Weppners.org

Generation II · Married Arnold Weppner

Blandina Doll

8 Dec 1832 – 13 Oct 1910

Facts

Born
8 Dec 1832, Önsbach, near Achern, Baden
Died
13 Oct 1910, Buffalo, New York
Also known as
Blandina M. Doll; Blandine Doll

Their story

Born at Önsbach, a village near Achern in Baden, on 8 December 1832, the eldest child of Friedrich and Maria Anna (Steffan) Doll. She came to America as a baby: the family sailed from Le Havre, landed at New York on 21 June 1834 and reached Buffalo on 1 July, eleven weeks before the Weppners. In 1850 she was living in Black Rock. She married Arnold Weppner at St. Boniface Church on 17 February 1852, and they set up house at 582 Main Street. By 1855 her parents had ten more children. Censuses find Arnold and Blandina in the 10th ward in 1860, the 4th ward in 1870 and 1875, and at 1165 Main Street by 1900, when she told the census taker she had borne fifteen children, nine of them living. Her father died in Buffalo on 7 November 1867 and her mother in 1879. Blandina outlived Arnold by seven years and died on 13 October 1910.

The 1931 history says she was born at “Innsbruck, Germany,” very likely a garbled Önsbach: her marriage record gives her parents as “ex Ensbach … in Baden.” Some records give her death as 16 October 1910. A city directory lists an Anthony Doll at 422 Main Street, the address of the family butcher firm, very likely her brother Anthony, born about 1835.

Their lifetime

  1. 1832Friedrich Doll marries Maria Anna Steffan at Önsbach, in Baden, on 5 March; their daughter Blandina is born on 8 December.
  2. 1832Buffalo is chartered as a city; cholera kills more than 120 people by July. Buffalo
  3. 1834Blandina Doll, not yet two, lands at New York with her parents on 21 June and reaches Buffalo on 1 July.
  4. 1834The Weppners sail from Le Havre on the François I, land at New York on 23 August and reach Buffalo on 18 September.
  5. 1834Cholera returns to a city of nearly 15,000, and people who can afford to leave do. Buffalo
  6. 1837Der Weltbürger, Buffalo's first German-language newspaper, begins publishing. Buffalo
  7. 1842A treaty gives up the Seneca's Buffalo Creek Reservation, which bordered the city. Buffalo
  8. 1845The family meat market is established; Catherine Dantzer arrives from Alsace-Lorraine at about seven.
  9. 1845The Elk Street Market opens; butchers come to fill most of its stalls. Buffalo
  10. 1852Arnold marries Blandina Doll at St. Boniface Church on 17 February.
  11. 1852Anna M. Weppner is born.
  12. 1852Barbara Weppner is born.
  13. 1854August F. Weppner is born on 26 August.
  14. 1855Mary Weppner is born.
  15. 1855Jacob Charles Weppner is born.
  16. 1855Nearly half of Buffalo's 74,000 residents are German-speaking. Buffalo
  17. 1858Arnold Weppner is born.
  18. 1859Barbara Weppner is born.
  19. 1859German and French Catholics open the United German & French Cemetery. Buffalo
  20. 1860George Arnold Weppner is born.
  21. 1862Arnold and Blandina's twins, Frank Arnold and Charles, are born on 3 April.
  22. 1863Emma Mary Weppner is born.
  23. 1867Friedrich Doll, Blandina's father, dies in Buffalo on 7 November.
  24. 1867Edward Albert Weppner is born on 15 March.
  25. 1870Louisa A. Weppner is born.
  26. 1870German Jesuits found Canisius College. Buffalo
  27. 1872Mary Marion Weppner is born.
  28. 1873William John Weppner is born.
  29. 1877August F. Weppner marries Carolina Becker, who dies four years later.
  30. 1878August F. Weppner starts running the meat market at the spot where it still stood in 1898.
  31. 1888August F. Weppner marries Josephine Gebhard on 14 November.
  32. 1891Edward A. Weppner marries Delia E. Kraus on 29 April.
  33. 1896The Ellicott Square Building opens, the largest office building in the world at the time. Buffalo
  34. 1900Arnold Weppner's Sons pack beef and pork on Guilford Street, Francis runs the Weppner Provision Co., and August runs the Ellicott Square Market.
  35. 1900Edward A. Weppner is assistant cashier of the German Bank.
  36. 1900Arnold Weppner turns 75, and the family prints an announcement tracing its moves from Zell to Buffalo.
  37. 1901The Pan-American Exposition; President McKinley is shot at the Temple of Music. Buffalo
  38. 1903Arnold Weppner dies at home, 1165 Main Street, on 14 March.
  39. 1904Cashier Edward A. Weppner exposes a Boston promoter's use of the German-American Bank. After a run on 1 December the bank survives, and on 11 December he is reinstated; The New York Times reports it the next day.
  40. 1904The German Bank, controlled by the same Boston promoter, fails in December. Buffalo
  41. 1910Blandina (Doll) Weppner dies on 13 October.