Emma Poesche, nee Pelz was a German-American writer, playwright, and teacher of the German language who lived for many years in Washington, DC.
Born August, 7, 1827, in Breslau, Germany, she was a member of a prominent family in the German revolution of 1848. Her father, Eduard Pelz, was a publisher in Breslau, and a delegate of Silesia to the Frankfort Parliament. Facing political pressures, Eduard emigrated to America in 1850, and Emma joined him in 1852. [See: Johnson, Hildegard Binder. “Eduard Pelz and German Immigration.”] Emma married Theodore Poesche, “who was himself a teacher and exile from Germany,” around 1853. Emma’s brother was Paul Johannes Pelz, architect of the Library of Congress and other noted buildings in Washington.
Emma Poesche was prominently connected with various German cultural and philanthropic organizations, and was the first president of both the German Dramatic Society and the German Aid Society, out of which the German Orphans Asylum grew. As an instructor of the German language, she reportedly taught members of several Presidential families.
As the Washington correspondent for the monthly Deutsche Rundschau für Geographie und Statistik. Emma Poesche wrote about Utah and Mormonism, providing what are considered “accurate, discerning accounts of conditions in Utah in the 1880s.”
Obituary, Washington Times [English] September 21, 1911.
Obituary, Washington Journal [German], September 23, 1911.
Nachruf by Anita Schade, Washington Journal [German], October 7, 1911.