Category: von Zedlitz-Neukirch

POST 116: FINDING PHOTOS & ANCESTRAL INFORMATION ON ANCESTRY’S “FOLD3” DATABASE: THE VON KOSCHEMBAHR CASE

 

Note: In this Blog post, I introduce readers to the “Fold3” database, which primarily provides access to military records and documents on the Revolutionary War, Civil War, WWI, and WWII, incorporating the stories, photos, and personal documents of the men and women who served in these conflicts. Utilizing ancestry.com, I will explain how I chanced upon naturalization documents in Fold3 for members of the von Koschembahr branch of my family that supplement what I found on ancestry and that may be similarly useful to readers in their own familial endeavors. This post is part of a series of infrequent installments where I give readers clues on accessing ancestral databases.

 

Related Post:

POST 115: THE BRUCK VON KOSCHEMBAHR BRANCH OF MY FAMILY TREE

 

 

Figure 1. Gerhard Bruck von Koschembahr with his wife Cornelia Hilda von Zedlitz und Neukirch and their thirteen children

 

As discussed in Post 115, Gerhard Bruck von Koschembahr (1885-1961) arrived in America with his wife Cornelia Hilda von Zedlitz und Neukirch (1891-1954) in October 1938 with ten of their thirteen children (Figure 1), having by then dropped the “Bruck” portion of his surname and going simply by Gerhard von Koschembahr. A Passenger Manifest shows the arrival of the family in New York on the 1st of October 1938 from Le Havre, France aboard the “SS Paris.” (Figure 2) A New York Times article dated the 2nd of October 1938 reported on Gerhard and Hilda von Koschembahr’s arrival in New York and confirmed the names of their ten children traveling with them. (Figure 3) Included at the end of this post is a vital statistics table for Gerhard and Hilda von Koschembahr and their 13 children, only one of whom still survives.

 

Figure 2. A “Manifest of Alien Passengers” listing the names of Gerhard and Hilda von Koschembahr and ten of their 13 children that arrived in New York City on the 1st of October 1938 aboard the “SS Paris” from Le Havre, France

 

 

Figure 3. A New York Times article dated the 2nd of October 1938 reporting on the arrival of Gerhard and Hilda von Koschembahr in New York the previous day, and giving the names of the ten children accompanying them

 

Readers familiar with ancestry.com know that attached to each of the persons in one’s family tree are “leaves” representing clues possibly related to the individual in question. I carefully reviewed all the clues attached to Gerhard and Hilda and their children. Of acute interest were forms labelled either “U.S. Federal Naturalization Records, 1787-1991” (Figures 4a-b) or “Naturalization Petition and Record Books, 1888-1946” (Figures 5a-b); the latter are particularly interesting because they often include photographs attached to the petitions. I have mentioned in previous Blog posts, but it is worth reiterating here, that finding photographs of people in my family tree makes those people seem tangible and real.

 

Figure 4a. The “Maine, U.S. Federal Naturalization Records, 1787-1991” cover page for Gabriela Hedwig Clementina Cornella Hilda Von Koschembahr

 

Figure 4b. The 1938 Maine, U.S. Federal Naturalization Record page for Gabriela Hedwig Clementina Cornella Hilda Von Koschembahr

 

 

Figure 5a. The “New York, U.S., State and Federal Naturalization Records, 1794-1943” cover page for Gerhard von Koschembahr (1917-1996), one of Gerhard and Cornelia Hilda’s sons

 

Figure 5b. The 1937 New York, U.S., State and Naturalization Record page for Gerhard von Koschembahr (1917-1996)

 

The aforementioned “U.S. Federal Naturalization Records, 1787-1991” linked to some of the von Koschembahr family members mostly originate from Maine (see Figures 4a-b); upon their arrival in America, as the 1938 New York Times article pointed out, the family settled in Portland, Maine so this connection makes sense. In the case of Gerhard von Koschembahr, the form he signed on the 22nd of August 1939 in the U.S. District Court of Portland, Maine entitled “Declaration of Intention” does not include an attached photograph. (Figure 6a) HOWEVER, the same form with precisely the same information and identically typed date that is found among the “Ohio, U.S., Naturalization Petition and Record Books, 1888-1946,” under “Naturalizations—Ohio Northern,” has an attached photo. (Figure 6b) Similarly, page two of Gerhard’s “Declaration of Intention” form found in the two databases includes one version of the form with a photo, the other without. (Figures 7a-b) The latter forms with the attached photos from the Northern District of Ohio are postmarked “N.D.O.” and are dated “Apr 25 1944,” but in all other aspects contain the same information. For Cornelia Hilda, I could only find the two pages of her Declaration of Intention form with photos. (see Figures 9a-b)

 

Figure 6a. Gerhard von Koschembahr’s 1939 “Declaration of Intention” form, marked in the upper lefthand corner as “Original (To be retained by clerk),” does not include his picture

 

 

Figure 6b. An identical of Gerhard von Koschembahr’s 1939 “Declaration of Intention” form, lightly postmarked “N.D.O.” and dated “Apr 25 1944” and marked in the upper lefthand corner as “Triplicate (To be given to declarant),” however, includes Gerhard’s photo

 

 

Figure 7a. Page 2 of Gerhard von Koschembahr’s 1939 “Declaration of Intention” form, marked in the upper lefthand corner as “Original (To be retained by clerk),” again does not include his picture

 

 

Figure 7b. Page 2 of an identical Gerhard von Koschembahr’s 1939 “Declaration of Intention” form, postmarked “N.D.O.” and dated “Apr 25 1944” and marked in the upper lefthand corner as “Triplicate (To be given to declarant),” however, again includes Gerhard’s photo

 

According to what is printed in the upper lefthand corner of the Declaration of Intention form, it was completed in triplicate; the “Original” without the picture was kept by the clerk but the one labelled “Triplicate” was supposedly to be given to the declarant. If this is the case, how then have ones with pictures wound up in the official Naturalization Record Books?  

There is a reason I painstakingly explain the above to readers. To be sure that one has found all the naturalization and petition forms that may exist for an immigrant ancestor, one should not only check ancestry.com, but should also peruse ancestry’s “Fold3” database. I’ll return to the specifics of what supplementary materials may exist in those forms below but let me digress and briefly tell readers about Fold3.

Fold3 began in 1999 as “iArchives,” and was involved in digitizing historical newspapers and other archival content for universities, libraries, and media companies across the country. In January 2007, they launched “Footnote.com” by digitizing 5 million original documents, many of which were military related. Then, in October of 2010 ancestry.com purchased iArchives, and rebranded it as Fold3 as part of its effort to make it a premier website for military records. According to their website, “The Fold3 name comes from a traditional flag folding ceremony in which the third fold is made in honor and remembrance of veterans who served in defense of their country and to maintain peace throughout the world.” Today, the database includes documents on the Revolutionary War, Civil War, WWI, WWII, U.S. presidents, historical newspapers, and naturalization documents.

Since ancestry owns Fold3, I assumed all the information in Fold3 is included in ancestry.com; this may well be true, but it was only by accessing BOTH databases that I found all the naturalization documents related to the von Koschembahrs.

In trying to access a “Declaration of Intention” form on ancestry for one member of this family, possibly by mistake, I was unable to open it but discovered it was in the Fold3 database. Since I know my local library not only has an institutional version of ancestry but also one for Fold3, I was successfully able to retrieve the form in this manner. I then realized that not only does Fold3 include military records but also contains naturalization documents for immigrant arrivals. It took me a while to navigate Fold 3, but I eventually learned that naturalization records for the following regions and cities are digitized: 

  • Naturalization Index—California San Diego (A-Z)
  • Naturalization Index—Massachusetts (1866-1983 with gaps)
  • Naturalization Index—Maryland (1703-1968 with gaps)
  • Naturalization Index—New York Eastern (July 1865-September 1906)
  • Naturalization Index—New York Eastern (October 1906-November 1925)
  • Naturalization Index—New York Eastern (November 1925-December 1957)
  • Naturalization Index—New York Southern Intentions (A-Z)
  • Naturalization Index—New York Southern Petitions (1810-1964 with gaps)
  • Naturalization Index—Western (1892-1988 with gaps)
  • Naturalization Index—New York City Courts (1792-1958 with minor gaps)
  • Naturalization Index—WWI Soldiers (A-Z)
  • Naturalizations—California Los Angeles (A-Z)
  • Naturalizations—California San Diego (A-Z)
  • Naturalizations—California Southern (A-Z)
  • Naturalizations—Los Angeles Eastern (by “Birth Country”)
  • Naturalizations—Massachusetts (U.S. District Court)
  • Naturalizations—Maryland (by “Birth Country”)
  • Naturalizations—New York Eastern (by “Birth Country”)
  • Naturalizations—New York Southern (by “Birth Country”)
  • Naturalizations—Ohio Northern (A-Z)
  • Naturalizations—Pennsylvania Eastern (U.S. Circuit Court)
  • Naturalizations—Pennsylvania Middle (Circuit Court and District Court, 1901-1906; District Court, 1906-1911; District Court 1909-1911; District Court 1910-1930; District Court 1911-1916)
  • Naturalizations—Pennsylvania Western (Records of the US Circuit and District Courts: Declarations of Intent and Petitions. 1798-1959 with gaps)

I found the specific information on the von Koschembahr branch of my family in Fold3 under “Naturalizations—Ohio Northern.” (Figures 8a-b) Simply typing the surname in the “Search” bar on the portal page of Fold3 will yield the broadest number of hits; occasionally one may have to search for one’s relatives using name variations. Case in point. There may be as many as ten different variations by which to search for Cornelia Hilda von Koschembahr since she was a baroness in her own right and was a descendant of the Roosevelt family (e.g., Cornelia Hilda von Zedlitz und Neukirch; Hilda Cornelia Roosevelt Koschembahr; Gabriela Hedwig Clementina Cornelia Hilda von Koschembahr; etc.).

 

Figure 8a. Screen shot from Fold3 for five von Koschembahr family members’ naturalization records found under the Northern District of Ohio alphabetized under the letter “V”

 

Figure 8b. Screen shot from Fold 3 for “Hilda Cornelia Roosevelt Koschembahr’s” naturalization forms found under the Northern District of Ohio alphabetized under the letter “K”

 

Figure 9a. Page 1 of Gabriela Hedwig Clementina Cornelia Hilda von Koschembahr’s “Declaration of Intention” form with her photo

 

 

Figure 9b. Page 2 of Gabriela Hedwig Clementina Cornelia Hilda von Koschembahr’s “Declaration of Intention” form with her photo

 

In the case of the father Gerhard von Koschembahr’s “Declaration of Intention” form, suffice it to say, a lot of vital data are provided. Because Gerhard had 13 children, a separate form was attached, naming them, and giving their dates and places of birth. While this information was previously known to me from elsewhere, had it not been this would have been useful ancestral information. On Gerhard’s wife’s “Declaration of Intention” form, her vital data is similarly shown, and the identical form attached with the names and vitals of her children. (Figures 9a-b)

In addition to Gerhard and Hilda’s 1939 Declaration of Intention forms, in Fold3, for both I discovered combined 1945 “Affidavit of Witness” and “Oath of Allegiance” forms (Figures 10-11); 1939 “Certificate of Arrival” forms (Figures 12-13); and 1939 “Petition for Naturalization” forms which were withdrawn in December 1944. (Figures 14-15)

 

Figure 10. Gerhard von Koschembahr’s combined 1945 “Affidavit of Witness” and “Oath of Allegiance” form

 

Figure 11. Hilda Cornelia Roosevelt von Koschembahr’s combined 1945 “Affidavit of Witness” and “Oath of Allegiance” form

 

 

Figure 12. Gerhard von Koschembahr’s “Certificate of Arrival” form postmarked “Apr 25 1944” and “N.D.O.”

 

 

Figure 13. Gabriela Hedwig Clementina Cornelia Hilda von Koschembahr’s “Certificate of Arrival” form postmarked “Apr 25 1944” and “N.D.O.”

 

Figure 14. Gerhard von Koschembahr’s “Petition for Naturalization” form

 

Figure 15. Gabriela Hedwig Clementina Cornelia Hilda von Koschembahr’s “Petition for Naturalization” form

 

As mentioned above, Gerhard and Hilda arrived in America on the 1st of October 1938 with ten of their thirteen children. I was able to find forms with photos like those of their parents for only four of the children (Figures 16-19); two were also required to sign “Certificates of Loyalty.” (Figures 20a-b) For two of the boys, Clemens (Figures 21a-b) and Hans (John) Christoph von Koschembahr (Figures 22a-b), I found their WWII Registration cards since both were of an age appropriate to be drafted into the armed forces. This is something I would have expected to find in Fold3 since the database includes primarily military records.

 

Figure 16. “Declaration of Intention” form for Gisela von Koschembahr postmarked “Apr 25 1944” and “N.D.O.,” including her photograph

 

Figure 17. “Declaration of Intention” form for Heinz von Koschembahr postmarked “Apr 25 1944” and “N.D.O.,” including his photograph

 

Figure 18. “Declaration of Intention” form for Wolfgang von Koschembahr postmarked “Apr 25 1944” and “N.D.O.,” including his photograph

 

 

Figure 19. “Declaration of Intention” form for Ursula von Koschembahr postmarked “Apr 25 1944” and “N.D.O.,” including her photograph

 

Figure 20a. “Certificate of Loyalty” form for Wolfgang von Koschembahr signed in 1945
Figure 20b. “Certificate of Loyalty” form for Ursula von Koschembahr signed in 1944

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Figure 21a. Page 1 of Clemens von Koschembahr’s 1944 WWII Registration Card
Figure 21b. Page 2 of Clemens von Koschembahr’s 1944 WWII Registration Card

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Figure 22a. Page 1 of John Christoph von Koschembahr’s 1945 WWII Registration Card
Figure 22b. Page 2 of John Christoph von Koschembahr’s 1945 WWII Registration Card

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In closing I would simply advise readers coming across naturalization and petition records for immigrant ancestors to check both ancestry.com and Fold3, naturally as well as other ancestral databases, to ensure you have not inadvertently overlooked anything. And you too may be rewarded by finding photos of your predecessors.

  

VITAL STATISTICS FOR GERHARD VON KOSCHEMBAHR, CORNELIA HILDA VON ZEDLITZ UND NEUKIRCH, & THEIR THIRTEEN CHILDREN

 

NAME

(relationship)

 VITAL EVENT DATE PLACE SOURCE OF DATA
         
Gerhard Bruck von Koschembahr (self) Birth 28 July 1885 Berlin, Germany Berlin, Germany birth certificate
Marriage (to Cornelia Hilda von Zedlitz und Neukirch) 21 March 1914 Dresden, Germany Dresden, Germany marriage certificate
Death 3 October 1961 Rye, Westchester, New York New York State, U.S. Death Index, 1957-1970; headstone
Cornelia Hilda von Zedlitz und Neukirch (wife) Birth 1 April 1891 Berlin, Germany Berlin, Germany birth certificate
Marriage (to Gerhard Bruck von Koschembahr) 21 March 1914 Dresden, Germany Dresden, Germany marriage certificate
Death 26 May 1954 Port Chester, Westchester, New York New York, U.S. Death Index, 1852-1956; headstone
Gisela von Koschembahr (daughter) Birth 24 November 1914 Berlin, Germany 1939 “Declaration of Intention” U.S. Naturalization forms for Gerhard & Cornelia Hilda von Koschembahr
Death 1 January 1999 Palmdale, Los Angeles, California Social Security Death Index, 1935-2014
Irmela von Koschembahr (daughter) Birth 7 November 1915 Berlin, Germany 1939 “Declaration of Intention” U.S. Naturalization forms for Gerhard & Cornelia Hilda von Koschembahr
Death 15 September 2001 Mayfield Heights, Cuyahoga, Ohio Ohio, U.S. Death Records, 1908-1932, 1938-2018
Gerhard von Koschembahr (son) Birth 22 January 1917 Berlin, Germany 1939 “Declaration of Intention” U.S. Naturalization forms for Gerhard & Cornelia Hilda von Koschembahr
Death 11 May 1996 New York City, New York Social Security Death Index, 1935-2014
Gundula von Koschembahr Daughter) Birth 13 November 1918 Berlin, Germany 1939 “Declaration of Intention” U.S. Naturalization forms for Gerhard & Cornelia Hilda von Koschembahr
Death 16 August 2004 Cleveland Heights, Cuyahoga, Ohio Ohio, U.S. Death Records, 1908-1932, 1938-2018
Heinz-Hasso von Koschembahr (son) Birth 3 December 1919 Baden-Baden, Germany 1939 “Declaration of Intention” U.S. Naturalization forms for Gerhard & Cornelia Hilda von Koschembahr
Death 19 March 1999 Winnetka, Cook, Illinois Social Security Death Index, 1935-2014
Wolfgang von Koschembahr (son) Birth 1 July 1921 Dresden, Germany 1939 “Declaration of Intention” U.S. Naturalization forms for Gerhard & Cornelia Hilda von Koschembahr
Death 22 June 1996 Cleveland, Cuyahoga, Ohio Ohio, U.S. Death Records, 1908-1932, 1938-2018
Ursula von Koschembahr (daughter) Birth 14 September 1923 Dresden, Germany 1939 “Declaration of Intention” U.S. Naturalization forms for Gerhard & Cornelia Hilda von Koschembahr
Death 31 October 2018 Pennsylvania U.S., Cemetery and Funeral Home Collection, 1847-Current
Cordula von Koschembahr (daughter) Birth 28 November 1924 Dresden, Germany 1939 “Declaration of Intention” U.S. Naturalization forms for Gerhard & Cornelia Hilda von Koschembahr
Death 15 December 2004   U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007
Clemens von Koschembahr (son) Birth 20 February 1926 Dresden, Germany 1939 “Declaration of Intention” U.S. Naturalization forms for Gerhard & Cornelia Hilda von Koschembahr
Death Living    
Hans Christoph von Koschembahr (son) Birth 28 May 1927 Dresden, Germany 1939 “Declaration of Intention” U.S. Naturalization forms for Gerhard & Cornelia Hilda von Koschembahr
Death 20 June 2006 Middletown, Connecticut Connecticut Death Index, 1949-2012
Dietrich von Koschembahr (son) Birth 10 July 1929 Erfurt, Germany 1939 “Declaration of Intention” U.S. Naturalization forms for Gerhard & Cornelia Hilda von Koschembahr
Death 6 January 1995   U.S., Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007
Edela von Koschembahr (daughter) Birth 23 May 1931 Erfurt, Germany 1939 “Declaration of Intention” U.S. Naturalization forms for Gerhard & Cornelia Hilda von Koschembahr
Death 24 November 2001   U.S., Social Security Death Index, 1935-2014
Gottfried von Koschembahr (son) Birth 5 November 1934 Bern, Switzerland 1939 “Declaration of Intention” U.S. Naturalization forms for Gerhard & Cornelia Hilda von Koschembahr
Death 17 December 1995   U.S., Social Security Death Index, 1935-2014

POST 115: THE BRUCK VON KOSCHEMBAHR BRANCH OF MY FAMILY TREE

 

Note: In this post, I introduce readers to my great-grandfather Fedor Bruck’s youngest brother, Wilhelm Bruck, who in 1884 married a noblewoman, Mathilde Margarethe von Koschembahr. This resulted in the nobiliary particle “von” being added to the Bruck surname in merged form as “Bruck von Koschembahr”; in the subsequent generation the “Bruck” part of the surname was dropped altogether. I also talk briefly in this installment about German nobility.

 

Related Posts:

POST 113: CHIUNE SUGIHARA, JAPANESE IMPERIAL CONSUL IN LITHUANIA DURING WWII, “RIGHTEOUS AMONG THE NATIONS”

POST 114: EDWARD HANS LINDENBERGER, A DISTANT COUSIN: MIGHT HE HAVE SURVIVED BUCHENWALD?

 

In Post 113, I acquainted readers with Oskar Bruck (1831-1892), the oldest of my great-great-grandparents Samuel Bruck (1808-1863) and Charlotte Bruck née Marle’s (1809-1861) nine children. This provided an opportunity to discuss Chiune Sugihara, the Japanese Consul in Lithuania at the outset of WWII, one of Yad Vashem’s “Right Among the Nations,” whose courageous actions helped save one of Oskar’s daughters, son-in-law, and grandson. Then, in Post 114, I discussed Samuel and Charlotte Bruck’s eighth born child, Helena Strauss née Bruck (1845-1910), one of whose daughters, son-in-law, and grandson were likely murdered in either Auschwitz-Birkenau or Buchenwald. The fate of Oskar and Helena’s descendants could not have been more divergent.

 

Figure 1. My great-grandfather Fedor Bruck’s youngest brother, Wilhelm Bruck (1849-1907)

 

In the current post, I will focus on the youngest of Samuel and Charlotte Bruck’s children, Wilhelm Bruck (1849-1907) (Figure 1), along with his descendants. Happily, their destinies had a more favorable outcome. In this essay I will switch gears and introduce readers to a custom that was occasionally followed by German bridegrooms upon marriage to a woman of German nobility. Such is the case with Wilhelm Bruck who on the 14th of September 1884 married a Mathilde Margarethe von Koschembahr (Figures 2-3), a noblewoman eleven years his junior. Wilhelm Bruck was a “Justizrat,” justice counsel, and he and Mathilde had five children (see vital statistics table at the end of this post).

 

Figure 2. Wilhelm Bruck’s wife Margarethe von Koschembahr as a child in around 1863 with her mother, Amalie von Koshembahr née Mockrauer (1834-1918)
Figure 3. Wilhelm Bruck’s wife, Mathilde Margarethe von Koschembahr (1860-1946) around the time she and Wilhelm got married in 1884

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Let me begin by quoting from a page of a much larger document (Figure 4) explaining the transition of the Bruck surname within this branch of the family, first to Bruck von Koschembahr, then subsequently to simply von Koschembahr as the Bruck part was unofficially dropped. The citation below appears to be from a history of the von Koschembahr family probably written by Gisela von Koschembahr (Figure 5), the oldest daughter of Wilhelm and Mathilde’s first-born son, Gerhard Bruck-von Koschembahr. I found several pages of this longer document on a family tree on ancestry.com attached to Mathilde’s profile, and am trying, as we speak, to obtain the complete account:

 

Figure 4. Page from a much larger history on the von Koschembahr family describing how the “von Koschembahr” surname was merged with the “Bruck” surname, then subsequently dropped
Figure 5. 1939 photo of Gisela von Koschembahr, Wilhlem Bruck von Koschembahr’s granddaughter and Gerhard Bruck von Koschembahr’s eldest daughter, believed to be the author of the von Koshchembahr family history

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“By virtue of his father, Wilhelm Bruck, our father (‘Vati’) was born Gerhard Bruck. Through ‘adoption’ by an unmarried aunt, Mathilde von Koschembahr (his mother’s sister) (Figure 6), he added his mother’s maiden name to his father’s name in 1924. For several years thereafter, our family was officially known as Bruck von Koschembahr (and Vati’s mother called herself that also), until by the time our family moved to Switzerland (1934), the Bruck was quietly (not officially) dropped altogether.”

 

Figure 6. Wilhelm Bruck’s unmarried sister-in-law (his wife’s sister), Mathilde von Koschembahr (1866-1931) in March 1914, who caused the “von Koschembahr” surname to be added to Gerhard Bruck’s surname in 1924

 

In this context, I will briefly explain German titles of nobility, surnames of the German nobility and what is referred to as the nobiliary particle. As in the case of the von Koschembahr family name, most surnames of the German nobility were preceded by or contained the preposition von (meaning “of”) or zu (meaning “at”) as a nobiliary particle, simply to signal the nobility of a family. 

The prepositions von and zu were occasionally combined (meaning “of and at”) In general, the von form indicates the family’s place of origin, while the zu form indicates the family’s continued possession of the estate from which the surname is drawn. Therefore, von und zu indicates a family which is both named for and continues to own the original feudal holding or residence. Case in point. An example of this can be seen in the vital statistics table at the end of this post for Wilhelm Bruck von Koschembahr’s eldest child, Gerhard Bruck von Koschembahr (Figure 7), who married Cornelia Hilda von Zedlitz und Neukirch. (Figure 8) As a related aside, since Gerhard already had the nobiliary particle von as part of his surname, he had no need to adopt his wife’s surname upon their marriage in 1914 (Figure 9), unlike his father.

 

Figure 7. Gerhard Bruck von Koschembahr (1885-1961) on the 21st of March 1914 when he married Cornelia Hilda von Zedlitz und Neukirch

 

Figure 8. Cornelia Hilda von Zedlitz und Neukirch (1891-1954) on her wedding day, the 21st of March 1914

 

 

Figure 9. Gerhard Bruck and Hilda von Zedlitz und Neukirch’s wedding party on the 21st of March 1914

 

Perhaps because I am only half-German and not in contact with any descendants of the von Koschembahr branch of my family, the attachment of the nobiliary particle von to my surname is remarkably uninteresting. That said, my good friend Peter Hanke, the “Wizard of Wolfsburg,” who often assists me and others in their ancestral searches, is regularly asked whether he can confirm the noble descent within a questioner’s family (i.e., “My grandmother said. . .”); the desire for a family coat of arms or an affiliation to a noble branch comes to the fore, as Peter says, which both he and I find odd.

This said, I have a few of my uncle Dr. Fedor Bruck’s surviving papers, including a schematic and much abbreviated diagram of his family tree. (Figure 10) The only one of his grandfather Fedor Bruck’s eight siblings he shows on this simplified tree is Wilhelm Bruck who married Margarethe von Koschembahr (i.e., who my uncle identifies as “Grete v. Koschembahr”). Then, as if to further stress the importance he placed on connections to nobility, the only one of Wilhelm and Margarethe’s five children he shows is Gerhard Bruck von Koschembahr who, as noted above, also married a noble, Cornelia Hilda von Zedlitz und Neukirch, identified by my uncle as “Freiin v. Zedlitz & Leipe.” “Freiin” means Baroness in German.

 

Figure 10. My uncle Dr. Fedor Bruck’s schematic family drawing incorporating the noble connections to the Bruck family

 

Continuing. Gisela von Koschembahr, whose family history I cited above, describes the position of her family in the order of German nobility, and, again, I quote what she has to say: 

“It may be useful here to delineate the relative position of the von Koschembahrs in the order of the German nobility—(or ‘Adel,’ a Medieval German word meaning ‘edel’ or noble). The German nobility, as that of other countries, originally comprised the most able-bodied and distinguished (in the service of a king or prince=‘Fürst’) families in the nation; later it came to mean a class endowed with special personal property and tax privileges. While these official privileges were abolished in Germany (and Austria) at the end of World War I, the nobility continues to be—regardless of the individual family’s financial status—highly regarded, socially prominent, and exclusive among themselves. The order from top down is as follows:

  • Herzöge (dukes)
  • Fürsten (princes)
  • Grafen (counts)
  • Freiherrn (barons)
  • Uradel (genuine nobility)
  • Briefadel (nobility by letter)

(The writer acknowledges there may be another category ‘Adel’ between Uradel and Briefadel.)

The von Koschembahrs belonged to the next-to-last category, the Uradel, hereditary nobility since the 10th century, including in modern times all families whose origins as nobility are recorded in public documents before 1350. Uradel, like Freiherrn and Graf, was bestowed by a duke or prince upon a member of his entourage who was especially deserving for services rendered or distinguished in some other way. Land grants and/or decorations usually accompanied bestowal of the title of the title (although less extensive or valuable as for higher grades of nobility), and the family’s name was henceforth preceded by ‘von.’ The last is also true of the ‘Briefadel,’ but it was bestowed by letter; in more recent times, and unlike the other forms of nobility, could be purchased with money from a sovereign in need of funds. Due to the Uradel’s greater age, the meaning of the family names is usually unrecognizable.”

Without getting too deeply into it, let me briefly emphasize and supplement what Gisela von Koschembahr wrote about German nobility. They along with royalty were status groups having their origins in medieval society in Central Europe. Relative to other people, they enjoyed certain privileges under the laws and customs in the German-speaking areas until the beginning of the 20th century. Historically, German entities that recognized or conferred nobility included the Holy Roman Emperor (A.D. 962-1806), the German Confederation (A.D. 1814-1866), and the German Empire (1871-1918). As Gisela alluded to, the sovereigns had a policy of expanding their political base by ennobling rich businessmen with no noble ancestors. Germany’s nobility flourished during its rapid industrialization and urbanization after 1850 as the number of wealthy businessmen increased.

The monarchy in Germany, as well as in Austria, was abolished in 1919. In August 1919, at the beginning of the Weimar Republic (1919-1933), which would eventually be displaced by the Nazis, Germany’s first democratic government officially abolished royalty and nobility, and the respective legal privileges and immunities having to do with an individual, a family, or any heirs. In Germany, this meant that legally von simply became an ordinary part of the surnames of the people who used it. According to German alphabetical sorting, people with von in their surnames, both of noble and non-noble descent, were listed in phone books and other files under the rest of their names (i.e., in the case of Gerhard von Koschembahr, had he returned to Germany after WWII, his surname would have been found under K in the phone book rather than under V).

In closing I would simply note that among some members of my extended family descended from Wilhelm and Mathilde’s children, the “disappearance” of the Bruck surname in this branch of the family is a persistent irritant and constant source of ancestral confusion. Their descendants would be my third or fourth cousins, one or two generations removed, but since our surnames are different mostly because of a random decision, I have no contact with this branch. So, I ask myself, “What’s in a name?”

 

 

 

VITAL STATISTICS FOR WILHELM BRUCK, HIS WIFE, AND THEIR FIVE CHILDREN

 

NAME

(relationship)

 VITAL EVENT DATE PLACE SOURCE OF DATA
         
Wilhelm Bruck (self) Birth 23 February 1849 Ratibor, Germany [today: Racibórz, Poland] Family History Library (FHL) Ratibor Microfilm 1184449 (births)
Marriage (to Mathilde Margarethe von Koschembahr) 14 September 1884 Berlin, Germany Berlin, Germany marriage certificate
Death 15 February 1907 Berlin, Germany Berlin, Germany death certificate
Mathilde Margarethe von Koschembahr (wife)

(FIGURE 11)

 Birth 28 November 1860 Posen, Germany [today: Poznan, Germany] Ancestry.com “Germany, Select Births & Baptisms, 1558-1898 (database on-line)”
Marriage (to Wilhelm Bruck) 14 September 1884 Berlin, Germany Berlin, Germany marriage certificate
Death 19 October 1946 Boston, Massachusetts Von Koschembahr Family History pages uploaded to Mathilde’s profile on ancestry.com by “LynnKabbelWeissgerber”
Gerhard Bruck von Koschembahr (son)

(FIGURE 12)

 Birth 28 July 1885 Berlin, Germany Berlin, Germany birth certificate
Marriage (to Cornelia Hilda von Zedlitz und Neukirch) 21 March 1914 Dresden, Germany 1939 “Declaration of Intention” Immigration & Naturalization form; 1914 wedding photo
Death 3 October 1961 Westchester, New York U.S., Find-A-Grave
Charlotte Bruck (daughter) Birth 17 August 1886 Berlin, Germany 3 May 1906 Berlin, Germany marriage certificate to Walter Edward Stavenhagen
Death 5 June 1974 West Haven, Connecticut “Connecticut Death Index, 1949-2012”
Marianne Johanna Bruck (daughter)

(FIGURE 13)

 Birth 31 July 1888 Berlin, Germany Berlin, Germany birth certificate
Death 21 September 1975 Munich, Germany Kurt Polborn (grandson) ancestry tree
Friedrich Wilhelm Bruck von Koschembahr (son) Birth 15 December 1889 Berlin, Germany Berlin, Germany birth certificate
Death 14 March 1963 Haag, Germany “Report of Death of American Citizen Abroad, 1835-1974”
Heinz Leopold Bruck (son) Birth 17 July 1892 Berlin, Germany Berlin, Germany birth certificate
Death April 1915 Ypres, Belgium Kurt Polborn (grandson) ancestry tree

 

Figure 11. Wilhelm Bruck’s widow, Mathilde Margarethe von Koschembahr, in around 1938

 

Figure 12. Wilhelm Bruck’s oldest son, Gerhard Bruck von Koschembahr with his wife Cornelia Hilda von Zedlitz und Neukirch and their thirteen children

 

Figure 13. Wilhelm Bruck with his daughter Marianne Johanna Bruck in around 1889

 

 

POST 95: DISCOVERING THE FATE OF MY GREAT-GRANDFATHER’S NIECE, CHARLOTTE BRUCK

Note:  In this post, I discuss the sad fate of Charlotte Bruck, my great-grandfather Fedor Bruck’s niece, a victim in this case not of the Holocaust but of a psychiatric disorder.

Related Post:

Post 11: Ratibor & Bruck’s “Prinz Von Preußen“ Hotel

 

Figure 1. My great-great-grandfather Samuel Bruck (1808-1863), first generation owner of the Bruck’s “Prinz von Preußen” Hotel in Ratibor, Germany [today: Racibórz, Poland]
Figure 2. My great-great-grandmother Charlotte Bruck née Marle (1809-1861)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My great-grandfather, Fedor Bruck (1834-1892), was one of at least nine offspring of Samuel Bruck (1808-1863) (Figure 1) and Charlotte Bruck née Marle (1809-1861). (Figure 2) For context, Samuel Bruck and Fedor Bruck (Figure 3) were, respectively the first- and second-generation owners of the Bruck family hotel in Ratibor, Germany [today: Racibórz, Poland], the Bruck’s “Prinz von Preußen” Hotel. (Figure 4) The youngest of Samuel and Charlotte Bruck’s children and Fedor Bruck’s youngest sibling was Wilhelm Bruck (1849-1907). (Figure 5)

 

Figure 3. My great-grandfather Fedor Bruck (1834-1892), second generation owner of the Bruck’s “Prinz von Preußen” Hotel
Figure 4. Front entrance to the Bruck’s “Prinz von Preußen” Hotel around 1920-1930

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Figure 5. My great-granduncle Wilhelm Bruck (1849-1907), youngest sibling of Fedor Bruck, married to the baroness Margarethe “Grete” Mathilde von Koschembahr (1860-1946) whose surname he took
Figure 6. Baroness Margarethe “Grete” Mathilde von Koschembahr (1860-1946)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wilhelm married a baroness named Margarete “Grete” Mathilde von Koschembahr (Figure 6), and because of the prestige the von Koschembahr name endowed, he adopted her surname, initially in hyphenated manner as Bruck-von Koschembahr; eventually upon some family members arrival in America the Bruck surname was dropped. Wilhelm Bruck and Margarete von Koschembahr had five children, including Charlotte “Lotte” Bruck (Figure 7), niece of my great-grandfather Fedor Bruck and subject of this post.

 

Figure 7. Charlotte Bruck (1886-1974), daughter of Wilhelm Bruck and Margarete “Grete” Mathilde von Koschembahr, in 1914 or 1915 (photo courtesy of Jay Dunn née Lorenzen)

 

As a brief aside, Charlotte’s older brother and the oldest of Wilhelm and Margarete’s children was Gerhard Bruck von Koschembahr (1885-1961) (Figure 8), who emigrated to America in October 1938 with his wife and ten of their thirteen children (Figure 9), one of whom is still living. While I am in contact with descendants of virtually all other branches of my family whom I have written about in my family history blog, I have not yet established contact with this wing of my extended family. If precedent is any indication, descendants of the von Koschembahrs may in time stumble upon my blog and contact me.

 

Figure 8. Gerhard Bruck von Koschembahr (1885-1961) & his wife Hilda née von Zeidlitz and Neukirch (1891-1954) with their thirteen children in Lugano, Switzerland in the 1930’s; Gerhard was the oldest of Charlotte Bruck’s siblings who dropped the “Bruck” portion of his surname prior to arriving in America

 

Figure 9. New York Times article dated October 2, 1938 mentioning Gerhard von Koschembahr’s arrival in America with his wife and ten of their thirteen children

 

With upwards of 900 people in my family tree, which I use primarily to orient myself to the people whom I discuss in my Blog, I have never previously written about Wilhelm Bruck (von Koschembahr). Still, because Charlotte Bruck is in my tree, one genealogist stumbled upon her name and contacted me asking whether I know the fate of Charlotte’s first husband, Walter Edward Stavenhagen. The inquiry, it so happens, came from Charlotte’s granddaughter, Brenda Jay Dunn née Lorenzen (Figure 10), and I explained I have been unable to discover Walter’s fate. Not unexpectedly, Jay told me much more about Charlotte’s family than I could tell her and provided family photographs, which is always immensely satisfying.

 

Figure 10. Jay Dunn née Lorenzen, Charlotte Bruck and her first husband Walter Edward Stavenhagen’s granddaughter, in 2018 in La Jolla, California

 

 

Prior to being contacted by Jay Dunn through ancestry on June 24, 2018, I had already uncovered multiple documents related to Charlotte Bruck, although my understanding of her three marriages and life was rather disjointed. Rather than try and inaccurately reconstruct what I already knew at the time, let me briefly highlight major events in her life.

Charlotte (Lottchen, Lotte, Lottel) Bruck got married for the first time on the 3rd of May 1906 in Berlin to the Protestant landowner Walter Edward Stavenhagen (Figures 11a-b) who owned an estate in Eichwerder in the district of Soldin, Germany [today: Myślibórz, Poland]. Though both of Charlotte’s parents were of Jewish descent, on her wedding certificate, Charlotte is identified as Protestant, indicating she and/or her parents had converted. Following her marriage to Walter at age 19, they moved to Soldin, and Charlotte gave birth to two sons there: Frederick Wilhelm Stavenhagen (1907-1997) and Hans Joachim Stavenhagen (1909-1947). (Figures 12-13a-b)

Figure 11a. Page 1 of Charlotte Bruck and Walter Edward Stavenhagen’s May 3rd, 1906 marriage certificate indicating they were married in Berlin and were Protestant
Figure 11b. Page 2 of Charlotte Bruck and Walter Edward Stavenhagen’s May 3rd, 1906 marriage certificate with Charlotte and Walter’s original signatures

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Figure 12. Charlotte and Walter’s two young sons, Frederick Wilhelm Stavenhagen (1907-1997) and Hans Joachim Stavenhagen (1909-1947) (photo courtesy of Jay Dunn née Lorenzen)

 

Figure 13a. Birth certificate of Hans Joachim Stavenhagen, Jay Dunn née Lorenzen’s father, showing he was born on the 13th of February 1909 in Soldin, Germany [today: Myślibórz, Poland] (document courtesy of Jay Dunn née Lorenzen)
Figure 13b. Translation of Han’s Joachim Stavenhagen’s birth certificate (document courtesy of Jay Dunn née Lorenzen)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Charlotte first became ill following the birth of her second son, possibly the result of postpartum depression or a bi-polar disorder. Charlotte’s mother, Margarethe von Koschembahr Bruck (Figure 14), came and removed her from Walter Stavenhagen’s estate in 1909, whereupon she was briefly hospitalized in Schierke, located in the Harz Mountains of northern Germany. In a diary entry dated the 19th of November 1909, Charlotte’s maternal grandmother, Amalie Mockrauer von Koschembahr (1834-1918) (Figures 15-16), describes her granddaughter’s circumstances at the time:

 

Figure 14. Charlotte Stavenhagen née Bruck’s mother, Margarete “Grete” Mathilde von Koschembahr, in 1938 at age 78

 

Figure 15. Charlotte Stavenhagen née Bruck’s grandmother, Amalie von Koschembahr née Mockrauer, with Charlotte’s mother, Margarete “Grete” Mathilde von Koschembahr, in 1863
Figure 16. Charlotte Stavenhagen née Bruck’s grandmother, Amalie von Koschembahr née Mockrauer, around 1904 at age 70

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

GERMAN ENTRY

“Ich bin furchtbar traurig über das Fehlschlagen von Lottchens Friedensversuch. Nachdem sie in Eichwerder (nördlich Mysliborz) mit den besten Vorsätzen und mit festem Muthe eintraf, sich in ihr Schicksal und ihre Pflichten zu fügen, benahm sich Walter abermals unglaublich lieblos, rücksichtslos und roh, so, daß es nach kurzer Zeit für Lotte unmöglich war Stand zu halten. Soweit mir berichtet wurde, ist alles geschehen, um es dem Mann leicht zu machen in Frieden zu leben, allein es war vergeblich. Krank und gebrochen mußte meine arme Lottel ihre Heimath für immer verlassen, nur begleitet von ihrem kleinen Fritzchen, den armen kleinen Hans gab der Mann nicht heraus. Mein armes Gretchen holte ihr Kind, Marianne und Kurt, die von großer Liebe und Treue sind, begleiteten sie. Lotte flüchtete nach Schierke (Ort im Harz), wohin ihr Gretchen nachfolgen mußte, da Lotte sehr krank ist. Welcher Schmerz ist es doch schon wegen der kleinen mutterbedürftigen Kinder! Welche große Sünde hat der bösartige Mann auf sich geladen! Mein lieber allmächtiger Gott hilf uns in dieser Noth!

Das alles muß ich so still für mich mittragen, denn mit Tilla kann ich mich nicht aussprechen – sie hat eine andere Anschauung vom Unglück der Menschen – sie kann froh darüber sein, während ich zwar ergeben aus Gottes Hand alles nehme, aber tief traurig an meine unglücklichen Kinder denke. Seitdem Martha von Schmidt der Tod von uns genommen hat, habe ich Niemanden, mit dem ich ein tröstliches Wort austauschen kann. Ach, wieviel Schwaches giebt es auf der Welt – der Kampf hört hier nicht auf und so sehnt man sich nach der ewigen Reise. –Mit Tilchen kann ich mich darüber deshalb nicht verstehen, weil sie glaubt das Unglück, welches der Herr schickt, soll die Menschen bessern und seine Gnade und Liebe erkennen lassen.”

 

ENGLISH TRANSLATION

 

“I am terribly saddened by the failure of Lottchen’s attempt at peace. After she arrived in Eichwerder (today north of Myślibórz, Poland) with the best of intentions and with firm courage to submit to her fate and duties, Walter again behaved in an unbelievably unloving, inconsiderate, and crude manner, so that after a short time it was impossible for Lotte to stand firm. As far as I was told, everything was done to make it easy for the man to live in peace, but it was in vain. Sick and broken, my poor Lottel had to leave her home forever, accompanied only by her little Fritzchen (Note: Charlotte’s older son Frederick); poor little Hans was not released by the man. My poor Gretchen (Note: Charlotte’s mother, Margarethe von Koschembahr) fetched her child, and Marianne and Kurt (Note: Charlotte’s younger sister and brother-in-law, Marianne & Kurt Polborn), who are of great love and loyalty, accompanied her. Lotte fled to Schierke (a place in the Harz Mountains in northern Germany), where Gretchen had to follow her, since Lotte was very ill. What a pain it is already because of the little children in need of a mother! What a great sin the wicked man has brought upon himself! My dear Almighty God help us in this distress!

 

I have to bear all this so quietly for myself, because I cannot talk to Tilla (Note: Tilla, Tilchen, was Margarethe von Koschembahr’s sister, Mathilde von Koschembahr) – she has a different view of people’s misfortune – she can be happy about it, while I humbly take everything from God’s hand, but think deeply sad about my unhappy children. Since death took Martha von Schmidt (Note: a friend of Amalie von Koschembahr, Charlotte’s grandmother) from us, I have no one with whom I can exchange a comforting word. Oh, how much weakness there is in the world – the struggle does not end here and so one longs for the eternal journey. I can’t get along with Tilchen because she believes that the misfortune the Lord sends should make people better and recognize His grace and love.”

 

Walter and Charlotte’s marriage certificate has a notation in the upper right-hand corner confirming they were divorced in Berlin on the 19th of May 1910. (Figure 17) Atypical of the time, Charlotte was granted custody of both of her boys because spousal abuse was suspected, as the diary entry above suggests.

Figure 17. German notation in the upper right-hand corner of Charlotte and Walter Stavenhagen’s marriage certificate noting they got divorced on the 19th of May 1910

 

According to family history, following her hospitalization in the Harz Mountains, Charlotte lived with her mother in Dresden, Germany until she remarried Karl Eduard Michaelis in 1913, a marriage which lasted only two years. At around this time, Charlotte again showed signs of mental illness, so her family sent her to America in 1915, to a hospital located in Minnesota; her two sons accompanied her to America. Her stay there was relatively brief because she soon moved to New Haven, Connecticut, where she met her third husband, Ernest Gustav Lorenzen (1876-1951), through the German Society there, whom she married around 1916. Ernest Lorenzen was a law professor at Yale University; he would eventually adopt both of Charlotte’s sons by Walter Stavenhagen, and they would take the Lorenzen surname. The 1920 U.S. Federal Census indicates Ernest and Charlotte living with her two sons in New Haven, Connecticut, (Figures 18-19) although by 1930, only Ernest and Charlotte’s older son Frederick lived together. (Figure 20) By 1940, Frederick was married with two daughters and his younger brother was living with them. (Figure 21)

 

Figure 18. 1920 U.S. Federal Census showing Ernest Gustav Lorenzen living in New Haven, Connecticut with his wife Charlotte and his two adopted sons, Frederick and Hans

 

Figure 19. Charlotte Bruck with her two sons, Frederick and Hans (photo courtesy of Jay Dunn née Lorenzen)

 

Figure 20. By 1930 the U.S. Federal Census shows Ernest Gustav Lorenzen living only with his older adopted son, Frederick

 

Figure 21. The 1940 U.S. Federal Census indicates that Frederick Lorenzen has established his own household in Stamford, Connecticut with his wife and two daughters, and that his younger brother Hans (John) is living with them

 

Jay Dunn shared a remarkable letter with me dated 1940 written by the Superintendent of the Fairfield State Hospital in Connecticut where Charlotte Lorenzen née Bruck was permanently institutionalized as of around April 1939 until her death in June 1974. To me, this letter is noteworthy for two reasons. One, it is incredibly detailed as to Charlotte’s mental condition and institutionalization over the years, information I would assume would be confidential. And two, the letter was written at the request of Charlotte’s younger son, Hans Joachim Lorenzen, known in America as John Jay Lorenzen; it seems that John’s future father-in-law, William Sweet, sought a medical opinion as to the possibility of Charlotte’s mental condition being hereditary prior to his daughter Brenda’s marriage to John.

According to the 1940 letter, following Charlotte’s treatment in Minnesota and her relocation to New Haven, she appears to have been well until around 1921, then suffered another relapse from which she again improved by 1922; after 1925, however, she was institutionalized through the remainder of her life. While originally diagnosed with Manic Depressive Psychosis by 1928 she had become delusional. Over time, Charlotte’s original diagnosis was altered to Dementia Praecox, Paranoid Type, whose prognosis was not as good. Today, Dementia Praecox would more generally be referred to as schizophrenia. The Superintendent from the Fairfield State Hospital concluded as follows in his response to John Jay Lorenzen: 

“Summing it up then in another manner I might say that if you consider yourself a normal individual in good physical health with no emotional problems which cannot be readily solved, I would not hesitate to contemplate marriage and would not entertain any undue fears that my children might inherit the illness of my parent. Unless one can definitely assure oneself that his heredity is too heavily tainted, I think one would do himself an injustice if he did not make every reasonable effort to live the kind of normal life to which everyone of us is certainly entitled.”

 

Ernst Lorenzen divorced Charlotte sometime after she was permanently institutionalized, and eventually got remarried. Charlotte’s older son Frederick (Figure 22-23) became a successful lawyer in New York and paid for his mother’s care throughout her life. Jay Dunn’s father, John Jay Lorenzen (Figure 24), obtained an MBA from Harvard around 1933, worked for a time as a stock broker for Smith Barney, then started a cola company called Zimba Kola (Figures 25-26) with a college friend. He was drafted in 1943, became an officer in the Navy (Figure 27), and was sent to the Pacific where he fought valiantly alongside General MacArthur in the battles of Okinawa and Leyte Gulf. He survived the war, only to commit suicide in 1947, likely from depression caused by PTSD, post-traumatic stress disorder. Though Charlotte Bruck and her sons came to America well before Hitler rose to power, her fate and that of her younger son were indeed sad tales.

Figure 22. Frederick Lorenzen as a teenager (photo courtesy of Jay Dunn née Lorenzen)
Figure 23. Frederick Lorenzen at his brother’s wedding on the 26th of September 1940 (photo courtesy of Jay Dunn née Lorenzen)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Figure 24. Hans Joachim Lorenzen, known in America as John Jay Lorenzen, on his wedding day on the 26th of September 1940 (photo courtesy of Jay Dunn née Lorenzen)
Figure 25. Zimba Kola bottle from the cola company John Jay Lorenzen established

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Figure 26. Jay Dunn as a three-year-old child holding a bottle of Zimba Kola (photo courtesy of Jay Dunn née Lorenzen)
Figure 27. John Jay Lorenzen in his Navy uniform at age 33 (photo courtesy of Jay Dunn née Lorenzen)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One final fascinating anecdote. Gerhard Bruck von Koschembahr, Charlotte’s oldest brother mentioned above, like his father, also married a baroness, Hilda Alexandra von Zeidlitz and Neukirch (1891-1954). (Figures 28-29) Hilda’s mother, Cornelia Carnochan Roosevelt, married on the 3rd of February 1889 to Baron Clement Zeidlitz, was a distant relative of President Theodore Roosevelt. (see Figure 9) It is likely that Gerhard Bruck von Koschembahr was able to “disguise” his Jewish ancestry by dropping the Bruck surname. Thus, because of Gerhard’s wife’s connection to the Roosevelts, they sponsored Gerhard’s entrance into America in 1938 with his family at a time when many Jewish families trying to reach America by ship were turned away. The most notorious ship turned away from landing in the United States in the lead up to WWII was the German liner St. Louis carrying 937 passengers, almost all Jewish; the ship was forced to return to Europe, and more than a quarter of the refuges died in the Holocaust.

Figure 28. Wedding photo of Gerhard Bruck von Koschembahr and Hilda Alexandra von Zeidlitz, married on the 21st of March 1914 (photo courtesy of Kurt Polborn)

 

Figure 29. Headstone of William C. Roosevelt, alongside which Gerhard (Bruck) von Koschembahr and his wife Hilda Roosevelt von Koschembahr are interred

 

VITAL STATISTICS FOR CHARLOTTE BRUCK & HER IMMEDIATE FAMILY

 

 

NAME EVENT DATE PLACE SOURCE
         
Charlotte Bruck (self) Birth 17 August 1886 Berlin, Germany Marriage Certificate
Marriage to Walter Edward Stavenhagen 3 May 1906 Berlin, Germany Marriage Certificate
Divorce from Walter Edward Stavenhagen 19 May 1910 Berlin, Germany Notation on marriage certificate
Marriage to Karl Eduard Michaelis 20 August 1913 Dresden, Germany Marriage Certificate
Divorce from Karl Eduard Michaelis ~1915 Dresden, Germany “Stavenhagen-Bruck-Von Koschembahr Family History” (Jay Dunn)
Marriage to Ernest Gustav Lorenzen ~1916   1940 letter from Fairfield State Hospital in Connecticut describing Charlotte’s mental history
Death 5 June 1974 Stamford, Connecticut Connecticut Death Index
Wilhelm Bruck (father) Birth 23 February 1949 Ratibor, Germany [today: Racibórz, Poland] Berlin marriage certificate
Marriage 14 September 1884 Berlin, Germany Berlin marriage certificate
Death 15 February 1907 Berlin, Germany Berlin death certificate
Margarethe Mathilde von Koschembahr (mother) Birth 28 November 1860 Lissa, Posen, Germany [today: Poznan, Poland] von Koschembahr family tree
Marriage 14 September 1884 Berlin, Germany Berlin marriage certificate
Death 19 October 1946 Boston, Massachusetts von Koschembahr family tree
Amalie Mockrauer (grandmother) Birth 9 September 1834 Leschnitz, Germany [today: Leśnica, Poland] 15 April 1855 Baptism Certificate
Marriage (to Leopold von Koschembahr) 26 September 1855 London, England England & Wales Civil Registration Marriage Index
Death 5 August 1918 Dresden, Germany Dresden death certificate
Walter Edward Stavenhagen (first husband) Birth 1 September 1876 Calais, France 1900 Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Germany Census
Marriage 3 May 1906 Berlin, Germany Marriage Certificate
Karl Eduard Michaelis (second husband) Birth 4 January 1884 Berlin, Germany Birth Certificate
Marriage 20 August 1913 Dresden, Germany Marriage Certificate
Death (died as Carl Edward Midgard) 12 October 1953 Seattle, Washington Washington Death Certificate
Ernest Gustav Lorenzen (third husband) Birth 21 April 1876 Kiel, Germany US Passport Application
Marriage ~1916   1940 letter from Fairfield State Hospital in Connecticut describing Charlotte’s mental history
Death 12 February 1951 San Francisco, California California Death Index
Frederick Wilhelm Stavenhagen (son) Birth 28 February 1907 Soldin, Germany [today: Myślibórz, Poland] US Social Security Death Index
Marriage (to Dorothy P. Walker) 30 June 1931 Portland, Maine Maine Marriage Index
Death (died as Frederick W. Lorenzen) 30 December 1997 Stamford, Connecticut US Social Security Death Index
Hans Joachim Stavenhagen (son) Birth 13 February 1909 Soldin, Germany [today: Myślibórz, Poland] Soldin, Germany Birth Certificate
Marriage (to Brenda Sweet) 17 September 1940 Staten Island, New York New York Marriage License Index
Death (died as John Jay Lorenzen) 24 Jun 1947 Greenwich, Connecticut Connecticut Death Record