Amanuensis Monday: Balthasar STROESSER’s death

We will continue my project this week with sources related to my great-grandfather's brother, Baltasar STROESSER.

All you researchers of Luxembourgish genealogy, did you know that hundreds of scanned images of historical newspapers from the Grand-Duchy are available to search online for free? They’re stored at the Luxembourg national library, or the Bibliothèque nationale de Luxembourg. Of course, the articles are in French or German, and occasionally Luxembourgish, but if that is not too daunting a task, many treasures can be unearthed.

One—or rather, two—of those treasures I have discovered are sources for the death of Balthasar STROESSER. His death record is not yet available on FamilySearch, which makes these articles even more valuable. The first is his obituary.

Trimmed from the original at Bibliothèque nationale de Luxembourg.

Transcription:

Avis mortuaire.

Madame B. STROESSER, née Anne KAYSER;

Monsieur Edy STROESSER;

Monsieur Marcel STROESSER;

Monsieur et Madame P. HEYMANNS-STROESSER et leur enfants;

Monsieur et Madame J.-P. KAYSER-KAYSER;

Madame Séb. KAYSER-DAMS et ses enfants;

Monsieur et Madame Nic. ROTH-KAYSER;

Monsieur et Madame Jos. KAYSER-STEMPER et leurs enfants

et les familles apparentées ont la profonde douleur de faire part du décès de

Monsieur Balthasar STROESSER

maître-carrossier,

leur bien-aimé et regretté époux, père, frère, beau-frère, oncle et cousin, décédé subitement à Esch-Alzette, le 30 mai, vers 9 heures du soir, à l’âge de 64 ans, muni des secours de notre mère la Sainte Eglise.

L’enterrement aura lieu à ESCH-ALZETTE, le vendredi, 2 juin, à 3.30 heures de l’après-midi.

Le convoi funèbre partira de la maison mortuaire, rue de Luxembourg No. 40, pour se rendre au cimetière de Lallange.

Le service funèbre avec laudes sera célébré en l’église St. JOSEPH, le même jour, à 10 heures du matin.

Esch-Alzette, Rambrouch, Olivia, Nebraska et Omaha (USA), le 31 mai 1939.

Cet avis tient lieu de lettre de faire part.

Translation:

Obituary.

Mrs. B. STROESSER, née Anne KAYSER;

Mr. Edy STROESSER;

Mr. Marcel STROESSER;

Mr. and Mrs. P. HEYMANNS-STROESSER and their children;

Mr. and Mrs. J.-P. KAYSER-KAYSER;

Mrs. Séb. KAYSER-DAMS and her children;

Mr. and Mrs. Nic. ROTH-KAYSER;

Mr. and Mrs. Jos. KAYSER-STEMPER and their children

and allied families have deep sorrow to announce the death of

Monsieur Balthasar STROESSER

master coach-builder,

their beloved and lamented husband, father, brother, brother-in-law, uncle, and cousin, who died suddenly in Esch-Alzette, May 30, around 9 P.M., at the age of 64 years, provided with the aid of our mother the Holy Church.

The funeral will be held in ESCH-ALZETTE, on Friday, June 2, at 3:30 in the afternoon.

The funeral procession will leave the mortuary, No. 40 Luxembourg Street, to get to the Lallange cemetery.

The funeral service will be celebrated with lauds in St. JOSEPH’s Church, the same day, at 10:00 A.M.

Esch-Alzette, Rambrouch, Olivia, and Omaha, Nebraska (USA), May 31, 1939.

This notice serves as a letter to share.

From this obituary we learn the names of many members of Baltasar’s (or Balthasar, as he is called here) family. Madame B. STROESSER, née Anne KAYSER is obviously his wife, while Messrs. Edy and Marcel STROESSER are probably (and have now been proven) his sons. The HEYMANNS-STROESSER couple is his sister and brother-in-law. The various KAYSER couples are probably the siblings of his wife, though, not being of my direct lines, I have not had sufficient curiosity to research them.

We also learn that the beautiful neo-Gothic church of St. Joseph in Esch-sur-Alzette was the site of his funeral, and therefore presumably his regular parish. If I ever decide to dig more deeply into Baltasar’s line, that would be the parish to contact.

Lastly, we learn that his death was also memorialized in Rambrouch, Olivia, and Omaha. Baltasar’s sister Anna was living in Rambrouch, and his brother Harry (my great-grandfather) in Omaha, Nebraska. Olivia, however, remains a mystery. So far—although, admittedly, I have not tried hard—I have been unable to turn up a town of Olivia in either Luxembourg or Nebraska.

Moving on to the second article I mentioned, we see it is a kind of a public thank-you note from the mourners to all who expressed sympathy in their time of bereavement. There is probably a fancy name for this sort of announcement, but, if so, I am ignorant of what it may be.

Trimmed from the original at Bibliothèque nationale de Luxembourg.

Transcription:

Remercîments.

Madame Balthasar STROESSER-KAYSER; Monsieur Edy STROESSER; Monsieur Marcel STROESSER et les familles apparentées, profondément touchés des nombreuses marques de sympathie et de condoléances qui leur ont été témoignées lors du décès de

Monsieur Balthasar STROESSER,

MAITRE-CARROSSIER,

et se trouvant dans l’impossibilité de répondre individuellement à tous ceux qui se sont associés à leur grand deuil, les prient de trouver ici l’expression de leurs remerciements émus.

La messe de six semaines sera célébrée en l’église St. JOSEPH le jeudi, 13 juillet, à 10 heures du matin.

Merci pour les saintes messes, les prières, les belles fleurs et couronnes.

Esch-Alzette, le 12 juillet 1939.

Au lieu de cartes.

Translation:

Thanks.

Mrs. Balthasar STROESSER-KAYSER; Mr. Edy STROESSER; Mr. Marcel STROESSER and allied families, profoundly touched by the many marks of sympathy and condolences which have been shown towards them on the death of

Mr. Balthasar STROESSER,

MASTER COACH-BUILDER,

and being unable to respond individually to all those who are associated with their great bereavement, hope to find here the expression of their stirred gratitude.

Mass will be celebrated for six weeks at St. JOSEPH church on Thursday, July 13, at 10 A.M.

Thank you for the Masses, the prayers, the beautiful flowers and wreaths.

Esch-Alzette, July 12, 1939.

In lieu of cards.

This article, of course, gives very little information additional to that we have gleaned from the previous article. It does, however, imply that Mrs. Balthasar STROESSER-KAYSER, Mr. Edy STROESSER, and Mr. Marcel STROESSER bore a closer relationship to the deceased than the others on the long list in the obituary. I know now that Edy and Marcel were his sons, a circumstance which these two articles first made me suspect.

Sources:

“Avis mortuaire: Monsieur Balthasar STROESSER,” Escher Tageblatt, 31 May 1939, p. 7, col. 3; digital images, Bibliothèque nationale de Luxembourg (www.eluxemburgesia.lu : accessed 3 Dec 2010), Digitized by the National Library of Luxembourg, www.eluxemburgensia.lu. 

“Remercîments: Monsieur Balthasar STROESSER,” Escher Tageblatt, 12 July 1939, p. 7, col. 4; digital images, Bibliothèque nationale de Luxembourg (www.eluxemburgesia.lu : accessed 4 Dec 2010), Digitized by the National Library of Luxembourg, www.eluxemburgensia.lu.