Marie Holscher

Marie Holscher was the first wife of Henry Bethke.

She was born on September 1, 1904 in Hannover, Germany. Her last name is an Anglicized version of the North German surname “Holscher”, which was the occupational name for a maker of clogs (wooden shoes).

She lived in the Kirchrode section of Hannover. At the time she left Germany for the US, she was living with her uncle and guardian, Frederich Holscher, at Hellenstrasse #15. Marie had younger siblings, Lina (born 1907) and Karl (1911)., who also lived with the uncle, Karl, who was only 10 years old at that time. He remained in Germany. He finally came to the US in 1929 at the age of 18. It is likely that Marie and her two siblings were orphans. It is also likely that their father was the “Karl Holscher” who is in the German World War I Casualty list as being killed in action between 1914 and 1917. Possibly the same Karl Holscher who is buried in a Germany cemetery in Belgium with a date of death of September 8, 1915. Their mother’s maiden name was probably Werler since their uncle in Baltmore was Paul Werler, who also came from the same area of Germany.

On November 24, 1921, the two young sisters left the port of Hamburg on the SS Bayern, a ship that was 468 feet long and 58 feet wide, with 4 masts and one funnel.

Passenger list records state that Marie was born in 1903, which would make her 18 years old, but her other vital records, including her headstone, list her as being born in 1904, mearing she was really only 17. She had fair skin, blonde hair and blue eyes, 5 feet 5 inches all and was a milliner (hat maker) by trade.

The same records show that Marie’s 14 year old sister, Lina, was 5 feet 8 inches tall and also had fair skin, blonde hair and blue eyes. Since Lina was under the age of 16, no trade was listed.

Marie and Lina;s 3rd class tickets were paid for by their aunt and the girls had $50. They arrived at Ellis Island on December 10, 1921, but were immediately placed under detention because they were identified as being “likely to become public charges”. The reason given was that Lina was under 16 and the girls were unaccompanied. A formal hearing was held on December 13 and they were finally allowed to enter the US on December 16 at 11:20am.

They were going to live with their maternal (?) uncle, Paul Gustav Werler, a betcher who worked in a slaughterhouse. Paul was born in 1872 in MArienthal, Germany (near Hannover), and immigrated in 1902. His wife, Marie, came to the US from Germany in 1890. Both of their children were born in the US: Mary (1905) and Elsie (1906). He became a naturalized American citizen in 1913. The family lived on Kenwood Avenue in Raspeburg. He was 49 at the time that Marie and Lina came to live with him and his family.

Three years after arriving in the US, Marie, at the age of 20, married Henry John Bethke in 1924 in Baltimore. She died at the age of 24 on October 17, 1928, only one day after her second son was born. She is buried in her husband’s family plot in the Zion Lutheran Church off Golden Ring Road in Baltimore County.

Marie’s sister Lina was married by the age of 19. She is listed as being married to Thomas A. Kasik in 1926 in a business directory. Their daughter, Dorothy, was born in 1927. They lived in the Kenwood section of Baltimore County into at least the 1940s. By 1980, Lina and Thomas had moved to Easton in Talbot County where they lived until his death at age 84 in 1985 and her death at age 91 in 1998. Dorothy likely remarried and her married name is unknown.

Marie and Lina’s father Karl came to the US at the age of 18 in 1929. He listed his destination as his sister Marie’s (and Henry’s) house in Stemmers Run, Maryland. Karl was living as a boarder in Thomas and Lina’s home at the time of the 1930 Census. He was working as a pipe fitter at a local steel company. As of the 1940 Census, he was no longer living with them, but no further info is known.

They had two boys: