What we know about Thekla Nübling, 1805-1853
For members of the Mitchell family
A few days ago, I wrote about our upcoming trip to Austria and Germany. We’re visiting Germany specifically because it’s where Thekla’s 4th great-grandmother, Thekla Nübling, was born.
So, here’s more info about Thekla — the ancestor, not me, obvi. Links take you to Wikipedia.
Origins
Thekla Nübling was born on September 29, 1805 in Ulm, in the Kingdom of Württemberg – now the state of Baden-Württemberg – in Germany. She was born in the cellar of her family’s home during Napoleon’s siege of the city during the Ulm Campaign (a particular series of battles during the War of the Third Coalition of the Napoleonic Wars).
Her parents were Theodore Ulrich and Sibille Jacobin (née Höll) Nübling. She was their second child; their first was a son, Maximilian “Max” Nübling, born in 1804. They went on to have 6 more children together. Sibille was Theodore’s second wife; he also had two sons from his first marriage, Heinrich and Wilhelm.
Thekla was, by her own account, rather plump and particularly fond of bread and butter. She was also rather stout in another its other sense; she rarely felt seasick and she was convinced that her hearty constitution would protect her from all kinds of illnesses. Her physical talents, like knitting and and dancing, were also a source of personal pride for her.
The image above is purportedly a sketch done by Thekla of the house in Ulm where she grew up; actual provenance is as yet unproven.
Immigration
Thekla’s older brother Max was invited by their uncle, Dietrich Höll, to live with him in the United States in 1822. Dietrich had emigrated several years before and had established some kind of mercantile or business in Bayou Sara, a now-lost town on the banks of the Mississippi River near St. Francisville in West Feliciana Parish, Louisiana.
Dietrich died of a “cold plague” – probably malaria – in the autumn of 1826, leaving his business to Max. However, his personal property would be inherited by his immediate family: a young wife, Virginia, and as-yet unborn daughter, Margaret. Max begged each of his brothers to join him in America to help with the family business, but none of them wished to leave Germany. Eventually, one of his siblings did agree to cross the ocean to live with him: his little sister, Thekla.
Because her brother’s voyage had been so long and difficult, Thekla opted for the shorter and somewhat less dangerous (albeit more expensive) route from Europe to America – across the north Atlantic, from the port of Bremen in Germany to New York City. She and two other young women shared occupation of the captain’s cabin aboard the brig Constitution from their departure on April 30, 1828 until they arrived in the United States on June 20, 1828.
Thekla lived in a boarding house on Broadway, making friends with locals and learning English until her brother retrieved her; she finally arrived in Louisiana aboard the packet-boat Benjamin Morgan in the autumn of 1828.
Family
Max married their “aunt” Virginia in February of 1829, and they had a son, John, later that year. Max moved his family – including Thekla – to a new country house in the summer of 1830 in hopes of avoiding the seasonal outbreaks of various deadly illnesses, like the malaria that killed their uncle.
It was during this time that Thekla met Henry Munro Dobbs, Jr., a nearby merchant. His business ledger – now held by Louisiana State University – includes several entries for Max Nübling, mostly purchases for things like whiskey, tobacco, spermaceti oil, salt, and almonds; these were usually fetched for the household by an elderly slave called “Linkey”.
It is worth noting that, even though she didn’t purchase them herself, Thekla benefited directly from the work of enslaved people. Both Max and Henry Munro owned slaves. They did not have the big antebellum plantations like we see in the movies, but is important to acknowledge that they did profit from a slavery-supported economy.
In any case, Thekla married Henry Munro on November 20, 1832 in St. Francisville. Henry Munro and Thekla’s first child, Henry Theodore Dobbs, was born in 1833. He was followed by a second son, Charles Holt Dobbs, born in 1835. Both boys were born in St. Francisville, but sometime around 1836 the Dobbs family moved to Lake Providence, Carroll Parish, Louisiana, in the far north of the state, just across the Mississippi River from the state of Mississippi. This is where their first daughter, Thekla Patten Dobbs, was brought into the world in 1838; then another son, William Nübling Dobbs, joined the family in 1840.
When the Dobbs family moved to Lake Providence, Henry Munro found work as the Cashier at the Office of Discount and Deposit of the Carrollton Bank. The family actually lived in a set of apartments in the bank’s office building. Henry Munro and Thekla became good friends with one of the officers of the bank and his wife, Thomas and Matilda Childers Patten. Sadly, Henry Munro died suddenly in the evening of August 27, 1842 while closing up the bank, keys still in his hands. He was only 41 years old.
Their final child, Anna Bower Dobbs, was born in September of 1842 – just a few days after the death of her father.
The Patten family took in the widowed Thekla and her children after they were forced to leave their private apartments at the bank. Thomas Patten was also appointed as a guardian for the Dobbs children. Most of Henry Munro’s property had to be sold to pay off his debts. When they were old enough, Henry Theodore and Charles Holt went to work at a printing shop to support the family.
Thekla’s youngest boy, William Nübling Dobbs, died of yellow fever in November of 1843; he was only 3 years old.
Death
Both Thekla and Henry Theodore died on November 20, 1853 during another epidemic of yellow fever. She was 48 years old and he had recently turned 20. Sadly, Thekla’s younger brother Albert — newly widowed himself — had come for a visit, and he arrived in Louisiana just a few days before his sister and nephew died.
The orphaned children — Charles Holt, Thekla Patten, and Anna Bower — were taken in by a wealthy widow, Elizabeth Dilsey (née Norris) Savage, who made a habit of fostering unfortunate children.
I have been lucky enough to stumble across a collection of letters that Max and Thekla wrote home to their parents after they went to America. The letters are in German, but I’ve been doing my best to translate them and I hope to share some of them with you soon.
We will be visiting Thekla’s birthplace, Ulm, in Germany on our upcoming trip. The Nübling family papers are actually held by the city archives there, so that’ll be a fun thing to see. And I think I’ve actually found the house where Thekla would have grown up!
I so enjoy reading this story. This is one of my great great.....grandparents. My name is Thekla. I am a decedent of Thekla Patton Dobbs. My grandfather was a Jones.