GIER
Family patriarch Christian Gier planned the move to America but died suddenly. There was persecution of Catholics in the 1850s and 1860s in Germany as the Catholic Church opposed the acts of the liberal German State and Chancellor Bismarck. Whole orders of priests emigrated to America as did many lay Catholics for religious reasons. (Thanks to Brenda O'Halloran for this information.) Widowed Gertrude Gier followed through with the moving plans with her six sons and came to Chillicothe around 1881 straight from Germany. One supposes they had family or friends here already. For a time the sons ran an altar factory by St. Columbans Church at Ninth and Trenton Streets. In 1888 John Gier married Caroline Bonderer and they had 10 children. It was thought that the Gier home at 820 Vine Street was built in 1883, but looking at the maps, the home was not erected until around 1900.
In 1918 the family still lived at 820 Vine Street: Caroline, recently widowed; Christian, a watchman for Macdonald Jewelry Company; Lawrence, who clerked at V.O. Greene’s auto repair; Mamie; and Wilhelmina, a saleslady at Hartman’s. Other family members came and went such as Mary and Frank. Caroline died in 1919. By 1929 Chris and his wife Clara Gladieux moved back to the family home, having completely redecorated it. They remained in that home until the mid-1950s.
Victor was born 18 June 1926. he died in a hunting accident at the age of 17 on 13 April 1944.
At some point, Chris, along with partner Virgil Hunt, came to own the Macdonald Jewelry Company. In 1936 they moved the business to the north side of the Square. Their supply was limited to a “high-class jewelry line” and plenty of room was given to Chris’ watch repair. By the mid-1950s, Chris was doing the optometry work and Hershel Sensenich was managing the jewelry side. Chris retired in the early 1960s, selling his business to Sensenich.