Family trees

This morning, we visited the Diakonnisenkrankenhaus in Dresden.  It's a hospital for a deaconry.  In Lutheranism, it's akin to an order of nuns.  It was founded in about 1842, and one of the original founders was a lady called Ida Thode, who was the sister of our great-great-great-grandmother, Luise Friedericke Duncker. Ida's maiden name was Rautenberg; she married Eduard Thode.

Currently, in the Diakonnisenkrankenhaus, there is an exhibition.  Ida Thode is mentioned.

After our visit to the Diakonnisenkrankenhaus, we stopped by the banks of the river Elbe at Villa Rosa, which was the former address of our great-great-great-grandfather, Gerhard Friedrich Thode, husband of abovementioned Luise Friedericke Duncker.  The house he lived in back then no longer exists.  The villa was designed by Semper, who also designed Dresden's famous opera house.

Gerhard and Luise's youngest son, Eduard Justus Thode, also our ancestor, died in November 1875.  We came to the Trinitatisfriedhof, where he was buried.  We knew we'd probably not find his grave, but we gave it our best shot.

The Trinitatisfriedhof is a few streets long, and we spent at least 45 minutes searching among the graves for our ancestor.  Christine was previously told the book containing information about people buried around that time was destroyed in a fire.  We asked again at the office after our search and we were told the same thing - but it didn't hurt to try.

This is the grave of Serre, who was the owner of the castle at Maxen (Schloss Maxen) where Eduard Justus' wife worked for a time as a servant.

The Trinitatisfriedhof is a very leafy and beautiful cemetery.  We walked among the spruce trees, oaks and other trees and bushes and were reminded it was late spring here in Germany.  

We were told it was also possible that Eduard Justus Thode's grave may have been buried over by a new grave or even his grave removed, as has happened in some cases.  I certainly didn't expect EJT's grave to be elaborate, as he died with debts, and he was the black sheep of his family.

F. B. Schreiber was the founder of the English bakery - died in 1866

Christine inspecting a gravestone, partially hidden by rhododendrons.