Chris & Julie Petersen's Genealogy

Alice Herzenberg

Female Abt 1877 -


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  • Name Alice Herzenberg 
    Born Abt 1877  Jelgava (Mitau), Courland, Latvia Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Gender Female 
    Died RÄ«ga, RÄ«ga, Latvia Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Person ID I4056  Petersen-de Lanskoy
    Last Modified 27 May 2021 

    Father Abraham Herzenberg,   b. Abt 1840, of Pilten (Piltene), Courland, Latvia Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 25 Apr 1900, Jelgava (Mitau), Courland, Latvia Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age ~ 60 years) 
    Mother Therese or Taube Herzenberg,   b. 10 Nov 1846, Pilten (Piltene), Courland, Latvia Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 4 Apr 1931, RÄ«ga, RÄ«ga, Latvia Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 84 years) 
    Married Bef 1867  of Jelgava (Mitau), Courland, Latvia Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Family ID F1902  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family Packschwer,   b. Moskva, Russia Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Married Moskva, Russia Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Last Modified 28 May 2021 
    Family ID F1950  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  • Notes 
    • RESEARCH_NOTES:
      1. Courland (Kurzeme in Latvian, Kurland in German) is the historically distinct area of modern day Latvia bounded by the Baltic Sea to the west, Lithuania to the south, and the Dvina River (now Daugava) to the North. Its historic capital was Mitau (now Jelgava). It had ice-free Baltic ports with commercial and strategic importance. At its height Courland was a prosperous and cultured German-speaking Duchy. Courland was a separate Gubernia (Province) of the Russian Empire from 1797-1918. 50-60% of the Jews living in Riga just north of Courland had family roots in Courland. The names of the various towns have changed now that the area is part of Latvia (new-old as of early 1900s):
      Aizpute-Hasenpoth
      Jelgava-Mitau
      Kuldiga-Goldingen
      Liepaja-Libau
      Piltene-Pilten
      Talsi-Talsen
      Ventspils-Windau

      2. Per Leo, they had two children - both last in Moscow, Russia.

      3. 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:
      HL 108 shows Alice b. Mitau, d. Riga, md. to Packschwer.

      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:
      " When Uncle Abraham died the eldest son, Leo, was married in Petersburg. Also the daughter Fanny. Laura and Alice were married in Moscow, and Sophie in Mitau. At home were Ludwig, [44] in the firm, Harry who was still in the gymnasium, and the two girls, Roberta, of my age, and Klara, a little older. Ludwig, whom the mother worshipped, took over running the business. Harry entered the business as an apprentice. Ludwig decided on moving the business to Riga, why I don't know. The beautiful old house in Mitau was sold. Everything in Mitau was liquidated. Instead of the princely living in Mitau, aunt Therese moved into an old dark rental house on the Schwimmstrasse in Riga. I believe she had no happy time there. I don't know how Ludwig ruined the business so quickly. It ended when I was on a vacation trip to Germany in the summer of 1904, when I received the news from my father that I should visit aunt Therese in Berlin. [45] I met her, with Klara and Roberta, in a shabby room of a pitiful pension near the Elsasser gate. They had just had lunch, which consisted of a can of sardines with bread. The firm Abraham Herzenberg in Riga had failed. They had lost everything, and had fled to Germany, and were totally dependent on the support of children and siblings...
      ...[52] The two following sisters, Alice and Laura married two brothers Packscwer in Moscow, industrialists and bankers and each of the sisters has two sons. In all other respects the fate of the two sisters was fundamentally different. In those days the education of girls in the family was especially held back. From the older children of Abraham I know that they married without understanding the meaning of marriage. Even a word like "shirt" was taboo. It can be assumed that the brother that Alice married also did not know his condition, and brought syphilis into the marriage. In any case, he infected Alice, and as it was in those days, one did not speak of such things as long as possible. When Alice started showing brain disturbances she came to Riga to her mother into the sad home on the Schwimstrasse. [53] At that time I was living as a boarder with aunt Therese. Alice had gone into town on some errands, failed to return, and in the evening after a long search was found insane in the suburbs . She was very beautiful, and her mental decline was a pitiful sight. One could not keep her in the house. She came into a private insane sanatorium of Dr. Schonfeld near Riga, where she died some time later. I never knew what happened to the husband and the two pretty, but pale and sickly Children."
      LAURA came to Paris with her husband and the two children after the Soviet revolution. They apparently rescued everyone from the Russian collapse. When I last saw Laura in Kissingen in 1922 she was still very pretty, tall and slender. Her husband Pakschwer made an impression like a diplomat before 1914. The elder son was affected by social-tolstoyan ideas. He is an engineer, naturalized [54] french, but has been unemployed for along time. Laura and Max tried to arrange emigration to Bolivia for him, but when the visa had been obtained he had gone to Saigon, Indochina. The second son lived in London. Lastly Laura and Max moved from Paris to Vichy. I don't know what happened to them after the collapse of France and the anti-Semitic laws of the Petain government."

      BIRTH:
      1. Date is only an unsubstantiated guess by Kenny Petersen.

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