Emil Paechter was one of 30 first cousins
Our Paechter branch grows wider yet—all roads lead to Berlin (and onward)
When we think about our Wohlgemuth ancestors that moved from West Prussia to Berlin, it was more about their mother's Paechter heritage than their father's Wohlgemuth side. Our great grandfather Isaac Wohlgemuth was a third-generation Paechter, as was his sister Rosa, the artist we wrote about recently.
They were two of at least 30 Paechter first cousins, most born in the 1860s and '70s in the town of Tiegenhof, district (kreis) of Marienburg. Almost all of them eventually settled in Berlin, usually after periods residing in other Prussian cities such as Danzig, Stettin and Crossen.
Included are several who were professionally accomplished—in law, business and art. Most appear to have been fairly prosperous before the onset of the Nazi regime. I have not studied all of the 30 in detail but most like Isaac had already passed before that time. Several of their next generation got out of Europe in the 1930s, including members of three Paechter branches that went to Brazil and several besides Helga Ringel that came to America.
Looking at the Paechter tree from the top down, it starts with Julius and Rachel Paechter, who were apparently among the first Jews who in the 1820s settled in Tiegenhof, the market town on the main route from Danzig to Elbing, skirting along the shore of the Vistula Lagoon. A Jewish community slowly grows and is formally established in 1871.
Julius and Rachel have the Hebrew names Yehuda and Rahel. We have no recored yet of their parents or place of origin before the birth of their second child in Tiegenhof. Until the other day, we knew of four of their children including our ancestor Friedericke Paechter, later Wohlgemuth. Now I have learned of a fifth, Salomon Paechter (1841-1915). His two daughters ended in Brazil and the U.S.
In order, the five Paechter children were Isaak, Friedericke, Salomon, Meyer, and Rosa. As we've written about before, Isaak was the proprietor of the Paechter family store in Tiegenhof, having returned following the death of Meyer Paechter in 1891 from the town of Crossen where he raised his family . The store must have been the legacy of Julius Paechter and was managed first by Meyer and then Isaak until his own death in 1896.
We don't know which family member or members took over management after that but it was only for a few years because the well-documented anti-Semitic attacks on the store took place in 1898. After that, there is no further evidence of the Paechter family in Tiegenhof.
There is a lot on the blog already about the family of Rosa Paechter, later Kleeman, in Danzig. Among her ancestors is the Australian Peter Nash. Also, of course, our ancestor Friedericke's life is covered extensively, with stops in Starogard, Elbing, and Danzig.
I'll post more with anything new that I discover on the children of the three Paechter brothers. For now, the photo above is of Emil "Fritz" Paechter, who died in London in 1951.
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