User:Richard Arthur Norton (1958- )/Arthur Oscar Freudenberg
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Arthur Oscar Freudenberg (August 9, 1891 - January 22, 1968) aka A.O. Freudenberg. He worked in real estate and insurance in Jersey City, New Jersey.
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[edit] Birth
Arthur was born in 1891 at 104 Madison Avenue in Hoboken, New Jersey. His father was Maximillian S. Freudenberg I (1858-1921) and his mother was Eloise Lindauer II (1860-1935). Later his family moved to Jersey City.
[edit] Early years
In 1923 Arthur had his biography published in the "History of Hudson County" and it reads as follows:
"Taking a prominent part in the present day advance of Hudson County, New Jersey, as a dealer and operator in real estate and insurance. Mr. Arthur O. Freudenberg is carrying into his business principles of honesty and fair dealing which bear so important a relation to the public welfare. Still a young man, and always in close touch with the movement of the times, Mr. Freudenberg is counted among the influences of progress which are carrying Hudson County to ever larger prosperity. Of the sons of these parents Louis J. Freudenberg was killed in action in the World War. He served as a runner or messenger with Company M., 309th Infantry, 78th Division, and was shot in the Argonne, October 16th, 1918. Richard, another brother, served at Camp Meade, Maryland, but was not sent overseas. Maximillian Freudenberg was active in the insurance business in New York City for many years, in the capacity of actuary in the German department of the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company. Arthur O. Freudenberg was born in Hoboken, New Jersey, August 9, 1891. His education was begun in the local public schools. Later attending the public schools of Jersey City, as the residence of the family changed, he continued his studies at the Jersey City public and high schools, and also attending evening school for two years. Mr. Freudenberg’s first business experience was with the famous publishing house of the Street & Smith Company, of New York City, where he continued for a full decade, then for about two years he conducted a typewriter exchange in Jersey City and also in New York. In the year 1918, Mr. Freudenberg identified himself with the Travelers Insurance Company of Hartford, Connecticut, as a field representative, and is still active in this capacity. He also handles a very extensive real estate and insurance business, and with offices at No. 109 Paterson Plank Road, West Hoboken, and is taking a definite part in the local advance. Mr. Freudenberg acts as a notary public, is a Democrat by political affiliation, and is a member of Waverly Congregational Church. His brother Eugene Freudenberg, fraternally holds membership in the Junior Order United American Mechanics, of Jersey City, Summit Council, No. 87. He is also a member of the Waverly Congregational Church."
[edit] Caricature
On October 12, 1922 a caricature of Arthur was published in the Hudson Dispatch when he was the Secretary for H.J. Bauridel Real Estate, Insurance and Auctioneer. He later had a real estate business with a partner and the company was "Freudenberg and Saedler" located at 109 Paterson Plank Road in West Hoboken, New Jersey. He taught Sunday School at Waverly Congregational Church.
[edit] Marriage and children
On February 28, 1914 at the Trinity Lutheran Church at 195 Claremont Avenue in Jersey City, Arthur married Maria Elizabeth Winblad (1895-1987). Together they had three children: Naida Muriel Freudenberg (1915-1998) who married Burnett Peter Van Deusen (1913-1993); Selma Louise Freudenberg; and Helen Eloise Freudenberg (1928-1987) who married John Earl Borland I (1924-1986) and later married Al Brindley (c1930-?).
[edit] Abandoned family
Arthur was a womanizer, and around 1928 he ran off with another woman but never divorced Maria, his wife. The oral family tradition has been that she was a burlesque stripper, but the stripper may have been a woman that he was dating at a later time. Around 1947 he sold one of the buildings he owned on Central Avenue in Jersey City, and used the money to buy a brand new Cadillac. This was the building that he had his office in. Everyone in the family told him not to sell the building and to keep collecting rental income from it. He sold it and the Cadillac he bought was ruined within a few years. During the late 1940's he was living with Edlycoe Klynman aka AdaLee on Cottage Street and she had a daughter, but Arthur was not the father. Richard Freudenberg (1918-1994) dated the daughter. AdaLee but he wouldn't get a divorce from Marie and marry her, so she left him after taking all his money. Arthur never gave any money to support his family. Maria had to scrub floors and wash laundry through the Depression to pay for food and shelter. Later in life he had diabetes and had to have a few toes amputated. His daughter Helen told him: "don't worry, the women will still love you".
[edit] Death and burial
He had a heart attack in 1968 on Journal Square in Jersey City at the bus station. His nephew, and namesake Arthur Freudenberg (1929- ) was walking home in Jersey City and saw a crowd surrounding a man lying on the ground. He had come across his uncle Arthur having the heart attack. Arthur died on January 22, 1968 at the Jersey City Medical Center on 50 Baldwin Avenue in Jersey City. He was buried in Flower Hill Cemetery in North Bergen, New Jersey.
[edit] References
- Van Winkle, Daniel; History of the Municipalities of Hudson County, 1923; page 728-729
- Hudson Dispatch, October 12, 1922, page 13
