Clara Straub and Philip Barth

Philipp Barth was born in Freinsheim, the son of Anna Maria Ehrhardt and Ludwig Barth. According to his US WWI and WWII draft registrations and the US Social Security Death Index, his birth date was 03 Mar 1887.

On 27 Nov 1908 Philipp Barth arrived in NYC aboard the SS Grosser Kurfürst out of Bremen along with his step-father Heinrich Oberholz, his mother Anna Oberholz, his step-sister Katharina Oberholz, his "step-brother" (actually, nephew) Friedrich Sohn and his sister "Elise" (Elisabeth) Barth.

I couldn't find Philip in the 1910 US Census - he'd taken off on his own and wasn't living with the rest of his family.

On 14 May 1913 Philip married Clara Straub in Manhattan. Clara had been born in Großheubach on 19 Apr 1891, the daughter of Aegidius ("Egid") Straub and Maria Zimmerman. She arrived in NYC 11 Feb 1908 aboard the the SS Vaderland out of Antwerp, travelling with her aunt Lena Straub, a "non-immgrant alien" who'd first arrived in the States in 1894. By 1910, both Clara and Lena were working as servants for Louis Levi and his family at 18 West 88th Street in Manhattan.

At some point in 1911 or 1912 Clara returned to Großheubach. She arrived back in the States on 30 May 1912 aboard the SS President Lincoln out of Cuxhaven. This time Clara was the non-immigrant alien, travelling with her sister Mathilda Straub and their aunt Anastasia Straub.

Clara and Philip's daughter Eleanor was born 30 Dec 1913. (The name is spelled various ways in various records. Eleanor seems to have been the spelling she used most often as an adult.)

By 1917 the family was living at 366 East 158th Street in the Bronx and Philip was working as a chauffeur for brewer Jacob Ruppert. Philip - and by extension, Clara - had become a naturalized citizen, probably in 1915. The family was still at the same address in 1920 and 1925. Clara's brother Joseph Alois Straub listed Clara as his contact when he immigrated in 1921. When Joseph's wife and daughter immigrated the following year, they listed Joseph as their contact but gave Clara's and Philip's address.

Sometime in the late 1920s the family moved to 396 East 199th Street. The 1930 US Census reports that Philip was working as an auto mechanic in a garage.

Clara made a trip to Europe in the early 1930s. On 15 Aug 1932 she sailed from Bremen aboard the SS Europa, arriving back in NYC 21 Aug 1932. Because she was a US citizen, so the passenger manifest didn't include any further information beyond her current address. She wasn't the only Straub to make visits back home. Her aunts Lena and Anna did so in 1930 and her sister, Mathilda Straub Tietz, in 1933.

Eleanor and Arthur Fischbach Leins received a marriage license from the borough of Bronx on 06 Oct 1938.

By 1940 both Clara and Philip and Eleanor and Arthur were living at 396 East 199th Street but apparently in separate apartments. Philip was working as a truck driver for a coal company. By the time Philip registered for the WWII draft in 1942, he and Clara had moved to 1831 Bussing Avenue in the Bronx. The house that currently stands at this address was built in 1940 - it would have been new when they moved in. It's currently listed as a single-family home, but to my eye it looks as if it had been designed as a duplex. I wonder if Eleanor and Arthur occupied the other half?

Arthur died in New York in August 1964. Clara died 30 Dec 1978 in DeKalb County, Georgia. At the time she was living in Cobb County, Georgia, where Eleanor and Arthur were also living.

Eleanor Barth and Arthur Fischbach Leins

As I mentioned above, Eleanor Barth and Arthur Fischbach Leins received a marriage license from the borough of Bronx on 06 Oct 1938. (A shout-out here goes to Reclaim the Records. It's because of them that I have access to information on NYC marriages after 1937.)

Finding out more about Arthur was interesting because Leins wasn't apparently his birth name. He was born 26 Nov 1908 in Pforzheim as Arthur Fischbach. He sailed from Bremen 15 Jul 1930 aboard the SS Europa, arriving in New York 21 Jul 1930. His occupation was originally logged as merchant, but someone overwrote this with "clerk." He left behind his mother, Anna Fischbach at Kanalstraße 13 in Pforzheim. He was going to join his aunt Meta Leins at 2374 Amsterdam Avenue, NY.

Keep in mind that "aunt" in this context could refer to an older cousin. I haven't been able to get a fix on how Arthur and Meta were related. I also haven't been able to identify Anna Fischbach more precisely. For example, I don't know if Fischbach was her last name before or after marriage.

On 07 Aug 1936 Arthur Fischbach filed a Declaration of Intention. At the time he was living at 1380 Merriam Avenue and working as a clerk. However, when Arthur filed his Petition for Naturalization 10 Jan 1940 - 15 months after his marriage to Eleanor - he filed it as "Arthur Fischbach Leins formerly Arthur Fischbach." The witnesses were Meta's sister Ida Leins Reuther and Meta and Ida's friend Anna Schmid, both of whom were nurses living at 1380 Merriam Avenue.

The 1940 US Census found Eleanor and Arthur living at 396 East 199th Street, i.e., the same apartment building where Eleanor's parents lived. Eleanor was working as a stenographer for a charitable organization and Arthur, as a bookkeeper for an importing company.

At some point Eleanor and Arthur moved to Marietta, Georgia, the county seat of Cobb County. There are two addresses associated with them there: 840 Lecroy Drive, zip code 30068, and 2888 Wendwood Drive, zip code 30062. Eleanor's mother Clara was living in Cobb County when she died 30 Dec 1978. Arthur died in Fulton County on 21 Aug 1994, but he was living in Cobb County at the time. Eleanor died 13 Jul 2000. At the time she was living in Cobb County in the 30062 zip code area.