52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - #19 - Juliana Rossmann

This is #19 in a Genealogy Blog Challenge issued by Amy Johnson Crow over on her blog "No Story Too Small." The challenge is to write 52 blog posts on 52 ancestors throughout 2014

I'm way behind in this challenge, but I'm still continuing on! 

Juliana Rossmann was born on the 14th of May, 1879 in Putzig, Westpruessen, Prussia - now called Puck, Poland.  She was the first child of Anton Rossmann and Anna Slezinski. When Juliana was not even one year old, the new family decided to move to the United States. They boarded the Cumberland, in Hamburg, Germany and headed for Leith (now just outside of Edinburgh, Scotland. From Leith, they traveled to Glasgow, Scotland where they boarded the Circassia for New York.  They left Hamburg, Germany on the 19th of March, 1880, and arrived in New York on the 12 of April, 1880.

Once Juliana's family settled in Chicago, she wound up with six more siblings. The family lived at 4812 S. Marshfield Ave. in the Back-of-the-Yards neighborhood on the south side of Chicago. This neighborhood was populated by successive generations of immigrants and was located down-wind of the Union Stockyards and meat-packing plants.

Possible photo of Juliana Rossmann
ca. 1915 - 1920 (ish)
This photo is included in an old family
photo album in a section of photos
of Juliana's grown children on vacation.
As it is not labeled, I cannot be sure that
it really is her, but I'm about 90% certain.

In 1897, when Juliana was eighteen, she married John J. Bettcher in St. Joseph's Catholic Church in Chicago. 11 months later, Juliana and John's first child, Agnes, was born in December 1897. Their second child, Anthony, was born early in 1899, and a third child, Helen, was born in 1900.

By this time, Juliana and John were living just a block away from where her parents lived - still in the Back of the Yards neighborhood, but at 4921 S. Marshfield. Census records show that it wasn't just John and Juliana in the home, her mother-in-law, Elizabeth Bettcher was living there too. In fact, Elizabeth owned the home and on the census records, John and Juliana were renting from her.

The next time we see Juliana and John in any records is the 1910 census. By this time, four more children joined the family: Anna in 1901, Rose in 1904, Polly in 1906, and Albert in 1908. The census indicates that Juliana had a total of 9 children, with 7 still living. Unfortunately, Albert had a twin brother, Adam, who was stillborn and John Bettcher was born in 1902 and died 4 months later in 1903.

Five years later, in 1915, Juliana's husband, John, was found dead in an alley. He had slipped, fallen, and frozen to death on a cold day in February.  Juliana kept on, though. Her oldest children were working in the stockyards or in other factories.

By 1920, Juliana owned 4921 Marshfield outright. In addition to 6 of her children and herself, Juliana had a sister-in-law, a neice, and two borders all living with her on the first floor of the home. She rented out the second floor to two more families.

On the 22nd of February, 1929, Juliana Rossmann Bettcher passed away at the age of 50. She is buried in Resurrection Cemetery in Justice, IL.

Juliana is my great-great-grandmother on my father's side.