My Grandmother’s Cologne Cousins: More New Records

Posted on by

Aaron Knappstein, our Cologne guide, really pulled the rabbit out of the hat when he found the Schopfloch death records for my four-times great-grandparents, Amson Nussbaum and Voegele Welsch, but his magic tricks did not end there.  He also was able to locate birth records for a number of the children of Jakob Schoenthal and Charlotte Lilienfeld.

My great-grandfather Isidore Schoenthal had two siblings who did not immigrate to America, and his older brother Jakob was one of them.  Jakob married Charlotte Lilienfeld and was a merchant in Cologne.  He and Charlotte had five children: Johanna, Lee, Meyer, Henriette, and Erna. They were my grandmother Eva’s first cousins.

I’ve told their stories in prior posts.  Four of the children survived the Holocaust.  The two sons, Lee and Meyer, immigrated to the US long before Hitler came to power, and Erna escaped with her son Werner during the 1930s.  Johanna and her husband spent time in the Gurs concentration camp and came to the US after the war.  Tragically, Henriette and her husband were murdered by the Nazis.

Thus far Aaron has located birth records for four of the children: Johanna, Lee, Meyer, and Erna.  I hope that he is able to find the record for Henriette as it would indeed be tragic if her record was the only one that did not survive, just as she was the only sibling who did not survive.

Here are the records that Aaron has thus far located:

Birth record of Johanna Schoenthal (Nr. 3030/1880)

father: Jakob Schönthal (tradesman)
mother: Charlotte Lilienfeld
both jewish religion
Köln, Breitestraße 113

June 5, 1880

 

birth-record-johanna-schoenthal

Birth record of Lee (Leo) Schoenthal (Nr. 5717/1881)

father: Jakob Schönthal (tradesman)
mother: Charlotte Lilienfeld
both jewish religion
Köln, Breitestraße 113

December 6, 1881

 

birth-record-of-lee-schoenthal

Birth record Meier Schönthal (no. 606/1883)

father: Jakob Schönthal (tradesman)
mother: Charlotte Lilienfeld
both jewish religion
Köln, Breitestraße 113
February 7, 1883
05.15 in the morning

 

meyer-schoenthal-birth-recod

Birth Record Erna Schönthal (no. 577/1898)

father: Jakob Schönthal (tradesman)
mother: Charlotte Lilienfeld
both jewish religion
Köln, Breitestraße 85
March 27, 1898
08.15 in the morning

erna-schoenthal-birth-record

12 thoughts on “My Grandmother’s Cologne Cousins: More New Records”

  2. Whenever I see a gap of many years between the birth of siblings I wonder if there are more children born that were not recorded or who died before birth, etc. That is not the case here but when you don’t have the records these questions become the catalyst for a quest!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply ↓

      • Emily brings up a good point here. It is quite true with children born in America before birth certificates came into use in the early 1900s. However, in Europe, record keeping was much more constant. If a birth record is not found for a child during “gap years” it is a good idea to check deaths. Stillbirths were registered but only as deaths. Of course, in later years a woman may not have been as fertile and either party may have been too tired to perform their marital duties. Or they may have figured out their own natural birth control.
        Kudos to Aaron for searching out the records!

        Liked by 1 person

      • It’s certainly possible that there were other children born or stillborn during those interim years and worth asking Aaron about. I always wonder about these large age gaps also.

        Liked by 1 person

  5. Pingback: Cologne: Its Jewish History and My Family Ties to the City | Brotmanblog: A Family Journey

Leave a comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.