Amalia Maria (Pickler) Peyer (1829 - 1889)

Born 4 Jan 1829 in Karlsbad, Bohemia, Austria

Ancestors

Wife of Josef Peyer — married about 1860 in Karlsbad, Bohemia, Oesterreich

Descendants

Died 27 Nov 1889 at age 60 in St. Paul, Minnesota

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Biography

Birth

Amalia Pickler's mother Magdalena was unmarried when Amalia was born Jan. 4, 1829, in Karlsbad, Bohemia,^[1] then part of the Austrian Empire Her older brother Franz (Frank), was born five years earlier. Karlsbad was a summer retreat for many of the titled and wealthy of Europe during the Austrian Empire.

Life in Karlsbad

When Amalia was 25, she gave birth to her daughter Bertha Laura Anna Pickler, on July 3, 1854. Bertha’s parentage was explained within the family that a wealthy young man, never named, had come to Karlsbad to treat his respiratory ailments when Amalia was working as a beautician. He and Amalia had planned to marry but he died before they did so. For more information, see this oral history given by Amalia's great granddaughter Margaret McGrann.

Amalia later married Josef Peyer, a beer store holder, and they had two daughters, Hedwig (called Hattie) in 1861, and Amalia (called Malie or Mollie) in 1867.

Immigration

Amalia and her three daughters emigrated to Minnesota in April 1870, according to her naturalization record.^[2] Apparently, Bertha’s aunts provided financial support for the move, to free Amalia and her daughters from Amalia’s unsuccessful marriage, according to family lore. Bertha reported that her uncle (whom she doesn’t name) sent a Mr. Sommers to meet their ship in New York and help them on their way to Minnesota. Amalia was going to join her brother Frank Pickler, then 46, and a veteran of the Civil War who lived alone in St. James, Watonwan County. According to Amalia's daughter Bertha, the family was disappointed in St. James: "...the New York people didn't want us to go any further, but Mama brought 14 poor relatives along, and she had to take care of them as she had a home build for them, and we landed first in Mankato over night. There was no train to St. James till the next day, at noon we started for our new home, but what a disappointment for us. When we landed the whole country or city was at the depot to receive us--they expected Germans with wooden shoes and short skirts. But where (wear) dresses to(o) fine for them for that part of Country, but they had a big Banquet arranged in the Hotel for us, and we all where most heartbroken to come to such a place--but we didn't lost our fiat in God and sure, he helped us wonderful. Anyway the People and good neighbors tried to make it as pleasant as they could, and to my good friend Mr. J. W. D. we have to be thankful. He seen right off, and take us in Fall to St. Paul, made a home for us there."^[3]

Move to St. Paul

The Peyer family was first listed in the Saint Paul City Directory of 1873 though they may have arrived earlier. They were listed under the name Beyer, operating a boarding house at 15 St. Peter Street, on the corner of Fourth Street. The household included five men and five women, including Amalia and her three daughters.^[4] It was one of 57 boarding houses in the city that year.

Amalia ran a boarding house for several years,^[5] until 1882-83, although the address seemed to change frequently. Amalia and her daughter Hattie were involved in social events in the German community in St. Paul. In September 1880, they are listed in the St. Paul Daily Globe among the guests at a large wedding at the Athenaeum, a building designed for German lectures and cultural events. ^[6]

Amalia took care of her granddaughter Nora Theviot for one year from 1883-July 1884 while her daughter Bertha recovered from the loss of her two sons during a diphtheria epidemic. By 1886, she appears to have given up her boarding house and herself was boarding on Goodhue Street in St. Paul.^[7]

Death

Amalia died at age 60 of diabetes in St. Paul on Nov. 28, 1889^[8] at the home of her youngest daughter, Amalia Marden, in the Hotel Barieau at the corner of Ninth St. and Smith Ave. The funeral was held the following day at Assumption Church in St. Paul. She was buried at Calvary Cemetery on Front Ave. in St. Paul Her gravesite is on record--section 22, block 1, Lot 3, grave 3--though the stone has disappeared or disintegrated.^{[9] [10]}

Research Notes

There is a census record for the Peyer family in St. Paul in 1875^[11], but it is marred by the difficulty seeing separate household in the copy on Family Search (and by the mixup in mother and daughter names.) It is not clear Amalie is running a boarding house at this time.

Sources

1. ↑ Amalia Pichler Birth Record
2. ↑ Naturalization Record Date: 7 Sept 1877 p. 315, Ramsey Co., Minnesota
3. ↑ Letter from Bertha Theviot to her granddaughter.
4. ↑ St Paul, Minnesota, City Directory, 1873, p. 49.
5. ↑ "United States Census, 1880," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MZ92-6RM : accessed 3 January 2016), Amelia Peyer, St Paul, Ramsey, Minnesota, United States; citing enumeration district ED 221, sheet 420B, NARA microfilm publication T9 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.), roll 0631; FHL microfilm 1,254,631.
6. ↑ "Wedding Bells," St. Paul Daily Globe, September 6, 1880, p. 1, col. 6.
7. ↑ St Paul, Minnesota, City Directory, 1886, p. 830.
8. ↑ "Minnesota Death Records, 1866-1916," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XP66-Y4H : accessed 3 January 2016), M... Amelia Peyer, 27 Nov 1889; citing Saint Paul, Ramsey, Minnesota, , Public Health Center, St. Paul; FHL microfilm 1,309,221.
9. ↑ Ramsey County Death Records, June 1, 2001, St. Paul, Minnesota
10. ↑ St. Paul Daily Globe Place: St. Paul, MN Date: 29 Nov 1889, p. 8, Online: Library of Congress--Chronicling America
11. ↑ "Minnesota State Census, 1875," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MKNP-V7R : 30 July 2017), Emelie Reyer in household of Joseph Neall, St Paul City, Ward 03, Ramsey, Minnesota; citing p. 428, line 24, volume Ramsey County, State Library and Records Service, St.Paul; FHL microfilm 0565726.