Does Gaston Borch have surviving descendents?

[Rodney]

I've long been interested in the prolific silent film composer Gaston Borch, but haven't been able to find much about his nonprofessional life (or even a photograph). People on this newsgroup seem to have a great facility for tracking down these folks and their descendants, and I'm hoping I may be able to get some help from descendants of Borch to see if they may have any more information on their ancestor.

The information I've been able to find on his professional career is on this web page.

In short, he was born in 1871 in Guînes France, died in 1926 (not sure where), and worked in both Europe and America as a cellist, composer, and conductor.

One clue is that I came across was a used book (a biography of Jules Massenet, one of Borch's teachers) that was inscribed by the author to someone who might have been a Borch relative:

"To F. Gerald Borch, In memory of a fine musician -- Gaston Borch -- and with abiding gratitutde for your cooperation in the piecing together of Massenet's Life and Times. Demar Irvine, Seattle, August 28, 1974"

Unfortunately, the author of the book, Mr. Irvine, died a few years later and I've been unable to reach any of his colleagues at UW. And the information about Gaston Borch in the book is limited to a single footnote without much information.

Thanks in advance (and there'll be more thanks afterwards) for any help.

[Rick Lanham]

Here is the raw data I've found:

First, here is a web page which shows two people who seem to be researching the same (?) Gaston L.C. Borch:

http://worldconnect.rootsweb.ancestry.c ... t.x=Search

You can click on the names in the “database” column to get their email addresses, hoping they are still good.

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Here is my research.
Going backwards in time, as we genealogists are told to do:

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Social Security Death Index

F. Gerald Borch
SSAN 565-20-6601
Born 11 FEB 1925
Died 15 MAR 1995

Last Residence: 28209; Charlotte, Mecklenburg, NC

SS card issued in California before 1951

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NC Death Collection 1908-2004
Fred Gerald Borch
Male, White
Marital Status: Divorced
SSAN 565206601
Father’s Last Name: Borch
Age 70
DOB 11 FEB 1925
RES Charlotte, Mecklenburg, NC
DOD 15 MAR 1995
Death City: Charlotte
Died at home, no autopsy, cremated
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North Carolina Divorce Index, 1958-2004

Primary Name: Fred Borch
Spouse’s Name: Lillian Borch
Marriage Date 30 DEC 1950
Divorce Date 21 OCT 1991
Divorce County: Mecklenburg, NC

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New York Passenger Lists, 1920-1957
November 9, 1951
Name of vessel: USNS Henry Gibbins
From Bremerhaven, Germany to New York via Davisville, RI

BORCH, Fred G. age 26, male, married, born Los Angeles, CA
2042 W. 68th Street, Los Angeles, CA

BORCH, Lillian, age 27, female, married, born Oklahoma, Muskogee
address same as above


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1947 USC El Rodeo yearbook, page 451.
There is a Fred Borch listed as a member of the Christian Science Club.
He is not one of those pictured.

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1941 Artisan Yearbook, Manual Arts High School, Los Angeles, CA, page 136.
Gerald Borch was President of the Little Symphony Orchestra at
Manual Arts High School, Los Angeles.


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1930 Census: CA, Los Angeles Co., Los Angeles
1215 71 Street
Fred Borch, age 28, b. IL, father b. France, mother b. Germany, movie operator in a picture theater. Married at age 21, so that is about 1923.
Geraldine Borch, wife, age 26, b. IN, father b. IN, mother b. CT, no occupation. Married at age 19, so that agrees with 1923.
Gerald Borch, son, age 5, b. CA, father b. IL, mother b. IN.

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CA Birth Index 1905-1995
Fred Gerald Borch
Born - 11 FEB 1925
Los Angeles County
Mother’s Maiden Name: Wamsley
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Newspaper item: Decatur Review (Decatur, Illinois)
January 11, 1922; page four

PRESENTS PHOTO OF MARRIAGE LICENSE
—
Mrs. Rose Borch in Evidence for Divorce Shows Bigamy.

A photographic copy of a marriage license, properly certified to by the county clerk in Boston, was one of the “exhibits” in the divorce suit of Rose Borch against Gaston Borch in the circuit court Tuesday afternoon. The suit started almost a year ago, and came to trial before Judge W.K. Whitfield, who heard part of the evidence.

Mrs. Borch charged her husband with desertion, he having left her in Detroit, where he had been employed. She heard that he had gone east, and had been married again. It took some time to learn where the marriage license had been secured. Wiley & Morey, Mrs. Borch’s attorneys, finally learned that Borch had been married in Boston, and the photographic copy of the marriage license was the remaining evidence that was introduced Tuesday. Judge Baldwin took the case under advisement.

In some states, when a certified copy of a court order or other legal document is asked for a photographic copy of the document, certified to by an officer of the court, is sent. This saves the trouble of writing out a long order and there is no chance of the photograph leaving out a word, changing a word or in any way being different from the actual order of the court. It also is a means of identifying the signatures of whoever signed the document. In the case Tuesday, Mrs. Borch identified the signature of her husband on the marriage license.

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So those court records should still be available, possibly including the license. The license could also be searched for in Boston or in the Massachusetts archives, whichever holds it.




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1920 Census: IL, Macon, Decatur
1391 West Forrest Ave.
S. S. Fleichman (male), age 81, b. PA, parents b. Germany, Commercial Traveller, Rubber Co.
Francis Fleichman, wife, age 70, b. Germany, parents b. Germany, no occupation
Rose Borch, daughter, age 40, widowed, b. Germany, then written above is something like Am. Cit., father b. PA, mother b. Germany, no occupation.
Fred Borch, grandson, age 18, b. IL, parents b. Germany (they may have just copied the lines above).
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1920 Census: CA, Los Angeles Co., Los Angeles
2100 Bonsalla (?hard to read) Ave.
Othar/Other C. Wamsley (male), age 43 (?hard to read), b. IN, parents b. IN, merchant/grocery store.
Alma O. Wamsley, age 42, b. CT, parents b. Posen, Germany.
Geraldine A. Wamsley, age 17, b. IN, father b. IN, mother b. CT.
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1910 Census: IL, Cook Co., Chicago
6332 Ingleside (?) Ave.
Samuel S. Fleishman, age 70, b. PA, parents b. Germany, works in Rubber Goods. Married 6 years.
Francesca Fleishman, wife, age 63, b. Germany, parents b. Germany. Married 6 years, she has had 4 children, all living.
Rose Borch, daughter, age 32, b. Germany, parents b. Germany, no occupation. Married 9 years, she has had 1 child.
Frederic Borch, grandson (of Samuel), age 8, b. IL, father b. Norway, mother b. Germany.
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1910 Census: PA, Philadelphia, Philadelphia Ward 15
651 North 16th Street
Gaston L.C. Borch, age 39, b. France, father b. Norway, mother b. France, teacher in a college of music. Immigrated 1898?? (?? is on the census form). This is his second marriage, he has been married 3 years.
Eleanor M.S. Borch, wife, age 30 (? the 0 is smudged, could be anything roundish), b. Norway, parents b. Sweden. Immigrated 1898? (? is on the census form). This is her first marriage, married 3 years. She has had 1 child, living.
Emma D. Borch, daughter, age 1 year, 5 months, b. NJ, father b. France, mother b. Norway.

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New York Passenger Arrival Lists (Ellis Island), 1892-1924

Gaston L.C. Borch
Last Place of Residence: Pittsburg (sic)
Date of Arrival: 24 OCT 1906
Age at Arrival: 35
Ethnicity: France, French
Port of Departure: Liverpool
Port of Arrival: New York
Gender: Male
Marital Status: M
US Citizen: (blank)
Ship of Travel: Majestic (1890)

http://pilot.familysearch.org/recordsea ... 3293&pn=p1

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New York Passenger Arrival Lists (Ellis Island), 1892-1924
Name: G.L.C. Borch
Last Place of Residence: Paris
Date of Arrival: 30 OCT 1905
Age at Arrival: 34y 7m
Ethnicity: France French
Port of Departure: Antwerp via Dover
Port of Arrival: New York
Gender: Male
Marital Status: M
US Citizen: (blank)
Ship of Travel: Vaderland

https://beta.familysearch.org/s/recordD ... OVNk8%253D

However, the actual scan on Ancestry shows a line through his name and the words “not on board” in the left margin.

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Illinois, Cook County Birth Certificates, 1878-1922
Fred Louis Borch
Birth date: 26 MAR 1902
Chicago, Cook Co., IL
Father: Gaston Borch
Mother: Rose Alice Glucckauf

http://pilot.familysearch.org/recordsea ... 7655&pn=p2
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Illinois, Cook County Birth Registers, 1871-1915

Fred Louis Borch
Birth Date 26 MAR 1902
Place: Chicago, Cook, Illinois
Male, white
Father’s Name: Gaslon (sic) Borch, born Norway, age 31
Mother’s Name: Rose Alice Genuk..., born Germany

The interesting thing here is that they asked for the father’s occupation. He is listed as a musician. You can see this by going to the link below. In the upper right corner is what looks like a tan box, that is a thumbnail for the image of the record’s scan. Click on that. Let it load. Move to the last entry on the page to see the record for Fred Louis Borch. The first half of the record is on this scan. To see the rest of the record, you have to go to the next page to see the father’s occupation of “musician.” You do this by clicking on the “right arrow” and enlarging/moving that scan.

http://pilot.familysearch.org/recordsea ... 9039&pn=p2
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Minnesota Marriages, 1849-1950
Groom: Gaston L.K. Borch
Bride: Rose Gluckauf
Marriage Date: 5 JUL 1900
Place: St. Paul, Ramsey, Minnesota

http://pilot.familysearch.org/recordsea ... 1414&pn=p4
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England and Wales, Non-Conformist Record Indexes

Names: Gaston Louis Christopher Borch
Event: Baptism
Christening Date: 25 JUN 1871
Christening Place: Calais, France
Father’s Name: Christopher Wolner Borch

http://pilot.familysearch.org/recordsea ... 7236&pn=p1

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This Baptism record for Gaston Louis Christopher Borch gives the mother’s name:

Mother’s Name: Emma Louise Sophie

https://beta.familysearch.org/s/recordD ... OVNk8%253D

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This page says he was born on 8 MAR 1871

http://www.absolutenow.com/features/birthday0308_2.html

The month of March would match his age on one of the passenger lists where he was 34 years and 7 months old.
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Editing: Corrected some typos, no vital changes. Rick

[Rodney]

Wow! I'm stunned. It's going to take a bit to digest all of this. It looks like there may be at least two great-grandchildren living. Thanks so much!

And what a messy family history! Gaston married Rose Alice Gluckauf in 1900, and they had Fred Louis Borch in 1902 in Chicago. But by 1910, Rose and Fred are living with Sam Fleischman, presumably her step-father since he's not a Gluckauf, whom her mother Franscesca must have married in 1904 at age 57. And Gaston is living with a new wife of three years, Eleanor, and one-year-old daughter Emma, apparently without benefit of divorce from Rose (which didn't happen until 1922, with bigamy given as the apparently perfectly-valid grounds).

And in although she's "married" in 1920, by 1920 Rose's status is given as "widowed," rather than the probably more accurate "abandoned" or "went home to mother."

On the birth record for Fred Louis Borch, the "Name of Party Attending" is Rose Alice Robbins. Who would that be? The first two names are identical to Rose Alice Gluckauf Borch's, which seems quite a coincidence for just being a friend of the family. Her mother? But the last name is wrong. A cousin?

It is nice to see that movies and musicianship seem to have stuck to this family for at least two generations. I'll work my way through this, and try to get things up on the biography page in an organized fashion...

[Rick Lanham]

Rodney, you've already analyzed it farther and better than I was expecting of anyone. Here is confirmation of your thoughts on Rose's parents:

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1900 Census: IL, Cook Co., Chicago Ward 4, District 94
3550 Rhodes Avenue
Louis Glickhauf, b. APR 1842, age 58, b. Germany, parents b. Germany, stock buyer. Married 30 years.
Francis (should be Frances) Glickhauf, wife, b. NOV 1846, age 53, b. Germany, parents b. Germany.
Married 30 years, she has had 4 children, all are living.
Gus Glickhauf, son b. JAN 1872, age 28, b. Germany, parents b. Germany, clerk at board of trade. Single.
Rose Glickhauf, daughter, b. JUN 1877, age 22, b. Germany, parents b. Germany. Single.
Annie/Ausia (?hard to read) Glickhauf, daughter, b. SEP 1884, age 15, b. Germany, parents b. Germany. Single.

Louis is naturalized, the rest are still aliens.

So maybe the marriage in Minnesota was an elopement.

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The FamilySearch site shows Gaston Borch listed in Boston in the 1920 Census.
I have not been able to locate him in Ancestry’s index for that year. Nor Eleanor, nor Emma.

http://pilot.familysearch.org/recordsea ... _364946776

1920 Census: MA, Suffolk, Boston City 7, Precinct 4
Gaston Borch, age 43, b. France, male, white, married.

Film Number 1820732 (only helpful to order/search the microfilm reel).
I suppose that film could be for a different schedule, not the population census.


I just did a quick search on FamilySearch for Eleanor and Emma,
they didn’t show up.
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Rick

[Rick Lanham]

Fred Louis Borch information
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California Death Index, 1940-1997
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Fred Louis Borch
SSAN 561126965
Birth Date: 26 MAR 1902
Birthplace: Illinois
Death Date: 25 JAN 1990
Death Place: Orange (county, I assume)
Mother’s Maiden Name: Glueckauf

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Social Security Death Index
Fred L. Borch
561-12-6965
Born: 26 MAR 1902
Died: 25 JAN 1990
Card Issued in California before 1951

No other information in the index
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Rick

[Rick Lanham]

A search on Chronicling America for Gaston Borch has some reviews of his work. A July 1900 newspaper from St. Paul reveals that the new "Mrs. Borch", was a singer!

Use the link below, it will bring up thumbnails of the pages. Red highlights will show where the search term is, in this case, Gaston Borch.


http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/searc ... mit=SEARCH

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And specifically the marriage of Gaston and Rose is near the bottom and center on this page:

http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/ ... e+Gluckauf

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I see now that some of the pages seem to refer to Gaston recently marrying Gyda Hennig, recently from Europe, where she was supposedly famous. I don't know if that is a newspaper's mistake or some PR stunt.

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Rick

[Rick Lanham]

Okay, what I couldn't find in 1920 before, now shows up:


1920 Census: MA, Suffolk, Boston Ward 7, District 193
261 West Newton Street
Gaston Borch, lodger, age 43, b. France, father b. Norway, mother b. France, orchestra director.
Says he immigrated in 1901 and was naturalized in 1908. Married.
Elsie Borch, lodger, age 22, b. MA, father b. Norway, mother b. France, occupation-none. Married.

I guess Elsie is another woman in his life??

They are boarding with a family named Titus. The father worked in a jewelry factory.

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This page says that Gaston L.C. Borch died 14 FEB 1926 in Stockholm, Sweden:

http://www.dolmetsch.com/cdefsb2.htm

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Rick

[Rodney]

I'm wondering if "Gyda Hennig" could be a stage name and persona for Alice Rose Glickhauf -- I mean, who in Chicago would go to see a woman piano soloist from Chicago? Sometimes it helps your career if you come from somewhere else, as Theodosia Goodman and Winnifred Hudnut could tell you. And the press-marriage of Gaston and Gyda seems very close to the actual marriage of Gaston and Alice. I'm curious if Miss Hennig shows up as a separate person anywhere else.

Pure speculation at the moment, of course.

[Rick Lanham]

Yes, I did some searching for Miss Hennig and found nothing else.

Here is some more data:

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U.S. School Yearbooks
School: Syracuse University
Location: Syracuse, New York
Year: 1903
Title: Onondagan Yearbook
page 19

Gaston Borch
Instructor in ‘Cello and Piano
John Crouse College and 620 E. Genesee

==== I searched through the rest of the yearbook and found no photo of the orchestra or him, or of the faculty members, actually. A 1948 Syracuse newspaper item said that Gaston was one of the founders of the orchestra at the university there.

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In 1901, he said he lived in Duluth, Minnesota when he filed this patent:

http://www.google.com/patents/about?id= ... ston+borch

He says that he is a citizen of the Kingdom of Norway.

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Rick

[Rodney]

In 1901, he said he lived in Duluth, Minnesota when he filed this patent:
http://www.google.com/patents/about?id= ... ston+borch

You beat me to this one, I was planning to search the patent records -- this resonant piano attachment is described in one of the newspaper articles. All I can say is that I've never seen one, they must not have caught on. I'm wondering if it worked like an early "spring reverb." The address he gave -- 924-1/2 East Second Street -- is now either demolished for a parking lot for St. Luke's Hospital, or is across the street (I can't quite tell from Google Maps which side of the street it would have been on). Google Street View shows an impressive building on the corner of East Second and Ninth that looks like it could have been standing in 1901, and perhaps it was apartments?

[Rick Lanham]

I just emailed you a link to a photo of Rose Borch and a newspaper article about her work.

Rick

[Rodney]

I just emailed you a link to a photo of Rose Borch and a newspaper article about her work.

Rick

Thanks. So Rose is a vocalist, and that matches the talents of the "Mrs. Gaston Borch" given in one of the newspapers. I'm going to have to line these up in date order when I have time, but it looks like Gaston may be down to just two wives (Rose and Gyda) in 1900 and a third (Eleanor) in 1907.

[Rick Lanham]

The research continues!

I've just discovered that there is an online repository of scans of over 15 million newspaper pages from NY state!! Doing a search for "Gaston Borch" (using both words) brings up 102 hits.

Using the words "Gaston Borch Norway" only brings up a few hits, but the first one is a page on which it mentions that his first performance in Syracuse is scheduled for Oct. 10th, 1901. It then says that he has just come there after living in Duluth for two years.

Researchers of other topics might want to give it a try also. For example, searching for "Norma Talmadge" just to pick a name, gets 5000 hits, which seems to be an upper limit of the site. (Hint: after you do a search that has some hits, the box you type the next search into moves down the left side of the page, below any hits.)

http://www.fultonhistory.com/

Rick