Henry Lefman, part two

This post continues where Henry Lefman, part one left off.

1851
Henry Lefman & Co. located at 232 Washington St. (home 15 Union, Hoboken)
I can't locate 15 Union Place in Hoboken. There was a Union Place a couple of miles away in a town then called Union Hill. In 1923 when Union Hill joined with West Hoboken to become Union City, Union Place became 37th Street. There was also a Union Street in West Hoboken in 1903.


1852
Amelia Virginia Lefman born. Called Minnie, she will become, in family lore, "the Belle of Hoboken."

1853
Louis Windmuller emigrates to New York on board the SS Hermann.

1854
Henry's son, Henry S., traveling in Paris, receives a letter from his grandmother, Abbe Wolf.[1] Henry's wife, Sarah, was daughter of Abbe and her first husband, John Thorne. They had married in 1814 when she was 20. In 1838, when she was 44, she married Dr. Elias Wolf.

1854
Henry writes to a letter of fatherly advice to his eldest daughter, Annie.[2] He writes from his home address. There's no indication that she is traveling or living apart from him.

1855
Louis Windmuller writes a letter to his grandfather, aunts, uncles, cousins, and sisters in Münster. In it he says Henry Lefman has been the only German relative in New York to provide him with any real help: "I found a helping hand from my cousin Henry Lefman. And he is now the only one on whom I can depend. Without him I would be lost. He is a well-to-do honest man."
. There's more about this letter in my blog post called river crossings.

1855
Henry's children, Emma, age 10, and George W., age 11, are admitted to the School of the Reformed Dutch Church. Their residence is given as 15 Union Place, Hoboken. The school, which offers free attendance to parishioners, is famous for the quality of its teaching.[3] At this time, the school is located at 183 Fourth St. in Manhattan adjoining the church's Marble Cemetery. This photo, of a much later date, shows the cemetery.

{Marble Cemetery, Manhattan, 2nd Street, Between 1st and 2nd Avenues, by Victor Volnar, n.d.; source: NYPL Digital Gallery}

1856
Robert L. Lefman, age 6, is admitted to School of the Reformed Dutch Church.


1856
Henry shows up in another edition of the city directory: "Lefman Henry & Co. mers. 242 Washington, h Hoboken."

1857
In a city directory for 1857-58 Henry is listed as selling "woodenware" at 242 Washington.[4]

1858
George W. Lefman graduates from the School of the Reformed Dutch Church.


1859
Henry puts his name on a list of "citizens of New York, irrespective of party, in favor of an honest, faithful and independent administration of the city government."[5]

1859
Amelia Lefman, age 6, is admitted to the School of the Reformed Dutch Church. She will leave in 1864 without graduating.


1859
Emma L. Lefman joins 17 other youngsters in the graduating class on the 225th anniversary of the School of the Reformed Dutch Church.[6] From the New York Times, October 27, 1859:


1859
A city directory lists "Lefman, Henry, imp. 318 B'way, h 15 Union pl. Hoboken" and "Lefman, Kiefer & Thomass, imp. 318 B'way."


1859
Annie Lefman and Louis Windmuller marry in the Dutch Reformed Church, Hoboken, on November 23. Their marriage will last 54 years until the death of Louis in 1913.

1860
A last child, Albert Clarence Lefman, is born. Henry is 56 and ailing (he has a weak heart). Sarah is 44 and thus beyond the age when women were then expected to be bearing children.

1860
Louis and Annie Windmuller move to a large mansion on 100 acres of land in Woodside, Queens, "far out in the country," as Annie's daughter, my grandmother, will later say.

1860
Henry's business is listed as "Lefman, Kiefer & Thomass, imps. 318 B'way;" -- Trow's New York city directory (J. F. Trow., 1860).

1860
Henry dies of heart failure. "LEFMAN — At Hoboken, on Friday, March 9, suddenly, of disease of the heart, Henry Lefman, aged 50 years, 8 months and 6 days. The relatives and friends of the family are invited respectfully to attend his funeral on Monday, the 12th inst., at 10 o'clock in the forenoon, from his late residence, No. 15 Union place, Hoboken. Interment in New-York Bay Cemetery. (NEW-YORK DAILY TRIBUNE, MONDAY, MARCH 12, 1860.) There was no will. I don't know why my records say he was born July 6, 1804, and this account says July 1, 1809. These things happen.

1861
Henry is dead but his firm lives on. A city directory lists "Lefman Henry, imp. 318 B'way, h Hoboken" and "Lefman, Kiefer & Thomas, imps. 818 B'way;" -- Trow's New York city directory (J. F. Trow., 1861).

1862
There is a city directory entry for Henry's son: "Lefman Henry S. mer. 189 Duane, b - B'way h.."

1865
The city directory for this year gives a new business address for Henry S.: "Lefman Henry S. mer. 51 White, b - B'way h.;" -- Trow's New York city directory (J. F. Trow., 1865).

1866
Sarah Lefman, widow of Henry, is recorded as living in Hoboken at 76 Bloomfield; -- Gopsill's Jersey City and Hoboken directory for the year ending 30th April, 1867 (Hoboken, Gopsill, 1866).


1867
Henry S. Lefman dies at age 29. There is no will.[7]

1872
Albert D. Lefman graduates from School of the Reformed Dutch Church. As parent, the name of a male guardian appears, not that of his mother.


1874
Minnie Lefman and Hugo B. Roelker marry. She's 21 at the time. He is a brother of Louis Windmuller's partner, Alfred Roelker. I've written about him before.

1881
A city directory lists Albert: "Lefman, Albert C., lithographer, 207 Fulton, h 321 W. 32d St." The same directory lists Sarah as living at 143d N. Brook Av.

1881
Sarah Lenington Thorne Lefman dies.[8]

1893
Albert Clarence Lefman dies.

1909
Emma Louise Lefman dies.[9]

1926
Minnie dies.

1929
Hannah Eliza Lefman Windmuller dies.

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Some sources:

Union City, New Jersey - Hudson County Genealogy Page

West Hoboken + Union Hill = Union City

History of Hudson County : genealogies of prominent families by Feldra, Robert (Union, N.J., Michel & Rank, 1917)

Collegiate School, the oldest independent school in the United States

FIRST NEW YORK CHURCH

Collegiate Archives Collegiate Church Corporation

An Historical Sketch of the Early Collegiate Church
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Notes:

[1] Here's the text:

New York, April 18, 1854

To Henry I. Lefman, Paris

My dear boy,

Your dear mother came to me this morning bringing me the welcome news of your safe passage. I have thought of you every day. you know I have been to sea. when I heard the wind blow I felt for you and would say "I fear Henry is sick" you are now safe on land - the Dr. and Hannah have been very ill they are now better, and send their love to you.

Henry by dear boy - you are in a gay and pleasing city you are young and innocent. God watch over and protect you, do not forget your studies a good education will be to you a fortune easy to carry and the best introduction in scarcity, the road to knowledge may appear to you difficult - do not go half way climb to the top and you will be all I can wish.

I must make this letter short as the time will not allow. my next will be long. I shall expect a letter for myself alone from you.

and now my dear-Henry adieu
Under every sky your loving
Grand mother, Abbe Wolf (signed)

[2] Here's the text:

For my Daughter Annie E. Lefman

The performance of Duty insures the protection of God. ... Read useful books, practice your piano forte, your German, your French, your History of your own Country as well as of Europe in which you have to extend your little store as also your other Studies, try to become efficient in all Household affairs, in cooking, washing, ironing, baking, cleaning, and useful economy.

Read over the above Rules and maxims very often at least once a week -- Recollect they are written by your best Friend at Home No. 15 Union Place, Hoboken, NJ, the 22 Day of February 1854 (the Birthday of the Father of your glorious Country George Washington.)

Keep a Journal in which you write every Evening the Passages you meet during the Day.

Be Virtuous and clever my dear Daughter and let you Deeds, actions and everthing be such that they bring Honour to Yourself and Family, this is the sincere with of your affectionate Father

Henry Lefman

[3] History of the school of the Collegiate Reformed Dutch church in the city of New York, from 1633 to 1883 by Henry Webb Dunshee, 2d ed, (Aldine press, 1883)

[4] In the 1980s, on a trip to New York from her home in San Diego, my genealogist aunt Florence consulted city directories at the New York Public Library. She found much that I've cited from online sources and a quite a few more. Here and below, where I don't cite an online source, you can assume it's her work that I'm using.

[5] "A meeting of citizens of New York, irrespective of party, in favor of an honest, faithful and independent administration of the city government; of effective measures for representing peculation, fraud and corruption in our municipal affairs, and of the election of William Frederick Havemeyer as mayor and Samuel J. Tilden as Corporation Counsel. subscribed: ... Henry Lefman...." Evening Post, Wednesday, November 30, 1859.

[6] It's interesting that the school was co-educational, although classes were not mixed. Some of her male classmates came from notable families: The father of George Augustus Bedford was a Commander in the British Navy in 1843, then Captain, 1854-64, and he later became a Vice Admiral. The father of James R. Hitchcock was a Colonel in the American army, commander of the Ninth Regiment, in 1878. The father of Augustus Wentz was apparently Lt. Col. [Augustus] Wentz, 7th. Iowa Regt., who died in a Civil War battle near Belmont, MO, in 1861. And finally Cornelius Vanderbilt (born 1830, full name Cornelius Jeremiah Vanderbilt -- 1830–1882) was an unloved son of the Commodore himself, Cornelius Vanderbilt, Sr. The son was to shoot himself to death in 1882. He suffered from epilepsy, did not pay his debts, "was always at outs with everybody," got relatively little from his father's will, had a "particular friend" in a man named Mr. Terry. (Sources: the navy list, Mariners-L Archives, ILLNESS OF COL. JAMES R. HITCHCOCK (NYT), Cornelius Vanderbilt (entry in wikipedia).

[7] My genealogist aunt Florence found a petition headed thus. She wrote:

I was surprised that the name of the petitioner was what looks like Sarah Narley but it could be Harley [this may be John Harley; see the entry for 1872]. Anyway she says she is the mother of Henry. Henry was the second child of Sarah and Henry Lefman. I knew he died 26 Oct. 1867, according to Grandma Clara's notation and buried on the 28th. He was 29 yrs. 11 mos.

Sarah says he was unmarried and that she, George, Emma, Robert, Minnie, & Alice survived him. He left no will. All the children were minors except George who was full age.

I do not have a record of Alice at all. She is mentioned by Sarah in their petition, but is not named as being under the protection of the guardian (below).

I wondered if Sarah had married again after Henry's death in 1860, maybe briefly, and then became a window again. Do you recall that the Orphans Court Record for the minor children Emma, Robert, Amelia, and Albert shows their guardian to be James Beusau (sp?) and I wondered why. This was in 1865. Perhaps Sarah married the second time about this date and to protect the children a guardian was appointed. But Sarah would not have been married long because she signed the petition (Admin papers) in 1867 as a widow. The City Directories in the 1870s show her name as Sarah Lefman so does her death certificate 14 Nov. 1881, age 65 (gastro-enteritis). I had always wondered why the younger (minor) children had to be protected and the possible second marriage of Sarah may be the answer.

[8] Aunt Florence transcribed
Sarah's death certificate. I have her birth date as March 19, 1816, and according to this it was October 20 of that year. Once again I can't account for the difference. Here's the text.

Health Department
Certificate of Death
Name Sarah Lefman
Age 65 years, 1 months, 23 days
Widow, without occupation
Birthplace: NY Albany
Lived 65 years in US
Resident in NYC for 3 years
Father's name: Thorne
Mother's name: Thorne
Place of Death: 143 St.

Signed: A.C. Lefman 184 Second Ave. NY

deceased died on the 12th day of November 1881, about 5- o'clock A.M.
Cause of death: gastro-enteritis; duration: one moneh 14 days.

Doctor's signature

Burial: New York Bay, Nov. 14, 1881
Signed: undertaker

[9] The New York Times carried a death notice:

Lefman -- Entered into rest on Wednesday morning, May 5, 1909, Emma Louise Lefman. Funeral service at the residence of her sister, Mrs. Hugo B. Roelker, 43 West 97th St., New York City, on Friday morning at 10 o'clock. Interment at New York Bay Cemetary. -- Obituary 1, No Title, NYT May 6, 1909, Thursday, Page 9.

Henry Lefman, part one

As I said the other day, Henry Lefman was cousin, mentor, partner, and father-in-law to my great-grandfather, Louis Windmuller. Lefman emigrated from Germany to New York in 1831. His mother, Elise Windmuller Lefman, was a sister of Louis Windmuller's father, Abraham Windmuller[1] and also of Solomon Windmuller, who had previously emigrated to New York and about whom I've previously written.

Here's what I know about Henry Lefman, presented in timeline format.

1804
Henry is born into the small Jewish community in the town of Telgte not far from Münster, Germany.[2] He was related, though I don't know how closely, to a well-known philologist, Salomon Lefmann, also of Telgte. The place is picturesque, as shows this photo of a very old mill.

{Telgte - Haus Langen; source: pestel-institut.de}

1816
Sarah Lenington Thorne is born in Albany, NY. When she married Henry, she became my great-great-grandmother. Her ancestral line is a long one and its stories are good.[3]

1830
Henry's father, Solomon Levi Lefman, dies in Telgte. He may have been father or uncle to the philologist who bears his name (Salomon being a variant of Solomon and Lefmann of Lefman). I wish I knew.

1831
Henry is granted permission to emigrate from Telgte to New York, joining his uncle Solomon Windmuller. This comes from the Westphalian Society for Genealogy and Family Research in Münster.[4]


1830s
City directories show Henry Lefman to be a tobacco merchant ("segars").

1836
Henry marries Sarah Lennington Thorne on March 29 in New York. Although his family is Jewish and hers Episcopalian, they raise their children in the Dutch Reform faith. By an odd coincidence, my mother and her family, not at all related to the Lefmans except via my father, were all raised in the same confession. The Lefmans raised their family in German-American Hoboken, NJ, while my mother's parents raised theirs in Dutch-American Passaic, twelve miles to the north and west.

1836
Henry and Sarah's first child, Hannah Eliza Lefman, is born. At age 23 she will marry Louis Windmuller and become my great-grandmother. From childhood on the family knows her as Annie.

1837
Henry and Sarah's first son is born: Henry S. Lefman.

1839
A city directory lists Henry Lefman as a commission merchant at 25 Old-slip, living at 60 Grove.[5]

This drawing shows Coenties Slip, not Old-Slip and it was made at the end of the century not the middle of it. Still, it shows something like how Old-Slip looked.

{source: flickr}

This house on Grove Street is not no. 60, but it does date back to the 1850s.

{source: flickr}

1840
Henry Lefman advertises seasonable dry goods in the New York Sun - 85 Pearl upstairs.


1840
Henry Lefman announces that he will not honor debts incurred by his wife, Sarah: New York Sun. I've no knowledge what this is about, but note what follows.


1841
Henry Lefman declares bankruptcy: Evening Post, Thursday, Feb. 3, 1841.


1842
The city directory for this year lists Jacob Windmuller at the same home addresses as Henry. Jacob was Henry's nephew, son of Elise's brother, Isaac Levi Windmuller. He shows up in my blog post on Louis Windmuller's New York cousins and other family. His business address is shared not only with Henry, but with other Winmuller relations in a firm called A. "Windmuller & Brothers, importers."



1844
Henry and Sarah's second son, George W. Lefman, is born.

1845
Doggett's City Directory shows Henry Lefman's business address as 232 Washington and his home as 579 Broome. The World Trade Center would later be built just south of 232 Washington, as you can see from this satellite photo.

1846
Henry Lefman obtains judgement against a man who deceived him about collateral in the matter of an obligation against which Henry gave his good name. This comes from the National Police Gazette of that year (I don't know the month or day).


1848
Doggett's New-York City directory lists "Lefman Henry, mer. 232 Washington, h. 107 Warren," and "Lefman & Co. mers. 232 Washington."

1849
Henry and Sarah's third son, Robert L. Lefman, is born. Henry is 45 and Sarah 33 years old.

1850
Our very limited file of family memorabilia includes a portrait of Sarah taken this year. The family appear to have been traveling in Germany because, as you can see, the studio, A.H. Heckmann, is located in Osanbrück at Johannesstrasse 68. Osnabrück is not far from Henry's home town of Telgte. My great-grandfather, Louis Windmuller, went to high school in Osnabrück at the Gymnasium Carolinum and so did another relative who migrated to New York: Bernard Roelker. In fact the Roelker family were centered in Osnabrück and it tempting to hypothesize that there was some link between them and the Lefmans, though what it might be I cannot say. Sarah was 34 when she sat for this portrait.


1850
Henry's name appears in another city directory. While most of these publications are strictly alphabetical — like the later phone book white pages — one of these a classified listing — like the yellow. In it, Henry is given two entries, one under the heading "wine & liquor dealers," styles him "Lefman H. & Co., 232 Washington," while the other, under the heading "merchants, general," refers to him simply as "Lefman, Henry" and gives the same address.

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Some sources:

The Windmuller Family genealogical database I've been compiling and the narrative that goes with it: Louis Windmüller and Family

Der jüdische Friedhof in Telgte

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Notes:

[1] These name links take you to the genealogical database for my ancestors on my father's side.

[2] The Nazis destroyed the cemeteries as well as stealing their homes and possessions and finally murdering them. For this reason only a few names can now be recovered from the old Jewish cemetery at Telgte. Among those that can be found are Salomon Leffmann (1788–1875), Nathan Lefmann (1876–1878), Siegfried Leffmann (1879–1880), and Jakob Leffmann (1846–1883). See Der jüdische Friedhof in Telgte. I've not been able to uncover their connection with Henry and his parents, Elise, and Solomon.

[3] It's not difficult to trace our Thorne ancestors back to sixteenth- and the Leningtons to seventeenth-century England. Here are some posts that mention them

• evil practices unto the disturbance of Christian order and peace
• Whigs & Tories, associators & refusers, patriots & loyalists
• Kissams
• William, Cornelius, John, and Benny
• love, peace and liberty condemn hatred, war and bondage
• genealogy
• Miss Sarah Thorne, Her Book
• Sarah Thorn and the cult of domesticity
• Beauties of the mind
• 'My Heart and Lute,' Sarah Thorn

[4] This roughly translates as: "Permitted Emigration ... Name: Heinrich Lefmann, Residence: Warendorf, Occupation: merchant, Birthdate: 7 June 1804, Birthplace: Telgte [Telgte is a township in the Warendorf District], Parents: Widow Elise Lefmann, maiden name Windmuller, Year of Emigration: 1831, Country and Place of Emigration: North America / New York, Remarks: His uncle Samuel Windmuller has lived for many years in New York." -- Source: Beitrage zur Westfalischen Familienforschung (Verlag Ascendorff, Munster, 1966).

[5] The directory is Longworth's American Almanac, New-York Register and City Directory for 1839.

a quiet man

Most families include ancestors, maybe only a few, who achieved distinction — those whose actions made them famous or, it might be just as likely, notorious in their time. The majority lead lives which leave little trace. These men and women are obscure, not in any pejorative sense, but rather, in the shadows of the distant past, they are hard to make out.

I've written before about an ancestor of mine who opposed totalitarianism with simple human dignity, another who stood up for the rights of others in peril of his own. I've also written about nineteenth-century ancestors who achieved wealth and position but who were nonetheless liberal advocates of those who were poor and powerless.

Quite a few near and distant relatives served in military campaigns. Some of them fought for and others against British colonial rule in the American Revolutionary War. Similarly, some wore the Federal uniform and some that of the Confederacy during the Civil War. One served in the Navy from the Civil War through the end of the Spanish-American War, ending with rank of Rear-Admiral. Another took on great risks as a frogman in the South Pacific Theater of World War II.

Less heroically by far, I have one relative who was banished from his home town for having solicited sexual favors from a young woman he knew, man of contrary personality who was frequently at odds with his neighbors and fellow townsmen. There's another, silversmith, who was imprisoned for stealing from his landlord and who devised a small sculpture commemorating the event.

Still, most of the ancestry lacks such prominence. Their lives were less memorable and, not surprisingly, they are less remembered.

This circumstance was put somewhat elegantly by a man, Jeremy Pine, who had this to say about a distant relative:

Samuel Thorn, oldest son of Thomas and Abigail (Borough) Thorn, was born 4/11/1762, in the Thorndale farmhouse where it is likely that all his boyhood days and years of his youth were passed. So long a period has passed by since his decease that almost all recollections of him as a man have also vanished, there being no one now living in 1902 who ever saw him. We who are living in the early part of the twentieth century may never know his personal characteristics, whether he was a social person, a popular individual or otherwise, for memory dies, and beyond simply the dates recorded in his family bible and in the books of the monthly meeting of Friends of which he was a member there is little to write about him.

Success without advancement has been the general condition of the branch, and social and unassuming manners are attached to its members in general, although in a few instances a touch of haughtiness has, in a measure, separated some of the cousins from many of the family.

It may be fitting that I can learn nothing about Jeremy Pine or the writing from which this is excerpted. I found it on John Coutant Thorn's set of web pages: Descendants of William Thorne

{This is the Haddonfield Meeting where Samuel Thorne and his family worshiped; source: History of the Society of Friends in America, by James Bowden's, vol. II, 1854.}

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Here are some of my previous blog posts on family history:

• Iwo Jima, 65 years ago
• a courageous act of defiance
• evil practices unto the disturbance of Christian order and peace
• Whigs & Tories, associators & refusers, patriots & loyalists
• Kissams
• William, Cornelius, John, and Benny
• love, peace and liberty condemn hatred, war and bondage
• genealogy
• Louis Windmüller
• living high
• Woodside, Queens, New York
• Windmuller, Heine, and Lorelei
• Miss Sarah Thorne, Her Book
• Sarah Thorn and the cult of domesticity
• Beauties of the mind
• 'My Heart and Lute,' Sarah Thorn

a courageous act of defiance

I wrote yesterday about one member of my family tree who confronted the society in which he lived. Today I write of another. Both men were forced to stand before local magistrates to answer for their actions and both were condemned by the court in harsh language. After trial, both were convicted of crimes against society. Both served out sentences the courts imposed. And finally, both were shunned by neighbors, though in neither case is this a matter of court record.

Despite these similarities, the gulf that separates the two men is enormous.

They lived four centuries apart and on different continents and they belonged to different religions. The one was cantankerous, aggressive, and, I'm pretty sure, annoyingly ego-centric. His crime was attempted seduction of a woman in the neighborhood where he lived.

There are no reports that the other man shared the same character traits or ever broke the law for personal gratification. Apart from one courageous act, he was an unaggressive and undeserving victim of an overwhelmingly powerful and wholly evil political regime.

The first is Henry Lennington.

The second is Salomon Windmüller. I'm not a direct descendant of him as I am of Henry: Salomon's great-great-grandfather was brother to the great-grandfather of my great-grandfather Louis.

{Salomon Windmüller; source: shtetlinks.jewishgen.org}

The heroic act of resistance for which Salomon is known concerned an anti-Jewish poster. The contents of the poster aren't known, but the level of rhetoric in that time and place is conveyed by a song the Nazi storm troopers sang as they marched through the streets of places like the town of Beckum where salomon lived: "Wenn das Judenblut vom Messer spritzt, geht’s uns noch mal so gut!" (We shall rejoice when Jewish blood will squirt from the knife…)* It says Salomon Windmüller instructed one of his employees, Franz Becker, to take down an anti-Jewish poster that had been stuck on the wall of his house. He told Becker that the one poster already plastered on his gate was enough. Here's the court's sentence translated:

In the Name of the German People

Criminal Case Against:
          The Merchant Salomon Windmüller, Beckum, Weststrasse 19
          born 11 March 1862 in Beckum,
          concerning offense according to Par. 134 of the Penal Code.

The following participated at the 10 August 1935 Session of the Beckum District Court:
          Judge: Court Consultant Schrage,
          Official of the State Attorney: Inspector Redeker,
          Document Official: Advocate Knepper

The District Court has passed the following sentence:
          The accused is guilty of removing and damaging a public announcement
          and is sentenced to 6 weeks in prison. He also has to carry the expenses
          for the proceedings.

Reasons

The accused has confessed that he ordered his employee Franz Becker to remove from his house a poster signed by Gauleiter (Party official) Meyer, with the heading "German People, Awake!”. He claims that he had not been aware of the contents of the poster. He admits, however, to have told Becker, one poster affixed on the gate next to the house will be sufficient. His claim that he was unable to read the poster because of the height of the place where it was affixed, is thus not credible. The accused saw the poster on the gate and could read it; he cannot pretend shortsightedness. Moreover, he should have taken into consideration that the poster originated from a Government and Party source. There was no alternative possibility. Undoubtedly, the accused was aware of this possibility, and should thus be deemed fully responsible.

Since the witness Becker, as an employee, only acted on orders of the accused, he cannot be held responsible. The accused has also acted with malevolence, by attempting to prevent the public from reading the poster.

In assessing the penalty it was duly taken into consideration that the accused is of Jewish descent. In view of the attitude of the State and the Party towards the Jewish race, the accused had all the more reason to avoid any provocative action.

A sentence of 6 weeks imprisonment was considered appropriate.

The costs for the proceedings will be carried by the accused, in accordance with Par. 465 of the Penal Code.

          (signed) Schrage, Court Consultant

                    Executed:

                    Beckum, August 10, 1935

          (Stamp) Preuss. Amtsgericht, Beckum

Dr. Hagedorn, Attorney of Law, Beckum

--

{This translation was published in the Windmueller Family Chronicle (p 213). It is shown here with slight editorial changes. source: shtetlinks.jewishgen.org}

Salomon served his sentence and, very soon after, he died. His death in the northern Germany spa of Badenweiler suggests that he came of out jail a broken man and failed to recuperate in the health resort.

Here is a news account of the arrest:

Priest and Jew Arm-in-Arm
Subversive agitators sentenced

Last Saturday several persons were sentenced at the Beckum district court, to several weeks’ imprisonment for damaging posters of the Westfalen-Nord district command. They were the following opponents of the National-Socialist movement and government: Mrs Franz Windhövel, Wilhelmstrasse 61 (three weeks imprisonment), the innkeeper Ferdinand Hagedorn, Weststrasse 45 (three weeks imprisonment), the Priest Stroetmann, Provost of the St Paulus Workers Association (three weeks imprisonment), and the last of this illustrious company; the 73-year-old cattle Jew Salomon Windmüller, Weststrasse 19 (six weeks imprisonment). All those sentenced were taken into custody. The Jew Windmüller was imprisoned immediately.

With this verdict, the Beckum district court has made it abundantly clear that the National-Socialist state will not be intimidated by anybody, not even by the Catholic clergy. All subversive activities will in future be severely punished.”

--

{Newsclipping, translation by Zeev Raphael, June 2007; source: shtetlinks.jewishgen.org}

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