Julia Marx

Julia Pickard (1837-1900)

Julia Pickard was born September 11, 1837, in Baden or the Germany Baden-Wurttemberg (Region), Germany. The name could be originally Picard or Piccard. Her marker stone says Pickett. A state in SW Germany consisting of 19th Century kingdom of Wurttemberg, grand duchy of Baden, and Prussian province of Hohenzollern. Includes cities of Stuttgard, Mannheim, Karlsruhe, Freiburg, Heidelberg, and Ulm. These cities and towns had small populations of Jews in the 1800s.

Many of the people from the Southwest of Germany, like Baden, left Europe from La Havre France. Many did not have official permission to leave their home country, and the authorities in France were much more lenient about this paperwork than the police in Germany at Hamburg and Bremen.

She died Friday, December 21, 1900, at 1300 South 2nd Street in St. Louis, Missouri. Her funeral was held at her residence and she was buried in Mt. Olive Cemetery.

Julia Pickard was the wife of Nachma Marx (1827-September 12, 1884). They were probably married in about 1864. She had five children. He died of Cholera in St. Louis in 1884.

The 1900 Census indicated that she arrived in the US in 1864. In this census the head of the household was Andrew C. Somerville. A child named Rebecca was named in this enumeration.

Julia and Nachma's daughter Rebecca was born in 1867 in Illinois. She married A. Claude Somerville on March 7, 1891.

Julia and Nachma's daughter Lena Marx was born in Illinois in 1865. Her gravestone in United Hebrew stated her birth year at 1868. She married Simon Wolff on October 31, 1887. The Wolff family lived in St. Louis. She died in 1935 according to her gravestone. Her husband Simon was born in 1868 and died in 1930. He shared a stone with Lena. See attached photo from Lena Wolff's page at www.FindAGrave.com, contributed by Susan Ing.

Another daughter Rose was born in 1865 and died in 1927 or 1928. She married W. R. Laine on January 1, 1905 at her sister Lena's house at 2331 Division. Dr. Marcus performed this ceremony. This wedding date is very close to that of her sister Sadie. Was it a double wedding?

Julia's son Meyer was born in Missouri in 1870. It is thought that he died in the Mississippi River in 1890. He was not listed in Julia's death notice in 1900. There is a gravestone in United Hebrew cemetery in St. Louis with his name on it. Born in 1872 and died in June 1890. It's on www.FindAGrave.com with a photo.

Julia's daughter Sadie, who was born in St. Louis (1872-1930), married Max Berwin. That marriage took place on January 8, 1905 at Sadie's sister Lena Marx Wolff's home at 3221 Division in St. Louis. Since Sadie's mother Julia has died five years previously, Lena was the oldest close relative. Rabbi Messing may have performed the marriage. In the prayer book* his name is given as Dr. W. Mecing. Rabbi Henry Messing was a very well known personality in St. Louis. He was the Rabbi for United Hebrew congregation and is mentioned several times in the book Zion in the Valley. Sadie is buried at United Hebrew Cem. in St. Louis (www.FindAGrave.com).

Rebecca and Andrew Claude Somerville had several children. They were Mable, Joseph and Richard.

The 1930 Census in St. Louis recorded a Betty Somerville living with her daughter Mable. They rented rooms to two other people. They were living at 2439 North Grand Avenue. This was in North St. Louis. Betty was age 57, a widow. Her daughter Mable was age 32 and single. Betty was born in Illinois and her parents were born in Germany. Mable's mother was born in Illinois and her father was born in Missouri. Mable was a filler at a chemical works.

Julia had a sister named Lena Pickard (1845-1909), born in Baden, who married Benjamin Hershfeld (1843-1923). The prayer book record of Lena's death cites a date of August 22, 1911, and September 3, 1923 for Benjamin's death. They died in Chicago. Lena's death certificate is dated 23 August 1909. It states that she died at 514 E 44th Street in the City of Chicago at age 64 years, 5 months and the cause of death was a diabetic coma. She was a housewife. The certificate indicates that she lived in Chicago 14 years. She was buried at Jewish Graceland on North Clark Street. The mortuary was Furth and Company. (Furth and Company Funeral Directon 5206 N. Broadway Chicago IL 60640 773-784-4300 Fax 312-649-9777) If she had been in Chicago 14 years, then she must have arrived in 1895. Her children were Dora, born in Iowa in 1875, Harry, born in Indiana in 1868, Mrs. William Michaels and Lee. This family was a member of the Jewish synagogue KAM in Chicago.

Julia had a brother Meyer (1839-1914) who was also born in Baden. The soundex index card from the 1880 census recorded him as Meyer Pickat in the first enumeration, and as Meyer Pickett in the second enumeration. He evidently had a birthday between the two census takings as he was age 41 on the second index card and 40 on the first.

In 1880 he was living at 1716 Washington Street in St. Louis. His age was given as 40. With him was his wife Hannah, age 32, born in Prussia, and his daughter Jenny, age 9 (age 10 on the second taking), born in Missouri, and son Jacob, age 6, born in Missouri. Hannah was shown as age 30 on the second index card. Both Hannah and Meyer were shown as being born in Germany on the second card. Without the notation of "Baden" on the first index card we would not know where he came from.

He died in St. Louis and was a peddler. He married Hannah Cohen (1842-1914). Hannah was born in Prussia. Hannah was the daughter of Jacob and Sarah Zork Cohen, both born in Germany. Meyer and Hannah had two children, Jenny, born in Missouri in 1876, married Joseph Flateau. Jenny died in 1924 at St. Louis Jewish Hospital and was buried at Mt. Olive Jewish Cemetery near her parents. Jacob Pickard was born in Missouri in 1874.

Meyer's death was October 23, 1914 and Hanna's was June 23 1914. By the time of their deaths they had changed their name to Pickett. Meyer's obituary stated that he was the beloved father of Jake Pickett (formerly Jacob) and Mrs. Jennie Flatau. The funeral was from Isaacs and Rindskopf's chapel at 435 North Euclid Avenue in St. Louis. His death certificate states that he died of arteriosclerosis. He was buried in Mt. Olive Hebrew Cemetery. He lived at 2103 Washington Street as his last place of residence but he died at the St. Louis Sanitarium where he had been for five months. He was born February 21, 1839 in Germany and was a peddler according to his death certificate. See www.findagrave photo attached at the end of this document.

From the birth dates of Julia's children we can conclude that they were in Illinois from 1865 to 1868 when they moved to St. Louis. In the 1866 Chicago City Directory, N. Marx is listed as boarding at 100 South Wells street. In the 1866 and 1867 Directories he is listed at 100 Jefferson Street. There was a Fred Picker listed as a painter in the 1865 and 1866 Chicago Directories at 425 State Street rear. The Chicago fire in 1871 caused the destruction of many City records.

Recently discovered file boxes in the Illinois State Archives containing early Chicago City records which are now indexed and online. A search for Pickard and Picker was negative. A search for Marx turned up two records. On September 28, 1868 Susan Marx and Rebecca Marx received free peddler's licenses. It is possible that these are sisters of Nachma Marx.

In the 1880 Census the Marx family is located at 2207 Carr Street in St. Louis. Her husband Nathan is listed in the 1879 St. Louis City Directory as a Peddler. The 1890 Directory lists Julia Marx as a widow of Nathan at 928 North 17th Street.

When this family of Pickards immigrated to the US they would have been recorded as Mother and Father Pickard and children from Baden. In 1860 they would have been Julia, age 23, Lena, age 15, and Meyer, age 21. No census information about this family in 1860 has been found. If they had arrived earlier, say in 1850, they would have been recorded as Mother and Father and children Julia 13, Meyer 11, Lena, 5. No 1850 census record has been found for this family. Ship arrival information has been checked but no data located on this family. Many more ship manifests remain to be processed.

• Prayer Book. Julia Berwin Brockman kept a small Jewish prayer book in her possession. I now have the book. It consists of about 50 pages of psalms and hymns and several blank pages with genealogical information hand written in ink and pencil. There are no book covers or end papers. I believe it belonged to Sadie Marx Berwin.

Dan Berwin Brockman March 30, 2002, updated September 24, 2009, July 22, 2011. 1930 Census Somerville February 20, 2012.

Further research in the 1900 Federal Census indicates that on June 8, 1900 she lived at 1300 2nd Street at Miller, in the City of St. Louis. She lived with the Somerville family as noted above. She could not read or write English but she could speak English. Her birth was recorded as September 1834 in Germany and that she arrived in the US in 1864.