MAHLBERG : MAUS : MOSS : SCHACHT : TRIBBELER : Genealogy Query


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Date Posted:

24-Jul-2004

Surname(s):

MAHLBERG : MAUS : MOSS : SCHACHT : TRIBBELER

Query Text:

Looking for information concerning any of the following: The earliest known ancestor in our Maus lineage is believed to be Abraham Maus, who is believed to have been born c1800 in Wuppertal, Germany. His son Peter Karl Maus was born May 25th 1823 in Ronsdorf, Wuppertal, Germany. He married Wilhemina Tribbeler. His son Karl Ernst (Charles Ernest) Maus was Born May 20th,1843 in Barmen, Wuppertal Germany. (Died Prior to 1897 Per his son Karl Oskar’s marriage certificate. His profession was listed as acrobat.) He married Ernestina Bertha Margaretha Schacht. To them were born the following children: Bertha Maus: Born c. 1872 Ernst Maus: Born c. 1873 Madchen Maus: Born c. 1874 Karl Oskar (Oscar) Maus: Born April 1st 1875 in Breslau, Germany, now Poland. Died Nov. 23rd 1925 in Boston, MA. He married Florence Mary Sansom, (born May 2nd, 1878 in Newland, Sherborne, Dorset, England) on Oct. 28th 1897 at Our Lady of Victories Church, High Street, Kensington, London, England. Address at time of marriage: Oskar – 14 James St., Covent Garden, Kensington, England. Florence – 95 Campden Houses, Kensington Karl Arthur Maus: Born Jan. 9th 1877 in Hamburg, Germany. Married May Carter (Possibly born Feb. 19, 1882. Died June 1972 in Chicago, IL.) in Macclesfield, England. Alexis Maus: Born c. 1883 in Hamburg, Germany. He married Ada Gibbon (Born October 19th, 1883 and Died 1965 in Mansfield, MA as Ada Gibbon Melford) in 1909 at Manchester, England. Died 1960 in Mansfield, MA as Eugene Alexander Melford. Bernhard Ernst Robert Maus: Born 1886 in Hamburg Germany. Married Beatrice May Lewis (Born in Pontypridd, England March 21st1891) on Aug. 3rd 1914 at Christchurch, Macclesfield, Cheshire, England. Died June 7th 1921 at Romford, Essex, England. The earliest mention of the Maus family act is noted on page 75 of a book titled “Victorian Arena – The Performers, A Dictionary of British Circus Biography, Volume Two, by John M. Turner, Printed by Lingdales Press, ISBN 0 9509084 7 9 © 2000. It states: Herr Maus, strongman, later circus proprietor. Noted at Hughes Mammoth Circus, Derby 1845-6, later proprietor of “Maus’ Excelsior Circus”, which toured England in the 1850’s and 1860’s. Noted at Cheltenham, March 1865, Burton-on-Trent, December 1867. In 1868 Herr Maus’s Circus was in Nottingham, Leicester, back in Nottingham, Lincoln, back in Leicester, to Rugby then to Hyde. Died April 25th, 1869, aged 57 years. Wife Louisa had died two months earlier, on February 21st, 1869, age 49 years. Sometime thereafter family members continued under the stage name of “The Dayton Family”. It is believed that the stage name was changed for business reasons, as they were all Germans working and living in England at a time of increasing hostility between Germany and England. It has further been passed down that one of our descendants had previously visited the USA on a business trip and liked the name Dayton, OH and thereafter changed the name of the act. Page 32 of the previously noted book states: Dayton, Maus, Mary. Wife of O. Maus Dayton, acrobat. Died on 24th April 1910, age 31. In the period before the Great War, The Dayton Family consisted of twelve Risley performers. Four sons of Karl Ernst and Ernestina Maus, all members of the act appear to have relocated to England in the late 19th and early 20th Century, all of them marrying English brides and locating in such areas as Macclesfield, Kensington, Gloucester and Manchester. They toured extensively throughout Europe & Russia and it’s been said that they enjoyed a lifestyle of opulence and wealth bordering on royalty. It was during this period that Karl Oscar, managing agent for the troupe, being impressed by the Chinese Risley acts of the day, decided to implement their techniques into the act to gain a competitive edge. It should be noted that all the props and costumes were designed, created and manufactured by the husbands and wives of the act at that time. Regarding the three oldest children of Karl Ernst and Ernestina Maus, their fate remains unknown at this time. Shortly after the death of his first wife Florence, Karl Oscar Maus at the age of 39 married his second wife, Jenny Mahlberg, age 16, in Gloucester, England on August 14th 1910. This marked the joining of two acrobatic acts into one. Jenny and her brother Kurt (Willi) joined the act at that time, both being the children of Bernhard and Agnes Mahlberg of Berlin Germany. Their father Bernhard’s profession is noted as acrobat on her marriage certificate. As WWI dawned, hostilities between Germany and England increased and with it so did the prospects of being drafted into service or being rounded up and placed into German camps in England. At that time Oscar decided it would be in the best interest of all to relocate the act to the USA and so, between 1914 & 1916, three of the Maus brothers, along with their wives and children left England, their families, possessions and real estate and embarked on a new life in America. Having recently wed, Oscar's brother, Bernhard Maus, decided to stay in England at that time. Unfortunately, as the War commenced in earnest, he was interned in one of the harshest camps in England for being German and an outspoken ministering Christian. Sadly, he died on June 7th 1921; shortly before or after being released and two weeks before his son Bernard John Maus was born. Some of the names of the original twelve that came to the USA and made up the Dayton Family at that time included Karl Oscar Maus, Jenny Maus, Louise (Leischen) Maus, Carl Oscar Maus, Ernest Edward Maus, Alex Ivor Maus, Edna Mary Maus, Alexis Maus, Ada Gibbon Maus, Karl Arthur Maus, May Carter Maus, Arthur Maus, Kurt (Willi) Mahlberg, and a young sixteen year old, by the name of Ralph Livingston. Upon locating to New York City the act continued under the stage name of The Dayton Family until the large act disbanded around 1920. Thereafter, family members split off and formed smaller acts under such names as The Mann Brothers, The Alex Melford Trio and Oscar Moss & the Manning Sisters. The Mann Brothers were based out of Chicago and contracted with Pantages & Loews Theaters. The act consisted of Karl Arthur Maus, his son Arthur and Karl Arthur’s nephew Bernard Maus. They toured the country as a comedy acrobatic act incorporating globes, sea saws and juggling as well as high wire performances. The act disbanded in the 1940’s. Arthur married dancer Marcelle Hardie and the two of them went out on their own. Arthur performed as a single act under the stage name of Art Mann. Karl Arthur’s nephew Bernard Maus volunteered for military service, where he continued performing and entertaining for the troops until being killed a few miles inside Germany on Dec. 6th, 1944. The Alex Melford Trio, also known as The Melford Trio and the Virginia Melford Trio, was based out of New York City and consisted of Alexis Maus and Kurt (Willi) Mahlberg. This act at various times included Alexis’ nephew Richard Maus, niece & adopted daughter Virginia Maus, a fellow by the name Daniel (Danny) Hurwyn and another by the name of Mason, among others. Alexis was noted as being the only person to perform a one-finger handstand in a bottle without the use of an aid. He would show the audience his hands, void of any apparatus. Virginia (Gini) would then walk out and place the bottle on the stage, at the same time slipping Alexis a custom made metal rod he would hold in the palm of his hands. Upon completion of the amazing feat, she would once again make an entrance on stage and retrieve the bottle and the metal rod without detection, whereby Alexis would once again show the audience his hands to the amazement of all. Numerous Risley acts were performed as well as juggling, using custom made pins that Alexis had designed and made himself. They incorporated three levels or openings within each pin, which housed bells that would ring as the pins were juggled. Another feature of the act included Gini playing the musical glasses, which she had learned from her Uncle Alexis, who in turn had been taught by his Mother Ernestina. Alexis was noted for his creative and entrepreneurial genius having designed and manufactured all their costumes and props with the aid of Kurt Mahlberg’s artistic drawings. They performed into the early 1950’s and toured all over the USA. Another act going by the stage name of Oscar Moss and The Manning Sisters consisted of three of Karl Oscar’s children. They were, Carl Oscar, Louise (Leischen) Maus and Edna Mary Maus. They were a very successful dance, musical and theatrical act that toured the entire country in the early 1920's. For stage purposes Oscar spelled his last name as Moss. The stage name Manning came from Louise's first husband Jack Manning, although he was never a part of the act. At some point his sisters parted the act and went their separate ways at which time Oscar’s new dance partner Meta Patock and him tied the knot in wedlock and continued under the stage name of Carl Moss and Dollie Manning into the 1930's. As well as being an accomplished dancer, having tutored under John Tiller of London Fame, Louise was noted as an accomplished singer and musical instrumentalist, playing a variety of instruments including Xylophone, Marimba and Saxophone to name a few. After the passing of her first husband Jack Manning, Louise remarried and had a very successful dog-performing act with her second husband Bill Edison. They toured the US and Europe extensively. After the passing of her second husband, she married George Winston and eventually settled down in Oceanside, California where she passed away in 1970. Like her older sister, Edna was an accomplished dancer and singer having tutored under John Tiller of London and Torch Singer Libby Holman. After marrying George Smith, Edna settled down in Allentown, PA where she raised her family, still performing on the local circuit for many years thereafter. Although never officially part of The Dayton Family, Alfred Mahlberg, brother of Jenny and Kurt, had a Mime and acrobatic act of his own and had toured Europe and South America before arriving in the states on September of 1914, at the age of 22. He later married dancer Bronia (Bronislana) Noack in 1918 in New York City. He is believed to be the first family member to arrive in the US, his New York residence being a weigh station for many family members who came over thereafter.