Back to the Imles?

I promise

It’s been a year since I last posted anything on this site. Am I losing interest in family history? No. In fact, that’s the problem. I keep getting sidetracked on other projects. But I will get back the Imle book. I promise.

Wedding of Gottlieb Imle and Clara Schroeder (center), 15

June 1904. Left: Eugene Miller and Anna Imle (not yet married).

Right: Adam Imle and an unknown woman, possibly Clara's

sister Ella, but not Adam's wife to be, Olive Geisert.

Today I got an email from a great granddaughter of Anna T. Imle. (Does anyone know what the “T’ stands for?) Anna was the youngest daughter of Christoph Frederick Imle, who founded the Wabash Valley Imles. Anna was born 28 Aug 1884, after Christoph and Anna Maria (Reichert) Imle had arrived in America. I always called her and her husband Julius Eugene Miller, “Aunt Anna and Uncle Eugene,” even though they were really my great aunt and uncle. Aunt Anna died when I was only twelve. Eugene, a quarter century later.

"Imle" Women, 1916, L to R: Kneeling: Clara Schroeder Imle,
Anna Imle Miller, Alta Finkbeiner Imle. Standing: Fairy Gard
Imle, Clara Coldren Imle, Ida Coldren Sockler, Olive Geisert
Imle, Maria Reichert Imle (Grandma), Emma Schroeder Kern.

I have two group photographs showing Anna Imle. One is a photo of the bride, groom, and attendants at the wedding of Gottlieb Imle and Clara Schroeder on 15 June 1904 in Terre Haute, Indiana. (Gotlieb was Anna’s brother). The other is a photo of primarily daughters and daughters-in-law of Christoph Imle taken at a family reunion on 18 Nov 1916 at the family home near Ernst. Ida Coldren is neither a daughter or daughter-in-law and Emma Schroeder was the second wife of Christian William Kern, who married Maria Christina Imle, a daughter of Christoph Imle. Maria had died well before this photo as taken.

The Arts

Louis Amateis in Studio (Architect of the Capitol, Washington, DC).

We seldom think much about “The Arts” when speaking of the Imles. Not that they were uncultured, just agrarian, at least the earlier ones. But Helen Imle, daughter of Christian (“Chris”) and Alta Imle, did provide a connection to The Arts when, around the time of the second World War, she married Harold Louis Amateis. For Harold had been born 5 Mar 1908 in DC to Louis and Dora (Ballin) Amateis, an artistic family of greatness and tragedy.

Harold’s father, Louis was born 13 Dec 1855 in Turin, Italy, where he was educated at the Institute of Technology and also the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, the latter awarding him a gold medal for his work. After further studies in Paris and Milan, Louis immigrated to the United States in 1882, living first in New York City and then, after marrying, in Washington DC. It was at the nation’s capital that Louis achieved real fame, by his sculptures and by his founding and heading of the School of Architecture and Fine Arts at Columbian (now, George Washington) University. Although best known for the bronze “Amateis Doors” that graced the west front entrance to the Capitol (now on display within the building), Louis also sculpted the Heurich Mausoleum in Rock Creek Cemetery, the Qualities of Womanhood spandrels on Hearst Hall near the National Cathedral, and busts of Chester A. Arthur, Winfield Scott Hancock, General John Logan, and Andrew Carnegie, among others. His Texas Revolution Monument was erected in Galveston, and his Nathan Baldwin memorial, in Milford, Connecticut.

Amateis Doors (Architect of the Capitol).

But the family’s life of fame and fortune included a significant measure of distress. the first child Edmond, died a violent death on 4 Aug 1896 from accidental burns with carbolic acid. (A later son was named “Edmond Romulus Amateis” in his honor.) And at the height of his fame, on 16 Mar 1913, at the relatively young age of 57, Louis died suddenly from a stroke, leaving behind a widow and three sons, Roland Paul, the second Edmond, and Harold, the youngest, who had just turned five.

It was too much for Louis’s widow to take. A year later, on 12 Sep 1914, after setting up some small investments to care for her children, Dora placed a shotgun to her side and pulled the trigger.

Two of the three children were old enough to take care of themselves, but Harold had to be placed in St. John’s orphanage in Washington, DC, where he may have received little consideration. The orphanage, incorrectly claimed that Harold had been born in Italy, with Italian as his first language. 

Our Amateis story does not end here but this is sufficient for now. A continuation will follow.

All genealogical data reported in these posts are from primary and/or reputable secondary sources, or reliable transcriptions thereof, and never from online trees. Contact the author to request sources, which have been omitted here to improve readability. Permission is granted to use any posted material for any purpose as long as this source is cited.