Wednesday, June 19, 2019

Are You Related To George Bodenheimer?

George Bodenheimer of ESPN
For the first 30 some odd years of my life I was one of few Bodenheimers I'd ever heard of.  Then for no reason whatsoever, someone named George Bodenheimer started to climb the corporate ladder, gaining news stories and fame in a spectacular fashion.  Good for him, and woe to me with all the questions, "are you related to the famous George Bodenheimer?" they'd ask., "you know, the lifetime Emmy Award-winning owner, chairman, president, CEO, and/or benevolent god king of ESPN, Disney, and ABC?"

Well, I didn't know!  I had no idea. With all that hyperbole it certainly would be nice to know. 

It turns out there are Bodenheimer families all over the place. Who knew. There are groupings in Waibstadt, Mannheim, Malsch, Worms, Israel, North Carolina, Louisiana, and more.

There are even other famous Bodenheimers: like Max Bodenheimer (of the Berwangen Bodenheimers) who appears on stamps in Israel.,  Jane Bodenheimer (of the Harthausen line) who married the actor Edward G. Robinson, and a bunch of Bodenheimer authors, professors, and banking geniuses -- some of who are even from my Waibstadt branch.

In any case, I have not been able to make all the connections, even after all these years of research. I have not been able to unite the clans!  :-)

With all likelihood, George is probably related to the Bodenheimers of North Carolina, and I'm not related to them. I've done a lot of work on their tree trying to find the connection, and I've traced them all the way back to Johann Christian Badenheimer of Maxsain, Miesbach, Germany.  Their name moved around a bit from Badenheimer to Bodenheimer, and then to Bodenhamer.  All the same family, but nope, not my family.





So flash forward to 20 May 2019 at 6:11pm when I get an email that simply asks yet again, "Are you related to George Bodenheimer?"

This time, I've had it.  I am now much better at this Cousin Detective thing after years of experiences, and I have a few hours left in the evening. I'm going to figure this out once and for all.  I'm done with this! :-)

There are two basic ways to figure this out.  Go to all the loose ends on my Bodenheimer tree and try to send lines down in hopes of hitting George.  Or, the other option is to do George Bodenheimer's tree for him, working up the Bodenheimer line in hopes that it hits me.  This is sort of like Mark Twain's old saying, "Why waste your money looking up your family tree? Just go into politics and your opponents will do it for you."   Well, George isn't in politics, yet... he's just famous enough that he doesn't have to waste his money!

So, I start pulling records and using all the tricks of the trade and I trace his Bodenheimer family to his 2nd great grandfather, David Bodenheimer, and it is a new branch to me.  They are all in New York, and they've been there ever since David came to New York in 1846. The New York Bodenheimers.  Great, another branch!

David and his wife, Hannah arrived with infant daughter Caroline on 19 Aug 1846 aboard the Louis Philippe. Yes, that's early in American history. The Civil War didn't start until 1861!

American Packet Ship " Louis Philippe" Havre, 1837, by Frèdèric Roux (French, 1805–1870)

The manifest is not super helpful as it lists everyone on the ship as "from: Germany" and "occupation: Farmer."

19 Aug 1846 ship manifest of the Louis Philippe arriving in New York

David and Hannah had six more children born in New York, including George's great grandfather, Julius Bodenheimer, born in 1854.

But the real question is WHERE did he come from?  That information tried to hide from me. It was a brickwall for a good hour or two.  The first clue came from David's 1854 naturalization papers:  he was from the Grand Duchy of Baden. Well, that's good.  My Bodenheimer ancestors were from Baden too, and wow, what a beautiful signature. Marvelous! Not perfect, as Baden is a big place. It was a bit bigger than Connecticut, and it's now merged into the German state of Baden-Württemberg.  But a Bodenheimer of Baden means I might actually be related to George!

27 Oct 1854 oath of citizenship for David Bodenheimer of New York
The 1860 census confirms that he is a master shoemaker from Baden, but that's the dead end. He died in 1866 and wasn't on any other census lists.

Stumped. I actually didn't even know his wife Hannah's maiden name (spoiler, it's Hirsch). And she was from Baden too.

Then I had a clever idea, a classic trick.  When you hit a brick wall, go sideways.  Remembering his first daughter was born in Baden, perhaps I can find a marriage or death for her that will list more details on her origin. Thus, that would be likely the city that David and Hannah were married in, and I could keep tracing.   Well, I still to this day, don't know when their first daughter died. She did marry, but it wasn't any help (to me). Another cold lead.

So, it's a dead end. I'll never know. I'm going to bed. It's late.  I'll check one more place... I'll check this little known German emigration site that is all in German.  And guess what I found there!  An emigration listing for David Bodenheimer in 1846 leaving Baden for Nordamerika (North America), and next to it was his wife, Hannah.

1846 Emigration records for David and Hannah Bodenheimer of Baiertal, Baden

I'm sure you probably missed it, but the town they are leaving is listed as Baiertal.  Well, I actually KNOW about Baiertal as it is a suburb of Weisloch, and the literally the town right next door to Waibstadt. My Waibstadt!   It is 19 km away down the road.  We are getting actual close, and in genealogy close is good. People didn't have airplanes and cars back in 1846, so you usually married someone FROM THE NEXT TOWN OVER.   Hello! 

Baiertal to Waibstadt in 22 minutes
I pause, and then think. I actually have Bodenheimers from Baiertal on my family tree already.  I wonder if there is a little lost David hanging out somewhere all alone.

So, I pull up my tree and search for David Bodenheimer, and guess what.  Yep there he is.  David Bodenheimer born in Baiertal, son of Simon Abraham Bodenheimer and his wife Rosina Regie Manasses/Moses.
David Bodenheimer, son of Simon Bodenheimer in my family tree (before connecting)
What's even more insane, is I already had found his birth certificate years and years ago.  It's just been sitting there, waiting...

In the year 1814 at the 26th April in the morning between 9 and 10 o'clock here in Beuertal born: David, legitimate son of Simon Abraham Bodenheimer, protected-Jew (Schutzjude) here and his wife Regle born Mannasses, witnesses and also godparents were the in Wiesloch residing protection-citizen (Schutzbürger) Joseph Maier and his wife Giedel born Marx.

Proof that Simon is George Bodenheimer's 3rd great grandfather, and from my tree I can see that Abraham is his 4th great grandfather.    And Abraham Bodenheimer of Baiertal is my 6th great grandfather.  So, we are DNA cousins. We are blood relatives!  Abraham Bodenheimer connects us both!

At 1:21am in the wee hours after midnight, I finally have the answer:

George Bodenheimer is my fifth cousin twice removed.

That means he is a 5th cousin of my grandfather, Edgar Bodenheimer. George's children are my father's 6th cousins, and his grandchildren are my 7th cousins.







One slight problem.  

Our last names are not connected yet.  My Bodenheimer name comes from the Bodenheimers of Waibstadt.  George's last name comes from the Bodenheimers of Baiertal.  I'm descended from Abraham's granddaughter who married a Wolfsbrück, whose daughter in turn married a Bodenheimer from the next town over: Waibstadt.    I still haven't connected Abraham of Baiertal to my Josef Jehuda Bodenheimer of Waibstadt -- they were born a few years apart, and I don't know their parents. They could be brothers. I just don't know... yet...

3 comments :

  1. OMG - I guess I'm related as well! Thank you for all of you snooping!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Nice work. Really interesting to read. I am sure I would have missed at least half of these clues.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Great sleuthing! Good luck tying up that final loose end.

    ReplyDelete