Descendants of Roebling family tour Saxonburg
SAXONBURG -- Nine descendants of the Roebling family toured locations Sunday, May 24, across Saxonburg, the borough their ancestors once called home.
Anne and Alex White, along with their two children, a daughter-in-law and four grandchildren spent Sunday morning and early afternoon exploring the Saxonburg Museum, Saxonburg Memorial Church and borough founder John Roebling’s workshop, where the wire rope was invented.
The trip came about for the Whites — descendants of John Roebling’s sister, Friederike Amalie Meissner — after Anne White began to research more into her genealogy and family history.
Her year and a half of work had mostly been focused on tracking the family tree between herself and Meissner, but she was inspired to make a trip from Massachusetts to Pennsylvania to come see the town her family once had a hand in founding.
“During my first trip to Pittsburgh, there was a little museum under one of the bridges,” Anne White said. “They had these handout sheets and one of them mentioned Saxonburg and the Roeblings, and I took it with me. When I started to research, I pulled it out and found it on the map.
“I was so surprised it still existed.”
The family started their trip at the Saxonburg Museum, where they were shocked to find an entire room dedicated to John Roebling and his immediate family. The group gawked at photos, historical documents and artifacts and even got to meet Emily Roebling in person through reenactor Molly Nowakowski, who said it was exciting to welcome in descendants of the Roebling family.
“With the museum, I always say ‘I don’t want it to be behind glass. I want to be able to touch and feel it,’” she said. “And to actually have descendants of the Roeblings come into our museum and take them into John Roebling’s workshop, you can touch the walls and feel the energy.”
The group then traveled to the Saxonburg Memorial Church, where they learned from Pastor Doug Dorsey about the church and its bell, which the Roeblings installed.
“When Roebling put (the bell) up, he didn’t use nails. They used a wooden dowel because the nails would have eventually come out and the bell would have collapsed,” Dorsey explained to the family.
Anne White said she was surprised how well the town had preserved its history — not just of the Roeblings, but in its entirety.
“I can’t really believe that there was so much here. It’s a gold mine in terms of what’s been preserved,” she said. “It’s exciting to think that after reading about that, I actually can find it and come and see it.
“And (Saxonburg) is thriving!”
