Anyone who knows me well knows it's no surprise my ancestors lived in Nashville (if you want any country music requests, drop me a line. I've got it on lock). The line of my maternal grandmother, Catherine Shaub, lived in Nashville for generations, and it was only after Catherine was born that her parents, Charles Shaub and Norine Roache, moved down to Houston.
Nashville had a strategic location on the Cumberland River that enabled it to grow as a port city and then a railroad hub for farmers and plantation owners to export their crops. After the Civil War, Nashville began to industrialize which attracted several immigrants who might have been swallowed up in larger cities, including my ancestors.
Julius Shaub and Elizabeth Mocker, Charles' parents, both lived in Nashville. Elizabeth was the daughter of immigrants Lambert Mocker (Mocker is the Americanized version of the German Moher) and Magdalena Saelinger, both of whom were from the state of Baden-Württemberg in Germany.
John Joseph Roache and Catherine Lydon, Norine's parents, also lived in Nashville. John was an immigrant from Galway who worked as a railroad switchman. Catherine was originally born to Irish immigrants living in Pennsylvania where she met and married John.