Here’s a good brain teaser for those of you who like puzzles, especially genealogy relationship puzzles:

Gerson Rothschild was the eighth child born to Gelle Blumenfeld and Simon Rothschild. He was born on May 1, 1855, in Waltersbrueck, Germany.

Gerson married Frommet “Fanny” Kugelmann on September 13, 1881, in Waltersbrueck. She was born in Wohra, Germany, on September 11, 1857.

When I saw Frommet Kugelmann’s name, it rang a bell, but I wasn’t sure why. I searched my tree, and sure enough, I had a Frommet Kugelmann already on my tree. I wrote about her here. She had married Isaac Blumenfeld I, Gelle Blumenfeld’s older brother, and had died March 18, 1842, five days after giving birth to her son Abraham Blumenfeld III. She was about twenty years old when she died.

But was there a connection between the Frommet Kugelmann who had married Isaac Blumenfeld I and the Frommet Kugelmann who married Isaac’s nephew Gerson Rothschild, Gelle’s son? That was not immediately obvious.

From the marriage record for Gerson and his Frommet (to be referred to hereinafter as Fanny to keep them distinct), I knew that Fanny’s parents were Joseph Kugelmann and Male Katten. After searching for more information about Joseph Kugelmann, I learned that he was the son of Hiskias Kugelmann and Knentel Adorn.¹ Flipping back to Isaac Blumenfeld’s wife Frommet, I saw that her parents were also Hiskias Kugelmann and Knentel Adorn.² In other words, Joseph Kugelmann had named his daughter Frommet Fanny Kugelmann for his deceased sister Frommet Kugelmann, Isaac Blumenfeld’s wife.

Gerson and Fanny were thus related through the marriage of Gerson’s uncle Isaac to Fanny’s aunt and namesake, Frommet Kugelmann.

Gerson and Fanny would have eleven children, though two died at birth and one as an infant.

Here’s the brain teaser.

How were the children of Gerson Rothschild and Fanny Kugelmann related to Abraham Blumenfeld III, the son of Isaac Blumenfeld I and his first wife Frommet Kugelmann?

[Jeopardy! Music plays for thirty seconds…]

 

 

 

Here’s the answer:

They were his first cousins, once removed, on the Kugelmann side because their mother Fanny was Abraham III’s first cousin; Abraham III’s mother Frommet Kugelmann and Fanny’s father Joseph Kugelmann were siblings.

Here’s a chart showing that relationship, using one of Gerson and Fanny’s children (Max Rothschild) as an example:

But they were also related to Abraham III through the Blumenfeld side since Abraham’s father Isaac Blumenfeld I and Gerson’s mother Gelle Blumenfeld Rothschild were siblings, making Abraham and Gerson first cousins, thus making Max Rothschild and  Gerson and Fanny’s other children first cousins, once removed, to Abraham Blumenfeld III through that connection.

There is a third connection through Abraham Blumenfeld III’s marriage to Friedericke Rothschild—-but I will spare you that one.

OK, since you insist, here’s a chart for that one…

So once again, the family tree twists and groans from the weight of its interconnected branches, twigs, and leaves.

Coming up…the stories of the eleven children of Gerson and Fanny.