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Frederich August Berghandler was born in Germany 27 June 1845.
He emmigrated first to America ca. 1881, finding a home for his family
in Pittsburgh, PA.
On 31 May 1882, the S.S. Hermann docked in Baltimore Md, from Hamburg,
Germany, bringing his wife Bertha and their children Otto 11, Bruno
4, and Martha 6 mos. to their new home. No further trace
can be found of Martha, so perhaps she did not survive infancy.
In 1896 Bertha was stricken and died from typhoid, and a year later
August married Mrs. Louisa Biernath Kerschner, a widow. Interviews
with family members indicate that this second marriage for August caused
a rift between father and children that was never healed.
On 5 Nov. 1911 August Berghandler died in Pittsburgh. His will was filed
with the probate courst in that city and stipulates that his estate is
to be divided six ways - one part for his widow and five parts for his
five children. Unfortunately when listing the heirs by name, the court
records only list Louisa his widow, and sons Otto and Bruno. Records
did not list his daughters by name, and so it is still difficult to determine
if they were daughters or step-daughters.
When his father remarried, son Bruno left home and did not return.
Only six days after his mother's funeral, he left home to work on various
boats that hauled produce and cattle up and down the Ohio River, also traveling
through Eastern Pennsylvania and New York on freight trains, getting work
where he could, and seeing the country. On his 21st birthday he enlisted
in the Army, and was stations in the Phillipines after the Spanish-American
War, during the Phillipine Insurrection.
After his discharge, he again began traveling, stopping in Wisconsin
to visit relatives. There he met and eventually married his first
cousin, Augusta Emma Keilberg.
In the 1930's Bruno traveled to Pittsburgh to re-establish contact with
his siblings and cousins. By the time he had retired, in 1950, he
made a second trip, searching for his sister's daughter Anna, who used
to work in a department store, and whom he had located in his earlier trip.
Upon returning to Fond du Lac WI from this fruitless search, Bruno suffered
a heart attack and died.
This record is an attempt to continue Bruno's search for his family.
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