Mrs. Katherine Kleinschmidt Finds Rest After Long Suffering
Another of the pioneers of Dubuque has gone to her eternal reward. Mrs. Katherine Kleinschmidt, who was born in Happersthausen, Bavaria, Nov. 22, 1832 and who came to Dubuque in 1855, died Thursday afternoon, Oct. 1, at her home on the former of Jackson and Fourteenth streets.
The funeral will be held from St. Mary's church Sunday afternoon at 2 o'clock and requiem mass will be sung Monday morning at 8:15 o'clock. Sunday will be known in the church as Rosary Sunday, and the name of the day suggests that Mrs. Kleinschmidt was one of the organizers and at the time of her death was one of the officers of the Rosary society of that parish. She was a devout Catholic and in that faith died at peace with her God and Maker.
Mrs. Kleinschmidt's memory is dear to the older residents of Dubuque even more than to those of the younger generation who came to know her. She came here as the bride of a hard working mason, having been married at Buffalo, N.Y., Oct 4, 1853, to the late Frederick Kleinschmidt. She was a helpmeet to her husband, even with her own hands joining him in dragging rock from the quarries. With their savings they established a grocery business on the site of her late home in 1870, and the location has since then been a landmark. Her industry and sagacity did much to build up a competency for her old age and the end came to her peacefully, quietly and with the solace that she had no enemy on earth and that her children to the last loved to come to her as “mamma.” She had been ill for half a year and for a long time hovered between life and death. She met death as she met life—bravely and not afraid of what was to come.
Three children survive, John Kleinschmidt, Mrs. Josephine Eitel and Mrs. Mary Merkes, all of Dubuque. Other near relatives who are expected to take part in the last rites are Hon. John Schleyer, brother, Hays City, Kas.; Michael Schleyer, brother, Buffalo, N.Y.; Mrs. Charles Doemann, sister, Lancaster, N.Y.; Mrs. John Schott, sister, Buffalo, N.Y.