1829 to 1914
Alzbeta was born in the small town of NovĂ© StrašecĂ in house no 45 on the 3rd January 1829. Her parents were Moses Graff, a shopkeeper and Rachel Graff, the daughter of Tobias Stumes also from NovĂ© StrašecĂ.
In 1857, when she is 28, she is married to Jakob Frankl aged 49, kosher butcher from Vlastislav. Over the next eleven years they have eight children. Their home would be very strictly kosher and Alzbeta would have been responsible for making sure that all of the dietary rules were followed very precisely. She would also have taught her four daughters the rules and made sure that all of her children received the basic education that was required by the Austrian rulers of Bohemia. There was a new synagogue in Třebivlice and there would have been a school that came with it. Although it was several kilometres from Vlastislav, the older children would have walked to school and home again most days of the week. It’s not possible to know what the relationship was like between Alzbeta and Jakob, but they would have had to work very closely together as a team to keep their home strictly kosher, to bring up their family and to play an appropriate leading role in their village Jewish community.
Whatever their relationship, it must have been a huge shock to Alzbeta when her husband died. We don’t know what happened in the years after his death. We do know that eventually she moved with several of her children to Teplice. The deaths of Alzbeta, her sons Moses (Moritz), Abraham (Adolf) and her daughters, Regina and Theresia are also recorded in Teplice.
It is possible that the family moved to Louny for a period of time. In 1870 the new synagogue in Louny was opened and Rabbi Isak HaCohen Frankl, a cousin of Jakob’s was known to be living there – so maybe he helped support Alzbeta until her children were old enough to help provide for her.
Alois Frankl, one of Rabbi Isak’s sons, started a grocery store in Teplice around 1900, so that’s another possible reason why she may have ended up in Teplice.
Alzbeta died in December 1914, aged 85 and we know that her funeral was attended by Mike’s grandfather Max and his family who were living in Louny at the time.
She must have been a very strong resourceful woman, looking after her family after Jakob’s early death in their lives.
