A Family Death on the Day of Her Birth

My husband's great-grandmother, Gertrude Kress, was born in Germany on June 16, 1862. Although she would live a long life, it's sad to know that she died on her birthday.

Gertrude decided to move to America and left her parents at the age of 19. She arrived in Baltimore on July 9, 1881, and seemed to be traveling alone. She probably knew someone living in the U.S. because she indicated she was headed to Pennsylvania.

Two years later, she was married to Casper Kaufman, a farmer living in Washington County, Pennsylvania. They would have at least 10 children together.

Gertrude became a citizen of the U.S. when her husband was naturalized on June 1, 1911. His naturalization petition on Ancestry.com is a great record because it lists the name, birth date, and place of birth for eight of their children.

In 1946, Gertrude was living with one of her daughters, Mary Kaufman Cowden, in Clairton, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, when she died on her birthday at the age of 84. She is buried with Casper in Raccoon Church Cemetery in Candor, Washington County, Pennsylvania. You can view their headstone on Find A Grave.