EMMA MAE (RESSLER) REESE 1906-1989

Emma Ressler's birth certificate - note that her name is not actually filled in but the date, place, and parents are correct.  So the name is missing - was the doctor in a hurry? Or since birth certificates were a new thing in Lancaster County in 1906 was the doctor just not used to filling them out? Or had Frank and Bertha not decided on a name for their new daughter?

Source: Ancestry

I have a couple photos of Emma as a young woman:


Tom and Emma were engaged, the diamond engagement ring was inherited by my sister.

Tom and Emma are also in this family gathering photo, so Tom must have been seen as part of the family.
I do not know what caused the engagement of Tom Ross and Emma Ressler was broken off.  I do remember comments from grandma that Aunt Emma had been engaged twice before marrying John Reese.

John Reese and Emma Ressler were married on July 6, 1929.



 Their marriage appeared neither happy or unhappy to me.  I remember Uncle John as being kind and quick to laugh.  As I got older, I heard the quiet veiled comments that he was bi-sexual.  Whether he was or not, his many kindnesses to me and his laugh are what I remember. He died of cancer.

I remember Uncle John and Aunt Emma living at 525 Manor Street in Lancaster.

Feb. 16, 1938 Emma Reese and Pauline Garner


At the Frank Ressler farm in New Providence, PA




Aunt Emma died in January 1989.  She and Uncle John never had children, and she always seemed so bitter and angry.  I think she was very lonely as she aged. By the time this photo was taken, she was blind or almost blind from diabetes.


Source: all photos from my personal collection

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