Letters from Anna
Anna Friederike Blanca von Schmalensee, second daughter of FFL and his second wife, was born on November 1, 1852. Anna had to work in several positions as a governess and companion due to the family’s financial situation. While working in St. Petersburg, she met Fred Kuhn, whom she later married. They had two sons and two daughters. After living in England for many years, she and her husband separated and she immigrated with her sons to the U.S. in the early 1900s. According to a telegram Curt received from Anna’s son Bert, she died in Los Angeles, California, on February 1, 1927.
Uebigau Palace* near Dresden [1877/78]
My dear Papa!
It has been a long, long time since I received your last letter. Before your departure you sent me your address in Hamburg. But your dear letter first found its way into my hands on the 5th, as we had already left Götschendorf. Your departure from Hamburg was set for the 6th and I was indescribably saddened not to be able to bid you farewell, especially since I could have easily seen you in Berlin. I was not informed that you were still in Berlin over Christmas. Had I known, no one could have kept me from seeing you. Adelheid always avoided talking about meeting with you, and besides, I was kept under lock and key at the cloister**. You would have had a very nice visit with me there, but I was not allowed to write to you, even though I greatly longed to see you. The matron*** had forbidden me from doing so, indeed she did not want to hear anything about my parents, and she also said very derogatory things about my parents to the nurses****. In short, I am going to say nothing more about the year [18]77. I felt very at ease in Millmersdorf. Helene was different than I had imagined, the daughters are very nice girls. Unfortunately, there is little harmony between Götschendorf and Millmersdorf. I am sure you heard about the circumstances there from Herrmann, because when I was there for the first time at a soirée, your cousin Herrmann had made some insinuations about the morals of old Herr von Oppen. I was just happy to have a job and am content.
A few weeks ago, I was offered a position with an American family to live with them here in Dresden for the time being but then return with them to America. I turned it down for now because I still wanted to get your opinion. But should I hear of something this advantageous again, I will accept it, because a high salary is to be expected, then I could send Mama some of my wages. Frau von Oppen was so sick a fortnight ago that I thought she was going to die. She is better now but I doubt she will make it through the winter.
The 3rd of June: I am so very happy to finally have your address, Blanka sent it to me. She writes that she is quite well and was very pleased with a jacket that I worked on for her here for the future lord of an entailed estate. Clara is also very happy at Karbes. What is Curt doing? I haven’t heard a thing from him. Now, dear Papa, I must ask you to please tell me more about your circumstances. I would be indescribably delighted because I do not know what your occupation is. Do you live entirely with Herr von Rütz? Have you been able to see Herr von Flemming again? Please greet him from me and, if it is appropriate, also Herr Rütz. There is so much more I would like to tell you, but I don’t have the time. So, I will say a heartfelt goodbye to you and ask that you keep me in your heart. Sending a warm embrace and a kiss from your daughter who loves you dearly
Anna.
* Uebigau Palace was commissioned by Imperial Count Jacob Heinrich von Flemming.
** Stift can be a either cloister or a foundation, depending on where Anna was working.
*** Oberin is either a matron or a mother superior. It is as yet unclear exactly where Anna was working or what her job was.
**** Schwester can be either a nurse or a nun. Again, it all depends on where Anna was and what she was doing.
Porquerolles, July 22th, 1879
My dear Papa!
It will soon be a year since you last received a letter from me, and I am overcome with deep remorse to have left you waiting for so long, my good Papa, without a sign of life. However, rest assured that my thoughts were with you often and that my most intimate wishes for your constant wellbeing accompanied you. I am so sincerely happy about the fact that you are now with your dear faithful friend, Herr von Flemming. Hopefully you will have also found a job there and are able to make a small living for yourself to be independent. Your little Tony Flemming must have certainly grown up into a big girl in the long time since you last saw her. You must be very happy about Blanka’s son. I believe he’s a lively little boy! Soon it will be a year since I left my dear Germany and you cannot imagine how much good the delicious air in Switzerland has done me. My headaches are almost completely gone and my nerves have become so much stronger that I feel like a completely different person. Physically I have become much stronger and my cheeks are now always rosy, something you rarely saw with me. Praise the Lord, I am so healthy now; it makes one much more approachable and amiable towards everyone, something you cannot expect of a sick person.
I had a very pleasant job in Switzerland, but my three charges were already older, so that my stay would not be a long one. The same family has now found me a position here in France, with which I am also satisfied. Only the salary is very low, 20 francs per month. But the family seems to be only of limited means, and they try to make this up to me through kindness and other amenities. I am very satisfied to have ended up with an honorable family. And since not a soul speaks German, I am able to learn French well, because my little charge can only speak very little. Mr. and Mrs. Renenard are still quite young, but they are both rather ill. So much so, that we have gone to an island in the central sea for four to six weeks, from where I am writing to you today. Nimes is a medium-sized town in the south of France. We left Nimes on July 15th, and I had the joy of seeing Marseilles et Faulan. We went aboard in Faulan, and sailed three hours before arriving here on the island of Porqueralles, one of the three d’Hyéres islands. Now the island is very small, just one village, boulders and forest. One quarter of the forest is covered with flowering myrtle. The resorts are wonderful and I am now taking swimming lessons. So, you see, my dear Papa, I have already seen so many beautiful things. There is so much I could tell you about wonderful Switzerland, but writing … we Schmalensées really don’t enjoy writing letters. But when we see each other again, I will tell you all about so many of wonderful things. Can you imagine that people here in France never think I am German, which is deliciously amusing and also quite fine with me. – What do you say about the death of the Crown Prince, and in such a horrible way, killed by the same people, savages really, whom his father had once sent to fight us Germans, as if fate was seeking terrible revenge? I am really pleased that Curt now has a permanent position in the American Navy. (What rank does he hold?) I would love to see him in our dear fatherland, but perhaps at a later point in time. I received a very dear letter from Clara recently. She is still very happy to be with such an amiable family, and she received many gifts on her birthday. I intend to remain in France until October 1880 and then maybe I will find a position near Clara. For today, I must close my letter, because duty calls me. Please forgive my long silence. I am sending you a warm embrace from your faithful daughter
Anna
Nimes, the 22th of October 1879
My dear, dear Papa
I received your dear lines a few hours ago, which delighted me so very much. My heartfelt thanks for your faithful wishes on my birthday. I have not yet sent you any wishes for your birthday, because I wanted to wait for your letter first, voila un moment libre pour moi, lequel je veux bien profiter pour écrir une jolie lettre mon p re cher é, mais pas en francais, c’est trop difficile! * First, my good Papa, my most heartfelt wishes on your birthday, I wish you all the best in the world, but above all, God keep your health. I have given your letter a great deal of thought, my dear Papa, and I think that your dear friend’s plan is magnificent, for my future as well as for you to while away the hours in your old age. I promise you that I will put all my mental and physical abilities together to get things going. If I had enough money, I would go to Paris right away, but this will not work so quickly, because more than anything I want to approach the matter slowly and carefully, so please hear out the plan that I worked out in a few hours. There is a lady here, who I have known for five months, and she likes me very much. She came here from Lyon six months ago. I will talk to her about finding me a position where I can earn at least 30-35 francs. Lyon is much closer to Paris, which means that it would be a step closer and from there I can make enquiries about a studio, try to find a position there for five or six months, and then maybe in July or August begin my journey to Millwaukee [sic], hoping to have saved enough money by then. I can assure you, my dear Papa, I am not lacking in good taste, because it is not easy to always dress nicely with just a little money and often here the vainest of French women admire my outfits, which I have put together from old clothes, and this is probably one of the hardest things to do. So, I now ask that you, my Papa, let me act for the time being. After four to six weeks, you will get a letter from me, I hope from Lyon, so do not write to this address again. 20 francs is too little for the work I must do here. If I find a job in Lyon from here, I will still be paid for the trip. I find the thought of making your old age carefree delicious; may God give it his blessings, of course, it would be even more delicious if I were to find a good man there and my old Pa could bounce his grandchildren on his knee. I can swear to you, hand on my heart, that I was not involved in a single scandal, here I am viewed as some sort of a saint, praise of God that this is so. The French are so silly, they have given me the nickname “Cold Northerner”, even though my temperament is as fiery as you say. I do have an icy exterior when someone is attracted to my appearance. My appearance has significantly changed for the better. It is funny that I am talking about it here, but I know that you are interested in everything, and my eyes know what splendid things they see in the mirror. Francophobia flows through my veins to the point I could never love a Frenchman. I received a letter from Mama, as well as from Clara, who still seems so happy where she is, I am happy for her. I was so certain that Curt was in the American Navy, I’m very sorry that you haven’t heard from him, perhaps he will write to you on your birthday. Now fare well, my dear Papa, my free moment is unfortunately over. I take you in my arms one more time and send you many thousand kisses.
Your faithful daughter Anna.
* here is a free moment to myself that I would like to use to write a beautiful letter to my dear father, but not in French, it is too difficult!Hamburg, Neue Brenner Str 23 [April 4, 1880 (acc. to the envelope)]
My dear Papa!
I am writing to you again, because you cannot begin to imagine how much my thoughts are tormenting me and I am in the most embarrassing situation. As positions are only offered here for a commitment of one year, I cannot accept one because I am hoping to receive your instructions and the necessary funds any day now, and if I were to accept a position now, then nothing could happen before next spring. Since I already told you my decision, I certainly hope that you will not leave me desperate and in uncertainty for too long. I can only stay here until May 10, but no longer and I cannot go to Eckhorst as they have gone to a spa for their sick mother. So can’t you make sure I receive the money for Paris immediately, i.e. by the beginning of May? For the moment I’m forced to do something else, because Emmy wanted to find me a position in Russia. I haven’t answered her yet, I would find it terrible to accept a position to only then be unable to begin working. So, I have been considering that, if you can’t get so much money together, just to send me the money for America and I could work in a studio there and through my good taste and diligence I will have a way to earn money. But I beg you, Papa, save me from this unbearable situation and write immediately. I have been hoping a while now to receive a letter in response to this and also hope that you have actually taken the first steps to get the money, otherwise you wouldn’t have told me about this well-considered plan! You can probably imagine, my good Papa, that this has been a horrible time for me, otherwise I would have already accepted a position, but my conscience wouldn’t allow me to mislead people because they would want me to commit to one year. I firmly believe that you must indeed have had prospects to get the money, otherwise you would not have written anything about it to me. If you do not get the money, you must know that I cannot stay here in H.,* I mustn’t starve, but I do not know what will become of me until I get a response from you; otherwise, I will accept Emmy’s offer to find me a job in Russia. Adieu, my good Papa, you have no idea how excited I am. Why is America so far away?!
Sending you kisses, your faithful daughter Anna
* HamburgHamburg Neue Brenner Str 23 IV c/o Frau Vollmer
My good Papa!
I hope that you have received my letter, in which I have clearly decided to go ahead with the matter you proposed; but you must agree, good Papa, that I need support for the moment as I do not have a job! It’s a pity that I couldn’t go straight to Paris; if only I had had enough money, the current season would have been so beneficial as there is so much to do in the dressmaking studios. If only I had gone to Paris first, because now is time money, then I could have already earned something there. If you can get me 400, or even only 350 Marks by May 15 then I would be ready to come to you by July 1 and I can be earning money by the autumn season. That is why you need to hurry, my Father, because you would not believe how much I love the thought of working to support you. I believe that if I hear from you by May 1, then with some luck I’ll head to Paris where I will make use of every minute. Good-bye, my dear Father. My best regards to your friends, could they help you out with money?
Your faithful daughter Anna
Hamburg, 12 July (18)80
My good Papa!
I am with Dittmers right now, and as Herr Dittmers intends to write you in the next few days, I wanted take an opportunity to thank you for your dear letter, which I received on the 8th of this month, as well as for the dear photograph of Curt, which brought me such joy, it reflects such courage and strength even at his young age and shows that he will likely make something of himself. As far as my situation is concerned, my good Papa, it is really quite a pity that there are no more positions to be found this season, and therefore I am unable to earn anything. The autumn season doesn’t start again until the end of September and then … oh, I wish I were there with you! I worked here for three months in one of the largest studios where I learned a great deal through observation, but I still lacked a steady job where I could work on my own, which I had already quite forgotten, and I never really learned to take measurements, so a lady took me under her wing and brought me to a very skillful dressmaking teacher. She paid for everything out of her own pocket and I was able to study for four weeks. I can sew dresses for myself using this method, as I am learning how to measure and draw patterns. Of course, I can only become proficient when I have only worked independently for a long time, going to Paris would not help me because the fashions are so different at the moment, that it really is just a matter of fine taste, and then all I would need is a Parisian fashion magazine, a sewing machine, a dressmaker’s dummy to pin the clothes and a seamstress to use the sewing machine. I would like to get started, and by offering good and tasteful dresses, I will soon gain a bigger clientele. Dittmers agree with my opinion. Frau Dittmers, in particular, is quite against me going to Paris. With such limited resources, it would be reckless for me to go to this dangerous city without any acquaintances, and I really am convinced that I will be able to get by without it.
Now, my good Papa, do not expect too much as I will only be earning just enough for us both to live off of, and in time I can perhaps always afford more. A little something to get me started would be enough for me and with skill and diligence everything else can develop — just start out small, leave it at that, then I will never lose courage. In time I will learn English because I have had neither opportunity and nor the money to do so here. That is why, my good Papa, that we should leave the matter of Paris well enough alone, because I will surely be successful with my dressmaking. I have already made several dresses that were always well received. Therefore, don’t let me wait too long, I just need enough money to travel. I know this isn’t a small sum, but maybe you both already have the largest part of it together. I had always expected to be in Milwaukee by the end of August, but who knows when our good Curt will send the money for me. I’ve begun to knit stockings for him. I recently received kind letters from Blanka and Clara. Now I hope that I will be writing you just one more time before we see each other again. Many greetings to my dear Curt and tell him how much I would like to see him and get better acquainted with such a dear brother. As God wills, I will now wait here. My regards to all of your acquaintances and a thousand hugs from your loving daughter
Anna
Side note 1: I feel terrible that our good Curt is struggling so much; I will have finished my training by August 1st
Side note 3: because I don’t really know how I will muddle through
Side note 4: and I could then travel to you
Hamburg, October 1st, 1880
My dear Papa!
A few weeks ago, I wrote to you that I have been quite aware for some time now that it was impossible for me to come to you in Milwaukee. I tried my best to learn dressmaking, but to start and run such a business also requires one to be healthy and strong. How hard it is for me to write to you that I am really too frail to take on such a project, and especially without money. The long time I spent waiting has now put me in a desperate situation, because I couldn’t ask for anything from Dittmers. They have done as much good for me as they possibly could, and they, too, have also been discouraged for a while now as they have seen how frail I am. Unfortunately, in my desperation I could not help but to raise money to pay for my room and board, as is expected of our kind, because I clearly cannot sleep on the street and I also must eat. One cannot make a living here with dressmaking and embroidering, as there are too many women here who earn their living with it. Since there has been no sign of life from you in over two months, I am convinced that you have also seen the impossibility of this endeavor. After a long period of uncertainty, I have finally found a position in Warsaw, for which I will leave in the next few days. I hope be able to send Herr Dittmer the 81 marks that I owe to my good brother in the spring, so that Curt will have a nest egg. I hope my position in Warsaw will not be too difficult as I have to speak German and French, and I can visit Mama in the summer. I got to know the family here and I will receive 130 Polish rubles, not a bad salary. If I had looked for a job sooner, I could have found a very nice position here, but now everything is filled. I hope, my good Papa, that you have now also found employment. There can be no talk of high earnings for us, we just don’t have the knack for it. I can’t give you my exact new address yet, I will write once I’ve been there a few days. Oh, how happy I will be to no longer worry about supporting myself. I have really deteriorated during this time, I’m practically just skin and bones. I am optimistic about this new position, as I like the family very much. Give Curt my regards if you see him. I really dislike being in his debt, but hopefully he will be patient. Adieu, my Papa, what a shame things didn’t work out as you had hoped. Your loving daughter
A. v. Schmalensée
30 Bridge Avenue
Hammersmith 20
June 17/1904
Dear Blanka.
My youngest son is still sick, but no longer in bed, making it impossible for us to think about the trip to America. The doctor fears that the climate there could be dangerous for Fred. I am so very busy, and with the sick child, I have a few hours to spare. And, I wanted to sell my furniture and have given up my apartment. I am moving from here on Monday to 14 Hammersmith Terrace Chiswick (Riverside), where Fred always has benefited from the nice fresh air. My apartment is close to Shamer. I haven’t had the time to write to Curt yet. He doesn’t know yet that Fred is sick, so I’d like to ask you to send him some lines for me. It would be wrong to keep him in uncertainty for even longer. Today I can’t write, maybe Sunday but there’s still packing. Maybe you could write.
Fred’s heart is weak and his feet are always tired. The doctor and medicine cost me nothing, as he is part of the Shamer Steam Company. They sent me 10* for Fred each week. Fred is well liked everywhere. I hope he can go back to the office next Thursday. I can’t answer your last letter. I know that you often write me incomprehensible letters. I always have so much to do and worry about that I cannot take the time (to try to figure them out). Hopefully you’re healthy.
With regards
your sister
Anna
*Presumably pounds.
