portrait of Sophia Wurzberger Engel

Our ancestor, Siegfried Joseph Thannhauser's grandfather, Joseph Engel was born ca. 1775 d: June 26, 1850 in Munich, Bavaria. He married Sophia Wurzberger and according to family lore had 14 children, of whom 7 came to America. Our family stayed close to the children of Isaak who lived in Boston and this portrait came from the last of them, Aunt Sylvia, to Aunt Trudi Beyer who has it today. Listed at the bottom of this page are the children of Joseph for whom we have records, click on the underlined name to go to the record for that person. Below are the portraits that our ancestor Joseph Thannhauser referred to as his "Engel Aunts", the sisters of our ancestress Henriette Engel. These hang in Stasi Thannhauser Dunau's Dining Room. Unfortunately we do not know which one is which. There is a family story about them not getting into King Ludwig's gallery of beauties because they were Jewish which I doubt the veracity of for two reasons 1) they are not pretty enough 2) there is a Jewish woman in that gallery (which I visited), the daughter of a "Court Jew." Click on any one picture to get a larger version in a separate window.

The document of the marriage of our ancestress Henriette ("Retta") to Joseph Thannhauser show her as 33, quite old, when she married. Family lore is that she died in childbirth, but the records indicate she died 11 months later, perhaps it was complications resulting from childbirth. Aunt Trudi says the large Thannhauser head always gave the women problems. Henriette died at 35, after being married a mere 2 years. She is buried in the Old Jewish Cemetary, ThalkirchnerStr 240, Munich, Germany.

Her father, Joseph, is buried in the Old Jewish Cemetary also, although they were unsure which of three headstones was his grave at the time of my visit (we were in a hurry to catch our plane, perhaps with more time). If anyone can tell from the Hebrew which it is, please email me the answer! Their records are the source of his death date and approximate birth date since he was 65 at the time of his death. It is interesting how many of our ancestors lived into their 60s, 70s, and 80s back when this was uncommon.
 
 

• Henriette Engel marriage record p.1   marriage record p.2   marriage record headings
  b: August 29, 1821 in Au, Germany
  d: December 31, 1856 in Munich, Germany
  married Abraham Thanhauser b: January 23, 1824 in Moenchsdeggingen, Bavaria
  m: November 19, 1854 in Munich Synagogue
  d: December 20, 1888 in Munich, Germany, one child:
  • Josef Solomon Thannhauser b: January 28, 1856 in Munich, Germany
    d: January 28, 1917 in Munich, Germany
• Babette Engel marriage record p.1   marriage record p.2
  b: August 23, 1822
  married Moses Reichenberger b: January 15, 1798
  m: July 07, 1846 in Munich Synagogue
• Daniel Engel b: March 08, 1826
• Baruch Engel birth record p.1   birth record p.2 b: June 20, 1828
• Benjamin Engel birth record p.1   birth record p.2
• Nathan Engel ???
  birth record p.1   birth record p.2 b: November 02, 1829
• Jacob Engel ???
  birth record p.1   birth record p.2   b: November 27, 1831
• Loeb Engel birth record p.1 birth record p.2 b: October 18, 1834
• Isaac Engel b: 1837 in Bavaria
  d: April 04, 1907 in Jamaica Plains, Boston, MA
  +Claire
  • Bella Engel b: 1856
  • Joseph Engel b: June 21, 1857 in Boston, MA
  • Linda Engel b: March 03, 1860
  • Albert W. Engel b: July 03, 1862 in Boston, MA
    d: August 31, 1936 in Boston, MA
  • Sylvia Engel b: October 25, 1863 in 2 Carlton Place, Boston, MA
    d: 1960
  • Esther Engel b: August 02, 1866

Copyright © 2001 Kitty Munson Cooper