Look, what Anna and I found among my grandma's books! Nobody noticed that this book is from America, from Reading in Pennsylvania!
You can read: "Pilger-Buchhandlung, Reading, PA". As far as I know Reading is the area of Pennsylvania where a lot of Amish people live and I heard that they have been speaking German until the 1950ies or even later. The "Pilger-Buchhandlung" released books for them in German language.
The title of this book is "Christ und Jude", which is translated "Christian and Jew". But don't think the book would be racist. It is not. The story is about the time of 1600 and the book is released long before the Nazis were even known in Germany. There is no year printed, but because of the design of the book it must be released between 1900 and 1910 or only a bit later, maybe up to 1920.
Class picture of Gridley School 1924; the teacher doesn't seem to be Emelia
How does a book from Pennsylvania found its way into my granny's bookcase? There is only one way: Her relatives from Erie must have given her the book when they visited her and the Albracht-Family in Wethen. They knew that my grandma loved books and reading, so they brought her something to read from their home Erie. I searched some American records and found only one person, who travelled to Wethen: Emelia Bark was several times in Germany, in Waldeck, at least two times, but I think it could be also 3 times or more. Emelia Bark was the daughter of Caroline Albracht Bark, who was the sister of my great grandfather Georg Albracht, my granny's father. So Emelia was my granny's close cousin. She was a teacher at Gridley school in Erie and she teached German.
Ship Republic in 1926
Emelia on the ship, 1926
Emelia first went by ship (it was the Republic) in summer 1926 and was back in New York on September 4, 1926.
Document about Emelia's flight in 1957
The second time she went by plane to Frankfurt in May 1957 and was back in New York on June 10, 1957. I knew about this last visit, because she lived at my grandparents' house, because all other houses of her relatives didn't have any bathrooms or toilets at that time. My grandparents were the first in the village. Another cousin of Emelia, Auguste Thoene, was a bit sad about this, because she had prepared Emelia's visit and now she preferred living at my grandma's house.
Emelia's grave at Erie Cemetery
Emelia died shortly after her last visit in 1960. My Grandma often spoke of her American relatives and she was always very proud of them.
passport request of Emelia in 1913
But maybe there was an earlier visit, which would be more matching to the age of the book. I found out that Emelia Bark requested a passport in 1913. But as far as I know she also travelled to Mexico, so I'm not sure that she needed the passport for Germany.
Emelia in the 1920ies and on Christmas 1959
Obituary of Emelia Bark, Erie Times News
I googled about "Pilger-Buchhandlung" in Reading, PA, but I couldn't find out anything about the history of this publlisher. I appreciate every hint about the publisher. I only found another issue of the book, same title, same publisher, but red binding, which can be bought for 149 Dollars: http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=603663394&searchurl=bi%3D0%26bsi%3D30%26bx%3Doff%26ds%3D30%26pn%3Dpilger-buchhandlung%26sortby%3D2%26x%3D47%26y%3D7
Maybe one of you, my dear readers, knows anything about this very special publisher for the Mennonites of Reading?
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Pictures:
- pictures of the book by Georgia; all rights reserved
- documents of American records and picture of the Republic by ancestry.com
- picture of Emelia Bark om the ship by Emmy Thoene; all rights reserved
- picture of Emelia Bark in the 20ies by Louise Klapthor of Erie; all rights reserved
- picture of Emelia Bark Christmas 1959 by Georgia; all rights reserved
- picture of Emelia's tombstone by my dear cousin Mary of Erie; all rights reserved
- obituary of Emelia Bark from Erie Public Library (thanks to Terry!)
- picture of Gridley School by Gaylene Kerr Banister/Erie; all rights reserved
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