Leier Family Chart
Leier Family History
Children of Charles
& Louise Nowasky
Children of Lawrence
& Amelia Leier
Cemeteries
Causes of Death
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Children of Charles & Louise Nowasky
Emilie (Amelia), Bertha, Carl (Charles) and Herman.
Amelia Nowasky was born as Emilie Nowacka in Germany in February 1865 and immigrated to New York City with her family around 1880. Based on information I received from several sources, Nowacki is a very common surname in present-day Poland and it was the custom for an unmarried female with that surname to spell her name with an (a) at the end (Nowacka).
The earliest document that I have is the marriage certificate of Emilie Nowacka and Longinus Leier, dated September 9, 1883. They were married in St. John’s German Evangelical Lutheran Church, located on Prospect Avenue in Brooklyn. On her marriage certificate, 19-year-old Emilie stated her father’s name was Carl Nowatzki. I have been told by those same informed sources that Nowatzki is the German spelling of the Polish Nowacki. In any case, Emilie’s place of birth on the certificate is entered as “Germany”. She and Longinus were living in Gravesend, Long Island at the time and one of the witnesses to the marriage was her 16-year-old sister, Bertha Nowacka.
Eventually, Emilie changed her name to Amelia and Longinus changed his to Lawrence. Carl Nowatzki changed his name to Charles Nowasky.
For more information on Amelia and Lawrence, click on the "Leier Family History" in the panel on the left.
Bertha Rosalie Nowasky was born as Bertha Nowacka in Germany in 1867 and immigrated to New York City with her family around 1880.The second-oldest document that I have is Bertha’s marriage certificate. She was barely 17 years old when she married 24-year-old Albert Kuntze on February 15, 1885, in the same church as her sister, St. John's German Evangelical Lutheran Church in Brooklyn. Curiously, her name is spelled Nowazky on the certificate and the name of her father is written as Carl Nowazky. Furthermore, one of the witnesses is Carl Nowazky, which could be Bertha’s father or her 15-year-old brother. The other witness is Longinus Leier.
The most important piece of information on the certificate, however, is the entry for Bertha’s place of birth, which is “Ceckin Germany”. No other document that I have in my possession offers anything other than “Germany” for birthplace. Although I have yet to verify this, it is possible that Ceckin is Cekzin, the German spelling for a village in present-day Poland called Cekcyn. In 1880, this village would have been located in what was then part of the vast German Empire. All of the documents I have for the Nowaskys indicate they considered themselves, German, not Polish.
Bertha and Albert Kuntze had 5 children that I know of. The first was a female whose name I have yet to learn. She was born April 29, 1886 and died before the second child was born in September 1887. The other children were William, Albert, Edwin, and Ada.
William Kuntze was born on September 25, 1887, in the South Greenfield section of Gravesend. According to his birth certificate, William was Bertha and Albert's second child and the first child was no longer living. Ten months later on July 28, 1888, Bertha prematurely gave birth to their third child, Albert Kuntze Jr., who died within hours. Cause of death is listed as asthenia due to premature birth. Asthenia generally means "weakness" but may have been a euphemism for pulmonary tuberculosis.
While Bertha and Albert were trying to deal with the heartbreaking loss of their second child within two years, 10-month-old William died barely 2 days after Albert Jr., on July 31,1888, from dysentery convulsions. Dysentary is an infection of the digestive system that results in severe diarrhea containing mucus and blood in the feces and is typically the result of unsanitary water and food. He was buried in Gravesend Cemetery.
Less than a year later, on May 20, 1889, their fourth child was born. His name was Edwin Kuntze. On September 8, 1890, their fifth child, Ada Kuntz was born. Although I have been unable to find any other documents for Edwin, Ada's birth certificate indicates that she was the only living child. By the time Ada was born, Bertha was only 22 years old, and she and Albert had already lost 4 babies.
Somehow, against all odds, Ada was able to survive into adulthood, barely. On the 1910 census, she is listed as living with her Aunt Amelia Leier and her children. In February 1912, she was 22 years old and single when she prematurely gave birth to a baby girl named Katherine. Ada had contracted Erysipelas Fasciitis, a flesh-eating skin infection, while she was pregnant. Mother and daughter lingered several weeks in Kings County Hospital until Katherine died from malnutrition on March 23. Ada died the next day on March 24. They were buried together in the same plot at Evergreens Cemetery with Edith's mother Bertha and her grandmother Louise Krzigan Nowasky.
Albert Kuntze died on January 22, 1897 at Newkirk Avenue near Coney Island Road. He was 35 years old. According to his death certificate, he was born in Germany, he came to the U.S. around 1882, and his occupation is listed as a laborer. Cause of death: Pleura Pneumonia (inflammation of the lungs and lining of the thorax). He was buried in Gravesend Cemetery on January 24, 1897.
Exactly 26 years to the day after Albert's death, Bertha died, on January 22, 1923 at her home at 239 Central Avenue in Brooklyn. She was 55 years old. She was suffering from Chronic Interstitial Nephritis, an inflammation of her kidneys, for a year and a half before she succumbed. She was buried at Evergreens Cemetery on January 24, 1923, in the same unmarked plot as her mother Louise and daughter Ada. Her name listed on the death certificate is Bertha Wilson. I can only guess that she remarried after Albert’s death in 1897, but I have no evidence of that.
Charles Nowasky Jr. was born as Carl Nowacki in Germany in February 1870 and immigrated to New York City with his family around 1880. They were living in the Parkville section of Flatbush, Brooklyn when Charles, who was working as a laborer in a lumberyard, married Barbara Kellner on June 7, 1896. They had three children that I know of: Charles, Frederick and Marie.
Charles and Barbara's first child, the third Charles Nowasky, was born on January 13, 1897. On September 12, 1918, he registered for the draft, as he was required to do by law. He was 20 years old at the time and living at Avenue L & 17th Street with his mother and brother, Frederick. He worked for the Bush Company running a freight elevator. He described himself as short and slender, with blue eyes and brown hair. He was working as a handyman at Kings County Hospital when he died there on March 12, 1954 at the age of 57 of natural causes. He was living with his brother Frederick at 683 Coney Island Avenue in Brooklyn at the time. His death certificate indicates he was a widower, but I have no record of any marriage. He is buried at Evergreens Cemetery.
Frederick Nowasky was born October 27, 1900. On September 12, 1918, he registered for the draft, as he was required to do by law. He was 18 years old and living with his mother at Avenue L & 17th Street in Brooklyn, and worked as a machinist helper at the Eisenmann Magnets Company. He described himself as being short and slender with gray eyes and light brown hair. He served one year in the military from April 1920 to April 1921. He was nearly 25 years old in August of 1925 when he married 18-year-old Alberta Klinger. I know nothing more about Frederick and Alberta until his death in 1955. He was working as a butcher and living at 683 Coney Island Avenue in Brooklyn when he died at home on January 9, 1955, of natural causes. He was 54 years old. This was only ten months after the death of his brother Charles. His death certificate states he was divorced. He is buried with his brother at Evergreens.
Marie Nowasky was born on December 10, 1904. She married Richard (or Elisha) Crowell and had one daughter that I know of, born in 1924. A few days before Christmas of 1931, Marie's little 7-year-old daughter was standing with her grandmother Barbara Nowasky on the train platform at the Newkirk Avenue Station when the arriving train crashed into the platform injuring several people including Barbara and the little girl. They both recovered from their injuries. By 1930, Marie and her daughter were living with grandma Barbara and Marie's brother Charles at 1304 Avenue U in Brooklyn. Marie worked as a machine operator in a pencil factory. By the time of her mother's death in 1956, her last name was Bolton. But by the time she died in Buffalo, New York, in February 1985, she had reverted to Crowell.
Charles Jr. died of Bronchial Pneumonia on March 26, 1918 at the age of 48. He is buried at Evergreens with his father. Barbara died many years later, on January 24, 1956. She was 79 years old and living with her daughter, Marie Bolton, at 8119 Glenwood Road in Brooklyn at the time. In fact, she died a year after Frederick. She is buried in Evergreens with her two sons. Their grave has the only headstone for the Leiers and Nowaskys in the cemetery.
Herman Nowasky was born in Germany in 1873 and immigrated to New York City with his family around 1880. I have been unable to learn anything about Herman other than he was living with his brother Charles and sister-in-law Barbara at 258 Newkirk Avenue in Brooklyn in 1900, then he completely disappeared.