A while back I wrote about my great-grandfather Rudolph Kaiser who may have left a family in Germany when he came to the United States and started a another family here. For back ground to this post you might want to read my original posts about Rudolph Kaiser at Naughty Great Grandpa and Letter’s from Germany to Rudolph Kaiser.

I just had the second letter from Germany transcribed.  It is dated 13 November 1910 and is written by his son this time.

Letter Transcribed:

Page 1

Allenstein, 13 November 1910

Mr. Kaiser,

After many efforts, we were able to determine your valuable address.  We only found out from Mother this year that our father is in America.  So we decided to write a few lines.  Hopfully, they will be received with pleasure.  Things are currently very bad for us.  Mother is alone with Ida because I have been drafted into the

Page 2

Military, Infantry Regiment 146. 6  Allenstein Company.  As a result, it has not been possible for me to work as I must now serve two years.  Ida works in a factory in Berlin.  Unfortunately, her earnings are very meagre.  Mother has been sickly of late so she is no longer abler to earn any money.  I Rudolf, have decided to move to America after my service.  Dear Father, write

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To me please and tell me how you are and how it is in America.  Hopefully, it is better than in Berlin because everything is expensive here and work is hard to come by.  Therefore dear Father, we ask you kindly, please reply.

Warmest regards

From your children

Sent

From afar

 

Rudolf                                                                                                                   Ida

Inf. Regt. 146.                                                                                                    Berlin S.O. 33

5^th Company                                                                                                       Skalitzerstr. 54a

Allenstein

 

Page 4

Musketier [private]

Rudof Pielenz

Inf. Regt. 146.

6^th comp.

Room 22

Allenstein

I have two more letters that I want transcribed and will do as I can afford it.  I am hoping one of them contains answers to all my questions that I have about these circumstances.  I can’t say it any better than I did in my previous post about my feelings toward this woman and her children and my great-grandfather.  I can’t help wonder about my great-grandmother in all this.  Did she know?  If so what did think or do about it?  Did this cause a riff in there marriage?  Did my grandfather know?  If he did, he never told anyone.  It was kept a secret, I think, except for the buried letters.  By the time they were found there was no one around that could read, write, or speak German.  Years ago my mother asked a German neighbor to read them and tell her what they said.  The neighbor did not transcribe word for word, but just gave my mother a summary of the letters so we had an idea of the information contained in them.  

Here’s my mother’s notes:

 

I have a letter dated 1914 which corresponds to the note “wounded in Russia 1914 discharged”.  Story to be continued when next letter is translated.

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