Anthony Koferl: A Life of Sorrow

At the end of the Civil War, Anthony Koferl was born in October 1864. He was the son of Henry and Amelia Koferl and the brother of my Grandfather, Henry Joseph Koferl. There were seven children born to Henry and Amelia. Anthony known as Tony was one of the seven children and was listed in the 1880 census as a glassworker or glazer is " a skilled tradesman responsible for cutting, installing, and removing glass." What did that mean in the 19th century"Many Glassworkers learned their trade as an apprentice or from another Glassworker.  Anthony's father was listed as a Jeweler on the 1870 Census, so Anthony would have apprenticed with another Glassworker. It is impossible to know of his level of mastery or skills that Anthony possessed. I am not even sure of where he worked. Glassworking is the main skill of a glass smith. The smith can create lenses, mirrors, dishware, small toys/art pieces, and windows all from his use and knowledge of glassworking. In most cities glass is for the rich and powerful. Gold and silks can be draped about by any fool, but glass is for those who can spend money."

Anthony met and married Annie Hoffman in 1892 in Kings County. According to the 1892 census, Anthony was no longer working as a glass worker but rather on a buttonhole machine. They lived on the same block and building as Anthony's parents. At the time of their marriage Anthony was eight years older then Annie. In 1900 they continued to live at 43 Johnson Avenue with their four year old son, John her mother Katie Hoffman and Anthony. According to the 1900 census Annie had four sibblings who predeceseaded her by this time. It also states that Katie Hoffman was born in Germany and immigrated to the United States in 1860 and a widow.

We know that somewhere between 1900 and 1904 the family moved to 248 Montrose Avenue, Brooklyn. It was in 1904 on October 22nd a tragedy struck the family. On that day their son, John at age 10 tried crossing the street while a large delivery truck came down the street. John was struck by the front wheel of the vehicle and he was killed instantly. The driver of the vehicle, James Hart was arrested and taken to the Stagg Street Police Station, as depicted below. James Hart was exonerated of all criminal action at a 

corners inquest. The minutes taken by the stenographer at the inquest were destroyed and no further information exist on the inquest.

One can imagine how Annie felt when she heard of the accident and came to identify her son who was lying on the street where she lived with her family.

The next year sees Annie and Anthony living in the same neighborhood. According to the census records from 1905. Annie is 32 and Anton is 40 years old and is listed as a tailor. At this time they are living on Bushwick Place and Manhattan Avenue.

Bushwick Avenue developed in the late nineteenth century as a residential center of industry in North Brooklyn. German brewers and other manufacturers built large villas and commissioned churches and other cultural institutions along the avenue. Smaller speculative row houses, infill tenements, and other multifamily dwellings from the late-nineteen to the early twentieth centuries housed the workforce and middle management of this small industrial enclave, and characterize the rest of the street and the remainder of the neighborhood. The elevated subway runs along Broadway, one block southwest, providing a few small shops and other commercial establishments, while at the west of the avenue, where it turns to the north, lie the historic breweries, warehouses, and other buildings that provided the economic foundation for the neighborhood's early growth. At their pre-Prohibition height, the fourteen breweries in Bushwick produced a peak output of 2.5 million barrels, supplying nearly 10% of all beer consumed in the United States. However, the advance of inexpensive rail transportation and mechanical refrigeration allowed entrepreneurs in other cities to make inroads into the market and brewing in Brooklyn declined. The closing of the remaining industry created an economic depression of the area. The population of Bushwick remained predominately German until the 1930s and 40s, when they were supplanted by Italian-Americans. In the late 1950s and 60s, African-Americans and Puerto Ricans migrated to the neighborhood, comprising more than half of its population by 1970. The economic downturn of the 1970s was keenly felt in Bushwick, when New York City's fiscal crisis prompted cuts to fire department service in the area at a time when abandoned buildings were subject to frequent fires, further devastating the neighborhood. Redevelopment efforts began in the 1980s and continue to this day.

On September 21, 1906 Annie passed away leaving Anthony as sole survivor and inherits $500 of real property. He then moves in with his brother Frederick and his family as seen in the 1910 census. He is listed as working in the trimmings business as a driver. They are living on Troutman Street in Brooklyn. On December 8 of 1910 Anthony passed away and is buried at the Evergreens Cemetery in Flatbush, Brooklyn. More research is being done on the cause of death Anthony and Annie and burial information.

Mina Koferl

Traditionally speaking Mina has always been considered the pet form of Wilhelmina, but technically speaking it could be the short form for any name that contains the “mina” suffix (Amina, Hermina, etc). Wilhelmina is the German, Dutch and Polish feminine form of Wilhelm (equivalent to the English William). The name is ultimately derived from the Germanic elements “wil” meaning “will, desire” and “helm” meaning “helmet, protection”. Put them together, you’ve got a desire for protection; thus, the name William has come to stand for a valiant protector. The English borrowed Wilhelmina from the Germans and Dutch in the 19th century and Mina is considered a diminutive used by all speakers as both a pet form and an independent name. In fact, Wilhelmina has become passé in terms of fashionable use (although the Dutch still use the name with respectable moderation). Mina, on the contrary, is quite popular in Norway and Serbia today and enjoys moderate usage in Germany, Sweden, France and the Netherlands. Aside from Mina’s clear connection to Wilhelmina, the name also has totally separate etymological roots in Hindu. In Sanskrit Mīna (मीना) means “fish” and is the name of the twelfth astrological sign Pisces on the Hindu zodiac.

Mina’s performance on the American female naming charts maps pretty closely to Wilhelmina, further providing evidence that these two names were originally connected. In the late 19th century and early 20th century Mina (like Wilhelmina) was moderately popular but as the 1900s got underway, the name slipped in usage. Mina’s decline on the charts was fairly slow and steady until she disappeared off the American radar by the mid 1940s. Her hiatus from usage would last nearly 60 years until her return in the 21st century in 2002. Today Mina sees low success and we assume now that Indian-Americans might be the propeller behind Mina’s renewed usage. Americans no longer think about names as old-fashioned and sternly Germanic as Wilhelmina, so we doubt that connection any longer exists. Mina is now more of a delicately simple exotic choice tied to Hindu or Arabic names (i.e., Amina). We like the idea for Mina as a girl’s name for babies born under the Pisces zodiac sign (whose symbol is the fish).

Mystery of the Miamogue Hotel Fire in South Jamesport

My Uncle Henry half brother to my father, Joseph was involved in a mysterious crime taking place in 1932. So far I haven't found any information proving who committed the arson. My attempt at checking the newspapers from 1932 gave me the information that I have reported in my article.

Built in 1875, this four-story waterfront inn had the distinction of being the tiny hamlet’s first big hotel. Destroyed by fire in 1895, the Miamogue was rebuilt two years later and expanded further when its owner, I. Seymour Corwin, purchased and then demolished a smaller neighboring hotel, the Sunnyside House. In 1932, the County Review reported that the Miamogue’s new owners, Henry A. Ramsauer and Henry Koferl, had been charged with second-degree arson for allegedly setting fire to the hotel in order to recover a $50,000 insurance policy. Nobody was injured in the incident, which took place before the hotel opened for the summer season. The Riverhead men were acquitted of the charges in May 1933, possibly because a defense attorney successfully indicated the fire was actually caused by two of the prosecution’s witnesses. The Miamogue Hotel was never rebuilt.

On April 27, 1932 a fire broke out in the attic of the Miamogue Hotel located in South Jameport, Long Island. Jointly owned by Henry F. Koferl and Harry A. Ramsauer it was recently purchased by the two plumbers who had a plumbing business in Riverhead. When firemen entered the fourth story of the hotel they found a lit candle near some oil soaked debris. Due to the find the fire was believed to be arson and the two owners were charged with second and third degree arson. Their lawyer, Harry Saxstien, of Saxstien & Scheinberg, filed a plea of not guilty and were secretly indicted by a Grand Jury. They were released on $7000 bail and were acquitted before Judge Hawkins on Monday after a jury had deliberated only 15 minutes.

Sometime after purchasing the hotel and between October 1931 and April 1932, Henry Koferl and Harry Ramsauer increased the insurance that they held on the hotel from $20,000 to $50,000. Two witnesses to the fire Jack Gerhardt, 40 of Riverside, and William Janis, 16 of Riverhead did not claim to know what started the fire were taken into custody at a local jail. They were released in May of that year after they had waived immunity rights and agreed  to testify in front of a grand jury.

The owners Harry Ramsauer and Henry Koferl were working on the hotel preparing it for the summer guest when the fire took place.

Lindenhurst Jewelry Store

My grandparents Anna and Henry Joseph Koferl in 1921 bought several lots of property in the village of Lindenhurst where they ran two stores Jewelry and Cigar right next to one another.  It was on the south side of Hoffman Ave on the west side of Wellwood Ave. According to the deed dated May 19, 1921 it was described as block number 43 lot 5 and 6. Below is a tax map showing the property. My father was 7 when they purchased the stores. He often reminisced crawling through a connecting closet between both stores. The businesses didn’t last long due to my grandfather falling ill when working on the house roof fell and damaged his heart muscles leading to his death in 1923. He died at home on the fifth of November. According to the obituary my grandfather started the business in 1914.

I am now interested in locating any photographs of the stores. My next stop is the town historian. I contacted the Town historian, Mary Cascone. She suggested I look through the Village Historical Society photo albums, especially the business volume. So off I go tomorrow hopefully to visit the Historical Society.

The below is a 1925 Sanborn map showing the same corner as the tax map found above. 

Another closeup of the same corner.

Another view of the same avenue looking down the street where we see a jewelry store listed. Is it competition or did they own another piece of property.

The Apprenticeship

For a number of generations the Koferl family trade was jewelers. This was trade you learned through apprenticeship and was passed down through training in the family business. A jeweler is an artisan who uses metals, gems and other materials to create adornments like bracelets, earrings, rings, and necklaces. They might also be called upon to repair, adjust, clean, and appraise pieces of jewelry.

An apprenticeship is a system of training a new generation of practitioners of a trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study (classroom work and reading). Apprenticeship also enables practitioners to gain a license to practice in a regulated profession. Most of their training is done while working for an employer who helps the apprentices learn their trade or profession, in exchange for their continued labor for an agreed period after they have achieved measurable competencies. Apprenticeships typically last 3 to 7 years. People who successfully complete an apprenticeship reach the "journeyman" or professional certification level of competence.

The system of apprenticeship first developed in the later Middle Ages and came to be supervised by craft guilds and town governments. A master craftsman was entitled to employ young people as an inexpensive form of labour in exchange for providing food, lodging and formal training in the craft. Most apprentices were males, but female apprentices were found in crafts such as seamstress,^[1] tailor, cordwainer, bakerand stationer.^[2] Apprentices usually began at ten to fifteen years of age, and would live in the master craftsman's household. Most apprentices aspired to becoming master craftsmen themselves on completion of their contract (usually a term of seven years), but some would spend time as a journeyman and a significant proportion would never acquire their own workshop.

In Coventry those completing seven-year apprenticeships with stuff merchants were entitled to become freemen of the city.^[3]

Subsequently, governmental regulation and the licensing of technical colleges and vocational education formalized and bureaucratized the details of apprenticeship.^{[citation needed]}

Although jewelers also work in silver and gold, and many of the techniques for working precious metals overlap, the trades of jeweler and Silversmith have distinct histories. Chain-making and gem-setting are common practices of jewelers that are not usually considered aspects of silversmiths.

Johann George Ohnmacht

Johann George Ohnmacht was born in Luetzenhardt, Germany on October 24, 1767 to Eva Luz and Johann Ulrich Ohmnachten. Johann Ulrich Ohnmacht or Ohmnachten was around 28 years when his wife Eva gave birth to Johann George. Luetzenhart around this time was converting to a village from a sheep farm. Many of the residents were engaged in basket weaving, broom-binding while tinder and fire-traders grew rapidly. Around 1750 there were thirty-five residents of this small village. Twelve of the names of the residents appeared in the records between 1660 and 1750. Some of the village people came to Luetzenhart because they had little land to work where they were living and so moved to the village between 1750 ad 1800. Some of the new residents were dismissed soldiers who could not find work, beggars and vagabonds. There was little opportunity that these homeless people would find work in Luetzenhart and usually were temporary residents. During the period from 1750 to 1800 the town continue to gain a bad reputation and in 1784 it was reported to the authorities. Therefore the family's reasons for moving to Langenbrand were numerous.

By 1787 the family had moved to Langenbrand where it was recorded that Jakobine Weick Genth had

given birth to Eva Barbara Ohnmacht. At the time Johann George Ohnmacht was not married to Jakobine. Jakobine who was married to Johann Adam Genth was married on February 7, 1786. Jakobine Weick was born on June 25, 1763 to Johann Jacob Weick and Barbara Weick. There were two other children born out of wedlock Jacob Frid Genth who did not get Johann George Ohnmacht last name. Jacob was born on October 12, 1789. When Johann George turned 25 a third child, a girl was born to Jakobine and was given the name of Jacobina Ohnmacht. The child lived for a year. some time after that Johann Adam Genth passed away and Johann George married Jakobine Genth on September 6, 1796 probably at the church pictured above. 

Two Brothers Went To War

 My Grandmother, Gertrude Ohnmacht had two half brothers that were involved in World War I. They fought for the Kaiser in the Prussian Royal Army. Both of the brothers were single and living at home in Neuhaeusel where their parents Jean Grossholtz and Katharine Phillips lived.  Aloyse was born on August 16 or 19, 1892 and his brother George’s was born March 22, 1895 both births took place in Neuhaeusel where they were Baptized at St. Luc’s.
Aloyse was a civil engineer student before the war. During the war he was sapper of the second company in the first Royal Prussian Engineering Battalion established in Hanover (number 10). “He died on January 4th according to the register or on January 5th according to the same monument, of the year 1915. According to the death certificate, he died in Berry-au-Bac, a small village which is today in Aisne (Picardy) which was at the heart of the fighting during the First World War. Indeed, the Front, from the Somme to Switzerland, crossed the small town. It is also in the area that we began digging the first trenches. On the 5th of January, 1915, at Berry-au-Bac, the seventh German army with the twelfth army corps fought the fifth and sixth infantry divisions of the French army in stationary battles in trachea. The time of death could not be determined. He was twenty-two years old at the time of his death.” http://www.memorialgenweb.org/memorial3/html/fr/complementter.php?id=1658388

A Sapper, also called pioneer or combat engineer, is a combatant or soldier who performs a variety of military engineering duties such as breaching, demolitions, bridge-building, laying or clearing minefields, field defenses as well as building, road and airfield construction and repair. They are also trained to serve as infantry personnel in defensive and offensive operations. A sapper's duties are devoted to tasks involving facilitating movement, defence and survival of allied forces and impeding those of enemies. To the right is a photograph of a Sapper soldier with the Prussian Army.

At that time in the history of the German Army, males were required to serve in the army for three years. Up until 1919 there was no German Army other then the Royal Prussian Army. 

Georges Grossholtz was Aloyse’s younger brother. Before the war he lived in Neuhaeusel and worked as an assistant to a farmer. He was a rifleman in the Prussian Royal Regiment of Rifle Guards. This regiment based in Berlin was composed of soldiers from all over the Empire. E died on July 6, 1916 during the battle of Somme five days after the start from fighting between the French and English against the Germans. The battle left a death toll off 500,000 people. According to a letter received from his captain Georges died in a small town known as Ovillers-La-Boisselle.

This is a memorial found in the center of Neuhaeusel dedicated to the memory of the men who perished during WWI and WWII from the town.