Thomas Franelich
Thomas
was born sometime between September 2 and December 14, 1823; he died September 1,1868, from congestion of the
brain (probably an Ischemic or Hemorrhagic stroke). Ironically,
he died just
three weeks after Odelia, his wife,
seven months pregnant, was expected to die
from excessive bleeding. He is buried in Magnolia Cemetery Square 10, Lot 1. The
southeast
corner in "the Fire Department Association Section."
Long after this website was completed, some new information became available from Katicha Pumarino. Katicha is a distant relative who lives in Chile. She was researching her "Franelich" family name when she discovered my website and contacted me. My great-great-great-grandfather Josephum Franelich and her great-great-great-grandfather Andream franelich were brothers. Andream went to Chile and Josephum and/or his son Thomas went to Mobile. In the "Catholic Church Books, 1571–1926 in Delnice, Croatia" there is a baptismal record (again), in Latin, showing Thomas Franelich being baptized, December 14, 1823, in Bakar, Croatia. His parents were Josephus (Joseph) Franelich and Petrina Matessich. Concise info. Josephus was a farmer. Here is a link to additional information beginning with Thomas Franelich grandparents, Antonij and Margarethae Franelich.
Thomas married Odelia Weinheimer July 26,1851, in the Catholic Cathedral in Mobile Alabama. This was recorded in the 1813–1855 Mobile County Book of Marriages, book 11, page 169. They had 8 children. Here is a copy of the original record of his marriage, births and deaths that Thomas and Odelia wrote. Under the "Deaths of the Family" section there is a name of Joseph as a family member but not a child;Thomas' father's name was Joseph, but a "Family Tree" record has his birth in 1791 (Croatia) and his death on 18 July 1871 (Bakar, Croatia).
Thomas Franelich, according to his son Nicholas Franelich in a census, was from, what looks like, Hallein, Austria. He spoke at least two languages: Italian and English. An 1850 census has him living with someone—both were from Austria—in Jackson county, Mississippi, and working as a fisherman. This same census, taken August 22, 1850, shows he was twenty-four years old; this conflicts with his age on his tombstone when he died, i.e. Thomas would have been forty-two years old instead of forty-four. Less than a year after this 1850 census, he moved to Mobile, married Odelia, and worked as a "shoreman" (longshoreman or Stevedore) on the docks. Thomas and Odelia owned a house on Bloodgood St. (current location of where his house was in 1857). During the Civil War he was in the Confederate Army and possibly later, the Confederate Navy. After the Civil War he considered moving to Galveston, Texas, but didn't. His last occupation was a retail liquor dealer.
Why did Thomas move to Mobile? We can consider the many possible reasons, but will never know for sure. Some reasons may come from the conditions in Europe immediately before 1850 and what was going on in America.
To sum up Europe, a Prussian minister wrote in January 1847, "The old year ended in scarcity and the new one opens in starvation." There were food riots in France, Italy, Germany, and Holland. Thousands upon thousands of workers and small craftsmen lost their jobs. France had another revolution and Ireland lost a million people to starvation. War was going on in Habsburg controlled Hungary when the Magyars tried to remove them from power in the failed 1848 Hungarian revolution. Later, in the compromise of 1867, the Austro-Hungarian Dual Monarchy was created, and Croatia, which was part of the Habsburg empire, was placed under Hungarian jurisdiction.
However, in the America of 1848,gold was discovered in California and by 1849 thousands of Europeans were coming to America. According to author Adam S. Eterovich, Martin Grosetta-Benkovich, from Dalmatia, lived in Mobile, Alabama, in 1849 but left to chase the California gold rush dream. He found more money in business than the mines: he had a coffee shop in San Francisco and later in 1860 owned the Virginia Saloon, one of 50 businesses in Virginia City, Nevada. Then there was a Mollie Johnson living in Deadwood, South Dakota, who told the census taker there in 1880 she was born to Irish immigrant parents in Alabama in 1853. She wasn't chasing gold though, she was a successful business woman operating a high class house with "Soiled Doves."
There were three routes to California from the East: overland, sailing to Panama and cross to the Pacific by land to pick up another ship and sail to San Francisco, or sail around South America's Cape Horn and up the west coast. Some ships from New York to Panama had their first port of call in New Orleans and maybe Mobile. Thomas may have had the same ambition but was distracted by Odelia and found the home fires more comfortable than exploring.
Thomas Franelich reported in the 1850 census in Jackson county, Mississippi he was from Austria. Later, after his death and at different times, he was reported by his children to be from Austria, Italy, Hungary, and Romania. In a 1910 Census he was reported by his daughter, Elizabeth, to be Syrian from Hungary and by his son Nicholas to be from, what looks like, Hallein, Austria (1910). Nicholas was my great-grandfather so his version of Thomas coming from Austria was told to everyone in his lineage. Odelia reported he was born in Maryland. If he were from (even Baltimore as the port of entry) Maryland, conceivably a piece of the puzzle could come together putting his mother there also.
In a letter (translated to English) from Thomas to someone he called mother, Thomas wrote, "Odelia hopes to see you one more time." It is unlikely that a fifteen year old bride immediately pregnant and having eight children had the time to travel to Europe. Traveling to Maryland or even more likely her mother-in-law traveling to Mobile would make more sense. However, all of this seems unlikely to me so I'm theorizing Thomas wrote this letter to his mother-in-law calling her "mother." I also believe the letter was only addressed to the mother-in-law because Conrad was dead. If Conrad were alive, he would have been fifty-five years old and I believe living in Galveston, Texas, with Lucia (Lucy). Conrad's demise could have precipitated Thomas' desire to move to Galveston, with his family, to be with the then widowed Lucia. The trip across the Gulf from Mobile to Galveston would have been relatively easy.
This letter in Italian was about his wife's almost fatal illness, dated August 12, 1868, just three weeks before he died (English translation).
Among the documents was another letter written in Italian and dated May 16,1856. It pertains to missing or misplaced cargo or luggage caused by two ships' time schedule coordination and a follow-up auction at fair market valued to cover the shipping expense. It reads as Thomas never received his old-world possessions.
Thomas probably left Europe from Trieste, Italy. Trieste was one of the oldest ports of the Habsburg Monarchy, and in the 19th century one of the most important as it became the 4th largest city of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. In 1836 Trieste was Austria's main trading port and ship building location. language here. Just south of Trieste was Croatia, and one Croatian expatriate, Jacob D. Covacevich, a well known boat builder around 1890, was living in Biloxi, Mississippi.
Thomas was a Stevedore in Mobile before the Civil War, and during the war he was a Confederate soldier, according to a referral letter written in regards to a potential move to Galveston, Texas, and a Confederate Army report. (Visit Conrad Weinheimer) After the war, on May 29,1865, by proclamation, President Johnson granted amnesty and pardon to all persons who directly or indirectly participated in "the existing rebellion" upon the taking of an oath declaring their allegiance to the U.S. Constitution and laws. Mobile surrendered to Union forces April 12, 1865. Thomas signed a Proclamation Oath and Oath of Allegiance to the United States on August 30, 1865. When he signed the Oath of Allegiance he was described as "Dark Complexion, Dark Eyes, Dark Hair and 5' 11" tall".
The Book Ship Island,
Mississippi: Rosters and History of the Civil War Prison has a listing
of someone who may have been Thomas:
"Franklich,
Thomas
(AKA
Frankledge) Landsman/2nd Mate, [my note: A
landsman is the
lowest rank on a CSS Ship and 2nd mate is third in command] C.S.A. Navy Ram Tennessee.
Age at enlistment: 40. Description at enlistment: Eyes: Black. Hair:
Gray. Federal Rolls of Prisoners of War: Captured at Fort Gaines, Al, on
8/8/1864; Received at Ship Island, MS, from New Orleans, LA, on
10/28/1864. Exchanged on 3/2/1865. Buried: Magnolia Cemetery located at
Mobile, AL. Born: Hungary.
The b
One interesting historical event occurred around that time which Thomas and Odelia could have been aware of and saw was the H.L. Hunley submarine. Its construction began at the Park and Lyon's Machine Shop on State and Water Streets. Park and Lyon were currently under contract from the Confederate Army to rebore old rifles to fit the more common larger caliber balls the army was using when they were asked to build the submarine. Its open yard was too public for a military secret so the main construction took place at the abandoned Seamen's Bethel Church on Church street. The Hunley was launched mid-July 1863, for trial runs at Mobile's Theater Street dock. The Hunley left Mobile by rail August 1863 for Charleston to go down in history as the first submarine to sink an enemy war ship (the USS Housatonic). The Hunley sank three times in Charleston. Once during the first trial run and it was recovered. The second time during another trial run drowning all within, including Horace Hunley and Thomas Park (partner in Park and Lyon). It was recovered and sank for the final time, never making it back to port, after sinking the USS Housatonic. The Hunley was recovered for the last time on August 8, 2000.
Another event was the bread riot that happened Friday, September 4, 1863. Because of the high cost and scarcity of bread and other foods, a group of women stormed the shops on Dauphin St., breaking glass and looting, taking food, clothing, and merchandise. This was common throughout the South as the wealthy land and slave owners obtained exemptions with a gentlemen's agreement that they would provide food and other materials to those whose husbands and sons went to battle. This gentlemen's agreement became awfully ungentlemanly when the wealthy realized there was even more money to be made, not giving anything away, but raising the prices.
Although Mobile had wells up to the early 1900's there was another source of water from Hooper's Creek, now Three Mile Creek. The water was led to to a reservoir at St. Stephens Road and Lafayette Street and then sent to Mobile through five inch wooden pipes. Mobile's streets during the 1880's, along Royal Street and others, were of cobblestones, clam shells, granite slabs (in front of the Battle House), granite macadam, wooden blocks, brick and sand. 1840 Map of Mobile
Thomas worked as a fisherman in Mississippi and in Mobile as a dockworker. He considered moving to Galveston, TX. (see Germans in Texas) and later operated as “retail liquor dealer” May 6, 1868, with a store at the SW corner of Bloodgood St. and Jackson St. He lived at "ss Bloodgood 2w Joachim" (south side of Bloodgood street, 2 houses west of Joachim street) at least since 1857. Paid Alabama State and County Tax for 1857, in the amount of $1.52 (50 cents for one white male, himself, 25 cents for a clock, 52 cents for state road and school tax, 25 cents for Collector’s Fee). He considered moving to Galveston Texas with a letter of introduction dated August 31, (the year is illegible). He paid over $100.00 to Mr. Ellis (Ellis was a Mobile contractor—unlikely any relationship to Clovis Ellis) as a deposit for "the beginning of the house" June 3, 1866. It looks like he bought a milk cow with calf for his large family January 13,1860, probably from the conveniently located stock yard in NW Mobile.
As a dockworker Thomas would have been working at a very busy port in Mobile. In the years after 1825, Alabama experienced phenomenal growth because the Indian wars were over and their land taken to be distributed to settlers—and cotton was becoming king.
Most cotton was grown upstate Alabama and Mississippi, then shipped down the Tombigbee, Warrior and Alabama rivers to Mobile by steamboats. Cotton made Mobile a center for international trade. Ships arrived and departed regularly from Liverpool, England; Le Havre, France; Glasgow, Scotland; New York; Boston and Galveston. The cotton went out and manufactured goods came in. Steamboats on the river would typically carry supplies, passengers and luxury items such as French champagne, Cuban cigars, fruits from the tropics and the latest fashions from France on the return trips. Here are some interesting Steamboat ads and other outgoing ships' information from the Mobile Register in 1846.
One item passed down and for some reason not
sold along with other coins by my Great-Aunt Dee Dee is this 1853 one
dollar gold coin. I chose to keep it instead of donating it to the
History Muse
um
of Mobile when I donated my collection in 2016. Who knows, this
could have been pocket change for Thomas.
Thomas was a volunteer Fireman at the Torrent Steam Fire House Company #5 at the time of his death. In a published tribute of respect he was recognized by the Committee, consisting of Tom F Callaghan, Jerry Callaghan and JNO Coyle, for being kind and religious.
Pictures of the Firehouse at 7 N. Lawerence street (see conflict with addresses): 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, today, today 1, 1843 Drawing
There is on record at Magnolia Cemetery a "Richard Gaudle Franelich" buried in an unmarked and unknown lot in the same Firemen's section. I have no information on him.