Elbing directories list the Wohlgemuth business and residences

Residential and business listings for Wohlgemuth family members in Elbing

Elbing directories list the Wohlgemuth business and residences

• Sep 07, 2020
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The collection of West Prussian address books linked in the last post includes a substantial number of directories from the city of Elbing, 39 years of them between 1820 and 1942. We know that our Wohlgemuth family lived there in the late 1890s. Isaac was listed as a mill owner living in Elbing on his 1898 marriage record. Our grandmother, Elly Wohlgemuth Ringel, was born in Elbing in July 1900.

There are directories available on the site for the years 1890, 1892, 1894, 1898, 1900, 1902, and later years. The Wohlgemuth listings you see above are in the 1900 directory, and a very similar listing appears in 1898. They are not in any of the earlier or later books.

Let's take a close look at the listings. Underneath the surname heading, each listing begins with an occupation, followed by a first name and street address.

The listing for Mühlenbesitzer (mill owner) is two of our Wohlgemuth brothers, Heinrich and Isaac. They both live on the major Elbing avenue Outer (Außerdem) Mühlendamm at numbers 8/9 and 5a.

Two lines down is the Rentiere Friedericke Wohlgemuth, living at up the street at Auß Mühlendamm 59c. The occupation tells us she is a female retiree living off her investments.

At the bottom of the listing is the family business listing for L. Wohlgemuth & Co., milling and flour. The address is the same Aus. Mühlendamm 8/9 where Isaac resides. The initial L must be for Leopold, their late father's name.

Friederike's other two grown children, Rosa and Julius, are not listed but one or both may live with the listed family members.

It is interesting that Isaac and Heinrich are listed as the mill operators. Contrast that with the spediteur business Isaac would later open in Danzig together with brother Julius,  while Heinrich went into a different business.

These address book listings amplify what we knew about our family's years in Danzig. Thanks for the tip from Rodney Down Under.