Tombstones Telling Stories
In the St. Marx Cemetary (German: Sankt Marxer Friedhof, also called Biedermeierfriedhof St. Marx), which was used from 1784 until 1874 and is a park now. It's located in Landstraße, the 3rd district of Vienna.
On the tombstone on the left we are told that the lard dealer and landlord Michael Schaller died on January 20 1867 at the age of 80, one month after his 70-year-old wife Anna. He had married her, when she was a widow. Her son, Michael Schaller's stepson Friedrich Kaden, died 15 days after his mother had died at the age of 37. Thus there were three deaths in this family in a period of one month.
The persons mentioned on the tombstone in the middle died much younger than Mr. Schaller and his wife. The innkeeper's wife Marie Schmidtleitner died in 1862 at the age of 21. On August 4 1866 a one-year-old boy with the name Franz Schmidtleitner died. On March 9 1869 the innkeeper Franz Schmidtleitner died at the age of 51. He was in all probability the boy's father, but who was the boy's mother?
On the tombstone on the right we are told that in 1862 the parents of Adolf and Aloisia Plischke lost their three-year old son and their one-year-old daughter within five days. Perhaps the two children died of smallpox. In the 18th century lots of people, mostly children, died of this disease during epidemics. With the introduction of smallpox vaccine at the beginning of the 19th century the disease was reduced considerably. But it wasn't defeated for good, because there was much skepticism and fear in connection with vaccination among Vienna's population. From 1830 until 1860 there were several smaller smallpox epidemics in the city, but in the 1860s the number of deaths began to increase strongly again. After the smallpox pandemic at the beginning of the 1870s, which caused 3,334 deaths in the city in the year 1872 and 1,410 deaths in 1873, cumpulsory vaccination for school children was introduced. Thus the disease was virtually vanquished by the end of the century.
Tombstones Telling Stories
In the St. Marx Cemetary (German: Sankt Marxer Friedhof, also called Biedermeierfriedhof St. Marx), which was used from 1784 until 1874 and is a park now. It's located in Landstraße, the 3rd district of Vienna.
On the tombstone on the left we are told that the lard dealer and landlord Michael Schaller died on January 20 1867 at the age of 80, one month after his 70-year-old wife Anna. He had married her, when she was a widow. Her son, Michael Schaller's stepson Friedrich Kaden, died 15 days after his mother had died at the age of 37. Thus there were three deaths in this family in a period of one month.
The persons mentioned on the tombstone in the middle died much younger than Mr. Schaller and his wife. The innkeeper's wife Marie Schmidtleitner died in 1862 at the age of 21. On August 4 1866 a one-year-old boy with the name Franz Schmidtleitner died. On March 9 1869 the innkeeper Franz Schmidtleitner died at the age of 51. He was in all probability the boy's father, but who was the boy's mother?
On the tombstone on the right we are told that in 1862 the parents of Adolf and Aloisia Plischke lost their three-year old son and their one-year-old daughter within five days. Perhaps the two children died of smallpox. In the 18th century lots of people, mostly children, died of this disease during epidemics. With the introduction of smallpox vaccine at the beginning of the 19th century the disease was reduced considerably. But it wasn't defeated for good, because there was much skepticism and fear in connection with vaccination among Vienna's population. From 1830 until 1860 there were several smaller smallpox epidemics in the city, but in the 1860s the number of deaths began to increase strongly again. After the smallpox pandemic at the beginning of the 1870s, which caused 3,334 deaths in the city in the year 1872 and 1,410 deaths in 1873, cumpulsory vaccination for school children was introduced. Thus the disease was virtually vanquished by the end of the century.