Research and story by Joe Brotzler, an Old Salem Shrine Trustee
Leaving the village of Mittelfischach in the state of Württemberg, Germany in the spring of 1889, two sisters travelled to the Port of Bremen. There they took passage for America aboard the express steam-ship Fulda, operated by the Norddeutscher Lloyd Steamship Company. Rosina and Margarethe Leidig left behind their mother and father along with three brothers and two sisters.
They arrived in New York City on May 1st and shortly, thereafter, in Inver Grove Township where they became an integral part of the small congregation making up Salem Evangelical Church. Almost one year later on April 12, 1890, Barbara and Magdalene Leidig arrived in New York aboard the Aller, a sister ship to the Fulda. They soon joined their two sisters and the congregation of Salem Evangelical Kirche.
Rosina “Rosine/Rose” at age thirty-two was the oldest of the four sisters. She and her three brothers were from their father’s first marriage, while her three half-sisters were from their father’s second marriage. Rosine and Michael Haberoth, who had also come over on the Fulda, were married on May 1, 1889, the very day that they arrived in New York. Michael was twenty-nine years of age. The Salem EV meeting minutes show that Michael was the Church Server (custodian) for three different years in the 1890’s and then from 1900 through 1907, receiving an annual stipend of $14.00 most years; thereafter, due to financial limitations the work was parceled out to members on a monthly basis. Michael and Rosine had been married thirty-five years when Rosine died. Michael lived another fourteen years, passing away at the age of seventy-seven on September 30, 1938.
Margarethe “Margaret” Leidig was the second to the youngest of the four sisters. Margaret wed Jacob Brotzler on March 31, 1892 at Salem Evangelical Kirche. Jacob had arrived in New York on April 14, 1889, a mere two weeks before Margaret and Rosine landed. He came from Switzerland on the steam-ship Waesland, via the port city of Antwerp. When he landed at Ellis Island, Jacob’s last name was listed as “Rotzler”. However, “rotz” has a somewhat off-color slang connotation in the German language and family lore has it that Margaret would not marry Jacob until he changed his name. Hence, “Rotzler” became “Brotzler”. Margaret was twenty-four and Jacob was twenty-nine when they wed. After almost forty-seven years of marriage, Jacob died on March 1, 1939 at the age of seventy-six.
Barbara was the oldest of the three full-sisters. On November 17, 1892, two and a half years after arriving in America, Barbara married Matthais “Matthew” Engel at Salem Evangelical Kirche. Matthew, a widower, was a prominent member of Salem Kirche. His first wife, Bertha (Maier) Engel, had died three years earlier, at age forty-five, from injuries suffered in a horse and buggy accident. Matthew was fifty-seven and Barbara was twenty-six when they married. On May 2, 1901, eight and a half years later, Matthew passed away at the age of sixty-seven.
On May 25, 1905 Barbara married another widower and prominent member of Salem Evangelical Kirche, Christian Schmid. Christian had been a pallbearer for Matthew’s funeral. Christian’s first wife, Margarethe (Willmsen) had died a year earlier. Christian was sixty-three and Barbara was thirty-eight when they wed. After nineteen years of marriage, Christian died on March 31, 1924 at the age of eighty-two.
Magdalene “Lena” was the youngest of the Leidig sisters. She married Christof Ellinger on June 14, 1894 at Salem Evangelical Kirche. Lena was twenty-two and Christof was thirty. Christof served Salem Evangelical Kirche as a trustee from 1900 through 1907. The Ellingers had been married for almost thirty-three years when Magdalene passed away. Christof lived another twenty-eight years, passing away on March 11, 1955 at the age of ninety.
Why the Leidig sisters came to Salem Evangelical Kirche is not definitively known. A possible explanation could be the fact that Michael Haberoth was related to the Glassings, one of the founding families of Salem Evangelical Kirche. Regardless of why they came, the four sisters settled in the area of Salem Evangelical Kirche and raised their families.
