Max S. Freudenberg I (1858-1921)

Max S. Freudenberg I (1858-1921) aka Max Freudenberg. He emigrated from Berlin, Germany to Jersey City, New Jersey, USA in 1865 with his father and mother. He worked as an actuary in the German department of the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company until he had heart problems that prevented him from working full time. (b. October 25, 1858, Berlin, Germany - d. March 21, 1921, 5:00 pm, 63 Concord Street, Jersey City, Hudson County, New Jersey, 07306-1617, USA)

Name
His first name has always been written as "Max" which may be short for Maximilian. His middle name may be "Sigmund" or "Siegmund" after his father, but no written record of it has been found to date.

Parents

 * Sigmund Freudenberg (1828-1908) of Germany
 * Clara Horwitz (1835-?) of Germany

Birth
He was born on October 25, 1858 in Berlin, Germany.

Emigration
According to famiy tradition, it was believed that Max emigrated from Germany around 1875 while working as a cabin boy on a ship. However, the 1900 census listed his immigration year as 1865, when he was 7 years old. A Max Freudenberg has since been located in the 1870 census of New York City, in the household of Sigmund and Augusta Freudenberg. This Sigmund was in the life insurance business. Based on the gap in ages of Sigmund's children, Augusta would have been Sigmund's second wife. If this is the same family, Max would have had sisters Jennie and Gertrude, which explains the name of his daughter "Jenny Gertrude." Sigmund and Augusta moved on to Philadelphia by 1880. Max's suspected brother Alfred appears in the Philadelphia House of Correction in the 1880 census.

Marriage
He married Eloise Lindauer II (1860-1935)‎ around 1880 and they lived with her parents at 51 8th Street in Hoboken, Hudson County, New Jersey. They appear in the 1880 US Census.

Saint Matthew's-Trinity Lutheran Church
Although his father was Jewish, in 1881 he was at Saint Matthew's-Trinity Lutheran Church on Washington Street and 8th Street in Hoboken. The church was directly across the street from the family apartment. The church was also known as Saint Matthaus Deutsche Evangelische Lutherische Kirke. The church recorded the death of their child: Max Freudenberg II.

Hoboken to Jersey City
Eloise and Max rented a home at 89 Adam Street in Hoboken from about 1888 to 1893, then they moved to 220 Madison Street in Hoboken till at least 1903. Most of their children were born at 220 Madison Street. After 1903 they moved to 51 Booraem Avenue in Jersey City and stayed until around 1910. In 1910 they appear on the US Census living at 22 Hopkins Avenue in Jersey City. The family has not been located in the 1920 US Census. They were living at 63 Concord Street in Jersey City when Max died in 1921.

Children
Eloise and Max had 15 children, 9 lived to adulthood, and 5 of them had children and grandchildren. The children were:
 * Babyboy Freudenberg (1879) who died as an infant.
 * Max S. Freudenberg II (1881) who died as an infant.
 * Ada Augusta Freudenberg (1885-1957) who married Ralph Kohlman (1885-1957) the printer.
 * Charles Fredrick Freudenberg (1887-1942) who married Julia Mary Buttomer (1883-1973) and is the one sibling with only a single photograph. They had a son, but no grandchildren.
 * Jenny Gertrude Freudenberg (1888) who died as an infant.
 * Clara Freudenberg (1889-1959) who never married.
 * Arthur Oscar Freudenberg I (1891-1968) who worked as a real estate broker and married Maria Elisabeth Winblad II (1895-1987).
 * Max S. Freudenberg III (1893-?) who lived till at least 7 years old and appears on the 1900 census and may be buried in Hoboken Cemetery.
 * Louis Julius Freudenberg I (1894-1918) who died in World War I.
 * Harry Freudenberg (1895-1896) who died as an infant.
 * Richard F. Freudenberg (1896-1988) worked as a chemical salesman and married Charlotte C. Kahrar (1897-1963).
 * Eloise Freudenberg (1898) who died as an infant.
 * Eugene Freudenberg I (1900-1956) who worked as a freight handler and married Florence Catherine Skinner (1901-1986).
 * Ralph Freudenberg (1903-1980) who worked as a typesetter for the New York Times and he married Nora Belle Conklin (1902-1963) and later married Lottie Dombrowska (1916-1995).
 * Grace May Freudenberg (1904-1981) who married George Dewey Sanford I (1898-1965) and he worked in Ralph Kohlman's print shop.

Occupation
In 1922 Max's son, Arthur, wrote: "Maximilian Freudenberg was active in the insurance business in New York City for many years, in the capacity of actuary in the German department of the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company". Eloise, his wife wrote in 1918 that Max was a "clerk, [earning] $36.00 per month when [he is] employed. [He] works only about one half the year due to heart trouble."

Death and burial
Max died in 1921 of "cardiac insufficiency with chronic parenchymatous nephritis" and he was buried in Flower Hill Cemetery with his wife and several of his children including:
 * Eloise Lindauer II (1860-1935)
 * Louis Julius Freudenberg I (1894-1918)
 * Charles Fredrick Freudenberg (1887-1942)
 * Eugene Freudenberg I (1900-1956)
 * Clara Freudenberg (1889-1959)
 * Arthur Oscar Freudenberg I (1891-1968)

Legacy
No photograph of Max Freudenberg is known to exist, but there is one unlabeled photograph showing the Freudenbergs on the porch of a house taken between 1915 and 1918. There is a man about Max's age in the photograph and he has a mustache and white hair. This may be a photograph of Max Freudenberg or it may be a photograph of the father of the other family shown in the picture. The only other place where a photograph of Max Freudenberg may exist will be with the descendants of Grace Freudenberg. Of the 9 children to survive into adults only 5 of them had children and grandchildren and their lines are extant: Arthur, Richard, Eugene, Ralph, and Grace.

Uncompleted tasks
Max's obituary, marriage certificate, and appearance in the 1920 US census have still not been located.

Religion
His parents were Jewish but Saint Matthaus Deutsche Evangelische Lutherische Kirke, in Hoboken, recorded the death of his first child, Max Freudenberg II. His son, Arthur Oscar Freudenberg became a congregationalist. His son Loius Julius Freudenberg I, who died in WWI was first buried with a Star of David on his tombstone but his mother, Eloise Lindauer, changed it to a cross. She may have been the one that shifted the children to Christianity frm Judaism.