ADDITIONS and ACTUALIZATION
By Ivo Strassburger - FEB 2008
ANCESTORS OF RALPH BEAVER STRASSBURGER
(Clik
here to open the complete Ancestors Table)
..........
Ralph Beaver Strassburger was born in Norristown, Pennsylvania, on
March 26, 1883 and died in Paris, France on February 26, 1959. He
was an American businessman, who was also a prominent Thoroughbred
racehorse owner and breeder.
..........
Educated at Phillips Exeter Academy in Exeter, New Hampshire, he graduated
from the United States Naval Academy in 1905 and served in the U.S.
Navy until 1909. He then went into business and in 1911 married May
Bourne, the daughter of Frederick Gilbert Bourne, president of the
Singer Sewing Machine Company. An unsuccessful candidate for the United
States House of Representatives in the elections of 1914, following
America's entry in World War I he rejoined the Navy and served as
a transport officer until being discharged in 1919.
.......... Ralph Strassburger, had a
keen interest in farming and agriculture. In 1911, he married May
Bourne, the daughter of Commodore Frederick G. Bourne, the president
of the Singer Sewing Machine Company. The couple received $4 million
from the Commodore as a wedding present – it is believed that
this money was used to purchase the property from Mr. Wilson. Mr.
Strassburger renamed the property after Normandy, France, where he
honeymooned with his new wife. He also held numerous properties in
France, which influenced many of the design and architectural, characteristics
seen on the farm. Ralph Strassburger originally used the farm to breed
thoroughbred horses, then Aryshire cattle. Mr. Strassburger proceeded
to build the three silos, which remain three distinctive features
of the property, to feed what grew to a heard of 300 Aryshire cattles.
He also constructed the huge white stucco walls, which still border
on two sides of the property today. The Strassburgers eventually grew
the farm to 1,500 acres. Although Ralph Strassburger died in 1959,
Normandy Farm remained in his family for the next several decades.
The farm remained largely unused during this time, although was dutifully
watched over by Arthur Rush, who kept and maintained the property
for the Strassburger family for 45 years.
.......... Normandy Farm is located in
the heart of Whitpain Township in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. The
property has been entered into the National Register of Historic Places,
which is kept by the United States Department of the Interior, and is
the official list of the nation’s cultural resources worthy of
preservation. It includes properties significant in American history,
architecture, archeology, engineering and culture. These resources contribute
to an understanding of the historical and cultural foundations of the
United States of America.
.........Normandy
Farm is well known to many by the massive barn and its three silos that
peer over the red and white structure’s metallic roof. The white
wall of stucco-covered stone, with its distinctive peaked gates, has
surrounded the property for over 75 years, adding to the seclusion and
mystique of this historic American landmark. Behind this wall lies something
very impressive but rarely seen up close. We invite you to read about
the history of the property, the barn, and its heritage as a landmark
in American engineering and culture.
European Thoroughbred horse racing
............... In an era when many wealthy
Americans maintained secondary residences in Paris, France and/or
estates on the French Riviera, some like William Kissam Vanderbilt,
Joseph E. Widener, and Ralph Strassburger were involved in the very
popular sport of Thoroughbred horse racing and acquired breeding farms
in the renowned horse region of Lower Normandy.
.............. In 1926, with Grand Prix
winner Astéroïde, Ralph-Beaver Strassburger recorded
his first victory in France. He would triumph in the race again in
1931 courtesy of Célérina. A great friend of
France, he created a superb stud farm for his horses near (Les Monceaux)
and had a fine villa built for himself near the racecourse, surrounded
by apple trees situated on the side of the hill that would be leased
to Deauville town council. The "Villa Strassburger" subsequently
hosted many glittering receptions.
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.......
In the 1920s, Ralph and May Strassburger purchased a villa from
Baron Henri de Rothschild in Normandy's exclusive resort city
of Deauville, France. They also acquired the Haras des Monceaux
Thoroughbred horse farm at Lisieux, about 18 miles (30 kilometers)
south of Deauville. Their French racing stable would enjoy considerable
success at the Deauville-La Touques Racecourse as well as at other
racecourses in France and in England. Widely respected, France
Galop refers to Ralph Strassburger as a "great friend
of France."
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............ To avoid seizure by the
Nazis during the German occupation of France during World War II,
all of the Strassburger horses raced under the name of a French friend,
Mme. de Bonard. Among the Strassburgers' major successes were victories
in both the French and British Classic Races as well as in the prestigious
Washington, D.C. International Stakes in the United States.
............ Following Ralph Strassburger's
death in 1959 his widow continued to race horses. Eventually, their
bloodstock was sold and their horse Worden went to Brickfields Stud
in England where he became the Leading broodmare sire in Great Britain
& Ireland in 1975 and 1976. The Villa Strassburger, listed in
the French Historic Monuments register in 1975, remained in family
hands until 1980 when his son donated it to the city of Deauville.
Notable
race wins:
France:
- Grand Prix de Deauville - Asteroide 1926, Celerina
(1931)
- Prix du Cadran - Asteroide (1927), Cambremer (1957)
- Prix Maurice de Gheest - Mordicus (1927), Guam (1952),
Vamarie1954)
- Critérium de Sant-Cloud - De Beers (1931), Lofoten
1956)
- Prix d'Astarte - Celerina (1931)
- Prix Hocquart - Bishop's Rock (1932), Angers (1960),
Moutiers (1961)
- Criterium de Maisons-Laffitte - Pensbury (1942)
- Grand Prix de Paris - Pensbury (1943)
- Prix Greffulhe - Pensbury (1943)
- Prix Lupin - Pensbury (1943)
- Grand Criterium - Clarion (1946), Angers (1959)
- Prix Quincey - Clarion (1947)
- Prix du Rond Point - Clarion (1948)
- Prix Jean Prat - Le Tyrol (1951), Angers (1960)
- Prix du Conseil de Paris - Worden (1952), Mahan
(1955)
- Prix de Barbeville - Mahan (1955), Clichy (1958)
- Prix Gontaut-Biron - Montaval (1956)
- Prix Dollar - Montaval (1957)
United
Kingdom:
- St. Leger Stakes Cambremer (1956)
- King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes - Montaval
(1957)
United
States:
- Washington, D.C. International - Worden (1953)
Ralph
Beaver Strassburger active in politics and International affairs.
RALPH B. STRASSBURGER,
New York, nominated by President of US Secretary to American Legation,
Bucharest, Aug., 1912.
1920 - Republican National Convention, Chicago, R. B. Strassburger
and A. P. Moore (right)
Chicago Daily News negatives collection,. Courtesy of the Chicago
Historical Society.
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..............
Ralph Beaver Strassburger enter in the newspaper business. He acquired
the Norristown Herald in 1921 and the Norristown Times in 1922. In
1923, he consolidated the two papers and the “Times Herald”
was born which still operates to this day.
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"...The village of Norris was founded
by Isaac Norris, a Quaker merchant and mayor
of Philadelphia, and his family in 1704. More than a century
later, on March 31, 1812, Norristown was officially
incorporated as a Pennsylvania state borough, and it was the
first borough to be incorporated in Montgomery County. Laid
out along the banks of the Schuylkill River, both business and
the community prospered. Over the years, the area has attracted
business and visitors alike, including a visit in 1960 from
John F. Kennedy. Norristown offers a delightful flashback to
the fascinating history of this community through vintage photographs
from area residents and organizations..." |
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"...Strassburger Prize Sirs: A jury composed
of Professor Albert Einstein, Thomas Mann and Jakob Wassermann,
representing the German branch of the Strassburger Foundation
has
awarded the annual prize of the Foundation
for 1932 to Walther Reinhardt, German Consul in |
| ....
Monday, Apr. 18, 1932 |
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Seattle,Wash., for his book George Washington, published in
Frankfurt am Rhein. The object of the Strassburger Foundation
is to further good relations between the U. S. and several European
countries.
.......It has branches in France,
Germany, Austria and Hungary. Its French jury is composed of
Andre Maurois, M. Francois-Poncet, French Ambassador to Berlin,
and others. Annual prizes of $1,000 in these countries are awarded
to authors and journalists who made the most meritorious contribution
to the cause of friendship with the U. S. during the year. M.
MACMILLAX General Secretary Strassburger Foundation
New York City Founded by Ralph Beaver Strassburger,
active publicist, socialite, sportsman and Republican of Norristown,
Pa., Strassburger Awards have been given since 1929..." |
............. Mr. Strassburger was a
lover for technological innovations and has applied early the novelties
on their communication network of newspapers.
Facsimile Machines
The
photo to the right shows Warren Jones in New York watching
the signature of his client Ralph Beaver Strassburger,
being transmitted by wire from London. The photo is undated.
As see on the Early Office Museum www.officemuseum.com
included in
The
Collector's Weekly HALL OF FAME
for Best Collector Sites on the Web.
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Some
books and publications by
Ralph B. Strassburger:
- The Pennsylvania German Society: A summary
of the Society's proud history and its purposes; what the Pennsylvania
Germans have done for America since 1683: a great historical
institution.
- The Huguenots: Their rise and their settlement
in America.
- "Is America a Shylock"
- The newsprint problem: American newspapers
and the Canadian newsprint |
-
The Strassburger family and allied families of Pennsylvania:
Being the ancestry of Jacob Andrew Strassburger, esquire, of Montgomery
county, Pennsylvania, printed for private circulation, in 1922.
- Our judiciary: Montgomery County's judiciary.
- Pennsylvania German Pioneers. A Publication
of the Original Lists of Arrivals in the Port of Philadelphia
from 1727 to 1808. In Three Volumes: Edited By William John Hinke.
Published: 1934 |
GENEALOGY
AUTHOR
............ Of importance to historians
and genealogists is Strassburger's book Pennsylvania German
Pioneers: a publication of the original lists of arrival
in the Port of Philadelphia from 1727 to 1808 published in 1934 in
three volumes. This book is regarded as the "Bible" of all
the historians of the American immigration and genealogy researchers.
............ Since its publication in
1934 almost two generations ago Strassburger and Hinke's Pennsylvania
German Pioneers has been the cornerstone, virtually the bible, of
all Pennsylvania German genealogical research. Its three volumes contain
the verbatim passenger lists, including the original signatures, of
virtually all of the 30,000 heads of German-speaking families who
arrived in the port of Philadelphia during the fifty years prior to
the American Revolution. The total of 65,000 passengers covered in
these lists represent roughly two-thirds of all German-speaking immigrants
who arrived in American during the almost one hundred years 1683-1775!
............"In completeness
and accuracy these lists easily surpass all those that have gone before.
In order to enable the genealogist to settle disputed spellings for
himself, the entire second volume of the publication has been given
over to the reproduction in facsimile of all available signatures.
It is a model in method, in the accomplishment of its aim, in setting
a standard for future works of this kind." - The
Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography (1935).
SHORT
NOTES ABOUT JOHANN ANDREAS PETER STRASSBURGER:
Born on 3-JAN-1916 and died in ?? April 1993, the only son
of Ralph B. Strassburger.
Below
a transcript of part of a writing of Cristopher McDougall,
" Welcome to the Machine",
published on the site: http://www.citypaper.net/articles/121798/coverstory.shtml
" ...For decades, the 200-year-old Times-Herald was the pet possession
of the wealthy Strassburger family. It was passed down through the
generations to Johann Andreas Peter Strassburger, the clan's mildly
eccentric recluse.
Though
he shrank from people, Strassburger apparently liked the public well
enough to maintain their hometown paper. Pay was good, benefits were
generous—and when plant jobs disappeared over the years as Lee
Tires moved south and nearby Alanwood Steel closed, the Times-Herald
was there to capture Norristown's deterioration from bustling borough
seat into crumbling town center supporting little more than a huge,
baronial courthouse and suburbs such as Blue Bell.
Poverty,
wealth; booming 'burbs and a struggling downtown; union pride, vanishing
jobs—Norristown had all the classic strife of a great news town.
The paper was no great prizewinner: a database upgrade by the Pennsylvania
Newspaper Publishers' Association makes a complete record currently
unavailable, but even former editor Terry Brady recalls few reporting
awards; in the last four years, under JRC's tenure, it has won two
second places for spot news and a sports column. But the Times-Herald
of the Strassburger era was professionally written, well-informed
and kept its teeth in local issues and events.
"It
was a good, sociable read," says former ad salesman Mark Murphy.
"People got their financial and international news from the Inquirer
in the morning, and their hometown stuff from the Times-Herald at
the end of the day." Adds Brady, "If there was a meeting
anywhere in the county that night, you could be sure to read about
it the next day."
All
that changed after Strassburger died a childless bachelor in April
1993. The paper was inherited by distant cousins who ordered it sold,
and the new owners were soon sending in the "stiff suits from
Trenton," as Fennell put it..."
