Born
July 30, 1835
Hessen, Germany

Died
February 16, 1907
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Parents
Martin Joseph Scheling
Anna Marguerita Denner

Siblings
Josepha Scheling

Spouse
Adolph Manns
Married 1858 in St. John, Middlesex, England

Children
Elizabeth Manns
Josephine Manns
Catherine Manns
Adolph Manns Jr.
Bertha Manns
Amelia Manns
Rosa Mary Manns
One additional child, name unknown

Life Story

Elizabeth Scheling, younger sister to Josepha Scheling Pappert and aunt to Edward (Valentin) Pappert, was born July 30, 1835 in the Hessen region of Germany to Joseph Martin Scheling and Anna Marguerita Denner. She married Adolph Manns, also from Hessen in Middlesex, England in 1858. It is not clear when and why she moved to England, but it is possible that she was pregnant before getting married.

Elizabeth and her husband had a total of eight children according to the 1900 Census, at least five of whom were born in England. Their first daughter Elizabeth was born in July of 1858, the same year they married. Sixteen months later, a second daughter Josephine Manns was born, and a third daughter, Catherine, was born in 1861 but died when she was young. Their fourth, and only son, Adolph, was born in September 1865, and another daughter Bertha was born in October of 1868.

In 1869 Elizabeth, Adolph and their four surviving children immigrated to the United States and settled in Utica, New York where her husband continued to work as a tailor. She and her husband had at least two more children in Utica: Amelia, born in Feb 1871 and Rose Mary, born in Feb 1874 or 1875. She and her family stayed in Utica until the late 1870s before moving to Philadelphia by the 1880 census. Before they left, her oldest daughter Elizabeth apparently married and had two children; she and her husband remained in the Utica area.

Elizabeth and her husband suffered several tragedies while living in Philadelphia. In January of 1883, their only son Adolph took an overdose of Laudanum--a highly addictive narcotic that was commonly prescribed to treat diarrhea, coughs and to relieve pain--and died. His death was ruled a suicide by the doctor signing his death certificate. In June of the same year, she and her husband committed their daughter Bertha, diagnosed with "Dementia Praecox" to the State Hospital for the Mentally Insane in Norristown, Pennsylvania, where she lived until her death in June 1927. By 1900, their oldest daughter, Lizzie and her daughter Lillie, had moved to Philadelphia and were living with them. It is unclear whether Elizabeth lived to witness one more tragedy: the physical and mental decline her daughter Elizabeth would experience as a result of Tabes dormalis, a condition caused by an untreated Syphilis infection which eventually would require extended hospitalization in 1908, a year after her mother's death.

Their youngest daughter, Rosa, married in September 1895. Elizabeth became a grandmother once again in 1898 with the birth of Rosa's son Edward and in 1907 with the birth of her son Howard. Elizabeth passed away a month after Howard's birth in February 1907; the cause of death was "paralysis of the bowels, 21 days" and is buried at Holy Cross Cemetery in Philadelphia along with her husband and her daughters Bertha and Amelia. It is possible that Elizabeth, like many women during this time, became addicted to Laudanum, and its overuse contributed to her paralysis of the bowels.

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Possible other siblings

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Updated 9/20/14