Mary Rohrs Elling

Mary Rohrs Elling and her immigration record

My great-grandmother, Mary (Marie, Maria) Rohrs Elling, the daughter of Wilhelm Rohrs and Catherine Kirchoff, was born on December 9, 1862, in Germany. I do not know the village of her birth at this point. According to her daughter, Minnie, her mother talked about life in Germany and her departure from Bremen to America alone when she was thirteen. Mary spoke of dancing on the boat as the steamer crossed the ocean. Mary was an only child, according to Minnie, and her first job in America was as a housekeeper for the Demaline family.

Finding Mary's immigration record was complicated by the fact that Mary, or whoever talked to the census enumerator, reported several different dates on the census records. In the 1900 census, Mary's immigration date was given as 1868 which didn't fit Minnie's story of her mother coming to America at age 13. In 1868, Mary would have been 6 years old. In 1920, the immigration question was asked again and Mary or someone in the family reported 1875 as the immigration date. That seemed much more likely!

I found the only immigration record for a Mary Rohrs that fits all the criteria and that was in September of 1876. She was 13 (her birthday was in Dec.) and she departed from the port of Bremen, Germany, on the ship, the Rhein, arriving in New York City on September 23, 1876, having traveled in steerage to the U.S. Steerage was the cheapest passenger accommodations, usually at the bottom of the ship and near the rudder. She probably traveled with someone or a family, but it is really not possible to tell who from the ship's list. Her name on the ship's list above is #4, indicated by the arrow.

I could find no Demaline family in Henry County by the 1880 census, but I did find a seventeen year old Mary Rohrs working as a servant for the Charles and Mary Cochran family who lived on Superior Street in Toledo. Dr. Cochran was a retired physician. It is likely that she worked as a domestic until her marriage.

Mary was 21 years old when she married the 31 year old Fritz Elling. They lived many years in Freedom Township, Henry County, and were members of the St. Paul Lutheran Church, Napoleon Township, during this time. Later they moved to a farm near Deshler and Westhope and finally to a farm about four miles north of Liberty Center and then east for a short distance into Fulton County. After Fritz's death, Mary sold the farm and lived around with her children.

Mary Rohrs Elling died on March 8, 1947, the immediate cause of death being pulmonary edema due to mitral stenosis. She was apparently living at the home of Henry Elling at the time of her death as that is the place of death and he reported for the death certificate.

Her obituary appeared in a March 1947 edition of the Northwest Signal:

" MRS. MARY ELLING DIES

Mrs. Mary Elling, age 84, passed away at Holgate at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday, March 8th, following a heart ailment. Her body was removed to the A. F. Wesche and Son Funeral Home.

She leaves five sons, four daughters, 50 grandchildren and 47 great-grandchildren.

Funeral services, conducted by Rev. John Melchert, were held on Tuesday, March 11th, 1:30 p.m., at the Henry Elling residence in Holgate and 2:00 p.m. at St. John's Lutheran Church in Holgate. Interment was made in St. Luke's cemetery in Clinton township."

This post originally appeared on a previous blog, Elling Family News, on March 8, 2009.