There have been several Braunhart men who have served in the military. And yes, some served in the German army in World War I.

In honor of all who served, no matter the country, here are a few photos of them in uniform.
​

Dr. Arnold Robert Weber, father of my genealogy "buddy" (and 3rd cousin) Robert Joseph Weber passed on December 13th, 2009. His obituary summarizes what seems an extremely varied and full life with a great deal of accomplishment.

My condolences to his immediate family and all who knew him.

I only wish that I would have had the opportunity to meet him.

This is a very recent story about working together as family members (no matter how remote) to provide information for one another. Regarding Max Bernstein, the only adult son of my great great grandmother Sara Braunhart Bernstein - I had only found census and city directory info about Max - none other. I surmised that he had died after 1930 somewhere in California, most likely in Alameda County since he had owned a barber shop there (in the city of Alameda) for many years. But I could not find his death info in an obituary or via some of the online databases that I subscribe to. 

Voila, Maxine Rudy made some of her old documents available to Robert Weber, who recently scanned them and made them available to me. In those documents was the above newspaper clipping.

Although the clipping is not referenced as to the specific newspaper publisher, we now know that he passed in Lakeport, Lake County. Mere minutes later I searched the California deaths database for 1930 - 1939 and found a Max Bernstein who died in Lake County on September 5, 1932. I subsequently located his obituary in the Oakland Tribune, published on September 9th - so we have found Max!

So to Maxine and Bob - I say thank you.

To everyone else I say please share birth certificates, death certificates, marriage certificates, photos, relevant documents, etc. with those who are doing this research - you never know what will turn up!

Also, please share interesting stories about some of our relatives as I am certainly open to other posters on this blog besides myself.

I had always been stifled in my research about Max Markheim (who married my great grandmother Ernestine's sister Cecelia) until just recently. I had not been able to find Max's immigration record. Thanks to my newly found "cousins" Robert Weber and Maxine Rudy and some detective work on my part, the "mystery" is solved. Max 's "real" name wasn't Max!

According to Max Markheim and Cecelia Bernstein’s Marriage Certificate, it states that Max’s parents were Robert Markheim and Poppy Huppert. Maxine also remembers that Max may have had a sister Bella and that some of the Markheims settled in Baltimore, Maryland.

With this information from a few months ago, I contacted a Jonathan Smith who had some unsourced info on ancestry.com about a Bella Markheim who had married a Max Wichner and immigrated to America via Baltimore.

Since Max was from Krakau (Krakow), I researched some Krakau records that another genealogist had done. There is a Markheim family referenced in the Krakow records and this is their birth information (and death info where known):


Rubin MARKHEIM Mar 7, 1852
m:Pessel HUPPERT (MojzeszAron+EsterMalka)

!o Chaja Sara MARKHEIM May 18, 1875
!x Moses Aron MARKHEIM Aug 26, 1876
!x Salomon MARKHEIM Mar 23, 1878
!o Chana MARKHEIM Jun 15, 1879
!o Gitel MARKHEIM Apr 3, 1881 - May 28, 1881
!o Beila MARKHEIM May 22, 1882
!x Abraham MARKHEIM Dec 28, 1883 - May 23, 1884
!o Szeindel MARKHEIM Jun 1885 - Jul 11, 1886
!o daughter MARKHEIM Jun 3, 1888 - Jun 3, 1888
!x Hirsch MARKHEIM Jul 10, 1889 - Nov 15, 1889

So follow my logic.

Rubin Markheim married Pessel Huppert. Since Rubin was often translated to Robert in America, it makes sense that this is the father. There is a 99%+ chance in my opinion that this Pessel Huppert is the same person as Poppy Huppert.

I believe the following about the children listed:

1. Chaja Sara Markheim is the same person as Sadie Markheim who married Samuel Koenigsberg and lived in Baltimore. Sadie was a common nickname for women named Sara. She came to America in 1897 and married Koenigsberg in 1900. The dates in the census for her age were off by 2 years, but women often lied about their age back then.

2. I believe that Moses Aron Markheim is indeed our Max Markheim. This is why. In many of Max’s documents (census, naturalization, etc. – he is listed as Max A Markheim. Although he went by Max – the A is consistent with Aron as a middle name. Also in his documents his birth year is 1876, which coincides with the date of birth above.

3. Pessel Markheim and Anna Markheim traveled to America in 1901 to visit Anna’s sister Mrs. Samuel Koenigsberg in Baltimore. I believe that Anna is an Americanized version of Chana.

4. Beila Markheim married Max Wichner in Krakau – they immigrated to the US in 1899 and eventually settled in Pennsylvania, although Beila died in Maryland. When they emigrated to the US – they were going to visit Beila’s sister Mrs. Samuel Koenigsberg. Her names in the census and emigration records were Bettie and other variations but I am positive that this is Beila.

I have also researched some Maryland cemetery records and have found a "Pepi Markheim" who died on December 13, 1903 and is buried in the B'nai Israel Southern Avenue Cemetery in Baltimore. I believe that this is Max's mother, "Pessel Huppert Markheim".