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Married:
- Family tradition has it that Anna had been married to a much older man who was a saloon keeper in Baltimore, Maryland. This man died and Anna married Conrad Thoma.
Part of this story appears to be confirmed by the documents which Anna filed with her application in 1903 for a widow's pension. On her Declaration for Widow's Pension Anna stated that she was a widow at the time of her marriage to Conrad Thoma. With her application, she included a letter from the Baltimore Cemetery Company (8 South Street, Baltimore, Maryland), dated January 16, 1904, certifying that Lawrence Schneider died of apoplexy [stroke?] on February 16, 1864 at the age of 59 years and was buried February 18, 1864 in grave No. 4, Lot No. 93, Section II "in said cemetery". The letter was signed by William R. Fluharty, Secretary. The letter bears the US Pension Office stamp with the date of February 9, 1904. There is also a letter dated April 1, 1898 testifying to the marriage of Conrad Thoma and Mrs. Anna Maria Schneider, nee Elbert, both of Baltimore City, Maryland on April 24, 1864 in Baltimore by the Rev. L. D. Ma_er, then pastor of St. Matthew's E[vangelical?] Lutheran Church of Baltimore, MD. Signed by the current pastor of the church, Ed. D[uber?] The letter bears the dated stamp (December 17, 1903) of the US Pension Office.
It seems safe to assume that Anna Marie Elbert was the widow of a man named Schneider when she married Conrad Thoma. This earlier husband seems to have been Lawrence Schneider, who died in 1864 at 59 years of age (this gives him a date of birth about 1805). In 1903, when applying for the widow's pension, Anna stated her age as 65 years. This would give her a date of birth of about 1838. If it is true that she emigrated from Germany at the age of 18, this would have placed her in the U.S. in about 1856. There is a difference of 33 years between Anna's and Lawrence's ages. If the birth dates are correct and if they met and married after Anna's arrival in America, Anna could not have been younger that 18 and Lawrence could not have been younger than 51. Lawrence died in February, 1864, at the age of 59. Conrad and Anna were married in April, 1864. Conrad was discharged from the Army of the Potomac in October, 1861. His date of birth seems to be either 1837 or 1839; he and Anna were very close in age.
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