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.)

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."