Anna Maria "Mary" Emanuel

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• Ship Name:

Cause of Death:

Interesting Facts:

Sources:

• Emanuel Vol. 3
• Emanuel Family http://cgibin.cs.unm.edu/mgroat-bin/igmget.cgi/n=GroatFamily?784296

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In 1864, Anna Maria and her son, Joannes (John) -- who was seventeen -- miraculously survived a fire which destroyed their home. The fire started in a house close by. They had to work against high winds that made it difficult to fight the fire. Water was pumped from the tank and a couple of wells. The fire engine and thirty-three homes were burned within minutes. Peter (John's brother, Anna's son) went to let the cattle out. Anna Maria was trapped in her home. With heroic effort Joannes (John) succeeded in saving her. Both were badly burned and suffered intense pain. The prayers of the parish priest brought relief. After the fire Joannes and his mother stayed at the house door. When Peter visited them, Joannes was lying on a pile of hay on the floor all swollen up from the fire injuries to his hands and face. Joannes said if Peter was to pick off the scabs, there would not be any scars. Joannes had scars where the scabs had not been picked off. These scars he carried on his face and hands all of his life which eventually led to cancer and to his death many years later. The injuries also prevented his serving in the military. In 1873, Anna Maria (Widow to Nikolaus Emanuel) and her son, Johann Mathias, left Germany to join her other two sons in Nebraska. Anna Maria brought her spinning wheel to America, and it is still in the possession of a member of the family, Genevieve Emanuel Gross-Rhode. On June 5, 1875, at the age of 53, she marrie Henry Mollenbeck, age 51, at Glencoe, Pebble Creek, Dodge County, Nebraska. She died nine months later in 1876 and was buried in the Catholic cemetery of Glencoe. Later her remains were transferred to St. Mary's Catholic Cemetery at Ridgeley.

Note: When Johann Mathias Emanuel came to America with his mother Anna Maria, they had 100 Thaler travel money. The Hapsburg emperors of Austria had a mint at Joachimsthal (now in Czechoslovakia). Coins minted there were called "Jochimsthaler," for short "Thaler." Through cleverly arranged political marriages Hapsburg princes became kings of Spain. When the Spaniards conquered Latin America, they brought the Thaler to this continent, and in time the word changed to "Dollar."