my ancestors: Richard Robert Max Korn and Auguste Rustebeck

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my 2.greatgrandparents: Richard Robert Max Korn and Auguste Rustenbeck

Richard Robert Max Korn
November 20, 1852 - March 3, 1894
parents:
father: Carl Friedrich Ferdinand Korn
mother: Therese Marie Dorothea Korn nee Borchardt

ring

August 29, 1882

Auguste Korn nee Rustenbeck
August 29, 1857 - Nov 23, 1909
parents:
father: Johann Heinrich Erdmann Rustenbeck
mother: Wilhelmine Sophie Elisabeth Rustenbeck nee Bohneberg

known children:
daughter: Elisabeth Ingeborg Therese Wilhelmina (Oct 16, 1883-Nov 27,1887)
son: Frithjof Heinrich Carl (April 8, 1885 - July 1, 1945)
son: Richard Conrad (September 13, 1886 - ?)
son: Carl Oskar (Feb 20, 1888 - March 3, 1888
daughter: Gertrud Ingeborg (Feb 10, 1890- Aug 14, 1890)

Richard still hasn't revealed all his mysteries to me. He was born in Magdeburg in 1852 as the eldest of 4 siblings. His father was a teacher of accounting and the family was well off. Richard was interested in chemistry and an ambitious young man full of dreams.

Auguste was born and grew up in Magdeburg as well, the daughter of a butcher.

When they were teenagers they lived only a few streets away from each other, so it is easy to imagine that the two met each other in the street, at church, at some youth events. Maybe Richard bought some meat at her family's butcher shop. Or Auguste's father let Richard's father do or check his bookkeeping. They got to know each other and soon enough they fell in love.

Auguste married Richard on her 25th birthday, so she kind of got him as a birthday present.

After they had married she moved with Richard to Stockholm, Sweden where he had already opened a business. In October 1883 their first daughter Elisabeth Ingeborg Therese Whilhelmina was born. My greatgrandfather Frithjof followed in April 1885 and Richard Conrad in 1886.

At the time Stockholm was an economic trading and service center and lots of new immigrants arrived in the city. It also had a big German speaking congregation.

Unfortunately I couldn't find out yet what Richard really did in Stockholm. In the address book he was either listed as fabrikör (small manufacturer) or kemiker (chemist) and he seemed to have sold his products in a (wholesale) shop (grosshandlare) called A M Holmgren.

During the first years everything was going well. But then Richard fell seriously ill and the family spent more time in Magdeburg again. Carl Oskar and Gertrud Ingeborg were both born there. They finally decided to return permanently to Magdeburg and opened another shop there in 1892/93. The A M Holmgren shop remained open in Stockholm but I don't know if they were still connected then.

On March 3, 1894 Richard Robert finally passed away being only 42 years old. Except for Frithjof and maybe Richard Conrad for whom I could only find his birth entry all other children had also already passed away, starting in 1887 with their eldest daughter. And to make things even worse Auguste's brother and only sibling died just one month and one day after her husband.

Auguste now tried to run the business alone but soon found herself defrauded of her money. It was an era when women in business didn't have it easy.

I have no idea what she did until 1903 and how she earned her money. Did she still have some savings or some income (from Sweden?), did she have a job somewhere or did Otto Korn, the younger brother of Richard pay for her until her son Frithjof was old enough to care for her? Or was there another relative who helped them? Unfortunately we don't know.

All we know is that in 1904 she opened a restaurant. When her brother had joined her father as a butcher the family had already had a restaurant and so had her grandparents on her father's side. So she was drawing on experience. I really wished I could see what was on her menu.

However she didn't get old either. In November 1909 she passed away early, being only 52 years old.

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