The Memorable Seventeen

The Braunhart family patriarch and matriarch Lewin Jacob Braunhart and Wilhelmine Zadek Braunhart had four children, Bernhard, Samuel, Sara and Alexander. Between these four - twenty one grandchildren were born, and 17 lived to adulthood.

What are some facts about the 17?


  • One lived his life in a mental institution
  • One committed suicide
  • One was nearly murdered at his business
  • One escaped the Nazis by traveling to Shanghai and Palestine
  • One escaped the Nazis by traveling to England
  • One was born in California
  • Two were murdered in Nazi concentration camps
  • Two were in the German army in World War I
  • One was in the American army in World War I
  • 11 immigrated to America
  • Two never married
  • Two were tailors
  • One owned a hardware store
  • One owned a barber shop
  • One owned a bicycle shop in Germany and America
  • One was a gambler
  • One was a cook in a convalescent home
  • One owned a dry cleaners
  • Only one stayed in Germany after World War II
  • The first to immigrate to America was a seventeen year old girl - all by herself with no one to meet her at her destination.


Every one of these 17 had a story.

Their names, in order of birth date (from 1870 to 1902):

  • Ernestine Bernstein
  • Max Bernstein
  • Amalie Bernstein
  • Cecelia Bernstein
  • Hedwig Bernstein
  • Moritz Braunhart
  • Jacob Braunhart
  • Martha Braunhart
  • Julius Braunhart
  • Harry Braunhart
  • Carl Braunhart
  • Cecelia Braunhart
  • Anna Braunhart
  • Philipp Braunhart
  • Sara Selma Braunhart
  • Theodor Braunhart
  • Frieda Braunhart


Every one of these 17 matters.  Every one of these 17 deserves to be remembered. 

Documenting their lives and their stories is why family history research is so important - in EVERY family.  If we don't, who will?


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