I am going to return to a person who was a character in a previous post, Twins…..Only One Survives. I am revisiting this story for 2 main reasons. First, that post was written in 2016, the first year of this blog, and did not contain many details about today’s character. Second, today would be her 175th birthday. This woman was also briefly mentioned in another story that highlighted her parents, Trios of Twins and Spinsters.

Christiane Sarah Saalfeld was born on June 2, 1848, the daughter of Christian and Johanna Juliane (Kuehnert) Saalfeld. Sarah was not the only one born to that couple on that day. She was one of a set of twin girls. Her twin sister, Maria Rosine, only lived for 2 weeks. One amazing thing about this Saalfeld family is that there were 3 sets of twins born to Juliane. Only 2 of the 6 twin children lived to adulthood. The baptism record of Sarah and Maria is found in the books of Trinity Lutheran Church in Altenburg.

Sarah is found in the 1850 census at the age of 2. Her father was a farmer in the Brazeau Township.

I was unable to find the 1860 census for the Saalfeld family. Sarah would get married in the 1860’s, so let’s take a look at the man who would become her husband. His name was Friedrich Gotthilf Schuessler, who was born on February 24, 1845. Gotthilf was the son on Johann Michael and Johanne Rosina (Hoppe) Schuessler. Gotthilf was part of a very large Schuessler family. Our German Family Tree, which contains many pages of information for this family, lists Gotthilf as child #9 of 11 children. Gotthilf was baptized at Concordia Lutheran Church in Frohna. An image of his baptism record from that congregation’s books is displayed below.

Gotthilf is found in the 1850 census at the age of 6. His father had died in 1849, so he is not included in this entry.

In the 1860 census, Gotthilf was a teenager.

Gotthilf Schuessler married Sarah Saalfeld on August 7, 1867. This wedding took place at the time when Rev. J.F. Koestering was serving both Trinity in Altenburg and Concordia in Frohna. There is no church marriage record to be found in either church’s books. There is a Perry County record for this marriage, but the only place in which I found it was an index of those marriages that we have in our research library. If this wedding took place at Trinity, as I think it did, then it must have been one of the last marriages to take place in the 1845 church building. Trinity’s new church was dedicated on Reformation Day in 1867.

At some point early in her life, the photograph shown below was taken of Sarah.

Gotthilf and Sarah also had a large family. Our German Family Tree lists 11 children. The first 2 children were baptized at Concordia, Frohna, and the remaining ones were baptized at Trinity, Altenburg. When the 1870 census was taken, we see this Schuessler household with their first 2 children. Gotthilf was a farmer.

Next, we find the Schuessler’s in the 1880 census with 4 children.

Six more children were born after 1880. Interestingly, in 1887, Sarah gave birth to a set of twin boys. However, neither of those boys lived to adulthood. We are not able to view another census until 1900. In that year’s entry, right below the Schuessler’s, you will see Sarah’s mother and one of her single sisters, Magdalena.

In 1904, the Schuessler’s joined St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Wittenberg, which had been established in 1903. The above census turned out to be the last one in which we find Gotthilf. He died in early 1910 at the age of 65. He died from tuberculosis.

In the 1910 census, we find Sarah as a widow. In her household, you find the youngest of the Schuessler children, Reinhold, along with Sarah’s younger sister, Magdalena.

When the 1915 plat maps were produced, there is a parcel of land attributed to Sarah Schuessler. You can see its proximity to Wittenberg.

The last census in which we find Sarah is the one taken in 1920. Her son, Reinhold had married Lydia Lorenz, and Sarah was living with that young married couple. I think it is likely that Sarah was still living on the same property.

Sarah Schuessler died in 1929 at the age of 80. We can also view her death certificate.

If you look at both death certificates above, you will see that they say Gotthilf and Sarah were buried in the Wittenberg cemetery. That would have been the St. Paul’s Lutheran Cemetery. Findagrave.com lists both Gotthilf and Sarah, but there are no gravestone photos. I had some time this morning, so I went down to that cemetery to look for those gravestones. I was unsuccessful. I do know that there are no such markers in the places where they should have been buried. It is not the case of a tombstone that cannot be read. There are 6 grave sites listed on Findagrave.com that include the surname, Schuessler. All of them are connected to the family of Gotthilf and Sarah, who I call the Wittenberg Schuessler’s.

So, today we wish a special Happy 175th Birthday to Sarah. There may not be many Saalfeld descendants related to her, but there certainly should be plenty that come from the Schuessler side of her family.