By 1867, Selig and Clementine (Fuld) Goldschmidt had six children, five girls and one boy, and were living comfortably in Frankfurt, Germany, where Selig owned a successful art and antique business.

Selig was adored by his family and also by many in the Frankfurt community, as his son Meyer Selig Goldschmidt wrote in the preface to the Selig Goldschmidt book:¹

My father had a tall, wonderful figure and a distinguished bearing. He was full of energy and creativity. His participation was sought everywhere. Be it our community, business activities, public organization or for the benefit of an individual, he attended every cause with great warmth and without losing his cheerful manner and inner calm. His actions personified his frequent quote, “If you want to be happy, try to make others happy and glad.” Both in the home and outside he was the focal point—honoured, respected and loved. Wherever he went he was soon surrounded by friends and admirers, happy to join his circle.

In a later chapter in the Selig Goldschmidt book, “The Emerging Personality,” Meyer further elaborated on his father’s personality:²

A flourishing wit and a refreshing sense of humour developed in him and made him the natural centre of any pleasant social gathering. Above all, for his close family this cheerfulness became a true comfort and refuge. His ability to pacify, to heal and reduce any pain and to sympathise with all suffering, whether due to serious and oppressive anguish of adults, or insignificant troubles which appeared overwhelming in children. At all times he showed himself as a brave and cheerful master of worldly matters and fateful events.

Meyer’s words describe a man who was a much-adored father, and his role in the lives of his children did not end when they married. He then took on caring about their spouses and the grandchildren who followed as well as the widow and children of his brother Jacob. That is reflected in the many letters Selig wrote to his children after they had left home and started families of their own.

By the beginning of 1888, all of Selig and Clementine’s daughters were married and had children. Helene, the oldest child, was the first to marry. She married Leon Tedesco on June 9, 1876, in Frankfurt. Leon was born in Paris, France, on February 1, 1853, to Jacob  Tedesco and Therese Cerf. He was, like the Goldschmidts, an art dealer, his family owning Tedesco Freres, a famous and important art gallery in Paris. 

Helene and Leon would have one child, a son Giacomo born in Paris on July 28, 1879.³

Flora Goldschmidt was the next to marry; she married Emil Schwarzchild on March 22, 1878, in Bornheim, Germany, a district of Frankfurt. Emil was also a native of Frankfurt, born there on March 16, 1856, to Emanuel Schwarzschild and Rasel Frenkel.

Flora and Emil’s first child Siegfried was born January 21, 1879, in Frankfurt.

Their second child Helene Schwarzschild was born April 20, 1882, in Frankfurt.

For a while I thought they’d only had those two children. But then I found a letter in the Selig Goldschmidt book that suggested there was a third child. On August 14, 1882, Selig wrote to Flora and Emil from Marienbad which ends, “Kiss Siegfried, Helenchen, and Rosa for me, as well as all relatives and friends.” ⁴ Siegfried was three, Helene a few  months old. But who was Rosa?

I searched for other children of Flora and Emil, and sadly I did find one, but she could not have been the Rosa mentioned in Selig’s letter because her name was Martha, and she wasn’t born until December 21, 1886, four years after Selig wrote the letter. Tragically, Martha died at age two on June 6, 1889, in Frankfurt.

So who was Rosa? Perhaps she was Hedwig’s daughter Rosa, who was born, as we will now see, on March 16, 1881. Or perhaps she was just another Rosa who happened to be with Flora and Emil at that time. Maybe Selig was referring to Flora’s mother-in-law, Rasel Frenkel Schwarzschild? I don’t know.

One other possible clue is in another letter written by Selig, this one on February 25, 1883, from Paris, where he was visiting Helene, Leon, and Giacomo Tedesco. It’s a letter to his daughter Hedwig and her husband (here referred to as Hermann, otherwise known as Hirsch), wishing Hedwig a happy birthday. In that letter, Selig wrote, “I hope that dear Flora and Emanuel have found comfort. I have often thought of them and felt for them, but whatever G-d does is good.” ⁵ I assume that he is referring to his daughter Flora and that Emanuel must be a reference to Emil, perhaps his Hebrew name. And it certainly sounds like Flora and Emil/Emanuel suffered a loss. Had the child Rosa referred to in the August 1882 letter died between that date and February 25, 1883?

If so, I have not been able to locate either a birth or a death record for that child.

Selig and Clementine’s third daughter Hedwig married Hirsch (Hermann) Cramer on March 5, 1880, in Bornheim, Germany. Hirsch was the son of Jakob Cramer and Karoline Fuerth and was born in Thundorf, Germany, on October 12, 1852.

Hedwig and Hirsch had five children, four before 1888. Rosa was born in Frankfurt on March 16, 1881.

Max (Meier) was born on September 4, 1882, in Frankfurt.

Salomon (Sally) was born June 22, 1884, in Frankfurt.

Caroline (known as Lena) was born June 8, 1886, in Frankfurt.

The fourth daughter of Selig and Clementine, Recha, married Alfred Schwarzchild on October 21, 1881, in Bornheim. Alfred was born in Frankfurt on May 14, 1858, to Isaac Schwarzchild and Rosalie Kulp. One question I’ve not been able to answer is whether Alfred was related to his brother-in-law Emil, husband of Recha’s sister Flora. They had different fathers and different grandfathers and different great-grandfathers, so if they were related they were at best third cousins.

UPDATE: Thank you to my cousin Alan Philipp, who had a Schwarzschild family tree and traced both Emil and Alfred to their mutual great-great-grandfather Jakob Schwarzschild, making Emil and Alfred third cousins. I’d been unable to get back to Alfred’s great-great-grandfather, and that proved to be the mutual ancestor for them both.

Recha and Alfred had two sons by 1888. Jacob Alfred Schwarzschild was born on February 12, 1885, in Frankfurt.

His brother Robert Meier Schwarzschild was born August 7, 1886, in Frankfurt.

Johanna, the fifth and youngest daughter of Selig and Clementine, married her first cousin Abraham Stern on June 24, 1887, as discussed here, and they had five children, also already discussed.

Thus, by the beginning of 1888, all five of Selig and Clementine’s daughters were married and had children. Selig and Clementine had been blessed with numerous grandchildren from their five daughters.

But then on March 22, 1888, the family suffered a major loss. More on that in my next post.