Susanna Catharina Striffler

Notes:

Cass City Chronicle
Friday, October 29, 1915
Colwood

Mr. and Mrs. H.F. Lenzner and little daughter, Mrs. C.O. Lenzner, Miss Emma Lenzner of Cass City and Mrs. Samuel Lenzner of Detroit were Colwood visitors Friday night.

Cass City Chronicle
May 5, 1905, page 1

Pioneer Passed Away

Another pioneer has passed away in the person of Mrs. Susan Lenzer, who died at her home at the corner of Oak and Pine streets, last Friday evening, April 28.

Mrs. Lenzer, nee Striffler, was born Aug. 6, 1823, in the province of Lorraine, then a part of France but now a part of Germany. When she was six years of age her parents sailed for America ans settled near Lancaster, New York. In 1853 she was married to C.O. Lenzer, Sr. To this union five children were born, all of whom survive. In 1873 the family moved to Cass City, where Mr. Lenzer entered into the furniture business and continued the same for many years. He died in 1897.

At an early age Mrs. Lenzer joined the Reformed church and has lived a consistent Christian life and followed the teaching of the Golden Rule. For some years she has been in feeble health and was very ill the two weeks preceding her death. Her departure is mourned by a host of relatives and friends in whose estimation she was held in high esteem. Five children--Miss Emma, C.O. and Franklin of this place, John of Gagetown and Samuel of Detroit, and two brothers, John and Christian Striffler of Cass City, survive.

The funeral services were held at the residence Sunday Afternoon, Rev. Berge officiating, and the remains interred in the Elkland cemetery. The out of town relatives present were Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Lenzer of Detroit, John Lenzer of Gagetown, Mr. and Mrs. S.W. Striffler and W. D. Striffler of Argyle.

(Transcribed by Melinda McLemore Strong)

(Research):
Census Information:

1880 Census
Oscar Sr. LENSPAER Self M Male W 54 SAXONY Cabinet Maker SAXONY SAXONY
Susanna LENSPAER Wife M Female W 56 FRANCE Keeping House FRA. FRA.
John LENSPAER Son S Male W 23 NY Cabinet Maker SAXONY FRA.
Franklin LENSPAER Son S Male W 21 NY Carpenter SAXONY FRA.
Samuel LENSPAER Son S Male W 19 NY Carpenter SAXONY FRA.
Emma LENSPAER Dau S Female W 16 NY At School SAXONY FRA.
Source Information:
Census Place Cass City, Tuscola, Michigan
Family History Library Film 1254607
NA Film Number T9-0607
Page Number 100D

1900 Census
Michigan, Tuscola County, Cass City Village
Enumerated 8 June 1900 by A.D. Gallis
SD 8 ED 11 Sheet 5A Stamped 119
Pine Street
96-99
Lenzner, Susan Hd W F Jan 183 (sic) ?? W 47 5/5 Germany Germany Germany 1830 70
Lenzner, Emma Dtr W F Jun 1863 36 S NY Germany Germany Dress Maker
Linzner, John Border W M Oct 1847 52 S Ny Germany Germany Day Laborer

Susanna married Christian Oscar Lenzner, Sr. on 20 Jun 1853 in Erie County, New York. Christian was born on 14 Feb 1825 in Leubetha, Chemnitz, Sachsen, Germany; died on 1 Apr 1897 in Tuscola County, Michigan; was buried in Elkland Township Cemetery, Cass City, Tuscola County, Michigan. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Christian Oscar "C.O." Lenzner, Jr. was born on 30 Oct 1854 in Lancaster, Erie County, New York; died on 2 Jun 1927 in Cass City, Tuscola County, Michigan; was buried in Elkland Township Cemetery, Cass City, Tuscola County, Michigan.
2. Franklin H. Lenzner was born on 30 May 1859 in Lancaster, Erie County, New York; died on 5 Nov 1940 in Cass City, Tuscola County, Michigan; was buried in Elkland Township Cemetery, Cass City, Tuscola County, Michigan.
3. John B. Lenzner was born on 8 Oct 1856 in Lancaster, Erie County, New York; died on 18 Oct 1932 in Gagetown, Tuscola County, Michigan; was buried in Elkland Township Cemetery, Cass City, Tuscola County, Michigan.
4. Samuel B. Lenzner was born on 30 Jun 1861 in Lancaster, Erie County, New York; was christened on 4 Feb 1886 in Tuscola County, Michigan; died on 20 Jul 1926 in Detroit, Wayne County, Michigan; was buried on 23 Jul 1926 in Elkland Township Cemetery, Cass City, Tuscola County, Michigan.
5. Emma Lenzner was born on 28 Jan 1863 in Lancaster, Erie County, New York; died on 7 Jan 1945 in Cass City, Tuscola County, Michigan; was buried on 9 Jan 1945 in Elkland Township Cemetery, Cass City, Tuscola County, Michigan.

Notes:

According to the Rev. Roy J. Striffler, the Striffler's emigrated from the Alsace-Lorraine region of France to New York State in 1830. They were part of the German-speaking population of Alsace. Some of the older Striffler family members recalled a family joke---there were 11 boys in the family, and all of them had a sister Susanna. She married Christian Oscar Lenzner. Family genealogists have only been able to account for eight of the 12 children however. Two of the boys married Benkelman sisters. One son married Mary Rommel, and as there were several Benkelman/Rommel marriages as well, the two families became further intertwined.

Although the family originally settled in New York only Jacob's son David remained in New York. Peter pushed further west, to Kansas. Around 1880, most of the others settled in Cass City, Michigan, where they lived until their deaths. They cut off the stumps remaining on the land they built and turned the wilderness into fruitful farm land.

(Excerpted from Art Peck's THE TEN BENKELMANS WHO EMIGRATED TO AMERICA. He in turn references a September 4, 1950 article from the "Striffler-Benkelman Broadcast", Volume 13, Cass City, Michigan)

Both the flyleaf of the Striffler family Bible, and the tombstone of Jacob Striffler in Lancaster, showed him to be be born in Kirrberg, "departmente de Rhein." (Jacobs, p. 164). In the chapter on the Striffler family in her unpublished 1981 manuscript, BonnieMargaret Jacobs noted that widely spread family stories stated that the Striffler family originated in Switzerland (p. 164). It would appear these were either errorneous, or that the family moved from Switzerland to Alsace.


BonnieMargaret Benkelman Jacobs, in an undated family report she prepared for some of the descendants of the Striffler brothers who married Benkelmann sisters, wrote that birth records had been of the children born to Jacob and Otillia "Have been extracted from the French civil records and translated, and show 8 children born in France, two of whom died while still just children (one was only 15 months old, the other just a few months past their sixth birthday). She stated that "these official civil records support the oft repeated family joke, "There are seven brothers and each one has a sister." On page 165 of her unpublished 1981 manuscript documenting the Benkelman family, she repeated this saying, adding however that "one Striffler heard the riddle with 11 brothers and it should be noted that there is still much to be learned about this family."

With the records in France showing 8 children were born there, and census records show two known children born in the United States, it appears we can account for 10 of the 11. It is possible that records may be uncovered one day to find the final child, or that this final son may have been stillborn or died at a young age, and his memory passed down only through the family joke or riddle.

Jacob married Ottila "Odila" "Otil" Zimmerman on 4 Nov 1809 in Kirberg, Imperial Territory of Alsace-Lorraine, Imperial Territory Of Alsace-Lorraine, Elsa?-Lothringen, Germany. Ottila was born on 10 Nov 1790 in Kirberg, Imperial Territory of Alsace-Lorraine, Imperial Territory Of Alsace-Lorraine, Elsa?-Lothringen, Germany; died on 17 Sep 1863 in Lancaster, Erie County, New York. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Her father was a school master.

(Research):

Census Listings;

1850 Census
New York, Erie County, Lancaster
Enumerated 23 Aug 1850
Page 200
1048-1082
Otil Strifler 59 F $2550 Germany
Jacob Strifler 30 M Farmer
Susanna Strifler 27 F
Joseph Stifler 24 M Farmer
Christian Strifler 22 m Farmer
John Strifler 17 Farmer New York (sic)
David Strifler 14

1860 Census
Not located