Otilia (Odelia) Franelich
Odelia Franelich, born Otilia Weinheimer in Norwich Connecticut January 10, 1836, (obit) (an 1880 Census taken June 9th showed her to be 43 years old), moved to Mobile with her parents, Conrad and Lucia Weinheimer, in 1845. At some point after her marriage the spelling became Odelia. She married Thomas Franelich July 26,1851, at the Catholic Cathedral in Mobile, AL. (Marriage, birth and death record). Recorded in Mobile County Book of Marriages 1813–1855, Book 11 Page 169. They had 8 children. Two of them, Ana and Thomas died within 2 years of birth: Ana 5 days old and Thomas 2 years old.
Ana: Born: July 1, 1852 Died: July 6, 1852
Thomas: Born: October 26, 1854 Died: November 20, 1856
Elizabeth Ana:
Born: September 8, 1855
Edward Thomas:
Born: February 3, 1860
Henry Thomas:
Born: March 4, 1863
Lucia Maria:
Born: October 6, 1864
Nicolas Gregory:
Born November 28, 1866
Mary Teresa:
Born: October 30, 1868
When my wife and I took a trip to Mobile in 2015, we stayed at the Fort Conde Inn. I realized then, in 1882, Odelia widowed, lived with her family at the Southwest corner of Conception and Madison Streets, just two blocks away. Since the three houses identified here were existing during that time, she would have seen the house we stayed in on Monroe and St. Emanuel Streets, another house still existing on Monroe and Conception Streets, and a third two doors from our stay on St. Emanuel many times. Today, this area is greatly disturbed with the Interstate system, but the way it was is easily understood in this map of 1840.
I remember this neighborhood well from when I was much younger. It was abandoned, like most of downtown Mobile, and the houses had deteriorated very much—most of the wood houses were beyond repair. Around 1975, the I-10 interchange took most of the neighborhood and surrounded it with interstate noise. After the completion of the Interstate, Mobile spent plenty of money improving this area with the intention of making it another residential neighborhood, but that didn't work out—it was too small, too noisy and too early for the later rejuvenation of downtown. Apparently the City of Mobile acquired most of the properties, if not all, and is working with private investors by leasing these properties with the intention of saving and maintaining what is left of them.
After Thomas died, Odelia continued to own their house on Bloodgood Street from, at least, 1857 through 1900. And possibly later, as her grandson Edward Peter Leach, son of Elizabeth Ana, lived there in 1898. I believe this Bloodgood St. addressed house, 253 Bloodgood St., was conveyed, for reasons other than stated, to Nicholas Franelich March 3, 1900, by the family with this document.
Odelia's widowed mother, Lucia, may have moved back to Mobile and bought a house on the Southwest corner of Conception and Madison Streets. This is plausible because Odelia lived in this house with her children from at least 1880 through 1882, and maybe earlier than 1880 and later than 1882, while still maintaining ownership of the Bloodgood St. property—which she moved back into after she and her family left the Conception/Madison St. house. It's easy to surmise her mother died around this time—in Mobile; however, there are no discovered records or gravesite supporting this thought.
An 1857 State and County property tax form for
Thomas and Odelia showed an
address of ss Bloodgood Street, 2w Joachim Street on the backside
(southside of Bloodgood, 2nd house west of Joachim St.). Later, city
directories and census' reports show Odelia living at the below
addresses:
1880 in the 5th ward—which includes the Conception/Madison address
1882 at Southwest corner of Conception St. and Madison St.
1884, '85, '87 at ss Bloodgood, 2w Joachim
1890 at ss Bloodgood, 5e Jackson St.
1897,1900 at 253 Bloodgood St.
1905 at 200 Beauregard St.
All of these addresses, except the Conception/Madison and Beauregard
Street, were the same
property—253 Bloodgood Street.
Her home where she died, 200 Beauregard St. was probably owned by her
daughter Lucy, who lived across the street. Lucy lived in a house identified in her will as NW
(corner),
Beauregard and St. Joseph St. that was willed to Tommie and his brother Henry
Franelich.
Odelia was listed as a midwife living at 253 Bloodgood in an 1897 directory.
Odelia was seven months pregnant, around July or August 1868, when she started hemorrhaging. She lost so much blood, the doctor said he didn't understand how she could live, but she survived and live to be 69 years old. In contrast, her husband Thomas died a few weeks after Odelia's problem. Odelia died at her home, 200 Beauregard Street, March 12, 1905, and is buried in Magnolia cemetery in a section of her daughter Elizabeth Roche's lot.
