Another little girl lost…
The Legal Genealogist‘s paternal grandfather was the youngest of what we now know were seven children born in Bad Köstritz in what is now the German state of Thüringen.
The church books of the Lutheran church in that town record each of those births to my great grandparents Eduard Hermann Geissler and his wife Emma Louise (Graumüller) Geissler:
• Emma Hedwig, born 26 October 1881 and baptized 11 December 1881.1
• Martha Pauline, born 19 January 1884 and baptized 17 February 1884.2
• Arno Werner, born 25 July 1885 and baptized 16 August 1885.3
• Ida Agnes, born 12 February 1887 and baptized 13 March 1887.4
• Elly Marie, born 31 December 1888 and baptized 24 January 1889.5
• Paula Ida, born 16 March 1890 and baptized 10 April 1890.6
• And then the baby, my grandfather, Hugo Ernst, born 24 March 1891 and baptized 26 April 1891.7
Through paper trail research, I can confirm that these were the only seven children born to my great grandparents,8 and I can add a lot of detail to the lives of every one of these people, through their marriages, the military service of the two boys, the births of their children, in most cases their emigrations to the United States, and even their deaths, including one son in World War I.
Lots of detail for every one of them.
Every one of them, that is, except one.
One of those seven children has only three entries in her life story.
Born.
Baptized.
Died.
I hadn’t taken the time to really follow up on this one child, whose records after her baptism were so completely missing.
Until this week when I began to truly study the records of the civil registration office in Bad Köstritz.
And made that last entry in the database.
Paula Ida Geissler.
At 10 a.m. on the sixth of July 1890, at the home of her parents.
Paula Ida, dead, just three months and 20 days old.
The death reported the next day, 7 July 1890, by her own father, my great grandfather.9
It’s time to say farewell to this little girl lost in my family history.
There will be no more records to be found. No photos of her childhood joys or pains. No records of her schooling or marriage. No children to be found and traced.
Her story ended really before it was barely begun.
Farewell, Paula Ida. Farewell.
SOURCES
Cite/link to this post: Judy G. Russell, “Farewell to Paula Ida,” The Legal Genealogist, posted 26 Jan 2019 (https://www.legalgenealogist.com/blog : accessed date).
- Kirchenbuch (Church book) Bad Köstritz, Taufregister (Baptismal Register) Seite (Page) 23 Nr. 52 aus 1881, Baptismal Record of Emma Hedwig Geissler (digital image of record in possession of JG Russell). ↩
- Taufregister Seite 34 Nr. 4 aus 1884, Baptismal Record of Martha Pauline Geissler. ↩
- Taufregister Seite 41 Nr. 45 aus 1885, Baptismal Record of Arno Werner Geissler. ↩
- Taufregister Seite 48 Nr. 8 aus 1887, Baptismal Record of Ida Agnes Geissler. ↩
- Taufregister Seite 57 Nr. 89 aus 1888, Baptismal Record of Elly Marie Martha Geissler. ↩
- Taufregister Seite 64 Nr. 21 aus 1890, Baptismal Record of Paula Ida Geissler. ↩
- Taufregister Seite 69 Nr. 21 aus 1891, Baptismal Record of Hugo Ernst Geissler. ↩
- The records of the civil registration office in Bad Köstritz — the Standesamt — confirm that there were only these children, and confirm the birth dates and parents and more. ↩
- Bad Köstritz Standesamt, Zivilstandsregister (Bad Köstritz city registry office, civil status registers), Todten (Deaths), Nr. 47, 1890, Paula Ida Geissler. ↩
Sad. This brings back thoughts I had about my contribution to the world as compared to others. There is always the thought that no one will know I was here. Perhaps it’s a good motivator to do more.
Your work in supporting the Mt Vernon Foundation and more will hardly be forgotten, Harold.
You did wonderful work to honor her short life. I appreciate when family historians are able to find and memorialize these ‘twigs’ on our family tree, for their stories are important, too.
Thanks for the kind words. I make it a special commitment to write up these twigs whenever I find them. They must not be forgotten. Just thinking about what her death meant to her older siblings — the oldest was nine when this baby died! She had to have been affected by that loss, too.