| Married on November 5, 1901 |
Joseph A. Schilly, Sr. and Lena Rossfeld
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| Great-Grandfather Joseph A. Schilly, Sr., and Great-Grandmother Apollonia "Lena" Rossfeld had 7 children. Great-Grandmother Lena was one of seven children born, to Bernard Rossfeld and Apollonia "Lena" Fallenstein, on 12-27-1877 in St. Louis. Her parents were from Bavaria. She married Joseph on 11-5-1901 in St. Louis. They celebrated their 50th Anniversary in 1951 with a mass at the Church of Saint Thomas of Aquin, followed by a Breakfast for invited guests at Bevo Mill. Lena died 10-18-1958, while Joseph died 11 days later on 10-29-1958. I was 5 y/o, in kindergarten, at the time of their deaths and have very strong memories from that event.
Prelate) on 12-16-1990 . upstairs. During the Depression in 1934 he lost the business and the building. He had a hard time finding work like everyone else did in those days. He did tailoring at different places for about six years. A friend of his son, Ben, got him on at the Anheuser-Busch Brewery as an oiler. Joseph worked at Busch until he was about 67 years old. At the time of their death Joseph and Lena lived at 5109 Goethe Street in St. Louis. Ben was only 20 at the time of the Depression, with the milk route he worked, supported his parents and siblings for several years. Ben eventually worked himself for Busch Brewery. Lena was the daughter of Bernardus Rossfeld who was born in Maikammer, Pfalz, Bayern on 5-4-1847. Her mother was Apollonia "Lena" Fallenstein born on 4-20-1856 in Maikammer, Pfalz, Bayern. No record on when her father came to the U.S.A., but her mother came over in 5-24-1872 on the S.S. Seipzig. They were married in St. Louis on 6-24-1874. [Editors Note: Bayern is the German name for Bavaria (Palatinate is the English name for Pfalz). Although the Pfalz has historically (before 1945) been administrated by Bavaria, the town of Maikammer is geographically in the Pfalz (now Rheinland-Pfalz), not in Bavaria.] |
| The Sisters of the Most Precious Blood of O'Fallon, Missouri are an integral part of the Schilly and Maurer family history. The Sisters of the Most Precious Blood of O’Fallon, Missouri, had its beginnings in Steinerberg, Switzerland, on September 8, 1845, as a contemplative community. The congregation was founded under the guidance of Reverend Karl Rolfus, a priest from Baden. Searching for a spirituality to counteract the growing secularization of southern Germany, Rolfus had found his answer in contemporary devotion to the Precious Blood and shared this spirituality with his many directees. German convents were not allowed to accept new candidates at that time, however, so the women journeyed to Switzerland where the pastor of St. Anne’s Church was supportive of their desire. Bismarck’s KULTURKAMPF inaugurated a military policy against the Church in general and, by the MAY LAWS, decreed the expulsion of all religious congregations. Through this unfortunate occurrence, however, God led the young community to respond to a request that had previously been made for its expansion to the New World. In 1870 the first group of nine Sisters arrived in Belle Prairie, Illinois; the rest of the congregation was to follow over the next three years. At that time another separation occurred with some of the Sisters choosing to remain in Belle Prairie and maintain an affiliation with the Precious Blood Congregation in Rome. The other Sisters under the leadership of Mother Augusta Volk were unable to accept the conditions of the Bishop for remaining in the Illinois diocese and moved temporarily to St. Agatha’s Parish in St. Louis and in 1875 established the community in its new motherhouse in O’Fallon, Missouri. There it became an independent congregation and it grew and flourished gaining pontifical status in 1918. St. Louis is second only to Rome for the number of congregations with generalites located in the diocese. Three of my great-aunts were members of this order: Sister Mary Joseph Schilly, C.PP.S; Sister Julitta Maurer, C.PP.S.; and Sister Mary Andrew Maurer, C.PP.S. |
| Great-Grandmother Lena thought she should do something to help the order when her daughter Louise entered the convent. She started the Sisters Friends Quilting Club. They met at St. Elizabeth Academy on Arsenal Street. St. Elizabeth was an all girls high school in St. Louis where the sisters taught. She was the founder and president of the club from its beginning in 1924 until her death in 1958. Women from different parishes were welcomed to join. They would make quilts and embroider pillow cases and fancy towels. During the year they would have bingo games once a month at St. Elizabeth and the prizes were what they had made. The big games they pinned money to the guilts. The women also made vestments for the priests. Father Schilly, being her son, had his first mass vestments made by the Sisters Friends Club. My dad and his sisters would go with my grandmother Marie to the monthly bingo games. The nuns would make lunch with home baked bread. They would take the train to O'Fallon to visit Sr. Mary Joseph, and Sr.'s Mary Andrew and Julitta Maurer. |
| Editors Note: Besides my three Great-Aunts, who were Sisters of the Most Precious Blood of O'Fallon, and my Great Uncle Monsignor Adolph Schilly several others attempted religious and seminary life. Joseph Schilly, Sr. had a sister Anna Schilly who became Sr. Laurentina, S.C.C. a Sister of Christian Charity. His sister Sophia Schilly Hunleth had six daughters who became Loretto nuns and a son a Jesuit priest. And his sister Katherine Schilly Moellmann had three daughters who became Sisters of the Most Precious Blood of O'Fallon, one daughter being Mother General Sr. Mary Ancella, C.PP.S. My Grandfather John A. Maurer, Sr., went to minor seminary high school but was dismissed for smoking and locking a cat and dog in a chimney grate, creating all kinds of noisy racket. My Grandmother Bertha Morgan did two years in the Carmelite Monastery, her son Frank was a priest of the St. Louis Archdiocese, and her daughter Anna was a School Sisters of Notre Dame of St. Louis postulant. I too tried my hand in the seminary several times 1967-1971and 1975-1976 (St. Louis Archdiocese), 1977-1978 (San Antonio Archdiocese), and 1979-1990 (eight years in vows for the Congregation of the Holy Ghost). Do not forget about Catherine Esswein (mother of Ursula Esswein Maurer) whose prayer to have a religious in the family was answered by 15 of her grandchildren. Several of which were Sisters of the Most Precious Blood of O'Fallon. (Whenever a Schilly or Maurer died it seemed hundreds of nuns would appear at the funeral home. Grandpa Jack referred to them as the penguins.) Catholics refer to a vocation as a special calling from God. My good friend, and seminary classmate Robert Mitchell, used to say he and I just answered the phone but the call was really for someone else. (Marie, Jack and Bertha all demonstrated their deep personal faith to us their grandchildren.) So If Johann Franz Maurer's sister Irene was a Sister of the Good Shepherd Order in Germany, than 30 realtives in total died as a nun or priest from the Schilly-Esswein-Maurer families since the 1850's. |
Their children: Eleanor, Sr. Mary Joseph, Rev. Adolph, my grandmother Marie, Ben and
Annette at their family home on Goethe Street.
Annette at their family home on Goethe Street.
| Reverend Monsignor Adolph M. Schilly DOB July 25, 1919 Ordained a Priest June 4, 1944 Appointed Honorary Prelate October 7, 1990 |
| Mick Maurer with Great Uncle Monsignor Adolph Schilly at his 50th Jubilee June 1994 |
| My Great Aunts Annette M. Schilly Braniecki, Eleanor A. Schilly Haislar, Sister Mary Joseph Schilly, C.PP.S. at their youngest brother Monsignor Adolph Schilly's Golden Jubilee as a Priest in 1994. |
The Joseph A. Schilly Family:
Back row left to right: Eleanor, Joseph A.Jr., Sr. Mary Joseph (Louise), C.PP.S., Ben W.
Front row left to right: Annette, Father: Joseph A. Schilly, Sr., Mother: Apollonia "Lena"
Rossfeld, Adolph M., and Marie E.
Taken in summer of 1925 after Sr. Mary Joseph pronounced her first vows in the Sisters of
the Most Precious Blood of O'Fallon, Missouri.
Back row left to right: Eleanor, Joseph A.Jr., Sr. Mary Joseph (Louise), C.PP.S., Ben W.
Front row left to right: Annette, Father: Joseph A. Schilly, Sr., Mother: Apollonia "Lena"
Rossfeld, Adolph M., and Marie E.
Taken in summer of 1925 after Sr. Mary Joseph pronounced her first vows in the Sisters of
the Most Precious Blood of O'Fallon, Missouri.
| Sr. Mary Joseph Schilly, C.PP.S., Sr. Mary Julitta Maurer, C.PP.S., and Rev. Monsignor Adolph M. Schilly at the Motherhouse in O'Fallon, Missouri in 1998. |
Joseph A. Schilly, Sr. and Apollonia "Lena" Rossfeld on their Wedding Day in 1901 and on their 50th Wedding Anniversary
| Joseph A. Schilly, Sr. and Apollonia "Lena" Rossfeld on their 50th Wedding Anniversary in 1951 |
| St. Thomas of Aquin where Rev. Schilly celebrated his First Mass, and where Lena and Joseph Schilly celebrated their 50th Wedding Anniversary in 1951. Founded 1881, closed 2005. The parish's Irish founders wanted to hear sermons in English, rather than the German uttered from the pulpit of St. Anthony's. They appealed to their kinsman, Archbishop Peter Kenrick, who created the parish of St. Thomas in the Marquette-Cherokee Section of St. Louis . (3949 Iowa Avenue) |
| Marie Schilly went to work at Harber Ackerman's Dry Goods Store on Cherokee Street. |
Joseph was a tailor like his father Lorenz. He had a store built on 2125 Cherokee Street, and the family lived upstairs.
Joseph Schilly had his tailor shop at 2125 Cherokee Street
2125 Cherokee Street in 2006
Lemp-Cherokee District
Joe Schilly about age 5
outside Lorenz Schilly's tailor
shop on South Broadway
outside Lorenz Schilly's tailor
shop on South Broadway
| Sr. Mary Joseph Schilly, CPPS |
| By 1912, the present commercial district, between 2300 and 2900 on Cherokee Street had become well established. A count of the types of businesses there showed a predominance of dry goods stores, with a total of six. Next in order numerically, of which there were three of each, were saloons, groceries, barber shops, shoe stores, cleaners, tailors, druggists, and dentists. There was then a wide range of miscellaneous merchants and services including, jewelers, photo studios, confectioneries, butchers and millinery shops. By blocks, there were twelve businesses in the 2300 block, twenty in the 2600 block, twelve in the 2700, and twenty-one in the 2800 blocks on Cherokee Street. Among the early businessmen on Cherokee was Fred Wehrenberg, who opened his first theatre at 1953 Cherokee Street in 1906. In 1912 and 1920 the Cherokee theatre is listed at 2708-10 Cherokee Street. Another early entrant in the amusement field in the district was the Cinderella Theatre at 2735 Cherokee, which opened in 1915. It was part of a complex, which also included a dance hall and a skating rink, operated by Eugene and Harry Freund. They also operated the Cinderella Airdome Theatre at 2727 Cherokee in the early 1920's. About 1940, the Casa Loma Ballroom at 3352 Iowa Avenue was opened, prior to 1940 it was the Show Boat Dance Hall. Earliest of the variety "five and ten cent" stores in the area was that of F.W. Woolworth, which opened at 2743 Cherokee in 1919. It was followed by S.S. Kresge and Neisner Brothers during the 1920's. J.C. Penney opened their store on Cherokee Street in 1936. The Ziegenhein Brothers Livery and Undertaking Company was located at 2621 Cherokee from 1901 until about 1940. Some other old-line merchants in the district were the Dau Furniture Company, the Western Auto Supply Company and Walgreen's Drug Store. |
| St. Elizabeth's Academy where the Sisters Friends Quilting Club met. |
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| St. Agatha Church and Rectory where Marie E. Schilly and John A. Maurer were married on 10-3-1928 |
| At the time of their death Joseph and Lena lived at 5109 Goethe Street in St. Louis. Lena died 10-18-1958, while Joseph died 11 days later on 10-29-1958. They were buried from Our Lady of Sorrows Parish. |
Schilly
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