locals speak of “Hankaspersch”, the house where (Jo)hann Kaspar lived.
(Ill. 90: Descendants of Johann Caspar Seuling (1764-1841).)
Oldest daughter Anna Maria (1789-1820) married Johannes Reuter. In 1817 they have moved to the Daubringer Straße 24[1]. After Anna Maria’s untimely death, probably while giving birth, Johannes remarried. In 1840 “Johannes Reuthers II. Ehefrau” lives at the Hofburgstraße 7. Quite possibly the children grew up at this “downtown” address, in the street that at the time still was called Judengasse. Sons Johann Philipp and Konrad and daughters Juliana and Justina lived to a fairly ripe age and during the process contributed to the continued growth of Alten-Buseck.
Second daughter Anna Margaretha (1794-1869) shared her life with Philipp Becker. The latter couple brought up one daughter, Maria Elisabetha, and two sons, Kaspar and Johann Jost, who all founded families of their own. Kaspar in 1840 had moved into his grandparents’ house.
Third daughter Elisabeth Margaretha (1799-1857) also found a Becker, this time with the familiar name Kaspar. As far as our records go, none of their thirteen children grew up to reach maturity.
In this sense, fourth daughter Maria Elisabetha (1807-1868) had more luck. Her marriage to Johann Caspar Becker II – the birthday celebrations in the family homes of the Seuling-Becker clan must have been quite major events during most of the 19th century – resulted in six children, three of whom actively participated to the expansion of their village.
Oldest brother Johannes (1791-1853) married another Becker, Justine Catharina; in 1822 we find them living at the Anger 9. Their union yielded daughter Anna Maria, who in turn exchanged wedding vows with Kaspar Rabenau[2] and produced considerable offspring.
Youngest son Georg Balser (1796-1848) and his spouse Barbara Lotz, however, left no doubts and repopulated Alten-Buseck with nine children, three of whom grew families of their own: Johann Philipp, Wilhelm, and – strangely – another Johann Philipp. Again, their whereabouts are known: in the years 1831 and 1840 Balthasar Kasparsohn lived in the Daubringer Straße 5, where Wilhelm followed them in 1853.
The oldest Johann Philipp (1822-1870) joined forces with Elisabetha Wagenbach. Of their numerous offspring, only Marie (Maria) (1854-1931), Kaspar (1862-1937) and Philipp (1865-1942) reached maturity. Marie married Ludwig (Louis) Wagner) and settled in Alten-Buseck. Two portraits, made around 1920, show the couple at an older age.
(Ill.: Marie Seuling (1854-1931).) (Ill.: Ludwig (Louis) Wagner (1850-1925).)
Marie and Ludwig had five children, most of whom died young. On January 1, 1914, just before the start of the World War I, daughter Elise (1883-1977) married Ludwig Klinkel and one year later their daughter Marie was born. Ludwig, however, sadly died on the 13th of September 1916 in France. The three generations – grandmother, daughter, and granddaughter – are united on a photograph taken some ten years later in front of the family house.
(Ill. 91: Standing in front of the house “Haphelps”, later “Klinkels”, at Friedhofstraße 4 in this photograph of around 1925 are Elise Klinkel born Wagner, her daughter Marie married Körber and her mother Marie Wagner born Seuling. Source: “Buseck”, p. 129.)
(Ill.: Ludwig Klinkel (1875-1916) (Ill.: Marie Klinkel, born in 1915.)
posing in his military uniform.)
History repeated itself when Marie married Wilhelm Spaar who died in the last year of World War II. She remarried Otto Koerber, from solid Alten-Buseck roots, and daughter Marlene (1950) was born followed by sons Günther (1952) and Helmut (1954). In 1968 she in turn married Richard Hughes who was stationed with the American army in Germany. The couple relocated to his ancestral home in Raywick, Kentucky, thus making Marlene the – as far as known – latest addition to the long list of Seuling emigrants. Son Eric (born 1968) and daughter Jennifer (1977)[3] both married. In 1984 Marlene remarried Lewis Taylor and shortly thereafter daughter Rachel (1985) completed the family.
(Ill.: Marlene Körber Taylor, born 1950.)
(Ill.: The offspring of Marlene Körber: Eric, Jennifer and Rachel.)
Returning to the children of Johann Philipp (1822-1870) and Elisabetha Wagenbach, son Kaspar (1862-1937) married with Katharina Becker.
(Ill. 92: From the left, Friedericke Becker-Bellof, Katharina Reuter-Seuling and Katharine Seuling-Becker (1861) and her husband Kaspar Seuling IV (1862) pose around 1935 in the Großen-Busecker Straße 32. Source: “Buseck”, p. 99.)
Although further research is needed, descendants of Kaspar and Katharina still live in or near Alten-Buseck today. In 1916 their son Ludwig (born 1887) married Karolina Schäfer. Two of their children died young but on a happy picture from shortly before the War we see a smiling daughter Ottilie playing the violin in the Spinnstube. Born in 1921, she apparently remained unmarried and still lived in Alten-Buseck at the turn of the century. Her aunt Maria Margaretha (1892-1982), the third child of Kaspar and Katharina, also married a Schäfer and stayed in the old hometown till a very ripe age. Youngest aunt Luise (1896), finally, once again married a Becker. In a lovely picture of the Konfirmation Jahrgang 1896, taken in 1910, we see her posing with her peers.
(Ill. 93: Breakfast break on the potato fields From the left, we recognize Marie Muhl-Seuling and Ludwig Seuling (born 1887) and his sisters Luise Becker-Seuling (1896) and Marie Schäfer-Seuling (1892). Malzkaffee, in einer Milchkanne (!) mit selbstgestricktem “Wärmer”, sowie Wurstbrot und (“Quoatsche”-)Kuchen werden hier die Kräfte neu belebt haben. Source: “Buseck”, p. 140.)
(Ill. 94: Spinnstube. On the far right in the top row is Ottilie Seuling, playing the violin. Source: “Buseck”, p. 149.)
(Ill. 95: Konfirmation Jahrgang 1896, taken in 1910: at the far right in the third row from the top we see Luise Seuling married Becker. Source: “Buseck”.)
In 1888 youngest son Philipp married Mary Kathryn Kahl, who had with her family emigrated from Alten-Buseck to Pittsburgh in 1882. Born in 1870 she had a younger brother William (1872) and sister Margaretha (1974). Did Philipp follow her – it is somewhat unlikely as he was 17 when she emigrated whereas she was 12. More probably the Kahl’s and Seuling’s were close in Alten-Buseck and the Kahl’s agreed to serve as a bridgehead for Philipp when he as a young and single teenager moved across the Ocean. When comparing the early photographs of sisters Mary and Margaretha with those of their peers in the Old Country, they radiate a social and economic well-being.[4]
(Ill.: Mary Kathryn Kahl Seiling.) (Ill.: Aunt Margaret, later married George Vanderground.)
Philipp and Mary settled in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Daughter Lillie (1889-1983) was born in December 1889 in the new hometown, followed in rapid succession by sisters Elizabeth (Betz; 1892) and Alma (1893). Terrific photographs show off the sisters Lillian and Alma in their early 20’s. Much later, the family was enriched with the birth of son Philip William Louis (1905-1967). Philipp became a butcher on the north side of town and later on opened a grocery store on Balph Avenue. They lived on 381 American Avenue in Bellevue, Pennsylvania and attended the Forest Avenue United Presbyterian Church. A 1932 picture shows Philipp at the house of Aunt Maggie (Margaret Kahl?) in Homestead, PA. Importantly from a genealogical perspective, the family name was changed to Seiling, adding another unexpected twist to the understanding of the complex interrelationships.
(Ill.: Elizabeth (Betz) and Lillian Seiling, circa 1893.)
(Ill.: Photo of an unknown Seuling[5], probably Philipp Seuling (born 1865), taken circa 1898.)
(Ill.: The three Seiling sisters: on the top left Lillie, middle right Elizabeth and bottom Alma, 1895.)
(Ill.: Lillian Schick.) (Ill.: Alma Seiling Beckert.)
(Ill.: Philip Seiling at Aunt Maggie’s (Ill.: Death certificate of Philipp Seuling
in Homestead, PA; 1932.) (1865, Alten-Buseck – 1942, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania)
Daughter Lillie, upon her marriage with Louis Schick in 1911, first moved in with her parents and subsequently lived on Tingley Avenue in Pittsburgh. Louis was upholsterer/decorator. In a brief period of time the couples’ life was enriched with children Margaret (1912), Robert (1913) and Alberta (1914).
(Ill.: Louis Schick and Lillie Seiling Schick.)
(Ill.: Margaret and Robert Schick in (Ill.: Margaret Katharine Schick June, 1916.) (1912 – 1999), about 6 years old.)
(Ill.: The Schick family with Margaret, Dad Louis, and Robert in the back row and Alberta and Mom Lillie seated.)
(Ill.: Lillian Schick and a person to be identified.)
(Ill.: Lillie Seiling Schick.)
Oldest daughter Margaret (1912-1999) married Martin Fisher, Jr. who made a living as plumbing and heating estimator. In WW II he served his country in the Air Force. Shortly after the war Margaret got daughter Marianne (1948), our main source of information on this American branch of the Seuling family tree. Marianne in turn married William Jordan and subsequently Pat O’Meara with whom she had sons Ted (1983), Andy (1985) and daughter Megan (1987).
(Ill.: Margaret Seiling Schick marriage to Martin Burnet Fisher on March 15, 1947; Lillie Seiling Schick is to the right of Margaret.)
(Ill.: Martin (Barney) Fisher, Margaret Schick Fisher and her brother Robert Schick in 1995.)
(Ill.: The O’Meara family, from left to right Ted, Megan, Pat, Marianne, and Andy.)
(Ill.: Andy, Megan and Ted O’Meara.)
(Ill.: Family portrait at the wedding of Alicia Privett on June 21, 2008 at Black Canyon Inn in Estes Park, Colorado. In the picture from left to right is Heather Privett Stevens (daughter of Karen Steele Privett), Mackenzie Stevens (Heather’s daughter), Alicia Privett Butcher (daughter of Karen Steele Privett and sister to Heather), Karen Steele Privett (daughter of Alberta Schick Steele who is daughter of Lillian Seiling Schick), Linda Steele Zundel (sister of Karen and daughter of Albert Schick Steele, and myself Marianne Fisher O’Meara (daughter of Margaret Schick Fisher who is daughter of Lillian Seiling Schick).)
The second child of Louis and Lillie Schick, son Robert John (1913), married Dorothy Spruce and had children Carol Diane (1946-1975; married to Thomas Keith), Gretchen (1950; with Robert Rutherford a daughter Jennifer (1980)) and Susan (1954; with Bradford Kortick daughters Alicia (1984), Kristen (1987) and Cassandra (1993)).
We have no further whereabouts nor photographs of this branch of the Seuling tribe.
In 1914 daughter Alberta was born. Undoubtedly in the mid1930’s she poses happily on the beach with her husband-to-be Kenneth Steel and a couple of years later as just-marrieds in the backyard of their apartment. Alberta and Ken Steele had daughters Linda (1941; married with William Zundel) and Karen (1946; married to Robert Privett, with children Heather (1973) and Alicia (1976)). Shortly after the War Grandmother Lillian and granddaughter Linda proudly look into the camera; life was good in Wilkinsburg. Many years later Heather and her husband Doug Stevens represent the next generation.
(Ill.: Ken Steele and Alberta Schick Steele.)
(Ill.: Alberta Schick Steele and Ken Steele, taken in backyard of apartment at 578
East End Ave.; May 1938.)
(Ill.: Lillian Schick and granddaughter Linda Steele on Remington Drive, Wilkinsburg; July 1946.)
(Ill.: Alberta Schick Steele and Ken Steele.)
(Ill.: Doug Stevens and Heather Privett Stevens.)
In 1916 Elizabeth – nicknamed Bets – married Irwin Neason, who died shortly afterwards however, in 1919. She worked in her father’s grocery store and for many years dated Howard Beckert. Upon her death he in 1958 married her sister Alma, who had attended business school in Pittsburgh and worked for Joseph Department Store.
(Ill.: Alma Seiling Beckert and Howard Beckert.)
Philipp William Louis, finally, carried the name Seiling to the next generation when he and his spouse Margaret Beatty had children Philip William Sr. (1928), Mary Grace (1929; married with Elwood Casher), Dorothy Mae (1930; passed away the same year) and Robert John (1932). Although further details are as yet unknown, their oldest son apparently married and was the happy father of a son named after himself, Philip William Seiling, Jr. (born in 1949). This son, in turn with an unknown spouse, had a son Philip Francis.
(Ill.: Grandpa Philip Seiling with son Phil and grandson Sonny.)
Going back to earlier days, to Georg Balser Seuling and his wife Barbara Lotz, their son Wilhelm (1826-1907) married Margaretha Krämer. At the minimum three children matured: Johann Philipp (1858-1931), Katharina (1860-1912), and Elisabetha (1865-1931). No further details are known.
The younger Johann Philipp (1833-1869) in 1858 married Elisa(betha) Becker. The couple had eight children, two of whom, we know, died young. Three sons, Heinrich (born 1857), Philipp (1859) and Wilhelm (1862) emigrated to the U.S.A., where they settled in the Pittsburgh area. Heinrich not only changed his first name to Henry but also his second name to Seiling. He apparently married Katharina B. (further details unknown) and possibly had at least five children, two of which – Philipp (1890 – 1982) and Mary (1903 – 1982) – lived on. As yet our information is extremely limited, however. Philippborn 1859) first settled in the Pittsburgh area but later on moved to St. Louis, Missouri. Again he apparently married and had at least two children but we lack further details. The same holds for his brother Wilhelm; we know he changed his name to William Seiling but that’s it.
After their father died in 1869, mother Elizabeth, sister Margaret[6] and brother Kaspar also came over to the U.S.A. and lived with William (Wilhelm) for a while. Margaret (1861 -1945) married Thomas Morgan and, after moving to the state of Washington, had significant off-spring: John Peter (1880), William (1884), Rose (1886), Elizabeth (Peg) (1895) and Guy Peter (1897) all had children. Kaspar (1867) married Kate Leroy. The couple had a son Caspar who in turn apparently has descendants named Seiling. According to our information, both Kaspar Sr. and Margaret are buried in Montesano, Washington.
In the mean time youngest son, Justus (1869-1926), started a family of his own with Maria Vogel. None of their six children survived, however. After Maria passed away around 1900, Justus remarried with Maria Katharina Balser. In 1905 and 1910 they lived in a house named Hörese[7] in the Schulstraße 20. Another six children were born, many of whom once again died at a very young age. It is possible, however, that son Otto (born 1911) grew up; in 1941, his younger brother Friedrich Karl (1912) had moved into his parents’ home.
[1] (Current number.)
[2] We are not completely sure about Kaspar’s last name. Our sources also suggest he may have been named Ackermann.
[3] We thank Jennifer Hughes (407 – 10th Avenue, Keremeos BC V0X1N3, Canada) for making available much of the material on the family as well as a formidable genealogical website on her ancestry. With the help of her Oma Marie in Alten-Buseck she put together a solid collection of family pictures on this Seuling branch.
[4] We thank greatgranddaughter Marianne O’Meara (3105 Saturday Court, Finksburg, Maryland 21048, USA; e-mail: omeara3106@yahoo.com ) for providing us with the information and wonderful pictures on this branch of the family tree.
[5] The picture was taken off the internet together with the next illustration of the three Seiling sisters, with the text: “These photos were provided to my Oma, who lives in Alten Buseck Germany…her grandmother was a Seuling and she doesn’t know what became of these relatives.” The source was Jennifer Hughes whose grandmother Marie Körber-Klinkel, in her nineties, still actively researched her family roots and couldn’t retrace the origins of the two old photographs in her collection. The three beauties on the second picture were positively identified with help of Marianne O’Meara and her niece Heather Privett who had a print of the same in her family collection. Lillie was their (great)grandmother. It is a best guess but quite possibly the photographs were sent to Marie’s grandmother Marie Seuling (born 1854) in the Old Country by her brother Philipp (born 1865) who had emigrated tot the USA in 1882.
[6] Our much appreciated source of information is John Morgan (313 Mt. Airy St., Cantonment, FL 32533, U.S.A.; e-mail: jtmorg@gulfsurf.infi.net), whom we contacted following an exchange on the Seiling Surname Message Board of www.familyhistory.com. Margaret is his great-grandmother.
[7] (According to “Buseck”, p. 221, Justus’ spouse was a member of the Höres family. How this fits with Balser is not quite clear.)