(p. 81) The Prahl family is of ancient Teutonic origin, and in state records we find that members of this family were settlers of the upper part of the Duchy of Holstein, which later became a province of Germany, the surroundings of Kiel, Alterslohe, Ekernförde, Hussum and Rödemis. The descendants of the Prahl family are found at the present time in Germany, Austria, France, Holland, Denmark, Norway, Prussia and the northern states of America. It is also known that the name of Prahl was spelled in various ways, such as Prall, Prohl, and Prole. Johann Siebmacher, a noted German heraldist, states in his work that Heinrich Prahl, a Danish subject, received on November 11, 1790, the Polish hereditary. He was born May 5, 1742, and died April 19, 1796. He also states in his work that Heinrich von Prahl was a member of the Chamber of Commerce, and hereditary master of the railroads in Kurland, owner of Starvstei, Schakierv and Martinischek. His mother was Anna Sophia (Schön) Prahl, born at Mittau, where she died at the age of seventy-six, April 12, 1811. Following is the description of the Prahl coat-of-arms, which Claus Prahl, living in the Free City of Hamburg, in 1653, received as Bürger Captain:
We find in Danish records Christian Prahl, who married Karens Maria Maahr,
who died August 5, 1803. We also find in the same records a student Prahl,
who was on a sailing trip, September 24, 1798. In April, 1812, he enlisted
in the French army as a volunteer, where he held the position of
major-general in the Napoleonic war against Prussia. The Danes one day
entered a Polish castle seeking for food. They found in the cellar of the
castle, bags filled with gold, which they carried upon the saddle packets of
their horses, having filled bags with this metal. In the meantime the alarm
came that the Prussians were right behind them, and entering the castle from
the other side. The Danes at once got into their saddles and tried to jump
over the castle wall, but the Danish horses could not jump so high on
account of having to carry the heavy metal, and many of the Danish soldiers,
who were unable to cut off the saddle packets to relieve the weight of the
horses, fell into the Prussians' hands as prisoners. The remaining
volunteers soon became disorganized after the defeating of Napoleon's army
in Russia, and were glad to return to their own country.
(I) Charles (Karl) Prahl, the first representative of this branch of the
Prahl family of whom we have any authentic information, was born in the town
of Alterslohe, in the Duchy of Holstein, which was held at that time by the
King of Denmark as Duke of Holstein in 1826. He received his educa- (p. 82)
tional training in his native town, and after being confirmed in the
Lutheran church he learned the trade of a jeweller and watch-maker.
Sleswick-Holstein, formerly a duchy belonging to Denmark, and at the same
time a member of the Germanic Confederation, was annexed in 1866 to Prussia.
It is separated from Sleswick on the north by the River Eyder and the
Sleswick-Holstein canal; is bounded on the east by the Baltic Sea, the
territory of Lübec, and the Duchy of Lauenburg; on the south by the
Hamburg territory and the River Elbe, which separates it from Hanover, and
on the west by the North Sea. The history of Holstein and its political
relations are noticed in the narrative of Sleswick.
Sleswick, which forms part of the ancient Cimbrian peninsula, has from the
earliest period been a debatable land between the Danes and Germans, and,
according to the authorities of the latter, it was anciently included in the
marches of the empire, having been incorporated by Henry the Fowler in 930,
and reorganized by Otho I. In 1027 the Danish King Knud obtained from
Conrad II the independence of Sleswick, which was declared to belong
unconditionally to Denmark, and thenceforth given as a Danish fief of the
crown to the youngest sons of the Regal House. In 1232 King Valdemar Seir,
whose father, Prince Knud Laward, had ruled over the duchy, gave Sleswick
(which was then and for some time later known as South Jutland) to his
youngest son Abel. Abel and his sons after him, backed by their kinsmen,
the Counts of Holstein, maintained that Waldemar had given the duchy as an
hereditary, while, on the part of the Danish crown, it was contested that
South Jutland was merely a precarious fief which might be recalled at the
pleasure of the sovereign. Its vicinity to Holstein tended to keep up the
feuds to which the question of its mode of tenure had given occasion, and
which, in fact, only ceased when the resources of the conflicting parties
were exhausted. The following brief summary gives the skeleton of the
leading events of the history of Sleswick from the dawn of its troubles till
the final outbreak in 1848, when by the influence of the neighboring
Holstein nobles, the Germanized great landed proprietors of Sleswick entered
upon the course of armed opposition to the mother country, which has
culminated at the moment in the forcible separation from the Danish crown of
the Duchy of Sleswick, and its imminent incorporation in the Prussian
monarchy.
In 1386 Queen Margaret gave a Sleswick fief to Gerhard, Duke of Holstein,
and on the extinction of his male heirs in 1459, virtually lapsed to the
crown, with which it was united in 1460 under the rule of Christian I (the
founder of the Oldenburg line) by a mode disastrous to the integrity of the
Danish monarchy. In 1848 the revolutionary movement of Continental Europe
fanned the flame of discontent in the duchies into a blaze, and the upper
classes of Sleswick, who had in the course of time become strongly imbued
with the German tendencies of the Holstein nobles with whom they
fraternized, joined the latter in open armed rebellion under the chief
leadership of the Princes of Augustenburg. The Germanized Sleswick nobles,
influenced by the principles of hatred to Denmark, which had long been
gathering strength in the University of Kiel, refused to admit the
difference between their relations to the crown and those of the
Holsteiners, with whom they demanded to be indissolubly associated in
separate legislative and executive chambers. The king refused to separate
(p. 83) Sleswick from the monarchy; the irritation increased on both sides;
the royal troops appeared in the duchies to restore order; the
Sleswick-Holstein army, who ranks were principally filled by German
volunteers, took the field, aided by the confederate forces sent by the diet
to co-operate with the Holsteiners. The troubles with which the German
states were treated at home led, after a few engagements had been fought, to
the withdrawal of the confederate armies, and Prussia having made a special
treaty of peace after preliminary truce with Denmark, the duchies were left
to themselves, and the royal authority re-established, with the understanding
that the king should submit a new form of constitution for Holstein
and Sleswick to the diet, on account of the former being a member of the
Confederation; Sleswick being in the meanwhile put under a provisional
government of Danish, Prussian and English commissioners.
Charles Prahl, who took part in the revolt above described, had to leave the
Fatherland, and in 1853 he set sail for the United States, and upon his
arrival in New York City he resided there for some time. During the Civil
War he settled on Staten Island, where he found ample opportunity to study
botany and to indulge in his fondness for hunting and fishing. At the time
of the draft riots in New York, when the negroes fled from the crowd for
safety and took refuge in the woods of Staten Island, he generously supplied
them with food, etc.
He died at his home in Staten Island, in 1904.
[Marginal note in the hand of Edward L.S. Prahl: "Smiths Infirmary" -
Ed.]
Married, in Alterslohe, Duchy of Holstein, Germany, Adelaide Storch, and
of this union in marriage had born the following children:
1. Adelaide, born in the town of Alterslohe, December 22, 1851. She came with her parents to the United States, where she attended the public schools on Staten Island, borough of Richmond, New York. Upon completing her studies she remained under the parental roof, where she was reared to years of womanhood. She married, November 25, 1880, in New York City, Herman Conrad Hagedorn, son of Alexander and Frederick (Hoffmann) Hagedorn. He was born in Galveston, Texas, October 24, 1843. Mrs. Adelaide (Prahl) Hagedorn died at her home at 203 West 107th Street, New York City, November 16, 1916. Issue: i. Emil Hagedorn, born on Staten Island, December 3, 1879. He received his educational training in Staten Island. He died December 3, 1916. Married, in 1912, Louise Stelter. Issue: Alvin Hagedorn, born May 6, 1913. ii. Alexander Hagedorn, born on Staten Island, September 8, 1881. iii. Herman Hagedorn, Jr., born on Staten Island, born June 6, 1882. iv. Emma Hagedorn, born on Staten Island, July 15, 1884. 2. Charles Edward, born in New York City, of whom forward. 3. Edward Alfred, born in New York City, May 3, 1859, of whom forward. 4. Emma, born in New York City. She married Dr. E.H. Lloyd, a resident of Montgomery, Orange county. [ "E." overwritten with "A." -- Ed.] 5. Alma, born in New York City. Married (first) [in handwriting "Bert"] Marcus; married (second) Selah Tuttle, first settlers of Blooming Grove, Orange county, New York. 6. Fred, born in New York City. 7. Emil.
(II) Charles Edward Prahl, son of Charles and Adelaide (Storch) Prahl, was born at the family home in New York City, on East Third street. He received his educational training in the grammar schools of his native town, and was confirmed in the Lutheran church at the age of fourteen. Soon after laying aside his school books, and upon taking up the practical duties of life, he became apprenticed to learn the trade of a decorator and designer, at which line of work he became a well known artist, and was known as one of the best fresco painters in New York. He continued thus engaged throughout his entire life's career. He was a member of the Seventy-First Regiment, New York National Guard.
(p. 84) Married, in New York City, Julia Amelia Ittig, and of this union were born the following two children:
1. Alma Charlotte, born July 3, 1881. Married Charles Reynolds (now deceased), and of this union had one son, Charles Reynolds, who was born December 31, 1904. 2. Charles Edward, born Edward September 5, 1884, in New York City. He attended public school in Rutherford, New Jersey, and later studied pharmacy. He is at present (1917) located at 2865 Webster avenue, Bedford Park, Bronx, New York, where he conducts a pharmacy. He is a member of the Free and Accepted Masons Lodge Sagamore, No. 371. He married, in the town of Hoboken, New Jersey, October 2, 1904, Ethel Maud Stafford, born in Tichbourne, Canada. October 18, 1888, daughter of Daniel Cleveland and Lydia (Spacks) Stafford, and of this union was born one daughter, Valerie Gine Prahl, born October 30, 1916.
(II) Edward Alfred, son of Charles and Adelaide (Storch) Prahl, was born at
the family home in New York City, on East Third street, May 3, 1859. He
received his educational training in the grammar schools of his native town,
and was confirmed in the Lutheran church at the age of fourteen. Soon after
laying aside his school books, and upon taking up the practical duties of
life, he became apprenticed to learn the trade and business of a jewelry and
tool maker in the jewelry company of Stern Brothers & Company, at 33 Gold
street, New York City, where he quickly learned the various details and
technique of the jewelers and tool-making trade, and remained actively
employed with the Stern Brothers Company up to the time of his death, which
occurred in New York City, August 12, 1896.
Married, in New York City, October 8, 1880, in the rectory of Immanuel
Evangelical Lutheran Church, at 215 East Eighty-third street, by Pastor H.
Hebler, Constance Delia, born in the city of Detroit, Michigan, July 13,
1857, daughter of Ignatz Merkel, who was born in the city of Baden-Baden,
Germany, in 1830. He died at the age of seventy-nine years. He was a veteran of the
Civil War (see data following). Her mother, Elizabeth (Stephan) Merkel. She was born
in the town of Weinheim, Grand Duchy of Baden, Germany, August 14, 1830. She died at her
home in New York City, November 23, 1903. [Ms. note in the hand of Edward L.S. Prahl:
"507 Lenox Ave. NYC"]
Issue:
1. Edward Lloyd Stephan, of whom forward. [Ms. note: "Born Dec. 5, 1882; Died Mar. 6, 1966"] 2. Adelaide Elizabeth, born September 2, 1884, in New York City, and baptized in the Immanuel Evangelical Lutheran Church, at 215 Eighty-third street, by Reverend H. Hebler. She attended the public schools of her native city, from which she graduated. She married William Brandt Dikinson [Ms. note in margin: "Dickinson"], born November 12, 1880, son of Joseph Pierpont and Mary (Harris) Dikinson. Issue: i. Carolyn Dikinson. [Editor's note: married Gurd; still living Jan. 2003] ii. Mildred Dikinson. [Editor's note: deceased] iii. William Brandt Dikinson, Jr. 3. Matilda Frederika, born in New York City, May 31, 1886. She attended the public schools of her native city, and married, September 8, 1909, George Salvatorio Cangialosi, in St. Peter and Paul's Roman Catholic Church in New York City, by Reverend Father Murphy. Issue: i. Anthony Rosselyn Cangialosi, born September 26, 1910. ii. George Edward Cangialosi, born November 12, 1912. [Ms. note: "died 1960?"] iii. Victorian William Cangialosi, born July 30, 1915; died December 21, 1915. iv. Robert William Cangialosi, born December 12, 1916. [Editor's note: "Cangialosi" stricken, and "Prahl" appears in handwriting.]
(III) Edward Lloyd Stephan Prahl, son of Edward Alfred and Constance Delia
(Merkel) Prahl, was born at the home of his parents at No. 216 East
Seventy-sixth street, New York City, and was baptized in the Immanuel
Lutheran Church at 215 East Eighty-third street, by Pastor H. Hebler, his
godparents being Edward J. Donahue and his wife Mary. [Ms. note in
margin: "Deceased on March 6, 1966. Interred Flushing Cemetery"]
(p. 85) He received his educational training in Public Schools Nos. 44 and
86 of New York City. The year before his graduation his father and he were
given employment in the jewelry manufacturing establishment of Stern
Brothers & Company, where his father had learned the trade, and was employed
for twenty-three years, up to the time of his death. While young Prahl was
learning the trade he attended night school at 116 Lenox avenue, in order to
complete the course in mathematics and civil engineering, which he began in
the public day school. Upon passing his examination he took up an extension
course at Teachers' College, Columbia University. He was then employed as
rodman and transit-man in the civil engineering office of Francis K. Ford,
No. 8 James street, New York City. He was next employed as assistant
transportation superintendent in the New York Transportation Companies, and
was later employed with the Durant McLean Typewriter Company at 265
Broadway, New York, for five years. In 1917 he was the organizer and
vice-president of the A.B.C. Typewriter Company, which is located at 280
Broadway, New York City. He is a staunch Republican in national and local
politics, and was elected to be the district leader of the Twenty-eighth
Election and Third Assembly District of the Borough of Queens, and
ex-officio county committeeman of Queens county, September 28,
1915.
Married, April 2, 1910, Christina Lillian Henrietta, daughter of Carl
Constantin and Henrietta Maria (Baier) Blaicher. She was born August 3,
1886, in Boston, Massachusetts, and was graduated from New York Public
School No. 54 at One Hundred and Fourth street and Amsterdam avenue. She
then studied music on the piano, and also took lessons in embroidery, and
was later employed as cashier in the confectionery and catering business
carried on by her uncle, Joseph Anrig [Editor's note: located at 983
Amsterdam Ave. at 108th Street]. Her father was born February 17, 1861, and
her mother was born May 1, 1863.
Issue of Carl Constantin and Henrietta Maria (Baier) Blaicher:
1. Christine [in ms. changed to "Christina"] Lillian Henrietta, born August 3, 1886 in New York City [in the hand of Edward L.S. Prahl, changed to "Boston, Mass."] 2. Arthur Carl Blaicher, born July 31, 1888, in New York City. 3. Helen Freda, born in New York City, January 4, 1891. 4. Carl H., born in New York City, May 3, 1893. 5. Joseph Henry, born March 8, 1898. 6. Violet Lillian, born April 7, 1900.
Issue of Edward Lloyd Stephan and Christina Lillian Henrietta (Blaicher) Prahl:
1. Constance Edith, born March 20, 1911, at 2049 Gates avenue, in Brooklyn. She was baptized June 7, 1911, at the Holy Cross Episcopal Church, located at Himrod and St. Nicholas avenue, in Brooklyn. She is at present (1917) a pupil in Public School No. 91. [In hand of Constance (Prahl) Felbinger are the following notations: "Married February 21st 1942 Holy Cross Episcopal Church to William Henry Felbinger, Queens Village. Issue: 1. John Edward, born July 1st 1945
Valley StreamOceanside N.Y. 2. Alice Marie, born May 18, 1950. Oceanside, L.I. N.Y.] 2. Ernst Lloyd Raymond, born April 18, 1916; died August 20, 1916. His remains were interred in the Lutheran Cemetery, Middle Village, Long Island. [In the hand of Constance Felbinger are the following notations: "3. Christine Ella, born March 1st, 1919, baptized Holy Cross Episcopal Church. Married Sept 9th 1939 to August L. Oechsli, Brooklyn, St. Mathias Roman Catholic Church, Catalpa Ave. near Forest & Underdonk Ave. "]
Ignatz Merkel, father of Mrs. Constance D. (Merkel) Prahl, was a private in
the forty-fifth New York Volunteer Regiment, Company E. In the battle of
Cross Keys, Shenandoah Valley, Virginia, June 8th 1862, the Forty-fifth New
York, Colonel George Von Armsberg, was in the First Brigade,
Brigadier-General Julius Stahel; Blenker's Division, Brigadier-General Louis
Blenker; Fremont's command, Major-General John C. Fremont, June 1 to June 9,
1862. Fremont in his report describes the fighting as (p. 86) follows:
"Urging vigorously forward his brigade, General Stahel encountered in the
first belt of woods a strong line of skirmishers, which with hard fighting
was drawn out of the timber and pushed by the Eighth and Forty-fifth New
York over the open ground beyond the edge of the woods, where the regiments
came upon the right of the enemy's (General Thomas J. Jackson's) line. Two
of General Stahel's best regiments, the Twenty-seventh Pennsylvania and the
Forty-first New York, have been diverted to the right of the timber, and the
shock of the entire force here was sustained by the Eighth and Forty-fifth
New York regiments, attacked in front and flank by four regiments. At
Chancellorsville the Forty-fifth New York, Colonel Von Armsberg, was the
second regiment in the First Brigade, Colonel Leopold Von Gilsa, First
Division, Brigadier-General Charles Devine, Jr., Eleventh Army Corps,
Major-General Oliver O. Howard, Army of the Potomac, General Joseph Hooker.
General Howard, in writing of the crisis, says: "When the guns and masses of
the right brigade struck the second line of Devens, before McLean's second
brigade gave way, and more quickly than it could be told, with all the fury
of the wildest hailstorm, everything, every sort of organization that lay in
the path of the mad current of panic-stricken men had to give way and be
broken into fragments." (See Howard's, "The Eleventh Corps at
Chancellorsville.") Von Gilsa's report is as follows: "A patrol of the
Forty-fifth New York Regiment reported masses of the enemy in the open field
opposite my lines, I reported this fact at once to the division commander,
and at the same moment my skirmishers were driven in by overwhelming forces
of the enemy. The whole line at once became engaged furiously, and my
brigade stood bravely and fired three times, and stood still until after the
Confederates had outflanked me on my right. Retreating, I expected surly to
rally my brigade behind our second line, formed by the third division
(General Carl Schurz), but I did not find the second line; it was abandoned
before we reached it."
Von Gilsa's brigade lost one hundred thirty-three men killed and
wounded out of an effective fourteen hundred men. Private Merkel made a
record of thirty-three battles and skirmishes at which he was present while
in the Forty-fifth New York Volunteer Infantry, and he was honorably
discharged at the close of the war.