Way back at the beginning of this year, I bought a few old photos from eBay, only ones that I really liked and hopefully could identify and this beauty was one of them.

I just love everything about it, most especially Mamma in her finery sitting in the back.

Great information on the back! “Mamma, Victoria, Alfred Roessler, Autumn 1910. Greenoak Villa, Wimbledon (Surrey)” So I started a family tree on Ancestry.

An important extra bit of information was printed on the back, someone in the family must have had their own address stamp and we can see this is 150 Hartfield Road or is it?

The F P Roessler I believe is Ferdinand Paproth Roessler a son of Mamma and a brother of Victoria and Alfred.

Looking on Google Street I found 150 Hatfield Road. How wonderful to find the house is still there, 114 years later, it’s changed a little bit but is still recognisable.

Mamma is Louisa Charlotte Caroline Paproth, she was born 25 Nov 1849 in Spandau, Brandenburg, Germany to parents Carl Gottlieb Theodore Paproth 1821-1882 and Marie Charlotte Friedricke Baer 1815-1878. She had 2 sisters Aurora Charlotte Hermine Friedricke Paproth b1847 and Caroline Herrmine Martha Paproth 1850-1851.

She married Amandus Ferdinand Roessler 16 Jun 1872 in Spandau, Brandenburg, Germany.

Amandus Ferdinand Roessler was born on 14 March 1845 in Le Havre, France, to parents Amandus Ehregott Roessler, a Tailor 1818-bef 1891 and Rebecca Mary Provost 1821-Aft 1891. He died on 7 August 1913 in Wimbledon, Surrey, at the age of 68. More about Amandus Ferdinand later in the blog. Caroline died on 20 July 1929 at the age of 79.

This is Amandus Ferdinand‘s baptism record great find on Ancestry.

Amandus and Caroline‘s family, the couple had nine children.

The eldest son and the only one of the children to emigrate from England was Amandus Charles Roessler. From the records: On 23 Mar 1901, he married Lilly Amelia Batson at Saint Andrew, Garratt Lane, Earlsfield, Wandsworth, England. Their eldest child a daughter was born in New York, America in 1903, so as the later 3 children were born in England before 1912, so maybe they stayed a while and then later decided to emigrate after coming back to England, he very likely went with the company he worked for as an engineer. This patent record I also found in the records.

Patent Date: 6 May 1908
Patent Country: Austria
Publication Date: 10 Mar 1910
Publication Number: AT41256B
Patent Description: Kreiselgebläse/Centrifugal blower.

The family emigrated in 1912 to America and they took Lilly’s 86-year-old mother with them. Immigration: Year 1912. Naturalization: Naturalized Able to Speak English: Yes. Occupation: Hydraulic Engineer, Industry Pump Co, Class of Worker: Wage or salary worker. Employment: Yes.

Amandus Charles Roessler. Age 45. Birth Date: 1873. Birth Place: Great Britain. Naturalization Date: 1918 Naturalization Place: Mineola, Cuyahoga, Ohio, United States. Occupation: Engineer, Industry Gas Company. Employment: Field Wage or Salary. Home Owned or Rented: Rented. Naturalization: Status Naturalized.

Lilly his wife died in 1931 in America and Amandus died 16 Dec 1939, in Ohio, America.

Victoria Fredrika. Seated in the front of the car with her brother remained single all her life and in fact, I was surprised to see that she and her sister Mary Charlotte, who also remained single, continued to live in the family until their deaths in 1969.

William Alfred, obviously known in the family as Alfred married late in life on 30 July 1921 at age 39 to Winifred Sparks, age 29, the girl next door! Nice to see Mamma was a witness. He still lived at home before his marriage, then moved to 129 Hatfield Road, so not far away and in the 1939 register his occupation was a Motor Electrician Engineer Proprietor of Engineering Works. Also in the right-hand column “seeking work of national importance”

Alfred died in 1940, and his wife Winifred died in 1979, she had remarried to Frederick J Hillman in 1958.

I often google people I’m researching as probably many of you do, family historians especially and often find little snippets of information and sometimes much much more than I expected and this was one such case. I decided to google the father and husband of Mamma, Amandus Ferdinand Roessler and I was so surprised at one of the results. It was in French so ‘Translate this page’ from the digital heritage of Le Havre, France. They have several volumes in their collections of the personal diaries of Amandus started when he was 14, plus some great family history that I’ve been able to add to my family tree of the Roesslers. “the notebooks of the young Amandus Roessler who, from 1859 to 1867, recounted his daily life and his historical walks in the city of Le Havre and its surroundings, thus making his notebooks a valuable source of information“.

Here’s the link to all the information on the Le Havre digital heritage website: Le Havre Digital Heritage. Amandus Roessler.

A little more from the notebooks here detailing two walks he made: Patrimoinesa. Two walks of Amandus Roessler.

I’m just sharing Walk 1- Friday, August 19, 1859   (three weeks before the inauguration of the chapel!)

“We then went to Notre-Dame des Flots by taking the same path as the day before. Gustave had a piece of candle on him… our plan was to explore the underground passages of the chapel. We entered the chapel, and in order not to be seen, we lit our candle at the top of the mysterious staircase… … As we went deeper underground, we breathed in a nauseating odor. The candle gave off only a reddish glow that barely allowed us to see 2 steps in front of us. The corridor suddenly turned left and we entered a very high cellar, longer than it was wide. The underground passage was lit by a very thick glass pane, placed in the middle of the slabs that were used to pave the church…

We went to sit on the grass and took notes so as not to forget anything…
In front of the chapel, there was still a scaffolding where workers were climbing. A beam fell down and fell over the head of a worker who only had time to escape and who, the danger averted, cried out: “She shaved my back!” Then we went to see the presbytery which is located very close to the chapel and we saw a man sculpting the statue of Our Lady of the Waves who, on her left arm, carried the child Jesus, who held a boat in his hands.

Roessler’s description is quite accurate. There is a staircase in the left turret that goes down to the crypt (where Abbé Duval Pirou will be buried a few years later).

What amazing treasures to have for future generations.

Here’s the small family tree on Ancestry: Roessler Family Tree on Ancestry

If you are a descendant of this Roessler family, please get in touch either as a comment on this blog or via my email lynnswaffles@gmail.com

Till next time then……