THE EMIGRATION OF LEOPOLD DREIFUSS AND SIBLINGS FROM GERMANY AND EARLY LIFE IN AMERICA

 

Note that this story also appears as a component part of Stories Never Shared

 

Introduction

 

Leopold Dreifuss and his emigration is perhaps one of the most interesting focus of research to us just as it was to our dad Leonard, who initiated our family research before us. This is because he was our direct link to our ancestors from the old world. We want to understand why our great grandfather, the first ancestor with the name Dreifuss emigrated and left Altdorf, the village in the Grand Duchy of Baden where his family had lived for several generations.

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Leopold Dreifuss ca 1875

 

Why would he come to this country in the 1860s, alone and not yet quite eighteen years old? He had been preceded by several aunts, uncles and cousins, who left beginning in the1840s but they didn't enjoy the privileges of citizenship that Leopold did. When Leopold left Altdorf in September 1868 the Jews of Baden had been granted certain liberties and opportunities for the first time.  His emigration was long before the National Socialist German Workers' Party rose to power and appeared to be between periods of war

 

There are are also additional questions regarding Leopold that have enhanced our interest in him. Perhaps it was because Leopold died at age 59 most of his grandchildren would never know him. Even Leopold's eight children did not seem to know much about their father's history. Certainly our grandfather, Isaac (called Joe by everyone who knew him) knew nothing that he could pass on to dad and to us about why his father left the home of his birth. He didn't even know the name of the town. Grandpa Joe was aware and passed on that once in the US Leopold had first gone to a small town in central Pennsylvania called Selinsgrove (see the Selinsgrove Connection). But Grandpa knew nothing more about Selinsgrove. Either Leopold did not wish to speak about it or grandpa wasn't eager to learn about it (like Leopold, Eugenie also had her secrets which we will discuss in a future article).

 

Perhaps if he had lived longer, Leopold would have left his stories for us to learn from his experiences. Without that we have tried to unearth an accurate picture of his life in Germany and in the United States during those first few years. Yet as we show below, it is difficult to tell the story without including three younger siblings: Aaron, Henry and Rosa. Aaron and Henry were the original Dreifuss Brothers.

 

The 1860s: Prospects for the Future

 

During the 1860s the Dreifuss family likely faced the same advantages and hardships of other Jews in Altdorf. Therefore it is interesting to examine the demographic data compiled for the village in Alice Dreifuss Goldstein's 1984 Monograph, "Determinants of Change and Response Among Jews and Catholics in a Nineteenth Century German Village". Apparently 19th century Altdorf marked the end of phenomenal growth experienced in the 18th century. In fact, an 1847 census data showed the first population decrease which would continue through the rest of the nineteenth century. The effect of the population increase and other changes during the 19th Century was more detrimental to the Jews than it was for the Catholics. Ms. Goldstein wrote,

 

 Altdorf was a growing town in the middle of the nineteenth century, but it certainly could not have supported all the offspring of the prolific Jewish Families -- or of the families of their Catholic fellow townspeople.  The Catholics could remain in the area by expanding land under cultivation or for use as grazing grounds. New crops, like tobacco were introduced, which further expanded opportunities for the growing population. But Jews could not own land and could not turn to similar solutions. Out-migration thus became a useful solution for the Jews. They had connections in many other places in the region, both family and business; many had also had experiences out of Altdorf, because they had often been sent away to serve as apprentices or to otherwise further their education. There was little to keep them in Altdorf or to lure them back once they had been to the region's cities."

 

Additionally, the mid 1800s began to offer Jews many more opportunities outside of small villages. In 1861, the Jews of Baden were granted full liberties by the Grand Duke Frederick and allowed to vote and hold office in their communities. Many Jews, especially younger ones began moving away, some to nearby cities and some to the United States.

 

If Leopold and his parents had any plan for his future against the backdrop of the changes in Altdorf, it was certainly impacted by events at home in 1864.

 

Tragedy in the Family

 

Insight into the 1864 events at home was first gained by examination of vital records for Leopold's village in a record book known as an Ortsippenbuch (OSB). An OSB contains a compilation of a community's vital records by family. The families of successive generation are linked together by assigning numeral references. We learned from the Altdorf Ortsippenbuch that Leopold's father (Isaac) and mother) (Rosina or Rosa) had nine children between 1849 and 1864, of which six were alive when the ninth was born. The ninth was apparently stillborn or died at birth. Rosa, just 43 years old, died 3 days later probably because of complications from the birth.

 

So Leopold and his siblings suddenly lost their mother. But there was more bad news in store for Leopold and is siblings. Their brother Simon suddenly died (age nine) in June of 1864. Then sometime after April 1864 and before July 1866, their father Isaac appears to have died also1,2. The document from July 1866 shown at left was found for us by a German professional in the Stadtarchiv (State Archive) of Freiburg. It revealed that Leopold's father Isaac also appears to have died by 1866. It named Isaac's brother, Samuel as the legal guardian for the non-adult children of Rosa and Isaac.

Document delivered to the Grand Ducal Notary appointing advisors for the orphans of Rosa and Isaac regarding inheritance from Rosa's father, Solomon Bernheim from Schmieheim. It also appointed their uncle as their "counter or supervisory guardian".

 

Footnotes:

 

1. There is no death record that was ever found for Isaac. He is not buried like other family members in the Schmieheim cemetery.
2. Rosa's father, Solomon Bernheim also died June of 1864. The close death dates of Rosa, her baby(Lisette), her son Simon and her father have often led us to suspect a contagious disease. Solomon was 87 years old and certainly mat have died of natural causes.

 

 

Continues in Part II of The Emigration of Leopold Dreifuss