Maria (Hercher) Steurenthaler (1895 - 1985)

Born 11 Apr 1895 in Hinterzarten, Neustadt, Baden, Deutsches Reich

Ancestors

Wife of Ludwig Steurenthaler — married 15 Apr 1926 in Hinterzarten, Neustadt, Freiburg, Baden, Deutsches Reich

Descendants

Died 28 Sep 1985 at age 90 in Titisee-Neustadt, Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald, Baden-Württemberg, Deutschland

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Florian Straub [send private message]

Biography

Marie was born on in April 1895 as fourth child and second daughter of Joseph Hercher and his wife Maria Schindler from Ramselehof in Hinterzarten.^[1] She was baptized over a week later, on 21 April 1985. Her godparents were Gebhard Späth and Brigitte Hercher nee Steiert.^[2]

During her school time the teacher once visited her and her parents at home on Ramselehof and told her father, that she is very smart ("I knew every city and every river"). He said that she should become a teacher. His offer was to further educate her, while she in return would have to had babysit his children. Her father didn't allow it. He said that there were enough lazy people already.^[3]

She was in love with August Steurenthaler from Steiertenhof, who was lost in World War I and later declared dead. When she was supposed to get married, she didn't really like his brothers. In the end she married his cousin Ludwig Steurenthaler, who also was one of her second cousins. Witnesses were his brother Joseph Steurenthaler and Friedrich Späth.^[4][5] Some months after the wedding their first child Luise was born.

Another daughter named Maria was born in early September, when everybody on Ramselehof was working on the second round of haying for the year. She was able to work on the field until 11 am, when it became too much for her. Ludwig interrupted work to get the midwife. Her mother was furious about the baby coming in this particular time of the year ("Riechd mers au in so ä uginschdigi Zitt?"). She was so upset, that she refused to bring Marie food and something to drink after the birth. Marie swore to herself, that she would never deliver a child again at home.^[6]

In order to achieve this, she went on ski from Ramselehof to Bärental on the day of birth of her first son Ludwig in 1935. Already close to Zipfelhof she lost the water. Her husband Ludwig had gone ahead of her to get the midwife from Bärental. That one was laying sick in bed and said she couldn't help in this in this state. Ludwig then performed phone calls in Bärental to get somebody deliver Marie to the hospital in Freiburg. In the hospital apparently people came visiting her to see "the woman who went to the hospital on ski".^[7] People kept saying later, that Ludwig was good on ski, because he was almost born on them.^[6]

Marie and her family lived on Ramselehof until February 1938, when they moved to Hanselehof in Alpersbach, a part of Hinterzarten, because Marie's brother Wilhelm Hercher was about to get married and the families living on Ramselehof didn't get along that well anymore. In December 1938 Paul, their second son and youngest child was born.

In 1953 they went back to Ramselehof, which they started extending (Widerkehr) in 1957. After one of the craftsmen fell and got injured, her husband, who was already upset on them for cutting/throwing away some "still good boards", had his second heart-attack. He never returned to old strength and shifted his focus to housework. This lead to her doing some of his work in return. In 1964 he passed away.

For her 80th birthday in 1975 she received a flying trip with her nephew Oskar Hercher.^[8] She didn't have any problems with the flight, while her son Ludwig, who joined her, got sick from it.

When she died in 1985, aged 90 years, she had survived her husband Ludwig by 19 years.^[9]

Research notes

• her falling from the attic
• add her time at Mr. Späth and the closet
• find relationship between witness Friedrich Späth and godfather Gebhard Späth
• transcribe/use newspaper articles from IMG-20220828-WA0014.jpg

Birth date

While her civil birth record states her birthday as 11 April 1895,^[1] which was Maundy Thursday ("Gründonnerstag"). The Catholic baptism record claims that she was born on 13 April 1895 (Easter Saturday). ^[2] One potential explanation might be, that with baptism happening on 21 April 1895, it would have been ten days already, without her being baptized.

The marriage record is in line with the baptism record,^[4] which probably only means, that the priest copied the date from the book he had at hand.

The civil marriage^[5] and death record^[9] both state her birthday in line with the civil birth record, which makes sense for the same reason.

Clara Kaiser, her sister-in-law, also had a wrong birth date in her baptism record and was also baptized by parish priest Albert Landolt.

Ludwig's birth

Her daughter Luise claimed that there was something with a taxi driver, who was either drunk or had a broken car. The taxi driver apparently was either Mr. Wursthorn or the person running Lenzenhof ("Lenzenbauer").

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1} Civil birth record, Hinterzarten 1895/9

   Nr. 9

   Hinterzarten am 13. April 1895

   Vor dem unterzeichneten Standesbeamten erschien heute, der

   Persönlichkeit nach bekannt

   der Holzhauer Joseph Hercher

   wohnhaft zu Hinterzarten

   katholischer Religion, und zeigte an, daß von der

   Maria Hercher geborene Schindler

   seiner Ehefrau

   katholischer Religion,

   wohnhaft bei ihm

   zu Hinterzarten in seiner Wohnung

   am elften April des Jahres

   tausend acht hundert neunzig und fünf

   Nachmittags um sieben ein halb Uhr

   ein Kind weiblichen Geschlechts geboren worden sei, welches

   den Vornamen

   Maria erhalten habe

   Vorgelesen, genehmigt und unterschrieben

   Der Standesbeamte

   Peter Hensler

   Bürgermeister

2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1} "Germany Births and Baptisms, 1558-1898". Citing FHL microfilm: 923136;. FamilySearch Record: NPTL-BH9 (accessed 5 June 2022). Maria Hercher baptism on 24 Apr 1895 (born 13 Apr 1895), daughter of Joseph Hercher & Maria Schindler, in Hinterzarten, Neustadt, Baden, Deutschland:

   Nr. 11

   Im Jahr 1895 den einundzwanzigsten April wurde

   in hiesiger Pfarrkiche durch Vikar Albert Dufner

   getauft Maria, geboren dahier am dreizehnten April

   ehelicher Tochter des Ramselibauern u. Holzaccordanten

   Joseph Hercher u. der Maria Schindler v. hier. Pathen

   sind Waldhüter Gebhard Späth u. Brigitte Hercher

   geb. Steiert von hier.

   Hinterzarten den 21. April 1895

   Albert Landolt. Pfarrer

   13. April

   Maria

   Schindler

   Hercher [with pencil]

   getraut mit

   Ludwig Steurenthaler

   am 15. April 1926

   hier

3. ↑ remembered by her daughter Steurenthaler-1 and her grandchild Zähringer-61 (the latter one on 2 May 2022)
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1} Hinterzarten, Catholic marriage book, 1926, p. 29, #3
5. ↑ ^{5.0 5.1} Civil marriage certificate:

   Heiratsurkunde

   (Standesamt Hinterzarten, Nr. 3/1926)

   Ludwig Steurenthaler

   geboren am 9. August 1886

   in Hinterzarten

   (Standesamt Hinterzarten Nr. 16/1886)

   wohnhaft in Hinterzarten

   Maria Hercher

   geboren am 11. April 1895

   in Hinterzarten

   (Standesamt Hinterzarten Nr. 9/1895)

   wohnhaft in Hinterzarten

   haben am 14. April 1926 vor dem Standesbeamten

   des Standesamts Hinterzarten die Ehe geschlossen.

   Hinterzarten, den 21. August 1985

   der Standesbeamte

   .....

   Der Ehemann ist am 3. Dezember 1964 in

   Hinterzarten, Standesamt Hinterzarten

   Nr. 24/1964 verstorben.

6. ↑ ^{6.0 6.1} told by Marie to her grandchild Zähringer-61, who told it to Florian Straub on 31 May 2022
7. ↑ told by Zähringer-89 to her godchild Zähringer-61, who told it to Florian Straub on 31 May 2022 (a few days later)
8. ↑ Maria Steurenthaler wird 85 Jahre alt, Badische Zeitung, 11 April 1980
9. ↑ ^{9.0 9.1} Civil death certificate:

   Sterbeurkunde

   (Standesamt Titisee-Neustadt Nr. 183/1985

   Maria Steurenthaler geb. Hercher,

   katholisch

   wohnhaft in Titisee-Neustadt

   ist am 28. September 1985 um 05 Uhr 10 Minuten

   in Titisee-Neustadt verstrben.

   Die Verstorbene war geboren am 11. April 1895

   in Hinterzarten

   Die Verstorbene war Witwe von Ludwig

   Steurenthaler

   Titisee-Neustadt, den 30. September 1985

   Der Standesbeamte Jehle

• Personal knowledge of Steurenthaler-1