That is Great Great Great Uncle Bernhard (Ben) Braunhart.  Poor Ben - the very first Braunhart to come to America, and unfortunately - the first Braunhart in America to leave this earth.

He did so by his own hand, which we have known for a few years. But the recently acquired newspaper article from the San Bernardino, California Daily Courier dated June 24, 1890 paints an extremely gory picture of his past few minutes alive.

Ben left behind his estranged wife Rosa and 4-1/2 year old son Harry. He was 49 years old.

 

This document is just phenomenal. After many years of seeking a translation, this document, written in 1879, is finally ready for publication. It describes the dowry that Helene Bascynska brought to her marriage with Alexander Braunhart, and lists all of the goods and cash that she provided.  

Additionally, the Marriage Contract is included.

What a treasure. Some items were not clear enough to be translated, but the original documents are presented below, followed by their English translation.

Unfortunately this is only a Xerox copy of the original. Hopefully some day the original can be scanned properly and appear more legible.
 

And thanks to our good friend and wonderful translator, Matthias Steinke, here is the English translation for the Dowry as well as the Marriage Contract. 

Dowry

Schubin, the 26th March 1879

Concerning,

The exclusion of the community property and the acquisition with my husband Alexander Braunhart

 
Due to my marital obligations I am making following special register of the things, furnitures, and dowry and so on, which I with my husband

…herewith…dowry:

1. 2400 Marks

2. 2 beds

3. 2 dozen shirts

4. 2 dozen bedsheets

5. 2 dozen stockings

6. 2 ditto handkerchiefs

7. 2 ditto napkins

8. 2 ditto nightjackets

9. 2 ditto trousers

10. 7 ditto towels

11. 1 ditto food blankets

12. 1 ditto petticoats

13. 1 ditto aprons

14. 8 duvet covers

15. 4 duvets

16. 1 velvet coat

17. 2 cloth coats

18. 2 wipes (cloths)

19. 2 silk dresses

20. 6 wullen dresses

21. 2 golden .......

22. 2 golden K.....

23. 2 golden …

24. 1 golden

25. 3 golden K…

26. 1 dozen silver tablespoons

27. 1.5 dozen coffeespoons

28. 1 silver ….

29. 1 dozen … spoons

30.

31.

32.

33.

34. 1 mirror with … and …

35. 2 nutbrown beds with .. and wedge-shaped pillows

36. 1 nutbrown …. With warm….

37.

38. 1 .. sewing table

39. 2 ditto curtain….

40. A pair white curtains

41. 8 curtain holder

42. 1 brown tablecover

43. 4 curtain……..

44. 2 bedcarpets

45. 1 cupboard with glass door

46. 1 kitchen table

47. 3 copper spot roles

48. 6 iron pots

49. 2 dozen big plates

50. 2 dozen knifes and forks .....

51. 2 complete big.... Services

52. Several glasses, carafes, sugar pots, 1 serving dish.

Sincerely,

Helene Braunhart nee Baszynska


Marriage Contract

Negotiated at the royal county court In Inowroclaw at the 17th March 1879.

To the below signing, with the optional Jurisdiction commissioned judge came today the

Personally known and able to act:

1.  the maiden Helene Baszinska with her father as assistance

2.  the master-baker Moritz Basinski, both from Strelno.

3.  the businessman Alexander Braunhart from Schubin.

 
The Number 1 and 3 named persons declared:

“We promise each other the wedlock and the marriage shall be in this days. After it we will take our residence
in Schubin. In our marriage shall the in our province usual community of property and income not be valid.

By explicitly excluding this, we also want, that this shall be published in the official journal and a copy with the confirmation of the properly publication shall be sent to the bride.

Herewith declares the groom, that the bride already brought aside from the cash dowry, a complete dowry of dresses, beds, clothing, gold and silver, …. And appliances, about which a special register is within 14 days here to submit.

The costs of this contract pays the groom.

The common property is estimated at 6.000 Mark.

 
Helene Baszynska

Alexander Braunhart

Zacher Szartowicz

Will be documentated

Inowroczlaw ... March 1879.

Royal county-court (district-court), second branch

signature

One of the Memorable Seventeen - Hattie Bernstein, has had her photos surface. Her granddaughter Renee made these available recently and here they are! Hattie is on the left, and she is in some of the photos below along with her husband William Fried. Also shown is her daughter-in law Alva Sara Kaul, who was the wife of Leo Fried, Hattie and William's only child.

Thank you so much, Renee

Sara Selma Braunhart was one of the "rocks" of the Braunhart family. She gave up a lot in her early life to take care of the "old father" as he was called after mother Helene died in 1925.  She was born in Schubin in 1894, the second youngest daughter. She and younger daughter Frieda stayed with their parents until finally moving to Berlin in the early 1920s.

Some time in the late 1930s she escaped the Nazis by travelling to England, where she worked as a domestic and as a cook. So for at least a decade she took care of her father by herself, as Frieda had married and immigrated to America with her new husband in 1926. She is fondly called the "welfare aunt" in the letter below, in honor of her always helping her siblings, parents and others.

She found love later in life with George Gandel. George had met Selma's brother Theo, along with Julius' wife Dorka and Dorka's children Lilly and Lothar when all of them escaped to Shanghai. George had been playing the piano in nightclubs and other houses of entertainment.

After Selma had immigrated to the U.S. in 1946, she was introduced to George remotely and they later met in person and the rest is history. They married on August 28, 1954 in Brooklyn, New York.  Selma was 60 and George a few years younger. They were able to spend 15 happy years together until George's passing in 1969.

Below is a letter from Selma's older sister Cilly and her husband Horst, congratulating Selma on her wedding:

Following is the English translation:

Cottbus, September 1954


Dear Selma and dear Brother-in-law!

How we were wondering about that little letter with the unknown handwriting and the strange return address before we even opened it and we thought, is there going to be good or bad news told in it, but I've never thought of receiving such a surprise. Just hours before as many other times we were talking about that you rejected more than one admirer who desired you so much. 

As much luck and health as there can possibly be we wish both of you from all our hearts. You, dear Selma, have worked your entire life and were always ready for a good deed. Aunt Selma the welfare aunt! Twice as much luck we wish you. 

Apart from that we have accepted the fact that all of you are hardly ever writing anymore, there is nothing one could do about it. We already confirmed the reception of your package in the beginning of July and since we never know if you receive our letter we gratefully do it again. Soon it will be Jewish New Year's. Everybody we wish the very best, but no more heartaches. 

Also congratulations to those who have a birthday coming up soon. 

All my love, your grateful Cilli
p.s.  How is Anna's recently married daughter?


Dear Selma and dear Brother-in-law!

After reading the surprise about your wedding I had to sit down right away, otherwise I would have fainted! Now you have become unfaithful to me after all, so I wish that you and the new Brother-in-law will have many happy years together in great health. 

Happy New Year to everybody and the best for everybody,

From your grateful Horst.

Some families are quite open about talking about all of their relatives and ancestors. Unfortunately on my father's side of the family - they were not. I do not have any idea why that was the case. For example, of my 4 great grandparents on that side, when I started my family history research, I only knew the name of one of my great grandparents - Isidor Heyman. I do not recall at all the mention of any of the other three.

However, I do recall the mention of my grandmother's cousin - Eric Brock. All I remember from the few short verbal snippets is that he was an attorney living in New York.

So for this inaugural edition of "Ancestor of the Month" we will salute Eric Brock. Fortunately, because of successful genealogy research, a bit about Eric's life has been discovered in the past 10 years.

Elkan Eric Brock was born in Brooklyn, New York on October 27,1906.  Eric as he was called, was the son of William Broch and Amalie (Molly) Bernstein Broch. Amalie was a younger sister of my great grandmother - Ernestine Bernstein Heyman, Isidor's wife.

The surname Broch was sometimes spelled Brock and after the early 1900s it appears that the family settled on the latter version. Eric was named after William Broch's father Elkan Broch from Austria. Both William and Amalie immigrated to America in the late 1890s, and married in New York City in 1899. From census records we find that William was a translator, language teacher, magazine writer, and calligrapher. Family lore states that Amalie was also a magazine writer, yet there is no proof of that yet.

Eric graduated from Brooklyn Law School in the late 1920s. He is cited as a lawyer in the 1930 and 1940 censuses; his older sister Regina a shoe designer, and oldest sister Teresa a stenographer in a bond house. 

He married later in his life and was devoted to his mother, caring for her in her later years at their home at 780 Riverside Drive in Manhattan, a place where they resided for many many years. The senior Brock, William it appears was estranged from the family as he is not living with the family in neither the 1930 or 1940 censuses, choosing a different residence. William died in 1943. Amalie passed in 1965 in Manhattan. William is buried at Beth El Cemetery in Westwood, New Jersey. Coexisting in Westwood is the Cedar Park Cemetery, where Amalie and Eric are buried side by side.

Eric was the one and only of the New York Braunharts and Bernsteins who traveled to Northern California frequently to visit his relatives. The bulk of the family had moved to the San Francisco area, starting in the 1860s when Bernhard and Samuel Braunhart had initially located after immigrating. The Heyman families and Bernstein families moved to Oakland starting in 1910, and others made the move over the next 30 years.

Here is Eric with some of his cousins and other relatives in the late 1930s while he was visiting them in Oakland. Eric is the balding man with the suit and tie just behind the older woman in the center - his Aunt Ernestine.

Eric focused primarily on estate law. We know from the will of his first cousin, once removed - Selma Braunhart Gandel, that he was the attorney of record.

Eric met his wife Edith Sternberg Walker in a law office. Twelve years Eric's junior, she was a Holocaust survivor and was divorced from her first husband, with one son and one daughter, who provided me with the information about Eric's last twenty years of life, as well as details about his marriage to Edith. Edith was quite interested in getting married, however Eric, in his 60s, was reluctant. Eventually love won out and they were married in Maryland. Unfortunately the specific location and exact date have not been discovered as yet.

They lived happily together for about 15 years. He retired from his law practice in the mid-1970s.

Eric's final days were traumatic for he and his wife. Suffering from dementia and other mental problems, sadly Eric became abusive, which was not his nature. He had to be institutionalized. Eric died at Marlboro Psychiatric Hospital at age 77 on April 9, 1984. Edith survived for another 24 years.