The Kaiers Come to America

The Kaier family emigrated to America in 1854. The parents were Andreas, a blacksmith, and Cresentia (Wittmer) Kaier. The parents and their five children, at that time, left Germany, traveled through France via the Rhine-Marne canal to Le Havre and boarded the ship Valanden to sail to New York City, where they landed on July 24th, 1854. The entire trip took two months. The couple settled in Norristown, PA. The children were Anselm, anglicized to Charles, Xavier, George, Edward, and their sister Josephine. Xavier became a Catholic priest,as described above. When Rev. Xavier was sent to Dushore in 1863 by the Bishop of Philadelphia, his parents, brothers George and Edward, and his sister Josephine also went to Dushore, along with William and Ruth Rebecca, new siblings who had been born in America. Their home and farm was, and still is next to St. Basil's church.

Anselm (Charles D. Kaier) became a baker's apprentice. At the start of the Civil War, age 22, he enrolled in the 9th Regiment, Company H on 4/24/1861 as a private for a 3 month enlistment. This company was named the "Wetherill Rifles". He was mustered out of the army on 7/29/1861. This type of 90 day enrollment was quite common at the beginning of the war because the military leaders of the Union thought that they would subdue the Confederacy in a short period of time. After his honorable discharge from the GAR, Charles returned to civilian life and a few months later, in 1862, he started the Chas. D. Kaier Co. in Mahanoy City, PA. He was an agent (distributor) for the Bergner and Engle brewery of Philadelphia, PA, before going into the liquor retail business on his own. Eventually, he became a liquor rectifier and brewed his own beer. On Jan. 8, 1863, he married Margaret Curry, a schoolteacher, whose Irish immigrant parents, Patrick and Eleanora (Salmon) Curry, owned a hotel and restaurant in Pottsville, PA. Charles D. and Margaret Kaier raised six daughters and one son: Ella, the oldest, Mrs. John B. Lieberman, Josephine, Mrs. Michael Haughney, Margaret, also Mrs. John B. Lieberman, Mary ("Mame"), Mrs. Lloyd W. Fahler, Cresentia, Mrs. Richard Kirby, Charles F., married to Ester McGinty and Amelia, the youngest, Mrs. Henry Schreyer. Three of Chas. D. Kaier's sons-in-law worked in the brewery at one time or another: Michael Haughney, John B. Lieberman and Lloyd Fahler. The Kaiers had three other children, Bridget, Anna and Troian Anselm, who all died at a very young age. You can learn more about the Kaier family in Mahanoy City at the Kaier Brewery History Page.

George Kaier, as we previoulsy mentioned, raised a large family and lived in Dushore for more than sixty years. He married Margaret Murphy (1843-1923) there and they had nine children, eight of whom survived infancy. The pictures below shows Margaret alone and then Margaret with six of these eight chldren.