Salomon Gärtner was born on November 19, 1809, in Brohl, Kaisersesch in the Eifel region. He was the fourth of eight children of Simon Gärtner and Sara Hendel David.
Simon Gärtner was a cattle dealer. He signed Salomon’s birth record in Hebrew letters. When Salomon married Veronika Mayer (* July 15, 1811, Kobern-Gondorf) on June 23, 1836, his parents were both present. At the birth of his first son Marcus on October 24, 1836, Salomon was called a shoemaker, but in further records he was usually called a trader. The child died only two weeks after. Further children were Regina (1837-1841), Carolina (1840-?), Henriette (1842-1853), Simon (1844-1937), Andreas (1847-1912), Jacob (1851-1940) and Samuel (1854-1855). Veronika died on February 28, 1855 in Kobern-Gondorf, only a few days after her youngest son.
Salomon married Rosina Marx (* October 15, 1821, Gemünden, Kirchberg) on March 11, 1856. Her sister Regina was married to his younger brother Jacob since 1848. With Rosina he had three more daughters: Clara (1857-1859), Jeanetta (1860-?) and Bertha (1866-1943).
Salomon was found dead in the early morning of August 17, 1871 at the ferry dock of Dieblich, on the other side of the river Mosel. The authorities assumed a natural cause of death and didn’t start any investigation. Salomon died 61 years old. His second wife Rosina died on April 18, 1897, in Gondorf and was burried at the Jewish cemetery. Her husband is mentioned on her stone as „Züsser (Sussman) ben Eliezer“.
The sons Simon and Jacob Gärtner were cattle dealers and moved to Ruppichteroth were they both married into the Nathan family.
Simon Gärtner and his wife Regina Nathan (1847-1902) had nine children: Gustav (1873-1942), Josef (1874-1874), Franziska (1875-1875), Hermann (1876-1942), Max (1877-1941), Moritz (1879-1902), Emma Treidel (1880-1970), Lina (1881-1940) and Nathan (1882-1900). Four children perished in the shoah; one daughter and some grandchildren managed to escape to the United States. Simon died on July 7, 1937 in Ruppichteroth.
Jacob Gärtner and his wife Johanna Nathan (1842-1911) had seven children: Franziska Meyer (1878-1923), Otto (1883-1942), Hedwig Elias (1883-1939), Meta Bettelheiser (1885-1942), Frieda (1887-1889), Willi (1889-1942) and Louis (1891-?). Four children perished in the shoah. Two gransons managed to escape to the United States and one granddaughter to Palästina. Jacob died on November 25, 1940 in Ruppichteroth.
Son Andreas died on March 17, 1912 in Ingelheim on Rhine. He had two daughters with Henriette Lazarus (1844-1905) and his second marriage was to Friederike „Ricka“ Straus (1864-1935) of Binau, Neckar-Odenwald-Kreis. Daughter Franziska Gärtner was born on August 17, 1875 in Appenheim, Mainz-Bingen. She married Martin Marx (1868-1933) and had a son Moritz (1901-1940) and a daughter Rosa (1902-1942). Rosa married Wilhelm Weinthal of Jheringsfehn (1897-1942) and they had a daughter Martha, born on March 13, 1933. The family was deported to Piaski in 1942 and perished. Franziska died on November 2, 1942 in Theresienstadt. Daughter Emma Gärtner was born on June 24, 1879 in Appenheim. She married Heinrich Strauss, who was born on March 18, 1872 in Binau. They ran a butchery in Ingelheim and had four children: Ludwig (* July 22, 1903, died on August 27, 1903), Flora (* July 9, 1904), Salomon „Sally“ (* March 24, 1906) and Irma (* July 3, 1913). Flora married Otto Daniel of Koblenz and had one daughter Juliane (* July 2, 1930). The family was deported to Izbica in March 1942 and perished. Irma married Max Glas of Fürfeld, Bad Kreuznach in July 1941. Both were deported to Piaski in March 1942 and didn’t survive. Emma and Heinrich Strauss were deported to Theresienstadt, where Emma died on April 23, 1944. Her husband survived and went back to Ingelheim. In 1938 son Salomon had married Elsa Eisenthal of Villmar in Köln, went to great Great-Britain with her in March 1939 and then on to Chicago by the end of the year. In 1956 also Heinrich went to live with them in Chicago. He died there on November 18, 1966. Salomon died on September 8, 1992 in Skokie, Illinois.
The youngest daughter Bertha was married to Abraham Levy and died on March 1, 1943 in Theresienstadt. She was a 76 years old widow and deported from Düsseldorf the year before, where she owned a house at Kurfürstenstr. 37.
