Aachen and Charles Nicholas Weiss

We went away for a few days up north, to Aachen. I didn't know really anything about the place before we visited, but learnt that it is known for its links with Charlemagne, and has a beautiful cathedral. 

Glass mosaics in Aachen Cathedral

We were buying tickets to see the Cathedral Treasury when I saw something that stopped me dead in my tracks. The name of Aachen was written on some signage in different local languages, the French rendering being Aix-la-Chapelle. And I remembered this from Sainsbury (1824, p503):

Charles Nicholas Weiss had been on tour to Aix-la-Chapelle in 1821! This anecdote is a direct quote from a letter that Weiss sent to Sainsbury, for inclusion in his book. I love the bit "His name was not unknown to the officers" - seems like a humble brag to me!

During our short holiday in Aachen I managed to get some time to go to the Stadtbibliothek (city library) and spent an hour and a half skimming through the Aachener Zeitung (a newspaper of the day) for 1821, looking for anything about a concert Weiss might have performed there. Unfortunately, I ran out of time to do a very thorough job, but amongst the news from around Europe and advertisements for horses or houses for sale and the like, I didn't find anything. But at least I tried. 

Sainsbury, J.S. (1824). A Dictionary of Musicians. Sainsbury and Co, London.

Who was A.S. Weiss?

Four years ago, whilst trawling through old newspaper advertisements, researching Willoughby Gaspard Weiss, I found an advertisement that referenced some waltzes by an A.S. Weiss. There is no one in my family tree who has those initials, so I was stumped. I filed the information away in a corner of my brain, ready for another day when I might uncover who A.S. Weiss was.

This advertisement was placed by Willoughby Gaspard Weiss in The Liverpool Mercury on 14 February 1843. It gives details of new music that he has available at his music saloon in Liverpool England, including "a set of beautiful waltzes, by A.S. Weiss of Mulhausen".

Yesterday I was researching Willoughby's youngest sister, Rosine Angélique Weiss, who was born and lived in Mulhouse. Apparently Rosine usually went by her middle name - she certainly seemed to prefer Angélique to Rosine - both her daughters had Angélique in their name - one as a first name, the other as a middle name, and she gave the name Rosine to neither. She married Jean Georges Schmaltzer in 1826, and it appears that at least in business, after his marriage, he often used the surname Schmaltzer-Weiss. This is not the first time I have seen a husband's surname tacked onto the surname Weiss - it appears to be a surname you would have wanted to be associated with in Mulhouse.

Putting this all together, it is possible that Rosine might have used the name of A. S. Weiss - Angélique Schmaltzer-Weiss... being born into the Weiss family there is every chance she also inherited the musical talents of her father and other Weiss relatives. Did she compose music? Surely a brother (Willoughby) might sell waltzes that you had written, capitalising on the surname Weiss (rather than Schmaltzer-Weiss), especially a brother who liked you enough to name one of his own daughters after you...

I have no concrete evidence that A.S. Weiss was actually Rosine, but there is a chance, and currently this is my best guess as to who A.S. Weiss was.

The Monument to the Joynes family in St Marys Churchyard Hendon

"...my Will is that I may be buryed in London Church Yard in the said County of Middlesex at the East End of the Chancell Building in a Grave of eight ffoot in depth to lye next to the Coffin of my late dear and beloved Wife Mary Joynes who was buried there in the beginning of September 1746 and that a Monument of Portland Stone may be set up there according to a draught prepared by me..."

So willed my 5x great grandfather Henry Joynes (abt 1684-1754) before his death. I had the opportunity recently to visit St Mary's Churchyard Hendon, where this monument now stands. I guessed it was a reasonable sized monument and it has Grade II listed conservation status, and therefore I was hopeful that I would be able to find it. And I did!

St Marys Churchyard Hendon

I spent some time transcribing the inscription on the monument, which actually commemorates five members of the extended Joynes family. I'm glad I managed to do this, because the inscription for Henry Joynes was extremely weathered and very difficult to see - I had to use my fingers to gently trace the shape of the letters to work out what they were. And the weathering will only get worse. It had also sunk on an angle, but at least didn't look likely to topple over any time soon.

The southern-facing side of the monument was dedicated to Henry Joynes himself:

Near this place lyes the Body of

HENRY JOYNES Esqr.

He was Comptroller and Conductor

of the Building of Blenheim House

in Oxfordshire from 1705 to 1715.

He was Surveyor of

Kensington Palace and Gardens

from 1715 to the last of his Days.

He was Many Years Surveyor of

the Sewers in Westminster.

He departed this Life the 2nd Day

of July 1754, Aged 70 Years.

The side facing east had the most inscribed on it. In the top section was an inscription for Henry's daughter Frances:

FRANCES JOYNES, Departed

this Life the 3rd Day of May

1749, Aged 28 Years

In the lower section of the east-facing side was an inscription in honour of Henry's wife Mary, and below that, her sister Elizabeth (noted as Henry's sister, but technically his sister-in-law):

Westward of this monument

lyes the Body of MARY

the Wife of HENRY JOYNES Esqr

who Departed this Life

the 29th Day of August 1746,

Aged 60 Years,

leaving three Sons,

SAMUEL, THOMAS & HENRY,

and two Daughters FRANCES & MARY.

Also the Body

of ELIZABETH PEISLEY, his sister,

who Departed this Life

the 30th Day of September 1746,

Aged 63 Years.

On the northern side of the monument, in the top section, was an inscription for Henry's son Thomas:

THOMAS JOYNES Departed

this Life the 14th Day of Dec

1750, Aged 28 years.

This news article from the London Evening Post (Dec 13-15, 1750) explains the sorry circumstances of Thomas' death:

"On Thursday Night last, between Ten and Eleven o'Clock, Mr. Thomas Joynes, Son of Henry Joynes, of Kensington, Esq; and Brother to Mr Joynes, of the Middle-Temple, going along the Strand, some Villains stopp'd him, and took from him his Hat and Wig, then knock'd him down, and robb'd him of what Money he had in his Pocket. He got home to his Lodgings, went to bed, and the next Morning, the Family not hearing him stir at the usual Hour, went into his Room, and found him dead in his Bed."

These are not the only family members buried in the churchyard at Hendon, but disappointingly, I was unable to locate the others, being Samuel Joynes, son of Henry and Mary - "Mr Joynes, of the Middle-Temple" noted above, and also Mary Baumgarten née Joynes, daughter of Henry and Mary Joynes, and her husband Samuel Christian Frederick Baumgarten. There are many gravestones which are too weathered to read, and perhaps some of these commemorated these other ancestors. 

Hints and Tips: German family history - historical newspapers

I have always found that historical newspapers can be very important sources of information when researching family history. In an English speaking world that can be reasonably easy, however switching to other languages can make it more difficult.

I have a considerable amount of German ancestry, and have in the past, on the suggestion of Pauleen Cass from Family History Across the Seas, researched German newspapers with Google Books by guessing newspaper names e.g. Blatter, Zeitung and putting it with location names. It's hit and miss, but can yield some wonderful results.

The other day I found a fantastically useful book to assist with German historical newspaper research: Zeitungs- und Zeitschriftentitel- Register by Gert Hagelweide, published by de Gruyter in 2007. It is available (though with limited pages) on Google Books. If you want to buy the e-book it will only cost you €269...

Of course, you still have to find access to those newspapers, and not all of them are available online. Your best bet is to start by searching Google Books and also Internet Archive for the online ones. Look for newspapers with the town/city/region name in them. Once you've found some search the newspapers for the surname(s) that are relevant to your research. If you find the surname, and assuming you don't know German, use Google Translator to get the gist of the information. Then you should be able to work out if it is useful, even if the sentences only vaguely make sense!

Good luck!

A not necessarily comprehensive guide to English family history research in the 1700s

The further you go back in history, the harder it is to find much information that might be useful to your family history research. Parish records can be incredibly useful for researching more recent generations, but as far back as the 1700s the parish records don't contain much. With a baptism record you're likely to get the parents names of the baptised child, but that's about it - if you're really lucky you might get a date of birth as well. Places of abode and occupation of the father were not recorded. Burial records will only give you the date the person was buried, and if you're lucky, they might list the age of the deceased.

So in the 1700s you have to look to other sources for further information. These include historical newspapers and wills. Of course, if your relatives were in the lower classes, you're unlikely to have much success at all - they didn't tend to publicise their hatches, matches and dispatches in the daily rag, and neither did they usually have much to will away. Sorry! However, if you had some rellies in the middle and upper classes, you may be in luck.

Over the past few days I have spent some time working on Henry James Davison (who happens to be the grandson of the wife of my 6x great uncle). All I knew from his baptism record was that he was baptised at St Marylebone Church, Marylebone, London on August 10, 1780. It also recorded his parents' names - James and Charlotte, and that he was born on 16 July 1780 (bonus!). I also had found baptism records for two of his siblings, James Tully Davison (1776) and John Davison (1777) in the same parish, which suggested that the family might have lived locally for at least 5 years.

To find out a little more, my next step was to see if I could find wills for either of Henry's parents. Of course there would only be one for his mother if his father died first - my understanding is that otherwise, in those days pretty much everything a woman owned was actually owned by her husband. Looking on the National Archives (UK) website, I found a will of Charlotte Davison, Widow of Saint Marylebone, Middlesex, dated 6 April 1833. It was the only one there that could possibly be her, so I took a punt and ordered it. And luckily it was her. And it happened to mention "Ann" (maiden name unknown), the widow of her late son Henry James Davison. So this meant he was dead by 1833. I couldn't find a reasonable likely option for a will of Henry's father James Davison, so I tried a different tack.

I searched some historical newspapers for Henry James Davison to see whether he made the papers at all. In June 1804 he was admitted to a Bachelor of Laws through Trinity Hall, Cambridge (from The Bury and Norwich Post, 20 June 1804). I also found his death notice (The Morning Post, 18 April 1822):

DIED - On Sunday last, at his mother's house, In Chandos Street, Cavendish Square, Henry James Davison, Esq. of Little Berkhampstead, Herts. aged 41.

It would seem that there can be a lot of variation in the spelling of "Berkhampstead". Interestingly, in his mother's will she had made reference to all her "printed books and prints whatever either at Berkhampsted or in London".

So now I had two places to google in relation to the surname Davison - Chandos Street, Cavendish Square, and Little Berkhampstead, Hertfordshire. The first combination on Google brought up a will at the National Archives (UK) - the will of a Henry Davison, of Chandos Street Cavendish Square, Middlesex. Being dated 1822, I realised that this was my Henry James Davison! In his will Henry left pretty much everything to his wife Anne, but also left 50 guineas apiece to each of his godchildren. Which suggests to me that he and Ann never had children, or at least if they did, they hadn't survived.

Then I googled "Davison" with "Little Berkhampstead" and a reference to "Ann Davison, wid." caught my eye. It appeared that in 1826, four years after the death of her first husband, Henry James Davison, Ann married William Horne, later Sir William Horne, a British barrister and politician. The fact that they named one of their sons Henry James Davison Horne clinched it for me that this was definitely the widow of Henry James Davison.

The Hertfordshire Archives has an online database, a search of which revealed a death notice for Henry James Davison published in the County Chronicle on 7 May 1822. Unfortunately I haven't been able to find access to this newspaper, so I don't know what hidden secrets the notice might reveal.

So that's about all I can find on him. But rather than just knowing when he was born, and to whom, I can build up a little picture of him. He was born to James and Charlotte Davison in 1780 and baptised in the family parish of St Marylebone about a month later. He studied law at Cambridge, receiving his bachelors degree when he was 24. His family had a connection to Little Berkhampstead in Hertfordshire, and he lived there, at least for a time, with his wife. Apparently they had no children - was there a medical reason for the lack of children? Henry died, aged 41, at his mother's house in Marylebone. That he died so relatively young, and at his mother's house instead of in his own home at Little Berkhampstead suggests to me that perhaps he was convalescing there and that it wasn't necessarily a sudden death. The extended family was not poor, having residences in both Marylebone and Little Berkhampstead (there is evidence that Henry wasn't the only Davison who spent time there - his parents appeared to have links there as well), which they apparently moved between from time to time, and 50 guineas for each of his godchildren wouldn't have been small either.

2012 - The year in review

I had thought that this past year hadn't been quite as successful as the previous one based on exciting finds, but in reviewing all my work for this post, I'm not so sure that's correct. True, there haven't been as many well-known/famous people popping up in the family tree, but I've still found out huge amounts, but with a lot more hard slog.

I thought for my review of this past year's research I would focus on the most useful resources I've used. Not the ones that anyone can plug a search into and find info - like Ancestry or Findmypast, but the ones where it takes much more patience, but in the end can be so much more rewarding because you discover a titbit of information which no one else has known about perhaps since the time the relevant person and their close relatives died.

I love research and have no problem trawling for hours through parish records or newspaper articles to find useful information. Often it involves the use of Google Translator to translate things from French or German, but that's just more of the fun! So here are the most useful resources that I've used this year for finding obscure bits of family history information:

FamilySearch microfilms
I am enormously grateful to Pauleen Cass for putting me onto this wonderful resource. Although on FamilySearch you are able to search for records online, the Church of the Latter Day Saints has microfilmed thousands, possibly millions, of parish records from across the world, which you can borrow for a limited time for a small fee, and access through your local Family History Centre. You can find the records available for borrowing through their catalogue search. Through this service I have searched through many for baptism, marriage and burial records for lots of Beringers this year, as well as some of the Baumgartens in Germany. There is no way I could have accessed all of those as easily if I were trawling through the same records in the local archives in Germany. Here, I can take down the information, go home and translate it, and then go back for more when I know who else to look for. As well as the vital records I also checked out a merchant navy record for someone who turned out to not be a relative. Looking through parish records takes a lot of patience, especially when they are written in other languages, but you can find out so much that you just can't get anywhere else.

Gallica
Gallica is a search engine for French documents. Although you can choose to have the search page in English rather than French, the results are in whatever language the document was published in - most often French. From Gallica I have, over time, found an awful lot of information about the Weiss' and my research this year on William Baumgarten was definitely aided by Gallica. Usually when I use Gallica, I find any articles which appear to reference the person I am interested in (because I can't read French), then type the relevant paragraph(s) into Google Translator to work out if they actually are about the person I am researching. It's a slow painstaking process, but can be quite rewarding.

British Newspapers 1600-1900 (Gale)
These British newspapers are what I return to time and again when I am researching my English and Scottish relatives. As a resident of NSW I am eligible to be a member of the State Library of NSW, and in their e-resources I have access to this database (through a password), from the comfort of my own home. If your relative won any "biggest turnip" competitions at the local fair, got in trouble with the law, had possessions stolen, played in the local cricket team, advertised their business, etc, there's a chance they got their name in the paper. Once again it is a slow painstaking process checking through sometimes hundreds of articles to see if any of them actually refer to your own relative, but you can find some gems. I have found lots of references to my musical relatives importing instruments, advertising music lessons, their latest published music, or write ups of concerts they were in. If the felt they were important enough (or rather had the money to pay for it) they might also have placed birth, death or marriage notices. However I also have many other relatives who seemed to keep their heads down, out of mischief and never rated a mention. It can be a real mixed bag.

UK National Archives Documents Online
The UK National Archives can be a goldmine of information - well what would you expect?! Through their catalogue you can search all collections or just online collections. With the online collections, for a small fee you can download the document straight away. It is very useful for wills and military records. The family line that I myself have traced back the furthest - the Peisleys in the 1600s (through the Weiss', Baumgartens and Joynes) - it was mainly because of information in wills that led me back so far, as the parish records that far back don't contain much useful family history information. Be prepared to decipher difficult handwriting.

So there's my top options for finding obscure information about your ancestors. Happy 2013!

Mademoiselle Leonora Tourrier

This particular bit of research was prompted because two Australian Tourrier relatives contacted me quite recently. So I thought I'd do a bit more Tourrier investigation for them!

Georgiana Eleonora Aglae Tourrier was born in Marylebone, London, England, on 19 December 1844 to Jean Furcy and Constantia Eleonora Tourrier (née von Holst), the third youngest of (by my count) ten children.

She was baptised at All Souls Church Marylebone on 12 July 1846. She was noted in the 1851 English Census as living at 69 Charlotte Street, Marylebone, with her parents, and a sister, two brothers and two servants.

I have not been able to find the Tourrier family in the 1861 Census. Perhaps they were in France visiting relatives - Jean Furcy Tourrier was born in Paris.

The next we hear of Leonora, as she was often called, was in a periodical article about a musical soirée to inaugurate the opening of the "Young Ladies College" in Regents Park in January 1865 (The Orchestra Musical Review, No. 70, 28 Nov 1865, p.279). "Mdlle. Tourrier", as one of the soloists, was to sing a cavatina "La Sonnambula" by Bellini and a song "Leggiero Invisible" by Arditi.

It would seem that Leonora made a small career out of singing before her marriage. In November 1867 she was a vocal soloist at a pianoforte recital at Westbourne Hall, Westbourne Park, Westminster (The Orchestra Musical Review, No. 216, 16 Nov 1867, p.117). In December of the same year she performed in a second recital at the same place, and was encored in her performance of a serenade (The Orchestra Musical Review, No. 221, 21 Dec 1867, p.196). She also sang at a concert in the Beethoven Rooms in July 1868, and at the inauguration of a new branch of the Marylebone Penny Readings in Paddington Green in February 1869. In June 1869, as a pupil of Madame Therese Leupold (well known in musical circles in those days), she performed some classical songs at a musical soirée of Mme Leupold's. "The singing of Madlle. Tourrier in Glück's "Chè farò," was in every respect excellent... the duet, "Voga tonio," by Madlle. Tourrier and Miss Goodall, and two vocal trios, in which the above mentioned ladies were joined by Miss Ogle, were received, as they deserved to be, with the most spontaneous applause." The Musical Times, 1 July 1869, p.148.

By 1874 Leonora was married, to Anthony Charles Montague Jellicoe, a former soldier in India, China and the Cape of Good Hope. They were married at St Matthew's Brixton, Leonora aged 29 and Anthony 33. Anthony was listed as a "Gent", and they both lived in Acre Lane - and at a guess they lived together - they had four children together, all boys, with their first child born two years before they married.

I do wonder what calibre of "Gentleman" Anthony Jellicoe actually was - he was made bankrupt in 1866 and apparently spent time in the Debtor's Prison, he got Leonora pregnant before they were married, and eventually, when he died in 1895, he left all his money (£300) to some spinster named Annie White even though he was still married to Leonora!

Anyway, Leonora lived out her days with her sons (at least for some of the time), until her death in the fourth quarter of 1923, her death registered in Brentford, Middlesex.

Advertising your emigration intentions

Pauleen over at Family history across the seas put me on to something the other day - apparently, when Germans wanted to emigrate they had to put an advertisement in a local paper, stating their intentions to emigrate. It prevented people who owed money from skipping the country - if Rudolf down the road owed you some money and you saw an ad in the local paper you knew you needed to get down to his place quick smart to get the money off him! Pauleen had some success finding some of the advertisements her ancestors had placed prior to emigration so I thought I'd give it a go as well.

I searched and searched and searched for a number of days and had not one bit of luck. So I shot off an email to Norbert at Rheingau Genealogie to see if he knew the names of some local historical papers that they might have put an ad in. Helpful as ever, Norbert not only knew the name of the paper "Nassauischen Intelligenzblättern", but also knew about a book where all of the advertisements had been collated - a book published in 1966 by Wolf-Heino Struck called "Die Auswanderung aus dem Herzogtum Nassau (1806-1866)".

I haven't been able to locate "Nassauischen Intelligenzblättern" on the internet which explains why I haven't found an advertisement for my Beringers emigrating to Australia. Add to that the fact that they emigrated in 1884, so they won't be in the book either. So that's one newspaper I have to track down, and one book I won't need to! Thanks Norbert!

Who was A.S. Weiss?

I continue to work on the biography of Charles Nicholas Weiss and continue to search for historical newspaper references to him. Because of my search terms I often find other Weiss' as well.

The other day I came across the following reference in the Liverpool Mercury, 14 Feb 1834, to Charles' brother Willoughby Gaspard Weiss, who lived and worked in Liverpool as a music-seller and publisher:

NEW QUADRILLES AND WALTZES
W.G. WEISS begs leave to inform his Friends and the Public that he has just published the FOURTH SET of the CHESHIRE QUADRILLES, dedicated to Mrs Hulton of Hulton Park, by W. ST. ALBIN; also a Set of beautiful WALTZES by A.S. WEISS, of Mulhausen, adapted for Dancing, and dedicated to Mrs Jos. Langton, by W. ST. ALBIN. These Quadrilles and Waltzes are danced every night at the Wellington Rooms, and have been received with the most dedicated approbation, which induces W.G. WEISS to recommend them with the greatest confidence to the Public.
An Elegant Assortment of PIANO-FORTES, of every description, MUSIC, etc.
Music Saloon, 2, Church Street.

The mystery is: Who was A.S. Weiss? (Mulhausen is the German form of the French word Mulhouse). He or she is not one of Charles and Willoughby's siblings. Their father, Gaspard, was apparently the first musical member of the family. I asked Tobias Bonz, who has been working with Gaspard's autobiography and he's never heard of A.S. Weiss. Googling brings no answers. So, was A.S. Weiss a member of the extended family who also developed their musical skills, in response the success of Gaspard and Charles? Will we ever know? Probably not.

Oh, and William St. Albin was a local dancing teacher. And Mrs Hulton was married to William Hulton, a wealthy landowner who was a major local player in the social unrest caused by the struggle of the working class towards the end of the industrial revolution in Britain. I could at least find references to them!

Who was the Rev James Dunlop married to?

I have been going through an old photo album of my great aunt's, scanning the photos, as well as trying to work out who they all are. Apart from having many many photos of my ancestors in the Paterson and Macindoe families, it has produced some puzzles for me to solve as well.

The latest puzzle I've been working on is "Rev Dunlop" and his wife "Mrs Dunlop". According to the photos, the Rev Dunlop was married to one of my great great grandfather Thomas Macindoe's sisters. As far as I know Thomas had four sisters: Mary McIndoe (it seems that Thomas used the "Macindoe" spelling of his surname, but the rest of his family generally used "McIndoe"), born 7 April 1826, Margaret McIndoe, born about 1838, Jane McIndoe, born about 1840, and Jeanie McIndoe, born about 1843.

Of these four sisters I know that the youngest sister Jeanie McIndoe married Thomas Weir, from a marriage notice in the Glasgow Herald:

"At Albion Cottage, Helensburgh, on the 12th inst., by the Rev. James Dunlop, Motherwell, assisted by the Rev. John Lindsay, Helensburgh, Mr THOMAS WEIR, writer, Glasgow, to JEANIE, youngest daughter of the late WALTER MACINDOE, Esq., of Ashfield." Glasgow Herald, 13 August 1875.

I don't think it is too presumptuous to assume that the Rev James Dunlop who married Thomas Weir to Jeanie McIndoe was the Rev Dunlop who was married to Jeanie's sister, especially considering he was "imported" in from a different parish to celebrate the marriage. So, clearly, his first name was James.

Searching historical newspapers, I hoped to find a marriage notice for Rev James Dunlop. No such luck. However, I did find his death notice:

"MOTHERWELL. - DEATH of a U.P. MINISTER. - Yesterday morning the Rev. James Dunlop, U.P. minister at Motherwell, died in the 60th year of his age and the 36th of his ministry. Mr Dunlop, through failing health, found it necessary lately to resign his charge. He was born in Irvine in 1823, and was educated at Glasgow University, where he took the degreee of M.A. He laboured at Biggar for nineteen years prior to being called to Motherwell." Glasgow Herald, 26 January 1883. [U.P. stands for United Presbyterian.]

Googling him, I found out he had two ordained brothers, the Rev Hugh Dunlop and the Rev William Dunlop, and he himself was ordained on 14 April 1847, and he accepted a call to the Motherwell parish in 1866. Still no mention of a wife though.

I am guessing that the wife could be Mary McIndoe, mainly because she's the closest in age to James Dunlop. A search on FamilySearch revealed two options: two marriages between a James Dunlop and a Mary McIndoe - one a marriage in Biggar, Lanarkshire in July 1851, the other a marriage in Kilmaronock, Dunbartonshire on 4 July 1851. My hunch is that this is the same event, registered in two places, probably each person's home parish. I could check on Scotlands People, but I would have to pay then, and I prefer to do my genealogical research for free if possible. It must be my Scottish heritage!

Further searching on FamilySearch revealed children of the marriage, the first being named Walter Macindoe Dunlop. I think that clinches it - the first son named after Mary's father. Finally, I've worked out that the Rev James Dunlop was married to Mary McIndoe!

Mostly irrelevant, but funny

I found this in an article entitled Musical Intelligence in the Whitehall Evening Post, 17 July 1783:

Hayden [sic], next autumn, comes to London. Phlegm, and, in all pecuniary concerns, extreme caution, are among the leading characteristics of this great composer; insomuch so, that last winter he could not, without uncommon assurances, be prevailed on to send his new music over to Lord Abingdon's Grand Concert. Graaf, with Weiss and others, are gone to Germany and Switzerland for the summer; to return, however, to the Subscription Concert in Hanover-Square.

The "Weiss" it mentions is Jean Gaspard Weiss. Weiss returned permanently to Mulhouse in 1783, and considering the final subscription concert that I can find in 1783 was actually on May 21 (which, by my reckoning could be considered around the start of summer) I'm not sure that he actually did ever return to London for any more concerts that year. He certainly did not perform in any subscription concerts in London after 1783.

And I still have no idea why they were talking about Haydn's phlegm.

Update: Apparently "phlegm" can mean "calmness of temperament" as well as the mucus that comes out of the back of your throat. Who knew?!

Jean Gaspard Weiss' marriage notice

I came across this today:

"Married:..... Yesterday Mr. Gaspar Weiss, of Greek Street, Soho, to Miss Baumgarten, of Craven Street, in the Strand." London Evening Post, August 24, 1775.

This is Jean Gaspard Weiss, marrying Marie Baumgarten. Before this I had found information that suggested they were married in Mulhouse, on September 20, 1775. The marriage notice above implies that the wedding took place in London, and was apparently actually on August 23, 1775.

Constantia von Holst Tourrier (plus a little on her husband)

I have recently received in the post a copy of the catalogue of the Theodor von Holst exhibition, held at the Holst Birthplace Museum, Cheltenham England, in 2010. It includes an illustrated essay on the Holst family, written by the curator of the exhibition, Laura Kinnear. It contains biographical information on many of the members of the family. This includes a little information on Constantia von Holst, who was born 11 Nov 1804, at St Marylebone, married a Frenchman Jean Furcy Tourrier on 20 Jun 1833, at St Pancras, and died in 1877, aged 73 at St Pancras.

The essay on the family background of Theodor von Holst states that "There are no indications that Constantia embarked upon singing or acting...". I've actually found evidence to the contrary so I thought I would present it.

We already know from this post that Constantia had an Academy for Singing. She advertised it many times over 1836-1838. Considering she had children from 1835 onwards (Alfred Holst Tourrier 1835-1892, Constantia Sophia Tourrier 1837-1842, Ida Sarah Tourrier 1841-?, Juliette Alicia Sarah Tourrier 1843-1853, Eleanora Georgiana A Tourrier 1844-1923, John Theodore Tourrier 1846-1829 and Gustave Leon Furcy Tourrier 1849-1922) they could either afford a nanny or she was very good at juggling students and her own children! I find it quite surprising that she worked at all - it seems like a very modern thing to do, but at least it was a genteel-type thing to be occupied with - teaching (presumably) well-to-do ladies to sing.

In June 1836 "Madame Tourrier" also performed in a concert - Signor Curioni’s Grand Morning Concert in the Concert Room of the King’s Theatre, no less. There are no reviews of the concert to gauge the audience's opinion of her performance. She was one of many performers, one of an "extraordinary combination of talent", according to the concert advertisement. I can only find one other reference to Constantia performing in a concert - Don Ciebra's Concert, held 10 June 1840, which according to the review, was well attended. "The performances were principally instrumental; there was, however, some very good vocal music... Miss Yarnold and Madame Tourrier were also amongst the performers..." One could surmise from this that although she was enough of a talent to get the occasional gig singing in a concert amongst a large stable of other musical performers, she didn't really have what it took to set the world on fire.

By 1853, when her youngest child was about 4, Constantia did some teaching at Cavendish College, in Wimpole St, Paddington, which was for the instruction of ladies in appropriate branches of learning. This included Constantia assisting F. Praeger, Esq. in teaching the piano (Mr. Handel Gear, Esq. got the job teaching singing), and her husband teaching French, Elocution, Geography and History. There is a rather long article in The Morning Post of June 24, 1853, about a lecture that Monsieur Tourrier gave at the college on The French Language. It sounds, from the account given, mind-numbingly boring, however I'm not a linguist so perhaps the "select audience, consisting almost entirely of ladies" enjoyed it rather more than I would have.

And that seems to be the extent of the surviving information on Constantia von Holst Tourrier's musical career.

Professors of Music

I sent an email to the Royal Academy of Music the other week, asking about the title of Professor of Music. I received a very helpful reply yesterday advising me that in those days "Professor of Music" was a common term used interchangeably with "Teacher". There was no qualification needed to advertise in this way. So I needn't think my relatives were trying to give themselves a more glorified title. : )

The helpful librarian who wrote back to me then added some extra information unbidden: "[Gustav] Holst’s grandfather [Gustavus Valentin Johann Von Holst, Matthias and Katharina Von Holst's firstborn son] would have been too old to have studied at the Academy: in its early days, it taught only children aged approximately 12-16 years. I checked our records, however, and did find Mathias Von Holst, aged 14, who entered the Academy on the 9th October 1848 and left on the 16th June 1849. He studied piano with Mr Cipriani Potter."

This was Gustavus' first child, also named Gustavus, who was known as Matthias. I found a newspaper article (The Times, 22 Dec 1847) which said a candidate with the name of Von Holst distinguished himself in the examination for two King's Scholarships at the Royal Academy of Music, which became vacant every Christmas. It would appear that he didn't win a scholarship but he went anyway, the following year. Matthias was both a pianist and a harpist.

Charles N Weiss - renowned flutist and composer and my great great great grandfather?

I've been working on Charles Nicholas Weiss over the past few days. Since I found him living in Manchester it's whetted my appetite for more. I've been trawling through historical newspapers and it's been an absolute goldmine of information. I think I've found a whole lot more about him, but my head is still spinning, trying to take it all in. Forgive me, but this post is very long (it takes a bit of effort to prove your great great great grandfather was a little bit famous).

The first piece of information is from The Manchester Guardian, 5 Nov 1831, where Mr. Charles N. Weiss, of London, is noted as the Principal Flute for a performance of Il Barbiere di Siviglia (The Barber of Seville) at the Theatre Royal, Manchester. Perhaps he is already living in Manchester at this time, but he seems to have earned his "fame" in London at this stage.

The second piece of information is from The Manchester Guardian, 17 May 1834:

MR. CHARLES N. WEISS, of the London Concerts, respectfully informs the Nobility and Gentry, and his former pupils, that he has arrived in this town to fulfil engagements as Principal Flute at the Gentlemen's concerts, and at the Italian operas; and that he intends devoting some of his time to TEACHING the FLUTE and to accompany ladies with the piano-forte. -Applications to be made at Mr. Beale's music warehouse, St Ann's Square; at Mr. Pickering's Ditto; and at the Royal Theatre Italian Opera.- N.B. Mr. Weiss also gives lessons in private, and in schools, in the Italian and German languages.

From this we learn that he has returned to Manchester as he has former pupils there. It also shows that he knows Italian - perhaps this is related to his performances in the Italian operas, though presumably he does not sing, but instead plays the flute. He also knows German, but considering he is believed to have been born in Prussia this is hardly surprising.

There are other articles in The Manchester Guardian alluding to his performances in concerts, and then we come to the announcement of "Mr. Weiss' Farewell Concert" in The Manchester Guardian of 20 Nov 1839. A write-up of the concert on 27 Nov 1839 notes:

"It is already generally known, that the numerous friends of Mr. C. N. Weiss, principal flutist at the Concert Hall, determined, prior to his departure for India (where he has an appointment as band-master), to give him a concert. ... Amongst the foremost we may state that all the instrumentalists of the "Gentlemen's Concerts" contributed their valuable services, almost all the principal vocal talent of the town was also given; and the musical force consisted of 61 instrumentalists, 7 principal vocalists, 36 chorus; total number of performers, 104. ... Mr. Weiss, on making his bow, in front of the stage, was greeted with loud plaudits from all parts of the theatre. His flute fantasia (of his own composition) was a performance full of talent; and if a fine tone, great facility, rapid fingering, and considerable command over the instrument in all its difficulties and tongueing, &c. bespeak the master of his instrument, Mr. Weiss is certainly entitled to take a high rank in his profession."

If anything made me completely sure that this refers to my great great grandfather, I know that he went to India with the army and was the band-master in his army regiment. I even found this little article from during his time in India, in The Bombay Times and Journal of Commerce (11 Aug 1841):

Mr. C. N. Weiss has it in contemplation to establish in Bombay a series of six Concerts by subscription, and under the highest patronage. It will probably be in conjunction with the Band of His Excellency the Governor, so that the effect of having the two best Bands in India to harmonize together, will be very forcible. The Concerts will altogether be on a grand scale, as Mr. W. contemplates to give a selection of Handel's Messiah, and also six operatic pieces performed by vocal and instrumental performers, engaged expressly for the occasion, on liberal terms. As this is undertaken on Mr. W's own risk, we hope he will have success.

We believe that the projector of these concerts has already obtained a high reputation at home for his musical performances.

I'd always wondered what it was that made Charles suddenly consumed with civic duty to a country that he wasn't even born in. If it was a job (as band master) that he was appointed to then that makes a whole lot more sense. A little different from my original assumption that he joined the army and then joined the band because he was a reasonable musician.

After the reference to "London Concerts" I decided to dig a little further, as he seemed to have a bit of a musical reputation elsewhere. Little by little I uncovered bits of information, such as advertisements for new compositions by Charles N. Weiss, for concerts, even books that he had written. Then I came across a book called My complete story of the flute: the instrument, the performer, the music by Leonardo De Lorenzo, which contains a number of paragraphs on Charles N. Weiss, "a well-known flute-player and composer" and son of Carl Weiss, a German who was appointed as principal flutist to King George III's private band. It gives many details of Charles N. Weiss, including suggesting he was born in London (I believe this is wrong), but that he spent time in Italy before settling in London and becoming prosperous and popular. It skirted around the issue of the end of his career, alluding to events which suggest it was ended prematurely.

I was left wondering - could this refer to my great great great grandfather?

The arguments for:

• We know he knew Italian and German because he gave lessons in both languages
• He was apparently a talented flutist and did compose works for the flute
• It gives us a reason for his wife Benigna (who undoubtedly would have had some musical talent) taking a back seat to her husband's musical ability
• The mysterious end to his career would certainly fit with an early death in India whilst serving in the army
• Plus I am unable to find any more advertisements for new compositions or concerts after the time of Charles' posting to India

The arguments against:

• The year of birth (1777) given for Charles N. Weiss, the renowned composer and flutist, in De Lorenzo's book is vastly different to the date calculated from my great great great grandfather's burial record (1795). I have found another reference on the internet to 1789 being his year of birth. It is possible that Charles Weiss might have fudged his birthdate to be allowed into the army, should they have had an upper age limit for enlisting. Unless an actual birth record is uncovered there will always be speculation on this.
• De Lorenzo says he was born in London. Family information has always suggested he was born in Prussia. I have actually found a letter to the editor that Charles N. Weiss wrote stating "If this letter is not written in the English language, you must ascribe it to my being a native of Germany" (The Morning Chronicle, 27 Jan 1824). I'm pretty sure this means he was born in Germany, whether Prussia or not!
• No one in my family knows about it. I asked my grandma - "Oh, he was definitely a talented musician", but she had no knowledge of him being a renowned composer, nor which instrument he had played. Why not? Charles' son Frederick, from whom I am descended, was only 3 years old when his father went to India. Even though we know Charles did organise concerts in India, why would a three year old know how famous his father was in England, especially if his father died whilst he was still a child, before he was old enough to be impressed by such information?

So, is the following advertisement from The Morning Post, 13 Feb 1821, the smoking gun?

CHORAL FUND, instituted for the relief of Decayed members, their Widows and Orphans. Patrons: His Most Gracious Majesty, His Royal Highness the Duke of Clarence, His Royal Highness the Duke of Sussex, His Royal Highness the Duke of Cambridge. At the New Royal Theatre, English Opera House, Strand, on Friday 16, 1821, will be performed a grand miscellaneous concert of vocal and instrumental music, for the benefit of this charity. ..... [list of all the performers and items etc including] A Concerto on the Harp, Mr. Holst,- A Concerto on the Flute, Mr. Weiss.

Although it is debatable whether this refers to Charles or his father Carl, one of them played in a concert with Matthias Holst, the father of Benigna, whom Charles ultimately married. That seems to be a good enough link as any to me.

How can I be sure that Charles N. Weiss, renowned flutist and composer is my great great great grandfather? The only way we could know for sure would be to compare the signature of my great great great grandfather on the marriage register with one known to be of the renowned flutist and composer. If anyone happens to have a copy of his signature lying around please let me know!

The von Holst sisters

I haven't enough concrete information to say what order the three von Holst sisters were born in so I shall refer to them in alphabetical order: Benigna Catharina, Carolina Helena Maria and Constantia Eleonora von Holst. I actually wasn't aware of Carolina until very recently, when I just happened upon information on her. I had read that there were five children in the family but until then she had eluded me.

Benigna was my great great great grandmother and was married to Charles Nicholas Weiss. Her sister Carolina was married to a Dane/German named Joachim Heinrich Christian Friederichs. Joachim was a widower when he married Carolina and his profession was "Gentleman". Constantia married a Frenchman named Jean Furcy Tourrier - he was an artist and a French teacher.

Trawling through historical newspapers the other day I came across advertisements that they had placed in The Times.

MADAME TOURRIER (Nee von Holst) Professor of the Pianoforte and Singing, respectfully announces that her ACADEMY for SINGING, in the Italian, German and English languages, will OPEN at her residence, 158, New Bond Street, on Thursday, the 25th instant, and that the instruction will be continued every Monday and Thursday, from 1 to 3. Monsieur Tourrier's Academy for Drawing is on Wednesday and Saturday, from 3 to 5. The Times, 23 Feb 1836.

MONSIEUR TOURRIER, Professor of French and Drawing, author of "The Model-Book, or the 77 French Lessons", will recommence his EVENING FRENCH CLASSES, in the city, on Monday next, at Mr Trail's office 18 Cornhill. He also, for the accommodation of gentlemen residing at the west end, will open a class at his residence 158 New Bond Street. Madame Tourrier nee von Holst, professor of the pianoforte and singing, will recommence her singing academy on the 24th instant. Apply by letter, post paid, at 158 New Bond Street. The Times, 6 Oct 1836.

HARP and PIANO - Mrs. FRIEDERICHS, late Miss von Holst, daughter of the celebrated GERMAN composer and pupil of Bochsa, informs the nobility and her former pupils, that she has lately returned from Germany, where she has given concerts with great success and intends to resume her former profession in giving LESSONS on the above instruments. Her method is so easy that pupils will be able to become proficient in a very short time. Her terms are moderate. The lessons can be given in the German language if required. Also, Mr Friederichs, her husband, a native of Germany, who is sufficiently acquainted with the English language, is desirous to give lessons in the German language and literature, and read with advanced pupils the works of Schiller and Goethe, and other famous poets. His terms are reasonable. Address 46 Upper Charlotte St, Fitzroy Square. The Times, 9 Jan 1847.

Clearly they had some talent in the area of music! Both the von Holst brothers seemed to have been talented in some way as well - Gustavus as a musician (piano and harp) and Theodor was a well-known artist. Which leaves Benigna. Try as I might, I have not been able to find any advertisements offering her services in lessons for music, art and/or languages. I have wondered about this - I can't imagine that the talent gene would have completely skipped over her. Perhaps she was just content to raise her children. I shall probably never know. I have not been able to uncover any children for the Friederichs but I do know that Constantia already had one child of her seven at the time the advertisement for her Academy for Singing was placed. We can only assume the Tourriers were wealthy enough to employ someone to look after the baby whilst she taught.