| Name | Maria Rosalia "Rose" Hoffman  |
| Birth | 2 Dec 1898, Dornach, 68Dist.Haut Rhin, Elsace, Germany |
| Death | 24 Feb 1996, Fremont, Alameda Co., California |
| Occupation | nursemaid |
| Religion | Catholic |
| Father | August Michael Hoffman (1876-1954) |
| Mother | Amelia Vogel (1876-1976) |
| 1 | Charles Edward Kiesewetter |
| Birth | 18 Jun 1892, Washington Twp., Brown Co., OH, USA |
| Death | 7 Sep 1982, Fremont, CA, California, USA |
| Burial | Cremation |
| Occupation | tool marker, farmer, business man |
| Religion | Lutheran |
| Father | John Jacob Kiesewetter (1864-1947) |
| Mother | Margaret "Maggie" Freeh (1872-1904) |
| Children | Charles Vernon (1919-2003) |
"I was born in Dornach, Mulhouse, Alsace. I lived with my maternal grandmother Anne Marie (Delandre) Vogel from when I was a baby. I lived with her for seven years. My mother and father both worked full time.
I remember the first time I saw puppets. I saw my first puppets during the Fall. In Alsace there were great hillsides of beautiful vineyards. Back then they had a festival in the Fall called "tasting wine" They brought the red wine and they had the big long Spanish peanuts which they don't have here. People used to drink wine and have Spanish peanuts and pretzels and watch the puppets. And they would have dancing.
My Aunt Rosalie would take me along and go visit the other girls that weren't married and they would crochet. They always had a lot of cocoa. Cocoa was the main drink, and cookies. And I always liked to go there and listen to them. I said to my aunt "you have to do that often because I really like it!"
I remember that I had wooden shoes. It was just for around the house. My grandmother made me slippers out of material or knit them to wear too.
I was in the second grade in Germany. I was a year and three months in the German school. In March [1907] we came to the United States. My grandmother Louise Blind Hoffman came along with us. My father's sister Emilie and her husband Paul and their little boy Theodore were here already.
We were supposed to get on the boat at Le Harvre. We saw lots of people. We were to get that boat, but the boat was over loaded, We had to stay a week in La Harvre. We heard later that that boat hit a big iceberg. But they were lucky they didn't drown. So a week later we got on a boat. And I never saw so many strange people. Some of them were Italian. Some of them were even barefooted. And all they had was a sack over their back. My father was over loaded with things we wanted to bring. We were second class, we had bunks. Third class was in the bottom. They had hammocks. I really don't know how those people got in and out of there it was so crowed. My Grandmother was so sick all the while. She couldn't eat. They had a doctor on the boat and he said, "Oh she's just sea sick". Well it was really a great delight when we thought we saw land. This happened several times. Everybody went on the deck. They told them not to all go on one side! They would tip the thing over. My father used to take me on the deck. The deck was wet and I started to slip. My father wasn't watching me and I slipped right to the railing. I was that near the edge but I got a hold of the railing. It was about that far apart and I could have slipped through and fallen in the ocean and drown. When my mother heard, she was very upset. She wouldn't let me go on deck no more. (She was sea sick all the time like my grandmother.)
The United States it was a sight to see land. Everybody was thrilled. We had to stay two days on the boat. Then we got off at Ellis Island. And we were all examined. I remember the doctor looked at me and said, "What a pretty little girl coming to America!" I had rosy cheeks and was healthy. But there were other people they sent back. One person had an eye disease and they told them they had to go back. They were crying. It was very sad. They wanted see how much money my father had and if we had relatives here. At that time they didn't let people just come with no money. They had to have some one who would take them in until they got jobs.
I missed my grandmother. I lived with my grandmother all my life. I missed her dearly. My life had changed . My parents were more strangers to me because their outlook was so different. Well coming to a strange country and learning English was quite a big problem to me. Course that put me back in grades which upset me a lot. My parents couldn't help me learn English. The books were too different.
For a while We lived in Dayton Ohio with my Aunt Emilie and Uncle Paul Guillaume.
When I was ten years old my brother was born. My mother had worked all the time before that. In Germany my grandma and aunt had looked after me. But then when we moved to America I was on my own.
When I was fourteen we moved to the country. I decided I didn't want to go to school anymore. It was a hassle to try to get back and forth to get to night school. I decided I didn't want to go so I took care of my brother while my mother went back to work. [George was four years old at this time].
My Grandmother Louise Hoffman had been working for wealthy people taking care of their children. She decided I could get an easier job and make more money than being at home I needed to get out. I got a job taking care of a nine month old baby. I had to puree the food. They didn't have baby food then. I sterilized the bottles. I completely had charge of that child. And twice a day morning and evening, summer and winter, and even in the snow I took the baby out in the buggy. Which was healthy for me too. (I had an overcoat and warm shoes to wear.)
Every Sunday I had to go home and give my parents the money I had made during the week. Well I didn't like that very well. Still...it was the old way like they did in Germany. But I said to my mother, " I needed some money for some shoes." And she said, "If I have to give it back to you, then you might as well keep it." Which I did. I saved money to put by. I bought clothes. But of course I had my uniform, food and lodging provided. It was pretty easy. I gained weight from eating more. These people were wealthy. Their names was Platts . They owned an iron company. (Which my husband worked their in the machine shop.) They lived on south east corner of Rubicon Drive and Spring House Road in the Oakmont area of Dayton.
I met my husband when I was seventeen and a half [1916] through my friend Clara Bowser. I met her while taking care of a baby. At first I thought she was the mother of that baby. But no she said she was a nursemaid to. We became very good friends. Once she asked me to come over and spend the day with her and her family on Sunday. So it was quite a treat for me. She said, "I have to do an errand for my mother. I have to take something to Mrs. Fischer." Mrs. Fischer and her mother were good friends. When we got there there was Mrs. Fischer's son whom Clara used to date. And there was another young man there who was his friend. His names was Charles Kiesewetter. They introduced me to him. I never thought he would be my boyfriend because I wasn't interested in him. But I noticed he always had his eyes on me. He'd be looking at me all the time. So then it got to be time that I had to go. So I said I had to get back. I was going to take the street car home. It was only five cents to ride any place in town. So he offered me a ticket. But I wouldn't take the ticket because I wasn't use to taking money from anyone. And I refused it. I had my own ticket. I said goodbye to all of them and I thought that was it.
A week later he came to visit me. And here he comes! I had forgotten completely about him! Well so he came and we set on the porch and talked and then he went home. But before he left he said, "When can I see you again, and take you to a show next time?" I hesitated but I finally said yes. But my parents were very strict. Then I went home next Sunday and I told my parents about him. They said well I should bring him home. Well they liked him. And Grandma Hoffman was there and she got to meet him. She liked him. Mom had fixed a big dinner and we all had dinner together. My Dad new someone who worked with Charles and he questioned him about Charles...asked what kind of a guy he was. Well he said Charles was a very nice guy. Charles didn't go running around with the other fellows. He was more quite because he was raised in the country on a farm.
We went together about a year and a half. I was nineteen and he was twenty five. We got married. A year and a half later we had a son Charles Vernon. In 1922 we had a daughter, her name is Ethelllou. She was born in Mississippi.
At the time my husband Charles wanted to get into some business, travel to see thing, and do things. He had seen in the paper advertised you could buy a thousand acres for ten thousand dollars. There were five families that were interested in that. We all went down to Mississippi. Charles Vernon was only nine months old when we went down there with another family. They thought the land was rich like in Ohio. It had been a virgin pine forest cut over by the saw mill. It was really more like a pioneer adventure. The people all came from different places in the United states to there in McNeil Mississippi. It was a small town of 200 people. We lived there five years.
We thought we would grow crops and ship them to town. But it didn't work out. People didn't have enough money to carry it on through. We moved back to Ohio and started over.
Written and researched by Linda Rawles rawles@usa.net