Hillmanns 12. 1917. Siegele Relatives and WW1

THE HILLMANNS OF BROOKLYN

CHAPTER 12

1917.  WAR

In 1917 the Hillmanns spent a day with Rose's family and took pictures on the porch. Here we have Uncle William (Rose's brother), with 7 year old Marian and her Dad, Herman. Woodrow Wilson was President in 1917.

Grandma Henrietta with the Hillmanns: Herman, Marian and Rose or Rose's sister, Angelica. Henrietta was born in 1854 in New York. In early 1917 Europe was in turmoil and President Wilson called for peace without victory, as in, can't we all just get along?

In early 1917 the Tsar abdicated in Russia.

Marian plays with her dolls on the porch.

Henry Siegele, Rose's father, was born in 1849 in Alsace Lorraine, a region that was regularly fought over and was sometimes German and sometimes French. Henry spoke German and immigrated to the US in 1860. According to census records first he was a clerk, then a carpenter and later a bartender. I tend to think he graduated to bar owner, because that's what Herman's father was. Tthe Siegeles, like the Hillmanns, appear to have lived in comfort.

Our core Hillmann family--Rosie, Marian and Herman. Herman has been described to me as a very honorable man. The kind of man who couldn't sleep at night if he owed someone money. His manners were described as "Victorian". The German Kaiser Wilhelm was Queen Victoria's grandson.

Next to the Siegele Porch pictures were pictures of young men, whom I am presuming to be Siegeles. I can only identify Rose's brothers, but she also had many, many cousins. After the Tsar abdicated Lenin came back to Russia from exile.

I don't know who this handsome, dapper man is. In 1917 Congress gave President Wilson the power to draft and if you're a genealogist you can find almost every man in the United States draft registration card, written in their own hand.

This is Rose's brother, Henry. In 1917, when he registered for the draft he reported working for Borden Condensed Milk. (When he registered in 1942 he worked for Borden Farm Products.)  At this time in history, in New York City, all the Siegele and Hillmann men worked for one company their entire working lives.

In an earlier album we saw Marian with her Uncle William on a motorcycle, this is Uncle Henry with motorcycle.

I don't know who this man is, but it doesn't look to me like he was fighting the war in Europe, maybe it's Henry and he had some kind of ranger duties?

William? A cousin? In 1917 Germany began bombing London. The British Royal Family changed their last name from Saxe-Coburg-Gotha to Windsor and I was told Herman hated and was ashamed of being German.

Rose's youngest sister, Angelica, married Robert Langlotz.

Mr. and Mrs. Langlotz honeymooned in Bermuda. Bermuda was a huge vacation destination for Siegeles, they all went there repeatedly. 

If you enjoyed this album there are 11 in front of it, and more to come.