The Drey Family: More Cousins, More Small World Connections, More Photographs

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A few weeks ago another new cousin found me through my blog, and the ensuing emails and additional new cousin connections have resulted in many small-world coincidences as well as a collection of family photographs. So even when I thought I was just about finished with my Goldschmidt family line, I have been reminded once again that this work is never really finished.

Let me start at the beginning. The cousin who first contacted me through my blog, Diane, is my fifth cousin, once removed. She is the daughter of Claude Drey, whose photographs I wrote about here, and the granddaughter of Arthur Drey and Caroline Lilly Cramer, who I now know was always called Lilly, not Caroline. Caroline was the daughter of David Cramer and Clementine Fuld. Here’s a chart showing the rest of our connection:

Diane and I both have children and grandchildren living in Brooklyn. She then connected me to other members of her family, including her first cousins Florence, George, and Linda, who are also my fifth cousins, once removed. They are the children of Dorothy Drey, Claude’s sister and the daughter of Arthur Drey and Lilly Cramer. And here’s where the small world connections piled up. Florence, George, and Linda grew up in White Plains, New York, where I went to junior high and high school. In fact, we lived around the corner from each other. Linda was just one year ahead of me in school. But we never knew of each other’s existence.

Then I learned that George’s wife grew up in Springfield, Massachusetts, and Florence went to college there. I’ve lived right outside of Springfield since 1983. George is a lawyer, and Florence is engaged in genealogical research and activities. And finally, George, Florence, and I are now currently in Florida and not far from each other. But for COVID, we could all easily get together and meet in person. As a result of all these overlapping connections, we all likely know many of the same people, and when we do get together, it will be fun to discover more connections.

And then Diane sent me a collection of family photographs and has given me permission to share them here. Here are some of those photographs.

First, this is a photograph of Clementine Fuld Cramer with her two children Sally and Lilly. Clementine was the daughter of Helene Goldschmidt and Salomon Fuld and the granddaughter of Jacob Meier Goldschmidt. I wrote about Clementine here and here. I am not sure when this would have been taken. If Lilly was not yet married, it had to be taken before January 27, 1919.

Sally Cramer, Clementine Fuld Cramer, Caroline Lilly Cramer. Courtesy of the Drey family

Here are photographs taken on January 27, 1919, when Lilly married Arthur Drey:

Arthur Drey and Lily Cramer, January 1919. Courtesy of the Drey family

Arthur Drey and Lily Cramer, January 1919. Courtesy of the Drey family

Lilly and Arthur Drey had three children. This photograph shows Lilly with their first two children, Claude and Dorothy in 1921 when Dorothy was born.

Lilly Cramer Drey, Claude Drey, Dorothy Drey. c. 1921. Courtesy of the Drey family

Their third child Elizabeth was born five years later in 1926. Here she is as a young child:

Elizabeth Drey c. 1927 Courtesy of the Drey family

This photograph of the entire family was taken in Frankfurt in about 1927 before their lives were forever altered by the Nazis:

Drey family in Frankfurt c. 1927. Courtesy of the Drey family

These photographs of Claude and Dorothy as children were also taken in Germany before the family escaped from Germany to Milan, Italy, in 1933:

Claude Drey c. 1928 Courtesy of the Drey family

Dorothy Drey c. 1932-1933 Courtesy of the Drey family

Diane also shared photographs taken in the US in the 1940s and beyond. What I found most remarkable about those were the photographs of Clementine Fuld Cramer with her great-grandchildren, including Diane, George, and Florence. Clementine died in 1962 at 87. She had lived through the early years of a unified Germany, World War I, the oppression of Jews by the Nazis in the 1930s, immigration to the US during World War II, and the post-war years adjusting to the United States. She lived to see the births of not only her grandchildren but also a number of great-grandchildren. What a remarkable life she had. I bet she had some amazing stories to share.

Clementine Fuld Cramer with one of her great-grandchildren in the US

Finally, I love this photograph of Caroline Lilly Cramer Drey taken in New York City sometime in the 1950s or 1960s. She had held on to the grace and sophisticaion of the world she’d known as a well-to-do woman living in the Frankfurt Jewish community before the Nazi era.

Lilly Cramer Drey in New York City
Courtesy of the Drey family

 

 

30 thoughts on “The Drey Family: More Cousins, More Small World Connections, More Photographs”

    • LOL! I know….but I am drawing to a close on my research of the Goldschmidts. There will always be new discoveries and new connections. But I am approaching a transition in my research and in the blog.

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      • It was that look that led me to guess she was about eleven. That’s the age that girls get that “fed up with adults” look, or at least that’s when I did and when my daughters did. But it could be earlier or later. Perhaps one of my cousins will have a better sense of the date. Thanks, Cathy!

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  4. What wakes me up in the middle of the night is the familiarity of all these photos. The faces are people I know and some look like me, and the stories of their lives are not so different either – until we get to about 1930 when all hell breaks loose. And yet, here we are. But we are not in Germany, are we? Did they win?

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  6. Hi Amy. We may be related. I have, I believe ancestors, in common. I have an ancestor Leizer Katz (1820-1899), son of Manus Katz (1783-1835) and Bertha or Derth Katzenstein. I believe Manus’ father was Pinchas Bonnum Katz (1689-). Leizer was father of Amelia Malke Katz, who married Isaac Yitzchak David Strassberg.

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    • Hi Marc, thanks for contacting me. I do not have a son named Manus for Pinchas Bonnum Katz, but that doesn’t mean that he didn’t have a son that name. I only have two children, my ancestor Schalum Katz and his sister Jitl. I will email you. Maybe we can figure this out!

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  7. I just smiled reading through this entire post. You’ve made wonderful cousin connections 🙂 Such a shame COVID is preventing meeting but better days are ahead and we look forward to ‘next time’ Great posting and (I loved the wedding photo – especially the posing of this photo)

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  8. Pingback: Friday’s Family History Finds | Empty Branches on the Family Tree

  9. Well, you’ve reminded me of those hats with veils with that last photo. My grandmothers wore those. Amazing coincidences and an incredible life.
    Why are you in Florida? How did you get there I’m the pandemic?

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      • How many hours is that with the cats in the car? Our cats are so old we can’t really drive them with us, but the thought of being able to do that is very freeing. I am too nervous to use public bathrooms and stuff at this point.

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      • It was between six and eight hours for three days. The cats were amazing. We put them into one carrier (a small dog crate), and they just snuggled up and slept. We had to stay at hotels for two nights (both with excellent COVID protocols—and no one had stayed in our rooms for at least 24 hours before we arrived), and the cats freaked out a bit about that. Our oldest cat (13) had an upset stomach after we got to Florida, but he’s fine now. We wear KN 95 masks, don’t eat out, carry sanitizer and wipes wherever we go, keep our distance, and wash our hands.

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  10. Hi, I think I may potentially also be a long-lost relative over in London, UK. My grandfather was Gerald Cramer, always said he had family in New York, could it be? Does Gerald ring a bell at all?

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