Bertha Garska Feldhahn
--Source, Sheridan County Star newspaper; Rushville, Sheridan County, Nebraska; March 19, 1936
Former Resident is Buried
Mrs. Bertha Feldhahn Is Called To Her Reward
Funeral Services for Mrs. Fred Feldhahn, a former Sheridan County resident, were conducted from the Lutheran church at Rushville Wednesday afternoon with the Reverend H.M. Roth assisted by the Reverend Wolfe of Chadron, officiating. Burial was in the family lot at the Rushville cemetery.
Services for the deceased had been held at the home in Council Bluffs, with Rev. Martin Mueller in charge, before the body was shipped to Rushville.
Bertha Augusta Gerska was born in Pommern, Deutschland on September 8, 1860, the child of Johann Garska and his wife Augusta, nee, Rueder. She was received into the Lutheran faith in early infancy by Holy Baptism and also received her instructions in Luther's Catechism for confirmation in the homeland. At the age of seventeen she emigrated to America to make her home at Portage, Wisconsin.
On January 27, 1878 Bertha Gerska was married to Carl Fischer of Portage, Wisconsin, moving in the same year to Nebraska. The Fischers pioneered on Rush Creek until 1885. Amidst hardships and privation the union was blessed with ten children, of which four died within a few short weeks during a diphtheria epidemic. An November 4, 1903 the husband and father died, leaving the mother and her children to face the problems of the frontier alone.
However, the lonely struggles of the widow Fischer should not be of long duration. On September 17, 1905 the Lord brought to her a new helpmate in Fred Feldhahn. The family now moved northwest of Hay Springs to the ranch of Mr. Feldhahn, where five daughters of a former marriage awaited the coming of the new mother. In the year 1911 the Feldhahns moved into Hay Springs where they built and operated the Feldhahn Hotel. In 1913 the aging couple came to Council Bluffs, Iowa and enjoyed a beautiful home on Broadway at Orchard Avenue.
Bertha Garska Feldhahn enjoyed good health most of her life., but in her declining years the hardships of her early life revealed the penalities on her body. She became seriously ill about three months ago and required the loving care of her faithful husband and of the family, and during the last several weeks the constant prescence of professional help. she died on Sunday, March 15th at 5:15 o'clock, as we confidently hope, safe in the arms of Jesus, whom she especially learned to love and trust during the pressure of the heavy cross during her closing days of life. She attained an age of 75 years, 6 months, and 7 days.
She leaves to mourn her passing--her aged husband; two sons William of Rushville and Frank of Council Bluffs; four daughters, Ann Foster of Gordon, Nebraska; Rose Rush of Rushville, Nebraska; Elsie Holstein of Hay Springs, Nebraska; Mable Baldauf of Clinton, Nebraska; Step-children; Bertha Jacobsen, Mary Scherbarth and Lena Brownell of Hay Springs, Martha Schiedt of Jefferson, Colo., and Louise Merrill of Council Bluffs, Iowa; 38 grandchildren and 26 great-grand-children; One brother: Albert Garska of Burwell, Nebraska and one half-sister, Mrs. Anna Waterstraat of Detroit, Michigan.
Bertha Augusta Garska Feldhahn was and died a communicant member of St. Paul's Lutheran Church, Frank Street and Perrin Avenue, Council Bluffs, Iowa.