Margaret "Gretchen" Stapf from New York
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I can’t resist old photos of my namesakes! It’s always a special treat for me to research their stories and discover how they lived. This photo of Gretchen Stapf found its way to me in Germany. Gretchen is a sweet nickname for Grete or Margret, and many adults in my childhood used to call me Gretchen—so piecing together little Gretchen’s story feels extra special.
Gretchen was about four years old when this photo was taken in New York in 1898. Her full name was Margaret Matilde Stapf, and she was indeed born on August 11th, 1894, as noted in handwriting on the photo. She had a younger sister, Pauline Virginia (born 1901), and a younger brother, Alfred (born 1905). In 1900, the family lived at 116 East 11th Street in Manhattan. By 1910, the Stapfs had moved to East Orange, New Jersey, where Gretchen, her father, and her siblings were still living together in 1940:
Gretchen graduated from Montclair Normal School and received her bachelor's degree at Teachers College of Columbia University in NYC. She worked as a public school kindergarten teacher at Columbia School (now George Washington Carver School), East Orange, NJ, for 40 years. This was Gretchen's work place:
In the 1950 Census: I found her living with her 83-year-old father, Wilhelm, her 88-year-old widowed aunt Pauline, and their nurse in the same house on Sanford Street in East Orange, NJ.
Gretchen married William C. H. Jaeger some time after 1960. William was a widower who had buried his first wife in 1960. William had been a lace buyer and later a self-employed real estate mutual fund-salesman before retiring in 1971. William had a son William Jr. and several grandchildren. William passed away just before Christmas 1975 at the age of 93. Gretchen herself died in October 1981.
Now for a glimpse into the rough beginnings of this immigrant family’s story—and how some people make the very best of their second chance. Gretchen’s father, Wilhelm T. Stapf, was born in Augsburg, Germany, in 1866. At 19, he left his employment at the Wolfsheimer Brothers’ shirt factory in December 1885 and traveled by steamboat to New York. However, this was no pleasure trip: he was apparently fleeing the authorities in Germany under the false name Christian Stenger.
The German consul notified the New York authorities, who arrested him immediately upon arrival in January 1886. He was charged with forging the signatures of his former employers in Bavaria for a draft of 500 marks. When arrested, a large sum of money and a fake passport were found on him. He promised to return the money and go back to Germany without the formal process of extradition. It seems he kept his word—three years later, I find him again on a passenger list, this time under his real name, arriving from Bremen to New York in August 1889.
This time he did everything the proper way. He used his experience in the textile business to secure work in New York, and by 1900 he had married Gretchen’s mother, Margret née Reincke, welcomed little Gretchen, and become a naturalized U.S. citizen. By 1910, he and his family owned their home mortgage-free home at 102 Sanford Street in East Orange. Wilhelm truly lived his American dream. He died at age 93, and according to his obituary, he remained in the textile trade for 50 years.
A few words about Gretchen’s siblings as well:
Her sister Pauline Virginia worked as a public health nurse at Palisades Hospital, overseeing the Baby-Keep-Well-Stations, before marrying Arthur Baron in August 1942 at her family home in East Orange, NJ. The couple had no children.
In the 1950 Census, I find them living in Bergen, New Jersey. Virginia continued working as a nurse, while Arthur operated elevators, both at Knickerbocker Hospital (possibly the one in Harlem, known for serving low-income patients and being one of the few hospitals willing to treat Black patients when many NYC hospitals were segregated. It was also known for its maternity and “well-baby” programs, especially post–World War II). I don’t know when Arthur passed away, but by the time Virginia died in 1980, she had been widowed for the second time, from her second husband, Frederick Devine.
Gretchen’s brother Alfred Stapf was an athletic young man who played football on his high school team in Montclair and also worked as a lifeguard. I even found a photo of him and his lifeguard friends on newspapers.com (Alfred standing in the middle):
He remained connected to his high school throughout his life, supporting the school’s young football players. I don’t know about you, but I definitely see plausible family resemblances in their facial features!
Like his father, Alfred spent many years working in the textile industry. He and his wife, Doris, had no children. Alfred passed away in 1981 and was buried at the Rosedale Cemetery in Montclair, Essex County, New Jersey, just like his parents Wilhelm and Margret.
It seems that none of the Stapf siblings had descendants to whom I could return this photo. Still, how wonderful that I’ve been able to get to know little Gretchen’s family—at least on paper.
