Mary came to the United States in 1866 with her parents when she was 5 years old. She said the trip took about a month at sea to get to America. On the way they ran into a storm at sea, the ship had some damage so they had to throw supplies overboard to save the ship. Her mother got so sea sick that she was not able to eat the potatoes and prunes for that was all they had left after the storm, so the children would fish out the prunes and give the potatoes to their mother.
They settled at Toledo, Ohio, living in a dugout. Mary's mother was so homesick she would go out back of the dugout and cry. She wanted to go back to Germany, but they did not have the money.
Later they moved to St. Marys, Iowa. She is a sister to Otto BUSSANMAS, who married George's sister, Julia.