Volume 42, number 4
January 2021
Grand River Times The Newsletter of the Grand Rapids Historical Society
Little Bohemia, The Leitelt Family, Part 4 By: Nan Schichtel, GRHS Trustee Inside this issue: (Previous article, “Little Bohemia, The Leitelt Family, Part 3,” can be found in Grand River Times November 2020 issue)
Cover Story: Little Bohemia, The Leitelt Family, Part 4 Letter from our President page 2 History Hounds page 4 Museum Access page 4 The Great Blizzard of 1978 page 6 Photo Sleuth page 7
Family-owned businesses usually chose sons to succeed fathers, and Leitelt’s followed suit. Adolph Sr. died in March 1897 at the family home at 79 Livingston (pre-1912 numbering). He had fallen on Canal (lower Monroe) Street the previous May and fractured his thigh and never recovered. Those last months must have been agony for a man so known for his strength. Adolph Jr.’s time at the helm was not long, and he died of diabetic gangrene in 1906. That Michigan Manufacturer & Financial Record article alludes to the firm’s male leadership after Adolph Leitelt Jr.’s death. There is conflicting information about who next became president of the firm. Some publications like the one above indicated that Edward Grand Rapids City Directory, 1915, p. 618. Ansorge took over as President until 1911 when Julius LaBonte, Pauline Leitelt’s husband succeeded him. However, Mathilda’s obituary named her the successor. And, the 1916 City Directory lists her sister, Rosetta, as President. Adolph Jr.’s sisters who had worked in various roles for the company, were talented, competent, and hardworking owners, along with Julius LaBonte, Pauline’s husband. When speaking of the “Leitelt girls,” family members would always say how bright and as “able as their brother” they all were. Adolph and Theresa Ansorge Leitelt had a large family: Edward C. (by first wife in Kratzau); Adolph Leitelt Jr.; Edmund Leitelt; Mathilda Leitelt; Emelia “Emeline Mina” Leitelt; Anna Mary Leitelt Cusick; Louisa Leitelt; Laura Leitelt Besancon; Rosetta Leitelt; and, Pauline Leitelt LaBonte. With such a large family, it is interesting to note that there were few descendants of this line, and none with the Leitelt name. Continued on page 3
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