Falk Goldschmidt and his wife Clara Babetta Carlebach had five children, all born in Frankfurt. First born was Meier Falk Goldschmidt, born on August 8, 1870.

Meier Falk Goldschmidt, birth record, Hessisches Hauptstaatsarchiv; Wiesbaden, Deutschland; Bestand: 903; Signatur: 903_8845, Year Range: 1870, Ancestry.com. Hesse, Germany, Births, 1851-1901
Then came their daughter Helene born on September 26, 1871:

Helene Goldschmidt, birth record, Hessisches Hauptstaatsarchiv; Wiesbaden, Deutschland; Bestand: 903; Signatur: 903_8849, Year Range: 1871, Ancestry.com. Hesse, Germany, Births, 1851-1901
Third born was Fanny on August 18, 1874.

Fanny Goldschmidt, birth record, Hessisches Hauptstaatsarchiv; Wiesbaden, Deutschland; Bestand: 903; Signatur: 903_8858, Year Range: 1874, Ancestry.com. Hesse, Germany, Births, 1851-1901
Their fourth child was Hedwig; she was born on January 1, 1877.

Hedwig Goldschmidt, birth record, Hessisches Hauptstaatsarchiv; Wiesbaden, Deutschland; Bestand: 903; Laufende Nummer: 143, Year Range: 1877, Ancestry.com. Hesse, Germany, Births, 1851-1901
And finally, their youngest child Julius Falk Goldschmidt was born November 27, 1882.

Julius Falk Goldschmidt, birth record, Hessisches Hauptstaatsarchiv; Wiesbaden, Deutschland; Bestand: 903; Signatur: 903_8972, Year Range: 1882, Ancestry.com. Hesse, Germany, Births, 1851-1901
That makes the fifth Meier/Meyer Goldschmidt, the fourth Helene Goldschmidt, the fifth Hedwig Goldschmidt, and the third Julius Goldschmidt on my tree. And that doesn’t even count all the Goldsmiths with those first names. No wonder Meier and Julius used their middle name Falk to identify themselves.
Meier Falk Goldschmidt, their oldest child, immigrated to New York in about 1888 to 1890. I could not find a ship manifest for his first arrival in the US, but those were the dates listed on the 1910 and 1920 census records for Meier.1 Also, on an 1895 ship manifest for his return to the US, he indicated that he was already by that time a US citizen.2 Unfortunately, I could not find naturalization documents for Meier to corroborate that assertion.
I also could not find Meier on the 1900 census. I asked for help from Tracing the Tribe, but no one there was able to find him on that census, nor could they find a ship manifest or naturalization record to establish his date of arrival. Meier just seems to be one of those elusive relatives who does not want to be found.
Fortunately, Meier does appear on both the 1910 and 1920 US census. In 1910 he was single, living in Queens as a boarder, and working as a ribbon salesman.3 In 1920, Meier was living in Manhattan, still single, still working as a ribbon salesman. Although he is listed here as Clair F. Goldschmidt, I am quite certain that this is Meier as all the other facts add up.4
Meier died two years later on February 22, 1922. He was 51 years old. He was buried in New York. As far as I can tell, he never married.5
Meanwhile, Meier’s four younger siblings were all still in Germany. His sister Helene married Bernhard Igersheimer on November 1, 1889. He was the son of Jonas Igersheimer and Sara Dreyfus and was born in Mergentheim, Germany, on April 18, 1856.

Helene Goldschmidt marriage to Bernard Igersheimer, Hessisches Hauptstaatsarchiv; Wiesbaden, Deutschland; Signatur: 9481, Year Range: 1889
Ancestry.com. Hesse, Germany, Marriages, 1849-1930
Helene and Bernard had two children. Fanny Flora Igersheimer was born in Frankfurt on October 6, 1890.

Fanny Flora Igersheimer birth record, Hessisches Hauptstaatsarchiv; Wiesbaden, Deutschland; Bestand: 903; Signatur: 903_9076, Year Range: 1890, Ancestry.com. Hesse, Germany, Births, 1851-1901
Her brother Franz Jonas Igersheimer was born on March 20, 1895, in Frankfurt.

Franz Jonas Igersheimer birth record, Hessisches Hauptstaatsarchiv; Wiesbaden, Deutschland; Bestand: 903; Signatur: 903_9151, Year Range: 1895, Ancestry.com. Hesse, Germany, Births, 1851-1901
Falk and Clara Babetta’s second daughter Fanny married Siegfried Loewenthal on January 6, 1893 in Frankfurt. Siegfried was born in Wiesbaden on March 27, 1864, to Meyer Loewenthal and Regine Kahn.

Fanny Goldschmidt and Siegfried Loewenthal marriage record, Hessisches Hauptstaatsarchiv; Wiesbaden, Deutschland; Bestand: 903, Year Range: 1893,
Ancestry.com. Hesse, Germany, Marriages, 1849-1930
Fanny and Siegfried had two sons. Julius Loewenthal was born on December 6, 1893, in Frankfurt.

Julius Loewenthal birth record, Hessisches Hauptstaatsarchiv; Wiesbaden, Deutschland; Bestand: 903; Signatur: 903_9125, Year Range: 1893, Ancestry.com. Hesse, Germany, Births, 1851-1901
And Edgar Loewenthal was born January 16, 1896.6 Sadly, Edgar died just over a year later on February 27, 1897.

Edgar Loewenthal death record, Personenstandsregister Sterberegister; Bestand: 903; Signatur: 10503, Year Range: 1897, Ancestry.com. Hesse, Germany, Deaths, 1851-1958
The two youngest children of Falk and Clara Babetta I’ve already written about. Their daughter Hedwig married her first cousin Marcel Goldschmidt, son of Falk’s brother Jacob Meier Goldschmidt. They, as I wrote, had four children: Jacob, Nelly, Else, and Grete. Since writing about Hedwig and Marcel, I’ve connected with some of Grete’s descendants and will have an update on that part of the family in a post to follow.
And Falk and Clara Babetta’s youngest child, Julius Falk Goldschmidt, married his first cousin, once removed, Helene “Leni” Goldschmidt, the granddaughter of Jacob Meier Goldschmidt. I’ve also written extensively about them and their two sons, Felix and Herman.
The post to follow will focus on Falk and Clara Babetta and their two other daughters—Helene Goldschmidt Igersheimer and Fanny Goldschmidt Loewenthal—and their families during the 20th century.
- Meyer Goldsmith, 1910 US census, Year: 1910; Census Place: Queens Ward 5, Queens, New York; Roll: T624_1068; Page: 5A; Enumeration District: 1248; FHL microfilm: 1375081, Ancestry.com. 1910 United States Federal Census; Clair F. Goldschmidt, 1920 US census, Year: 1920; Census Place: Manhattan Assembly District 15, New York, New York; Roll: T625_1214; Page: 16B; Enumeration District: 1099, Ancestry.com. 1920 United States Federal Census ↩
- M.F. Goldschmidt, ship manifest, Year: 1895; Arrival: New York, New York, USA; Microfilm Serial: M237, 1820-1897; Line: 15; Page Number: 4, Ship or Roll Number: Fürst Bismarck, Ancestry.com. New York, U.S., Arriving Passenger and Crew Lists (including Castle Garden and Ellis Island), 1820-1957 ↩
- See note 1, above. ↩
- See note 1, above. ↩
- New York, New York City Municipal Deaths, 1795-1949,” database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:2WLT-K79 : 10 February 2018), Meyer F. Goldschmidt, 22 Feb 1922; citing Death, Bronx, New York, New York, United States, New York Municipal Archives, New York; FHL microfilm 2,167,577. ↩
- Edgar Löwenthal, Gender: männlich (Male), Birth Date: 16 Jan 1896, Birth Place: Frankfurt am Main, Hessen (Hesse), Deutschland (Germany), Civil Registration Office: Frankfurt am Main, Father: Siegfried Löwenthal, Mother: Fannÿ Löwenthal, Certificate Number: 288, Hessisches Hauptstaatsarchiv; Wiesbaden, Deutschland; Bestand: 903; Laufende Nummer: 152, Ancestry.com. Hesse, Germany, Births, 1851-1901 ↩
With so many people in this family branch having the same first name, it was a good idea to have the identifier Falk used as their middle name. It also made your research work easier, Amy.
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I agree!
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It is so good to hear you have one of “those elusive relatives who does not want to be found.” Good as it helps put into perspective how hard it is to follow and research a person and reminds us that it isn’t only in our own families that this happens. 🙂
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It always drives me crazy when I can’t find someone on a census even when I know where they lived or on a ship manifest when I know roughly when they arrived. And it happens way too often!
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I was LOL-ing. About all the same names. By the way, I had to put a period in there because WordPress would not except my word creation. I think being a ribbon salesman is such a fanciful occupation. I would love it. Pretty colors and textures and your samples are not very big.
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Oh Siri. Accept.
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I had a similar image—a case full of a rainbow of colors of shining ribbons. And oy vey, all these Helenes and Hedwigs and Jacobs and Meyers. It drives me crazy!
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Are you thinking of him traveling to buyers/stores or selling in a store? I was thinking the former. Just making sure.
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The former. But that’s my hunch. That he was a rep for a ribbon company.
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You sure do have a lot of ancestors with the same name!
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Tell me about it….
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