#Miriam Kratzenstein

[mtcarmelstories]

Miryam (Miriam) Kratzenstein (1844-1923) immigrated to the United States from Bavaria in 1866 when she was 22 years old. Five years later in Philadelphia she married Samuel Wiesenthal (1845-1914), who had also recently emigrated. Miryam and Samuel had 4 children: Myer, Jennie, Lena and Abraham. In 1891 Lena (who some say I’m named after) married Joseph Schwartz, who had emigrated from Hungary in 1888. Lena and Joseph had 4 children, one of whom was my grandfather. One of my grandfather's sisters, Clara, died at age 5, and was buried in the Mt. Carmel Cemetery years before my grandfather was born. I’ve only seen one photograph of Clara, standing with her parents and sister; she's the girl on the left side of the image. When Samuel and Miryam died, they too were buried in the Mt. Carmel Cemetery. I have no photographs of either, although I do have Samuel’s signature in an 1885 prayer book.

Lee Anna Schwartz Botkin