I Am Back!

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After two glorious weeks with my kids on the Cape, I am back to my blog and my family history work.

While I was researching and writing about my Goldfarb cousins, a few other interesting discoveries came in on other matters. Before I turn to my next big topic—the family of my great-aunt Toba/Taube/Tille Brotman Hecht—I want to share these other discoveries.

First, my cousin Wolfgang found an envelope that I found very exciting in the “magic suitcase” of Seligmann family history documents .

You can see that it is addressed to Frau M. Seligman in Gau-Algesheim, Germany, and postmarked on January 30, 1894, from Santa Fe, New Mexico.  This was most likely a letter from my great-great-grandfather Bernard Seligman to his mother, Babette Schoenfeld Seligmann, or Frau Moritz Seligmann. It could also have been a letter from Bernard’s brother Adolf to his mother or a letter from one of Bernard’s children to his or her grandmother. Unfortunately, there was no letter inside the envelope. But it is evidence that the American Seligmans were still in touch with their family back in Gau -Algesheim many decades after leaving Germany and coming to the US.

The other interesting discovery related to my great-aunt Tillie Brotman Ressler’s family. Her son Leo and his wife Mildred owned a dress shop in New Haven, Connecticut for many years. A woman was cleaning out her mother’s closet and found the dress depicted below. She googled the name Mildred Ressler and found my blog and then was so kind to contact me and share these photos of the dress. I shared them with Leo and Mildred’s son Peter, my second cousin. We were both very moved by seeing these pictures.

I love to see these little mementos capturing part of the lives of my relatives. The material objects somehow makes those lives real to me in ways that are different from photographs.

17 thoughts on “I Am Back!”

    • Different Tillie! Believe it or not, Grandma had two sisters called Tillie. This one was her half-sister who was called Toba or Taube in Europe. The one your dad knew so well was Tillie Ressler—she was born Tema in Europe. Somehow the two sisters both became Tillie in the US. My mother never knew this one, and I wonder if your dad did since he was 12 years older.

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  2. Welcome back Amy, I envy you being able to spend beach time with your family! Gosh ,what a thoughtful lady who googled the Ressler dress label and found you and your blog. Peter will be delighted too.

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  6. Welcome back from your fabulous family fun time! I am just amazed that the envelope has survived. The dress contact is one of those blogging treasure that keeps us going. What a classic and fabulous dress and coat.

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  7. Sounds like a great vacation – welcome back! The family treasures are quite a find and I hope one day you are able to find something to connect the writer of the envelope – maybe matching handwriting somewhere. The journey continues…..

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