Maria Clemens (1842 - ?), immigrant, mother, laborer, Steve Poth's great grandmother

Maria Clemens (Sept 11, 1842 - ? ) 

This is one of Steve Poth's Great grandmothers on the Poth side.  

Maria was born in Schoenneberg, Germany in 1842 and at age twenty, married Adam Poth in the Evangelical Reformed Church.  

Marriage Record: 

Their first two children were born in Germany and then at some point, probably in 1865 or 1866, the couple immigrated to the United States.  It is unclear whether Margaretha and Adam traveled with them.  

We know very little about their lives in the United States but we know they started out in Ohio and Kentucky and then Maria, with or without Adam, settled in Buffalo New York.  

We can infer from the 1875 New York state census, that Maria's life was very difficult. We find her (Mary E. Poth) age 33 and her five children (John (age 9) , Elisabeth (age 7) , Charles (age 5) , Anna (age 2) and Edward (8 months) living in a neighborhood of German immigrants in Buffalo, Erie County.   Maria is a laborer.  There is the note "husband left her."  A German shoemaker named Lorenz Knissing is listed at the same address. 

It is hard to imagine the difficulty she must have faced.  What was the nature of her work?  Did she have any support taking care of her children?  

Sources: 

Germany, Lutheran baptisms, marriages, and burials 1500-1971

Germany, select marriages 1558-1929

New York state census, 1875

California Death index (for daughter Elizabeth) - name Anna Maria Clements