------------------------------------------------------------------------------- THE FELSENTHAL FAMILY by Cecilia Felsenthal ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Memphis, Tennessee February, Nineteen Hundred and Thirty-Nine ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PREFACE Eleven years have elapsed since the publication of the first edition of "The Felsenthal Family." The simple little booklet which was written primarily as permanent record for my own immediate kinship was destined to become a tie to bind in closer communion the different branches of the family. It was a revel- ation to me to see how far-reaching was the migratory travels of the little messenger of good will. Again, with reenchanted fancy, I weave into reality the fabric of my dreams; and, complying with many requests, reverently engage in this labor of love, the second edition of "The Felsenthal Family". ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PART I. I. There are few who write their names letters of gold on Fame's immortal scroll. Few even rise to the prestige of greatness, but each has a mission to fulfil, a duty to perform-a part to play in ther eternal drama of life. When we look back over the path of the years we discern the truth that, of all the richest gifts of life, the home has made the greatest contribution. The Felsenthal family stands for those traditons by which, from time immemor- ial, the family has been the fundamental basis upon which has been reared our entire social structure. Upon sociological advancement depends the perpetuation of human life and aspiration. When we trace the thread of our existence back to the beginning, we find in the achievement of today that which was predestined in the long ago, when, out of a vast, mysterious, power within our souls, we became endowed with the desire to express some manifestation of a God-given birthright. It is impossible to overestimate the value of a noble heritage aided by a ropitious environment, but even more depends upon a long and unremitting vigil to carry high the torch so as to perpetuate the precepts and ideals bequeathed to us and to hand them down from generation to generation. Heeding the Biblical injunction to "touch not mine annointed, and do my prophet no harm," Time has strenghthened the tie that binds together the members of the Felsenthal family. They have been guarded by a strange and miraculously vigil. They have been imbued with a desire to be true to their heritage, and true to the memory of those simple, sturdy, God-fearing forbears who lived as early as the seventeenth century in the little village of Munch- weiler, ten miles from Kaiserlautern, in the province of Bavaris in the Rheinpfalz. Š Family pride is an outstanding characteristic of the Felsenthal family. It is well to pause in contemplation of the lives of those ancestors who are worthy of being held in honored remembrance-their thoughts, ideals, hopes, aspirations and accomplishments. Naturally, this history deals more vitally and more intimately with my own and my husband's branches of the family. Unavoidabley it may contain historical inaccuracies and sins of omission. The magnitude of a complete family record is apparent when one considers that a family tree has many branches which cross and recorss in a maze of great bewilderment; and this chronicle is necessarily incomplete because of the fact that there are many members of the family, unknown to me, who deserve to be named in this roll of honor. However, it is evident that my life, touched with hues of rose and gold, and stretching into kaleidoscopic perspective, has been strangely interwoven into the fabric of family affection. Being to the manor born, few have been privileged to know so many relatives, and from my early youth to the present day, to cherish such happy relationship. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- II. The earlies records available indicate that before family names were in use in Germany, designation was made according to many forms of nomenclature. My great, great, grandfather, Isaac, born in 1732, was endowed with the attributes of leadership. At an assembly called together to promote the good of a commom cause, he answered "Isaac" to the roll-call. "From where"? he was asked. He proudly answered, "Ich komme uber Fels und Thal", the translation being, "I come over rock and dale". "Isaac Felsenthal" cried the presiding member of the assembly-and thus the name was enrolled. A few years later Isaac Felsenthal was delegated to assist in assigning family names, and as he reserved and recorded Felsenthal for his own name, those who derive their patrimony from the same source claim that all Felsenthals are related. How firm a rock upon which a future progeny rose! Alsace Lorraine, rich in tis vine-clad hills and sunkissed valleys, through whose borders flow one-hundred-fifty miules of the picturesque Rhine River, was restored to Germany after the Franco-Prussian War. In 1806 Napoleon Bonaparte assembled in Paris the famed Sanhedrin which as in ancient times was composed of "elders of the people, the high priests, the heads of the tribes and family groups, the scribes, the scholars, and those learned in the law". To this historic gathering of the fair-minded men of that time was summoned my great- grandfather, Herz Felsenthal. He spent two years in the court where as one of the counselors and advisers of the Great Napoleon, he faithfully discharged the duties of his station and consecrated his efforts to deeds of loving-kindness and helpfulness in behalf of his people and his fellowmen-an advocate of peace in the councils of nations. In Germany, members of the Felsenthal family devoted themselves to the profes- sions, mainly the stufy of medicine and the rabbinate. In medieval times there clustered about the Jewish physicians, many of whom attended emperors and kings, a hwispered legend that they practiced magic. The "magic", of course, was nothing more than a thorough knowledge of the scientific aspect of the profession, reinforced by a profound and sympathetic judgment and understanding which is the heritage of Talmudic learning. Dr. Adolph Felsenthal, my great- Šuncle of Gelheim, Rheinpfalz, was a physician of that type. He was a learned and a gifted man-friend, physician, and counselor-and his influence has come down through succeeding generations. Our son Edward, after his graduation in 1926 from Washington and Lee University, made a sightseeing trip to Europe and was privileged to revive international kinship when he was entertained in the home of the distinguished Dr. Simon Felsenthal of Mannheim. He also met the son who was a medical student at the Heidelberg University. Dr. Simon Felsenthal was an official delegate tot he second Zionist Congress at Basle. A refugee friend of his told me last summer that his noble heart broke under the strain of Nazi persecution. His wife and son fled to Palestine where Wilhelm follows his medical profession in a leading hospital, and married into a famous Spanish -Jewish family by the name of Mayonchas, who have lived in Palestine for sev- eral hundred years. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- III. Six generations of my family have nestled in the heart of West Tennessee. These pioneers were men of courage, of vision, and of foresight; and they aided in the establishment of towns and sacred landmarks. After all, life is not to be measured by the success we have achieved, or by the honors we have won, but by the service we have rendered in the broad field of humanity. My grandparents, Joel Lyon and Carolina Mandel Felsenthal, had a large family of sons and daughters, special mention being made of those whom I knew---- Jacob, Joseph, Moses, John, Louise, Babette and my father Edward. The eldest son, Jacob, was the first member of the family to emigrate from Munchweiler, Germany, to America. He came with two adventurous friends in a sail boat, and they were on the ocean six weeks before landing at New York. Jacob Felsenthal was ambitious and industrious and in a few years was estab- lished in his chosen community, Brownsville, Tennessee. Joseph Felsenthal, his borther, soon followed, and in 1856 they started the business which is still a thriving departmnet store. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- (More to come)