Peter Elias’ Family History
Peter Elias’ Family History
First Generation
Second Generation
Bar Mitzvah in Seitengasse Synagogue - the only one in Vienna to survive the war.
Left Vienna 6/38 for England.
On 21 Mar 1946 when Kurt was 27, he married Nina DUTCHER M.D.. They were divorced in Jul 1974.
3. Nina DUTCHER M.D., daughter of 6. Basil Hicks DUTCHER MD, Colonel & 7. Eberhardine (Nina) DIEZ. Born on 22 Sep 1920 in Walter Reed. Nina died in Ann Arbor, MI, on 27 Mar 2017; she was 96. Occupation: Physician, Homemaker. Education: Vassar ’42, NY Medical College, Mt. Sinai.
A letter of April 28th, 1929 from step sister Catherine Dutcher to William Diez about custody and care of Nina and Mary:
“Dear Mr. Diez,
I received your letter and regret to hear that you have been ill. I trust that you are well on the road to recovery.
It seems to me incredible hat the court should not take blood relationships as well as reisdeence into account when assigning a guardianship. I wouild dislike very much to have the children left to the care of strangers.
My attorney, Mr. Samuel T. Carter, suggested that I write to your lawyer, who could get in touch with him on untangling this problem. Mr. Carter’s address is Trinity Building, 111 Braodway, NYC.
I imagine that you will want the children to finish the term at their present school. My sister (ed.: Carolene) and I expect to settle just outside of New York in the late summer or fall, as I would not like to bring up children in the city. The place that I am considering has a good public school which in that neighborhood would I believe be equal to a private one and have the further advantage of conswerving a part of their income. As nearly as I can estimate it will take betweeneleven and twelve hundred dollars a year to maintain them both, about half of that being for board, and the remainder for clothers, medical care, dentistry and incidental expenses. When they are a few years older, they will need the entire income, especially if they enter college early.
One of us, either my sister of I, will be at home with the children all the time, while the other ‘holds down a job.’ We are very glad that there is at least a prospect of having Mary and Nina with us, and wish to give them as nice a home as we possibly can,
Sincerely,
Catherine Dutcher”
Mary recalls (personal conversation) that a woman accompanied the two girls from Panama to NYC where they stayed for several days. They saw Sonny Boy (Davey Lee) in ‘Frozen River’ which was the first Rin Tin Tin movie. Mimi stayed with Catherine at Mrs. Keating’s house, and Nina stayed with Carolene at Carolene’s dressmaker’s house. They then went to Tarrytown and stayed in a boarding house (Mrs. Mortimer’s) while the Irvington house was being completed, perhaps 6 months. They spent a Christmas time there. They would take a bus from Tarrytown to Irvington, getting something first at Cushman’s Bakery and drinking from a public spring in Irvington. Mimi and NIna would look for loose change in the bus cushions.
Nina Dutcher Elias has pictures of herself and Mary as an infant in Chevy Chase.
Nina Dutcher Elias recalls having been in California when her mother died. Her parents had not been getting along, were separated and in the process of divorce when Nina and Mary went to California to live with ‘Uncle Will’ when Nina was a baby. They first lived on 625 East Elk Street and then another location in Glendale. Nina went to first grade in Glendale. Then they went to Mrs. Edna R. Ritchie’s boarding school at Los Arboles Private School, 1430 N Marengo Avenue in Pasadena for two (1927-1928 and 1928-1929) years. Nina Elias has pictures of them in their boarding school uniforms.
Uncle Will was unwilling to take in wife Madge’s children by her prevous marriage to a judge (Marguerite and Lansing) so they were cared for by their grandmother and Madge’s sister ‘Aunt Jessie’ and lived nearby. Madge was unwilling to take in JUST Mary and Nina, but was willing to take in all four. This may have explained why Mary and Nina were in a boarding school for two years and the negotiations in the above letter from Catherine Dutcher about custody and finances and schooling.
Nina entered Irvington public school in 4th grade, Mary in 5th grade.
Nina attended Vassar ’42 (with Katherine Eisenhart and Esther Gleason who were freinds of the Carters from Caspian Lake).
Third Generation
Early interests included music, history, fencing, horsemanship, Shakespeare. Very strong willed and had a poor relationship with his father; it was so bad that at age 13 on a summer vacation trip to Aussee, they went on separate trains. Academically superb in all areas, but never felt approved of by his father. His mother had died when he was young. Somewhat of a ladies man.
His first romance was with Lisa Schieb (who later married the lawyer who represented Mutti, and whose daughter his son Kurt dated). He then was involved with two women simultaneously and had a hard time deciding between them. Ada Hirsch was a pediatrician and Ilse Von Arnim a nurse he met at the Galetian Front.
After marrying Ilse he was very happy for several years, but the relationship deteriorated. She was very intense and tried to make him jealous. She attempted suicide when her chidlren were young, was in a coma for a time, and had chronic renal problems thereafter.
Left Vienna 11.9.1938 (after Kristallnacht) for Belgrade, where he stayed with the senior Rabbi.
http://ub.meduniwien.ac.at/blog/?p=612
On 5 Sep 1916 when Herbert was 31, he married Ilse Marie Adelheid Von ARNIM in Vienna. They were divorced in 1935.
They had the following children:
2i.
Kurt M.D. (1918-2010)
ii.
Johannah (Hanni) Elisabeth Ph.D (1917-2011)
Family lore: described as unattractive, domineering, eccentric, romantic and mystic with interest in the occult.
Was a nurse and met Herbert on the Russian front. The marriage was an unhappy one. She attempted suicide in 1922 in the setting of consideration of divorce.
Visited US in 1947 but wouldn’t visit Kurt and Nina in North Carolina or stay for Peter’s birth. Instead stayed with Hannah in Detroit. Did not like Eric Husserl or Nina Dutcher. Hannah told Kurt not to let her stay with them - it wouild be bad for the marriage. She visited friends in NYC and made freinds with Carolene Dutcher (whom she falsely told that Kurt would not let her visit in North Carolina), considered but decided not to stay in the US.
She visited again in 1958, became close to Margaret.
Broke her hip.
Family lore:
After finishing high school at Friend’s Seminary he was ready to go to college at 17 and he wanted to go to Harvard but his parents didn’t want him to go. He went to Columbia School of Mines. His family lived at 565 Morningside Drive, a brownstone in what is now Harlem and he could walk to Columbia. He had planned to be an engineer but switched to medicine at direction of his father. He joined the army as a physician to avoid the business aspects of medicine.
In the army, he served in Panama during the building of the canal (though this is not listed in his official service list so likely incorrect). He rejected his daughter Catherine becuase of her polio and resultant disability. Described as being severe, rigid, and unyielding.
Jan 28, 1920 discharged from service for medical reasons - discharge papers
******
Hume, Col. Edgar Erskine. ORNITHOLOGISTS of the UNITED STATES ARMY MEDICAL CORPS: THIRTY SIX BIOGRAPHIES. Baltimore. Johns Hopkins Press (1942). pp 105 - 129.
VI.
Basil Hicks Dutcher (1871 - 1922)
Colonel, Medical Corps, United States Army
³Son of a well known ornithologist, William Dutcher, and Catherine Price, his wife, Basil Hicks Dutcher was born at Bergen Point, New Jersey on 3 December 1871. He graduated (Ph. B) from the Columbia School of Mines in 1892 and received his M.D. from the College of Physicians and Surgeons of New York in 1895. At an early age he became interested in natural history, particularly ornithology, and accompanied his father on many collecting trips to Long Island and other points in the vicinity of New York. His daughter, Catherine, has still his old ledger, stamped with his name, in which from his eleventh to his nineteenth year, he kept a record of the nests he and his father found on Long Island. Measurements of both nests and eggs are given. When but nineteen years of age he was appointed a field assistant in the Division of Ornithology of the United States Department of Agriculture and took part in the biological reconnaissance of Idaho under the direction of Dr. Clinton Hart Merriam in 1890. In the following summer he became a member of the Death Valley Expedition and for three months was in charge of the meteorological station in Big Cottonwood Meadows near Mount Whitney, California, at an altitude of about 10,000 feet. It will be recalled that at that period the Medical Department of the Army had charge of meteorological work in the United States.²
Dutcher received his medical degree in 1895 and then took and passed the examination for admission to the Medical Corps of the United States Army. He was commissioned Assistant Surgeon on 26 October 1896. His induction records describe him as: ³Age 24 11/12ths; 66 inches tall; weight 117 pounds; blue eyes; flaxen hair; fair complexion; and no physical defects noted.² He graduated at the Army Medical School in 1897. Subsequent promotions were as follows: Captain 26 October 1901; Major 23 April 1908; Lieutenant Colonel 1 July 1916; and Colonel 15 May, 1917.
A close friend and fellow naturalist for whom Dutcher worked as an assistant in the U.S. Biological Survey in 1890 (while an 18 year old college sophomore) named a species of meadow mouse Microtus dutcheri and designated the pocket mouse Perognathus merriami gilvus as the Dutcher Pocket Mouse in his honor.
This biography reprints a number of letter between Bailey and Dutcher, including descriptions of naturalist field research and observations about the life and people in the Philippines where Dutcher served. These letters are fascinating reading.
The biography includes a summary of the ³station list² from his service record.
*Army Medicaal School from 4 November 1896 to 13 March 1897
*20 March to 14 December 1897 served at Fort Leavenworth, KS
*December 1897 to December 1898 served at Fort Grant, AZ
*13 July 1899 sailed on the transport ship ³City of Para² for Manila;
served as Assistant Surgeon on the voyage.
*12 August 1899 to 16 January 1900 was Regimental Surgeon of 20th Infantry at Fort Santiago, Manila and surgeon of Bilibid Prison and attending surgeon of the 14th Infantry.
*12 October 1899 participated in a skirmish at Cavite Viejo, Luzon and at San Francisco de Malabon.
*January to 3 April 1900 on duty with 47th Infantry at Bulusan, then returned to Fort Santiago
*July to November 25, 1900 Surgeon to the 24th Infantry at Pangasinan, Luzon
*October to 11 July 1901 ill and in hospitals in Manila and at Nagasaki, Japan and sailed on transport Meade for San Francisco
*August 1901 to 26 September 1904 at Fort Hancock, NJ and Sandy Hook Proving Grounds
*26 September 1904 to 16 November 1905 at Fort Apache, AZ
*17 November 1905 to 12 June 1906 at Washington Barracks of Columbia, and at Boston, pursuing course at the London School of Tropical Medicine; graduated with distinction.
*June 1906 sailed from San Francisco on transport Sheridan, arriving Manila on 1 August 1906
*August 1906 to August 1908 on duty in Philippines at Javo, Leyte; Camp Bumpus; Warwick Barracks; Iloilo; Manila
*15 August to 12 September 1908 en route Manila to San Francisco
*4 November 1908 to 19 September 1912 on duty at Plattsburgh Barracks, NY
*11 October 1912 to 14 August 1913 at Fort Sam Houston, TX
*Until 23 June 1917 post Surgeon at San Juan, Puerto Rico
*Until 30 November 1917 at Camp ES Otis, Canal Zone.
During WWI, Dutcher served briefly in the Office of the Surgeon General (Gorgas) and was then assigned as commanding officer of Base Hospital 37. On 18 May 1918 sailed for Europe with this hospital, stationed first at Plymouth and then at Brest. On 1 November 1918 assigned to Base Section Number 5, American Expeditionary Forces. Returned to the United States March 1919 and assigned to duty at Fort Dix, NJ. Transferred to Fort Hamilton, NY in January 1920.
Dutcher was decorated with the ŒPalmes Academiques¹ (grade of Officer of Public Instruction) by the French Government.
Dutcher retired from active duty 6 February 1920 based on disability in the line of duty and settled at 6 Grafton Street, Chevy Chase, MD where he lived until his death at Walter Reed General Hospital (16 January 1922). He was buried Lot 4580, Southern Section, National Cemetery, Arlington.
Pictures in the biography include him sitting with his father William Dutcher (1846-1920) on the porch of the Westminster Hotel at Alexandria Bay, Thousand Islands, NY at age 16 (the caption incorrectly states the location is Long Island). The pair are preparing a taxidermy specimen of a loon, which is one of two loons prepared by Dutcher and in the collection of the American Museum of Natural History. The other illustration is an upper body photograph of Dutcher in his uniform with the rank of Colonel.
Publications by Dutcher include:
³Bird Notes from Little Gull Island, New York,² The Auk, April 1889, vi, number 2, 124-131.
³Mammals of Mount Katahdin, Maine,² Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington, 1903, 63-71.
Brief excerpts from his publications appear in the biography.
Dutcher¹s first wife was Maude Helen Walker of Rome, NY. She died 1917, leaving two daughters: Catherine, born 1898 and Carolene, born 1903, both lived in Irvington, NY and died without issue. His second wife was Nina Diez, born in NYC. This marriage resulted in two daughters, Mary Dutcher (born 1919) and Nina Dutcher (born 1920), both now deceased.
*******
Military stations:
November 4, 1896 entered Army Medical School, graduated March 3 1897
March 20 through December 1897 @ Fort Leavenworth
? to January 1900 in Manila
July 1901 Nagasaki, Japan
1901-1904 Fort Hanckock, NJ
1904-1905 Fort Apache, AZ
1905-1906 Londond Schgool of Tropical Medicine
1906 - 1908 Phillipines
1908 - 1912 Plattsburgh, NY
1912 - 1913 Fort Sam Houston, TX
1913 - 1917 Puerto Rico
1917 - Panama Canal Zone
1918 - 1919 WWI posted in FRance
1920 Fort Hamilton
1920 Retired for medical reasons
On 1 May 1918 when Basil Hicks was 46, he married Eberhardine (Nina) DIEZ in First Reformed Church, North Tarrytown, NY.
7. Eberhardine (Nina) DIEZ, daughter of 14. Carl Wilhelm DIETZ & 15. Eberhardina ROTH. Born in Jul 1889. Eberhardine (Nina) died in Glendale, California, on 1 Sep 1927; she was 38. Buried in Forest Lawn Cemetery, Glendale, California.
Didn't like 'Eberhardina' and changed to Nina (pronounced with long 'i' - as in Nine-a).
Letter to Gretchen Diez from Aunt Mae (Charlie's widow) dated March 1, 1977 says: "Your fathers name was William and his mothers was Eberhardina. In fact his sister was named Eberhardina too but they called her Dina until she went to work then she changed it to Nina."
Probably died as a result of complications of drowning attempt in Coronado, CA (per Mimi and Nina, personal conversation 22 August 2005.)
Per her death certificate, she had married Captian William Johns. Mimi and Nina both recall that she took the two of them down to the beach in their night gowns intending to drown together, were found by police, and then subsequently tried to drown herself and then died of pneumonia.
Link to article about her filing for divorce:
https://www.ancestry.com/mediaui-viewer/tree/38853...24-9741-ae40bdad8ea7
Fourth Generation
8. Salomon ELIAS Dr., son of 16. Joachim ELIAS & 17. Ludwiga Leni FRANKL. Born on 4 Oct 1841 in Waag-Neustadtl. Salomon died in Vienna on 22 Feb 1935; he was 93. Buried on 24 Feb 1935. Occupation: Attorney. Education: Gymnasium Pressburg, Bratislava, University Of Vienna Law School. Religion: Jewish.
Studied law at the University of Vienna. Practised law. A member of "Agudas Achim" and a court lawyer.
Described by Kurt Elias as a “ruthless” lawyer in the Hapsburg court of Franz Josef. When he escaped the pogrom he went to Vienna and lived on the first floor of the Liechtensteinstrasse apartment where Kurt Elias was raised.
He and his wife were angry when grandon Kurt didn’t marry a Jew.
On 25 Mar 1873 when Salomon was 31, he married Helene KAUDERS in Vienna?
They had the following children:
i.
Julius (1874-1944)
ii.
Melitta (1878-1938)
4iii.
Herbert M.D. (1885-1975)
9. Helene KAUDERS, daughter of 18. Anton KAUDERS Dr. & 19. Johanna (Hanni) WOLF. Born on 28 Oct 1854 in Eisenstadt, Austria. Helene died in Vienna, Austria, on 15 Jul 1921; she was 66.
Apparently depressed. Possibly ill chronically with syphilis. Went home to her family rather than staying with her husband.
http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.b290568;...size=100;seq=7;num=1 for his translation of Euripides in electronic form.
Hans von Arnim took his doctorate in Greifswald in 1882. His embarking on the collection of the fragments of the Stoics was influenced by W., then already in Göttingen (Hans Schwabl, focusing on Arnim's career in Vienna). ..An extreme case is Schwabl's paper of 90 pages on von Arnim which includes 40 pages of documents on von Arnim's academic career (e. g. his salary in Vienna).” From an online entry in the Bryn Mawr Classic Review accessed at: http://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2001/2001-09-18.html
On 9 Oct 1884 when Hans Friederich August was 25, he married Ella (Elisabeth) Marie Henriette RIESE in Berlin, Germany.
They had the following children:
5i.
Ilse Marie Adelheid (1887-1969)
ii.
Helmuth Friederich Hans (1892-1919)
iii.
Hertha Elisabeth (1895-1980)
iv.
Bernd Dietrich Hans (1899-1946)
The following information is extracted from a memorial pamphlet published by the New Jersey Audubon Society:
"...the man who may be properly hailed as the father and originator of bird protection in America..."
He left school at 14 and farmed in Massachusetts until age 20. He removed to NY and "...engaged in the business of life insurance..." for over 40 years. He read extensively and loved natural history, especially ornithology. He was an originl member of the Commitee for the Protection of Birds of the American Ornithologists' Union and remained a member or chairman until their work was subsumed by the Audubon Societies.
He studied the birds of Long Island and published a history of the extict Labrador Duck in the AUK. He was on the council of the American Ornithologists' Union and Treasurer for a number of years and regular contributor to it's journal, the Auk. He travelled in summer to Maine to study and photograph birds, often accompanied by his daughter Mary (with whom he was very close).
The original Audubon Society movement had been launched in 1886 by Forest and Stream but had fallen into decline by 1888 due to lack of financilal support. At that time State Audubon Societies were organized and in 1901 a union of these state societies was begun by the National Committee of Audubon Societies (in 1905 icorporated as the National Association of Audubon Societies). During this time, this organized effort for national protection of birds was maintained "...largely through the untiring efforts and buoyant faith of Mr. Dutcher, who contributed unstintingly of his time, effort and money, as far as he was able, always with no other recompense than a finally realized ideal..." In 1906 the will of benefactor Albert Willcox placed the societies on a secure footing, arranged by Mr. Dutcher.
On October 19, 1910 in Plainfield, NJ he had a stroke. He recovered partially but did not regain his speech or ability to walk. He moved to Chevy Chase, MD on April 18, 1920 and had another stroke on June 23, 1920 and died on July 1, 1920. He was buried in Hillside Cemetery, Plainfield, NJ on July 6, 1920.
His memberships included: American Ornithologists' Union, NY Academy of Sciences, New York Zoological Society, The American Association for the Advancement of Science, The Royal Society for the Protection of Brids (Great Britain), the Linnaean Society of New York, the American Museum of natural History, the Sons of the American Revolution, the General Society of Mayflower Descendants. He was President of the National Association of Audubon Societies from its organization until his death.
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His efforts led to formation of Bonnie Burn Sanataium, Union County, NJ, a tuberculosis sanatarium. Plainfield’s open air school was named for him.
On 18 May 1870 when William was 24, he married Catherine Oliver (Scaldy) PRICE in Elizabeth, NJ.
They had the following children:
i.
Mary (Aunt Polly) (1879-1909)
6ii.
Basil Hicks MD, Colonel (1871-1922)
DAR Registry number 55838.
Burned when little and called ‘Scaldy.”
High blood pressure and strokes
14. Carl Wilhelm DIETZ, son of 28. Johann Christian DIETZ & 29. Dorothee WAGENHALS. Born on 10 Sep 1853 in Willsbach, Wurttemberg, Germany. Christened on 25 Sep 1853 in Willsbach, Württemberg, Germany. Carl Wilhelm died in Brooklyn, NY, on 15 Jun 1911; he was 57. Buried on 17 Jun 1911 in Lutheran Cemetery, NY. Occupation: Butcher.
Originally German and spelled the name Dietz at the time of his arrival in New York.
Immigrated 1882 to NYC. He is passenger number 585 (out of a total manifest of 625) on the passenger list of the ship Oder arriving steerage 3 July 1882 from Bremen, Germany. His name is written “Wilhelm Dietz” and his age is given as 28. He is described as a “workman.”
Although his children changed their last name to Diez in 1916, his name was still Dietz on the death certificate in 1911.
His wife, who arrived in NYC on the same vessel, died in 1900 in childbirth when Baby Ernest was born and William had to raise children.
In the 1900 NYC directory there is a William Dietz listed under ‘meat’ at 1132 Park Avenue, but this is a different William Dietz father-son combintion. This caused me considerable confusion at first.
In 1887 when Carl was born they lived at 440 E 12th Street. (NYC)
In 1891 when William was born, they lived at 441 E 19th Street. (NYC)
In 1898 when Fred was born, they lived at 321 Ellery Street, in Brooklyn.
His marriage certificate confirms 10 September 1853 as dob, Karlsbad, Wurtemburg, and father’s name Christian. He was living at 71 Washington St, Hoboken, NJ at the time (Oct 18, 1883). Married at 248 Garden St. Hoboken, NJ
He developed blood poisoning probably as a result of an infection acquired in his work as butcher and was subsequently chronically ill and unable to support the family, and became depressed. He committed suicide.
The children were initially farmed out to various relatives (among the Roths by oral family tradition without documentation). The children Charlie, Nina and William established their own home and took in and raised 'little Fred'.
The birth certificate (#31791) of son (Willie Dietz) says he was born 5 September 1891 and says they lived then at 441 E 19th Street and lists the father as William Dietz age 37 - making his probable birth date 1854 - and born in Germany, occupation butcher). Mother Eberhardine Roth was listed on birth certificate as age 36, making her birth date approximately 1855. An official correction to the son Willie’s birth certificate (P#3783 ) was approved 23 June 1916 and changes the spelling of both father and son from Dietz to Diez. That birth certificate also states there were 5 children with three living in 1891, suggesting two children born and not surviving, not known to this researcher.
His death certificate spells his name “Dietz” and indicates he died of a pistol shot to the head as a suicide in Bushwick Park (Now Maria Hernandez Park) on Knickerbocker Avenue and (Suydam) Place. According to the coroner’s report he lived at 53 Brewer (?spelling) Place at the time of his death and was buried 17 June 1911 in the Lutheran Cemetery
On 18 Oct 1883 when Carl Wilhelm was 30, he married Eberhardina ROTH in German Reformed Church, Hoboken, NJ.
They had the following children:
i.
Unknown (Died as Infant) (<1887-)
ii.
Unknown (Died as Infant) (<1887-)
iii.
Charles (1887-1964)
7iv.
Eberhardine (Nina) (1889-1927)
v.
William (1891-1976)
vi.
Fred (1898-1964)
vii.
Ernst (Died as Infant) (1900-1900)
15. Eberhardina ROTH, daughter of 30. Jakob ROTH & 31. Eberhardina BAUER. Born on 20 Dec 1860 in Plattenhardt, Germany. Eberhardina died in 1900; she was 39.
She appears as Eberhardina Roth and is listed as passenger number 355 on the passenger list of the German Steamship Oder, bound from Bremen and arriving steerage in NYC, NY on 3 July 1882.
Her husband to be, William Dietz was on the same vessel. The ship’s manifest says there were 625 passengers, 558 of whom travelled steerage, and most were German.
Their third child - but the first to survive - was born in 1887. This suggested that they were married between 1882 and 1885. Searches for marriage certificate ibn NYC showed nothing as she was married in Hoboken, NJ in 1883. She died in childbirth in 1990 and her fifth surviving child Ernst died about a month later. Her death certificate has not yet been found.