Michael Anthony Rusler
I must preface this post by saying that I hope to have more information about Michael Anthony and his time spent in Custer County and hopefully about his death in 1903. I wanted to get his written so that I could move on to his children and the Erxleben side (his wife). I will update this post as soon as I have further information.
Michael Anthony Rusler
1846-1903
Michael Anthony Rusler was born October 25, 1846 in Baden, Germany, the second child of Joseph and Mary Anna Rusler. His father left in about 1850 (-1852) for America. After a couple of years he sent for the rest of his family. Sophia, Michael, and Charles emigrated to America in 1854 and settled with their father and new step-mom, Margaret Elizabeth in Ogle County, Illinois.
Michael and Augusta Rusler
On October 4,1873 Michael married Augusta Wilhemina Erxleben, a daughter of Frederick Erxleben in Ogle County. Michael and Augusta had ten children.
Rusler Farm in York County
Michael and his family moved to York County, Nebraska on March 1, 1877. He purchased a farm of 160 acres in July 1877 from the railroad. He farmed section 35 in Brown Township. Michael was a Catholic and generally voted Republican. Michael and Augusta had ten children, eight of which lived to adulthood: Mary Sophia (1874), Frank (1876), Charles (1879), Joseph 1881), George (1882-1892), Bertha (1885), William (1887), Earl (1891-1891), Pearl (1891), and Liol (1895). At some point in the late 1800‘s Michael bought 240 acres in Custer County, Nebraska. I am currently searching for the land records in this county. Michael Anthony Rusler died June 8,1903 in Custer County, Nebraska. I haven’t discovered his cause of death but I have an inquiry out for his obituary as well as Augusta’s. He is buried in Council Cemetery in York County Nebraska.
Michael Anthony Rusler Tombstone
sources: census – 1860, 1870, 1880, 1900 – ancestry.com, Illinois Marriage Index, land records, Michael Anthony Rusler’s Will, Augusta Rusler’s Will, Tombstone pic from Council Cemetery, and York Compendium of Biographies 1899
