Minna (Minnie )Marie Kerber was the first child, daughter and only child born in the Fatherland, Westpruessen August 19, 1880. She told her daughter, Margarete, that she was six months when she came to the United States. She must have been christened in Westpruessen because there was no baptismal record found at St. Paul. She was confirmed at St. Paul April 7, 1895 with Psalm 62:2-3 as her confirmation Scripture. "
2 He alone is my rock and my
salvation;
he is my fortress, I will never be shaken.
3
How long will you assault a man?
Would all of you throw him down—
this leaning wall, this tottering fence?
Since she was the eldest,
it was left to her to do all of the housework.
One of her chores was hand-scrubbing Clara's clothing who was changed three
times a day. While researching life in Germany that a girl old
enough to leave home went to work for another family as a house maid until she
married paying the family for her room and board. Minnie went to work for
the owners of Fisher's Bakery. She also had a talent for sewing and is
listed in the 1902 St. Joseph Directory as a dressmaker, residing at 703
Angelique. Ann Marie, her niece told me that she made most of Margarete
and Ann's clothing when they were growing up.
Louis George Gensler was born June 30, 1870, immigrated to the Buffalo, New York area 1880-1881 where he lived with his parents and siblings before moving to Missouri.
L.G. was
christened at Zion Evangelical Church in 1898
That
tells me that the principality from which he immigrated was Reformed since Zion
was made up from those immigrants and that Minnie joined him at this
congregation.
He and Minnie married May 28, 1903 
when she was 23 and he was 33 years of age. I don't know exactly where they were
married. Since Louis was confirmed at Zion in 1909, the next family
historian will probably find the family in those records now located at the
Northwest Missouri
Genealogy Society Library downtown St. Joseph, MO.
The couple had two children:
Margarete Malvena Sophia Gensler was born September 17, 1905 in St. Joseph, Missouri at home like most children of that time.
Ervin Gustave Albert Gensler was born October 01, 1911 in St. Joseph, MO and died December 18, 1918. He died of pneumonia contracted during a hunting trip. He was only 7 years old. It must have been a terrible blow to the family. He is buried in Ashland Cemetery, Ashland Avenue, St. Joseph, MO
Minnie and Louis moved to California in 1930. This picture was taken on
their 50th wedding anniversary in 1953
Virginia Dobrick, Louis Gensler, Minna Kerber Gensler,
Margarete Gensler Dobrick
Minnie 1959
Minnie with niece, Clara Kerber 1974
Minnie's newspaper clippings.