Biography of John and Rachel Zoeller

Zoeller

John Zoeller and wives Rachel and Selina

of Pittsburgh and Washington, PA

John Zoeller and his brother Phillip (left), date and place unknown

John's signature

1849 - Sept. - born, presumably in Pittsburgh, the son of Phillip Georg and Margaret (Keinert) Zoeller.

1859 - Wife Rachel born in Wurtemburg, Germany. She came to America sometime before 1877, when their first child was born in Pittsburgh.

-- They had at least four children, Charles Zoeller, Julia Zoeller, Elmer Zoeller and Alice Zoeller.

1877 - Son Charles Zoeller born

1879 - Daughter Julia Zoeller born.

1880 - The U.S. census shows John and Sarah residing on Sarah Street in Pittsburgh's South Side with son Charles (age 3) and daughter Julia (1). John's employment that year was "mould maker." He claimed to have been unemployed two months out of the past year.

1900 - When the federal census was taken, John and his second wife Selina (1850- ? ) were residing on Mill Street in Washington, Washington County, PA. They had been married within the year. Living under their roof were children Elmer (age 17) and Alice (10). Whether the children were John's or Selina's is not yet known. John's employment that year was as a mold maker.

1906 - Was living in Washington, PA at the death of his father. Attended the funeral.

1910 - Was living in Washington, PA at the death of his mother. As co-executor of the estate, signed the Application for Probate of Will document along with his brother Charles Zoeller.

-- The U.S. census shows John (age 60) and Selina (59) living by themselves, after 11 years of marriage, on Mill Street in Washington. John worked that year as a mold maker in a glass factory.

Atlas Glass Works, one of many glass-producing plants in Washington in the early 1900s

1920 - In the census, John (age 70) and Selina (68) lived in a rented home on South Franklin Street in Washington, with John continuing his labors as a mold maker in a glass factory. The census-taker spelled the name "Zoellers."

1920s - John died sometime during the decade of the 1920s. Now widowed, Selina moved to a new residence on Jefferson Street in Washington. She took in widows Ella Stewart (age 74) and Margaret Mowry (76) as lodgers in her home.

1930 - In the census, Selina is shown as widowed at age 75 in her home on Jefferson Street.