Bernadine (Adams) Samuels (1940-1973) was born to Mattie Tubbs and Rev. Tommie Adams on March 8, 1940. She married Charles Edward Samuels and together they had two daughters. Bernadine was a licensed practical nurse and a music teacher. She was a member of the Antioch Baptist Church located at 1701 Dumesnil Street where she used her musical talents to play piano. Bernadine and her family made their home at 3514 Algonquin Parkway. Algonquin is one of the six original Louisville Parkways designed by prominent landscape architect, Fredrick Law Olmsted. The development of the parkway system was carried out from the 1890s through the 1930s. Most of the residential development occurred in the area after the 1940s. Bernadine died at St. Joseph’s Infirmary at the age of 32. Her parents and father-in-law, Johnnie Samuels, are also buried at Eastern. Image of Bernadine from Ancestry user KinikiaW.

Dorothea “Dora” (Hahn) Roederer (1837-1903) was born in France. She immigrated to the U.S. around 1852. In 1856, she married Jacob Roederer, a German immigrant who moved to the U.S. around 1855. They lived on land that Jacob’s brother Christian owned and farmed. Their combined farm was about 80 acres, bounded roughly by what is now Taylorsville Road, the Watterson Expressway, and Farmington. Dora had 12 children, 11 of whom lived to adulthood. Her younger children were educated at the Maple Grove School, founded in 1874. That building is now Air Devils Inn on Taylorsville Road. Dora and Jacob have approximately 1,100 descendants, many of whom still live in Louisville. Thanks to Kaye Ackermann for her help with this bio!! Image of Dora and Jacob Roederer is from Find A Grave user Wayne & Diane (Eversole) King.

Mary Jane Fischer, R.N. (1877-1974) was born in Kentucky on October 15, 1877 to Henry Phillip Fischer and Louise Amelia Becker. She never married, but she was educated at the Louisville School of Nursing and University of Louisville. At the young age of 20, Mary volunteered her services as a nurse during the Spanish American War (1898). The Spanish American War was the first war involving the US in which nurses were assigned as a special military unit. At the age of 36, Mary offered her services as a nurse during World War I (1914-1918). After the wars, Mary continued to work as a nurse in the Cincinnati area. She was cited by the US Public Health Services for her work during the national influenza epidemic (1918-1919). Mary died in a nursing home in Cincinnati, OH at the age of 97. Before her death, she was the oldest living graduate of the Louisville School of Nursing. 

Willie (Creth) Saunders (1890-1986) was born in Madison County, KY to John Creth and Emma Million. Her father worked as a farmer in Fayette County, KY. By 1910, she married Bishop Wellington S. Saunders, Sr. and they lived in Lexington where Saunders worked as a laborer until circa 1920 when he became a pastor. Together they had three daughters and three sons. By 1930, they were living in the Russell Neighborhood where Saunders was a pastor for the Baptized Pentecostal Church in that neighborhood. Willie was a member of a local chapter of the Interdenominational Ministers Wives Alliance. The Alliance was founded in 1914 by Dr. Elizabeth Coles Bouey of Richmond, VA. She wanted all ministers’ wives and widows to unite for more effective service. Image of Willie from Find A Grave user Shawn Bumpase.

Caroline (Esch) Hustede (circa 1846-1880) was born in Germany and immigrated to the United States. On April 22, 1875, Caroline married William (or Wilhelm) Hustede in Jefferson County. He was also a German immigrant. According to the 1880 Census, William was a dairyman and Caroline was keeping house. The couple lived at 631 Preston and had two children: Lizzie, age four, and Albert, age one. In November 1880, William died of tuberculosis and Lizzie died of typhoid. By December 1880, Caroline had also succumbed to tuberculosis. William and Caroline are buried together at Eastern Cemetery. Their monument is steeped with Christian symbolism. It includes a flaming heart, representative of the Sacred Heart, which is a Roman Catholic devotion. The monument also includes an anchor, which is often translated as hope and strength. Hebrews 6:19, “Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast.” 

Hannah Maria (Webster) Winstead (1880-1951) was born in Kentucky to Rev. Henry Battle Webster and Lee Anna Barbour. In 1905, she married Rev. Garrell Hugh “G.H.” Winstead of Nebo, KY. Hannah was a housewife and took care of their five children: Maggie, Lee Anna, Elizabeth, Samuel, and Henrietta. Lee Anna and Elizabeth worked as teachers in Louisville. The couple was married for 46 years, until Hannah’s death at the age of 71. G.H. and Hannah made their home at 1649 Hale Avenue in the California Neighborhood. Rev. Winstead was ordained at Zion Baptist Church in 1915 and also worked for the United States Postal Service as a postal clerk. Zion Baptist Church was traditionally African American and in the 1960s Rev. A.D. King, brother of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was the pastor. Image of Hannah (far right) with Artlee and Olver Winstead is from Keith Winstead. 

Carrie (Morris) Evans (circa 1842-1905) was born in Iowa. She worked as a tailoress with her mother Rachel Morris. By 1880, she had married Frank Evans, a carpenter, Civil War veteran, and employee of the Sheriff’s Office. They lived in the Portland Neighborhood. Frank died of a “soft brain” in 1895 while living in the Lakeland Asylum (Central State Hospital). In 1905, Carrie’s body was discovered under a railroad trestle at 9th Street with her pocketbook, which contained a deed to a lot in Eastern Cemetery, rent receipts, and Frank’s honorable discharge papers. Police believed she was intoxicated and fell to her death. According to the newspaper article, she had been a member of the Portland Methodist Church and engaged in the neighborhood before becoming an alcoholic after her husband’s death. During this time, she moved around to various charitable homes like the Holcombe Mission and the Home for the Aged and Infirm. Image is from “Courier-Journal” article from April 24, 1905.

Elizabetha (Schindler) Seng (1810-1871) was born in in the Kingdom of Bavaria (now a German state) on June 10, 1810. On July 26, 1837, Elizabetha arrived in New York City, aboard the ship Merchant. Between 1820 and 1870, over seven and a half million Germans immigrated to America, in order to escape economic poverty and political unrest. On March 31, 1839, Elizabetha married Kilian Seng, a gardener, who had immigrated to America from Germany. They married in Louisville at St. Paul’s Evangelical Church (213 E. Broadway) where Kilian was a founding member. The church has a stained glass window memorial to Kilian who died in 1867. Elizabetha was a homemaker, and the couple had six children: five sons and one daughter. Near the time of Elizabetha’s death, the family was living in the Shardine Precinct, which we know today as Louisville’s South End. Image of Elizabetha from Find A Grave user Wayne & Diane (Eversole) King.

India Hogue aka Lillie Henderson (circa 1864-1884) supposedly left home from Lebanon, IN at 17 years of age and moved to Louisville to become a prostitute. Known as Lillie Henderson, she worked for three separate Madams: Hattie Lawrence (438 S. 10th St. formerly 630 S. 10th St.), Mertie Edwards (722 W. Green St. formerly 730 W. Green St.), and Gertie Collins (714 W. Green St. formerly 720 W. Green St.). India died of meningitis at the age of 20. No other information on India, or Lillie, could be found. Louisville had three main districts for prostitution: Lafayette-Marshall Red Light District (located Preston through Wenzel St. and Grayson and Walnut St.), The Chute (located around intersection of Floyd and Jefferson St.), and Green-Grayson Red Light District (located 6th through 11th St. and Green and Grayson St.). Streetwalkers were concentrated at Green through Market St. and 2nd through 8th St. An 1895 guide of Louisville for the encampment of the Grand Army of the Republic lists numerous brothels and other sites for visiting. Hattie Lawrence’s establishment was featured.

Susie (Zimmerman or Cain) Lewis (1924-1981) was born in Alabama on January 15, 1924. Susie married George Cotton on December 30, 1938 and the couple had two daughters: Susie and Jimmie. George and Susie divorced in 1953. Susie worked various jobs throughout her life as a kitchen worker, a laundress, and a maid at the Kentucky Hotel. There is not a lot of information on Susie’s early life. George and Susie’s marriage certificate lists her parents as Tobe Zimmerman and Malinda Cook. However, Susie’s obituary identifies her maiden name as Cain, which would make her parents Rufus Cain and Malinda Cook. Also, in the obituary of Rufus Cain’s wife Annie, Susie is noted as Annie’s step-daughter. Susie is not mentioned at all in Rufus’s obituary. This is an example of how public records can be inaccurate and terribly confusing. We do know Susie’s final resting place at Eastern Cemetery is alongside her second husband Guster Lewis. It is not clear when Guster and Susie started their lives together, but they called Shasta Trail in Newburg home until their deaths in 1976 and 1981 respectively. Image of Susie from Find A Grave user Denita (Cotton) Sims. 

Mary Stella (Zanone) Baker (circa 1877-1932) was the daughter of John Thomas Zanone and Anna Bailey who are also buried at Eastern Cemetery. Zanone was a first generation Italian American. On January 24, 1906, at the age of 22, Mary married Jesse Gerald Baker, the son of Eli Baker and Eliza Fitzsimmons, who we featured earlier this month. Jesse worked as a carpenter and Mary was a housewife. Together the couple had three children: two daughters, Viola and Stella, and one son, William. In 1916, Stella died at the age of 4 of whooping cough. In 1932, Mary died at the age of 55, and her husband Jesse died in 1942. Their son William worked as a golf caddy before joining Company G, 26th Infantry, 1st Infantry Division during World War II. William died in 1944 of multiple shrapnel wounds near Aachen, Germany. He was survived by a wife and son. Mary’s daughter Viola married Edward Weiss and worked as a proofreader for the American Printing House for the Blind. She died in 1999. Image from Ancestry user Pat Baker.

Lou Ann (Hite) Benfield (1857-1904) was from Marion, KY. She often went by the names Lulu and Lula. On January 6, 1880, at the age of 22, Lou married John Benfield, the son of English immigrants. John worked as a fireman for the L&N Railroad. Together the couple had seven children: two daughters and five sons. Lou lost her husband circa 1896 and became the head of the household. According to the 1900 Census, she was living on 17th Street with only four of her children (Emma, Nettie, George, and Jesse Lindel). She became a dress maker to support the family. Her 16-year-old daughter Emma was working as a bookkeeper. Her sons Claude and John were living at the Louisville Industrial School of Reform, a home for orphaned and delinquent youth. It is unclear where her 6-year-old son Lawrence was living. In 1904, Lou died of tuberculosis at the age of 47. Her daughter Emma worked as an attendant and nurse at Central State Hospital and married. Her sons were all working and boarding in houses next door to one another prior to each getting married. Lawrence moved to New Orleans for military service and remained there. Nettie is the only child we could not track after Lou’s death.

Elizabeth (Lockner) Bisinger (1845-1896) was born to Eustin and Mary Lockner in Saxony, Germany on April 12, 1845. She immigrated to the United States with her parents. Although her date of immigration is not evident, she first appears on a public record in the 1860 Census as a 14-year-old living with her parents. Elizabeth married Anton Bisinger, also a German immigrant. Together the couple had seven children: six daughters and one son. Anton served as a Union soldier, during the Civil War. He died in 1879 (his headstone says 1877) at the age of 37 of caries of the ribs and an abscess of the liver. Civil War pensions were distributed to soldiers, or widows of soldiers, whose disability was attributed to injuries or disease directly related to their military service. Elizabeth was able to draw a military pension after Anton’s death, so it is likely his death was related to the war. According to the 1880 Census, Elizabeth was a widow living on Mary Street with all seven of her children. By 1901, five of her children had succumbed to tuberculosis. In the Bisinger family plot at Eastern Cemetery, you will find Anton and Elizabeth along with four of their daughters: Annie, Lena, Minnie, and Lizzie.

Louisa Dover (1851-1923) was born in Kentucky. Her maiden name is unknown, and it is unclear if she was born into slavery. She married Frank W. Dover, a carpenter, in 1870. They divorced in 1894 after being separated for several years. In 1880, Louisa was working as a domestic for lawyer Charles F. Wing and his family. She also worked as a cook for the Orphanage of the Good Shephard. By 1900, she was renting a house in the alley behind 1223 E. Broadway where she had four boarders. At the time she working as a laundress and a cook. By 1910, Louisa was renting a house in the alley behind 1026 Rogers Street (formerly 1226 Rogers Street), where she remained until her death in 1923. Her house, shown on the 1905 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map (Vol. 5, Sheet 446), was across the street from Eastern Cemetery. Interestingly, Louisa was listed as a widow in all of her census records when she was actually divorced. Frank Dover did not pass away until 1917. Louisa is an example of how difficult it is to research not only women but also African Americans. We could not find any records of her life prior to her marriage or even a marriage certificate. We found her divorce announcement in the newspaper. Her death certificate says her family information is unknown. Therefore, we could not find any documents that listed Louisa’s maiden name. Couple that with the fact that she was also born during a time of slavery and the records become much more difficult to find.

This monument for Matilda M. (Shull) Hooge (circa 1835-1869) features a hand with the index finger pointing up. There are many interpretations of monument symbology, but this one generally means the person has passed on to Heaven or the hand is showing the path to God. Religion featured prominently in 19th century life especially with disease epidemics and lack of medicine. Matilda died at the age of 34 from small pox. Matilda married Louis Hooge on October 12, 1856 in Warren County, MS. She was the daughter of John and Sarah (Pfouts) Shull of Hartford, OH. Her husband Louis, a German immigrant and jeweler, survived her as did their four children: Oscar, Clara, Thomas, and Ida. They lived in Vicksburg, MS prior to moving to Louisville. Louis was later remarried to Jennie Hogue and was buried in Fairview Cemetery in New Albany, IN.