Jean and Anna

RISD Museum. Gustave Le Gray, c. 1856-1857. Ships leaving Le Havre.

It looks like there may have been another brother of Francois Antoine Halter who arrived in New Orleans. Jean (or John) Halter arrived on the ship Ariel with his wife Anna on 29 April 1857. Jean Halter and Anna (or Marie Anna) Hess were from Alsace, France, and their ship departed from the port of Le Havre. They appear on the ship manifest submitted by the Captain to US Customs on arrival in 1857.

Source: Ancestry. Ship manifest of the Ariel, 29 Apr 1857.

That must have been quite the journey, leaving their homeland for opportunities in America.

Jean and Anna had one son, Edward Peter Halter about 1859, and a daughter, Josephine, on 19 August 1865. While I have not yet been able to find the family in the 1860 or 1870 US Census, I did find them in 1880.

Source: Ancestry. 1880 US Census, New Orleans.

In later records and news articles, Jean appears as John Halter. This is where it can get confusing, as Francois' son was also named John Halter, but born in 1846. In 1869, Jean was a witness on the death certificate for Jean Brecher (who had died in 1861 in New Orleans):

Source: Ancestry. 7 April 1869.

Edward appears in the New Orleans City Directory as a hostler with the New Orleans City and Lake Rail Road (1886 City Directory as an example). This meant he was an engineer responsible for moving the rail cars in and out of service facilities. The NOCLRR operated a street car line in the city. Jean may have also worked for the railroad, as seen in the City Directory entry for 1890 below.

Street cars in New Orleans, between 1883-1887.

Source: Ancestry. 1890 City Directory for New Orleans.

Anna died on 7 May 1892. The Times-Picayune newspaper ran an announcement on her death, and it provides some key information on her age and place of birth in Alsace.

Times-Picayune, 15 May 1892.

Edward died on 2 December 1899. Josephine lived with her father Jean (now John in the 1900 US Census), working as a seamstress. It is interesting to see Jean's homeland listed as Germany, which at the time Alsace was part of Germany instead of France.

Source: Ancestry. 1900 US Census.

Josephine married Peter Schmidt on 3 July 1901.

Jean Halter died on 10 February 1905 in New Orleans. A death announcement in the New Orleans Times-Democrat provides some important clues about his residence and other members of the family. His last address, 4559 North Rampart Street, is near the Mississippi River in the Lower Ninth Ward.

Times-Democrat. 11 Feb 1905.

Josephine inherited the house owned Jean, and appears as a widow living in the house in the 1930 US Census.

The death notice for Jean pointed me in the direction of another daughter of Jean and Anna, Mary Halter. She was born in New Orleans in September 1862. Mary wed Louis Reynolds in February 1880, which is why she doesn't appear with the family in the 1880 US Census. Mary and Louis were living next door to Jean and Josephine in the 1900 US Census. She died sometime before 1910.

There's a few more things to share on the Halter family in New Orleans before I move another family in the city, and that will wait for the next post.