The Brothers Josephu

The Brothers Josephu
Young Josef at work...circa 1917

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Back to research

I'm back to continuing my research - trying to get past a few 'mysteries'. Thanks to some photos in an old family scrapbook brought to the reunion in Vienna last June...and thanks to the research mastery of Herbert Fischer ... we have made some progress on the Drouot branch of the family. I plan on upgrading my genealogy website which should allow me to compare to others doing similar research. Perhaps the Drouot and Josephu family lines are already out there.

Victor Drouot was made a Knight for "his services to the k.k. Purveyors." Victor had a brother Josef, and  Josef had a son, Hans Drouot. We've identified Victor and Hans in photos, and there's one photo identified as "Mali" (geb. Drouot) dated 1911. The family had pet names for everyone, some are easily understood....but others not. For example, my grandfather Josef was known as 'Pepo'. We don't know who Mali is. There's no identified female family member born 'Drouot' identified. Perhaps she is Hans Drouot's wife, Amalie...but she was not 'geb Drouot (born)...perhaps it was a daughter of Hans. There's a photo of Victor standing with a very young boy simply labeled father and son. We have not identified who the son is. My grandfather's grandmother was Mathilda Drouot and, based on the timeline, was the sister to Victor and Josef. Victor's full name, after knighthood, is Victor Ritter von Drouot, and research does indicate he was from a French immigrant family. Could this possibly be the first link to the family story...that we're related a famous French General.

It's very difficult doing the research and connecting the dots. Herbert has been a huge help. I am requesting copies of birth or death certificates where I can, but without specific locations and dates it's truly searching for a needle in the proverbial hay stack.
More soon...