Off To Work

        My maternal great grandfather, John Koetzle Jr. was a candy maker. In the census records he is specifically listed as a confectioner. His father, Johann Koetzle Sr. was a baker, as were others in the family. John Jr.  was born in 1857 in Philadelphia, PA, the first born child to Johannn Koetzle and his wife Matilda Schuler. His surname is pronounced Kett-zill. They both immigrated from Studdgart Wurttemberg Germany, John in 1856 (still working on Matilda’s timeframe). 

John Koetzle Jr., my mom's grandfather was a confectioner

John Jr. and his wife Elizabeth Reilly (Lizzie) were my mom’s maternal grandparents. She knew them well, and spent lots of time at their home in Philadelphia, as well as their vacations in Brigantine, NJ in the summer.  Yes, he always had a suit on, even at the shore!

Dot (my mom) and her grandpa John Koetzle Jr. around 1927 at the beach

Because Mom spent so much time with them, she knew his skills as a candy maker, and she told me that he did most, if not all, of his baking etc in the basement of their home. At least that’s how she remembered it. And I think in later years he did work from home. But in the 1910 census (He was 53 years old that year) he stated he was a candy maker and worked in a factory. 

Mom was born in 1918, and two years later her grandfather John Jr. was listed in the 1920 census as a candy maker, working on ”his own account.” So I think as he got older, he was working from home

Earlier on in his confectioner’s career I was able to find one item in the 1879 Philadelphia City Directory that showed he and another person had their own business selling candy. The business name was “Edwin W. Saunders & John Koetzle Jr., Confectioners” with an address of 812 S. 2d, in Philadelphia.

1879 Philadelphia City Directory

Mom remembers all of his candies were so good, particularly his strawberry wafers. She also remembers his English language skills reverted to German order of parts of speech. He would mix up his nouns and verbs, typical of “Pennsylvania Deutsch”. Here is an example she remembers: “throw you Pappy down the stairs my pants.” (I think that’s how she said it).

Together John Jr. and his wife Lizzie had 8 children, 6 of which lived to adulthood. I never got to meet John and Lizzie, but I did know and adore my grandmother Florence (my mom’s mom), and her 5 siblings. John Jr. passed away October 1936 at the age of 79!.

The tea cart that my great grandfather used to display is confections

I do wish that one or two of his recipes had made it down to us, but they did not. However, we do have one fantastic piece of furniture, a tea cart, that he used to display all of his homemade confections made in his Philadelphia home. My brother Bob and his wife Donna are the proud keepers and custodians of this piece of history and heirloom. It is a treasure to all of us!