Greeting to everyone,
I must apologize for writing to this list in English, but I must ask several questions about my family ancestry.
My Name is Jake Benson, and I live in Columbia, South Carolina. My maternal great grandmother was named Emma Achelis Miller. She was the daughter of Thomas Achelis, who came to New York from Bremen in 1833. He had 6 children by his wife Julie Marie Hütterott Achelis. Thomas Junior, Fritz (Frederick), John (Johann), Anna, Marie, and Julie. Emma was the oldest daughter of John (Johann). I know that the early history of the Achelis family in Bremen has been published in Die Familie Achelis. I am trying to find some more info having to do with latter-day family members and long-lost cousins.
All of the Achelis children returned to Bremen to obtain their spouses except for Thomas Achelis Junior who never married. Fritz Achelis Married Bertha Köning, an old family from Hannover that is well documented. My great grandfather John married a woman named Emma Böckler. Anna Achelis married the Vietor family of New York and remianed there, Their sister julie married a man named William A. (Wilhelm Adolph?) Spies. Mr. Spies worked as a textile factor with the Vietor and Achelis family in New York. They had a daughter named Julie Alvina Spies, known as "allie" who was born in Brooklyn, never married, and died in 1971.
However Marie Achelis married a man named Johann Smidt and returned to Bremen. I am not sure if Johann Smidt would be the son of the famous Burgermeister of Bremen or not. The address for their home is 32 Contrescarpe in Bremen. I have a photograph of the house in which Marie is standing in the window, taken in 1886. I searched the web, and the building currently at 32 Contrescarpe doesn't look like the one in the photograph. There are records at Ellis Island of Johann Jr coming to the US, and another instance of Marie and her daughter Julie coming for a visit before WWI. I am not sure if any of the children emigrated to the US or not, but there are records of other Spies coming to the US.
Emma Achelis and her family travelled between germany and the US very frequently until World War I. Because of this, I have many photos of female relatives from the Hütterott, Böckler, Achelis, Smidt, and Spies families. I guess that as a well to do lady, she tended to collect images of her female over her male relatives. I think that some of these pictures were taken during her visits to Germany rather than in New York. However, one Böckler relative, named Dory Böckler, appears to have become an actress under the stage name
World War I had a profound impact on the Achelis family over divided loyalties. Emma Achelis and her husband Gardiner Miller lived with the Achelis family until this time, as a falling -out occured over politics. her father John was loyal to the Kaiser. I also understand that other children of Thomas Achelis felt similarly. However others, particularly their children felt themselves to be American. Frit'z daughter Elisabeth felt staunchly so, as did my great grandmother.
I think that over this issue, the communication between the family members slowed if not stopped. What had been frequent visits by the family to Bremen, and Marie to New York, slowed to a trickle after the war, and by the 1920's become infrequent. However I am not 100% sure. I have no photos from the 1920's, and I know that they did travel a bit to Europe (particularly Switzerland for medical reasons) before the Great Depression of 1929.
So... I am looking for members of the Achelis, Hütterott, Böckler, Smidt, and Spies families of Bremen. In time, I will preserve and scan these images of people and places in Bremen. Perhaps a historical society would be interested in these photos as they are before the wars? I have some images of the Böckler family in Berlin, the Smidt family in Bremen, and various friends, family, and parties in Bremen. There are also pictures of the city of Chemnitz. I am not sure of the connection. Perhaps visited for business reasons, perhaps because textiles were manufactured there?
I know little of the business the Vietor and Achelis family firm conducted. We have lost touch with all cousins of the Smidt family. It would be very interesting to re-establish acquaintance with these families once again and to share these old photos. Since there are images of other families, this would be of interest to many people not just my family. I wish this list had a web site to share images. I have started group on Yaoo
Thank you very much,
Jake Benson
Benson's Hand Bindery
1027 Brookwood Circle
West Columbia, SC 29169
(803) 926-5544