| Notes |
- So very little is known about Otto. His sister, Anna Marie nee’ Wald Thoma, tried to find him in the 1920s. She was never successful.
What we do know for certain was that in 1877 Otto was living in Indianapolis, Marion, Indiana on the NE Corner of Japan and Texas Streets. And that is the exact same address that his brother Adolph Gustav Wald was living. In Indianapolis he was working as a printer at the Gutenberg Company. The Gutenberg Company was also publishers of German language newspapers.
The next location for Otto appears to be in Louisville, Ky in 1878 where he was living at 103 E. Green Street. Again his occupation was printer and he was working for Die Neue Zeit or The New Age German language newspaper.
In 1880 there is an Otto Wald, age 20, living at 8 Magnolia Avenue in Austin, Travis County, Texas. He was a printer working for Charles A Buechner who was the owner and publisher of the Texas Volkszeitung weekly (Thursday) German language newspaper. In the same household was Charles A Buechner, age 43, Mary nee' Thielipapae Schenken Buechner, age 32, Adalbert Schenken, age 18, Agnes Schenken, age 15, Willie, Schenken, age 12, Ella Buechner, age 4, and Belle Buchner, age 2.
On 27 Dec 1883, Otto R(udolf) Wald married Agnes Matihilda Maria Schenken, that same little 15 year old girl who lived in the same house that he was living in 1880.
There is no record of how long the Texas Volkszeitung was published. It was chartered on 17 Jan 1878 and likely went out of existence when Charles A Buechner died on 19 Jun 1902. It was a weekly German language newspaper published on each Thursday, had a subscription of 8,000 and cost $2 per year.
In 1892, Otto R Wald appears on the 1892 Voter List of Austin.
Next Otto show up in the Morrison & Foumy's General Directory of the City of Austin, 1893-1894, Page 285. He is listed as Otto R Wald and lived at 1904 1/2 University Avenue in Austin.
The same directory for the years 1897-1898; page 301 lists Agnes Wald (Mrs Otto R) renting 1904 1/2 University Avenue. There is no mention of Otto Wald in this directory, just Agnes Wald or Mrs Otto R Wald. From this the conclusions can be made that Otto died 1894-1897 or that he and Agnes have separated.
In the 1900 census Agnes is living at 1904 University with her mother, step father, and other siblings. She is listed as widowed, working as a seamstress, and Otto is not to be found.
The Morrison & Fourny's General Directory of the City of Austin, 1900-1901 list Mrs Agnes Wald as a dressmaker living and working at 1904 University Avenue. Again Otto is not found in this directory.
The 1906-1907 City Directory of Austin Listed Mrs A Wald as a seamstress working at her residence at 100 E 30th Street SW; but also lists her living at 100 E 30th street and living with E. J. Pressler, and Mrs C. A. Bruckner. As before, Otto does not appear in this directory.
The 1910 Census for Austin lists Agnes living at the same address with her mother, sister, brother-in-law and other relatives. She is again a seamstress working out of her home. But this time she lists herself as being married for 26 years; which is consistent with her marriage to Otto in 1863.
Here is where it gets weird. From 1894 to 1910 this chain of data indicates that Otto is dead. But suddenly Agnes claims to be married. And in 1910 an Otto R Wald, born 1867 in Missouri, shows up on the Lee County, Texas census where he is working as a printer, is widowed, and parents are both from Wisconsin. This seems to be consistent with our Otto who would have been taken from Missouri to Wisconsin by his father in 1864 when he was only three years old. It also appears to be consistent with a man who has worked his whole life as a printer and living with those who employed him. Additionally, Lee County borders Travis County.
In 1930 an Otto Wald, born 1861 in Missouri, shows up living at 108 Wilson Avenue in Coolidge, Pinal, Arizona where he listed as widowed, and a printer. His parents are from Germany and he lists his marriage date as being 1883. Meanwhile back in Austin, Agnes Wald is listed as widow living at 102 E 30th Street with her sister, brother-in-law and other relations.
In 1940 Agnes Wald, now 75, is still listed as a widow living at 302 East 30th Street with the same relations. Back in Arizona, Otto dies on 25 Jul 1940 at 407 E Jefferson Street, Phoenix, Maricopa, His death certificate states that he has been living at this address since 1935. He is listed as being born 04 Nov 1860 in Missouri, that he is a printer, his father is Manuel Wall born in Germany, his mother was Martha Rudolf also born in Germany. He died of a cerebral hemorrhage. He is supposedly buried in the Greenwood Cemetery in Phoenix.
Agnes is listed in the Austin City Directory of 1947 as living at 302 E 30th Street and her spouse is Otto Wald. In the Austin Directory of 1949 he is still living at 302 E 30th Street and her spouse is Otto Wald. And is 1952 she is listed as Agnes Wald and her spouse is Otto Wald.
Agnes was born 12 Mar 1865 and died 21 May 1959. She is buried in the Oakwood Cemetery in Austin, Travis County, Texas. She and Otto never had any children.
I believe this to be the accurate story of Otto's life and his marriage to Agnes Schenken. When just a little over 2 years old his mother dies. Otto goes to Wisconsin with his father and some of his siblings. He lives around Burlington, Wisconsin is never formally educated but learns to read and write German. In fact, German is likely is first language rather than second. Before his father dies he leaves for Indianapolis where he lives with his brother and works as a printer for a German language newspaper. Where he learned manual type setting is unknown, it could have been Burlington or Indianapolis. While he is living with his brother his relationships is estranged and he moves to Louisville continuing the same trade. Possibly a temperamental man he ends up in Austin, Texas living with a young woman. Agnes is living with her widowed mother in a house with her step-father and half-siblings. Marriage is likely her only escape and she finds that with Otto. In 1883 they are married but sometime between 1894 and 1897 the marriage is turning sour. What would you expect of a lonely, temperamental man who marries a woman wanting to escape her home life? And they living in a time when divorced was unacceptable. So they claim to be widowed; which is better than divorced or separated. But separated they were as there no indications otherwise. Otto leaves the area but returns on or before the 1910 census to a neighboring county. Likely he has gone to see Agnes as she now claims to have been married for 26 years. But as it does not last. Otto again leaves and it is possible that he went to live with his brother Rudolph in Kansas. He heads to the SW where he again finds work in his trade until his death. Agnes has returned to widowed status and remains that way until her death. I wonder if she ever learned of Otto's death in Phoenix.
My great grandmother named one of her sons Otto Wald Thoma, evidently after her brother. Nearing the end of her lifetime she began a search to find Otto, but she never did. The only indication that she ever received was that he might be in Kansas. The best that relatives could ever tell her was that Otto was a wandering man. He was never in one place for any length of time and that he might show up on the doorstep of his relatives in Wisconsin, Indiana, or Kansas unannounced. Grandma, I found your brother Otto for you! But maybe it is best not to tell you, I think you would cry.
Jim
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1860 - 1940 (79 years)
