Jersleben

Meta Emma Klopp – Friedrich and Emma’s Fourteenth Child – Part 1

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The ‘Baby of the Family’ and ‘Frau Professor’ Later

Meta, the fourteenth child, was born in Jersleben on 5 January 1898. Her birth took place at a time of disputes about the ownership of the house in Wolmirstedt. Her eldest brother Friedrich (1875 – 1946) was beginning to assert his independence at the expense of the family. The steady new arrivals of siblings and consequently increasing competition for the modest inheritance was getting on the nerves of the ‘faithful’ and now 23-year old rope manufacturing apprentice.

Meta was baptized, as prescribed by tradition, eight days after her birth in the newly consecrated church in Jersleben. The officiating pastor was Dr. Friedrich Daniel, the historian of the Altmark. Very little is known about Meta’s childhood. In all likelihood, her sister Jula Steuer arranged for her the enrolment in a nurses’ training programme. According to vague family memories, it started in a branch of the evangelical church in Waldbröl, Westerwald. At the start of the 1920s, because of the proximity to Neu Rosow, she resided in Stettin. it probably was the first place of her employment in the hospital ‘Bethany’ in Kreckow Street. At the same time, her sister Else and brother-in-law Stier were living in Stettin. When the couple moved to Alt Valm, Pomerania, Meta felt more and more drawn to her sister Anna in Panwitz. At the end of the 1920s, one could find her noticeably more often, almost like a permanent resident, at the von Waldenfels estate at Meseritz. From there she must have found employment at the hospital Limburg, Lahn.

Meta was the youngest daughter of the Klopp children and maintained close contact with her elder sisters. Anna von Waldenfels, Jula Steuer and Else Stier took turns in taking the yet unmarried ‘late bloomer’ under their wings. Photos of the Panwitz time show her as a good-looking young woman, who appears not unhappy but a little bit shy. She suffered mildly from a ‘lazy eye’ problem.

In Limburg happened a fateful encounter, which will be the topic of the next post.

Lucia Selma Elsbeth Klopp – Friedrich and Emma’s Twelfth Child

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Another Early Death in the Klopp Family

The twelfth child, born in Wolmirstedt on 4 August 1894, did not reach adulthood just as the seventh and tenth child. Although Selma had been mentioned in family circles, nobody could recall any details about her final resting place. The date and place of death could not be found in the official records of the town of Wolmirstedt, Jersleben or Elsenau. However, a photo of her exists (not in my possession), which was made in 1903 or 1904 by the photo store owned by Paul Lorenz. It shows her when she was about nine or ten years old. Her face, no longer childlike, already displays features of early adolescence. In all likelihood, she suffered from a lung disease just as her sister Else born a year later, who will be the topic of the next post. In 1903 or 1904 she moved with her mother Emma to Elsenau in West Prussia, and there she must have passed away a little later having suffered from tuberculosis.

Kirche_Elsenau_(Olszanowo)

Church in Elsenau (Olszanowo)

Anna Rosa Klopp (1881 – 1924) – Part I

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Introducing the Fifth Child of Friedrich and Emma Klopp

Klopp Family Tree Chart I – II

Rosa’s Marriage with August Diesing

On June 6, 1881 Rosa was born in Jersleben. Her father P.F.W. Klopp had just given up the mill at Osterweddingen due to an interim phase at his trade. In his home town Jersleben he recovered sufficiently to prepare the short-lived enterprise of the ‘Düppler’ mill at Olvenstedt. Since the family returned in 1885 via Magdeburg-Neustadt to Jersleben, Rosa was introduced to the school in 1887 either there or in Wolmirstedt.

Stassfurt - Photo Credit: wikipedia.org

Stassfurt-Atzendorf – Photo Credit: wikipedia.org

She did not resettle with her mother Emma in Elsenau, West Prussia, but married in 1903 the carpenter and later construction master August Diesing (1875-1939) of Atzendorf near Staßfurt. At the time of the wedding he was employed at a local construction company.

Rosa and August had seven children: Werner, Elsbeth, Rosa, Alice, Erika, Willy, and Fritz. The eldest son, most likely born in 1903, wears a marine uniform on a photo from 1920.

Monastery of Gostyn - Photo Credit: dreamstime.com

Monastery of Gostyn – Photo Credit: dreamstime.com

Since 1905 at the latest, the family was residing in Gostyn, Posnan and participated in 1908 in the acquisition of a dairy business lease with brother-in-law Ferdinand Klopp (1879 – 1952, see previous posts).  Daughter Rosa, known as Rosel, was born there in 1905. Also all subsequent children were born there, before the region became part of the re-established country of Poland.

In 1919 the Diesing family established themselves on a temporary basis at Lebus west of the River Oder. Carpenter Diesing also appeared to have acquired land and worked on it for a while in the agricultural domain.

Friedrich Wilhelm Ferdinand Klopp (1879-1952) – Part I

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A Somewhat Rocky Start

for Ferdinand Klopp

Klopp Family Tree

Chart I – II
Magdeburg - Photo Ctedit: wikipedia.org

Magdeburg – Photo Ctedit: wikipedia.org

On November 22, 1879 the fourth child was born in the house on Hemmsack Street in Osterweddingen near Magdeburg. Anyway, these houses – some still existing today- are traditionally ascribed to the dwellings of mill leasers and workers since the 19th century. Already in 1881 Ferdinand moved with his parents back to Jerslebe3n, spent three years there  at the Düppler Mill and in 1885 entered the Elementary School of Wolmirstedt, the birth place of my father Ernst. In the nearby town of Jersleben, Ferdinand’s father P.W.F. Klopp had found work as miller master.

Church at Jersleben - Photo Credit: wikipedia.org

Church at Jersleben – Photo Credit: wikipedia.org

In 1893 Ferdinand was sent to Hannoversch-Münden to attend a dairy apprenticeship program. When he returned to his father’s great disappointment after only one year of training, his father forced him to work with his eldest brother Friedrich as a rope maker’s apprentice in the Wolmirstedt house. He had probably shown little interest in his work in Hannoversch-Münden and further increased the image of a good-for-nothing worker under the whip of his elder brother and rope making master Friedrich. The disrespectfully treated Ferdinand was from then on called rather degradingly clown (“Klon”).

Arial Photo of Wolmirstedt - Photo Credit: wolmirstedt.de

Arial Photo of Wolmirstedt – Photo Credit: wolmirstedt.de