he Mystery of the Stolber Family
by
John H Wooler
I obtained the marriage certificate for Harry Douglas Wooler from uncle Fred Wooler, my father’s twin brother, which gave me the name of Beatrice Stolber to whom he was married and began researching the Stolber name as a break from my ‘Wooler’ research which had come to a bit of brick wall.
Right from the start I came across anomalies. My father, John Wooler told me many years ago that his mother was of German extraction and her father was a Jew. Now whether he meant that he was Jewish or just careful with his money I don’t know. (no disrespect to the Jewish community)
I do know that there was no love left between him and his mother. When her husband Harry Douglas Wooler was killed in action in 1916 she was kicked out of her quarters and the boys put into the Navy orphanage. This place was a virtual prison for boys, discipline was strict in the manner of the Navy of the day and the young John had a bad time and always blamed his mother for him being there.
Several facts have been unearthed from the documents uncle Fred sent me including the death certificate of Grandmother Beatrice Hayton. She had remarried around 1920. but she didn’t die until 1954.
As far as I know none of the family knew that she was still alive all the years we were growing up. I discovered that she had been committed to Leavesden Mental Hospital in 1933 suffering from hallucinations. She was still there until her death 21 years later.
I have to assume that if uncle Fred knew she was there then our father knew and chose not to tell us.
The marriage certificate showed that Harry married Beatrice on 31st Jan 1909. age 22 and a sailor.
His address was given as 115 7 Guinness Buildings and his father was Samuel Wooler Beatrice was 20 and a waitress. Her father was Frederick Stolber and a Photographer living at 143 9 Guinness Buildings and around 42 years of age.
The witnesses were W E Hirschfeld (Hinschfeld) and E Lacy
If the age 20 was correct and the death certificate confirms this, then Beatrice was born in 1889. I searched the records for 2 years either. side of this date with no entries on her birth. This could possibly confirm that she was born in another country!! There was only one place to look – the German IGI records.
Surprise – there are NO entries for Stolber in German records. There are however zillions of Stolberg entries none less than the German Royal Family many of whom were Stolberg My next angle was to check the records for Guinness Buildings. I wrote to the Guinness Trust and their reply was not helpful. Guinness Buildings had been demolished years ago and they had no records of any tenants
I then wrote to the Court of the Chief Rabbi in London to see it there were any records of Frederick Stolber a photographer in London. If he had been Jewish I am certain that there would have been records, but of course another dead end. They were helpful but did not find any records of the name.
My next effort was joining the Anglo German citizenship Society and got German members to do searches for me after two years I found nothing. I also searched the Home Office Index of Nationalization. They did a comprehensive search of their records and reported that there was no record of Frederick Stolber seeking citizenship.
Well, at this point I was all for giving up but I was now getting into computing records and obtained a disk with the addresses and phone numbers of everyone who has a phone in the UK so I typed in Stolber. It came back with eight records Names and addresses of Stolber in the UK. I wrote to them all and got phone calls and letters which confirmed that as far as I could tell they were all related to me as well as to each other.
The internet has made such a difference to research. I have now confirmed that Frederick Stolber was born in London not Germany at all. If there is a German connection it is way back because I discovered his father and Grandfather were born in London as well.
The search has not revealed any Stolber in the UK before JOHN STOLBER b1827 whose occupation was recorded as musician and possibly born Croydon Surrey.
I have also discovered the record of Beatrice Stolber born 1890 in West Ham London. To confirm that she was English
Summer 1924 (left to right) Ethel Hayton -Great Aunt LENA STOLBER –
Grandmother BEATRICE STOLBER – Great Grandmother ELIZABETH STOLBER (Langridge)
THE WOOLER FAMILY 