Greetings,
I'm wondering if anyone on the list may be descended
from or otherwise have an insight into a Hempel family
from Stolberg (Sangerhausen District) who were
probably of Jewish origin, and specifically who the
parents of my 3rd great-grandfather Charles (Carl)
Hempel (b abt 1822) may have been.
What I can say with some certainty is that Charles
(Carl) Hempel, his wife Augusta Klaprodt/Klapproth,
and their three sons (John [Johann], Charles William
[Carl Willhelm], and Ernest [Ernst]) emigrated to
Massachusetts from Germany at the end of the American
Civil War and on the eve of the Prussian invasion of
Hanover in 1865 or 66. An 1870 census record for the
family indicates that they had come from "Hanover"
(which I had understood to mean the former Kingdom of
Hanover rather than the city), and an 1880 census
record for Charles William (Carl Willhelm) Hempel
indicates that his family had come from "Osterow".
With the help of a native German speaker and a further
clue (Augusta Klaprodt's cemetery record stating she
had been born in "Herzberg") I was able to ascertain
that this family had probably been living in the lower
Harz in the town of Osterode am Harz (present day
Lower Saxony; Herzberg am Harz is just a few
kilometers away). The Hempels were jewelers by trade
(at least in America).
The archivist at the Osterode am Harz archive just
confirmed that a Carl Hempel family with names and
dates that correspond to my own family history was
living in Osterode between the late 1840s (when my 3rd
great-grandparents likely married) and the middle of
the 1860s. We knew that Charles William (Carl
Willhelm) Hempel had been born about 1850 and there
was a Carl Hempel (s/o Carl Hempel) born in Osterode
on 9 May 1850. We knew that John (Johann) Hempel had
been born about 1855, and there was a Johann Hempel
(s/o Carl Hempel) born in Osterode on 18 April 1856.
My father and I had been raised to believe the Hempels
were German Protestants but told me in recent years
that he had long suspected the Hempels to have been
Jewish converts to Christianity. But the only evidence
we had to support this view was a picture of my 3rd
great-grandfather Charles (Carl) Hempel Sr who happens
to look exceptionally Jewish, and quiet whispers in
the family. As it turns out though my 2nd
great-grandfather Charles William (Carl Willhelm)
Hempel was attending the Institut Jacobson in Seesen
(Harz) which was a Jewish school in the nineteenth
century.
The archivist at Osterode was also able to locate real
estate records suggesting that a Carl Hempel living in
Osterode in the late 1840s was from Stolberg. I'm not
yet able to confirm that this is my 3rd
great-grandfather but the Hempel surname is scarce in
Osterode (and seems to have come and gone with the
middle of the 19th century) so it seems a reasonable
lead to follow up on.
So if anyone might have information on a Hempel family
from Stolberg I would welcome their email.
Best regards,
Kenneth Hempel