Central High School – West Allis, WI
I suppose it seems strange that I should write about someone whom I have never seen, my Grandmother (my Father’s Mother). But for about as far back as I can remember I’ve been told that she is the one I closely resemble and the one I take after so I’ve tried to find out as much as possible about her in order to write this.
My Grandmother, Albertina [Bertha Caroline] Fischer, was born [to Wilhelm & Friedericka (Oldenburg) Fischer] in 1872 in Hasenheide, Germany, a small suburb of Berlin. Her family was poor and at the age of sixteen [1889] she left Germany to join relatives here in Milwaukee. When she was twenty-two [1895], she married my Grandfather [Otto Wilhelm Ferdinand Polzin].
My Grandmother was tall and slim with black hair and eyes. She had high cheekbones and an oval shaped face. I was surprised to find out, by looking at a picture of her, that she wore her hair in an upsweep with bangs in front much like the style today.
She loved beautiful clothes. After she was married, she made her own clothes and when my Father was a small boy she sometimes used him as a model for marking hems and the like.
Her weakness for mahogany furniture was a family joke. She liked flowers and always had plants in the house during the winter and a flower garden in the summer.
She liked animals very much and there was usually some stray cat or dog around besides their special pet, Rover. But Rover was more than just a pet–he helped my Grandfather who was a night watchman.
She was very fond of music and insisted my Father [Walter] and his older brother [Harry] take music lessons. My Father learned to play the piano and his brother the violin. One of my Grandmother’s last requests before she died was that her two sons would play her favorite hymn at her funeral. They carried out this request but it certainly was not easy to concentrate on music at a time like that.
She kept the house in perfect order and often bake the well liked apple stollens, tortes, specials lemon pies, and cookies and Christmas stollens at Christmastime. Many German dishes were made and other German traditions followed. Everyone says my Grandmother was very kind and considerate and always willing to help someone no matter how busy she might be.
My Grandmother contracted a kidney ailment and after a short illness she died in June, 1922, at the age of fifty [died in February, 1918, after a long illness at the age of forty-five].
![Albertina (Fischer) Polzin Obituary [German]](https://i0.wp.com/carloadoflove.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/albertina-polzin-obituary.jpg?ssl=1 "Albertina Polzin Obituary")
Albertina Bertha Caroline (Fischer) Polzin was born June 6, 1872 in Germany and died February 28, 1918 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
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Nancy: Writing - Papers written on topics such as her family tree, Christmas, dreams, hobbies and more while attending Central High School (1945-1948).
With a Carload of Love... 