Maisch Family History

Siegfried Hypolytus "Frederick" Maisch was born a twin  in 1869 Unterelsbach, Unterfranken, Bayern, Germany; his brother Leo Cassian Maisch never came to the United States.   He was the son of a wood cutter, Johann Martin Maisch and Anna Maria Hochgesang. The Maisches were Roman Catholic, Fred and his brother were baptized in Wurzburg.  His baptismal certificate states that he and his brother were the 5th and 6th children in his family.

Fred departed Bremen, Germany and came to the United States on October 19, 1894 on the ship "Aller" and landed on Ellis Island where his name now appears on the "Wall of Honor". He is listed as a single laborer and appears to be traveling alone.  Fred took up residence at  540 W. 47th Street in Manhattan and married a German girl named Frederika Eberlein on 26 Sep 1897.  They had two children: Leo Frederick Maisch born September 23, 1898 and Elizabeth born about January 1900. By 1900, they lived at 697 10th Avenue, Manhattan;  Fred was a coal and ice dealer, selling coal in the winter and ice in summer; he drove a horse-drawn wagon.

Fred's elder brother Joseph Liborius Maisch immigrated several years before to New York in 1888.  He lived at 519 W. 47th Street.  He was also a coal and ice dealer.

There is a bit of a gap in information after 1900, we must assume the Fredericka, his wife, and both children died before approximately 1909.  Many influenzas passed through New York City and in cold water flat apartments without affordable healthcare, many people died. 

By 1910, Fred has moved to Long Island and taken a position as a gardener for the Michael Lapp family in Rockville Centre.  Also working for the Lapp family, was a young German girl by the name of Anna Kohlhaupt.  Fred and Anna were married and had their first daughter, Dorothy on March 5, 1911.  A son, George Maisch, followed on August 4, 1914.  Fred then worked as a night watchman on the Long Island Railroad.  He and Anna moved in with their daughter, Dorothy and her husband, Robert H. Stirrat.  Fred passed away on February 24, 1948 in Baldwin, New York; he is buried in the Resurrection Section of Pine Lawn Cemetery, Long Island, New York. 

After studying the addresses of the Maisch and Stirrat families is very coincidental that Dorothy Maisch's father, Fred Maisch lived only ONE block from the Robert Stirrat family, although neither Dorothy nor Bob Stirrat had been born yet.  Fred Maisch lived at 540 W. 47th Street and the Stirrats lived at 534 W. 46th Street.

Our grandmother tells us that her father loved horses all his life and would go and care for the Lipizzan horses near his home.  Later Fred got his dream and would accept an unwanted Thoroughbred horse named Kitty as a backyard pet.

Another interesting fact is that Fred Maisch’s parents had a penchant for old Latin middle names such as Hypolytus, Cassian and Liborius.  Some of these were Saints.

Much of the German information I have on Fred Maisch came from a relative in Germany, who was kind enough to share it with me.  This information was extracted from old church records researched by the Oskar Mildenberger Family.  The Maisch family traces back to Lorenz Maisch was born born about 1600.  Most of the Maisches are still living around Unterelsbach.