Date of Death: February, 1909
Interment source:
Bay View Cemetery Association, Corpus Christi, Texas. Record of Interments
NO HEADSTONE
Biography
Hannah is the wife of George whose last name is usually spelled “Gold†or “Gouldâ€. According to Mr. Eli T. Merriman in an article on Old Bayview Cemetery published in January of 1924, George is also buried in the cemetery. Like Hannah, George has no stone to mark his burial so his name was not included in early surveys which were based upon registering the markers. Hannah was included in lists because she died at a time when the Bayview Cemetery Association was keeping a record of burials (1897 to 1913) so her name was included in early lists of those in Old Bayview Cemetery. According to the early history of the First Presbyterian Church, George and Hannah were both from Alsace, Germany. However, in later census records they list their place of birth under other regional German names. Hannah, whose maiden name was “Fischer†according to the family, came to Texas with her parents through Saluria, part of the larger port of Indianola (“On This Bluff†by Margaret L. Clark, page 22). She married George Gold/Gould, and they are first found in the Nueces County census of 1850 (page 137A) before Corpus Christi is even incorporated as a town. In that census, George is listed as 26 years old, a watchmaker who is a native of Germany. Hannah is only 19 years old, and the couple has a daughter Mary who is only 3 months old, a native of Texas. Mary, who was also called “Mollieâ€, would be the one who later married widower John Pollan who lost a son and his first wife in the Yellow Fever epidemic of 1867 (the son and wife are buried in Old Bayview also). John and his second wife Mollie would name their daughter after her grandmother—Hannah May Gold Pollan, baptized in the First Presbyterian Church on August 28, 1870. Another daughter of George and Hannah was Lucy Gold/Gould (1856-1890) who married Ernest Roscher. Numerous members of this family are also buried in Old Bayview Cemetery. In the 1860 census of Nueces County (page 283B) George lists himself as from the area of Germany called “Bavariaâ€. George and Hannah now have five children: Mary (10), George (8), Peter (6), Luthia/Louisa (4), and Tilda/Matilda (2). By 1870 census (page 156A), George is oystering and fishing, and three more children have been born to Hannah: Frederick William/probably Wilhelm (8), Charles (6), and James H. (3). Their oldest daughter Mary is already married to John Pollan and expecting their daughter, Hannah May Gold Pollan. George Gould died in September of 1878 as a result of a fatal burning accident at Uehlinger’s Saloon opposite the city market when he attempted to pour kerosene oil into a stove with some of the wood still burning (Victoria “Advocate†quoting the Corpus Christi Free Press on 21 September 1878). Thus in the 1880 census (page 13A) Hannah is now listed as a widower with only her three youngest sons still at home (Frederick, Charles, and James). In this census she states that the father of the boys was from “Bavaria†and that she is from “Nassauâ€. By 1900 Hannah is living with her daughter Mary Pollan who is also a widow, and they reside in Live Oak County (E. D. 67, sheet 7). John and Mary Pollan had moved to Lagarto in 1872, and it was there that he died and was buried in the Lagarto cemetery in July of 1890. In the 1900 census, Hannah states that she was born in Germany in September of 1828. When she died in 1909, Hannah had been a wife for some 30 years, a widow for another 30 years, and a mother who had raised 8 children. She rests near her husband, daughter Lucy, and Roscher grandchildren in Old Bayview Cemetery
Research and transcription: Michael A. Howell