Donna Casper while visiting her mother at Traditions of Hershey.
On Tuesday night, November 8, 2022, Donna Jean (Nahodil) Casper of Kulpmont died at Geisinger Medical Center in Danville.
Donna was born on February 16, 1956 in Bristol Township to George and Alma (Strausser) Nahodil whom she loved dearly.
Kind, loving, and outgoing, Donna loved to talk and could have hour-long conversations with strangers she encountered along her travels. Donna loved all animals and was always quick to act when an animal was in need. She enjoyed walking through cemeteries with her daughter on their pursuit to find ancestors and work on the family tree.
Donna is survived by a daughter, Lisa; two sons, George and William; grandchildren, Linda, George, and Michael; a brother, George; several nieces and nephews; cousins; and her beloved chihuahuas and turtle.
She was preceded in death by her parents; a brother, Earl; a sister, Linda (Turner), and a daughter, Nicole.
Donna will be deeply missed by her family and friends.
Private services will be held at the convenience of the family.
On the evening of Friday, October 28, 2022, Alma Lareen Nahodil died of natural causes at the age of 96.
Alma, known as Peggy, was born on March 17, 1926 in Coal Township to George and Ada Mae (Wetzel) Strausser. After her father’s death in 1927, her paternal uncle and his wife, Earl and Martha Mae (Bradigan) Strausser, raised little Peggy as their own.
Although Peggy was 14 when she learned Martha and Earl were her aunt and uncle, she always considered them to be her mom and dad and loved them dearly. In this family, she was raised with a sister, Vivian, and one brother, Earl.
Peggy knew and spent time with her biological family throughout her childhood, though she was uncertain as to their relationship until she turned 14. At this time, she moved from Coal Township to Philadelphia to live with her mother and siblings. Peggy was the youngest of eight children: Marlin, May, Thelma (Rothman), Leonard, Dorothy (Rothman), Robert, and Betty (Mullin).
On March 4, 1945, Peggy married George “Rudy” Nahodil at First Schwenkfelder Church in Philadelphia. Peggy and Rudy started their family in Philadelphia before moving to Levittown, PA in 1953. Their home in the Goldenridge section of Levittown would become the pride and joy of the family for nearly 50 years. The front door was always open to visitors wishing to stop by or stay for a while. Peggy loved visitors and the opportunity to feed them. With plenty of food, desserts, and other goodies, Peggy always made sure everyone left with a full stomach. Peggy and Rudy’s 55-year marriage came to an end when he died on October 19, 2000.
On March 14, 2006, Peggy married John Thompson in Virginia. Together, the couple traveled and enjoyed an active life. John died in 2011.
Peggy is survived by a daughter, Donna; a son, George; many grandchildren and great-grandchildren; several nieces and nephews; and Linda Maurin, whose loving friendship spanned more than 60 years.
She was preceded in death by her parents, siblings, husbands, and two children, Earl and Linda (Turner).
Peggy spent her final years living at Palmyra Heritage House, where she was well cared for and loved by the staff who made sure Peggy was comfortable and her family had everything they needed while keeping vigil.
The SS Switzerland arrived at the Port of Philadelphia on August 24, 1892 carrying Rosalie Nahodil and her four children. For many years, the passenger list announcing her arrival would be the earliest record to be found for Rosalie, who is most commonly known as Rosamond. The difficulty in researching Rosalie stems from almost every document having a slightly different name. The ten variations of Rosamond’s first name include: Rose, Rosa, Rosia, Rosie, Rosalia, Rosalie, Rosamond, Rosamund, Rosemond, and Rosmond. Do you know which name was given to her at birth?
Death certificates and obituaries for Rosamond and many of her children provide an array of maiden names for Rosamond: Arusta, Astor, Austro, Austruia, and Estorkia (?).
Of the sources documenting snippets of Rosamond’s life, only one was provided by her. In 1906, Rosamond was the informant providing information for the death certificate of her daughter Francis. The name she provided as her maiden name was Rosa Estorkia (?). This is the only primary source record found with Rosamond’s name after she immigrated. To further complicate matters, on a number of death certificates where one of her children was the informant, “can’t say” was written in response to being asked for Rosamond’s maiden name.
Name and birthplace provided by Rosamond on death certificate.
Enough background, let’s get to the reason for this post.
Friends, family, fellow searchers…it is my great pleasure to introduce you to Rosamund Julianna Oesterreicher. Would you like another surprise? Then let me also introduce you to Rosamund’s parents, Franz Oesterreicher and Marie Brumbauer. Rosamund was born in 1860 and was baptized in the Roman Catholic Church. At the time of Rosamund’s birth and baptism, the family lived in Ruszkabánya, a commune in Western Romania. The baptism record shows that Franz was a shopkeeper, though it is unknown what type of shop.
Birth and baptism record for Rosamund Oesterreicher. Ancestry.com. Records are in Latin.
In late 1883, Rosamund and Rudolf Nahodil are found in Petroșani, Hunedoara County, Transylvania, Romania where the birth, baptism, and death of their son Antonius are among the records of the Roman Catholic Church.
A view of Petroșani, Transylvania. This community appears similar to the community of Shamokin, Pennsylvania, where they made their home in the U.S.
You may be asking yourself how Oesterreicher becomes Astor. I cannot provide an absolutely positive answer how the change occurred, but I can provide what I have found for you to interpret.
Oesterreicher is not only a surname that literally means “one from Austria,” but it is also the German word for Austria.
Although Rosamund arrived in the United States in 1892, the 1900 US Federal Census shows that she did not speak English.
As a final surprise, I am including an audio recording of what Rosamund’s name would have sounded like in her native German language. After listening to this, consider how Oesterreicher may be shortened upon arriving in America.
An audio introduction to Rosamund Oesterreicher by Jennifer Fidder.
Did these factors play a part in the variations in her maiden name? Was her maiden name Americanized? Did her English-speaking children not fully understand the pronunciation? Maybe she rarely mentioned her maiden name.
If you knew Rosamund (Oesterreicher) Nahodil and have memories that you would like to share, please email findingmydead@gmail.com. I would love to learn more about this woman from those who knew her directly.
I would like to give a special thank you to Jennifer Fidder for her kindness in making this post’s audio introduction to Rosamund for us.
I was reading through my normal blogs yesterday when something caught my eye…”52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks”. So I headed over to Amy Johnson Crow’s site at http://www.nostorytoosmall.com/posts/challenge-52-ancestors-in-52-weeks/ to read more about her challenge for 2014. One blog post for a specific ancestor each week… I should be able to swing once a week even with the upcoming move.
Since my Pop was always my favorite, it seems fitting that he should be my number 1 post. My grandfather, George Rudolph Nahodil, was an amazing man. He was a family man. He was a hard working man. He was a caring man. He was a funny man.
Rudy, as George was known by his entire life, had a great sense of humor. I imagine it must have started as a young boy as he listed his occupation as an “Actor” on his World War II enlistment record in 1942 when he was just 19 years of age (or so he claimed); Rudy’s actual occupation was as a laborer in the anthracite coal mines of central Pennsylvania.
George Rudolph Nahodil – a sampling of the ears
The Nahodil family was blessed with big, beautiful (uh, did I really just say that?) ears. The ears of the earlier generations were so distinctive that you could pick a Nahodil our in a crowd without even knowing him. While my actor grandfather was overseas in the military, he must have spent his downtime perfecting his signature move known as the ear wiggle. He loved to perform this move for us kids, especially when other adults were around but not looking…we broke out in giggle fits every time. We all wanted to learn this skill and spent a great deal of time practicing but nobody has ever done it as well as Rudy; I’ll turn 40 next week and still catch myself “practicing”.
Rudy was the consummate joker and all people and places were fair game. Dragging his leg behind him as a zombie might was not uncommon while out shopping with the kids and other adults. This was hysterical when I was a child but I now I cannot help but think of how mortified his wife must have been…still makes me chuckle.
40th wedding celebration announcement for Frederick Nahodil and Flossie Irene Lynn published in the Shamokin Citizen on June 2, 1960. Today is the 93rd anniversary of their marriage.
Catherine I. Nahodil was born in Shamokin, PA in 1915. The name of her parents have not been confirmed at this time but it is believed that she was the daughter of either Frederick or Julia Nahodil.
Catherine was raised by her grandparents, Rudolf and Rosamond Nahodil, and was listed as Rosamond’s adopted daughter in 1930. Rudolf passed away in 1929 and when Rosamond died in 1939, Catherine was still living at home.
The 1940 U. S. Federal Census shows that Rudolf and Rosamond’s daughter Julia (Nahodil) Snyder has now moved into the home that Rosamond and Catherine shared and Catherine is now listed as Julia’s daughter.
Catherine married William M. Johnson in 1940, after the census take recorded. Catherine and William had lived a block apart on Franklin Street for at least the previous five years.
The plastic marker show in the image above is all that marks the location of Catherine’s cremains.
The March 19 blogging prompt to celebrate National Women’s History Month as brought to us by Lisa Alzo of The Accidental Genealogist is — Have you discovered a surprising fact about one of your female ancestors? What was it and how did you learn it? How did you feel when you found out?
Catherine Nahodil first appeared on my tree about six years ago while I was recording the details of the 1920 census for 2nd great grandparents; Catherine was listed as the “Grandchild” of Rudolph and Rose Nahodil. I didn’t give this much thought as the youngest child of Rudolph and Rose was still at home along with two of their adult children, I figured that Catherine was probably one of theirs.
Time came to enter the 1930 census information for Rose Nahodil, Rudolph had passed away the year prior, and I couldn’t help but notice that Catherine was now listed as the “Adopted Daughter”. For five years I wondered who’s child she was but nothing popped up and I never really spent an extensive amount of time looking for her but I always kept an eye out.
Last year I received the death certificate for the first wife of Frederick Nahodil who was a son of Rudolph and Rose. His wife, Iona died in 1915 from cardiac insufficiency caused by nephritis and pregnancy. Oh my…could my grandfather have had an older sister that he never knew about?
March 11 — Did you have any female ancestors who died young or from tragic or unexpected circumstances? Describe and how did this affect the family?
Throughout the summer of 1935, Rosemond Nahodil talked of attending school for the first time. Rosemond was anxious to get her books and begin the journey of learning how to read, write and spell. She spoke of it constantly and when the opening day drew near she was as thrilled as any little girl could be.
On Saturday, August 31, 1935, 6 year old Rosemond completed her preparations for attending school. Her mother had her clothing cleaned and ironed for within 48 hours the youngster would begin school.
The following day Rosemond complained of not feeling well. She was stricken acutely ill and her anxious parents called for a physician, who ordered her placed in bed and immediately began treatments. But Rosemond failed to rally. Her condition became critical the following Friday and at 11:00 that night she was rushed to Shamokin hospital. Five hours later she died.
Rosemond would never have the chance to begin the adventure she looked forward to for so long. Though her older brother George, my grandfather, did not speak of this often, I know that her death affected him deeply. When I was her age, my grandfather bought me books and we spent the summer playing school; it now seems to me that this may have been influenced by Rosemond’s abrupt death.
Finding My Dead 
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