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| Notes for Christian F. Elsasser | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Entry Date: May 1997 Source: Ruth Brodbeck Finlayson Handwritten notes on a back of an Elsasser reunion photograph read, "Chris Elsasser came to Omaha in 1879 from Vaikengen, Wurtemberg, Germany. Source: Diane Elsasser Snider Christian Elsasser's death certificate has a middle initial of G. The plot marker at Laurel Hill Cemetery has a middle initial of F. (The plot markers are separate from the grave markers, and were set at the time the lots were purchased as means to mark ownership.) There are plot markers for both Christian and his oldest son William. The plot markers contain the first and middle initials and the last name of Elsasser. The Laurel burial records indicate that Christian purchased the plots, and likely ordered the plot marker. Because of this, I'm going to assume the plot marker has Christian's true middle initial. Entry Date: April 1997 Source: Oral Family History Collected by Alister Finlayson Th "Leavenworth Street Bakery" is first noted in Wolfe's Omaha City Directory in 1883. Situated at 709 Leavenworth, it was under the proprietorship of C. (Christian) F. Elsasser and Son (Jacob). This bakery survived only three or four years, since by 1887 it is not listed. However, a Jacob Knauber boarded at 709 Leavenworth and in 1886 was baker there. He was a brother of Susanna Knauber who appears again a little further along in this story. In 1887 the Elsasser Bakery is located at 2014 So. 19th Street with William L. Elsasser as proprietor. About 1899 the bakery moved to 2416 So. 19th Street. With the assistance of a loan from Fred Armbrust (father of Hazel and Dr. Walter Armburst and friend of William L. Elsasser) because of his faith in the Elsasser Bakery, a second move occurred in 1904 when the William L. Elsasser Bakery opened in a frame structure at 1802 Vinton Street previously occupied by and builty for another bakery. William L. had married Susanna Knauber in 1886 and after his death on July 27, 1914, she continued to operate the bakery with two sons William J. and Carl L. until her death on September 19, 1925. A new brick edifice for the bakery had been constructed by Fred Custer as contractor in 1922, and was subsequently under the proprietorship of the two brothers. In later years the speciality was Vienna or German Rye bread. Although the bakery had a good reputation and the products were well accepted, there has been some question about the business capability of the later proprietors. (As the granddaughter of Carl L. Elsasser, I would like to point out that the Depression ended a number of businesses, and no amount of management expertise could have saved them.) It is said that William L. Elsasser knew exactly how many loaves of bread he could get from a box car of flour and how much profit there would be. The last listing of the Elsasser Bakery at 1802 Vinton is in the 1931 City Directory. By 1932, William J. was working for Iten Biscuit Company and Carl was listed as a baker residing at 1454 So. 18th Street. The earlier bakeries used cord wood for fuel. The ovens were so constructed that the heat came from both sides. Bread was slid in and out on peels (flat wooden boards). William L. was originally only a baker of bread, but as time went on, five people were employed, two of whom were cake bakers who baked during the night. Two bread bakers (William L. and son William J.) and one girl clerk (either Alma or Hermine Elsasser) completed the staff. (Carl L. was listed in some of the material I reviewed as a driver.) Flour was purchased by the half box car load and was stored west of the building. Living quarters comprised three bedrooms to the west, a large kitchen, and a parlor too close to the oven area to ever use. The boys slept somewhere behind the store area. Entry Date: December 1996 Source: Papillion Times Obituary February 27, 1912 Christian F. Elsasser's obituary states that he was born in Stuttgart, a city in the Wurttemberg area. Stuttgart is west of the Rhine River, and south of Heidelberg. Entry Date: December 1996 Source: Oral Family History Collected by Alister Finlayson Family tradition states that he was born in Wurttemburg, the son of Gottlieb Elsasser. He had two brothers, Peter E. and Gottlieb Friedrich, and one sister Christobus (Christine). He married Jacobina Wacker (1828-1899), said to be part of the Wacker family for whom Wacker Drive in Chicago is named. The three brothers were desirous of coming to the United States and they ultimately reached Omah, bringing their wives, their children born in Germany, and their sister with them. Traditionally, this emigration occurred about 1866, but the first mention of the Elsasser family in Wolfe's Omaha City Directory occurs in 1876. Several in the family had apparently learned the trade of baking in the small bakery operated by Gottlieb Elsasser after the Napoleonic Wars. Of the marriage of Christian and Jacobina there were nine children: Carl Elsasser Katherine Elsasser Jacob Elsasser Emilie Elsasser Marie Elsasser William Ludwig Elsasser 1864-1914 Christian Elsasser Herman Elsasser Anna Elsasser Together with the children of Peter E. and Gottlieb Friedrich they constituted the nucleus of the "Elsasser Family" later holding ber large annual reunions in various halls and parks (in Omaha, Nebraska). Some gleanings from Wolfe's Omaha City Directory of that period follow: Emily and Katherine (listed as Kate) were residing at the Green Tree House in 1880. The Green Tree House was operated by Mr. and Mrs. Thum at 313-315 South Tenth Street. Later Emilie Wacker Elsasser, the wife of G. F. Elsasser married Mr. Thum when his wife died. (My research indicates that G. F. Elsasser was the original proprietor of The Green Tree House. Ferdinand Thum only took over running the boardinghouse after G. F. Elsasser's death, and Emilie's married Ferdinand Thum. Peter E. Elsasser also ran his barber shop out of The Green Tree House.) Marie (listed as Mary) was in 1880 a waitress in the Vienna Coffee House in Omaha, while Carl and William were boarding at 614 South Eleventh Street, and Jacob at 181 Douglas Street. Christian also lived at 614 South Eleventh and from 1878 on is listed as a baker. By 1884, C. F. Elsasser and Son (Christian and Jacob) are shown as proprietors of the Leavenworth Street Bakery (709 Leavenworth Street). His son Christian was in 1880 working as a tobacco stripper for West and Fritscher, (manufacturers of cigars, dealers in cigars, cigarettes and pipes) at 1305 Douglas Street, and lived at 1014 Jackson Street. Fred Brommer, who married Christobus, also boarded at 614 South Eleventh and in the 1880's is listed as a laborer. A Christina Elsasser is listed as a servant at 608 North Twelfth Street in 1881. Since Christina is a name not occurring elsewhere in the Elsasser descendents, could she be the same person as Christobus, who is not otherwise accounted for? (My research indicates that the Christine referred to her is probably Peter E.'s unmarried daughter. Christobus (Christine) was probably already married to Fred Brommer when she emigrated from Germany. Her married status would have been a likely explanation to her ommission from the city directories.) At his death in 1912, Christian Elsasser was buried next to his wife, Jacobina, in Laurel Hill Cemetery, south of Omaha. He had outlived her by thirteen years. In his later years he was blind or nearly so, reputedly from glaucoma, which appears to be the source of this problem in ensuing generations. At the time he lived in a small house behind his daughter, Katherine Laible, and was helped by his granddaughter, Emilie Ella Elsasser (Brodbeck), herself a victim of glaucoma in her latter years. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Last Modified 2 Feb 2005 | Created 3 Feb 2005 using Reunion for Macintosh |
