Featured Adelaide Schell -- Who Was She?

My goodness, elarnia! I had to read that 3 times to make sure you weren't pulling our collective legs.

I do have to wonder - is it just a coincidence that I found Satorius and you found her with Sutorius? Definitely an uncommon name.

Do you recall what newspapers these reports were in?

 

Ok. From elarnia's finds I was able to locate Adelaide Schell and Francis Sutorius' marriage in Burlington, Des Moines, Iowa in 1906. Her parents' names are given as Richard and Adeline.

In 1910, they are living in Fremont County, Colorado. In 1918 when he had to register for the WWI draft, they are in Denver. In 1920, when she is in Kingston NY with her father Richard, Francis is a patient at the Homeopathic Hospital in Orange County, NY (across the Hudson River.) In any event, forget everything about a husband named Otto Satorius.

That's where the record seems to end. Perhaps he died?

Part of the problem I had was that the 1900 Census gave her birthplace as NYC, but all the other records say she was born in Cincinnati, Ohio. Probably enumerator error or misunderstanding.

Now, back to the inscription on the photo. Given that there was a rather "scandalous" story attached to them and the significant possibility that her brother's wife (who would have written this) may have never met her, it is definitely possible that what was told to her about Adelaide's "concert pianist" debut was puffery or mistake in memory.

 

Some of the sources - there are also some other NYTimes ones, but I don't have a subcription there.

The Evening Telegraph, Monday May 7, 1900 - Front page article about elopement, how they met, how he decieved her parents, etc.

NYTimes 3 July 1900 - brief story about return. Schell address given as 617 w. 181 st. and his as 852 e. 165th. (another story listed him at 852 e 145th)

The World, Evening, Sept. 1, 1900 "Eloping Husband, Deserted By Girl, Comes Back to His Wife" "Dr. Sutorius, Bronx physician, Who Ran Away to Europe with Adelaide Schell, Is Forgiven"

Reading Eagle July 3, 1900 - Women in the News - brief mention of her return from London

Google books:
JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association, Volume 46; page 671 - March 3, 1906 - Marriages

Daily Industrial News, 1 Feb 1906 - "Unhinges Mother's Mind"


There were a few others, but these are the main ones - can't find the "friend through the widow" one - I think it was a follow-on search - can't remember what search terms I used. sorry.

 

Cool! I've had better luck finding newspaper entries for my family members on the Fulton History site than on Ancestry itself. Thanks!

 

Elarnia,

That is great! But now it looks less likely that this would be the same Adelaide Schell as on my card. Unless somehow she managed to become a concert pianist in the time between her two elopements with Dr. Sutorius/Satorius/Sartorius? (I've seen his name spelled all three ways... most often Sutorius).

I do have access to the New York Times article through subscription --

I found this through the Library Of Congress' Chronicling America site, in which lots of newspapers are digitized. It documents some further adventures of the Doctor, in the Evening World , October 17, 1902. Look in column 2 for the article with headline "DR. SARTORIUS IN NEW PERIL:

http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83030193/1902-10-17/ed-1/seq-8/

It's not about Adelaide, per se.

It would be great if the Adelaide Schell who went through these adventures was the same one as on my photo... but am not so sure about that at this point. As you mentioned, the one in my photo has some rings on and perhaps was married? Maybe she is the other one of the same age that we found, and Schell was her married name?

 

Hey, that's the "friend through the window" story!

I'll take a look at the "other" Adelaide Schell, Fig.

 

The other Adelaide Schell was born Adelaide Rose Herrmann in 1881 and married Peter Anthony Schell (born 1876) on Feb 21 1900 in Manhattan. Peter was a florist. In 1910 they were living on Avenue B in Manhattan (which if I recall correctly is lower east side.) They moved to Queens by 1918 (when he registered for the draft) and lived there until their deaths - he in 1942, she in 1957.

 

Is there any occupation listed in the census for this Adelaide? Or for the other one, for that matter?

I do have some access to an Ancestry account that belongs to one of my sisters. I'd have to find the login information, though.

And, thanks for all of your help!

 

The only occupation is "housework" or blank (meaning not working outside the home.) For both.

 

Here is more that I have found out about this "other" Adelaide Schell. In the 1900 Census she is living with her parents Joseph and Johanna Herrmann - low numbers on E. 4th Street, Manhattan. Her father is a florist (so perhaps she met her husband Peter Schell via her father's business connections.) Adelaide is only 18 and the occupation box for her is blank (as is her mother's.)

Remember that she married Peter Feb 21 1900, shortly after this census was taken.

Her mother reports in that census that she has had only 1 child. Which means that there was no brother of Adelaide's whose wife could have been the writer of the note on the back of your picture.

The family does not appear to be living in circumstances that would allow for the combination of fancy dress and a professional portrait taken all the way uptown in Washington Heights. If they were going to get professional pictures taken, they surely would have used someone closer to home.

I am more and more of the belief that either 1) the scandalous Adelaide is the person in the picture or 2) there's a third Adelaide. Which I haven't seen either, not that that means anything.

 

Thanks again -- I tend to agree with you about the possibilities.

Another possibility for a sister-in-law would be the sister of Adelaide's husband. But still... makes sense.

I found a few more things about Dr. Sutorius. There is a photo and brief sketch of him in this history of New York University. Despite the publication date being 1903, there is no hint of scandal in the sketch: http://books.google.com/books?id=lV1NAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA490&lpg=PA490&dq=francis alexis sutorius&source=bl&ots=loOUgwXBqK&sig=OqaMu8gHUobLO9VI13jHnl8sLro&hl=en&sa=X&ei=8wazU5G6C4fP8wGcxoGQCA&ved=0CDAQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=francis alexis sutorius&f=false

There is a brief mention that he was appointed Health Officer in Florence, Colorado. This was 1911: http://books.google.com/books?id=ueFXAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA474&lpg=PA474&dq="f. a." "sutorius"&source=bl&ots=G3n-Cj8m2r&sig=QLN1gBafuqLdTd1kp3YFCaDCEgE&hl=en&sa=X&ei=nQizU4bfIJeryATmsYDoCw&ved=0CDIQ6AEwBg#v=onepage&q="f. a." "sutorius"&f=false

There was a note in the Journal of the American Medical Association that mentioned he broke his shoulder, but I seem to have closed that tab, so don't know the date.

Oh, also -- he was born in 1875, so not all that much older than the Adelaide we have been considering. Although when she was 17, somebody 7 years older would have seemed a lot older!

 

Well here's an interesting tidbit.

I was trying to find out what happened to the good doctor. Since nothing came up from the AMA Deceased Physicians Index, I tried browsing the file. His card has the following notation - "Address Unknown. Declared (legally) deceased as of 1-28-61. No information available VD.

The word "legally" was crossed out. And the question arises whether the letters VD mean the disease or the initials of the person making the notes - it's all typed together as if it's part of the no information statement.

On his schooling and location card, there is nothing after 1911.

 

I found that he had a World War I draft registration card on file. FamilySearch does not have a copy of it... it's probably in Ancestry? Not sure if this link will lead to the record

https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/KZKJ-1C5

 

Oh, wait... I see the draft registration was mentioned earlier. Never mind!

 

Yes. I printed it out. And when I glanced back at it I found another interesting tidbit. To the question about physical disqualifying issues he says "Nerve affliction."

 

Fig. - notice that while there is no mention of scandal in the listing you found, it notes his marriage and lists his two children - no mention of his wife.

 

Good point... will look into this more later. Thanks again!

If anybody has more insights, I'd love to read them.

 

I don't have any information but just wanted to say this is quite fascinating to read!
Mary

 

I found the two sons of Dr. Sutorius - Francis A (b. 1895) and Eugene (b. 1898), but not until after the 1900 Census. However, Eugene gave his mother "Bessie" of the Bronx as his closest contact in his 1918 draft registration.

 

The good doctor was likely enthralled by her ample charms.