Age on
Footnotes     Child                Page   Date           Passenger List
A             [nun-young]
P, A          Peter                                              19
TR, T, P, A   Katherina[Katchen/Kat] 189   February 24, 1876     18
TR, T, D      Carl [Charles]         221   July 20, 1876
TR, S         Unreadable             231
P, A, M, S    Carl [Charles J.]                                  15
TR, S         Joseph Georg           236
TR, S         Clara                  243
TR, P, A, S   Henr Jos               250                         11
TR, S         Marg [Margarita?]      259
P, A          Wilhelm [William]                                   7
TR, S         Unreadable             267
TR,P,A,G,S    Georg [George F.]      281                          3

MAGDALENA HERBSTREIT was born about 1848 (She was 45 in February 1893 according to the Werkendam passenger manifest ^i.2) Magda is the nickname for Magdalena and Madeline appears to be the English equivalent. Her children's baptismal records^d.5 indicate her name as Magdalena, the passenger list shows her as Magda, and there are mentions of her in the United States as Madeline.^d.7,d.14

The 1900 NY census indicated her birthplace was Austria.^j.2 However, the later 1920 CT census^j.7 for both sons Henry J. and Charles indicates that their mother was German born. Charles' death certificate issued much later in 1959 indicates his mother, Madeline Herbstruth, was Germany born, city or town unknown.^d.7 The German Baptismal records for her children, however, indicate her maiden name was Herbstreit. ^d.5 Son William's death Certificate indicated his mother, Madeline Herbstreuth was Germany born and son Peter's death certificate indicated she was Madaline Hebstreht born in Germany.

Magda's marriage to Ulrich Gebert probably took place in the early 1870's as their third-born child, Katharina, was born legitimate in Offenbach, Hessen, Germany, on February 24, 1875 and baptised on March 7, 1875.
An 1897 Brooklyn city directory^g.24 shows: 

Magdaline, wid. Ulrich, h 170 Met av
Gebert, Peter, lab. h 170 Met av

and an 1899 Brooklyn city directory^g.25 shows: 

Gebhardt Lena, wid. h 342 Met av

A line-by-line 1900 census search of the neighborhood that the Geberts lived in 1897 and 1899 produced a family record with Emma Gabler/Gablet listed as the head. It said that she was a widow, born in August 1847 in Germany where both her parents were born, too. The census indicated that she had 11 children of which only six survived which coincides with the number of children that traveled with her to America in 1893. She could read, write, and speak English and rented their home.^j.10

An article that appeared in the Danbury News Times [see above right] indicated that she died on December 16, 1915 in New York. Her funeral was to be held on the 17th in New York City. However, a search of the city death index^c.4 for that year did not show her. New York City's indexes are rife with errors, so a search of all five boroughs' numerical order death certificates for that period was made with still no luck in finding her.

Tom Furlong was able to locate grave site information from Holy Trinity Cemetery's office [on the Brooklyn/Queens border] for a Gebert who was buried on 12/19/1915. That record showed that in Block 80, Row 9, Grave 14 three people were buried:

Helen Gebhardt buried 12/19/1915 [same time as Magdalena Gebert]

Peter Gobert buried 4/13/1917 [Son Peter died on 4/10/1917 and was buried in Holy Trinity Cemetery on 4/13/1917 per his death certificate.]

William Gebert buried 7/17/1933 [Son Wilhelm/William died 7/13/33 and was buried in Most Holy Trinity Cemetery on 7/17/1933 per his death certificate.]

This burial record and substantiating death certificates give credence to the Danbury News Times article about her death. Unfortunately, a personal visit to the gravesite showed no marker on that grave. [Yes, I triple-checked it and had the gravetender verify the location, too!]

The answer to why there was no death record in any of New York City's boroughs for Magda was finally resolved by Jeanne Gebert, Magda's grandson's widow. Jeanne remembered a story her father-in-law and Magda's youngest son, George Gebert, told her. It seemed that Magda had been living with her daughter Katcha and Katcha's husband, Phillip Strub, when she started giving away all their belongings to people in the neighborhood. Phillip decided to put Magda in the state mental hospital in Kings Park on Long Island where she later died. Jeanne remembered that George never really forgave Phillip for that.

One letter I wrote to Kings Park State Hospital was returned undeliverable and another one I wrote to Pilgrim State Hospital where the Kings Park records are now kept was never acknowledged. A telephone call to them by Tom Furlong went nowhere. Contacting the Smithtown and Huntington town clerks were no more productive. This issue is now temporarily a brick wall.

Jeanne also told me how George described his mother doing housework. She'd pour herself some beer and then dunk bread in it as she went about her work.

Another recollection of Jeanne's is the time George told her of watching his mother open a letter from Germany and her anguish in reading about her daughter's death. This daughter had become a nun and apparently stayed behind in Germany. Jeanne thinks that the nun died of pneumonia. Magda greived mightily for this daughter who may have been her eldest child or Clara.

Jeanne also recalled that Magda's sons had to give their entire pay envelopes to Ulrich who then gave back a small portion to each boy. The children continued to give money to her after Ulrich died but Jeanne has a foggy memory of George telling her his brother Peter would take some of that money from Magda for drinking.

Here's hoping Jeanne will have more memories of stories George told her some forty plus years ago about his childhood fifty years before that!

Emigration
The Geberts were found in Germans To America volume sixtythree^i.3 and the passenger manifests for both Ulrich's passage^i.1 and his family's later trip^i.2 were available on microfilm from the Family History Center.

Ulrich sailed 2nd class from Rotterdam in the Netherlands aboard the SS Obdam [pictured right] and landed in New York on October 21, 1892. He probably chose to emigrate via Rotterdam because he could have taken a boat from Offenbach down the Main river to the Rheine River which eventually met the Northern Sea at Rotterdam.

His stated destination was Brooklyn, NY. Normally, when immigrants came to America and didn't have a specific destination, they would indicate "US" or perhaps the port city, which in this case would have been New York City. In 1892, Brooklyn was a separate city and usually wasn't people's destination unless they had people or a job waiting for them there. In Ulrich's case, his going to Brooklyn to establish a factory for Bloch & Hirst fits that just right.

The ship's manifest also indicated that his passage was listed as 'permanent' and he carried two pieces of baggage.

There were no contradictions between Ulrich's passage information and his son Charles’ obituary indicating that the family immigrated to the United States about 1892^f.3 which also coincides with the Brooklyn Gebert's family lore that George Gebert who was born in 1889 had immigrated to the United States when he was an infant.^a.2 However, searches of the New York 1900 and 1920 census soundexes^j.1,j.4 [phonetical index] and Danbury CT city directories of the late 1890's and early 1900's^b.2 and the Danbury 1940 city directory found no mention of Ulrich. The Bridgeport/Fairfield city directories for 1929 and 1941 didn't mention him either.^g.1-18

A search of the National Archives Naturalization soundex for New York, Connecticut and New Jersey also did not indicate any naturalization petitions for Ulrich or a Richard Gebert.^h.1-3 He may have arrived according to the ship's record, but the only evidence of his living in Brooklyn is a listing for his widow and his death certificate. On the other hand, there is plenty of evidence that his family arrived as his sons Carl, Heinrich, and George all married and fathered children and Magda died in New York.

The same Germans To America^i.3 volume showed Magda and the children sailed on the SS Werkendam as second class passengers making a prolonged journey from Rotterdam to Brooklyn, NY. For Magda, Katchen, Carl, Heinrich, Wilhelm, and Georg there were only five pieces of baggage.

Peter, whose occupation was laborer, was listed next but no luggage was indicated. His out-of-age-order listing may have been due to qualifying as an adult and having to pay separate passage. Magda and the children were all listed as German citizens.

Ulrich left behind in Germany a sister Clara.