His parents then moved to Steitsberg where his father worked as a farm laborer.  A daughter Maria Ann, was born there in 1832, but died in infancy.  Another son Johannes was born Nov. 1833

 

His father Josef, died in October 1834 of  heat stroke, leaving Crescentia a widow with two small boys.  My great grandfather was about 4 1/2  and his brother Johannes, was a baby of about 1 year.  This must have been a very difficult time for her as there was probably no money.  Crescentia returned to Wasseralfingen most likely to live with her family.  Johannes died in Wasseralfingen 1856 at  the age of 22 from pneumonia.

Crescentia died May 1865 in Wasseralfingenat age 72, cause old age.  As Joseph was in Toronto, Canada in 1856, he may not have known of the death of his brother and mother.  According to family living in Toronto,  there was no correpondence to or from Germany.

 

Joseph's birth record is the only one I have of  him in Germany.  Next record is in Toronto, Dec.  1856, and he is married to Eva Rosina von Koehler and working as an iron moulder.  Family tradition says Eva Rosina von Koehler came from a well-to-do family that had a factory.  Perhaps Joseph worked there and met Eva.  Overcoming great odds they were married--he a poor Catholic boy and she from a rich Lutheran family.

 

After a few years in Toronto they bought a large brick building  238  King St. East.  Living quarters were on the two top floors and the bottom floor was a grocery store which Eva ran.  A very modern lady for her time, Eva was well educated, keeping the accounts, able to speak German, English and Yiddish.  This added to the success of the store as there were Jewish neighbors.  In 1906 at the age of 76 she was still operating the store.

 

They raised  4 girls and a boy there.  Mary Opferkuch born April 27 1857 was the oldest.  Mary was one of the first to be baptised in Evangelical Lutheran Church (German) on Bond St.  The church opened for service in August 1857.

Although Joseph was Catholic he liked to attend this church as the service was in German and he could converse with friends in German there.  Eva Rosina was Lutheran but did not attend very regularly, possibly because of household duties and the care of the store.

 

Joseph developed a smelting process that saved the St. Lawrence Foundry a good deal of money .  He was paid a large sum of money for this, enabling him to buy property at 65 and 67 Princess St. and build two houses.  His son William, and family lived in one and his daughter, Rosina Warlow, and her family lived in the other,

 

Joseph died January 13 1903 from pneumonia at age 73. Eva Rosina von Koehler Opferkuch died November 28 1911 from heart failure at age 82.  She converted to Catholicism shortly after Joseph died so she could be buried with him at Mount Hope Catholic Cemetery.