Obermurnthal, the mirror factory, owned by Langermanns and Steinhardts
This information comes from the research of Jochen Martz about the Murnthal Valley from the original contracts, which he found in an archive near Ansbach which is about 50 km southwest of Nuernberg). N.B. In the state archive in Amberg most of the old documents of the Oberpfalz area are preserved. :
"Obermurnthal [the mirror factory] was founded in 1846 by the same man, who founded Mittermurnthal [also a mirror factory]. About 1855 (the exact date I have to find out) Obermurnthal was sold to the Langermanns / Steinhardts. In 1864 the Steinhardts sold their 50 % to Salomon Langermann, who owned the company LANGERMANN & SOHN together with his father LOEW. When Salomon died in 1877 he left his 50 % of Mitter- and Obermurnthal to his wife Auguste and her 3 youngest children. AUGUSTE now owned 2/5 of the 50 % (=20% of all), their children ISIDOR, JACOB and KAROLINE (=Lina) each 1/5 (=10% of all) of the 50 %, which once belonged to Salomon. The other 50 % were still owned by Moses/Moritz Langermann.
In the following years Auguste purchased the parts from her children (from Karoline in 1886, from Jacob in 1889 and from Isidor in 1890), so that she was the owner of 50 % again (like her husband). In 1891 a part of the Obermurnthal factory, which was about twice as big than Mittermurnthal, was rebuilt.
In 1897 Auguste died and left her 50 % to her children:
- MAX LANGERMANN, businessman in Johannisburg / Transvaal [South Africa]
- CHARLOTTE THANNHAUSER born Langermann, wife of a businessman in Munich
- LINA [=Karoline] THANNHAUSER born Langermann, wife of a businessman in Munich
- JAKOB LANGERMANN, businessman in Johannisburg / Transvaal [South Africa]
- and Auguste’s grand-son JUSTIN ERLANGER, businessman in Munich
Each of them got 10 % of the Ober- / Mittermurnthal factory. The other 50 % still belonged to Moses/Moritz L. In the same year of 1897 JAKOB LANGERMANN gave his part to JOSEFINE AND BELLA THANNHAUSER for a present (Lina's children)
more from Jochen:
I can tell you, what I already found out about Moses/Moritz Langermann [ed note: Moses was the uncle of Charlotte, Max, and Lina mentioned and pictured above] and his descendants in the archives in Nuernberg, Fuerth and Neunburg v. W.:
Moses/Moritz Langermann was born at the 29 of November 1830 in Floss. He was married with Nathalie Obermaier, born at the 21st of April 1834, who was of catholic confession and came from Steppach. The marriage was at the 26th of June 1855. Nathalies parents were Karl Obermeier and Regina Obermeier. Regina Obermeier was a born SPRINGER. This could be interesting, because the third glass factory in the Murnthal, Untermurnthal, was owned by a jewish family, named SPRINGER, from Fuerth in the years 1858-1864. This family (who owned Untermurnthal) was Joseph Springer, optician from Fuerth and his wife Rosa. I don’t know, whether these two SPRINGER families are CONNECTED or not ...
But back to Langermann: Moses/Moritz Langermann moved from Floss to Fuerth in 1854. At the 5th of February 1855 the city of Fuerth gave him a license for a "Landesproduktenhandlung" (trading with rural products). The trading company was located in Blumenstr. 15 in Fuerth. In 1860 he lived in house number 257 in Fuerth (at this point of time there were no numbers of street names)., then in Schwabacher Strasse 54 (which is still the main shopping street in Fuerth today) and then in Blumenstrasse 15 (a smaller street in the center of Fuerth). In the documents in the 1870s Moses/Moritz L. was called a "wool trader" (although he owned 50% of the glass factories in Murnthal as we know). Moses/Moritz and Nathalie Langermann had 8 children. As they lived in Fuerth in these years, all of them must be born in Fuerth:
- Sabine, born at the 21st of April 1856, married with the merchant Lippmann Hollerbusch in Fuerth
- Mathilde died early (no dates of birth and death known)
- Emma (died early like Mathilde)
- Karl Julius, born at the 25th of January 1860, lived in Fuerth (more about him later)
- Klara, born at the 18th of March 1861, married with the merchant Ernst Strauss im Muenchen (Munich, Bavaria)
- Rosa, born at the 26th of April 1863, married with merchant Gustav Landecker in Nuernberg; (in the book of the inhabitants of Nuernberg from about
- Anna, born at the 30th of March 1865, married with merchant Alfons Weil in London (GB)
- Wilhelm Jakob, born at the 11th of December 1868. He might be the same I was asking you about in my second e-mail - the person, who bought the 50 % of
At the 7th of April 1873 Moses/Moritz Langermann moved from Fuerth to Nuernberg. The adress where he lived in Nuernberg is Karolinenstrasse 37, which is still the main shopping street in the center of Nuernberg today. The "trading company for wool and glass factory" was definetely in Brunnengasse 36, which is a narrow street. The house might have been from one street to the other, as Karolinenstr. and Brunnengasse are parallel and right next to each other. But I don’t know why it was called glass FACTORY...maybe the ready-polished glass from the Murnthal was just cut and covered with mercury here. In May 1912 he still lived in Nuernberg, but not in the center any more. The address mentioned at this point of time is Pillenreuther Str. 44 / 2. Generally this part of the city is a less good neighbourhood (more a living area for the working class, although this street is one of the best there). It is not mentioned at which date he moved form the center of the city to the southern part. He died in Nuernberg at the 25th of May 1912.
Karl (Julius) Langermann, the son of Moritz/Moses also lived in Nuernberg, Karolinenstr. 37, like his father. Since 1895 he owned a part of his fathers wool and glass company. He was born at the 25th of January 1860 in Fuerth(as already mentioned), was of jewish confession and died at the 23rd of January 1933 in Nuernberg. He was married with Luise Schmieder, born at the 20th of June 1877. Luise Schmieder was born in Mannheim in Baden and was of catholic confession.
They had a son, who was also named Karl Julius Langermann and was born at the 9th of September 1910 and was of catholic confession like his mother. Since March 1910 the family lived in Nuernberg, Gellertstr. 1/II. In 1932 he lived with his mother in Nurnberg, Harsdoerfferplatz 14/1, in July 1934 he moved to Saarbruecken, Gerberstrasse 26. Saarbruecken is right next to the French Border in the very west of Germany and not very far from Mannheim, where his mother came from. This is the last information I have about the descendants of Moses/Moritz Langermann. I don’t know what happened to Karl Julius then (maybe he emigrated to France and then in the States). I would be very happy, if you could find any LIVING DESCENDANTS OF MOSES/MORITZ with the information above... maybe they still know something about the GLASS FACTORIES IN THE MURNTHAL.
Now a little about Auguste: According to the book of inhabitants of Nuernberg from about 1890 (not dated) Auguste Langermann, merchant’s widow. lived in Nuernberg, Gleisbuehlstr. 17. According to the contract where Auguste bought the 10 % from Karoline (Lina) both lived in Nuernberg in 1886. I don’t know if she died in Nuernberg (but I assume it).
Regards,Jochen
> Jochen - > Did I mention when I explained all the relationships that Moses/Moritz > was the son of Loew LANGERMANN and thus the brother of my gg-grandfather > Salomon?
Previous page: William (Wolf ) Langermann and his daughter Flora Spiegelberg Next page: Langermann Portraits
I earn from qualifying purchases.