Josephine

 

Antoine Volkmar. Emigrants' Farewell. 1860.

The young girl in the boat at the center of the 1860 painting above titled Emigrants' Farewell strikes me as what young Josephine Haiss may have experienced preparing to cross the Atlantic at Le Havre, France in 1853. Josephine was a half-sister of Marianna and Sebastian Haiss, through their father's second wife Ursula Kraus. She appears on the ship manifest at the age of 14, arriving into New Orleans on 10 December 1853. She may have been traveling with an older cousin, Peter Henkel (age 32).

Ancestry. New Orleans Passenger Lists, 1853.

Josephine joined her older half-siblings in Kenton County, Kentucky, and in the 1860 US Census, she was working as a servant in the household of banker William Wood. She likely helped Wood's wife Emily with her 10 children in the house.

1860 US Census. Covington, Kentucky.

Sometime between 1860 and 1862, Josephine married August Schuler, a fellow German immigrant and butcher, just like her brother Sebastian. They appear in the 1870 US Census in Covington, living in a working class neighborhood of butchers, shoemakers, brewers and blacksmiths. By 1870, the family had five children, and another four would arrive to be listed in the 1880 US Census.

1870 US Census. Covington, Kentucky.

The family relocated to Elizabeth, New Jersey in time for the 1880 US Census. August is shown working as a butcher, while two of Josephine's sons, Norbert and Charles (ages 15 and 14), were working at the Singer Sewing Machine factory. The historic building recently burned in a fire in January 2024.

1880 US Census. Elizabeth, Union, New Jersey.

NJ.com. Postcard dated 1909.

Josephine died in Elizabeth, New Jersey in August 1896, her husband followed a year later. My Dad's DNA matches are through Josephine's son Sebastian. He died in New Jersey in 1934, a retired policeman who appears to have served on the Elizabeth Police Department for many years.

Here's one last drawing recalling a possible scene from Josephine's life, titled Interior of a Butcher Shop by Léon Augustin Lhermitte.

Lhermitte. Interior of a Butcher Shop, 1881.