Other things may change us, be we start and end with family. —Anthony Brandt
Other things may change us, be we start and end with family. —Anthony Brandt
Henry George Buisch is my great grandfather. His youngest child, Grace Rose, is my grandmother. Henry was born in December 1848 in either Wyoming or Erie County New York to Henry Buisch and Margaret Hausauer. The earliest record I currently have for Henry is the 1860 US Federal Census for New York.
Henry is 12 years old and living with his grandparents, Michael and Margaret (Zittel) Hausauer. The Hausauers own a large farm in Wales Center, New York. Note the spelling of Henry’s last name — it is spelled the way the name is pronounced. This surname has also been spelled Bisch, Busch and Buesch over the years in census records.
Henry and Mary George meet and marry in Batavia, New York in the 1870s. Mary was born 25 September 1851 in North Java, New York to Michael George and Elizabeth Dupris. Mary is working as domestic help at the Ives farm and Henry is a barber living at the St James Hotel. They marry at an Evangelical Lutheran church in Buffalo, New York on 25 August 1874.
In the 1880 US Census, Henry and family are living at 66 Main Street near the St James Hotel. Henry’s barbershop is at the same location. The family is listed right before the residents of the St James hotel are enumerated. The St James is where Henry lived when he first came to Batavia.
The oldest three children, all boys, have been born by this time.
In 1883 the family was still living and working on Main Street. In the early morning hours of 8 January 1886, the St James Hotel burns down. The Buisch family was living on Summit at the time of the fire according to a Batavia business directory, but Henry’s barbershop was still on Main Street. I can imagine Henry concerned about his business in those early morning hours. The fire is something that the family and community would have remembered as it was the second time in the hotel’s history it had been destroyed by fire.
An 1890 Gazetteer & Directory Genesee County shows Henry’s barbershop at 45 E Main and the family is living at 38 Walnut. The family lives at the home on Walnut until the early 1900s when they relocate to Rochester, New York.
The St James Hotel is reconstructed and reopens in 1889 as the Hotel Richmond. By the close of 1889, Henry and Mary’s family is complete with the birth of my grandmother on Christmas Eve.
Sometime around 1901, the Buisch family relocates to Rochester, Monroe, New York. The move may have been made motivated by opportunities available for the family in the larger city. Interestingly, Henry does not open a barbershop in Rochester. Eventually he begins a painting contractor’s business. Over the years, his sons work on and off in the business with him. Henry and Mary eventually own their home at 256 Warwick Avenue.
I like to imagine that on lazy summer afternoons, the family was able to spend time together at Ontario Beach Park walking on the beach or midway, riding the amusement park rides or just relaxing in chairs on the beach.
On 25 November 1923, Henry George Buisch passed away. He is buried at Mt Hope Cemetery in Rochester, New York. Mary (George) Buisch, who passed away in 1934, is buried next to Henry although the headstone does not have her name on it.
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Notes:
Cite This Page:
Erin Williamson Klein, “52 Ancestors #1 Henry George Buisch.” My Family History Files, 20 January 2014 (https://myfamilyhistoryfiles.com/buisch/52-ancestors-1-henry-george-buisch/: [access date]).
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He who has no fools, knaves, nor beggars in his family was begot by a flash of lightning. —Thomas Fuller