A Braunhart Father's Day

On this Father's Day we remember our deceased Braunhart fathers. Some of us knew you and all of us wish we had met you.

Alexander Braunhart - Father of Moritz, Jakob, Anna, Martha, Theodor, Carl, Selma, Cecelia, Julius, Philipp, Frieda, Caesar, and one unknown

Harry Tulman (Husband of Anna Braunhart) - Father of Mildred, Muriel, Stanley, and Helene

Bernard Sternbach (Husband of Martha Braunhart) - Father of Leo, Harold, and Regina

Carl Braunhart - Father of Hanna and Heinz

Jacob Braunhart - Father of Erna, Margaret, and Herbert

Philipp Braunhart - Father of Horst, Gisela, and Bernhard

Salo Brunn - (Husband of Frieda Braunhart) - Father of Henry and Miriam

Max Markheim (Husband of Cecelia Bernstein) - Father of Arthur, Robert, Minnie, Pauline, Leo, and Edith

Isidor Heyman (Husband of Ernestine Bernstein) - Father of Celia, Martha, Arthur, Robert, Leo, and Mynette

Julius Braunhart - Father of Lilly and Lothar

Unfortunately we do not have photos of the following Braunhart fathers: 

Bernhard Braunhart – Father of Harry

Aaron Bernstein (Husband of Sara Braunhart ) - Father of Amalie, Ernestine, Cecelia, Hattie, Max and 2 others unknown

William Fried (Husband of Hattie) - Father of Leo

William Brock (Husband of Amalie) - Father of Teresa, Regina, and Eric 

A Braunhart Mother's Day

On this Mother's Day we remember our deceased Braunhart mothers. Some of us knew you and all of us wish we had met you.

Sara Braunhart Bernstein - Mother of Amalie, Ernestine, Cecelia, Hattie, Max and 2 others unknown

Helene Baszynska Braunhart - Mother of Moritz, Jakob, Anna, Martha, Theodor, Carl, Selma, Cecelia, Julius, Philipp, Frieda, Caesar, and one unknown

Anna Braunhart Tulman - Mother of Mildred, Muriel, Stanley, and Helene

Martha Braunhart Sternbach - Mother of Leo, Harold, and Regina

Hedwig Bukofzer Braunhart (Wife of Carl) - Mother of Hanna and Heinz

Ilse Gass Hart (Wife of Jacob) - Mother of Erna, Margaret, and Herbert

Else Schmalenbach (Wife of Phillip) - Mother of Horst, Gisela, and Bernhard

Frieda Braunhart Brunn - Mother of Henry and Miriam

Cecelia Bernstein Markheim - Mother of Arthur, Robert, Minnie, Pauline, Leo, and Edith

Hedwig (Hattie) Bernstein Fried - Mother of Leo

Ernestine Bernstein Heyman - Mother of Celia, Martha, Arthur, Robert, Leo, and Mynette

Unfortunately we do not have photos of the following Braunhart mothers: 

Rosa Levison Braunhart – Mother of Harry

Amalie Bernstein Brock - Mother of Teresa, Regina, and Eric 

Dorka Asch Braunhart (Wife of Julius) - Mother of Lothar and Lilly 

Germany and Poland Family Map

Below is a map of some of the locations where our ancestors were born and resided:

View Germany and Poland Locations in a larger map

A legend of locations and family names follows:

Szubin (also known as Schubin) - Braunhart and Bernstein Families
Chodziez (Kolmar or Chodsiesen) - Raphael Family
Szezecin (Stettin) - Jacob Braunhart born here

Strzelno (Streino) - Helene Baszynzka Braunhart born here
Gostyn - Marks Family

Poznan - Heyman Family
Cottbus - Cecelia Braunhart lived and died here

Krakow - Markheim and Metzner Families
Berlin - Several Braunhart family members lived and are buried here. Several still live here.

Deciphering The Markheim Family

I had always been stifled in my research about Max Markheim (who married my great grandmother Ernestine's sister Cecelia) until just recently. I had not been able to find Max's immigration record. Thanks to my newly found "cousins" Robert Weber and Maxine Rudy and some detective work on my part, the "mystery" is solved. Max 's "real" name wasn't Max!

According to Max Markheim and Cecelia Bernstein’s Marriage Certificate, it states that Max’s parents were Robert Markheim and Poppy Huppert. Maxine also remembers that Max may have had a sister Bella and that some of the Markheims settled in Baltimore, Maryland.

With this information from a few months ago, I contacted a Jonathan Smith who had some unsourced info on ancestry.com about a Bella Markheim who had married a Max Wichner and immigrated to America via Baltimore.

Since Max was from Krakau (Krakow), I researched some Krakau records that another genealogist had done. There is a Markheim family referenced in the Krakow records and this is their birth information (and death info where known):

Rubin MARKHEIM Mar 7, 1852
m:Pessel HUPPERT (MojzeszAron+EsterMalka)
!o Chaja Sara MARKHEIM May 18, 1875
!x Moses Aron MARKHEIM Aug 26, 1876
!x Salomon MARKHEIM Mar 23, 1878
!o Chana MARKHEIM Jun 15, 1879
!o Gitel MARKHEIM Apr 3, 1881 - May 28, 1881
!o Beila MARKHEIM May 22, 1882
!x Abraham MARKHEIM Dec 28, 1883 - May 23, 1884
!o Szeindel MARKHEIM Jun 1885 - Jul 11, 1886
!o daughter MARKHEIM Jun 3, 1888 - Jun 3, 1888
!x Hirsch MARKHEIM Jul 10, 1889 - Nov 15, 1889

So follow my logic.

Rubin Markheim married Pessel Huppert. Since Rubin was often translated to Robert in America, it makes sense that this is the father. There is a 99%+ chance in my opinion that this Pessel Huppert is the same person as Poppy Huppert.

I believe the following about the children listed:

1. Chaja Sara Markheim is the same person as Sadie Markheim who married Samuel Koenigsberg and lived in Baltimore. Sadie was a common nickname for women named Sara. She came to America in 1897 and married Koenigsberg in 1900. The dates in the census for her age were off by 2 years, but women often lied about their age back then.

2. I believe that Moses Aron Markheim is indeed our Max Markheim. This is why. In many of Max’s documents (census, naturalization, etc. – he is listed as Max A Markheim. Although he went by Max – the A is consistent with Aron as a middle name. Also in his documents his birth year is 1876, which coincides with the date of birth above.

3. Pessel Markheim and Anna Markheim traveled to America in 1901 to visit Anna’s sister Mrs. Samuel Koenigsberg in Baltimore. I believe that Anna is an Americanized version of Chana.

4. Beila Markheim married Max Wichner in Krakau – they immigrated to the US in 1899 and eventually settled in Pennsylvania, although Beila died in Maryland. When they emigrated to the US – they were going to visit Beila’s sister Mrs. Samuel Koenigsberg. Her names in the census and emigration records were Bettie and other variations but I am positive that this is Beila.

I have also researched some Maryland cemetery records and have found a "Pepi Markheim" who died on December 13, 1903 and is buried in the B'nai Israel Southern Avenue Cemetery in Baltimore. I believe that this is Max's mother, "Pessel Huppert Markheim".

The Entertainers

There have been many in the family who have been in the entertainment industry as musicians, actors, writers, magicians, and dancers. Some have actually been in the entertainment industry making a living, while others performed as a hobby or sideline.

My first cousin, once removed (my dad's first cousin) Clyde Pound, has been a pianist, keyboardist, arranger, musical director, etc. for over 50 years. He started with the Dukes of Dixieland and through his career has lived in the San Francisco Bay Area, Hawaii, Colorado, and now Hot Springs, Arkansas. He was musical director for the Hungry I nightclub in San Francisco and has been musical director for and played with the likes of Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis, Jr., Liza Minelli, Dizzy Gillespie, and many others.

Another one of my Dad's cousins, Stafford Repp was a television and movie actor, best known for the part of Chief O'Hara on the television series Batman in the 1960s. He started his career in San Francisco repertory theatre after serving in World War II. He moved to southern California where he subsequently appeared in character roles in hundreds of television shows and movies.

Stafford Repp's sister, Elisabeth Repp, was a television writer. She was a writer for the pilot episode of the long running TV soap opera - "General Hospital".

Yet another of my dad's cousins was Gloria Metzner, whose stage name was Gloria Dea. Her father, Leo Metzner was an amateur magician known as "The Great Leo". She started her career as a child magician and performed at The Hotel El Rancho Vegas, the Las Vegas Strip's first casino resort. Later she danced as part of Earl Carroll's Vanities in Hollywood and the Billy Rose Aquacade at the San Francisco World's Fair. She later was in several movies and serials. She was in the "King of the Congo" serial with Buster Crabbe in the starring role of "Princess Pha". Although she had small parts in many successful movies such as "Around the World in 80 Days", she also had a small role in what has been called the worst movie of all time - Ed Wood's "Plan 9 From Outer Space". She currently lives in Las Vegas.

The first of Gloria's husbands was Jack Statham, who was a bandleader who also played the accordion. Her second husband was Hal Borne, most famous for being Fred Astaire's rehearsal pianist, as well as band leader for Tony Martin and Ginger Rogers' touring shows. He also wrote the music for one of the last Marx Brothers movies "The Big Store". Here is a photo of Gloria and Hal in 1945.

Clyde Pound's mother and father had a vaudeville show. Henry Pound had a group that was looking for a piano player. Mynette Heyman was hired and they got married shortly thereafter. Myn and her first cousin Edith Markheim Stone played together later in life for senior groups as "The First Cousins".

Arthur Heyman was a "smoothie dancer" and won several awards for his dancing later in his life.

My great grandfather Joseph Marks was a vaudeville agent and my great great uncle Isaac Marks was a stage manager for several San Francisco musical theatres in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

The Braunharts

For some reason I have been "obsessed" with finding out more about the Braunhart family over the last three years. I first found out about the family when reviewing the death certificate of Sara Braunhart Bernstein, my great great grandmother. My cousin Clyde Pound made me aware of Sara's brother Samuel, who was a very successful (and outspoken I might add - but more about that in a future post) politician, when I first talked to him about genealogy about three years ago.

In a recent post I talked about the life of Levin Jacob Braunhart, the "patriarch" of the Braunhart family. So far it appears that he and his wife Minnie Zadek, had at least four children that I can name.

The first, Bernhard Braunhart, immigrated to America in 1857. He married Rosa Levison and had one son, Harry.




Sara Braunhart, our direct ancestor, married Aaron Bernstein, and it appears that after his death, she immigrated to America in 1898. She had seven children, 5 who lived to adulthood. They were:

• Max, who never married.


• Ernestine - the oldest, who is my great grandmother who married Isidor Heyman. She had 6 children - Celia (my grandmother), Martha, Robert (who died of TB before he was 10 years old), Arthur, Leo and Wilhelmina (who changed her name to Mynette because she hated that formal name as well as the nickname Minnie).


• Amalie (Mollie) who married William Broch and had three children - Teresa, Regina, and Erick.


• Hedwig (Hattie) - who married Wilhelm Fried and had one child - Leo.


• Cecelia - who married Moses Aron (Max) Markheim and had 5 children, two who died early as well as Wilhelmina (Minnie), Leo and Edith.


• The two Bernstein children who died are nameless to me at this time.

The next Braunhart was Samuel Braunhart, the San Francisco politician - he immigrated to America in 1862. He never married.






The last of Levin and Minnie's children (that I know of) was Alex Braunhart. I do not believe that he immigrated to America - but at least one of his children - Anna did - in 1909. She married Harry Tulman and had at least 4 children - Mildred, Muriel, Stanley and Helene. I have not as yet been successful in tracking this family to find out more about Anna Braunhart. She had a sister Sara Selma Braunhart, who immigrated to America in 1946 at the age of 51. I do not know as yet what happened to her.

There are a few "stragglers" that I know are related but have not been able to place as yet. Brother and sister Jakob and Martha immigrated to America in 1904. I do not know what happened to Martha but Jakob ended up in San Francisco. He was the primary heir to Samuel's fortune when Samuel died in 1906 right after the San Francisco earthquake and fire. I know that he was there from 1910 to 1913 because of Census and City Directory info. He was implicated by the FBI as a German sympathizer during World War I when he joined the U. S. Army. He also was married but that is all I know about him. I do not know who Martha and Jakob's parents are - my suspicion is Alex Braunhart, but that is just a hunch from reading Samuel Braunharts' probate file.

There also was a Carl Gustav Braunhart who was born in Schubin - but I have no info at all as to his relationship to "our" Braunhart family.