Last modified: October 04, 2003

Gruber Family Information

My Connection

My mother's father's father was Josef Gruber; my ancestor chart gives a pictorial view of how I'm related to him.

Pre-Buffalo Gruber History

According to Ellis Island records (free registration required), 27-year-old Josef Gruber, his 24-year-old wife Therese (Theresa), and their infant son, Franz, all of Austria, arrived at Ellis Island on July 13, 1892, having traveled from Antwerp, Belgium, aboard the Red Star Liner Westernland. Another passenger, Karl Schmidl (mis-transcribed as "Schmidt"; see the original, handwritten manifest), might have been traveling with them, as I suspect he was Theresa's brother. The Westernland was built by Laird Brothers in 1884; it weighed 5,736 gross tons, was 440 (bp) feet long and 47 feet wide, and could accommodate 1,340 passengers (80 first class, 60 second class, 1,200 third class). It was scrapped in 1912.

History of the Gruber Family in Buffalo

The family lived in various places on the East Side. Josef's occupation on the Westernland's manifest was listed as tailor, but he worked on the railroads in Buffalo. He died in 1911 of tuberculosis, the disease that would claim six of his seven children, while they resided at 275 Loepere. Sometime after this, his wife, Theresa, purchased the home at 14 Zelmer Street, where she lived until her death in 1944.

Of the children, aside from my grandfather, Leo, I know little. Walter went to Canisius College, and was the editor of the Greek newspaper.

Leo lived with his mother until her death, including nine years while married to Alma, and was so heartbroken when she passed away that he refused to go into the house again. He sold the house, and burned all the family possessions.

Prior to World War II, Leo worked for the City of Buffalo as a plumbing inspector; Judge Hart, whom his mother cleaned for, got him the job. During the war, he worked for Curtiss-Wright in order to get a war exemption. When the war ended, he went back to working for the city.

Trivia

The name "Grüber" comes from the German word "Greiber", meaning "miner".

Web Searches

http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/board/an/surnames.gruber


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