Bleimes Family History

Chapter 14. Mamie

Mary Barbara Smith also grew up under the shadow and guidance of her mama, Grandma Amrhein. In Little Rock she shared a roof with Emelie, William, Andy and Gus until she married German immigrant Julius Richter, 37, a saloon-keeper in 1883 at about age 20. For this record she gave her name as Mary B. Schmidt. They had three children: Amelia, in 1884; Julius Theodor, in 1886; Emma in 1888. [Julius T. Richter's Family Chart] I was told that Little Julius became ill, so a family member grabbed up some medicine and gave it to him without ascertaining its content. It turned out to be carbolic acid and the child died. Out of an eventual eight children, this was Mamie's only boy.

Julius frequented the "healthful" springs facilities at the town of Potash Sulphur (now Searcy), Arkansas and was there in August of 1892 when he died at age 46. His remains was returned to Little Rock for burial.

Julius Richter, Little Rock c. 1890

One year later, Mamie traveled to Chicago for the Columbian Exposition and to marry Wilhelm Kranz, who had been a bartender for Julius. Sometime after the marriage, he changed his name to William Richter and she resumed using the name of Mary Richter, presumably to give all of her children the same surname. So far, I have not found legal paperwork for this name change. There may not have been any. A year or so after the marriage, Mamie and Will left the area on one of their several moves, taking Emma with them, landing in Baltimore.

Digression: Ferreting out information about families normally yields Who, Where and When, but Why and How, which can supply the most interest, are often difficult or impossible to find. Case in point:

Why did Amelia, Mamie's eldest, not remain with her mother? She was the only child of the (eventual) six survivors who did not. The verbal family tale is that Grandma Amrhein influenced, or perhaps ordered it this way. For whatever reason, the 10-year-old stayed in Little Rock and later married teacher Warwick Adolphus Nickell Sr. about 1901. They were living in Ozark, Arkansas by 1903 when their first child was born.

Back to Mamie and Will: He stayed with the food/drink business and had positions as chef and restaurateur in various cities, from Little Rock to Baltimore to Los Angeles. Daughters Annette (Nettie) and Margarite were born in Baltimore [William R. Kranz's Family Chart], then starting the new century, Bertha, Marie and Katherine were born in Pittsburgh. The last named only lived four days. In my early years I always thought of the Richter's as Pittsburgh people because we visited them there and because Margarite became a fixture there, working in downtown hotels for about fifty years. Emma and Bertha also became Pennsylvanians, marrying and residing in the area.

Richter family, Pittsburgh c.1906. Left to right, standing: Mary, Will, Emma..
Sitting: Margarite, Bertha, Marie, Annette.

But the itch to move hit again and Mamie, Will and Marie made the trek to Los Angeles. Annette had gone west earlier, marrying about 1921. Will opened one of the early drive-ins, which turned out to be successful. Mamie had a bout with bronchial pneumonia and lost in 1936. Will retired and lasted until 1946, not long after I had visited him and most of his California family at the tail end of my WW II Army stint.

Margarite.

Of the Richter girls, none was better liked than Mamie's fourth. She would do anything feasible for any family member, and most of them would reciprocate. Her appearance and bearing were nearly always correct and polite. A bit on the Victorian side, but still not judgmental. It is curious that she chose not to marry and always lived alone. Certainly she was attractive and polished. As noted earlier, Margarite worked for the more prominent downtown Pittsburgh hotels, where she set records for punctuality. This habit was aided by her residences being in the heart of town, on 5th Street in later years. After retirement and her health declining, Margarite moved to a Bakersfield, California retirement facility around 1990 and died in Tehachapi in 1996. She was 99.

Marie We might assume Marie Wilhelmine Richter was named for her father and her mother all at once. Maybe Uncle Will guessed (correctly) that he was not going to sire a son. The saving grace is that she was not known by her middle name. We are not sure how or when she married. Her choice was a New Yorker named Emanuel Charles Rodrick, usually called Mack. His family name had been Rodriguez in the previous generation. They lived, childless, in the L. A. area until their deaths: hers in 1958, and his in 1970.

Bertha (Betty). Bertha Louise seems like a combination of names from Mamie's two sisters, but that is just a guess. She started life in Pittsburgh in 1903 and married Harry Luttrell there in the late 1920's. They had two girls in the early '30's. This was in the worst part of the depression - a very tough time. My father got Harry a job as a bill collector for the Spicer-Henthorne furniture/appliance store in Columbus, so they moved here and boarded with us for a while until finding a place to rent. Bertha divorced Harry about 1943, shortly moving to California with her two girls. That expanded the Richter West Coast community to its fullest. However, 'Betty', as she now liked to be called, had one more short move: In 1950 she married widower Earl Frye in Long Beach. She lived in the Bakersfield area for many years after he died, then passed on in Tehachapi in 1989.

Chapter 15.

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