Chris & Julie Petersen's Genealogy

Mery or Merija or Maria Herzenberg

Female 1873 - Aft 1940  (> 68 years)


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  • Name Mery or Merija or Maria Herzenberg 
    Born 1873  RÄ«ga, RÄ«ga, Latvia Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Gender Female 
    Died Aft 1940  of Houston, Harris, Texas, United States Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Person ID I4083  Petersen-de Lanskoy
    Last Modified 27 May 2021 

    Father Levin or Louis Herzenberg,   b. 1848, of Pilten (Piltene), Courland, Latvia Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. RÄ«ga, RÄ«ga, Latvia Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Mother Betty,   b. 1848, RÄ«ga, RÄ«ga, Latvia Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. RÄ«ga, RÄ«ga, Latvia Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Family ID F1929  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family Julius or July Herzenberg,   b. 1871, Jelgava (Mitau), Courland, Latvia Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 3 Dec 1932, RÄ«ga, RÄ«ga, Latvia Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 61 years) 
    Married 1901  Karlbad (near Riga), Latvia Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Children 
     1. Hedwig Herzenberg,   b. Abt 1901, Berlin, Berlin, Germany Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 19 Sep 1990, Houston, Harris, Texas, United States Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age ~ 89 years)
     2. Alfred Julius Herzenberg or Hermont,   b. 14 May 1904, Irkutsk, Irkutsk, Russia Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 19 Jul 2000, Houston, Harris, Texas, United States Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 96 years)
    Last Modified 28 May 2021 
    Family ID F1945  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  • Notes 
    • RESEARCH_NOTES:
      1. Website of Peter Bruce Herzenberg of London, England (since relocated to South Africa). Website is no longer functioning as of 7 Aug 2007. Copies of much of his data from the website in my possession. He indicates references by codes, which pertain to the original source and file held in his database, which I have not seen. I have no key to the sources except HL is Leonardo Herzenberg, HG is Gail Herzenberg, PC is probably Piltene Cemetery records, LA is probably Latvian Archives, FA is probably Aleksandrs Feigmanis (Latvian researcher hired by Harold Hodes), and YL is Len Yodaiken (Israeli researcher hired by Harold Hodes); however, he lists the main researchers and their contributions in a lengthy report which I include in full in the notes of the earliest Herzenberg of this database. In regards to this individual:
      HL114/033 shows Mery, b. 1973 [s/b 1873?] in Riga, d. 1932, md. to Julius Herzenberg.

      2. Censuses:
      1940 US
      Paul R. Sprohge, head, 38, Latvia
      Hedwig Sprohge, wife, 37, Germany
      Erik Sprohge, son, 8, Latvia
      Mary Herzenberg, mother-in-law, 59, Latvia
      Alfred Herzenberg, brother-in-law, 35, Germany
      Phyllis Herzenberg, sister-in-law, 27, Massachusetts

      3. The following is a link to the website (accessed 19 Mar 2020) of Erik Sprohge, the son of Paul Richard Sprohge and Hedwig Herzenberg: https://www.foltzgallery.com/artist/erik-sprohge
      Kenny Petersen spoke with him on 16 Mar 2020 and notes the following:
      "Just found and spoke to Erik Sprohge. He remembers a lot. Was born in Latvia.
      esprohge@att.net
      713-774-5083
      He welcomes either of your calls or emails. Has albums and stories.Such as that Abraham Herzenberg was mayor in Mitau/Jeligava. And a street car went to their estate with the name Herzenberg on it. Also that Theresa (Edouard's sister) was very bright. But upset that son Ludvig (Luda the murderer - because maybe joined mafia in Marsellas(sp?)), lost all the family money in a year after his father's death. Also that Alfred Herzenberg brought his mother Mery to America. And that Alfred has a daughter Jeannie, whose son David Post is currently very interested in family history work (about 50yrs old)."

      BIOGRAPHY:
      1. 28 Jul 2007 Http://www.herzenberg.net/leo/htmlrh/Content.html copyrighted by Leo Herzenberg:
      "An meinen Sohn (To my son) Leonhard Herzenberg von (from) Robert Herzenberg. Memoirs written during the 1940's. Translated during the 1990's by Leonardo (Leonhard) Herzenberg. The entire memoir is quite lengthy and included in its entirety in my notes with Joseph Herzenberg, the original known ancestor, in this database. The following is only the portion dealing with this part of the family:
      "GREAT-UNCLE ISRAEL, WINDAU, and his descendants
      [30] One day, I must have been about six, during the fall celebrations, my father said that we would go to see the relatives in Pilten, and would make part of the trip with a steamship by way of Windau. And that would be very nice because when we left the harbor the captain would bring out a swing, and I would be able to swing for the whole trip. Now, we had a swing in the garden, and another one in the house, in a doorway, so I was very excited. They were small coast freighters, running between Libau and Windau, and sometimes daring to stretch the trip as far as Riga. The wind blows mostly from the west, exactly perpendicular to the direction of travel; naturally the little ship rolled mightily. As we were leaving the harbor I asked about the swing, people only laughed, and soon the whole ship was swinging, and I became so badly seasick that I still remember it perfectly fifty years later. I don't know how long I vomited, but the next morning we arrived in Windau. On the return trip, when there was also a lot of motion, I no longer felt anything more of seasickness. I was never seasick after that, but have been afraid of getting seasick on every trip though the east sea, the north sea, the Atlantic, or a quiet ocean.
      In Windau my father took me along on visits to the relatives, and it was the only time that I saw my great uncle Israel, my fathers's oldest Uncle. I remember only a large, white, patriarch beard, and a very serious person; in any case, his behavior towards me stood out from that of the other relatives. I never heard from him again. [32] From his sons Abraham and Josef I also heard nothing. I knew the other two sons, Louis and Joel, quite well, especially in the time when I was studying in Riga. Joel had been in Warsaw, had married there, but it did not go well for him there, and he returned to the Baltic where he was supported by his brother Louis. I visited him sometimes, and he liked me also, but we could not get into good contact with the family. Of his children I remember only a pretty daughter; they were all glowing polish patriots. For me, then still very loyal to the Czar, they seemed like traitors and conspirators. So I could never feel very warm toward them. Today, after so many years, and where Poland for now has been destroyed by the Germans, it would be no different for me; the loyalty to the Czar is long gone, but I have never found a liking for the Poles. When a People goes through so much hardship and bitterness and after more than a century regains its freedom and independence, and then forgets it all, and mishandles and suppresses its minorities in such a horrible way, then it deserves no better fate than it has met. [33]
      Uncle Louis Herzenberg, and his wife aunt Betty lived in Riga, so, outside of Kurland. They were completely assimilated to the German upper crust, even though they were otherwise loyal Jews. I do not believe that they kept a kosher household in my time; but the holidays were observed, however their shop was open on Saturdays. As a result the household was very large, at least it impressed me a lot, since I was accustomed to the modest conditions in my home. Although the Russian [34] influence in Livland, hundred years older than in Kurland, was much stronger than in the latter, the house of Uncle Louis was pure German, like all families that came from Kurland to Riga, in contrast to those who came from Lithuania, who mostly had a Russian household. The Jewish community of Riga was large and rich, religious, but not outstanding. Uncle Louis was owner of a large manufacturing firm, Herzenberg & Meyerowitz. The latter was already dead in my time. Perhaps the firm had failed and Uncle Louis remained as the sole owner. He was a square-built, stout, pleasant man, who sometimes helped me with small loans. His business was in the Sunderstrasse, partly wholesale, but mostly retail. I remember [35] especially the large carpets, bolts of fabric, and a large safe. Uncle Louis was jovial, and liked to make little jokes, more often daring than funny. Aunt Betty was a faultless housewife, sat indignant while uncle Louis pretended to be harmlessly dumb, to the great amusement of his sons and me. They had five children, the daughters Lilly and Mery, and the sons Heinrich, Julius, and Roman. Lilly was married to Albert Meisel, and lived in Warsaw and Berlin. They had a son James who grew up in Berlin, who had literary talent. Anyway, he received a literature prize. Meisel became ill with fish poisoning after the first world war after a trip to Hamburg, and died half a year later from a resulting heart weakness. Lilly married Heinrich Herzenberg from warsaw and lives in Riga. [36].
      Mery I still knew as a dear girl [liebes madel]. She married the cousin of her father Julius' son from Abraham Herzenberg, Mitau, of which I will say more in Abraham's section. Heinrich Herzenberg studied electro-technology in Darmstadt. He was the typical Baltic fraternity boy, treated me like air when I visited his home. He married Irene, and they had a son Erwin. After the end of the first world war Heinrich came to Hamburg, and caught scarlet fever, and his wife came to him. So we became better acquainted, but hardly became closer. For many years we would hear nothing from each other. Hitler brought us back together. Erwin was able to get admission to Australia, and to go there. Heinrich and Irene stayed in Berlin, and as they also were forced to emigrate at the [37] end of 1939, in November of that year I obtained a Bolivian visa for them. The emigration kept getting delayed, and now, in August 1940 I am fighting to get the visa revalidated. I am puzzled how they could come here at all, since Italian ships are no longer running. (In march 1941 they still sat in Berlin).
      Julius was a bit older than I and studied at the commerce school in Leipzig. We were friendly, but due to the war we lost contact, I don't think he is alive any more. Roman, the youngest, is the same age as I. He attended the Realschule in Riga, but was in a class below mine. We had the same interest in natural science. We liked each other a lot, but lost contact. I graduated and entered the Riga Polytechnic in 1903. He left the Realschule with 6 classes [out of 7] and thus could attend the commerce section of the Polytechnic. [38] First he deserted science, and second, he joined a student association of Baltic Jews, which, with caps and armbands, aped the brawling, rioting and drinking of the Baltic fraternity boys. At that time I had an outspokenly Russian liberalist orientation, so there was a fight between us in the house of uncle Louis, and we stopped our relationship. I lost contact with him also. I know that he changed saddles, studied medicine, went to Serbia as a doctor during the war, and stayed there. He married a Serbian, and now lives as a well established doctor for a mining company in Maidanpec."

      2. 28 Jul 2007 Http://www.herzenberg.net/leo/htmlrh/Content.html copyrighted by Leo Herzenberg:
      "An meinen Sohn (To my son) Leonhard Herzenberg von (from) Robert Herzenberg. Memoirs written during the 1940's." Translated during the 1990's by Leonardo (Leonhard) Herzenberg. The entire memoir is quite lengthy and included in its entirety in my notes with Joseph Herzenberg, the original known ancestor, in this database. The following is only the portion dealing with this part of the family:
      "...JULIUS HERZENERG, the second son, studied at the Polytechnic in Riga and graduated as a chemical engineer shortly after Uncle Abraham's death. In the following summer he married the daughter of his cousin Louis, Mery Herzenberg from Riga. It was a love marriage. The wedding took place in Karlbad, on the Riga shore, where all Riga's and some of Mitau's families moved every summer, and most of them had established summer residences. That same night the house burned down, and only the naked lives were rescued.
      The parents bought him a gas light mantle factory in Berlin.[47] There their daughter Hedwig was born. When I was in Berlin in the October 1902, she lay in the cradle. The mantle undertaking soon went bankrupt. Julius never again worked as a chemical engineer. He left Berlin and Germany for ever. For a time he was in Irkutsk (in Russia, near lake Baikal) with representation, then back to Russia. There a son, Alfred (Fredy) was born. I did not hear much from them for a long time, after the revolution they were able to return to Latvia. Fredy went to the United States to study. Hedy married the Latvian architect Sproghe. Julius Herzenberg died soon after in Riga. Fredy came to Schenectady as an engineer at General Electric, then, in 1936 as an exploration engineer for Shell Oil in Houston, Texas, where he still works today (1940). In 1937 he brought his brother in law over, in 1938 Hedwig and Mery also came to Houston. Hedwig has a son Erik. So, the great-grandchild of Uncle Abraham, [48] Eric Sproghe, is the first half Latvian in out family. Fredy Married in Houston, but I do not know his wife's name."

      3. Ancestry.com's "New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1957"
      A. Arriving on the ship "Champlain" 11 Jun 1937: Paul Sprohge, 35, md., male, architect, reads and writes, German language, nationality of Germany, German race, b. in Riga Latviea, immigration visa QIV:225 issued in Riga 24 May 1937, last permanent address was Berlin, Germany, friend's name: Alfred Herzenberg.
      B. Arriving on the ship "Champlain" 10 Jun 1938 having sailed from Southhampton, England.
      a. Hedwig Sprohge, 35, md., h.wife, reads and writes, speaks German/english, citizen of Germany, German Hebrew, b. Berlin, Germany, visa issued in Riga, last permanent address was in Riga, Latvia, sponsoring friend is Paul Sprohge.
      b. Erik Sprohge, 6, speaks German, German Hebrew, b. Riga, Latvia, visa issued in Riga, last permanent address was in Riga, Latvia, sponsoring friend is Paul Sprohge.
      c. Merija or Maria Hercenbergs or Herzenberg, 57, widow, no occupation, speaks french/german/english/russian, citizen of Latvia, Hebrew, b. Riga, Latvia, visa issued in Riga, last permanent address was in Riga, Latvia, sponsoring friend is Paul Sprohge.

      MARRIAGE:
      1. Ancestry.com's "Latvia: Riga Jewish Marriages, 1854-1921": "July Herzenberg, md. 1901 to Mary Herzenberg."

      SOURCES_MISC:
      1. Leonardo Herzenberg http://www.herzenberg.net/