Hannah and James Kiester

Hannah and James were married about 1884, and had three children: Albert Charles born June 2nd of 1885, Anna Mae born December 14, 1891, and Lillian, born in January of 1895. James Kiester left the family shortly after Lillian's birth, and I know little of him except that he is said to have worked in the Fehrmann Brewery, though I've not found evidence of such a brewery. Hannah took in washing and sewed to support her children.

Hannah was the daughter of Karl Kuster and Christina Reuter. Karl died on August 7, 1862, when Hannah was about 18 months old. Besides Hannah, they had Sophia (I don't know when she was born), Louisa, born in 1851, and Charlotte in 1859. In 1863, Christina Kuster married Louis Fehrmann, himself a widower with four children. Louis Fehrmann died on May 2nd in 1877. He was born in Germany in 1821, and arrived in this country about 1849. At his death, he was a grocer on Ludlow Avenue in Cincinnati. His will is interesting:

Mary, William, and Charles were the children of Louis and Christina Reuter, the second marriage for both. Henry, Louis, Anna, and John were the children of Louis and his first wife Caroline Gerding. Louisa, Sophia, Charlotte, and Johanna [our Hannah] were the children of Karl Kuster and Christina Reuter. Louisa married Max Jacobs in 1872, and Charlotte married Joseph Eiselein in 1870.

Hannah Kiester is listed in the 1884 Cincinnati City Directory as living at Joseph Eiselein's; in 1888 and 1889 she's listed as being at Marcus Jakobs. In 1890, she's living on Dodsworth Avenue, and is a seamstress. By 1897, she appears as Mrs Hannah Kiester, suggesting she was now widowed.

Hannah is buried at Vine Street Cemetery next to her mother, passing away on 27 April, 1940 in Norwood.

That's the quick version of the story. For more information on Louis Fehrmann's family, you can click here. To see some of the records that I've found you can view these images:

 

Louis Fehrmann's will, an excerpt which I've paraphased above. (It is about 134K)

Christina {Reuter} Fehrmann's will (about 180K large)

Karl Kuster's death, recorded at Salem United Church of Christ (about 110K)

Maria Johanna Kuster's (Hannah) baptism at Salem United (about 230K)

Christina Fehrmann's death from the church record (about 70K)

Louis Fehrmann's cemetery plot at Vine Street Cemetery (about 200K)

 

Click here to send me an email.

Copyright 1999-2005 Martin E. Cassidy