Edel Family Notes
Anthony Adel (b. 1796, Alsace, France, d. 1874 Philadelphia) came to the US and on his arrival changed the spelling of his last name to Edel.Anthony spoke French, and identified himself as such.You may recall that the region of Alsace was fought over and changed hands many times between French and German authorities during the 1700’s and 1800’s, and it was a matter of some importance to the people there as to which side they declared themselves on.
Anthony, a ship carpenter, had married Clementine Beshon, I am given to understand, in Rouen Cathedral, and had two children by her while still in France.
At the time of his departure, his plan was to send her the money to cover her passage.He obtained work in Reading, PA, sent her the money, or otherwise paid for her passage.Anthony went, I understand, to New York to meet her boat, but she was not on it, arriving by a different boat the next day.Anthony, not knowing what had become of her, had left to return to Reading.
Stuck in New York with no way of communicating with Anthony, Clementine somehow met and won the assistance of a member of the household of the Governor of New Jersey.Speaking French, German, and English, and knowing how to play the piano, Clementine obtained a position in the Governor’s household as a teacher or governess to the Governor’s children, a position she held while searching for Anthony; that search took some months, but Clementine was eventually reunited with Anthony, joining him in Reading.
Their children born in France were Victor (1833) and Emil, and in the US, Mary, Theodore, Henry, and Joseph.
Victor Edel (b. 1833, d. 1912) married Jane Magdalen Lemon.Victor was an iron molder, working in an iron foundry building locomotives in Reading.I have two pictures of him from his later years—a very tough looking customer.Working in a critical war industry, Victor was exempt from the draft during the Civil War.
Jane’s ancestry I have traced to the Kachel family that originally came to the US in 1750 from the village of Dertingen, in what is now the state of Baden Wurtemburg, Germany.I actually have the original birth record, hand painted in German, of Jane’s grandmother, Catherine Kachel, dated 1793, and a picture of Jane’s mother, Johanna Lemon.
Victor’s and Jane’s children were Sylvia (d. Oct. 3, 1940), Joseph A. (b. 1866, d. July 3, 1933), and Annie Clementine Edel (b. 1860, d. aged 97, in 1957).I have the first communion and confirmation record for Annie, dated June 14 1874, spelling her name as “Edell”.
Joseph A. Edel is included in the US census record of 1880.He married Susan (I don’t have a maiden name for her), and Susan died on Jan. 24, 1922.
Annie Clementine Edel married Charles Joseph Valentine Fries MD, who was both a pharmacist and a medical doctor.
Annie and Charles are my great grandparents; their sons were Victor J. B., Paul A., Charles J. V. Jr., and Joseph Ralph (b. Mar 3, 1895, d. 1941).
Joseph Ralph later changed his name to Ralph Joseph, married Genevieve A. Reilly of Lebanon, PA.
Ralph and Genevieve had two sons: Ralph Joseph Jr. and Charles J. V.
Ralph Joseph Jr. married Geraldine M. Shaffer of Bala Cynwyd, PA; they are my dearly remembered parents.
If you are related to any of the Edel’s or Fries recorded here, then, “Soyez bienvenus à notre petite famille”.
- John C. Fries, Timonium, MD
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Re: Edel Family Notes
Debbie Blakley 4/17/08