Catharina (Storch) Boerner’s Birthday

My great grandmother, Catharina Storch was born on this day, 12 January 1871 in Gaulsheim, Germany. She was the daughter of Jacobus and Sybilae “Sybil” (Wilhelm) Storch, also of Gaulsheim. Four days later, on 16 January 1871, Catharina was baptized at the Roemish-Katholische Church in Gaulsheim.

According to the 1900 U.S. Census, Catharina married Martin Boerner in about 1888. Their firstborn son, John, was born the next year, in 1889, followed by Jacob in 1891. Son Karl was born in 1894. Martin immigrated to the United States first in 1897 and got established in Niagara, WI before sending for Catharina and their three sons a year and a half later. Karl died when they arrived in the USA but the older two boys joined their parents in Niagara, Wisconsin.

Katharina and Martin had four more children in Niagara: Mary, Martin, Margret, and Anna (my grandmother). Tragically, Katharina died at the young age of 45 when she was in surgery for appendicitis. The surgeon’s scalpel slipped and sliced her liver; she bled to death on the operating table. Anna was 6 years old when her mother died, Catherine was 10, Martin was 12, and Mary was 17. Martin, Sr. never remarried and got help raising the younger children from the older siblings and his daughter-in-law, Hildegard.