Two years ago, from information sent to me by Anna Bieniaszewska, the local expert on the old Torun / Thorn Jewish community in general, and the KALISCHER family in particular, I learned that the mother-in-law of R. Zwi Hirsch KALISCHER (1795-1874) was named Golde. That, and that she was the wife of Jacob David COHN of Nieszawa, are all that I know of this great great great grandmother.
While writing the previous blog entry about R. Zwi Hirsch KALISCHER's daughter Auguste SCHEININ geb. KALISCHER (1851-1920), I read the beginning part of the Hebrew inscription from her gravestone and noted that her Hebrew name was Golde.
So, this youngest and least known of the siblings of my great grandmother Johanna FALK geb. KALISCHER (1845-1929), was named after her grandmother Golde.
From that, we can determine that the elder Golde must have died between March 1847 when Zwi Hirsch KALISCHER and his wife Henriette (Gitel) geb. COHN named a daughter Jenny (Jenny FOERDER geb. KALISCHER (1847-1928)) and September 1851, when their Auguste Golde was born.
And from the fact that Auguste's 21-year-older brother Ludwig (Louis) (Juda Löb) KALISCHER (1820-1901) named his first daughter Therese in October 1850, and not a name likely to be associated with "Golde", it seems likely that the elder Golde died between October 1850 and September 1851.
That said, the elder Golde's son Schaje COHN (married to Friederike KALISCHER) named his first daughter Therese (date unknown). Perhaps these Therese's did have the Hebrew name "Golde". If so, the date for Golde's death would return to the broader period 1847-1851.
Great great great grandmother Golde COHN geb. ??, died ca.1850 (probably).
Friday, December 6, 2013
Auguste KALISCHER and her SCHEININ Family
In the KALISCHER family tree, there was one sister of my great grandmother Johanna FALK geb. KALISCHER (1845-1929) about whom very little was known. That little information must have come from the "Familientafel Kalischer", a comprehensive family tree prepared by family members for the extended KALISCHER family in 1934 in Berlin (and updated for 2 or 3 years thereafter). The information was limited to showing that my great great aunt Auguste KALISCHER had married Albert SCHEININ who had a connection to the Universität Leipzig, and that they had 6 children: Emanuel, Recha, Adele (d.age 2 1/2), Hanna, Leo and Markus (d.age 1). Recha had married Wolf Beer FUCHS (who died in the Netherlands during the time period of World War I) and had 3 sons (no names given). That was it.
Over the years, I tried to find information about my SCHEININ cousins from Leipzig.
Yesterday, thanks to the databases on Ancestry.com, I finally made some progress.
In 2001, I wrote to the archive of the Universität Leipzig and learned where and when Albert SCHEININ was born and the names of his parents, but did not learn anything more that could help me trace this family line.
In 2007, searching on Ancestry.com, I found information on the son Leo SCHEININ. It turned out he was born in 1888, and had emigrated to New York in 1907. He had been a merchant in Leipzig. In the US, he was a bookkeeper in New Orleans (as noted in the 1910 US Census), and was in the fur trade in New York (as noted in his WWI registration card). Leo died in the Bronx on 5 November 1935.
There things stood until last month.
When my brother Don and I were in Germany and Poland on a family research trip in November 2013, we stopped in Leipzig and went to the old Jewish cemetery. There, I happened to spot the gravestone of my great great aunt Auguste SCHEININ geb. KALISCHER (1851-1920).
Knowing that Auguste died in Leipzig, or at least was buried there, provided a new clue to aid in looking for this family. The gravestone inscription gave Auguste's Hebrew name as Golde, and Albert's Hebrew name as Zwi Dov; it also confirmed the family connection by identifying her father as haGaon R. Zwi Hirsch KALISCHER. With her birth date, I could confirm that Auguste was the youngest child of Zwi HIrsch KALISCHER, matching where she was listed (without dates) in the Familientafel Kalischer. And she must have had some living grandchildren in 1920 since she was a "geliebte Mutter und Grossmutter".
Back in Chapel Hill visiting my mother, I looked again for information about Auguste's husband Albert SCHEININ. Using Google Books, I found a copy of his book "Die Hochschule zu Jamnia und ihre bedeutendsten Lehrer" (1878):
.jpg)
Finding Auguste's gravestone in Leipzig prompted me to seek information about the SCHEININ family from the Leipzig Jewish community and the Stadtsarchiv. A city archivist responded very quickly with a little information - it did not add much to what I knew, but did cause me to spend the afternoon yesterday looking for more clues. (More information should be coming from the archive in the next few weeks.)
On Ancestry.com, I found a Leipzig directory from 1936 that included Recha FUCHS. Then, I looked at 2 entries from UK directories, and was thinking the Recha FUCHS in London in 1939 and 1940 seemed to be the same person. She was living at the same address as a Max FUCHS. And a Recha FUCHS died in 1942 in Eton at the right age to be my cousin Recha FUCHS geb. SCHEININ (1879-1942) .
Following up on the possibility that Max FUCHS was one of the unknown sons of Recha and Wolf Beer FUCHS (d.ca.1914, Netherlands), I started looking for information about this Max FUCHS. That led me to a family tree posted on Ancestry.com by "LEFuchs".
From that tree, I learned that Max had a brother Leo, and then I found the third brother Alfred (Ephraim Alfred) from the Passenger List databases.
LEFuchs' information on Ancestry.com led me to living members of the FUCHS from a very loving obituary for the widow of Leo FUCHS -- Florence FUCHS geb. GOLDSTEIN (1918-2006). From there, Ancestry.com, Facebook and internet searches allowed me to find more details and photographs of these new cousins.
At the same time, I also found a little information about Recha's older brother Emanuel SCHEININ. He left Leipzig and settled in Fürth. German military records showed his service in World War I -- and also indentified his wife Meta geb. SCHLOSS and that, by 1917, they had had 4 children. Poking around on Ancestry.com, I found that one child was Max SCHEININ (1909-1982) who emigrated to the States in 1928. His sister Hilde SCHEININ (b.ca.1916) came to New York in 1934. Their mother Meta SCHEININ geb. SCHLOSS (b.ca.1880) came to New York in 1936. No sign yet of living descendants of this part of the family.
I wish I could share this news with my wonderful cousin Herta MENDELSON (geb. MENDLOWICZ) (1893-1988), who spent her whole life finding and keeping track of the KALISCHER family. I think she would have loved finding the family of her great aunt Auguste -- and especially to discover that, during her lifetime, they were largely living in the greater New York area. Hertha lived in New York from her arrival in New York in 1941 until 1986 when she opted to spend her last years in Israel.
My mother escorted Hertha to Israel when she decided to move to the Dan Carmel hotel in Haifa in 1986, at age 93. My mother made a second trip to Israel in 1988 to visit Hertha for her 95th birthday. On that occasion, tiny Hertha said "’wenn mich nur meine Mutter jetzt sehen koennte..." -- her mother who would have been almost 125 years old at the time of Hertha's 95th birthday. Now, having found these close cousins, Leo FUCHS was Hertha's second cousin, I can say "wenn mich nur meine Hertha jetzt sehen koennte" (if only Hertha (age 120) could see me now -- and learn about these missing cousins)...
This was a great end-of-Hanukkah present for me.
Over the years, I tried to find information about my SCHEININ cousins from Leipzig.
Yesterday, thanks to the databases on Ancestry.com, I finally made some progress.
In 2001, I wrote to the archive of the Universität Leipzig and learned where and when Albert SCHEININ was born and the names of his parents, but did not learn anything more that could help me trace this family line.
In 2007, searching on Ancestry.com, I found information on the son Leo SCHEININ. It turned out he was born in 1888, and had emigrated to New York in 1907. He had been a merchant in Leipzig. In the US, he was a bookkeeper in New Orleans (as noted in the 1910 US Census), and was in the fur trade in New York (as noted in his WWI registration card). Leo died in the Bronx on 5 November 1935.
There things stood until last month.
When my brother Don and I were in Germany and Poland on a family research trip in November 2013, we stopped in Leipzig and went to the old Jewish cemetery. There, I happened to spot the gravestone of my great great aunt Auguste SCHEININ geb. KALISCHER (1851-1920).
Knowing that Auguste died in Leipzig, or at least was buried there, provided a new clue to aid in looking for this family. The gravestone inscription gave Auguste's Hebrew name as Golde, and Albert's Hebrew name as Zwi Dov; it also confirmed the family connection by identifying her father as haGaon R. Zwi Hirsch KALISCHER. With her birth date, I could confirm that Auguste was the youngest child of Zwi HIrsch KALISCHER, matching where she was listed (without dates) in the Familientafel Kalischer. And she must have had some living grandchildren in 1920 since she was a "geliebte Mutter und Grossmutter".
Back in Chapel Hill visiting my mother, I looked again for information about Auguste's husband Albert SCHEININ. Using Google Books, I found a copy of his book "Die Hochschule zu Jamnia und ihre bedeutendsten Lehrer" (1878):
.jpg)
Finding Auguste's gravestone in Leipzig prompted me to seek information about the SCHEININ family from the Leipzig Jewish community and the Stadtsarchiv. A city archivist responded very quickly with a little information - it did not add much to what I knew, but did cause me to spend the afternoon yesterday looking for more clues. (More information should be coming from the archive in the next few weeks.)
On Ancestry.com, I found a Leipzig directory from 1936 that included Recha FUCHS. Then, I looked at 2 entries from UK directories, and was thinking the Recha FUCHS in London in 1939 and 1940 seemed to be the same person. She was living at the same address as a Max FUCHS. And a Recha FUCHS died in 1942 in Eton at the right age to be my cousin Recha FUCHS geb. SCHEININ (1879-1942) .
Following up on the possibility that Max FUCHS was one of the unknown sons of Recha and Wolf Beer FUCHS (d.ca.1914, Netherlands), I started looking for information about this Max FUCHS. That led me to a family tree posted on Ancestry.com by "LEFuchs".
From that tree, I learned that Max had a brother Leo, and then I found the third brother Alfred (Ephraim Alfred) from the Passenger List databases.
LEFuchs' information on Ancestry.com led me to living members of the FUCHS from a very loving obituary for the widow of Leo FUCHS -- Florence FUCHS geb. GOLDSTEIN (1918-2006). From there, Ancestry.com, Facebook and internet searches allowed me to find more details and photographs of these new cousins.
At the same time, I also found a little information about Recha's older brother Emanuel SCHEININ. He left Leipzig and settled in Fürth. German military records showed his service in World War I -- and also indentified his wife Meta geb. SCHLOSS and that, by 1917, they had had 4 children. Poking around on Ancestry.com, I found that one child was Max SCHEININ (1909-1982) who emigrated to the States in 1928. His sister Hilde SCHEININ (b.ca.1916) came to New York in 1934. Their mother Meta SCHEININ geb. SCHLOSS (b.ca.1880) came to New York in 1936. No sign yet of living descendants of this part of the family.
In the passenger list for Leo FUCHS' 1938 arrival in the US, he identified his "nearest relative or friend in the country whence alien came" as his "Aunt H. Scheinin, Nordplatz 1, Leipzig C.1". With this clue that Hanna SCHEININ was still living in Leipzig in 1938, I checked the "Gedenkbuch - Opfer der Verfolgung der Juden unter der nationalsozialistischen Gewaltherrschaft in Deutschland 1933-1945" (online) and learned the sad news that Hanna SCHEININ was deported to Riga:
born on 30th November 1886 in Leipzig / - / Sachsen
resident of Leipzig
resident of Leipzig
Deportation destination:
from Leipzig / Dresden
21st January 1942, Riga, ghetto
from Leipzig / Dresden
21st January 1942, Riga, ghetto
and was presumably murdered there.
I wish I could share this news with my wonderful cousin Herta MENDELSON (geb. MENDLOWICZ) (1893-1988), who spent her whole life finding and keeping track of the KALISCHER family. I think she would have loved finding the family of her great aunt Auguste -- and especially to discover that, during her lifetime, they were largely living in the greater New York area. Hertha lived in New York from her arrival in New York in 1941 until 1986 when she opted to spend her last years in Israel.
My mother escorted Hertha to Israel when she decided to move to the Dan Carmel hotel in Haifa in 1986, at age 93. My mother made a second trip to Israel in 1988 to visit Hertha for her 95th birthday. On that occasion, tiny Hertha said "’wenn mich nur meine Mutter jetzt sehen koennte..." -- her mother who would have been almost 125 years old at the time of Hertha's 95th birthday. Now, having found these close cousins, Leo FUCHS was Hertha's second cousin, I can say "wenn mich nur meine Hertha jetzt sehen koennte" (if only Hertha (age 120) could see me now -- and learn about these missing cousins)...
This was a great end-of-Hanukkah present for me.
Sunday, July 28, 2013
Change of E-mail Address
Hello All: I am finally changing my e-mail address from my very old AOL account to my gmail account: sfalkjd@gmail.com
Please use the new sfalkjd@gmail.com address starting July 28, 2013.
By the way, we also have a new home and address. We are now living in Point Roberts, Washington, USA.
Thank you.
Stephen Falk
P.O.Box 42
Point Roberts, WA 98281-0042
USA
Please use the new sfalkjd@gmail.com address starting July 28, 2013.
By the way, we also have a new home and address. We are now living in Point Roberts, Washington, USA.
Thank you.
Stephen Falk
P.O.Box 42
Point Roberts, WA 98281-0042
USA
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
OK, Just a Little More CANTORSOHN / CANTORSON
The children of Eva ROSENTHAL geb. CANTORSON (1820-1897) and Caspar ROSENTHAL include the son Bruno (1854-1909). From the Hebrew on his gravestone (online on Ralph SALINGER's website), Bruno's Hebrew name was Dov ben Jechezkel.
Baer being a kinnui for Dov (as in Dov Ber), this adds another child who was named for the actual or putative grandfather Baer KANTERSON:
The circumstantial evidence still points to Rahel and Sara (and probably Johanna, too) being sisters of Eva and Abraham.
(And it was fun to know that, in at least one case, the name Caspar (surprisingly common in East and West Prussia in the early 19th century) was associated with the Hebrew name Jechezkel (Ezekiel) (Haskel).)
Baer being a kinnui for Dov (as in Dov Ber), this adds another child who was named for the actual or putative grandfather Baer KANTERSON:
- Eva had Bruno (Dov) ROSENTHAL
- Abraham had Bernhard CANTERSON
- Sara had Bernhard HAMMERSTEIN
- Rahel had Bernhard LAUDON
The circumstantial evidence still points to Rahel and Sara (and probably Johanna, too) being sisters of Eva and Abraham.
(And it was fun to know that, in at least one case, the name Caspar (surprisingly common in East and West Prussia in the early 19th century) was associated with the Hebrew name Jechezkel (Ezekiel) (Haskel).)
Saturday, March 23, 2013
And a Little More CANTORSON Family
Two days ago, as a result of some more CANTORSON websurfing, I ran across another possible sibling of my great great great grandmother Rahel LAUDON geb. CANTORSOHN (ca.1805-bef.1861). She is Eva ROSENTHAL geb. CANTORSON (1820-1897).
As it turns out, several researchers (in Sweden, Germany and Israel) have information on MyHeritage.com about Eva ROSENTHAL geb. CANTORSOHN and her husband Caspar ROSENTHAL, including photographs of both of them. (It is interesting how often the name Casper shows up in West and East Prussia in the 19th century, particularly in contrast to Posen and Silesia, where it shows up rarely, if at all ...)
The same family tree includes information on Eva's brother Abraham CANTORSON -- the same one I was already speculating about in my last blog entry. In addition to the child I could definitely ascribe to Abraham (Aurelie (BEHRENDT)), and the ones I speculated about (Ida (HENNIG), Bernhard, George, Arthur), this tree includes Bertha (NEUWERK (?)), Anna (ROSENBAUM), Ernst and Gerhard (who, I suspect, should be Bernhard...).
According to one of the researchers in Sweden, his information is based on an old family tree from the late 19th century or early 20th century. It apparently does not contain any information about Rahel (LAUDON), Sara (HAMMERSTEIN) or Johanna (FALKENHEIM), but it does identify the parents of Eva and Abraham CANTORSON as Baer CANTORSON and Adelheid. This would seem to confirm one of my theories: that Adeline CANTORSOHN geb. JACOBY (ca.1782-1864, Rosenberg, West Prussia) was the wife of Baer KANTERSON / CANTORSON / CANTORSOHN.
Baer and Adelheid / Adeline apparently lived in the town of Schöneck (Skarszewy) in West Prussia in 1820 when Eva was born. Schöneck is not far from Kyschau where Baer KANTERSON was living in 1812 when he adopted the surname KANTERSON (and variants, apparently).
More information, but no answers.
As it turns out, several researchers (in Sweden, Germany and Israel) have information on MyHeritage.com about Eva ROSENTHAL geb. CANTORSOHN and her husband Caspar ROSENTHAL, including photographs of both of them. (It is interesting how often the name Casper shows up in West and East Prussia in the 19th century, particularly in contrast to Posen and Silesia, where it shows up rarely, if at all ...)
The same family tree includes information on Eva's brother Abraham CANTORSON -- the same one I was already speculating about in my last blog entry. In addition to the child I could definitely ascribe to Abraham (Aurelie (BEHRENDT)), and the ones I speculated about (Ida (HENNIG), Bernhard, George, Arthur), this tree includes Bertha (NEUWERK (?)), Anna (ROSENBAUM), Ernst and Gerhard (who, I suspect, should be Bernhard...).
According to one of the researchers in Sweden, his information is based on an old family tree from the late 19th century or early 20th century. It apparently does not contain any information about Rahel (LAUDON), Sara (HAMMERSTEIN) or Johanna (FALKENHEIM), but it does identify the parents of Eva and Abraham CANTORSON as Baer CANTORSON and Adelheid. This would seem to confirm one of my theories: that Adeline CANTORSOHN geb. JACOBY (ca.1782-1864, Rosenberg, West Prussia) was the wife of Baer KANTERSON / CANTORSON / CANTORSOHN.
Baer and Adelheid / Adeline apparently lived in the town of Schöneck (Skarszewy) in West Prussia in 1820 when Eva was born. Schöneck is not far from Kyschau where Baer KANTERSON was living in 1812 when he adopted the surname KANTERSON (and variants, apparently).
More information, but no answers.
Wednesday, March 20, 2013
The Potentially Expanding CANTORSOHN Family
(Written at the Philadelphia International Airport waiting for US 1084 to fly to the Raleigh-Durham airport for the 2013 (or belated 2012) annual Hans L. Falk Memorial Lecture at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.)
The starting point was learning the name of Isidor LAUDON's mother from the "Vita" of his 1861 doctoral dissertation -- Rahel CANTORSOHN. Isidor and my great great grandmother Henriette JACOBSOHN geb. LAUDON were children of Abraham LAUDON of Rosenberg, West Prussia. Presumably, Rahel was the mother of Henriette, as well as other children of Abraham: Johanna (HEILBRONN), Sara (BLUM) and Helene (LOEWENSON); and with a double presumption, of Bernhard (father's name not confirmed).
From there, the first possible sibling of Rahel is Sara KANTORSOHN (1814-1888) who was married to Hirsch Leser HAMMERSTEIN. Rahel was probably born about 1805, so the age fits for them to be sisters. They both appear to have named sons Bernhard, possibly in memory of Baer KANTORSON, who may have been their father. Sara was born in Christburg, West Prussia. (A large HAMMERSTEIN family tree is available on Ancestry.com.)
The next possible sibling is Johanna CANTORSON. The necessary step in stumbling** across her was to first stumble across the 1860 marriage entry of Jacob FALKENHEIM and Mathilde COHN in the Elbing Jewish community records. That marriage was of interest because Mathilde's parents were Moses Abraham COHN and Therese LAZARUS, Moses Abraham being a cousin through the LATZ family. Looking for information about Jacob or Mathilde, I ran across a website with a smattering of gravestone photographs and details that include a photo of the adjacent gravestones of Mathilde FALKENHEIM geb. COHN, Salomon FALKENHEIM and Johanna FALKENHEIM geb. CANTORSON (1809-1886) from the Schönhauser Allee cemetery in Berlin. Johanna's birth place is not yet known, but she was living in Christburg in 1829 when her son Jacob was born; the same town where Sara was born.
(** This could be the birth of "Stolper-Stamm" - stumbling across the roots of your family, as you would across the gnarly roots of a large tree (with shallow roots) -- with apologies to German artist Gunter DEMNIG, creator of the Stolpersteine project to honor the memory of victims of the Shoah.)
The last potential sibling is Abraham CANTORSON. His name appears in the death certificate of his daughter Aurelie BEHRENDT geb. CANTORSON (ca.1851-1910). She died in Breslau, but she was from Christburg, the same town were Johanna had lived and where Sara was born. Abraham CANTORSON was married to Auguste GOTHILF, who died in Christburg in 1879.
Not (yet) knowing of any other male CANTORSOHNs / CANTORSONs, I have speculated that 4 other CANTORSONs may have been children of Abraham CANTORSON of Christburg. They are Ida HENNIG geb. CANTORSON (b.ca.1855), Bernhard CANTORSON (ca.1859-1902), George CANTORSON (ca.1861-1890) and Arthur CANTORSON (1871-1954).
Ida CANTORSON was born in Christburg in about 1855. In 1879, she married David HENNIG (d.ca.1926, Berlin). The only basis for speculation about Ida's connection to Abraham is that she was born in Christburg, just 4 years after Aurelie. Their only son Julius emigrated to the US, and his only son now lives in San Diego.
Bernhard CANTORSON emigrated to the US and died in Chicago in 1902. His death certificate gives his birth place as Christburg. Again, there is little basis for assuming a link to Abraham CANTORSON. But, he was born in Christburg, and he had the name Bernhard, like sons of Rahel and Johanna. He was unmarried and presumably died with no children.
Then there were George and Arthur. They also emigrated to the US; were also unmarried and seem to have died without offspring. They were both born in "Germany", in about 1861 and in 1871, respectively, but their death certificates provide no details -- no birth town, and no parents' names. George died (of a self-inflicted gun shot) in Philadelphia in 1890. Arthur died in Los Angeles in 1954. They could have been sons of Abraham, although if Arthur were a son of Abraham, he may have been named for his putative father, which would suggest that Abraham would have died while his wife was pregnant with their last child. Speculation on top of speculation.
Added to this mix of limited facts and rampant speculation is a possible candidate for the wife of Baer KANTERSON and mother of one or some or none of the next generation: Adeline CANTORSOHN geb. JACOBY, who was born about 1782 and died in Rosenberg, West Prussia in 1864, the same town were Rahel had lived (based on where her children were born).
As with so many of these stories, more information is needed...
The starting point was learning the name of Isidor LAUDON's mother from the "Vita" of his 1861 doctoral dissertation -- Rahel CANTORSOHN. Isidor and my great great grandmother Henriette JACOBSOHN geb. LAUDON were children of Abraham LAUDON of Rosenberg, West Prussia. Presumably, Rahel was the mother of Henriette, as well as other children of Abraham: Johanna (HEILBRONN), Sara (BLUM) and Helene (LOEWENSON); and with a double presumption, of Bernhard (father's name not confirmed).
From there, the first possible sibling of Rahel is Sara KANTORSOHN (1814-1888) who was married to Hirsch Leser HAMMERSTEIN. Rahel was probably born about 1805, so the age fits for them to be sisters. They both appear to have named sons Bernhard, possibly in memory of Baer KANTORSON, who may have been their father. Sara was born in Christburg, West Prussia. (A large HAMMERSTEIN family tree is available on Ancestry.com.)
The next possible sibling is Johanna CANTORSON. The necessary step in stumbling** across her was to first stumble across the 1860 marriage entry of Jacob FALKENHEIM and Mathilde COHN in the Elbing Jewish community records. That marriage was of interest because Mathilde's parents were Moses Abraham COHN and Therese LAZARUS, Moses Abraham being a cousin through the LATZ family. Looking for information about Jacob or Mathilde, I ran across a website with a smattering of gravestone photographs and details that include a photo of the adjacent gravestones of Mathilde FALKENHEIM geb. COHN, Salomon FALKENHEIM and Johanna FALKENHEIM geb. CANTORSON (1809-1886) from the Schönhauser Allee cemetery in Berlin. Johanna's birth place is not yet known, but she was living in Christburg in 1829 when her son Jacob was born; the same town where Sara was born.
(** This could be the birth of "Stolper-Stamm" - stumbling across the roots of your family, as you would across the gnarly roots of a large tree (with shallow roots) -- with apologies to German artist Gunter DEMNIG, creator of the Stolpersteine project to honor the memory of victims of the Shoah.)
The last potential sibling is Abraham CANTORSON. His name appears in the death certificate of his daughter Aurelie BEHRENDT geb. CANTORSON (ca.1851-1910). She died in Breslau, but she was from Christburg, the same town were Johanna had lived and where Sara was born. Abraham CANTORSON was married to Auguste GOTHILF, who died in Christburg in 1879.
Not (yet) knowing of any other male CANTORSOHNs / CANTORSONs, I have speculated that 4 other CANTORSONs may have been children of Abraham CANTORSON of Christburg. They are Ida HENNIG geb. CANTORSON (b.ca.1855), Bernhard CANTORSON (ca.1859-1902), George CANTORSON (ca.1861-1890) and Arthur CANTORSON (1871-1954).
Ida CANTORSON was born in Christburg in about 1855. In 1879, she married David HENNIG (d.ca.1926, Berlin). The only basis for speculation about Ida's connection to Abraham is that she was born in Christburg, just 4 years after Aurelie. Their only son Julius emigrated to the US, and his only son now lives in San Diego.
Bernhard CANTORSON emigrated to the US and died in Chicago in 1902. His death certificate gives his birth place as Christburg. Again, there is little basis for assuming a link to Abraham CANTORSON. But, he was born in Christburg, and he had the name Bernhard, like sons of Rahel and Johanna. He was unmarried and presumably died with no children.
Then there were George and Arthur. They also emigrated to the US; were also unmarried and seem to have died without offspring. They were both born in "Germany", in about 1861 and in 1871, respectively, but their death certificates provide no details -- no birth town, and no parents' names. George died (of a self-inflicted gun shot) in Philadelphia in 1890. Arthur died in Los Angeles in 1954. They could have been sons of Abraham, although if Arthur were a son of Abraham, he may have been named for his putative father, which would suggest that Abraham would have died while his wife was pregnant with their last child. Speculation on top of speculation.
Added to this mix of limited facts and rampant speculation is a possible candidate for the wife of Baer KANTERSON and mother of one or some or none of the next generation: Adeline CANTORSOHN geb. JACOBY, who was born about 1782 and died in Rosenberg, West Prussia in 1864, the same town were Rahel had lived (based on where her children were born).
As with so many of these stories, more information is needed...
Elbing and FALKENHEIM
It was only 6 weeks ago, but the series of events is already a little fuzzy. I think I went to look at the Elbing Jewish community records (LDS microfilm no. 742026) to follow-up on the preceding week's discovery of a new great great great aunt Helene LAUDON who had married in Rosenberg to Adolph BLUM of Elbing. (They had a daughter Rosa in Elbing in 1869.)
In looking through the Elbing records, I ran across the 1860 marriage of Jacob FALKENHEIM and Mathilde COHN. Mathilde's parents were Moses Abraham COHN and Therese LAZARUS. A quick check of the family confirmed that this was the same Moses Abraham COHN who was a son of Abraham COHN and Michle LATZ, my great great great great aunt, daughter of Salomon Benjamin LATZ of Posen.
I had not expected to be able trace the family of Moses Abraham COHN because the name seemed that it would be too common, particularly in the sea of COHNs who would have been living in Berlin in the 19th century. But, all of a sudden, a new door opened up -- in the West Prussian town of Elbing.
The FALKENHEIM named seemed familiar, but possibly not truly so to me (and not just because it starts with FALK...). A quick internet search led to many hits for Dr. Hugo FALKENHEIM (1856-1945), a Königsberg pediatrician and eventual leader, and last leader, of the Königsberg Jewish community. I was not able to learn online whether Salomon FALKENHEIM was part of the same family as Hugo, but I was able to trace Hugo's family from Königsberg to Rochester to California and Alaska (and back to California).
After finding a 2007 obituary of one of Hugo's granddaughters, I found an e-mail address for one of the daughters mentioned in the obituary. The recipient forwarded my inquiry to her sister and that led to a great correspondence -- and information from a FALKENHEIM Stammbaum prepared by Hugo FALKENHEIM and his son Albert. (Hugo and another son Curt were both pediatricians and were members of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Kinderheilkunde und Jugendmedizin (DGKJ), and both have entries in Dr. Eduard SEIDLER's book on the fate of the Jewish former members of the Association. Like my grandfather Dr. Walther FREUND in 1932, Dr. Hugo FALKENHEIM was head of the DGKJ in 1911.)
The next step came from a simple search on the name of the new second cousin three-times-removed Mathilde FALKENHEIM geb. COHN. One of the first hits was from www.gravestonephotos.com, a website with a wide-ranging collection of gravestone photographs. There was information from, and a very small photograph of, the gravestone of Mathilde -- and Salomon FALKENHEIM (1799-1881) and Johanna FALKENHEIM geb. CANTORSON (1809-1886). These gravestones are side by side along a path in the Schönhauser Allee cemetery in Berlin, where Don and I had been wandering around 3 months earlier. I learned that Jacob's wife Mathilde died young (age 33), that the family had settled in Berlin, and that Jacob's parents were Salomon FALKENHEIM and Johanna CANTORSON.
Knowing who Jacob's father was important, as it turned out, because the FALKENHEIM Stammbaum included Salomon, but did not have details about Jacob or any other children (if there are any others) of Salomon. Jacob turned out to be a first cousin of Albert FALKENHEIM, the father of Hugo.
Of course, learning the name of Jacob's mother opened up the possibility that Jacob was also related to me, through his mother's CANTORSON family. Being born in 1809, Johanna could well be a younger sister of Rahel LAUDON geb. CANTORSOHN.
With the information that Mathilde and her in-laws were buried in Berlin, I checked the Berliner Adressbücher to see what more I could learn about Jacob FALKENHEIM. Jacob first appears in the 1861 directory as "Kaufmann". The next year, he is shown to be affiliated with the business of his father-in-law Moritz COHN in the Wollgeschäft (wool business) "M. Cohn u. Sohn". Moritz (Moses Abraham) COHN and his father Abraham Moses COHN first appear in the 1837 directory. The first time Moritz' business has a name, it is M. Cohn u. Sohn in 1862. Not knowing whether Moritz had any sons, or any other children besides Mathilde, it seems likely that the "Sohn" was actually his son-in-law Jacob FALKENHEIM. Abraham Moses COHN, as Rentier (pensioner), is last listed in 1861. His son Moritz COHN is last listed in 1877. [Just flew past Washington, DC on the way back to Philadelphia.] Jacob continued to call his business "M. Cohn u. Sohn", at least until 1880. Jacob FALKENHEIM is last listed in 1890.
The directory listings suggested that Jacob may have remarried to Rosa CAHEN, since Rosa, as a widow, starts to appear in 1891 and is listed until 1915. This was later confirmed by information Hugo's great granddaughter received from an organization in Belgium.
The Belgian connection started with information (from that same great granddaughter) found on a website about "lost art" in Belgium; art confiscated by the Nazis from Jews (and possibly others) living in Belgium during the War. There were a few items listed as having belonged to the banker Alfred FALKENHEIM and his wife Ida geb. ARON. From the FALKENHEIM Stammbaum, this Alfred appeared to be a grandson of Salomon FALKENHEIM, though Alfred's father was not mentioned. The Berliner Adressbücher provided the connection, since the Kaufmann and Bankier Alfred FALKENHEIM was living at the same address as the widow Rosa FALKENHEIM geb. CAHEN from 1892 to 1902.
The real evidence came soon enough, again care of that same great granddaughter. She received copies of documents about Alfred FALKENHEIM and Ida geb. ARON from the Kazerne Dossin Research & Archives. Alfred and Ida emigrated from Berlin to Brussels in 1938. They were interned in Belgium in Camp des Malines, and on 26 September 1942, they were deported to Auschwitz where they were murdered. The papers confirmed that Jacob was Alfred's father, though were a bit misleading to suggest that Rosa CAHEN was Alfred's mother when she had to be his step-mother (based on when Alfred was born).
Around the same time from passenger lists and US immigration documents, I learned of a son of Aldred and Ida. He was Egon FALKENHEIM who was born in Berlin in about 1908. He appears to have emigrated, or at least traveled to the US in 1938, and was in Canada and the US in 1931. After that, he disappears. (Somewhere along the way, he apparently became Lutheran.)
There is another child, a mystery daughter, whose daughter is seeking to recover the lost art noted on the Belgian website. I still hope to get into contact with that new fifth cousin, whoever and wherever she may be.
In looking through the Elbing records, I ran across the 1860 marriage of Jacob FALKENHEIM and Mathilde COHN. Mathilde's parents were Moses Abraham COHN and Therese LAZARUS. A quick check of the family confirmed that this was the same Moses Abraham COHN who was a son of Abraham COHN and Michle LATZ, my great great great great aunt, daughter of Salomon Benjamin LATZ of Posen.
I had not expected to be able trace the family of Moses Abraham COHN because the name seemed that it would be too common, particularly in the sea of COHNs who would have been living in Berlin in the 19th century. But, all of a sudden, a new door opened up -- in the West Prussian town of Elbing.
The FALKENHEIM named seemed familiar, but possibly not truly so to me (and not just because it starts with FALK...). A quick internet search led to many hits for Dr. Hugo FALKENHEIM (1856-1945), a Königsberg pediatrician and eventual leader, and last leader, of the Königsberg Jewish community. I was not able to learn online whether Salomon FALKENHEIM was part of the same family as Hugo, but I was able to trace Hugo's family from Königsberg to Rochester to California and Alaska (and back to California).
After finding a 2007 obituary of one of Hugo's granddaughters, I found an e-mail address for one of the daughters mentioned in the obituary. The recipient forwarded my inquiry to her sister and that led to a great correspondence -- and information from a FALKENHEIM Stammbaum prepared by Hugo FALKENHEIM and his son Albert. (Hugo and another son Curt were both pediatricians and were members of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Kinderheilkunde und Jugendmedizin (DGKJ), and both have entries in Dr. Eduard SEIDLER's book on the fate of the Jewish former members of the Association. Like my grandfather Dr. Walther FREUND in 1932, Dr. Hugo FALKENHEIM was head of the DGKJ in 1911.)
The next step came from a simple search on the name of the new second cousin three-times-removed Mathilde FALKENHEIM geb. COHN. One of the first hits was from www.gravestonephotos.com, a website with a wide-ranging collection of gravestone photographs. There was information from, and a very small photograph of, the gravestone of Mathilde -- and Salomon FALKENHEIM (1799-1881) and Johanna FALKENHEIM geb. CANTORSON (1809-1886). These gravestones are side by side along a path in the Schönhauser Allee cemetery in Berlin, where Don and I had been wandering around 3 months earlier. I learned that Jacob's wife Mathilde died young (age 33), that the family had settled in Berlin, and that Jacob's parents were Salomon FALKENHEIM and Johanna CANTORSON.
Knowing who Jacob's father was important, as it turned out, because the FALKENHEIM Stammbaum included Salomon, but did not have details about Jacob or any other children (if there are any others) of Salomon. Jacob turned out to be a first cousin of Albert FALKENHEIM, the father of Hugo.
Of course, learning the name of Jacob's mother opened up the possibility that Jacob was also related to me, through his mother's CANTORSON family. Being born in 1809, Johanna could well be a younger sister of Rahel LAUDON geb. CANTORSOHN.
With the information that Mathilde and her in-laws were buried in Berlin, I checked the Berliner Adressbücher to see what more I could learn about Jacob FALKENHEIM. Jacob first appears in the 1861 directory as "Kaufmann". The next year, he is shown to be affiliated with the business of his father-in-law Moritz COHN in the Wollgeschäft (wool business) "M. Cohn u. Sohn". Moritz (Moses Abraham) COHN and his father Abraham Moses COHN first appear in the 1837 directory. The first time Moritz' business has a name, it is M. Cohn u. Sohn in 1862. Not knowing whether Moritz had any sons, or any other children besides Mathilde, it seems likely that the "Sohn" was actually his son-in-law Jacob FALKENHEIM. Abraham Moses COHN, as Rentier (pensioner), is last listed in 1861. His son Moritz COHN is last listed in 1877. [Just flew past Washington, DC on the way back to Philadelphia.] Jacob continued to call his business "M. Cohn u. Sohn", at least until 1880. Jacob FALKENHEIM is last listed in 1890.
The directory listings suggested that Jacob may have remarried to Rosa CAHEN, since Rosa, as a widow, starts to appear in 1891 and is listed until 1915. This was later confirmed by information Hugo's great granddaughter received from an organization in Belgium.
The Belgian connection started with information (from that same great granddaughter) found on a website about "lost art" in Belgium; art confiscated by the Nazis from Jews (and possibly others) living in Belgium during the War. There were a few items listed as having belonged to the banker Alfred FALKENHEIM and his wife Ida geb. ARON. From the FALKENHEIM Stammbaum, this Alfred appeared to be a grandson of Salomon FALKENHEIM, though Alfred's father was not mentioned. The Berliner Adressbücher provided the connection, since the Kaufmann and Bankier Alfred FALKENHEIM was living at the same address as the widow Rosa FALKENHEIM geb. CAHEN from 1892 to 1902.
The real evidence came soon enough, again care of that same great granddaughter. She received copies of documents about Alfred FALKENHEIM and Ida geb. ARON from the Kazerne Dossin Research & Archives. Alfred and Ida emigrated from Berlin to Brussels in 1938. They were interned in Belgium in Camp des Malines, and on 26 September 1942, they were deported to Auschwitz where they were murdered. The papers confirmed that Jacob was Alfred's father, though were a bit misleading to suggest that Rosa CAHEN was Alfred's mother when she had to be his step-mother (based on when Alfred was born).
Around the same time from passenger lists and US immigration documents, I learned of a son of Aldred and Ida. He was Egon FALKENHEIM who was born in Berlin in about 1908. He appears to have emigrated, or at least traveled to the US in 1938, and was in Canada and the US in 1931. After that, he disappears. (Somewhere along the way, he apparently became Lutheran.)
There is another child, a mystery daughter, whose daughter is seeking to recover the lost art noted on the Belgian website. I still hope to get into contact with that new fifth cousin, whoever and wherever she may be.
Sunday, March 10, 2013
The Expanding LAUDON Family
This really is the blog
entry I was going to write when circumstances, briefly, intervened and
led to the previous two entries (all about daughters named "Aurelie").
Finding the information about Bernhard LAUDON in the Jewish community records of Rosenberg, West Prussia (care of the LDS microfilm archive (film no. 1198521)), I was eager to get back to those records to see if there might be other LAUDONs marrying, birthing or dying. And it paid off.
I found two new siblings of my great great grandmother Henriette JACOBSOHN geb. LAUDON (ca.1827-1873), and Johanna, Bernhard and Isidor:
Learning about Sara was a very satifying development, since it provided the first concrete information in support of cousin Inge's comment that her aunt Gertrud WEINBERG had married a cousin Louis LOEWENSON. And it also contributed to figuring out who the other Gertrud LOEWENSON was who had submitted Pages of Testimony in memory of her aunt and uncle Arthur HEILBRONN and Gertrud HEILBRONN geb. LAUDON.
As it turns out, Heinrich LOEWENSON and Sara LAUDON had at least 3 sons: Max, Alfred and Louis. Louis, we already know. He married Gertrud WEINBERG. Alfred, it turns out, married his cousin Gertrud HEILBRONN, They and Max were deported from Königsberg to Theresienstadt, where Alfred and Max died. Gertrud survived, made Aliyah, and submitted Pages of Testimony in 1957 when she was living in Ramat Chen.
Gertrud LOEWENSON geb. HEILBRONN (b.1884) was almost certainly the daughter of Julius (Josef) HEILBRONN(b.1862), the oldest child of Lippmann (Ludwig) HEILBRONN and Johanna LAUDON. Julius is the only son of Lippmann and Johanna who would have been old enough to have a daughter in 1884; his brothers Arthur and Siegfried were born in 1865 and 1867, respectively.
Lastly (leaving out a few details), there was a death entry for Abraham LAUDON from 27 July 1854, consistent with the information that he (and Rahel) were no longer alive when Johanna married in 1861.
Finding the information about Bernhard LAUDON in the Jewish community records of Rosenberg, West Prussia (care of the LDS microfilm archive (film no. 1198521)), I was eager to get back to those records to see if there might be other LAUDONs marrying, birthing or dying. And it paid off.
I found two new siblings of my great great grandmother Henriette JACOBSOHN geb. LAUDON (ca.1827-1873), and Johanna, Bernhard and Isidor:
- Sara LAUDON (b.ca.1842) married Heinrich LOEWENSON in Rosenberg in 1867; and
- Helene LAUDON (b.ca.1846) married Adolph BLUM of Elbing in Rosenberg in 1868.
- Johanna LAUDON (b.1838) married Lippmann HEILBRONN in Rosenberg in 1861.
- Bernhard LAUDON (b.ca.1832) married Ottilie FREYMUTH in Rosenberg in 1870.
- Isidor LAUDON (b.1834) married Franziska LEHMANN (not CUHMANN, as I had previously misread) in Elbing in 1870.
- Henriette LAUDON (b.ca.1827) married Widder (Victor Moses) JACOBSOHN in Liebstadt in 1854.
Learning about Sara was a very satifying development, since it provided the first concrete information in support of cousin Inge's comment that her aunt Gertrud WEINBERG had married a cousin Louis LOEWENSON. And it also contributed to figuring out who the other Gertrud LOEWENSON was who had submitted Pages of Testimony in memory of her aunt and uncle Arthur HEILBRONN and Gertrud HEILBRONN geb. LAUDON.
As it turns out, Heinrich LOEWENSON and Sara LAUDON had at least 3 sons: Max, Alfred and Louis. Louis, we already know. He married Gertrud WEINBERG. Alfred, it turns out, married his cousin Gertrud HEILBRONN, They and Max were deported from Königsberg to Theresienstadt, where Alfred and Max died. Gertrud survived, made Aliyah, and submitted Pages of Testimony in 1957 when she was living in Ramat Chen.
Gertrud LOEWENSON geb. HEILBRONN (b.1884) was almost certainly the daughter of Julius (Josef) HEILBRONN(b.1862), the oldest child of Lippmann (Ludwig) HEILBRONN and Johanna LAUDON. Julius is the only son of Lippmann and Johanna who would have been old enough to have a daughter in 1884; his brothers Arthur and Siegfried were born in 1865 and 1867, respectively.
Lastly (leaving out a few details), there was a death entry for Abraham LAUDON from 27 July 1854, consistent with the information that he (and Rahel) were no longer alive when Johanna married in 1861.
And Now for Something Completely Different, Aurelie
Actually, this will not be the blog entry I intended to write when those previously intervening circumstances arose.
Instead, this very brief note will further intervene.
One of the tantalizing genealogy / family history stories I have heard from my mother is about a silver cup of some sort that she recalls from her childhood. It was in her home on the Vogelweide in Breslau. It had a family tree engraved on it, and it may have had silver leaves with names on them attached to the outer surface of the "cup", and possibly even extending above the rim (if it had a rim).
Presumably, it came from her father's family; probably his mother's mother's family (Walther FREUND -> Clara IMMERWAHR -> Lina SILBERSTEIN); and maybe even from Lina's mother's family (Lina SILBERSTEIN -> Amalie LEUBUSCHER). I think she may have recalled the surname LEUBUSCHER being on the cup.
The only given name that I can ever recall my mother recalling from that three-dimensional family tree, was the name "Aurelie". But in 35 years of genealogy research, I have never found an Aurelie anywhere in my mother's family tree.
I have wondered whether the lost family tree cup may have looked like this example, the photograph of which I received from a cousin in Australia 3 years ago:
For now, it's a mystery, and one of those losses from pre-War to post-War that has fueled my desire to put all the pieces back together.
More on CANTORSOHN / CANTORSON
Learning from my blog.
In my last entry, I included the list of children of Sara HAMMERSTEIN geb. KANTORSOHN because I had wanted to see whether she had a son Bernhard (like Rahel did), who could have been named after his putative grandfather Baer KANTERSON (as Rahel's son presumably was):
Even though the first time I looked at the list of children of Hirsch Laser HAMMERSTEIN and Sara geb. KANTORSOHN, I specifically did not see a Bernhard or Berel, looking at the same list a few minutes later:
Pauline Hammerstein
Aurelie Hammerstein 1840 –
Moritz Hammerstein 1841 – 1907
Minna Hammerstein 1844 –
Jacob Hammerstein 1845 – 1901
Johanna Hammerstein 1845 –
Bernhard Hammerstein 1849 –
Leopold Hammerstein 1850 –
there clearly was a son Bernhard HAMMERSTEIN.
Checking my last blog to see where to pick up for the next entry, I noticed the Aurelie in that list of HAMMERSTEIN children, along with the names Jacob and Johanna.
- Aurelie was also the name of a daughter of Abraham CANTORSON.
- Jacob was the name of a son of Johanna CANTORSON.
- Johanna was the name of another of Rahel's children (in addition to Bernhard).
- And there is an unattached Bernhard CANTORSON who might turn out to be a son of Abraham CANTORSON.
Saturday, January 19, 2013
KANTORSOHN Family
"Other than checking to
see whether Sara HAMMERSTEIN geb. KANTORSOHN happened to name a son
Baer or Bernhard (or Issachar), I will have to wait for more
opportunities to prove this new ancestral link."
Checking the Nightengale Family Tree on Ancestry.com did add another consistent clue to the KANTORSOHN search.
Even though the first time I looked at the list of children of Hirsch Laser HAMMERSTEIN and Sara geb. KANTORSOHN, I specifically did not see a Bernhard or Berel, looking at the same list a few minutes later:
Pauline Hammerstein
Aurelie Hammerstein 1840 –
Moritz Hammerstein 1841 – 1907
Minna Hammerstein 1844 –
Jacob Hammerstein 1845 – 1901
Johanna Hammerstein 1845 –
Bernhard Hammerstein 1849 –
Leopold Hammerstein 1850 –
there clearly was a son Bernhard HAMMERSTEIN.
So, both Rachel KANTORSOHN and Sara KANTORSOHN named sons Bernhard. This is the closest thing to evidence that Rachel and Sara were sisters, and daughters of Baer KANTERSON of Schloß Kyschau.
It might even be noteworthy that Rachel and Sara also named daughters Johanna.
[Written at the Caffe Capanna in Point Roberts, Washington, USA.]
Checking the Nightengale Family Tree on Ancestry.com did add another consistent clue to the KANTORSOHN search.
Even though the first time I looked at the list of children of Hirsch Laser HAMMERSTEIN and Sara geb. KANTORSOHN, I specifically did not see a Bernhard or Berel, looking at the same list a few minutes later:
Pauline Hammerstein
Aurelie Hammerstein 1840 –
Moritz Hammerstein 1841 – 1907
Minna Hammerstein 1844 –
Jacob Hammerstein 1845 – 1901
Johanna Hammerstein 1845 –
Bernhard Hammerstein 1849 –
Leopold Hammerstein 1850 –
there clearly was a son Bernhard HAMMERSTEIN.
So, both Rachel KANTORSOHN and Sara KANTORSOHN named sons Bernhard. This is the closest thing to evidence that Rachel and Sara were sisters, and daughters of Baer KANTERSON of Schloß Kyschau.
It might even be noteworthy that Rachel and Sara also named daughters Johanna.
[Written at the Caffe Capanna in Point Roberts, Washington, USA.]
Friday, January 18, 2013
LAUDON - KANTORSOHN - KANTERSON - A New Ancestor?
On the flight from Philadelphia to Seattle (en route to Point Roberts, WA), I identified a possible new ancestor. He was Baer KANTERSON of Schloß Kyschau in West Prussia (now, Zamek Kiszewski, Poland). He might be my newest great great great great grandfather.
Back in October 2012 a few days after finding out that the wife of Abraham LAUDON of Rosenberg, West Prussia was Rachel (Rahel) KANTORSOHN (CANTORSOHN), I found an entry in the West Prussia 1812 Citizenship Database for a Baer KANTERSON of Schloss Kyschau (Subsidiary List 5; Page #37 (WP)). But there was nothing to link Rachel to Baer.
On 5 January 2013, I reviewed an LDS microfilm of Rosenberg Jewish community births to look for LAUDON family members. The only LAUDON entry was the birth of Alfred Laudon on 13 Aug 1874 to the Kaufmann Bernhard LAUDON and Ottilie geb. FREYMUTH. From the son being named Alfred, this seemed like another possible son of Abraham Laudon and Rachel KANTORSOHN. While flying from Philadelphia to Seattle, I re-noticed my earlier note about the possibility that Rachel’s father might have been Baer KANTERSON of Schloß Kyschau.
Now there were two interlinking theories that could add Bernhard LAUDON and Baer KANTERSON to the tree. First, by location and naming, it seems likely that Bernhard was a son of Abraham LAUDON and Rachel geb. KANTORSOHN, since like his putative siblings Henriette and Johanna, he named a son after his father Abraham; each having an Alfred or Arthur. And, then, assuming that connection to be correct, it could be the case that Rachel named a son Bernhard after her father, who could then be Baer KANTERSON.
Other than checking to see whether Sara HAMMERSTEIN geb. KANTORSOHN happened to name a son Baer or Bernhard (or Issachar), I will have to wait for more opportunities to prove this new ancestral link.
[Written at the Caffe Capanna and at Don's House, and posted from Sylvia's House in Point Roberts, Washington, USA.]
Back in October 2012 a few days after finding out that the wife of Abraham LAUDON of Rosenberg, West Prussia was Rachel (Rahel) KANTORSOHN (CANTORSOHN), I found an entry in the West Prussia 1812 Citizenship Database for a Baer KANTERSON of Schloss Kyschau (Subsidiary List 5; Page #37 (WP)). But there was nothing to link Rachel to Baer.
On 5 January 2013, I reviewed an LDS microfilm of Rosenberg Jewish community births to look for LAUDON family members. The only LAUDON entry was the birth of Alfred Laudon on 13 Aug 1874 to the Kaufmann Bernhard LAUDON and Ottilie geb. FREYMUTH. From the son being named Alfred, this seemed like another possible son of Abraham Laudon and Rachel KANTORSOHN. While flying from Philadelphia to Seattle, I re-noticed my earlier note about the possibility that Rachel’s father might have been Baer KANTERSON of Schloß Kyschau.
Now there were two interlinking theories that could add Bernhard LAUDON and Baer KANTERSON to the tree. First, by location and naming, it seems likely that Bernhard was a son of Abraham LAUDON and Rachel geb. KANTORSOHN, since like his putative siblings Henriette and Johanna, he named a son after his father Abraham; each having an Alfred or Arthur. And, then, assuming that connection to be correct, it could be the case that Rachel named a son Bernhard after her father, who could then be Baer KANTERSON.
Other than checking to see whether Sara HAMMERSTEIN geb. KANTORSOHN happened to name a son Baer or Bernhard (or Issachar), I will have to wait for more opportunities to prove this new ancestral link.
[Written at the Caffe Capanna and at Don's House, and posted from Sylvia's House in Point Roberts, Washington, USA.]
LEUBUSCHER Discoveries - II - Part 2
The unintentional part of the LEUBUSCHER discoveries came from reviewing all the LEUBUSCHER "hits", under various spellings and misspellings, in the Ancestry.com databases.
I had seen the 5 listings in the JewishGen Online Worldwide Burial Registry (JOWBR) (via Ancestry.com) of LEUBUSCHERs buried in Vienna, but I had never been able to connect them to my LEUBUSCHER tree. But, this time, adding in details available from the records indexed at GenTeam.at and recently digitized Vienna Jewish community records in the LDS microfilm archive, this strand of the family fell into place. The Todesanzeigen for Salomon LEUBUSCHER and Ernestine LEUBUSCHER geb. BLANZGER also played a role.
From the JOWBR data, the LEUBUSCHERs buried in Vienna were Julius, Johanna, Benno, Karl and Max. I had earlier noted that Julius might have been the same person as Benjamin Julius LEUBUSCHER born on 10 December 1834 to Salomon LEUBUSCHER and Ernestine geb. BLANZGER since the Julius who died in Vienna in 1892 at age 57 would have been born ca.1835.
The digitized pages of the Wiener Sterbregister 1891-1892 (p.127) contained an entry for the 1892 death of Julius LEUBUSCHER:
1477 13 Mai 4 uhr Morg. (yom 6 16 Iyar) 15 Mai 10 Uhr Vorm. Julius Leubuscher ___ Kaufmann aus Brieg in ___ Schlesien gebürtig M. Vereh. 57 J
With the information that Julius was born in Brieg, it became clear that Julius was the same person as Benjamin Julius. From there, I was able to add his wife Johanna geb. WOLFF (1838-1903), and then their daughter Hedwig.
Hedwig LEUBUSCHER seems to have led an interesting life. The Vienna Jewish community birth records, death records, and conversion records, include three children of Hedwig and Joseph Samuel REICH: Elsa (1882), Alfred Karl (1883) and Adeline (1887); then three children with no father given: Max (1895), Karl (1897) and Helene (1899). Hedwig also apparently was married to Joseph LAVALLE who died in Vienna in about 1901. Perhaps he was the father of the children born in the 6 years before that, but that is never apparent from the records.
One of the birth records for Hedwig's children has an extensive note about Hedwig giving her parents' names and her 1863 birth place as Kattowitz. That nicely ties back to the information in the Todesanzeigen for Salomon LEUBUSCHER and Ernestine LEUBUSCHER geb. BLANZGER that one of their children was living in Kattowitz in 1866 and 1869 -- that would be Hedwig's father Julius / Benjamin Julius.
Hedwig came to the US in 1922 as Hedwig LEUBUSCHER-LAVALLE. Her daughter Helene was also referred to by the LEUBUSCHER-LAVALLE at that time; she was her mother's personal secretary. Hedwig was, or had been, an actress. She and her eldest children converted to Christianity in 1900 / 1901. It is not clear whether the later children also converted.
The eldest daughter Elsa married Count Zsigmund TOLDALAGI of Maros-Vasarhely, Romania. She was living in Vienna in 1926. Based on an advertisement in the New York Times, she was living in Paris in 1930 and was involved in "haute couture".
The last (for now) twist in this family is that Hedwig had a granddaughter - but from which child? When Hedwig travelled to the US in 1926, she was listed in the S.S. Berengaria passenger list as being accompanied by a 9-year-old granddaughter Salem LEUBUSCHER SKYUM, born in London. I do not know who Salem's parents were or what became of her.
I almost forgot one of the most satisfying parts of that search. When I first looked at the Vienna birth records on the LDS website, I paged through one year's records after the other without finding anything, while noticing that they were not in chronological order. After a couple days of that, I paid more attention to the indexed information on the GenTeam.at website and realized that the record numbers in the GenTeam data were the document numbers on the birth records -- and that they were in number order. With that information, I could find all the birth records I was looking for.
[Written at the Caffe Capanna in Point Roberts, Washington, USA.]
I had seen the 5 listings in the JewishGen Online Worldwide Burial Registry (JOWBR) (via Ancestry.com) of LEUBUSCHERs buried in Vienna, but I had never been able to connect them to my LEUBUSCHER tree. But, this time, adding in details available from the records indexed at GenTeam.at and recently digitized Vienna Jewish community records in the LDS microfilm archive, this strand of the family fell into place. The Todesanzeigen for Salomon LEUBUSCHER and Ernestine LEUBUSCHER geb. BLANZGER also played a role.
From the JOWBR data, the LEUBUSCHERs buried in Vienna were Julius, Johanna, Benno, Karl and Max. I had earlier noted that Julius might have been the same person as Benjamin Julius LEUBUSCHER born on 10 December 1834 to Salomon LEUBUSCHER and Ernestine geb. BLANZGER since the Julius who died in Vienna in 1892 at age 57 would have been born ca.1835.
The digitized pages of the Wiener Sterbregister 1891-1892 (p.127) contained an entry for the 1892 death of Julius LEUBUSCHER:
1477 13 Mai 4 uhr Morg. (yom 6 16 Iyar) 15 Mai 10 Uhr Vorm. Julius Leubuscher ___ Kaufmann aus Brieg in ___ Schlesien gebürtig M. Vereh. 57 J
With the information that Julius was born in Brieg, it became clear that Julius was the same person as Benjamin Julius. From there, I was able to add his wife Johanna geb. WOLFF (1838-1903), and then their daughter Hedwig.
Hedwig LEUBUSCHER seems to have led an interesting life. The Vienna Jewish community birth records, death records, and conversion records, include three children of Hedwig and Joseph Samuel REICH: Elsa (1882), Alfred Karl (1883) and Adeline (1887); then three children with no father given: Max (1895), Karl (1897) and Helene (1899). Hedwig also apparently was married to Joseph LAVALLE who died in Vienna in about 1901. Perhaps he was the father of the children born in the 6 years before that, but that is never apparent from the records.
One of the birth records for Hedwig's children has an extensive note about Hedwig giving her parents' names and her 1863 birth place as Kattowitz. That nicely ties back to the information in the Todesanzeigen for Salomon LEUBUSCHER and Ernestine LEUBUSCHER geb. BLANZGER that one of their children was living in Kattowitz in 1866 and 1869 -- that would be Hedwig's father Julius / Benjamin Julius.
Hedwig came to the US in 1922 as Hedwig LEUBUSCHER-LAVALLE. Her daughter Helene was also referred to by the LEUBUSCHER-LAVALLE at that time; she was her mother's personal secretary. Hedwig was, or had been, an actress. She and her eldest children converted to Christianity in 1900 / 1901. It is not clear whether the later children also converted.
The eldest daughter Elsa married Count Zsigmund TOLDALAGI of Maros-Vasarhely, Romania. She was living in Vienna in 1926. Based on an advertisement in the New York Times, she was living in Paris in 1930 and was involved in "haute couture".
The last (for now) twist in this family is that Hedwig had a granddaughter - but from which child? When Hedwig travelled to the US in 1926, she was listed in the S.S. Berengaria passenger list as being accompanied by a 9-year-old granddaughter Salem LEUBUSCHER SKYUM, born in London. I do not know who Salem's parents were or what became of her.
I almost forgot one of the most satisfying parts of that search. When I first looked at the Vienna birth records on the LDS website, I paged through one year's records after the other without finding anything, while noticing that they were not in chronological order. After a couple days of that, I paid more attention to the indexed information on the GenTeam.at website and realized that the record numbers in the GenTeam data were the document numbers on the birth records -- and that they were in number order. With that information, I could find all the birth records I was looking for.
[Written at the Caffe Capanna in Point Roberts, Washington, USA.]
LEUBUSCHER Discoveries - II
LEUBUSCHER Discoveries - II will also have to be a 2-part blog. The first part was intentional; the second part was a by-product of reviewing LEUBUSCHER records on Ancestry.com.
The starting point for this LEUBUSCHER research also came from documents copied in Berlin in the Archive of the Centrum Judaicum; this time from the Breslau Todesanzeigen. The 2012 "get list" included Salomon LEUBUSCHER who died in 1866 and his wife Ernestine LEUBUSCHER geb. BLANZGER who died in 1869. These documents did not name their surviving children, but indicated that they were survived by 2 sons and 3 daughters living in Breslau, Berlin, Polen (in 1866) / Warschau (in 1869) and Kattowitz. From earlier research, those surviving children were Mathilde, Selma, Ulrike, Benjamin Julius and Mendel. (Jette had died age 12 in 1836, and Dr. Berthold (Berel) LEUBUSCHER had died in Breslau at age 33 in 1860.)
The key piece of new information was the note that one of the children was living in Warsaw in the 1860s. Earlier, piecing together information on the strands of LEUBUSCHERs living in the US (from Ancestry.com databases), I recalled finding information about a Stephen LEUBUSCHER who was born in Warsaw in 1878, according to his 1924 US Passport Application. I had been surprised about a LEUBUSCHER being born in Warsaw. Stephen's father was Max LEUBUSCHER.
This led me back into a LEUBUSCHER family I had explored earlier in May 2011. The family of Max LEUBUSCHER had settled in Milwaukee and later also lived in Chicago. The FindaGrave website had a photograph of Max's gravestone and the information that he was born on 31 January 1836.
Knowing that one of Salomon LEUBUSCHER's sons had been in Warsaw led to the conclusion that the youngest son Mendel LEUBUSCHER must have been that son. Mendel was born in Brieg on 31 January 1837. Birth dates being frequently mis-remembered, particularly in the 19th century and before, it was clear that Mendel was the person known as Max LEUBUSCHER in the US.
Max and his wife Rosa geb. SALZENSTEIN had five children: Ernestine, Berthold, Dora, Stephen and Theodore. Presumably, Ernestine's birth date was also mis-remembered (though not necessarily). She was born 5 December 1868. But as her grandmother's Todesanzeige confirmed, Ernestine died on 25 February 1869. If the granddaughter was named in memory of the grandmother, she might have been born in 1869, rather than 1868, or perhaps she was not originally named "Ernestine".
All of the children except Berthold married, but only Ernestine and Dora had offspring. Ernestine married Leopold BLOCK, and Dora married Max GLASS. Their descendants are still in the Chicago area, and I am working on making contact with living members of these families -- MARCUS, BUCHBINDER, BLOCK, MELSCHER, STEINBERG and GLASS.
[Written at the Caffe Capanna in Point Roberts, Washington, USA.]
The starting point for this LEUBUSCHER research also came from documents copied in Berlin in the Archive of the Centrum Judaicum; this time from the Breslau Todesanzeigen. The 2012 "get list" included Salomon LEUBUSCHER who died in 1866 and his wife Ernestine LEUBUSCHER geb. BLANZGER who died in 1869. These documents did not name their surviving children, but indicated that they were survived by 2 sons and 3 daughters living in Breslau, Berlin, Polen (in 1866) / Warschau (in 1869) and Kattowitz. From earlier research, those surviving children were Mathilde, Selma, Ulrike, Benjamin Julius and Mendel. (Jette had died age 12 in 1836, and Dr. Berthold (Berel) LEUBUSCHER had died in Breslau at age 33 in 1860.)
The key piece of new information was the note that one of the children was living in Warsaw in the 1860s. Earlier, piecing together information on the strands of LEUBUSCHERs living in the US (from Ancestry.com databases), I recalled finding information about a Stephen LEUBUSCHER who was born in Warsaw in 1878, according to his 1924 US Passport Application. I had been surprised about a LEUBUSCHER being born in Warsaw. Stephen's father was Max LEUBUSCHER.
This led me back into a LEUBUSCHER family I had explored earlier in May 2011. The family of Max LEUBUSCHER had settled in Milwaukee and later also lived in Chicago. The FindaGrave website had a photograph of Max's gravestone and the information that he was born on 31 January 1836.
Knowing that one of Salomon LEUBUSCHER's sons had been in Warsaw led to the conclusion that the youngest son Mendel LEUBUSCHER must have been that son. Mendel was born in Brieg on 31 January 1837. Birth dates being frequently mis-remembered, particularly in the 19th century and before, it was clear that Mendel was the person known as Max LEUBUSCHER in the US.
Max and his wife Rosa geb. SALZENSTEIN had five children: Ernestine, Berthold, Dora, Stephen and Theodore. Presumably, Ernestine's birth date was also mis-remembered (though not necessarily). She was born 5 December 1868. But as her grandmother's Todesanzeige confirmed, Ernestine died on 25 February 1869. If the granddaughter was named in memory of the grandmother, she might have been born in 1869, rather than 1868, or perhaps she was not originally named "Ernestine".
All of the children except Berthold married, but only Ernestine and Dora had offspring. Ernestine married Leopold BLOCK, and Dora married Max GLASS. Their descendants are still in the Chicago area, and I am working on making contact with living members of these families -- MARCUS, BUCHBINDER, BLOCK, MELSCHER, STEINBERG and GLASS.
[Written at the Caffe Capanna in Point Roberts, Washington, USA.]
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)