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Ashton-in-Makerfield Community Forum

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Ashton-in-Makerfield Community Forum
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Master Butchers emigrating to Makerfield area

August Reiss and his siblings were born to Georg Reiss and Charlotte Jag Reiss from Kocherstetten in Baden-Württemberg. My great grandmother was born in Kocherstetten in 1842 and also emigrated to England in 1861 with her younger brother. Margaretha Brück married Johann Friedrich Hermann Pfisterer in the Rotherham Parish Church. They had two sons, Charles Frederick and Christian Louis (my grandfather). Herman Pfisterer (or Fisher as he called himself) was a master butcher and ran a shop in Rotherham / Mexborough. He died early in 1875 and my gt grandmother remarried an English man, Robert Wallis of Lincolnshire who, after her death in 1893 emigrated to the States along with their children, 2 daughters and two more sons.

That's my story. It also has a bearing on my interest in pork butchers who emigrated from the Hohenlohe region of Baden-Württemberg.

One of these was of course August Reiss who set up shop in Makerfield. His brothers and sisters also emigrated to England and one of them, Pauline Reiss, married Johann Andreas Gronbach who set up shop in Nantwich / Crewe. Johann Gronbach was advised to flee as the rioters had become violent. I think he was taken in by Conrad Reiss in Withington. He managed to sail to the States, arriving in New York where he was met by a friend. His wife Pauline and their two daughters managed to emigrate and join him in Chicago, Illinois, and, as stated by "The Makerfield Rambler" on Flickr, it was Pauline Reiss, the daughter who carried off this feat.

The Gronbachs changed their name to Howard and lived peacefully in Chicago. The parents died in 1936-1939 approx. Marie Reiss, a sister of August Reiss emigrated to the States and lived with the two daughters. She came back to England in December 1936 but died after arrival.

It is very interesting to hear the other side of the story. I didn't know that August Reiss had been interned. l will attempt to find out what happened to him. I joined a party of British descendants of the Hohenlohe butchers who came to England last September. There was the Haffner of Burnley, Lancs. descendant, and many others. I visited Kocherstetten and saw that my gt grandmother's house was still standing. It was a memorable affair.

Town: Mühlethal, Aargau

Re: Master Butchers emigrating to Makerfield area

Hello Marguerite! I'm glad you enjoyed my recent Flickr series on August Reiss. (I post there as "The Makerfield Rambler".) Thank you for sharing these further details. The 1911 census return shows that August's mother, Charlotte ("Lotte"), was also then at 59 Gerard Street together with a "Katherine Heinold" who, I think, must have been a relative of August's wife, Rose. I am still unsure of August's ultimate fate, and would be interested to know whether he was re-interned or repatriated after March 1915 - and whether he was in any way compensated for the loss of his shop here in Ashton.

Town: Ashton

Re: Master Butchers emigrating to Makerfield area

Have not found out anything further on August but I saw your mention of his brother, Charles Reiss and started looking into his life. An obituary came up for Lily Reiss who died 24.12.2008, aged 101 years. Her husband was Frank Reiss, pork butcher, and son of Charles. Lily's maiden name was Braun and it didn't strike me at first but then I realised it was written the German way.

Lily's parents were Frederick and Carrie(Caroline) Friedrich Braun also running a pork butcher's shop of which Frank Reiss was a manager.

Carl Reiss married Lina Ströbel in 1898 and after her death married Marie Ströbel in Stoke-on-Trent 1927. He died in 1946 at 20 Stephens Road, Withington Executors Marie Reiss, widow and Harold Reece and Frank Reiss pork butchers, his sons.

The whole family literally fell into my lap but of course I can't contact them as I only have the address of the undertakers. Such is life.

That's all for now...

Marguerite

Town: Mühlethal, Aargau