Picked Up the Trail of George!

Imagine my surprise when I was contacted by Joseph Winterhalter II, great great grandson of George Orth! Joe has provided a well-researched account (and photos!) of descendants of George Orth and Anna Maria Wilhelm, many of whom still live in the Pittsburgh area.

George Orth born: 1838, Retschwiller, Alsace; died 1880, Pittsburgh, PA

George's wife: Anna Maria Wilhelm Orth
and grand daughter, Ruth Margaret Merkel

George's wife: Anna Maria Wilhem Orth
b: 1847 Baden, Hesse-Darmstadt, Germany
d: 1931 Pittsburgh, PA

Interesting to both of us is the fact that George's descendants have known nothing about George's brother Jacob (my great grandfather) and his family, nor has my family known anything about George and his descendants. This is despite the fact that they and their immediate families lived around the corner from each other on the South Side of Pittsburgh for— three decades!!  Jacob's family lived at 2306 Carson Street for over 35 years. George's family lived at 2323 Sarah Street for even longer.

What family feud, unforgivable act, or deep betrayal could have taken place to make this happen?

One possibility: George Orth and Anna Maria Wilhelm were married 14, Jun 1868, at St. Michael's Church in Pittsburgh, PA.  The parish was founded in 1848 as the first Roman Catholic parish in Pittsburgh south of the Mon River. The current structure was finished in 1861. (Note: The Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh closed St. Michael's in 1992.)  Recall that George and Jacob were raised as Lutherans, their father had been a Lutheran minister, and three years before George was married, Jacob was married by a fiery and conservative Lutheran pastor. Could George's turn to Catholicism have been the reason for the ruptured relationship?

St. Michael's Church, South Side, Pittsburgh

Still No Sign of Magdalena, but Pay Dirt on Jacob and George

I've searched using a variety of strategies and sources, but still can find no trace of big sister Magdalena Orth, born 1829 (in Retschwiller), landed in New York from Le Havre on a ship named The Virginia—July 2, 1849. I searched marriage records in the USA (assuming that Magdalena most likely marries, and thinking that marriage records might be the one place where her maiden name would appear). I searched the death records. I searched US naturalization records (apparently only men became citizens). I searched every Magdalena (no matter what her last name) who came from France and is recorded on the 1860 US Federal Census (there are 21). I searched the ship's manifest, for names that coincided with this list, thinking that she might have married a fellow passenger, however the ship's manifest is an incredibly illegible document. I searched for any records I could find of each of those 21 Magdalenas, and was able to eliminate many—others simply yielded no clues.

Unproductive as my search for Magdalena was, it yielded the wonderful surprise of the petitions for naturalized citizenship filed by both Jacob Orth and George Orth—the brothers. Their petitions were each filed in the Western District of Pennsylvania—Pittsburgh. Jacob's was filed and granted on 5 April 1858—at the age of 21.  George's petition was filed and granted on 20 March 1860—also at the age of 21. (They both have beautiful, if shaky, penmanship.)

George fights in the Civil War

Brother George did not join Jacob in his search for gold. The Boucher account said that Georg served in the Civil War.  So, I searched through the U.S. Civil War Collection and found that George (yes, he added the "e" to the spelling of his name) fought as a Union soldier, at Lookout Mountain, Tennessee, under Captain Williams. He enlisted 5 Nov 1861 in Pittsburgh, PA at age 23 and was discharged 5 Nov 1864—reason listed was "expiration of service." He served as a corporal in the 19th Infantry C.

Imagine, a boy arriving in America at age 10.  Then a little more than 12 years later, at age 23, he enlists to fight on the side of the Union. George clearly felt a sense of allegiance and/or duty to his new country. One has to infer that his intelligence and/or leadership skills distinguished him enough to become a corporal. The different life choices of these two brothers might also point to tempermental differences between the two.

The Boucher account says that George subsequently died from the effects of a wound received while in the Civil War. But this does not occur for many years (sometime after 1880 and probably before 1890). More later about George's life after his service in the Civil War.

George was described as having gray eyes, brown hair, fair complexion and standing 5'7" tall. I saw his signature!

New Jersey to Pittsburgh

From the Boucher account, we know that at some point Georg and Jacob went to New Jersey where they learned the glass-blowing trade.  Presumably, they went to Southern New Jersey, where there was a very active glass-blowing industry, due to the geological presence of silica there. At this point, we don't know if they went to New Jersey directly from their landing in New York, why they chose New Jersey, where in New Jersey they lived, why they left, and when.

At some point both Georg and Jacob relocated from New Jersey to Pittsburgh, which like Southern New Jersey was also a main center of the glass industry. Evidence for this includes:

—The 1908 Boucher account says: "(Jacob) also (like his brother George) became very expert in this avocation (glass-blowing), and migrating to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, commenced work at his trade."

—In 1861, we have the record of Georg Orth's enlistment as a soldier for the union army in the Civil War from Pittsburgh. His occupation was listed as glass-blower and his residence at Pittsburgh, PA.

—Census records beginning in 1870 show both Jacob and Georg living in Pittsburgh.

By inference based on a mention in the Boucher account of Jacob departing from Pittsburgh to Colorado for a few years in 1859, the time in New Jersey presumably spanned a maximum of 9 years from 1849 (if they went there immediately after arriving from France in New York) to 1858 at the latest. And it may well have been less than these 9 years (Jacob aged 12-21; Georg aged 10-19).

And always there's the question of where's big sister Magdalena Orth? Given that Magdalena was aged 19-28 during this period, it is easy to imagine that she would have married and taken on a new (and unknown to us) last name, making her difficult to trace. I think the best possibility of finding her would be to systematically search census records in Southern Jersey communities. Inferring that young Jacob and Georg may well have lived with her, their presence would be the "tell."