The family patriarch - Lewin Jakob Braunhart and his wife Wilhelmine Zadek, were married for over 65 years. This article was published in the Atlanta Constitution newspaper on February 10, 1901, 109 years ago!

For some reason I have been "obsessed" with finding out more about the Braunhart family over the last three years. I first found out about the family when reviewing the death certificate of Sara Braunhart Bernstein, my great great grandmother. My cousin Clyde Pound made me aware of Sara's brother Samuel, who was a very successful (and outspoken I might add - but more about that in a future post) politician, when I first talked to him about genealogy about three years ago.

In a recent post I talked about the life of Levin Jacob Braunhart, the "patriarch" of the Braunhart family. So far it appears that he and his wife Minnie Zadek, had at least four children that I can name.


The first, Bernhard Braunhart, immigrated to America in 1857. He married Rosa Levison and had one son, Harry.

Sara Braunhart, my direct ancestor, married Aaron Bernstein, and it appears that after his death, she immigrated to America in 1898. She had seven children, 5 who lived to adulthood. 

They were:

The next Braunhart was Samuel Braunhart, the San Francisco politician - he immigrated to America in 1862. He never married.

The last of Levin and Minnie's children (that I know of) was Alex Braunhart. I do not believe that he immigrated to America - but at least one of his children - Anna did - in 1909. She married Harry Tulman and had at least 4 children - Mildred, Muriel, Stanley and Helene. I have not as yet been successful in tracking this family to find out more about Anna Braunhart. She had a sister Sara Selma Braunhart, who immigrated to America in 1946 at the age of 51. I do not know as yet what happened to her.

There are a few "stragglers" that I know are related but have not been able to place as yet. Brother and sister Jakob and Martha immigrated to America in 1904. I do not know what happened to Martha but Jakob ended up in San Francisco. He was the primary heir to Samuel's fortune when Samuel died in 1906 right after the San Francisco earthquake and fire. I know that he was there from 1910 to 1913 because of Census and City Directory info. He was implicated by the FBI as a German sympathizer during World War I when he joined the U. S. Army. He also was married but that is all I know about him. I do not know who Martha and Jakob's parents are - my suspicion is Alex Braunhart, but that is just a hunch from reading Samuel Braunharts' probate file.

There also was a Carl Gustav Braunhart who was born in Schubin - but I have no info at all as to his relationship to "our" Braunhart family.

Levin Jacob Braunhart was born in Schubin, Germany in 1806. As a fourteen year old boy, he made the journey to Berlin – to seek some instruction since he had no general education up to that time. His patron (unknown) told him that a “Verein” had been formed to instruct Jewish youths in all branches of knowledge. He became a student at the “Verein fur Kultur und Wissenschaft der Juden” (“Association for Culture and Science of the Jews”). Among the men who directed the Verien were Heinrich Heine, Leopold Zunz, Edward Gans, Moses Moser, Dr. J. Auerbach, Dr. Rubo H. Normann, Ludwig Marcus, Dr. Schonberg, and Dr. Osterreich, One of Braunhart’s fellow students was the later world famous Orientalist, Salomon Munk.

In 1828-29, Braunhart was teaching at the private houses of distinguished Jewish families in London. He was appointed principal of the Jewish school in Schubin in 1835. Two of his well known students included Moses Mielziner, who was born in Schubin and later became a well-known American Reform rabbi and author, and General von Wittich.

Later in life, Braunhart was awarded the German equivalent of knighthood by Emperor Wilhelm I, and became known as Ritter von Braunhart.

He married Minnie Zadek on February 3, 1836. There are 3 known children, and probably there are more. There were quite a few Braunharts in Schubin at the time; several of whom are not known as to their exact relationship. The three known children were Bernhard Braunhart, Sara Braunhart, and Samuel Braunhart. All emigrated to the United States. There is a fourth child, Alex Braunhart, who I am researching, but have as yet not confirmed.


Many thanks to my "cousin" Maxine Rudy, who provided the inspiration for the research for L. J. Braunhart. She claimed that his name was "Ritter von Braunhart". I was skeptical because I knew from his daughter's death certificate, his name was Jacob Braunhart. But she was right!