20. Death and Obituary -- Anna Geiser Treuthardt

March 11, 1936, Wednesday

On this day in 1936 Great-grandmother Anna Johanna Geiser Treuthardt died.   The funeral was on Thursday March the 12th.   Two short obituaries exist, from the collection of Katherine & Reinhold.   Neither obituary has a citation, though the first one was surely published in the Georgetown, Texas Williamson County Sun and the information would have been supplied by Anna’s daughter Ida Krieg and a grandchild or two.   This obituary must have been printed a day or two after the funeral.   
I have numbered the obituaries and added some comments at the end. 

1)

"Pioneer Resident of Georgetown Dies Wednesday
"Heart Ailment Fatal to Mrs. Anna Treuthardt

"Early Wednesday morning a heart ailment from which she had been suffering for some time was fatal to Mrs. Anna Treuthardt, pioneer resident of this city, and native of Switzerland.   Death came swiftly to this beloved woman, and carried her into the great beyond, where her spirit went to convene with that of her maker.

"Funeral services, which were held Thursday morning at 10 o'clock at the Friedrich Funeral Home, were conducted by the Rev. Robert F. Jones, pastor of the First Presbyterian church.  Interment was in the Odd Fellows Cemetery immediately following the services at the chapel.

"Mrs. Anna Treuthardt, 89, was born in Roggwyl, Switzerland on Feb. 7, 1847.   From an early age, she was taught to love her God, and at the age of 16 she was confirmed into the church at Roggwyl.    In 1871, she was married to Frederick Christian Treuthardt, of Georgetown, in Lausanne, Switzerland.   In 1883, some 53 years ago, they came to Georgetown to make their home.

"Three children were born to this union, one of whom survives Mrs. Treuthardt.  She is Mrs. Ida Krieg of Thrall.   Twelve grandchildren and 17 great-grandchildren also survive.

"Pallbearers, who were grandsons of the deceased were Oscar Krieg, Julius Krieg, Will Krieg, Arnold Krieg, Ed Krieg, all of Thrall, and John Treuthardt of Georgetown."

2)

“Georgetown, March 12.-- Funeral services were held here Thursday at 10 a.m. for Mrs. Anna Truehardt, 89, who died near Georgetown early Wednesday after an illness of six weeks.

“Mrs. Truehardt was born Feb. 7, 1847, at Roggwyl, Switzerland.  She was married in 1871 to Frederick C. Truehardt at Lausonne (sic), Switzerland.   With her husband and children she came to the United States in 1883 and settled near Georgetown.   She is survived by one daughter, Mrs. Ida Krieg of Thrall;  12 grandchildren and 17 great-grandchildren.

“The Rev. Robert Jones conducted the funeral services.   The eight grandsons of Mrs. Truehardt acted as pallbearers:  They are John Truehardt of Georgetown, Siegfred Krieg of Eola, Oscar, Werner, Ed, Will, Julius and Arnold Krieg, all of Thrall." 


Spellings of surnames
In 1, the name Krieg was misspelled and I have corrected it.   [Nobody would object to that.]    This was a misprint by the newspaper.

In 2, the surname is consistently spelled Truehardt.   This is inaccurate for the Swiss immigrants and for the Arnold Treuthardt family.  John, descendant of Arnold, is listed first in the pallbearers list;  but he too exclusively used the original Swiss spelling.   The Americanized form of the surname was adopted by the Will Treuthardt family.  Will, who died in 1930, six years earlier than his step-mother Anna, used the original spelling as well, as shown by the name Treuthardt engraved on his tombstone.   This is why I believe the second citation was written or amended by the Will Treuthardt family; and I don’t know where this second obituary was published.   

Pallbearers
Obituary 2  states that Anna's eight grandsons were pallbearers.   In 1, two grandsons’ names are omitted – Werner and Sigfrid.    In neither copy are the Krieg grandsons listed in birth order.   The youngest Sigfrid (with misspelled name) is listed first, and the others are "mixed."        
   
Survivors
Only one daughter, Ida, 12 grandchildren (8 of Ida’s and 4 of Arnold’s children), and 17 great-grandchildren are listed as survivors.   Not listed are those who predeceased Anna.     This caused me confusion at first.  I’ll explain more in the next blog.    It is all clear now, and it was clear to the people in 1936 who read the newspaper.    Incidentally, several more great-grandchildren were born to Anna after her death, including me.     

The funeral home
I have never heard of Friedrich Funeral Home of Georgetown.   Maybe others familiar with that time know where it was located.       


Georgetown
So what was it?  In the city (1) or near it (2)?   It depends on how you define the city limits of Georgetown.   It is not hard to reckon how somebody could interpret it either way.   Since Ida herself was writing the information for obituary 1 (I’m 99% sure of that), it means something to me that Ida considered Georgetown her familiar hometown.          

The Switzerland clues
Now we are getting someplace, with evidence.   We know Anna’s birthdate and place in Switzerland.  We learn that she came from a God-fearing family and that she was confirmed at the age of 16 in the church where she was brought up.   We learn her husband’s full name, and their marriage year and place. 

I knew that my father and uncles had said their grandparents’ marriage place was Lausanne.   For years I did not know more than that.   But the place of marriage is not exactly right.   The Treuthardts were not married at Lausanne but at Lavigny.   Lausanne is the closest big city to Lavigny, a small town even today.    This too confused me, as to why the exact place was not named;  until I noted that Americans don’t know where Switzerland is, and much less do they know where the towns are.   Especially in those times it would have been true.   

Year of immigration
And we have a reliable year of immigration, 1883!