The never-ending research rabbit hole has bubbled up another story from the simmering cauldron of the archive.   A story of royalty, migration, Henry Ford, and the horse trainer to the emperor.  None of these subjects would seem connected on the surface, but a few newspaper mentions opened up a new slant of history in the Detroit area, intertwining  the fate of two princes and a man who found a new life in America working at an auto assembly plant – his true identity shrouded in mystery.  The past is patient.

Prince Wilhelm Frederick Von Hohenzollern (1906-1940) and his younger brother Prince Louis Ferdinand Von Hohenzollern (1907-1994) started life in the cradle of Germanic royalty.  Grandsons of the infamous Kaiser Wilhelm II, sons of Crown Prince Wilhelm of Prussia, their ordained futures changed dramatically in 1918, when the throne of the House of Hohenzollern was abolished after the German revolution.

The collapse of the royal household brought unexpected change and hardship to the many people that served the family.  Among those was the imperial horse trainer for the Royal stables, Fredrich Hofmann.  He brought his family to the United States in November 1921 via the SS America, shortly after Adolph Hitler came to power in Germany as leader of the Nazis.  Mr. Hoffman was accompanied by his wife Mary, son Henry, and family friend Fritz Williman.  The family immigrated from Leipzig via Bremen to New York.  Fredrich’s name was anglicized to Frederick Hoffman. The men became a part of the automotive industry, their previous lives just a memory, an occasional late-night story of unimaginable wealth and pedigree horses.

Fred Hoffman 1884-1969

The Princes were educated in Berlin and found new life outside the traditional expectations of royalty.  Prince Louis read Philosophy and History at the Humboldt University in Berlin.  He was awarded a Doctorate in 1929 for his thesis on the theory of immigration and its application to Argentina.  He traveled extensively and lived for some time in Detroit.  He stayed at the Ford estate Fair Lane in Dearborn and counted among his acquaintances Henry Ford and FDR.  Louis’ focus was on engineering, and he took an active part on the Ford assembly line in Buenos Aires in 1930.  Henry Ford was pressing him to take over representation of Ford in Europe as the next frontier of expansion for the company.  Louis took flying lessons in California and romanced Lily Damita, Errol Flynn’s first wife. 

Prince Louis Ferdinand Von Hohenzollern (1907-1994)

Prince Wilhelm studied at the universities of Konisgberg, Munich and Bonn.  As the family heir, he joined the Borussia Corps as a student, continuing a family tradition that followed the footsteps of his father, grandfather and other members of the Prussian royal family.  He joined his brother in the States during 1932.

Prince Wilhelm Frederick Von Hohenzollern (1906-1940)

The Northville Record of August 5, 1932 mentions the Princes staying at the Ford Estate in Dearborn, and visiting local resident Frederick Hoffman on River Street.  The former trainer of horses for the Emperor’s stables welcomed his friends from their home country with traditional German food after a morning riding in the hills around the village.

The young men returned in September, touring the Ford plant managed by HG Harburger.  They were accompanied by William Donesson of Detroit and Fred Williman of Switzerland.  This visit brought a larger party to ride in the hills followed by the traditional German feast prepared by Mrs. Hoffman.  The riding group turned into a hunting party in October, bagging many ducks for the celebratory dinner, beginning a local tradition in Northville.

Prince Wilhem was recalled to Germany in 1933, where he renounced his rights to the throne in order to marry Dorothea von Salviati, thus making Louis next in line as the future head of the House of Hohenzollern, after his father Crown Prince Wilhelm.  During the Weimar Republic the Wilhelm attended military maneuvers in the old uniform of the imperial First Foot Guards without government approval.  The Oster conspiracy of 1938 sought to restore him to the throne.

As World War II began, Prince Wilhelm and a number of princes from the former German monarchies enlisted in the Wehrmacht.  Wilhelm took part in the invasion of France, was wounded at Valenciennes and died in a field hospital in Nivelles, 1940.  His death brought about the Princes’ Decree barring all members of the former German Royal Houses from service in active military operations.

Prince Louis served in the German Air Force but retreated to his estates after the Princes’ Decree.  He maintained close contact with the German underground movement, where he was seriously considered as a possible future head of state in the event the coup against Hitler, planned for July 20, 1944, succeeded.  Louis eventually fled from the family’s estates in the East to West Germany.  He was a firm believer in democracy however he never renounced his right to the throne, passing away in 1994.  He expected to be addressed as Imperial Highness, and leading political figures of the times did honor that request.

Thank you for taking this ride back in time with me where I share these vignettes of life in Michigan, the local news, and the international stage.  I have included some choice images from the Hoffman naturalization papers that give an interesting view of immigration and oaths in connection with citizenship. 

Cheers!

MJ

Louis Ferdinand, Prince of Prussia

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-G5CF-2G6?view=index&personArk=%2Fark%3A%2F61903%2F1%3A1%3A24N6-7DL&action=view

Louis Ferdinand, Prince of Prussia

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/15846576/louis-ferdinand-hohenzollern

Prince Wilhelm find a grave

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/15588632/wilhelm_hohenzollern

Wiki Prince Wilhelm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_Wilhelm_of_Prussia_(1906%E2%80%931940)

Hoffman papers Family Search

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSCZ-59NH-4?view=index&action=view

Louis Ferdinand, Prince of Prussia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Ferdinand,_Prince_of_Prussia

NY Times obit – https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1994/09/27/358312.html?pageNumber=39

Independent Obit

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary-prince-louis-ferdinand-of-prussia-1440543.html

Images:

Prince Wilhelm Frederick Von Hohenzollern (1906-1940)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_Wilhelm_of_Prussia_(1906%E2%80%931940)

Prince Wilhelm Frederick Von Hohenzollern Find a Grave

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/15588632/wilhelm_hohenzollern

Prince Louis Ferdinand Von Hohenzollern (1907-1994)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Ferdinand,_Prince_of_Prussia

USS Europa Passenger List August 1 1931

Entry for Louis Ferdinand Von Hohenzollern, 1931.

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-G5CF-2G6?view=index&personArk=%2Fark%3A%2F61903%2F1%3A1%3A24N6-7DL&action=view

Prince Louis Ferdinand Von Hohenzollern Find a Grave

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/15846576/louis-ferdinand-hohenzollern

NY Times obit

https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1994/09/27/358312.html?pageNumber=39

Independent Obit

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary-prince-louis-ferdinand-of-prussia-1440543.html

Hoffman Immigration/naturalization papers

Family Search

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSCZ-59NH-4?view=index&action=view

MJ

Resources:

Pictures, author’s own.

Camp Grant Spanish flu

Camp Grant Hospital photo
https://www.rrstar.com/news/20181020/world-war-i-horror-revealed-in-100-year-old-letters-from-camp-grant-in-rockford

Spanish flu prevention
https://clickamericana.com/topics/health-medicine/1918s-spanish-flu-a-dark-history-of-the-deadly-influenza-pandemic-100-years-ago

Don’t Spit
https://www.army.mil/article/210420/worldwide_flu_outbreak_killed_45000_american_soldiers_during_world_war_i

Death Numbers

https://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=228841

Cheers!

MJ

Resources:

Sarah Cook 19 November 1873-19 May 1874

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HT-D89Q-CJ7?i=532

Althea death

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FHTS-9Y5

Random 3×5 card death notice

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-99VT-34DX?i=99&cc=2215693

Althea death registrar

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C9T2-K9ZH-B

Bertie Cook Byron Adalbert Shafer

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HT-D4Q9-7V2?i=25&cc=1325221&personaUrl=%2Fark%3A%2F61903%2F1%3A1%3AM91C-6JP

All images are author’s own

Hungry for more? 

Cheers,

MJ

Thank you for reading my story of Hazel Shafer Goodwin. The accident and the hubris that followed will be posted on the anniversary, November 5.

Cheers!

MJ

1899 Marriage License

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:939J-4P93-3G?i=300&cc=1810350&personaUrl=%2Fark%3A%2F61903%2F1%3A1%3AQG11-56KG

1910 Census

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-GRJT-6W6?i=16&cc=1727033&personaUrl=%2Fark%3A%2F61903%2F1%3A1%3AMLT8-ZJ2

1920 C Northville

https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-GRN1-8GC?i=12&cc=1488411&personaUrl=%2Fark%3A%2F61903%2F1%3A1%3AMZ4C-352

Northville Record 1900-1924

Northville Historical Society

All other images author’s own

Sources:

Horace Thompson and Julia Hitchcock, 12/24/1878 marriage certificate.

1880 Census

City Directory 1897

City Directory 1898

1900 Census Living on 12th Street in Detroit, father Horace is a night watchman while Floy and sister Blanche are machine operators.

1910 Census Detroit Horace & Julia, living on National Ave in Detroit, Blanche M 27, Harry S 25, Francis W 17, Raymond B 12.

1920 Census Detroit, Floy and Harry with children.

Grace Young and Philip Strickler 9/24/1924 Marriage Certificate

Richard Young and Florence Ragen 10/11/1924 Marriage Certificate

1924 Ford touring car ad

Sanborn Insurance Map

Floy Thompson Young death certificate, Michigan State Archive.

All other photos author’s own.

Copyright MJ Gibson, 2019

Boots on the ground genealogy research trips are my passion.  Traveling to various cemeteries and visiting local historical societies adds a level of grit to your research.  These adventures offer a wider view of your ancestor’s life, past the papers, letters and memento mori we all own.  Seeing the buildings where they worked, the houses they built, and naturally, visiting the cemetery.  My aunts and grandmother tended these graves, carrying a pail and various gardening tools in the truck of their car, the image goes back as far as I can remember.  Cemeteries have their own stories, and can connect a tall tale, or two; listen in the quiet spaces and the secrets will amaze you.  Gather round boys and girls, I have a story about the mysterious grave found in one family plot in Lakeside Cemetery, Holly, MI.

Along the footpath, next to the fence is a neat row of four tombstones, three are identical in design and execution.  The family stone on the plot names Shafer on one side and Goodwin on the other.

A passing glance would reveal the most obvious of questions.

Fred V Goodwin Born 1888-19-.

Hazel M wife of FV Goodwin 1900-1924

Esther A wife of GH Shafer 1856-1924

The mother and daughter died in the same year, and someone born in 1888 is still alive? But this would not slow a passing step, unless you knew a bit more.  At the end of the tidy curve of granite is the fourth grave, the question mark.  Not GH Shafer, he is buried elsewhere and that is a story for another day.  The name is Avanell Atkinson, 1910-1925, marking a short life of 15 years.

Avanell was the second daughter of Cloyd (Clyde/Cloid) F. Atkinson and his wife Mary Frazier Atkinson, born August 27, 1910 in Ohio (1.).  She ventured to Michigan after her sister Tabitha Louise was married to Harold Jones, November 12, 1924 (2, 3.). 

The death certificate states she had been ill from January 23, 1925-March 31, 1925 with chronic intestinal nephritis following scarlet fever 4 years ago.  (Emphasis placed by coroner.)  Laboratory tests were carried out at Hurley Hospital, Flint, MI.  The date of burial was April 3, 1925.  Contributory cause is circled as if to remind the coroner to enter the pertinent information when the tests were returned.  That information is lost to the fates, however, Avanell’s death left her remaining family scrambling to find a suitable burial plot with little means to pay.

Into this tragic situation arrives GH Shafer, surviving spouse of Esther.  George is best described as opportunistic, among other nefarious traits.  Hailing from a well-established family in Northville, he counted as his relations a member of congress and a judge. He enjoyed a level of hubris and nepotism that kept the police from his doorstep on several occasions.  Arson, murder and battery follow his days through the Northville Record, not to mention several marriages and the questionable death of his first wife, Althea.

George sold the plot intended for his final resting place to the Atkinsons, causing a rift between himself and his son in law, Fred Goodwin.  The heartbreaking train accident that killed their wives in November 1924, and George’s new relationship with local flapper Clara Barrows was the heart of the matter.  Fred, coming from the conservative Goodwin family, could not accept this woman and her influence over George.  By April 1925 George signaled he was moving the relationship to a permanent one with the sale of his burial plot and plans to be buried beside Clara.  Sure, the sale of the burial plot wasn’t a great deal of money, but when you are the 7 fingered adult without steady employment, his behavior is not at all surprising. 

Much thanks to all my readers following the story of Fred Goodwin’s Unmarked Tombstone.  You can read the story here and you can donate to the GoFundMe to mark Fred’s final resting place with his death date, 1925.

Cheers!

MJ

Read more about Fred, George and their wives at this link.

1. https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&dbid=3146&h=273460&tid=&pid=&usePUB=true&_phsrc=Abe2&_phstart=successSource
2. https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:9392-S5QM-52?i=196&cc=1614804
3. https://www.ancestry.com/interactive/9093/41326_342243-00279/159227?backurl=https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/109536035/person/130073982391/facts/citation/560383298099/edit/record
4. https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/109536035/person/130073982392/facts

Nobel Prize winning author Ernest Hemingway was born in Oak Park, IL, where the childhood home still stands.  Situated on a quiet, tree filled lot, the building is maintained in the sedate, gingerbread style of the era. One imagines children running across the porch amongst the rocking chairs on a hot summer day pigtails askew. This being about an hour from where I currently reside, a road trip was in order for photos. 

Hemingway’s stories, novels, and poems are all easily accessible on the internet.  Much of his correspondence still survives in various forms, the Hemingway Letters Project stands at three volumes, with 6000 items reflecting his life, loves, and passion for writing.

I never imagined my humble script would have a common element with this man.  Fate being a fickle mistress, and genealogy being my vice, I do have a bit of a story to tell. 

Tucked away in a Vermont family archive are 2 bits of correspondence from Ernest Hemingway to my great aunt, Bonnie.  One is a letter, the other is something else altogether.  While Wimbledon was engaging, it wasn’t anything like the tennis match I read about, mentioning his nome de guere, the Hoboken Horror.

The time of the letters falls somewhere between his return from WWI 1919, and prior to his first marriage, September 1921.  Hemingway worked for the Toronto Star September 1919 to June 1920.  His stories from the WWI Italian front and serving with the Red Cross ambulance service pepper a majority of his writing. (Jstor)  In Reynold’s ‘The Young Hemingway‘, he references Bonnie’s correspondence, along with Ernest’s other girls of summer, Marge Bump, Katy Smith and Irene Goldstein.  But it is only a reference, as the letters being in private hands have never been published.  Until today.

One of Hemingway’s many talents was taking bits of life and manufacturing an entertaining moment.  His looks and gift of gab made him a favorite dinner party guest among the society families of Toronto. The “Tennis Match” correspondence rambles on in a sports news reporting style, mentioning the Duke of Aosta, commander of the Third Army in Italy during the time of Hemingway’s tour, when he was known as the Undefeatable Duke. 

Battling Bonnie Bonnell is challenged to a tennis grudge match.  The conditions of the contest are that the games take place on new courts, the players must be masked, there will be no referee, no horses, no weapons, and boredom is no excuse.  The stakes being “the losing contestant shall bind him or herself to do whatever cruel and unusual thing(s) the winner shall demand.  The loser is honor bound to go through with his, or more probably her, part of the bargain.”

Bonnell does not name her conditions, however “Hemingway’s Suggestions (are) every dance”, and that “Miss Bonnell will also be honor bound to make a formal or informal proposal of marriage to Mr. Hemingway in any place Mr. Hemingway may select.”

The missive is dated Toronto, May 7.

The second letter, filled with corrections, is the style one would expect in personal correspondence.  Sent from “The Same Shack, June 2^nd.”

“Carina Mea,

For translation of above see any wop or figure it out yourself.  Carina is nicer than Carrissima. Carrissima is supposed to be the best there is.

Well anyway Bon this isn’t going to be a letter.  Lots of inclination but no time.”

He goes on to tell about someone with a bottle of scotch wrapped in a newspaper article he had written.  “Thus is fame.  To be wrapped around a quart of scotch.  Aren’t you proud to bum around with one whose writings are wrapped about a quart of scotch?  No one could wish for a nobler end to his work.  Usually you see my masterpieces end up in the barrel in the basement.  Sometimes, of course they fill a useful roll to start the furnace fire.”

“Which brings me to the subject that I’m going to harp on until you are drove gibbering into a photographers.  When do I get a picture?  Gosh Bon old dear here am I absolutely without pictures of you except infinitesmable (sp) snap shots.  Some of which it is true are good of your various sweaters, habits etc. but none of which give any kind of a likeness of the Bonnell that I am crazy about. “

“I want one of the kind that will reduce me to bankruptcy to find a fitting frame for.  One that I can put on the dresser at camp and say good night to.  And put it so that when the moon streams in through the windows it will flood it and and I’ll wake up look at you in the moonlight and be very darned happy the Lord made Bonnie Bonnell.”

“Well so long old dear and shoot the odd letter north.”

Ernest Hemingway married Hadley Richardson, 1921, and Bonnie married in 1923, giving birth to my Aunt Beverly.  Once a debutante darling of Toronto and member of the Bathurst Hunt Club, Bonnie’s life became typical for a house wife of the era.  Publication of these letters was denied by her husband after several requests from various authors.  But as reputations fall to tatters with the passage of time, Battling Bonnie Bonnell and Hammering Hem Hemingway are now only a fond memory, and a tiny part of the Hemingway legendary history.

I hope you enjoyed this story about my genealogy research, and my great Aunt Bonnie. May your research prove just as rewarding.

Cheers!

MJ

Resources:

Men without Women

The Young Hemingway, Michael Reynolds, review by Gerry Brenner, JSTOR Vol 19 No. 2 (summer 1987) p 225-7, Johns Hopkins University Press.

The Young Hemingway, Michael S Reynolds.

Hemingway’s Italy: New Perspectives, edited by Rena Sanderson.

Apartment where Ernest Hemingway Lived, Victoria News, April 9, 2019.

The Hemingway Letters Project, the Hemingway Society.

Passport photo of Ernest Hemingway, detail of Ernest Hemingway’s 1923 passport, from the “Ernest Hemingway: Between Two Wars,” Morgan Library. From the archive of Ernest Hemingway Photograph Collection, John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum.

Photos of Hemingway House and letters, author’s own.

Special Thanks to Carl.

Photo edit Jannah Clark.

As a lover of art, I find myself willing to travel extensively in order to expand my experiences.  That being said, I traveled to Chicago and Detroit during some of the coldest days of the Midwest in memory, to see works by two of my favorites, Caravaggio (1571-1610) and Artemisia Gentileschi (1593-1656).  The latter being the subject of this blog post.

Artemisia would be 426 years old today.  As the first woman granted membership to Florence’s Acadameia del Disegno, she was famous in her time and counted many crowned heads of Europe among her clientele.  I first learned about Artemisia Gentileschi through an article in the International Herald Tribune, the review of an exhibition featuring her work and the story of her life.  Often ostracized by circumstances beyond her control, Artemisia painted comparisons between the struggle of a 16^th century woman against depictions of life and violent events.

Her mother died when she was 12, the family was of lower class and she grew up in a rough and violent household. Her father, the talented artist Orazio Gentileschi (1563-1639), a contemporary of Caravaggio, trained his talented daughter in the techniques of the day. On the cusp of adulthood, she was raped at the age of 18; this scandal was followed by a sensational trial making it impossible to win aristocratic and ecclesiastical commissions that were essential to her career as an artist in Rome [1]. However, these obstacles did not impede her abilities; leaving Rome after the trial to live in Florence, she overcame her humble origins.

In terms of popularity the worm has turned for Artemisia. As the understanding of her art grew, she experienced a massive uptake of interest and demand.  Her beautiful self-portrait as the Lute Player (1615-17), seen at the Wadsworth Atheneum, hangs next to Caravaggio’s Saint Francis in Ecstasy.  I cannot think of a more fitting placement, her father’s painting, Judith and her Maidservant with the head of Holofernes, hangs on the opposite side of St. Francis. 

Artemisia painted several versions of the Holofernes legend, taking a clear influence from Caravaggio’s Judith Beheading Holofernes, 1599, which hangs in the Nazaionale d’ Arte Antica di Palazzo Barberini, Rome. Caravaggio’s Abra displays the disdain for the enemy leader, while Judith appears to be holding the task of beheading Holofernes at arm’s length, not confident in her actions.

Artemisia’s version of this story (1614-20), purchased by the Medici and on loan from the Uffizi Gallery in Florence to the Chicago Art Institute, takes away that uncertainty. This Judith is fully engaged in the act, not deterred by the spray of blood across her arms, clothes and breast. Abra is also entirely a part of the action, holding down the leader while her mistress grasps the hair of his beard to steady herself during the decapitation. The detail of the epic masterpiece is exquisite, down to the bracelet on her arm showing different figures in each locket. The determination in the faces of Judith and Abra manifest the shared responsibility of the violent act, the furrowed brow of Judith, Abra fully engaged restraining their prey. I consider this, alongside Caravaggio’s Head of Medusa, an indicator of the unique patron treasures to be found at the Uffizi.

A surprise in my travels is another version of this painting by Artemisia, found in the Detroit Institute of Art, dating from 1623. The full length portrait evokes amplitude of shadow in this final vision of the story, the secretive nature of the act, the sword still held at the ready in case someone has overheard the event. The hand of Judith held to the candle, ready to douse the light, dimming the features of her face. The act is complete, the head prepared for the pike, sending a message to the invading army.

Seeing these treasures evokes my continued passion for art and history. Each painting by Artemisia tells a story, indulges the senses bringing the thirst for more to replenish the mind. I hope you have enjoyed my abbreviated commentary on her life, and that more treasures from this elusive painter will be found in my travels. If you have any comments, please feel free to share them in space below, I look forward to discussing this forgotten artist with other likeminded readers.
Cheers,

MJ

Additional resources:
Artemisia’s trial, the complete transcript is here.
https://archive.org/stream/OrazioandArtemisiaGentileschi/OrazioandArtemisiaGentileschi_djvu.txt .

1. Straussman-Pflanzer , Eva, Violence and Virtue, Artemisia Gentileschi, Judith Slaying Holofernes, Yale University Press, 2013, The Art Institute of Chicago.

2. Nochlin, Linda, Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?, Extract from Women, Art and Power and Other Essays, Westview Press, 1988, pp.147-158.

3. Webwinds, Artemisia, the Rape and the Trial, http://www.webwinds.com/artemisia/trial.htm .

Thanks for viewing my genealogy research, more to come at the state record level.

Cover design/art: Jack Clark

Cheers!

MJ