Rosa

Rosa Haeusler

January 9, 1887 - October 2, 1905

Rosa Haeusler was my great aunt and my Granny's older sister. She was the third child and first daughter of Elizabeth Pagel Haeusler and James Haeusler. She was born and raised in Breslau in Lavaca County, Texas like her seven brothers and sisters.

I remember sitting with my Granny at the little table in her breakfast room when Granny told me about her big sister (almost three years older), Rosa. She told me that Rosa had gone to college and that she died while she was at college. I remember feeling startled and even a bit scared as I listened and tried to take this in. My big sister Jeanne was someone I idolized, and I could not imagine losing my big sister. I somehow knew Granny was telling me about Rosa's death because it was a very significant event in her life.

Many years later, when I began digging into family history, I found Rosa's obituary in the Lavaca County newspaper archives. From her obituary, I began piecing together her story.

Shiner Gazette, 11 Oct 1905

Halletsville column

We are sorry to chronicle the death of Miss Rosa Haeusler, the 18 year old daughter of Mr. and Mrs. J. J. Haeusler of Breslau. Miss Haeusler left only a month ago for Belton, where she entered the Belton Female College. She took typhoid fever and her serious condition was not known until the report of her death was telegraphed to her parents. Miss Haeusler was a charming young lady, liked and loved by all who knew her, and we deeply sympathize with the bereaved parents.

Rosa was attending what is now the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor - the female branch of Baylor University in its day. And Belton seems to have been on the cutting edge of post-secondary education for women.

The Cottage Home System, the first work-study program for women in a college west of the Mississippi, was instituted on the new Belton campus in 1893 by Elli Moore Townsend, wife of the serving president. Its aim was to provide more affordable housing for women students who could not meet the expense of dormitories. The women students earned financial assistance by growing vegetables, raising livestock, and hand making crafts and quality clothing items. Initially the cottages were modest wood frame residences. In 1905 (the year Rosa attended), a permanent residence hall for the Cottage Home System was built by the residents themselves.

It must have been a really big deal for a young woman from Breslau to go to college at that time. It appears that neither of her older brothers attended college, and that my Granny went no further than high school. Can you imagine the preparation involved - getting her things together for this big adventure? I wonder how she got there - was there a car available at the time, did she travel by train, or was this a horse and buggy drive over the 140 miles between Breslau and Belton? And then imagine her family's horror when they learned of her death - just after life had settled down to a new normal after her departure for college.

But there's a surprising twist to this story that came after my mother passed away and I was going through the things at the top of her closet. In a box that contained some old (unused) notecards and stationery, there was a ten-page letter on yellowed, narrow stationery, folded several times. When I opened the letter, I could not believe my eyes. It was a letter from Rosa to Granny, written from college. There is no envelope and no date, but this letter must have been written in the first month she was there.

As I opened the letter and began to read, Rosa changed for me from a tragic story of loss to a young girl full of life. She began by telling "My Darling Sister" to study hard and make the most of school - don't play around like she did or she will regret it - and then went on to ask about her brothers, sisters, friends, and teachers at school in Breslau. She said she was sitting near the flower garden in the moonlight after supper, tearing up from homesickness as she was writing. She kept asking Teeny (my Granny) to write and to tell everyone to write. She worried that her brother Charlie was mad at her for going to Belton, concerned about why he had not written her. She talked about the pretty girls at Belton (about 400!) and said that they were not allowed to talk to boys. You can almost hear her laughing as she wrote that she never cared much for boys anyway! And then the best part to me, she added a request after she closed......"If mama ever sends me anything, tell her to put some cake in if possible - I haven't seen cake in a while."

Her closings are so fun and girl-like.

Now be a good girl and write soon to your sister,

Rosa

followed by more good-byes....

Write soon, soon, soon. With much love and kisses to all,

Rosa

and then after she asks for cake, simply

Bye-bye,

Rosa

I love thinking of Rosa this way - this young girl who must have had big dreams for her life and thought she was on her way before one of the deadly illnesses of the day wiped all of that away. I can imagine how much Granny missed her and what a burden she felt as suddenly the oldest daughter in the family. What amazes me, however, is that if Granny had not told me about Rosa so very long ago, I most likely would have had no idea who Rosa was when I opened that letter in the top of Mom's closet and why Granny had held on to that letter for so many years. I am thankful for this serendipity and how I now know Rosa.