Wiesengrund: The Jewish Heritage 15Delkeskamp, a well-known figure at the time, whose paintings of views
of Frankfurt have come down to us.^5
David Theodor Wiesengrund was born on 3 July 1838, after hisfather
had transferred the business to this enviable view. At the time when
he was growing up the little world on the River Main was probably
not much different from Mendelssohn’s description of it. As an adult,
the eldest son of the founder of the firm took over the flourishing
wine-merchant’s business. As the second son, his younger brother
Benedict (1843–1903) was traditionally in the weaker position. He mar-
ried Johanna Offenbach, who came from Mannheim and was nine years
his junior. Together they had three sons. Initially, they lived nearby in
13 Schöne Aussicht. Later, they moved to Württemberg, where Benedict
died at the early age of sixty. His youngest child, Fanni, who was born
in 1846, married in Würzburg in 1867 and subsequently emigrated with
her husband to the United States.
There is no doubt that the eldest of the three siblings fared better. At
the age of thirty, David Theodor married Caroline Mayer (1846–94),
a banker’s daughter from Worms. The marriage resulted in the birth of
six children, three boys and three girls, although one of the girls lived
for only two years. The second son, Oscar Alexander, became the
designated successor to the business, although he was frequently absent
from Frankfurt and had of course to come to terms with his father.
With what feelings did he enter into this inheritance instead of his elder
brother? For the latter, Paul Friedrich (1869–86), had died at the age
of seventeen and his younger brother, Bernhard Robert (1871–1935),
emigrated to Britain soon after completing his course in engineering.
He had graduated from Rostock with a study of refrigeration and began
by working for large German companies until he was able to start
his own firm in 1907, not far from London. Seven years later, having
become a successful businessman, he acquired British citizenship along
with his wife, Helene, née Richter, and his three children.^6
A generous father and two musical mothersOscar Alexander Wiesengrund conducted his business affairs with great
flair during the last years of the nineteenth century. He exported wine
to Britain and the United States and established a branch of the com-
pany in Leipzig. He also owned a share in the wine-merchants Friedrich
Daehne GmbH. This firm had been registered since May 1923 and
was situated at different times in various locations in the city centre.
Oscar Wiesengrund and Carl Feuchter were officially registered as its
directors, both of them being listed as resident in Frankfurt am Main.^7
In addition, the Wiesengrund family owned a property in the little
Odenwald town of Seeheim. The fire register of Seeheim shows that
Oscar Alexander Wiesengrund owned a house there in the years