Conrad Mohelnitzky and Mary Fastner

Conrad Mohelnitzky

Photo taken at Prescher studio in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, at the corner of 6th and Chestnut streets.

Following are two portraits of Conrad Mohelnitzky taken when he was about age 15. The photographer was J. E. Collette of Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin. Did Conrad live or work in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin? 

Above two photos from the collection of Helen Mohelnitzky Peters.

Mary Fastner and Conrad Mohelnitzky were married on August 22, 1899, at St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

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Summary of marriage record, Dane County Bureau of Vital Statistics, State of Wisconsin, Madison, Dane County, Wisconsin; Vol. 31, page 449, Vol. I, Number 8960, Milwaukee County:

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Summary of marriage record, St. Joseph's Catholic Church,12130 West Center Street, Wauwatosa, Wisconsin 53222:

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Names are spelled wrong in the marriage records. The names of Mary's parents don't agree with other sources. Mary's father was Wenzel Fastner; her mother was Catherine Niga.

Conrad Mohelnitzky & Mary Fastner

Conrad and Mary had four daughters, Irene, Evelyn, Helen and Merie.

They possibly had a son named Orville who died as a baby, but no information was found for him. According to Merie Mohelnitzky, she heard that Orville was not baptized.

St. Joseph Congregation, 12130 West Center St., Wauwatosa, WI, 53222, letter dated February 28, 1996, from parish secretary Marianne Dreikosen states: "I was unable to find any record of the birth or death of Orville Mohelnitzky. I searched the records from 1908 thru 1912." St. Joseph's Church was formerly located at 11th & Cherry St., Milwaukee, WI, from 1855 to 1962.

Conrad worked for the Steinmeyer grocery business in Milwaukee, Wisconsin

1895 Milwaukee City Directory:

"Wm. Steinmeyer Co., retail and whol. grocers, 316-320 3d" 

"Conrad S. Mohelnitzky, clk 318 3d h r 722 Galena."

"Mr. Steinmeyer was the owner of one of the largest retail grocery stores in Milwaukee, and for over twenty-five years he had been prominently connected with that branch of trade in this city. Soon after the war, with John C. Bauer as partner, Mr. Steinmeyer opened a grocery store at 331 Chestnut street."

Source: Milwaukee Sentinel (Milwaukee, Wisconsin), May 11, 1892, page 6, column 1, obituary.

When daughter Irene Mohelnitzky was born on Sept. 24, 1900, the family lived at 579 - 5th Street in Milwaukee. When daughters Evelyn Mohelnitzky (Jan. 31, 1902) and Helen Mohelnitzky (Aug. 15, 1903) were born the family lived at 589 - 11th Street in Milwaukee. 

1905 Wisconsin State Census, 2nd Ave 15th Ward, Milwaukee, Milwaukee County, Wisconsin.

Enumeration date: June 1, 1905.

Sheet 14, Line number 41-46, family number 345.

Summary:

41. Conrad Mohelnitzky; head; white; male; age 30; married; born Wisconsin; parents born Bohemia/Pa [Pennsylvania]; occupation grocer; employed 12 months; rented home.

42. Mary [Mary Fastner Mohelnitzky Bauer]; wife; white; female; age 25; married; born Germany; parents born Germany.

43. Irene [Irene Catherine Mohelnitzky]; daughter; white; female; age 4; single; born Wisconsin; parents born Wisconsin/Germany.

44. Evelyn [Evelyn Philomena Mohelnitzky Whalen]; daughter; white; female; age 3; single; born Wisconsin; parents born Wisconsin/Germany.

45. Helen [Helen Frances Mohelnitzky Peters]; daughter; white; female; age 2; single; born Wisconsin; parents born Wisconsin/Germany.

46. Frances [Frances Christina Mohelnitzky Kussman]; sister; white; female; age 20; single; born Wisconsin; parents born Bohemia/Penn [Pennsylvania]

Source Information: Ancestry.com.. Wisconsin State Censuses, 1895 and 1905 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2007. Original data: Wisconsin. Wisconsin State Census, 1895 Microfilm, 10 reels. Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin. Wisconsin. Wisconsin State Census, 1905. Microfilm, 44 reels. Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin.

From 1909 to 1910, the family was living at 2213 5th Street in Wausau, Marathon County, Wisconsin. Perhaps this was when Conrad worked with his brother John Mohelnitzky as coffee and tea agents.

City Directory: Wausau, Marathon County, Wisconsin

1910: Mohelnitzky Conrad, City Wausau, Type Resident; Occupation Agent; Home Address 2213 5th Street.

1910: Mohelnitzky John A., agt. h. 504 Wausau av.

From 1911 to 1914, Conrad and Mary operated a small general store together in Germantown, Richland County, Wisconsin. After Conrad's death in 1914, Mary operated the store alone, until her 2nd marriage on June 21, 1917 to Theodore M. Bauer.

1912, March 8: Page 1, “Germantown enjoys the advantage of a good grocery store and the proprietor, Mr. Mohelnitzky invites you to look over his line.”

1912, March 15: Page 1, column 3, “Germantown…Mr. Nohelnitzky had quite an exciting time Monday morning and the happening is as follows: He went to town to get the horses he was driving, shod, and returned to haul a load of sand for Mr. Milfred and as he was driving through a gate, the wheel of his vehicle struck the post and the result was that he was pitched on the ground and he received some cuts and bruises, but Mr. Mohelnitzky is a plucky man and was not yet satisfied with what faith had dealt him. He went and loaded on a load of sand and it would seem he piled on a little too much for while journeying homeward he got set with his load and remained in such straits till someone came to his relief and pulled him out and this completes the adventures of Mr. Mohelnitzky for one day.”

1913, September 12: "Local News, Con Mohelnitzky left Sunday morning for a short stay in Milwaukee."

            Source: Cazenovia Reporter (Cazenovia, Richland County, Wisconsin)

Findagrave Website - Conrad Mohelnitzky

On June 21, 1917, Mary Fastner Mohelnitzky was remarried, to Theodore M. Bauer, son of Nicholas Bauer and Catherine Braun. 

Excerpts from a June 1971 interview with Conrad Mohelnitzky's daughter Merie:

When your father died, when did she remarry? Who did she remarry? She married Theodore Bauer, he was a man of 32, my mother was 34, and I was not quite 6 years old. I remember was that my cousin came from Milwaukee and my aunt, the day before, and we were so happy playing around with my cousin. But then I knew something was taking place which I didn’t like, because my mother seemed real sad, she didn’t know if she was doing the right thing or not. And my mother and I were too close, which wasn’t good to be as close as we were. And I was hurt because I knew she wasn’t feeling good about something. So the next morning, I remembered I come down the steps, step after step, and I wondered if I’m going to see my mother crying. But no, she was happy and everybody was puttin’ up white bells, and, oh, everybody was, seemed real excited, ya know. And mother was dressed, she wore white for her second marriage, but no veil, and she was very, real pretty, if I have to say it myself.

Excerpt from a February 23, 1975 interview with Conrad Mohelnitzky’s daughter, Merie:

When your father died, did then your mother remarry? Yes, four years afterwards, she remarried. She married Theodore Bauer--he was a young fellow of 32 years old. How old was she then? She was 34 or 36--she was four years older than Grandpa [Theodore Bauer]. She was older than him. They got married in Germantown? Right. I was six. And I wanted to throw rice at my mother, and my sisters wouldn't let me get the rice out of the store, I remember that, I wanted to throw rice, too. Did they have any children? She’d lost several, I wouldn't know how many, she had several miscarriages.

What did they do for a living? They operated the Germantown store, and that wasn't enough, but he worked for his brothers and did odd jobs, other odd jobs during the winter. For hay, and he worked for his brothers, and corn picking or corn cutting, they didn't pick it, I guess that years, they cut it.

Did he own the store? He bought the store, yes, my mother did not own it. My dad just rented and when my dad died, she would never have stayed there because she couldn't have made it go if the people weren't so wonderful. But when they heard that she was going to leave they all came together, they had a meeting, just like a town hall meeting, they came from far and wide. And they asked her if she would only stay that they would help her all they could. And she said she'll never think, forget how big-hearted they were. They would bring her a half a hog at a time, all cut up, ready for her to do something with it, to fry down or do something. They cut and hauled all her wood free for the stove. They cut her ice free, they had “ice bees,” they wouldn't take a cent for anything. So then when The Depression came and these same people had nothing, these farmers had nothing, they charged and they charged, and so I guess she paid them back, cuz she never got the money--they couldn't pay her, you know. That's why they never became rich.

Do you know what he paid for that store? My dad? Grandpa Bauer [Merie’s step-father, Theodore Bauer]. No, I wished I did. I wonder if that could be found some place. Who did he buy it from, who owned the store? George Ruskauff. Oh, he still owned it? Right. How long did they have the store then? Until my mother died. That was 30 years ago now...

Mary continued to run the grocery store in Germantown along with her second husband, Theodore. No living children were born to Mary and Theodore.

Theodore and Mary are remembered for regularly ringing the Angelus bell at 7 a.m., noon and 6 p.m. Theodore was the parish fireman, a post he inherited from Peter Hanko, until oil took over as the principal source of energy. These were the days people did not try to get the seats closest to the back of church, but those closest to the two stoves, on on either side.

[Saint Anthony de Padua 125th Anniversary, Germantown, Richland County, Wisconsin, page 18]

Undated interview with Dean Blau, approximately 1999:

I remember going to Grandma Bauers just about every Sunday when we were kids. This lasted until Grandma died. Grandma had a small general store in Germantown in Richland County. This was about an hours drive from our farm home north of Plain. Daddy drove very slow and sometimes he would let me sit on his lap and steer the car for awhile. My mother and dad would sing while the family drove to Germantown and we would play games like counting cows, telephone poles, etc.

I always rushed into the store and headed right for the candy case to see what candies were in there. Grandma always gave us malted milk balls. So when I eat malted milk balls, I think of her. Sometimes I would stay at Grandmas for a week or two in the summertime. Grandma always had grapefruit halves for breakfast which I did not like. It was fun to help in the store, especially Sunday mornings after church, when they would let me scoop out ice cream cones for the customers. Grandpa Bauer would go to Cazenovia to the meat market on Saturday afternoon and bring back a box of ring bologna which he displayed on top of the grocery counter on Sunday. I remember Grandma shooing customers out of the store on Sunday saying, "Everybody out--time for church." (the Catholic church was next door to the store).

The Catholic school was across the street from the store and I remember helping my Grandma and some other ladies clean the school one day. My grandma said to the ladies "This is Dean, Merie's son, can you believe he's in 6th grade already?"

Grandma Bauer (Mary Fastner Mohelnitzky Bauer) died of cancer. She was in the hospital for a long time. They (the doctor's) told her a lie and said she was getting better. After Grandma died in July of 1945, some of us kids went to stay with Grandpa at the store in Germantown. I stayed the rest of the summer until school started and rang the bells at church on V-J day (end of World War II). Grandpa Bauer (step-grandfather Theodore Bauer) wasn't a very good business man, Grandma had always run the business, so after her death he was kind of lost and shortly sold the business.

Mary Fastner Mohelnitzky Bauer died at age 64 of cancer on July 14, 1945 at Reedsburg Memorial Hospital, Reedsburg, Sauk County, Wisconsin.

Obituaries: Mrs. Theodore Bauer passed away at the Reedsburg hospital, Saturday, after a long illness. She is survived by her husband and three daughters, Mrs. Helen Peters of Milwaukee, Mrs. Marie Blau, of Plain, and Mrs. Evelyn Whalen of Germantown. A daughter, Irene, passed away several years ago. The funeral was held on Monday morning at St. Anthony's church.

[Source: Reedsburg Times Press (Reedsburg, Wisconsin); 1945 July 19, page 2]

Theodore Bauer died at age 86 in a nursing home in Hillsboro, Vernon County, Wisconsin.

Theodore Bauer, Germantown Grocer Dies

Theodore Bauer, 86, died Thursday, July 8, in a Hillsboro nursing home after a long illness. He had owned and operated a general store in Germantown for many years, before his retirement.

He was a member of St. Anthony's Catholic church, where funeral services were held Saturday - at - 9:30. The Gant Funeral Home was in charge of the services.

Survivors are two stepdaughters, Mrs. Ray Peters, Milwaukee, and Mrs. Anton Blau, Fond du Lac; two brothers, Hubert and Arnold, both of Cazenovia; three sisters, Mrs. Elizabeth Esther [Escher] and Mrs. Gertrude Walsh, Cazenovia, and Mrs. Margaret Honer of Ithaca.

[Source: Richland Observer (Richland Center, Wisconsin); July 15, 1971, page 11, section 1, col. 1]

Findagrave Website - Mary Fastner Mohelnitzky Bauer

Findagrave Website - Theodore Bauer