Family Trees and Branches

Another family researcher just asked for some trees to be "planted" here -- hence these two images. More stories soon. -- ELK

Photos: Max and Sophie Minden and Their 10 Children

Many thanks to Judi (Novice) Roth for providing these wonderful photos! Here are Max Jechiel Minden (1859-1914) and Sophie (Feitler) Minden (1867-1949) (Generation A by our counting here). Max was born in Hamburg, Germany, and Sophie in Oppenheim, Germany; their first child, Henry, was born in 1890, so at a guess, they may have married around 1888.

Sophie gave birth to 11 children, but one, Siegmond, died at age 8 or 9 (1894-1903).
Here are the remaining 10 children:

The boys are (from oldest) Henry, Robert, Ernest, Hans, and Alfred.
The girls are (from oldest) Anna, Frances, Babette, Lizzy, and for the fifth daughter I have two names, without dates of birth: Claire and Sophie -- Judi or Ruth, can you help on this, please?

Max Minden & Company, Ltd.: Egg Importers, Hull, England

This is what I remember about my grandfather, Ernest, mentioning selling eggs: His friend Kurt Delbanco told me (about the year 2000) that Kurt himself had started his working career selling pig bristles and related products -- pig bristles were valued for artists' brushes, and Kurt followed that path to become an artist himself. Ernest, on the other hand, started out selling eggs; Kurt smiled at the conjunction of the two agricultural products.

I didn't realize until recently that the likely reason for Ernest Minden (Generation 1) selling eggs as a young man was that this was the family business. Ernest's father was Max Minden (Generation A), and Max owned an egg importing company in Hull, England, called Max Minden & Company, Ltd.

This week I was excited to find three images that relate to the company. First, shown above, is a photo of a company truck! I am trying to obtain the original photo.

Second and third, below, are mentions of the company: one from 1917 in an Iowa publication called The Egg Reporter and clearly referring to the risks of the war for egg importing; and the other, dated 1905, from a Canadian government department. This pair suggests that Max Minden & Co. was importing eggs from both Canada and the United States.

Finally, I can't access the images for these, but the Hill History Centre has a number of documents that include mention of Max Minden & Company in the survey of damages from the Second World War. If you are visiting Hull, please do go look! One of them has the following information:

Forms for the notification of war damage under section 10 of the War Damage Act, 1941. War Damage Commission Form C.

Reference No:

C TCY/2/1/2/770

Dates:

12 Dec 1940

Description:

Position of Property Damaged: Alfred Gelder Street, Max Mindens
Type of Property Damaged: Warehouse
Date of Damage: 12 Dec 1940
Cause of Damage: Incendiary Bombs

Format:

Archive Item

Extent:

1 item

Access Conditions:

Access will be granted to any accredited reader

Repository:

Hull University Archives

Collection:

Town Clerk's Records relating to World War II

Generation A: Max and Sophie (Feitler) Minden and the Hamburg (Germany) Temple

Much of this information is very new to me -- my research was prompted by a fragment in a letter this week from Georg Iggers (Generation 2; his name was originally Georg Gerson Igersheimer), son of Lizzie (Minden) Iggers of Generation 1, and grandson of Max Minden (Gen. A).

Georg and his wife Wilma wrote alternating chapters for a compelling book on their lives, Two Lives in Uncertain Times, published in 2006. (Note: We have two more copies arriving here next week, one of which is already going to Judi Roth; if someone wants/needs the other, let me know. -- BK) On page 25 in the book, Georg writes of his father, from a very observant Orthodox family in Frankfurt, and his mother's father, Max Minden, who "was the son of the cantor of the central Liberal synagogue, the Temple, in Hamburg. I supsect that my grandmother Sophie also came from a Liberal family in Oppenheim. My grandfather Max seems to have been religiously indifferent but was active in Jewish philanthropy. He helped to resettle Russian Jews in the United States and made at least two trips to the United States to see how they were doing. He became a prosperous businessman, with a firm with branches in Hamburg and Hull, England, that imported eggs and other agricultural products from Russia. There is speculation that his sudden death in February 1914 may have been a suicide due to financial difficulties."

Georg also specifies that the Minden family -- Max and Sophie and children -- lived in Hull, England, from 1894 until 1904, and then returned to Hamburg.

Hamburg city hall.

Georg sees the family as having no formal Jewish religious instruction, and goes on to count that "Of the ten of my grandparents' children who grew to adulthood, four married non-Jews and broke all ties to Judaism. Two became Christian Scientists. Others remained loosely Jewish, which the oldest son, Henry, became an observant Orthodox Jew."

I recommend Georg and Wilma's book for the rest of the story of Georg's family line, as his parents (Lizzie and Alfred) emigrated to Richmond, Virginia.

But that is about all of Max and Sophie's story that Georg recounts in those pages.

I will pull together a few other details later that I've gleaned from reading some Warburg histories. Meanwhile, Cousins, what say you -- do you have more to add on Max and Sophie? I'd also like to know -- Sophie's Feitler family of origin came from Frankfurt. There are other Feitlers in our family as well; do any of you know whether they came from that same family?

Last but not least: I was intrigued by the Wikipedia article on the Hamburg Temple (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamburg_Temple), where Max's father was a cantor. I note that the Warburg family is mentioned here, too.

Former Temple of Reform Judaism in Hamburg, built 1844.

New Temple Oberstrasse, 1931-1938.

One more note: I hope those of you who know more about all this will feel free to correct any errors or misstatements here! As I mentioned ... I am new to much of this. I'll explain that in another post, at another time.

Max Minden, 1859-1914

Max Minden is in Generation A. Here's what I have so far for dates for him:

Born 1859, 22 May, Hamburg, Germany.

By 1901, at age 42, he is mentioned as residing in Sculcoates, Yorkshire, England.

I have evidence that in 1906, on 26 January, at age 46, he visited New York, New York.

• And his death is recorded as taking place in 1914 on 21 February at age 54 in Hamburg.

  
  

  See the newer post on his egg company in Hull, England, Max Minden & Company Ltd.

  
  

  -- BK