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:
- Eva had Bruno (Dov) ROSENTHAL
- Abraham had Bernhard CANTERSON
- Sara had Bernhard HAMMERSTEIN
- Rahel had Bernhard LAUDON
So far, only Johanna (FALKENHEIM) is not known to have had a son Baer / Dov Ber / Bernhard -- because only one child of Johanna and Salomon FALKENHEIM is known to date: Jacob FALKENHEIM.
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).)
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.
(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...
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.
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:
- 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.
There was also information about Johanna's and Bernhard's marriage:
- Johanna LAUDON (b.1838) married Lippmann HEILBRONN in Rosenberg in 1861.
- Bernhard LAUDON (b.ca.1832) married Ottilie FREYMUTH in Rosenberg in 1870.
In Elbing marriages (LDS film no. 742026), there were details about Isidor's marriage:
- Isidor LAUDON (b.1834) married Franziska LEHMANN (not CUHMANN, as I had previously misread) in Elbing in 1870.
Just for completeness, from the original JACOBSOHN Stammbaum and research notes:
- Henriette LAUDON (b.ca.1827) married Widder (Victor Moses) JACOBSOHN in Liebstadt in 1854.
The new marriage information for Johanna, Sara and Helene contained the information that their father was Abraham, nicely linking everyone (except Bernhard for whom the information is still only circumstantial (name, date, place)).
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.
This is the blog entry I was going to write when circumstances, briefly, intervened and led to the previous entry (care of daughters named "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:
This one was prepared in 1846 on the occasion of the the 25th wedding anniversary of Marcus WITKOWSKI and Henriette (Gute) ZIPPERT. Marcus' mother Henriette (Gitel) LATZ was my great great great great aunt. Maybe the one my mother remembers also came from her LATZ family (Walther FREUND -> Wilhelm Salomon FREUND -> Rosalie ZÜLZ -> Brainchen LATZ -> Salomon Benjamin LATZ)...
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.
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.
All in all, it creates more reason to find connections between the contemporaries Rachel (LAUDON), Johanna (FALKENHEIM), Sara (HAMMERSTEIN), and Abraham CANTORSON.
