Albert K. Polzin Jr (1870–1949) and Bertha Polzin Koehler were two of seven children born to German immigrants, Albert Polzin Sr (1845–1925) and Henrietta Rieck Polzin (1843–1931). Albert Jr was born in Germany and immigrated to America in 1862 with his parents and Bertha was born in Illinois after the family's emigration.

In 1883 Albert Jr married Illinois native Elizabeth Dehnhardt, and they had three children, of which two were still living in 1900: George Albert Polzin (1883–c1950) and Henrietta, who perished at the Iroquois. Albert worked as a grocery clerk, and they owned their home at 41 Ashland in La Grange, Illinois, a village southwest of Chicago with a 1903 population of around 4,000. Today La Grange is considered a Chicago suburb. Albert and Elizabeth's home was probably located where the playground is today at the Cossitt Elementary School.

Bertha married Fred Koehler (1852–1917) in 1887, and Marie was the only child. Fred immigrated to America from Germany in 1852 and from at least 1893 to 1904 was a saloon keeper. Despite reports to the contrary, in 1903, the Koehler's probably lived in Washington Heights, a Chicago suburb. See discrepancies below.

In the years after the fire

Bertha Koehler, Albert, and Elizabeth Polzin all moved to Los Angeles in the 1920s and spent the remainder of their lives there, and were buried in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, CA.

In 1909 Marie Koehler's family received one of the thirty-five $750 settlements from Fuller Construction, the company that built the Iroquois Theater.

Discrepancies and addendum

• In some newspaper reports, Bertha Koehler did not attend the theater and was not even in the city but came fleeing from her home in Chicago Heights upon hearing about the fire. According to city directories, Fred Koehler lived in Washington Heights, and according to many reports, Bertha suffered burn injuries, so it is more likely than not that she was at the Iroquois at the time of the fire.
• Some 1903 victim lists included a thirty-five-year-old fatality named Maime or Mayme and others a seventeen-year-old named Maime or Mayme. A death certificate was not issued for anyone named Maime or Mayme Koehler, Kohler, or Kahler. The only death certificate issued to a Koehler was for Marie, mistranscribed as Mannie. It may be that Marie was nicknamed Maime or that her mother, Bertha, was nicknamed Maime, but the only Koehler fatality was Marie.
• Some newspapers reported that the Polzin's lived in Knox, IL, and some that they lived in Chicago on Vincennes Ave. Fred and Bertha Koehler lived on Vincennes in Washington Heights, and according to the 1900 and 1910 U.S. Census, the Polzin's lived in La Grange, IL. The only evidence I found to indicate that the Polzins lived in Knox was March 1904 classified advertisement in the Chicago Trib for a 280-acre farm in Knox, on R. F. D. #2, offered by an A. Polzin that could have been Albert.
• One newspaper reported that William Fitzgerald, a detective at the hotel where Bertha was staying, the Great Northern, found and identified Marie's body at Perrigo's funeral home based on the gold fillings in her teeth. Other newspapers reported that Etta's father, Albert Polzin Jr, identified both girls. Some newspapers reported that Marie's body was found at Perrigo's and Etta's at Buffums, others reversing it with Etta at Perrigo and Marie at Buffum.
• Some newspapers reported that Bertha lost two daughters, but according to the 1900 U.S. Census, she had only born one child, still living then — Marie. The 1910 census reported she had born one child, no longer living. It was reported that Bertha was delirious with grief and exhaustion after searching in vain to find her daughters. Presumably, her references to our two daughters, meaning the daughters of she and her brother or she and her sister-in-law, were misunderstood by reporters to mean two daughters of she and her husband.
• One contemporary source on the Mount Greenwood cemetery seems to have a snafu. No surprise, given the inconsistencies reported about the Koehler and Polzin girls in 1903. Mount Greenwood Cemetery, a book by Margaret M. Kapustiak and Paula K. Everett, reports that Maria Koehler had a fifteen-year-old daughter named Lola, who was also a victim. Multiple problems with that report. Maria's mother was named Bertha, did not die at the Iroquois, and was thirty-one years old. The Maria Koehler, who did die at the Iroquois, was herself fifteen years old, as substantiated by her grave marker (see accompanying photo), so she did not have a fifteen-year-old child. The error may lie in part with a mix-up with a sixteen-year-old unrelated Iroquois victim named Lola Kuebler, buried in Oak Woods Cemetery.
• The Koehler's 1903 residence is uncertain but was probably at 9900 Vincennes Rd. in the village of Washington Heights (annexed to Chicago in 1893) at the southwest corner with 99th street where Fred operated a saloon and resided. Washington Heights (aka Blue Island Ridge and Beverly) was about fourteen miles south of Chicago. According to city directories, they lived there between 1893 and 1904. The double funeral was held at this address, followed by burial in a Chicago cemetery.
• Various reports in newspapers and books also had the family living in: Knoxville, IL, about two hundred miles southwest of Chicago.  One possibility is that Bertha and Fred were separated, with Bertha and Marie living in Knoxville, and another is that Marie was a student at the St. Mary's catholic girls' school in Knoxville, IL.
• Other sources reported the family lived in Chicago Heights, IL, about thirty miles southwest of Chicago. Perhaps reporters confused it with Washington Heights.

* Polzin was sometimes spelled Paulzine, Paulzein, Polzine and Paulson.

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