52 Ancestors: Oldest

This week’s blog prompt is Oldest.  I decided to focus on Gustave George Gunzendorfer, the oldest brother/sibling of my great grandfather, Abraham Gunzendorfer.  Also, Gustave George was the first in the Gunzendorfer family to be born in the United States.

Gustave George Gunzendorfer, Jones Lotz Photographer, date unknown

Gustave was born 26 Sep 1864 in Monterey.  I know that his father, Ferdinand, arrived in New York on 11 Aug 1854, was settled in Monterey by 1860, and in 1863 was married to Fannie Goldstein.  So 12 to 18 months after they were married, they had started their family.

1870 and 1880 found the family in Gilroy, California.  Based on the ages of the four boys in this photo, I suspect this was their home in Gilroy.

Jacob, Adolph, Gustave, Abraham Gunzendorfer

Of course we have no record of the family in 1890 - once again, I want to curse over that darned census.  In 1900, Gustave was living at 772 Haight Street in San Francisco with his wife Minnie (Dauterman), brother-in-law William Dauterman, and nephew Randolph Stout.  They were renting the home and it states that Gustave and Minnie had been married for 13 years.  But no record of that marriage has been found.  Gustave was an attorney and had been admitted into practice in California on 10 Jun 1886 after attending Hastings.  His bar # was 3292.

In 1900, Gustave and his brothers, as well as brother Jacob’s father-in-law Julius Steinberger, formed a new corporation, Transpacific Commercial Company.

San Francisco Chronicle, 11 Aug 1900, page 18

In 1910, Gustave and Minnie were living on El Monte Avenue in Fremont.  The census shows Gustave was not a veteran and that he owned the farm.  FARM?  It looks like most of the residences in the area were listed as farms although I doubt that Gustave would come home from working as a successful attorney and then spending time on the farm.  Would he?

In 1920, Gustave and Minnie were lodgers at a residence at 745 Pine Street, San Francisco.  Now that’s interesting. 

Interesting because while Gustave and Minnie were together in 1923 and living at 2045 Hyde in San Francisco, things seemed to have changed by 1924.

The San Bernardino County Sun, Fri, Feb 1, 1924, page 2

He owed her money?  I’m almost certain that this was about the time the two divorced because by 1925, Gustave was now going by his middle name of George and was practicing law in Reno, Nevada.

Reno City Directory, 1925, page 41

My hunch is that the divorce was ‘messy’ as somewhere along the line Minnie returned to using her maiden name of Dauterman, which I doubt was a common thing to do 100 years ago.  Did Gustave escape California and somewhat ‘change’ his identify from Gustave to George?

On 15 Aug 1927, George married Katherine Lord Shuster Flesh, who had previously been married to Joel Flesh.  How did they meet?  Had Katherine moved to Reno and George represented her in a divorce or death of her husband.

Uh-oh.

Beaver County News, 7 Sep 1928, page 5

In 1930, George and Katherine were living at 543 Marsh Avenue in Reno.  They stated they rented the home for $75 and had a radio.  It looks like they remained at that address until George’s death on 21 Aug 1939 in Reno.

Nevada State Journal, 25 Aug 1939, page 12

What I find very interesting is that the obituary refers to a host of ‘friends’ but does not mention family.  And when reviewing the list of Pallbearers and Honorary pallbearers, there’s not a Gunzendorfer to be found.  With three brothers, two of whom were still living at the time, you’d think there would at least be one Gunzendorfer listed.  Maybe he had become estranged from his family?

I wrote about finding George’s grave in Reno as one of my top 10 genealogical finds in 2012 HERE.

And just a few months later, I found myself in Reno and was able to pay my respects to George and Katherine.

Katherine died in Pennsylvania 23 Apr 1957 and her remains were brought back to Reno to rest in peace with George.

Minnie Dauterman died 29 Aug 1946 in San Mateo.  After a thorough search by the San Francisco Public Library (a GREAT resource for obituaries for deaths occurring in/near San Francisco), no obituary or burial site was found.

I hope one day to find more details about the mysterious last years of Gustave George Gunzendorfer’s life.