Louise Ulmer and Frank Kroether

Frank Kroether was born in Manhattan, the son of Maria Rupp and Richard Kroether. According to his WWI draft registration he was born 31 Dec 1884.

By 1900 the family was living at 1754 2nd Avenue. 15-year-old Frank was working as a bartender in his father's saloon. He was still working there in 1905.

On 29 Nov 1906 Richard and Maria's oldest son, Frank, married Louise Ulmer. Like Frank, Louise was the daughter of German immigrants. She was born 30 Jul 1885 in Manhattan to Samuel Ulmer and Samuel's second wife, Katharina Bopp. Samuel had been born 15 Oct 1840 in Möhringen, a borough of Stuttgart in the Neckar district of Württemberg. Katharina had been born 11 May 1855 in what her marriage record describes as "...asenz, Rheni.h, Bavaria," possibly Pirmasens in the Rheinpfalz. They married in Manhattan on 17 Mar 1883 after the death of Samuel's first wife, Katharina Zwicker, in Manhattan on 13 Sep 1881.

Samuel Ulmer was a brewer, so it's not impossible that he knew Richard Kroether professionally. Louise worked at a broker's office prior to her marriage. She and her family were living at 304 East 91st Street in Manhattan in 1900 and 1905, although her older half-sister Katharina had already married John Otto on 18 Apr 1897.

By 1910, everyone had moved up to 2443 Valentine Avenue in the Bronx. This included not only Louise's parents but also her older half-brother George and her two younger brothers Samuel Jr and Frederick. It's not clear from the census record whether this was a duplex in which Frank and Louise had their own unit or if everyone was living in one house. Frank was working as a bartender in a cafe.

On 12 Mar 1914 Frank and Louise returned to NYC aboard the SS Arcadian from Bermuda.

By 1915, Frank and Louise were still living in the same house as her parents and her brother Frederick. Samuel Jr had married Caroline "Carrie" Gutmann on 23 Nov 1913 - as of 1915 they were living in the Bronx in the same assembly district but in a different enumeration district. George had married Elizabeth (possibly Couter?) and was living in Manhattan.

Frank's WWI draft registration dated 12 Sep 1918 described him as a liquor dealer who was working for himself. He seems to have been in business with his father Richard, as the business address he gave - 401 East 156th Street - was described in newspaper reports as the location of a robbery at a saloon owned by Richard "Crothiers" in 03 Dec 1921.

By 1920, Samuel Jr and Carrie Ulmer had moved back into the household at 2443 Valentine with their daughter Gertrude. Gertrude had been born in or about July 1915. Louise's brother Frederick was still living in the household, but he died 26 Jun 1921 and was buried in the Lutheran Cemetery.

The 1925 census is interesting because according to the listings I've got, it suggests that Frank and Louise, Louise's parents and her brother Samuel Jr were all living together - but not Samuel Jr's wife Carrie or their daughter Gertrude.

Louise and Samuel Jr's father, Samuel Ulmer, died on 26 Nov 1925 and was buried in the Lutheran Cemetery.

By 1930, Samuel Jr, Carrie and Gertrude had moved to 2349 Davidson Avenue, nine blocks away. Frank, Louise and Louise's mother Katharina ("Kate") remained at 2443 Valentine. Kate was the one who spoke to the census taker and apparently after 52 years in the States, her German accent was still going strong. Frank and Louise were enumerated under the name "Groder."

Kate died on 05 Aug 1937 and was buried in the Lutheran Cemetery along with her husband and son.

The Schenectady Gazette published 16 Aug 1935 mentioned that, "Mr. and Mrs. Frank Krother of Long Island were week-end guests at the Henry Keyser farm." The farm in question was in Schoharie. Per the Schoharie Republican published 18 Aug 1938, "Recent callers at the home of Mr. amd Mrs. Henry Keyser were... Mr. and Mrs. Fred Bassett and Mr. Frank Kroether of Long Island." "Mr. and Mrs. Fred Bassett" referred to Frank's sister Cora Kroether Whelan Bassett and her second husband.

Sometime between August 1938 and April 1940, Frank died. The 1940 US Census describes Louise Kroether as a widow. She was still living at 2443 Valentine in the company of her half-sister Katherine Otto, Katherine's husband John Otto having died 27 Jan 1936.

Louise's brother and Katherine's half-brother Samuel Ulmer died 22 May 1944. There's something a bit interesting that happens in real estate transactions at this time. Six months before Samuel's death, on 23 Nov 1943, the New York Sun reported that 31-33 West 31st Street had been sold to "an investing client of Herman H. Sonkerberg, attorney." The property was assessed at $96,000, almost $1.4 million in 2017 dollars. Then on 19 Apr 1945 - almost a year after Samuel's death - the same property was sold by "Samlo Realty, Inc, Carrie Ulmer, president."

I wasn't able to find any records for Samlo Realty except for this one sale. The events suggest that the corporation was founded as a means of moving a sizable chunk of money out of Samuel's personal assets before his death and then returning it to his widow, Carrie, a year later. If so, was Louise involved in the transaction? "Samlo" could be a play on Samuel, but it could also be an amalgam of Samuel and Louise.

Louise died 03 Oct 1962. Four years later, on 28 Oct 1966, the Yonkers Herald Statesman reported that the State Transfer Tax Department had finally completed an inventory of Louise's estate, valued at a net worth of $440,398. About half the estate went to "a niece, Mrs. Gertrude C. White of the Bronx." Presumably this was Samuel and Carrie's daughter Gertrude, last seen living with them in 1930.

The rest of the estate was used to create a trust fund. Income from the trust fund went to Katherine Otto "of 28 Alden Ave." in Yonkers. On Katherine's death, the principal was to go to "Mrs. Krother's grandnephew and grandniece."

The said grandnephew and grandniece may have been Gertrude's children. However, Louise also had three grandnephews and three grandnieces through her late husband Frank. One grandniece was an only child. One had two brothers. This leaves one grandniece and grandnephew pair, Lynn Marion Busick and her brother Edward James Busick Jr, the children of Marion Whelan Busick and the grandchildren of Cora Kroether Whelan Bassett.

Whoever the grandniece and grandnephew were, they didn't have long to wait. Katherine Otto died three months later in January 1967 in Westchester County, presumably in Yonkers.

It's a bit interesting that half of Louise's estate was left to Gertrude rather than to her mother Carrie, because as far as I can tell, Carrie didn't die until May 1973, in New York City. It may simply have been that Carrie was already well enough off and requested that Gertrude be named as heir instead.