The 1858 Correspondence

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In 1858, probably in April, a Carl Schopen, referred to by Susanna Seifloh as a "cousin" (but meaning no more than a relative), visited the Seifloh family in Coblenz, bringing with him the Will of Captain J W T Schopen (or perhaps a copy) that had been drawn up 90 years before in 1768, and which Carl Schopen had found amongst the papers of his grandmother, Agnes Schopen. By this Will, Captain Schopen had bequeathed what appears to have been a valuable plantation in St Croix, one of the Virgin Islands, to his nephews, Hermann and Adam Schopen. At some point Hermann and Adam had transferred the property to Martin Schopen, Hermann's brother. This Will had until Carl's visit been known neither to Susanna, nor to her brother Ludwig Andreas, nor to her cousin Joseph Delbrouck (or Delbriick), the then Burgomaster of Coblenz, but after some investigation the three of them concluded that although the plantation had reverted to the Danish Government in about 1800 following Martin's intestacy, there was a possibility that because they were descendants of Hermann Schopen they might be able to reclaim it.

Sadly there is no evidence that this enterprise had any success, or even that it was pursued beyond the documents we have; these are a copy of the Will, a Schopen family tree, a letter from Susanna to Ludwig Andreas, and another to him from Joseph Delbrouck: there was presumably a reply from Ludwig Andreas to Joseph, but this has not survived.

It is our good fortune that all these papers were kept by Ludwig Andreas, and in due course were passed on to Max. and then to me, as they constitute an interesting piece of family history; also had they not existed and been preserved, we would have been quite unaware of the existence of a number of our forbears.

THE 1858 ST CROIX CORRESPONDENCE