Genealogy puzzle of the month

Once again, I have dived into some genealogy work to try and trace a little family history. Mom's father's family has been particularly difficult to trace, due to their later immigration into large cities and bourgeois background. [Proper surnames have been capitalized in the correct genealogical fashion.]

I was going through a box of linens which had come from Mom's great aunt, Blanche DODD MEE. She sent it to Chicago from Pasadena, CA, in 1967, at the age of 91 - probably because she, herself, did not have any descendants and wanted someone to treasure these family heirlooms. The linens are mostly fancy work - doilies - which probably date from Victorian times. Since I'm not really a "doily" person, and since no one else really wanted them, I thought I would look up the family tree a ways to see if there were any other descendants of Blanche or her sister, my great grandmother Clara DODD HICKEY GOUZEE. Clara did have a daughter Blanche HICKEY COSTIN, who predeceased her Aunt Blanche. Aunt Blanche had a family, and there are possibly descendants from her line, but they were considerably older than Mom and she lost contact with them. There are still some COSTINs living in the Evanston, IL, vicinity, but who knows if they are related, or not.

This research had me delving a little farther back into Clara and Blanche's DODD line, to see what I could find. About their father, Louis Ralph DODD, I know little. He was a tailor. Clara wrote that he settled in Chicago after his father's death, had four brothers, and was born in 1842 on a steamer coming from England. At one point, Clara had sent Grandma a letter with a photograph (now lost), and a letter.

"These girls were the grandchildren of out father's brother. Our father's name was Louis Ralph DODD and the father of these girls was named after father.

Our father and their grandfather became unfriendly in the latter years over business relations. However, Olive (sp? can't read) remembers and I do, too, a delightful dinner in Uncle's home (illegible) that occured - both brothers were in the manufacturing of shirts etc made to order in those days ready made shirts were considered most ordinary and father traveled promoting his business but in the latter days dishonesty of partners while he was on the road caused a sad failure in the very early nineties.I also have one of his tailor's labels, which says:
L. R. DODD
Tailor Made Shirts
16 So. Market St
Chicago"

About the Senior Mr. Louis Ralph DODD's father, I know little. Somewhere in the family history it is recorded that he settled in NY in 1842 and in Canada in 1847, and that he attended Oxford University. Louis Ralph's date of birth would put his date of birth at likely about 1812.

I have tried to see what records are available about Oxford students. There is a Oxford alumni "Bible", entitled Alumni Oxonienses, a four volume set of reference books showing matriculated students of the period. I will have to go the the UW Historical Society Library and see if they have a copy, Mr. DODD would have likely attended about 1830. Apparently, some of the Alumni Oxonienses entries have more detailed genealogical information on the students, so perhaps I can learn something more about that line.

I then decided to do some more research on Clara's mother's line. In 1949, Clara sent Grandma & Barbara (not mentioning my mom, who was only 5 at the time) a reproduction of an old photograph, which she captioned on the back. She seems to be writing to Barbara in this letter.

"This is your great grandmother Johanna BERKENSTONE (French & German). At the age of 83 and in 1893, she died in her home at Hilberghausen, Germany. This home was constructed of stone and three stories high, 150 years in the family and where my mother was born. Aunt Blanche has a picture of the home. Please keep this picture in your family album. With love, grandmere Clara DODD HICKEY GOUZEE"

Using this as a starting point, I looked up Hilberghausen online.

There seem to be some inaccuracies in the letter, first of all the surname and the name of the city. The name had probably been Americanized to BERKENSTONE from the Jewish name BIRKENSTEIN. There is absolutely no listing of the name BERKENSTONE on any page of the internet, so it's probably a misspelling or a made-up name. I had no idea these was any Jewish heritage in my family, but in the first half of the 20th century, and indeed for centuries before, Jewish heritage might be the sort of thing that families did not talk about. I believe that my grandfather (Richard Henry HICKEY, son of Clara DODD HICKEY) may have been a Baptist after his marriage to my grandmother, at least. No doubt Louis Ralph DODD was a Protestant of some kind, so likely Johanna Esther converted from Judaism, or the children were likely not raised Jewish.

The town was probably Hildberghausen in Thuringia, Germany. I believe this region of modern Germany changed hands between France and Germany several times between the 17th and 20th centuries. If Clara's mom spoke French, that would explain her fascination for all things French and the French language, which she tried to use with Mom as soon as she had heard that Mom was learning French in high school. Johanna likely spoke German and possibly Alsatian, as well.

The dates in Clara's caption, likewise, do not add up. The 1853 date of birth I have for Johanna, and where I got it I'm not sure, is appropriate to be a spouse to Louis. A person who died age 84 in 1893 would be born in 1809, far too old to marry a man born in 1842 and to have a daughter born in 1876. Johanna may actually be a grandmother to Clara. Perhaps Clara said "my mother", not speaking about the woman in the photo, but her unnamed daughter. Possibly Clara wrote the letter when she was older and confused, or possibly she didn't know much about family history if her family did not talk about the "old country" at all (due to a desire to be Americanized, or stigmatism about Jewish heritage).

The photo depicts a stern middle aged woman with rather skinned-back dark hair worn in a bun. She wears a black corseted Victorian dress, with full skirt and full sleeves. The sleeves are not precisely leg-of-mutton, but a bit more droopy in the forearm. Perhaps they are the pagoda sleeves of the 1850s, although the tight cuff does not seem especially representative of the 1850s. This photograph must have been taken when she was a widow, since the dress is black. The shape of the dress seems to be mid to late Victorian, with a bell shape and no bustle visible. It appears to be gored around the waist, with an cape-like bodice similar to what Amish women wear (called a plastron, or bruschttuch). There are white collar and cuffs. She wears drop-style earrings and a cameo or brooch at the neck. Next to her is a pierced splat-back chair, with a fabric-covered seat. The backdrop in the photo appears to be a European scene.

On the city website of Hildberghausen, I could see a building just like that depicted in the backdrop of the photograph, so I felt I was on the right track. The scene in the painted backdrop appears to show the town hall in Hildberghausen, which is visible on the town's website. For me, this backdrop confirmed Hildberghausen as the location of the photograph, which leads me to believe that the woman pictured is not Clara's mother, but possibly her grandmother.

The woman in the photo appears to be about 45, and the fashion is possibly 1850s. If this were later on, I think the skirt would have become less bell-like, and more and more-S-shaped. It seems to be mourning dress, and therefore conservative, but the distinctive gores and gathered caplet bodice seem like mid-Victorian vs. late Victorian fashion. Later sleeves are likewise tighter in the forearm than those in this photo. Since Johanna Esther was born in 1853, the date must be 1853 or later - especially since the full mourning dress would indicate recent widowhood. If it is much later than 1850s, it must still be Clara's mom - but if Clara was born in 1876, a mother born in 1809 would necessitate at least one intervening generation. The black hair suggests late 1850s date, and the German location and clearly non-Edwardian fashion suggests that the woman is Clara's grandmother since Clara's mom would have been 45 at about the turn of the century.

I wrote to the historical museum in Hildberghausen, requesting some information about the photograph's caption. Fortunately, Hildberghausen is a small town (about the same size as Reedsburg, it seems), so were kind enough to reply to me.

"The picture of your great great grandmother was taken in Hildburghausen. In the backround you can see the painted townchurch of Hildberghausen. The family Birkenstein was Jewish. I found the gravestone of Johanna BIRKENSTEIN on the old Jewish cemetry near by Hildburghausen (picture 1). The verses on the stone are (in German):
Hier ruht
unsere (?) Mutter
Frau Kaufmann
Johanna
Birkenstein
geb. Strauss
aus Barchfeld
Gestorben den 2. Juni 1893
84 Jahre alt.
Ruhe sanft
The second picture shows you a look at the house Nr.76 in Hildburghausen today. Here lived Johanna BIRKENSTEIN.
With friendly greetings

The gravestone inscription translates as:
Here lies
our (?) mother
Mrs. KAUFMANN
Johanna BIRKENSTEIN
born STRAUSS
in Barchfeld Died 6-2-1893
aged 84 years
R.I.P (Peace Gently)





Barchfeld is located near Erfurt in Thuringia, about 30 mi from Hildberghausen. Barchfeld is a municipality in the Wartburgkreis district of Thuringia, Germany.

The gravestone inscription brings more questions than answers. The death date matches Clara's letter exactly, as does the age at the time of death. If Clara's grandma was Johanna BIRKENSTEIN, who is Herr KAUFMANN? If she is "our mother", who are her children? A second family? Is Herr KAUFMANN a second husband, the first being a Herr BIRKENSTEIN (since Johann was obviously born a STRAUSS)? What is the name of Clara's mother - perhaps also Johanna (perhaps Johanna Esther, to differentiate her from her mother Johanna)? Or something different? I will have to dig a little more to find out. Let us, for simplicity's sake, call Clara's mom Johanna Esther, and Clara's grandmother, Johanna. If Johanna was born in 1809, Johanna Esther's birth would have occurred in 1853 at the age of 44 - unusual, but not unheard of in the days of no birth control. A child born at a late age would also fit in with the family tendency to have children past the age of 40.

My best guess at the story behind the BIRKENSTEIN - DODD family is as follows. Louis Ralph DODD, along with some of his brothers, emigrated from England to NY in 1842. They may have all moved to Canada in 1847, along with the father, and at some point after 1847, (probably in the 1870s or so), some of the second generation of DODDs moved to Chicago to start a family tailoring business in the western Loop neighborhood, home to some smaller businesses at the time . In the 1870s - 1890s, Jewish immigrants from Europe were settling in the near west side "Jew Town" at Halsted and Maxwell. Johanna Esther probably immigrated to the USA with a family or community group (but probably not her mother Johanna, who may have remarried after Mr. BIRKENSTEIN's death, to a Mr. KAUFMANN - possibly a widower with children), and eventually settled in Chicago in a neighborhood of other European Jews. At some point before 1876, Louis Ralph meets Johanna Esther BERKENSTONE, who has assimilated and and changed her name to become a "real" American. They get married and have two daughters, Clara and Blanche. Johanna BIRKENSTEIN, Frau KAUFMANN, dies in Germany in 1893. I can't imagine why Clara's mother would have moved back to Germany after starting a family in America, so that's another reason to suspect that Johanna was a grandmother of Clara. If Clara's mother had died in 1893, she would have been 40, which is unlikely.

That's my best guess. Let me know if you can think of any other possibilities!

Here is a photo of Johanna Birkenstein's family home in Hildberghausen. The museum director says it is now a wine shop.



For now, I have decided to use some of the DODD doilies as a window valance in the bedroom. It doesn't look too bad, so I may keep them.