Click *here* to see the Pauline Baer Kircher interview from October 9, 1977
Due to circumstances beyond my control, I can't get the pictures to show up......
To see the pictures from the above link, you'll need to download the pdf version *here*.
The Interview:
Pauline Beer Kircher describes her life
in Glitt and Solka, Bukovina, her immigration from Bukovina to America, and her
life in McCook, Nebraska; Yuma, Colorado; and Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The Beer
and Fastner families emigrated together from Bukovina. Pauline Beer and Mary
Fastner remained friends throughout their lives. This interview focuses mainly
on Pauline's experiences as they relate to the Fastner family.
Transcription of the Interview:
This document is a shortened, edited
transcription of an interview which took place at the Bradley Convalescence
Center, 6735 West Bradley Road, Brown Deer, Wisconsin, where Pauline was a
resident. The original transcription is 36 pages, transcribed from cassette
tapes. It may be difficult to follow the meaning of some of the comments in the
original transcription, which is why this edited version was created.
Genealogy Information:
Pauline (also known as "Lena")
was born in Glitt, Bukovina, and was baptized at the Catholic Church in Solka
on November 9, 1878. Her parents were
Anton Beer and Adolphine Wanisch (alternate spellings: Vanisch, Wanicz,
Wanisz). Pauline emigrated from Bukovina with her parents and siblings,
traveling to Bremen, Germany, to board the vessel "Saale." The ship
arrived in New York on June 18, 1887. Pauline remembered 14 other Bukovina
immigrant families who traveled to America at the same time. Among them were
these families: Fastner, Trunde, Fieber, Krickl, Kunzmann, and
Blaubetch. In America, the Beer family homesteaded about 7 years in the
northwest corner of section 33 of Township 4 North, Range 47 West in Yuma
County, Colorado in approximately 1894. Later the Beer family moved to West
Bend in Barton Township, Washington County, Wisconsin. On June 8, 1898, Pauline was married to Joseph Kircher in Milwaukee,
Wisconsin. They had three children: Eleanor "Ella" Kircher Huber,
Marion Kircher Forkins, and Alvin Kircher. Pauline, who was preceded in
death by her husband in 1949, died on January 3, 1987, at age 107. She was
buried at Holy Cross Cemetery, Milwaukee, Milwaukee County, Wisconsin.
Mary Fastner was born on February 2,
1881, most likely in Solka, Bukovina (records have not been found). She was one
of 12 children born to Wenzel Fastner and Catherine Niga (married in Solka on
October 2, 1875). Wenzel Fastner, his siblings and parents were emigrants from
Neugebäu, Bohemia, to Gurahumora, Bukovina sometime between 1841 and 1844.
Wenzel and Catherine Fastner, their six living children, and Wenzel's parents,
Johann Fastner and Magdalena Hany, emigrated from Bukovina to America on June
18, 1887, aboard the vessel "Saale." The Fastner family settled in Milwaukee,
Wisconsin, where Wenzel worked in a tailor shop. Two more children were born.
They joined the Beer family in Yuma, Colorado, for about 3 years, where another
child was born. The Fastner family left Yuma and settled on a homestead in
Johnson Township on the southwest corner of highways A and E at "Milan
Corners," Marathon County (near Athens) in Wisconsin. Wenzel and
Catherine's last child was born there. Mary Fastner married Conrad Mohelnitzky
in Milwaukee on August 22, 1899. They had four daughters and operated a small
grocery store in Germantown (near Cazenovia) in Richland County, Wisconsin.
Mary, widowed when Conrad died in 1914, remarried in 1917 to Theodore Bauer.
Mary died on July 14, 1945 and is buried at St. Anthony Catholic Cemetery in Germantown,
Richland County, Wisconsin. More about the Fastner family can be found here: http://violetblue20.googlepages.com/fastner-placestheylived