Thomas Pearce and Sarah Hall

St. Mary's Church - Alverstoke
cc-by-sa/2.0 - © Colin Babb - geograph.org.uk/p/1093207

Thomas Pearce married Sarah Hall on 14 Dec 1797 in Alverstoke, Hampshire. Witnesses to their marriage were Ann Deadman and Robert Hills.

Thomas and Sarah appear to have had five children:

1. Mary Ann Pearce b. 19 Dec 1798, bap. 21 Dec 1800
2. Robert Pearce bap. 21 Dec 1800, in the parish of Portsea St Mary
3. Thomas Hooper Pearce b. 30 Aug 1806, bap. 2 Sep 1806 (some transcripts say 7 Sep 1806) in the parish of Portsea St John
4. James Pearce b. 9 Jan 1809, bap 19 Jan 1809, St Johns Chapel
5. Sarah Pearce b. 16 Dec 1810, bap. 24 Mar 1811 at Portsea, St Mary

Sarah Pearce of Sandwich Street, Portsea (Sandwich Street was in the "New Buildings" taken into the Dockyard in 1847, The Portsmouth Encyclopedia) died, age estimated to 69, in 1840 D Quarter in PORTSEA ISLAND UNION Volume 07 Page 95 and buried on 15 Nov 1840 at St Mary's, Portsea.

In 1841, Thomas Pearce (65) Shopkeeper was in Sandwich Street, Portsea with Thomas Postings (30) Navy; Mary (30) & Thomas Postings, 17m.

In 1851, Thomas Pearce (74) Widower, Wife's Father, Retired Grocer, was living at 22 Upper Church Road, in the household of James Tubb.

Thomas Pearce, listed as Thomas Hooper Pearce, of Church Road, age given as 78, died in 1853 M Quarter in PORTSEA ISLAND UNION Volume 02B Page 269 and was buried on 2 Jan 1853 at St Mary's, Portsea.

Wilhelm Kritzer and Flora Wilhelmina Gleichauf

The Catholic parish church of St. Johann in Donaueschingen, Germany. The building with a double tower façade in the Bohemian Baroque style was built from 1724 to 1747 to a design by the Prague architect František Maxmilián Kaňka. Photo H. Helmlechner, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Wilhelm Kritzer (b. 10 Jan 1844), son of Michael Kritzer and Maria Agatha Hall, married Flora Wilhelmina Gleichauf (b. 26 Jan 1851), daughter of Johann Nepomuk Gleichauf and Waldburga Baur, on 26 Jun 1873 at the Katholisch (The Catholic parish church of St. Johann, consecrated to John the Baptist) in Donaueschingen, Villingen, Baden, Germany. 

Wilhelm and Flora Kritzer had five children, all baptised in that same church:

1. Amalia Kritzer b. 7 Oct 1873, bap. 19 Oct 1873
2. Julius Kritzer b. 18 Aug 1874, bap. 23 Aug 1874
3. Karl Kritzer b. 3 Nov 1875, bap. 14 Nov 1875
4. Josef Kritzer b. 30 Oct 1877, bap. 11 Nov 1877 
5. Wilhelm Kritzer b. 10 Mar 1879, bap. 23 Mar 1879,
   but who sadly died on 14 Sep of the same year.

Eldest son Julius Kritzer of 26 Karlstrasse, Donaueschingen, Germany died on 12 Feb 1925. (Karlstraße, appears to be the town's main street.) Probate was granted, however, in 1929, in England, to Mortimer Rooke, solicitor, attorney of Justina Kritzer, widow. It seems strange to have probate granted in England, unless they also spent time in the UK, but I can find no record of either of them having done so and no other record of Julius, nor Justina.

The three other surviving siblings certainly came to Britain to work in service in some very distinguished households and were in the UK at the outbreak of the First World War, where they found themselves at the epicentre of the anti-German hysteria and Spy Fever, incited by the press. 

Pelham Place, South Kensington
cc-by-sa/2.0 - © Marathon - geograph.org.uk/p/2730271

Amalia Kritzer (27), daughter of Wilhelm Kritzer and Flora Gleichauf, in 1901, was employed as a Lady's Maid in the household of spinster sisters, Mary and Adela Ram at 20, Alexander Square, Kensington, a garden square in London's Chelsea, SW3. (Like the private communal gardens seen in Notting Hill.) 

In 1911, she was working as Lady's Maid for a 3rd sister, Elizabeth Ram at 19 Pelham Place, Kensington. The two older Ram sisters were born in France and the latter in Ireland, so the family don't appear on any census in England until we find them, living with their father, Stephen Ram, in the similarly upmarket Egerton Gardens, in 1891, where he was 'Living on own Means'. (Stephen Ram (1819-1899), of Ramsfort Park, Gorey, County Wexford, Ireland (The Rams of Gorey), had married Mary Christian Casamayor at Marylebone Church on 6 Aug 1839, with whom he had 7 children.)

In 1921, Amalie Kritzer (47) Lady's Maid from Baden, Germany was still working for Elizabeth Ram (62) at 19, Pelham Place, South Kensington, London. Living with Miss Ram was her niece, Christina M Ram and the pair were attended by Amalie, a Cook, a Parlourmaid and a Housemaid.

Elizabeth Ram died, at 67, in 1926 S Quarter in KENSINGTON Volume 01A Page 111 and The London Daily Chronicle of 15 Oct 1926 reported on, "£300 A YEAR TO MAID. Miss Elizabeth Ram of Pelham Place, South Kensington, whose estate is valued at £100,441 [nearly £8 million in 2024], left £200, the contents of her rooms, and £300 a year to her maid, Amalie Kritzer."

Amalie Kritzer, spinster, of 125 Beaufort St, Chelsea, London died, aged 60, on 4 Oct 1934. She left £1267 5s 8d (~£114,000 in 2024). Probate was granted to Mortimer Rooke and Alexander Herbert Macdonald, solicitors.

Source of the Donaubach in Donaueschingen (historically considered the source of the Danube)
Donaueschingen, in the Schwarzwald (Black Forest) near the confluence of the two sources of the river Danube, close to the borders with Switzerland and France, is postcard perfect. This video gives us a look around the town today and the pronunciation of Doe-now-ess-shingen.