Francis Valerian Mager b. 21 Sep 1892 Newark, Essex, New Jersey, USA d. 9 Jun 1978 Maplewood, Essex, New Jersey, USA: Zellner Family Genealogy

1892 - 1978 (85 years)

Name	Francis Valerian Mager
Born	21 Sep 1892	Newark, Essex, New Jersey, USA [1, 2, 3]
Christened	25 Sep 1892	Saint Mary of the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church, 528 Martin Luther King Blvd, Newark, Essex, New Jersey, USA [2]
Gender	Male
Name	Frank
Name	Frank Mager [1, 4]
Name	Frank Valerian Mager [5]
Occupation	Butcher; Later Meat & Poultry Inspector for A&P [6]
Residence	13 Jun 1900	102 West St., Newark, Essex, New Jersey, USA [1]
Occupation	20 Apr 1910 [7]
	Burnisher, Shoe Factory
Residence	20 Apr 1910	102 West St., Newark, Essex, New Jersey, USA [7]
Occupation	15 Jun 1917	150 Avon Ave., Newark, Essex, New Jersey, USA [3]
	Shipping Clerk, Norben Oil Supply Co.
Residence	15 Jun 1917	102 West St., Newark, Essex, New Jersey, USA [3]
Occupation	14 Jan 1920 [8]
	Butcher
Residence	14 Jan 1920	146 West St., Newark, Essex, New Jersey, USA [8]
Occupation	1930 [4]
	Butcher, Store
Residence	1930	168 Seymour Ave., Newark, Essex, New Jersey, USA [4]
Occupation	25 Aug 1931 [5]
	Clerk
Reference Number	PERS149
Residence	25 Aug 1931	Newark, Essex, New Jersey, USA [5]
_HEIG	Tall [3]
_WEIG	Medium [3]
Died	9 Jun 1978	Maplewood, Essex, New Jersey, USA [6, 9, 10]
Person ID	I149	Zellner Genealogy
Last Modified	21 Oct 2020

Father	Valerian Mager, b. 13 Apr 1862, Zepfenhan, Rottweil, Baden-Württemberg, Germany , d. 8 Aug 1913, Newark, Essex, New Jersey, USA (Age 51 years)
Relationship	natural
Mother	Anna Marie Steets, b. 8 Apr 1863, Newark, Essex, New Jersey, USA , d. 12 Jun 1941, Newark, Essex, New Jersey, USA (Age 78 years)
Relationship	natural
Married	12 Jan 1886	Saint Mary of the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church, 528 Martin Luther King Blvd, Newark, Essex, New Jersey, USA [1, 11, 12, 13]
Reference Number	MARR188
Documents » Slide Show		1895 New Jersey State Census Essex, Newark, Ward 3, P. 75, Valerian Mager Family
		1895 New Jersey State Census Essex, Newark, Ward 3, P. 76, Mager & Steets Families
		1900 U.S. Census NJ, Essex, Newark, Ward 3, ED24, P16A-B, Valerian Mager and Jacob Steets Families (1 of 2)
		1900 U.S. Census NJ, Essex, Newark, Ward 3, ED24, P16A-B, Valerian Mager and Jacob Steets Families (2 of 2)
		1910 U.S. Census NJ, Essex, Newark, Ward 3, ED17, P12-B, Valerian Mager Family
		At least one living or private individual is linked to this item - Details withheld.
		1920 U.S. Census NJ, Essex, Newark, Ward 3, ED119, P. 22-A, Anna Steets Mager Family
Family ID	F60	Group Sheet \| Family Chart

Family Madeleine Frances Davitt, b. 23 May 1896, Manchester, Hillsborough, New Hampshire, USA , d. 14 Jul 1991, Maplewood, Essex, New Jersey, USA (Age 95 years)

Married 25 Aug 1931 Manchester, Hillsborough, New Hampshire, USA [5, 6, 14]

Marriage officiant was Lawrence J. Davitt, Catholic Priest.

Reference Number MARR759

Children

+	1. Mary Judith Mager, b. 10 Jul 1933, Manchester, Hillsborough, New Hampshire, USA , d. 3 Aug 2015, Livingston, Essex, New Jersey, USA (Age 82 years) [natural]
	2. Living
	3. Living

Last Modified 21 Oct 2020

Family ID F75 Group Sheet | Family Chart

Event Map

	Born - 21 Sep 1892 - Newark, Essex, New Jersey, USA
	Residence - 13 Jun 1900 - 102 West St., Newark, Essex, New Jersey, USA
	Residence - 20 Apr 1910 - 102 West St., Newark, Essex, New Jersey, USA
	Occupation - Shipping Clerk, Norben Oil Supply Co. - 15 Jun 1917 - 150 Avon Ave., Newark, Essex, New Jersey, USA
	Residence - 15 Jun 1917 - 102 West St., Newark, Essex, New Jersey, USA
	Residence - 14 Jan 1920 - 146 West St., Newark, Essex, New Jersey, USA
	Residence - 1930 - 168 Seymour Ave., Newark, Essex, New Jersey, USA
	Residence - 25 Aug 1931 - Newark, Essex, New Jersey, USA
	Married - 25 Aug 1931 - Manchester, Hillsborough, New Hampshire, USA
	Died - 9 Jun 1978 - Maplewood, Essex, New Jersey, USA

= Link to Google Earth

Pin Legend : Address : Location : City/Town : County/Shire : State/Province : Country : Not Set

Photos » Slide Show		1907 First Generation of Magers in America Valerian Mager, Anna Steets & Children
		At least one living or private individual is linked to this item - Details withheld.
		1924-10-14 George Zellner Sr. & Anna Marie Mager Wedding Anne Zellner Schnabel believes the last two people on the right to be longtime family friend Emma Ott and either Paul or Leo Strack.
		Magers & In-laws
		Frank Valerian Mager

Documents		1930 U.S. Census NJ, Essex, Newark, Ward 16, E.D. 7-290, P. 5-B, George Zellner Sr. Family & Magers
Documents		WWI Civilian Draft Registration Card 1917-06-15 Frank V. Mager

Notes

Claimed mother and sister as dependents during WWI draft.
According to Genevieve Mager, he was born "Franz," but later changed to "Frank."
-------------------------------
Recollections from family members solicited and compiled by Terese Schirmer Piccoli, organized and transcribed by Anne Marie Zellner:

Louis “Buddy” Sieben:

Uncle Frank was a butcher and worked for Grimm’s butcher shop. It was just him and the boss, plus the delivery driver, and he would often slip a chicken or extra chopped meat in my mother’s order. He was married to Aunt Madeline in Manchester, NH and I went there with Uncle Gus, Uncle Charlie, Uncle Ferd and Fr. Martin all in one car. Frank became blind before he died.

Sr. Loretta Schirmer (Bernie):

I think of him as a tall, dignified gentleman. He would stop at our house sometimes on Sunday afternoon to pick up some of us to take with him as he took Grandma out riding.

After he married, he withdrew from family gatherings, I felt because Madeline was not interested in attending and he was very faithful to her.

Mary Agnes (Schirmer) Schoenberger:

He was my godfather. Until he married at the age of 40 or so, he lived at Grandma’s. I remember him mostly as a butcher who worked at Grimm’s meat market and who saw to it that Mom got good meat and fresh oven-ready chickens etc. A delivery boy brought the meat almost daily, and on rainy days, Mom would ask him to drop off lunches for us at school on his way back to Grimm’s which was just a few blocks from St. Mary’s. (No one ever ate lunch at school except on rainy days. No lunchroom facilities)

Once Uncle Frank married Madeline he sort of became estranged from the family. In my opinion he was forced to do this to keep peace with Madeline. It was hard on Grandma.

Anne Marie (Schirmer) Cuff:

Talk about a hazy memory! Frank: handsome, tall, kind, polite, proper. Madeline: Where are you? Aloof.

Fr. Martin Mager (Joe Mager):

Dad was named Frank Valerian Mager, and I could never figure out why he would have such an odd middle name…not like all the other kids’ fathers who had much more recognizable names. I don’t think he ever mentioned that it was his father’s name.

Dad was born in the last decade of the 19th century and died at the age of 87. As I understand it, he seems to have been something of a family leader insofar as he seems to have taken over the “man of the house” role early in life in spite of the fact that he was younger than most of his brothers. I think it was also the reason that he married mom rather late in life for those days. (I think he was in his early 40s then.)

Mom (Madeline Davitt) was from a large family in New England and was introduced to Dad by my namesake, Fr. Martin Mager, OSB, who was Dad’s brother and also a Benedictine from St. Mary’s Abbey on High Street (Martin Luther King Blvd.) in Newark.

During the first World War, he served in the army as a military policeman and used to tell wonderful stories of taking prisoners to different penal institutions. I remember one well…the account of taking a black prisoner (then called “Negro”) through the South by train and having the prisoner refused amenities or food in public places. Dad always “pulled rank” on the proprietor of any institution who did that: “This is MY prisoner and you WILL serve him” or something to that effect… and it worked every time.

Dad was a butcher and worked in Bill Grimm’s butcher shop in Newark, which at that time, had a high percentage of German speaking residents and he could speak German. We never had a car, but Bill Grimm would let Dad have his car occasionally so that the family could take a trip for a picnic to Echo Lake Park (Springfield or Union, I think) or to Irvington Park to sail wooden boats.

Most of my early life was lived on Seymour Avenue in the Clinton Hill section of Newark. Aunt Jotty and “Fat” (Uncle Ferdinand’s preferred nickname) lived directly across the street, and until they moved to Hillside, the Zellners, George and Anna lived downstairs from Jotty and Ferd. Grandma Mager lived with Jotty and I can still recall the image of her sitting in her rocking chair with a black dress and white lace shawl around her.

In 1945, a huge explosion rocked Newark as the A&P warehouse exploded due to an ammonia leak in the banana cooling room. By that time, Dad had just recently joined the A&P because small shops like Grimm’s were starting to fade into the sunset as postwar “super”markets began to emerge. It was either break time or lunch time and, as was their custom, all of Dad’s co-workers broke out the cards for some serious gambling (a daily event) while Dad, who was not a card player (and had no money to lose) went out the back loading dock to enjoy a Lucky Strike cigarette.

The entire building blew up in a thunderous roar leaving all of his friends buried under the rubble. I can still picture him sitting in the living room at home after he returned from work, shaking. It was one of the very few times I ever saw him cry. I recently got the account of that accident from the archives of the Newark papers from the Public Library because the image of the building (which Dad took me to see) came into my mind after a half century and I had to find out about it. Funny, after all those years, I still remember the names of his friends who died.

Dad was a great urban farmer, tomatoes being his specialty! Mom loved tomatoes and it was perhaps a matter of diplomacy which prompted him to stake out a small plot of turf in the back yard every year, and tend to the vines. He was always the envy of other tomato growers as his seven-footers towered over theirs!

Dad loved the opera. My sister reminded me of that, and I could hardly believe it. But, upon thinking back, there was some sort of radio show on every week which featured the opera and he listened to it faithfully. He had very little formal education and certainly no leanings toward music, yet somehow opera appealed to him. Gilbert and Sullivan productions were favorites of his.

He enjoyed sports, and together we would listen to the Friday Night Fights. Both of us knew every fighter in every weight class. College football was high on our priority list in those days when cosmic battles between Army and Navy, Notre Dame and Purdue captured our imaginations and molded our heroes. His biggest love was baseball… not just any baseball, YANKEE baseball! It was a love he carried all through his life. It was a tribute to his patient endurance that I, a Brooklyn Dodger fan, was not drummed out of the family circle. The womenfolk could care less about sports so we had it all to ourselves!

Looking back, I see Dad as having been a strong person, both physically and personally. He guided the family through some very difficult times, rarely complaining. He was a devout Catholic, and especially after his retirement, he was never very far from his well-worn rosary beads. And as he grew older it became apparent that he was very mellow and comfortable with the life he had led and that, after many years of marriage, he and mom had become the closest of friends in every way. She missed him until the day she died at 95 many years later.

He was just a good man.
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Sources

[S9] 1900 U.S. Census, Population Schedule; NARA Microfilm Publication T623, NJ, Essex, Newark, Ward 3, ED24, P16 A-B.
[S34] Baptismal Register of St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception, Newark, NJ, January 1889 - October 1908.
[S217] WWI Civilian Draft Registration Card.
[S15] 1930 U.S. Census, Population Schedule; NARA Microfilm Publication T626, NJ, Essex, Newark, Ward 16, ED7-290, P5-B.
[S380] New Hampshire, Marriage Records, 1637-1947, Frank Mager - Madeleine Davitt marriage, 8/25/1931.
[S114] Kelly Sieben, Response to questionnaire, January 2013.
[S11] 1910 U.S. Census, Population Schedule; NARA Microfilm Publication T624, NJ, Essex, Newark, Ward 3, ED17, P12-B.
[S14] 1920 U.S. Census, Population Schedule; NARA Microfilm Publication T625, NJ, Essex, Newark, Ward 3, ED119, P22-A.
[S114] Kelly Sieben.
[S194] U.S. Social Security Death Index.
[S55] Das Mager-Buch: Geschichte einer Familie aus vier Jahrhunderten, Dr. Edwart Mager, (Location: Freiburg im Breisgau; Date: 1935;), 193.
[S130] Marriage Register of St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception, Newark, NJ, January 1858 - December 1888, 131.
[S266] New Jersey, Marriages, 1678-1985.
[S56] Das Mager-Buch: Geschichte einer Familie aus vier Jahrhunderten (Erganzungsband zum "Mager-Buch" 1935), Dr. Edwart Mager, (Name: Freiburg im Breisgau, 1972;), 81.