Martha Marquardt

     Martha Marquardt was born on 31 January 1850 at Anthony Township, Lycoming County, Pennsylvania. She was the daughter of Frederick Marquardt and Rosanna Kiess. Martha Marquardt married, at age 23, Christian Wurster Jr., age 25, son of Christian Wurster and Eva Rosina Leix, on Monday, 25 August 1873. Martha Marquardt died on 22 December 1918 at Dawson, Richardson County, Nebraska, at age 68 years, 10 months and 22 days. She was buried in the Heim Cemetery, located in Dawson, Richardson County, Nebraska.
     She appeared on the census of 21 August 1860 in the household of Frederick Marquardt and Rosanna Kiess at Anthony Township, Lycoming County, Pennsylvania. Martha Marquardt appeared on the census of 1870 at Anthony Township, Lycoming County, Pennsylvania. She appeared on the census of 31 August 1870 in the household of Frederick Marquardt and Rosanna Kiess at Anthony Township, Lycoming County, Pennsylvania. Martha Marquardt and Christian Wurster Jr. with their family in tow, went to Nebraska in September of 1880. Of all the Wurster families only Chris and Martha moved to Nebraska. Chris decided that would be the time to change his name, so he and his children all spell the name as Wuster instead of Wurster, removing the middle "R." His parents and all the brothers and sisters were known as the family of giants. The next generation surrendered that claim; some of them are even a little under-sized. Chris weighed 235 pounds while Martha must have never weighed over ninety pounds. One morning as she did her kitchen she stopped long enough to give birth to David right there in the kitchen.