Philadelphia County: OETTEL Family History Transcribed and contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Joann Cosgrove Copyright. All Rights Reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/pafiles.htm ********************************************************* Oettel Family History This information was obtained from Georg Oettel in Hamburg Germany, Church and legal documents,birth and death certificates, obituaries, cemetery records, the Social Security Death Index and from many personal communications I have had with numerous cousins! I thank everyone who helped me put together this story and hope that if anyone sees errors or omissions they will let me know so I can correct them. George Oettel is the oldest ancestor I can identify. According to Military records, he is listed as the father of David Oettel. David was born around 1708. David's wife's name is unknown but he is listed as the father of Johann Gottfried Oettel. Johann Gottfried was born in Eisenberg, Thuringia on Feb. 26th in 1745 and died on Nov. 1st 1790. Eisenberg is a small mining town in Thuringia ( Southeast Germany ) and the town name means "iron hill" in German. Johann and his father are listed as working in the hose and stocking business. I now know where my sock fetish comes from..I always have cold feet and everyone in my family ALWAYS gets socks for Christmas!! It's nice to know this slight aberration is probably genetic. Anyway, Johann Gottfried was the father of Johann Carl Gottlob Oettel who was born in 1785 in Eisenberg/Thuringia. This area is in the South Eastern part of Germany. So far most of the Oettel families I have come in contact with trace their roots to this section of Germany which is next to Saxony. Johann Carl Gottlob Oettel married Friedericke Ernestine Wilhemine Eck. When he wanted to marry Fredericke he wrote to the guild and requested permission to marry her stating that since her father was a master hose maker , he would see that Johann Carl completed his apprenticeship. The guild granted his request and Johann Carl and Fredericke were married. They were the parents of 13 children. The second oldest was Ernest Julius Hermann Oettel born in 1810 in Eisenberg/Thuringia. He was a lacemaker. After the death of his first wife Johann Carl married Eleanore Wilhelmine Knopfe and had 4 more children. What happened to all those Oettel's from Eisenberg is unknown because there is only one, Heinz, listed as living there today in the World Book of Oettels. Our ancestor, Ernest Hermann Oettel , married August Amalie Gloger and had a son Robert born in 1842. Robert Oettel married Friederike Hedwig Riedinger who was from Heilbronn. They had three children all born in Heidelberg: Reinhold Ernest Hermann b. 1867, Amalie Friederike b. 1868, and Alfred Julius Karl b. 1869. At some time after the birth of the children the family moved to Halle which is a city on the Saale river. Times were hard in Germany and Robert wanted to come to the USA in search of a better life. His wife did not want him to leave Germany but he emigrated to Philadelphia sometime between 1875 and 1879. The Oettels in America Robert Oettel become a US Citizen in the Court of Quarter Sessions in Phila. on Feb. 8, 1879. After he settled in Philadelphia he wrote and asked his wife to come and join him. Friederike, by this time, had a little business in Halle as a milliner. She wrote back to Robert and told him she would not be coming to join him but that she would send their oldest son over and he should take care of Reinhold and that she would care for the other two children in Germany. According to the book "German's to America, Lists of Passengers Arriving at US Ports, 1850-1893" Reinhold is listed as coming on the ship "Niderland" leaving Marseilles to NY arr. Oct 30, 1880. He is listed as Oettel, Reinhold age 11, male, occp. unknown, from Saxony, dest. USA. Actually he was 13 at that time but either the age is a mistake or the fare was cheaper if he was listed as 11! Reinhold arrived and went to live with his father Robert in Philadelphia. When Fredericke Hedwig refused to join him here. He took that as the end of their marriage. He met and married Josephine Levenhauser, daughter of August and Maggie Levenhauser in Philadelphia. Robert Oettel and Josephine had their first child, Robert Jr. in 1881. Robert and Josephine had two more children.. Clara Mae born in 1886 and Florence E. born in 1891 . In the 1900 census the family is listed as living on North Warnock Street in Phila. Robert Oettel Jr married Susanna Pearson Montgomery and they had two children, Verna Grace and Marion. Robert and his wife Sue separated for many years but when Robert grew old and sick Sue took him in and nursed him until his death in 1950. He is buried in Mt. Moriah Cemetery in Phila. Sue died at the age of 87 and at the time of her death she lived with her daughter Marion in Bensalem. Verna Grace married Harry Carter who was a Methodist minister and had two girls, Kathleen and Virgina. Marion married James Rutherford but they never had any children. Marion loved to sing and she and James sang in their Church choir. Marion and Verna are both deceased and are buried in Newtown Cemetery, Newtown Pa. Clara Mae Oettel married Frank Walter. Her death certificate states she and Frank lived in Altoona Pa. She and Frank adopted a son and named him Charles Lewis . Charles' birth mother was French and she came to Chesnut Hill to have him and then returned to Paris. His birth name was Lewis Charles Boudree'. Clara Mae died of a stroke at the age of 64 and is buried with an infant who died in 1950. I was able to talk to Clara Mae's granddaughter Charlene who lives in New Gretna NJ. Florence Oettel married James Rickards. They are also buried at Greenmount Cemetery next to Robert and Josephine. Florence and James lived in Cape May county after they retired. They died 1 day apart in March of 1969. James went out to shovel snow so that Florence would have a path to her birdfeeder and had a heart attack. Florence died of a heart attack the next day while talking in the living room with the family doctor. Their plaque at the cemetery reads "Together Forever". Ralph believes his mother was not able to go on living after losing her husband. Florence and James had 3 children..Ralph, Ruth, and Grace. Ralph married Theresa Ament and lives in Somerton. Ralph is the man who told me the story of his mother and father’s deaths. They have 2 children. Ralph recalls that his mother was very musical and played the piano very well. He also remembers that her father Robert played the flute. Robert's death certificate list him as a "loom fixer" and Ralph remembers that Robert and Rob Jr both worked for the "Bromley Silk Company". Ralph recalls his mother saying that they were in mourning for a year and that the piano was closed for the entire year and how sad that was for Florence. Her death certificate says Josephine died from Pulmonary Tuberculosis which was a big killer in those days. She was buried on the 13th of November, 1909. Her husband, Robert Oettel, died on November 14 of 1922 and was buried on Nov 18th. Before he died Robert also lived with his daughter Mae and Ralph remembers him because once when he (Ralph) was little his Grandfather hit him with his cane! Reinhold Oettel moved from Philadelphia to Lancaster but no one knows how or why that move took place. His death certificate says that he lived in Lancaster for 50 years which means he moved there when he was about 20 years of age around 1887. He married Elizabeth Holz in Lancaster in 1891 and they had seven children there. Their children were Rosa, Karl(my Grandfather), Ernest, Hedwig, Marie, Emil (Charles) and Ida. Elizabeth Holz Oettel died in 1915 after an illness of only a few days. She had Erysipelas which is a very bad skin infection usually caused by Strep. Since there were no antibiotics in those days the infection spread and she died. When she died the family lived at 308 Laurel Street. The oldest daughter Rosa was already married, my Grandfather Karl was 21 and the rest of the family were even younger..Ida was only 8 at the time of her mother’s death. Karl was apprenticed in a silk mill and he left home and went to Phoenixville Pa. to become the superintendent of a mill there. He met my Grandmother, Mary Cunningham in Phoenixville PA. They were married in Phoenixville and then they moved to Scranton Pa. and their children.... Anna, Karl (my Father), Robert & Mary were all born in Scranton. While they were in Scranton, Reinhold sent Ida out to live with them. She came on the train. Ida must have hated being sent away from Lancaster and she lived with my Grandfather's family until she was about 18 or 19 years old. At that time Ida left to live with her sister Marie in Phila. After their mother’s death all the younger children were sent to live with relatives at this time. Betty Houghton..daughter of Aunt Mary Ruhl (Elizabeth Holz Oettel's sister) recalls that Marie Oettel lived with the Ruhls at this time and in fact they wanted to adopt her. Mary Carroll, the daughter of Mary Ruhl sent me a copy of a Ruhl family picture taken in 1916 with Marie sitting in the group of children, looking very pretty with a big bow in her hair! Emil Charles lived with his brother Ernest and his wife Lillian Mae. I don't know if Reinhold didn't feel able to care for his family or if he had a lady friend who didn't want the children.. Everyone says that Reinhold was quite a ladies man after Elizabeth's death. My Aunt Ann says that at his funeral she met his second wife. His death certificate lists a Blanche as his wife. He lived at 746 Fremont Street when he died on March 11, 1938 and he died of a stroke. We think he is buried with Elizabeth at the Zion Lutheran cemetery on South Queen Street but we are not certain because the monument is just for Elizabeth. Reinhold was a fancy baker of cakes and cookies and that is how my Grandfather Karl remembered him but he also made and sold herbal remedies..salves and medicines. In a letter to his nephew, Alfred, in Germany written in the 1920's, Reinhold called himself a Tape Worm Specialist and Evelyn Oettel says he did indeed cure her father of a Tapeworm! Rosa Oettel married a Harry Seifert. They separated and Harry moved back to Lancaster. Rosa was unable to care for their daughter Mary and sent her back to Lancaster on the train. She then was raised by her father. Mary was about 6 at that time. She married a man named Shertz and had a daughter. Mary's daughter's name is Erma and she is married to Ron Young their last known address was Linglestown Pa. I have been unable to find them and would love to talk to Erma. Rose meanwhile lived in Phila and later married a Harry Schaffer. She had almost no contact with the rest of her family and I'm not sure why. She and her husband once stopped at my family's house in Levittown Pa. and spent an afternoon visiting with us. We never saw or heard from her after that. Ernest Oettel married Lillian Rice and raised his family in Lancaster..That branch of the family is still mostly living in that area today. My father met his first cousin Robert(Ernest's son) for the first time in December 1993 and we had such a lovely visit. We both are interested in Genealogy and we have had many fruitful conversations in putting this history together. Hedwig married Jasper Hollingsworth. She met him in Lancasterand married in 1918. The Hollingsworth branch settled in Bucks County in Langhorne and many still live in Bucks County. My Aunt Ann says that she heard from her father that Hedwig went out West with Rose and originally met Jasper out West somewhere. Rose would have been married at the time so it would be possible that she took her sister on a vacation. According to the 1920 census, Jack Hollingsworth was born in Illinois and his parents were born in Pennsylvania. I am still searching to find out more about Jasper since he is a mystery as far as his roots go. His children think he might have had some Cherokee ancestry through his mother but we have been unable to prove it. Hedwig Oettel Hollingsworth died when she was 48 and is buried in the Newtown Cemetry with her daughter Mary Dorothy. Marie Oettel married Edward Grim and they lived in Philadelphia. They had two sons..Edward Jr. amd Frank. Edward Jr. was a Phila. policeman. He married Eleanor Gentile and had a daughter Karen. Karen lives with her daughter in Philadelphia. Frank married a Rita and had three children..Frank, Billy and Rita. Frank Sr. lives in Florida and is a retired car salesman. Emil Charles Oettel married a Laura in Lancaster. Laura thought the name Emil was too European so he began to call himself Charles. Charles and Laura were divorced and Charles married Elsie Russell.They had a daughter Elizabeth but she died when she was a little girl from a blood clot on her brain. Elsie Russell had a son Ted from a previous marriage who married my father's sister.. Mary. Elsie still does volunteer work at the hospital in Lancaster. Ida married a man named De Stephano. She and her husband lived in Philadelphia on Bridge Street at one time. After her husband’s death she continued to live in Phila.until she grew too old to live alone. She then lived with Hedwig's daughter Libby in Trenton. Ida never had any children. She died and is buried in Trenton NJ. Oettel’s Living in Germany Reinhold’s Oettel’s mother,(Fredericke Hedwig), sister (Amalia), and brother (Alfred)continued living in Halle. The mother continued to work as a milliner in Halle until her death. Her store was located on Grossesteinstrs and is now a flower shop. Reinhold's brother Alfred married Martha Schneidewind in 1897 buthis honeymoon was interrupted. Helene Kleinschmidt rang their doorbell and left her baby boy on the doorstep with a note naming Alfred as the father and demanding that he care for his son! Alfred kept his son and insisted that Martha raise the boy as if he were her own and that is what they did. They named him Alfred Georg and it wasn't until he became a young man that he found out the full story of his heritage. His Aunt Amalia was the one who told him. After learning about his birthmother, Alfred Georg tried to find her but by the time he was able to trace her to Berlin, she had died. Alfred Georg did meet her brother in Berlin and the brother told him that Helene had married but never had any other children. He told Alfred Georg that Helene had very much regretted giving up her only son in this manner. Alfred Georg Oettel married Agnes Schwickert and they had a son, Georg Alfred Oettel b.1921 in Halle. Alfred Georg was interested in family history and was able to trace his Uncle Reinhold to Lancaster Pa. and wrote to him sometime in the 1920's. Reinhold answered the letter and said that he had English speaking children and grandchildren and was not interested any longer in Germany. That was the last contact the American Oettels had with the Germany Oettels until my letter reached Georg Alfred Oettel in Sept. 1993. Georg Oettel’s mother was best friends with the mother of Lotta-Paula Bauer but after they were babies they did not meet again until they were grown up. Georg enlisted in the German army during WW2 in Feb. of 1941. He was sent to the Russian front until he was transferred to Belgium. While home on leave he met Lotta©Paula again and they renewed their friendship. After he was in Belgium, Georg was taken a prisoner of war by the British. He was allowed to write home so her wrote 2 letters. One went to Lotta©Paula and one was sent to his mother. Lotta-Paula's letter was the only one to get through and as Georg phrased it " the rest shall we say is history! " While in the prisoner of war camp, Georg developed a bad infection on his neck and was sent to the British hospital. While he recuperated, he learned to speak English and began to "help" the Sister on the ward by translating for her when she nursed the sick German soldiers. When he was fully recovered, she asked him to stay and work as her official translater and she gave him a small English© German dictionary. Georg still has the dictionary and he speaks almost perfect English even to this day.The Oettel family returned to Halle at the end of the war because it had been captured by the Americans. However, after the first year, that area became part of East Germany and was given to the Communists. Georg was unable to get ahead because he would not become a party member. He fled to the West and went to Hamburg because he had heard that he could find work there. Back home Lotte-Paula lived and worked with the two children until Georg could make a home for them in Hamburg. After a few months he sent for them and they secretly made plans to leave East Germany and join him. Even though this was before the Berlin Wall was put up it was illegal to leave the Eastern sector and if you were caught you could be sent to prison. Lotta Paula says they told the authorities they were going to visit friends in the North but they stopped in East Berlin on the way. The children were just young , Andreas was 8 and Ulrich 5 so Lotta-Paula was not able to tell them what was planned lest they talk and give away the plans by accident. She relates how they got off the train in East Berlin and got on the subway that would take them to the western sector. She had only a shopping bag, Andreas had a rucksack and Ulrich a Teddy bear. Andreas noticed that they were in Berlin and said very loudly "Oh Mom we're at the wrong train station!" Lotta-Paula had quite a time getting him to stop talking! Thankfully their subway train was not stopped and they got to the West OK. There she went to a friend who was holding their airplane tickets and that night they were with Georg in Hamburg! Georg found work in the Commerz Bank and eventually rose to the position of Bank Manager. One day in 1993, I received in the mail an offer to buy "The World Book of Oettels". It was advertised to be a list of every Oettel family with their names and address from every country in the world. I decided to send for it and after it came I noticed that there was one Oettel family listed as living in Halle, Germany. I knew from my father that my Great Grandfather Reinhold had come from that town and I became curious about tracing his roots. I wrote a very short letter describing Reinhold and the approximate year he had emigrated and sent 6 letters to Oettel families in Germany. Rick translated them into German for me. One went to Else Oettel in Halle. She turned out to be Alfred Georg Oettel's second wife that he had married a few years after Agnes died. She forwarded the letter to Georg in Hamburg and we began a wonderful correspondance. He told me our family history and through him I learned about Robert Oettel and his emigration. On July 9th 1994 we met in Hamburg and had a wonderful 5 day reunion. Both of Georg's sons are teachers. Andreas lives in Hamburg with his wife and three children. Ulrich lives about 300 km south of Hamburg in Bad Bentheim with his wife and 9 children. We hope that in the future we will be able to return their hospitality. I never dreamed when I started on this search for my father's roots that it would turn out as it has. Our family has had its share of joys, sorrows and separations and it has brought me immense satisfaction to be able to record some of its history..who knows what the future might hold?Á ¸ Written by Joann Oettel Cosgrove in 1994 and updated in 2002 6