Arthur Kirmss, Ellen Brody-Kirmss

Description

Connection to Weeksville: Long-time Brooklyn residents; Arthur Kirmss’ great-grandfather was friends with Alfred Cornish. The Kirmss lived near the Hunterfly Road Houses. Arthur Kirmms was born in Brooklyn in 1946. Long interested in his family’s history, he did extensive research on his grandfather and great-grandfather, who both lived in Weeksville. Arthur’s great-grandfather was a German immigrant who settled in Weeksville in the 1850s. He is interviewed by his wife, Ellen Brody-Kirmms. Arthur grew up with his sister, parents and grandparents in East new York. His grandparents bought a house there in the 1940s, after leaving Weeksville. Arthur’s father was born on Pacific Street and his father’s mother, Arthur’s paternal grandmother, was born in 1896 on Dean Street between Ralph and Buffalo Avenues (where the Kingsborough Houses are now located). Her father, Arthur’s great-grandfather, Ernest Wagner, was a soldier in the Union Army, and the family kept many of the souvenirs and relics from his time. These included a breech-loading carbine, curn-side carbine and various veteran’s medals and ribbons. Arthur was inspired by these family heirlooms as a child, and began to research them later as an adult. Ernest Wagner was married to Katherine Herrick. They were married in 1875, and possibly lived at 20-35 Fulton Street. Arthur has a photograph of the couple, with that address written on the back. Ernest immigrated from Frustenberg, Saxony, Germany in 1855, when he was ten years old. Ernest emigrated with his parents, Louise and Fredrick Wagner, whose photographs Arthur also has. It is...

Record Contributed By

Weeksville Heritage Center