Karl Maria Dorster was born in Riga on February 14, 1854. In that year, Riga was in Russia; today it is the capital of Latvia. Karl's parents were Theodor Johann Dorster, born in Riga in 1831 and Louise Karoline Wortmann, born in Warsaw in 1832. Theodor Dorster, a master barber and Elder of the Artisans Guild, was a member of the Duma of Riga from 1886 to 1905.
Karl's grandfather Johann Jacob Dorster came to Riga from Hirschenhof, a German-speaking colony near Riga begun in 1766 by Catherine the Great. His great-grandfather Johann Martin Dorster traveled as a boy with his family from Niederhofen (a village between Heilbronn and Karlsruhe) to Vorbasse in Denmark from 1760 to 1765. He and his family were farmers in Moltkenberg colony. They then moved to Hirschenhof in 1766. Johann Martin's grandfather was Johann Martin Doster, born in 1655.
Karl had a sister, Julie Caroline Lucia Dorster, born in 1862, and five brothers: Theodor Gustav Dorster, born in 1856; Friedrich Christian Dorster, born in 1858; Friedrich Leberecht Dorster, born in 1859; John Alfred Dorster, born in 1866; and Friedrich Eduard Dorster, born in 1868.
In a passport application, Karl stated that he arrived in Baltimore from Bremen on the Leipzig on July 22, 1871. He was listed as Carl Maria Dorsta, female (probably because of the 'Maria'), 'merchant' from Riga, seventeen years old.
In 1873, Karl wrote to Solomon Dyer Rinard, father of Mary Elizabeth, who was living with Karl in Scranton, Pennsylvania. He was 19 and Mary Elizabeth was 24. No record of a marriage has been found.
Scranton 2 8. 73.
Mr. S D Rinard
Dear Sir
I was very glad to hear from you and tell you my best thanks for the contents of your letter. You was very surprised to find that we was stopping here, jet [sic], but I found out I could get along here as well as in N.Y. and better, then in a smaller place where very few teachers are, it is easier to get something to do then in a large city like N.Y. So I think to build my home here.
Was glad to hear you are well, we are well too. Hoping you will us soon write again I remain
Yours truly
C M von Dorster
________________________________________________________________________
In 1875, C. M. von Dorster was a music instructor at the Cheltenham Academy near Philadelphia.
Herbert Rinard von Dorster was born to Karl and Mary Elizabeth on May 9, 1879, in Philadelphia. A later census records that Herbert was the only surviving child of five. The 1880 Census has no record of Karl, Mary Elizabeth and young Herbert. Could they have been overseas?
Around the time of Herbert's birth, Karl returned to Europe. He then came back to the US, leaving Bremen on June 19, 1881 on the General Werder and arriving on July 3. He never returned to Mary Elizabeth Rinard, who may or may not have known that he was still alive.
Fort Wayne Gazette, 25 Aug 1883 announces appointment on 28 Aug of Prof. Carl M. Dorster of Leipsic (!) for the fall term of the Fort Wayne M.E. College as a teacher of music and modern languages.
On May 12, 1884 in Marshall County, Mississippi, he married Bessie H. Crump, born on November 10, 1866. Her family was from Holly Springs, Mississippi, just across the state border from Memphis.
In February of 1886 Bessie gave birth in Mississippi to a daughter, Carrie Dorster.
According to a 1913 passport application, on April 17, 1886 Karl was naturalized in Memphis. Some time between then and 1891, he and Bessie were divorced.
In 1891 Mrs. Bessie E. Dorster is listed in the Memphis City Directory as living on the north side of Polk in the first house east of Walnut. Another directory from the period lists Elizabeth H. Dorster as boarding at 1336 Union Avenue.
In around 1898 Karl was married to Clara Kornick (although there is no record of a marriage), a German speaker from Ridultau, today Rydultowy in Poland just north of the Czech border, born on January 15, 1878. She and her father Leopold, a Jewish bookbinder from Radibor, and her mother Fannie immigrated in 1887. She had a sister in Saint Louis.
In the 1900 Census Karl M. Dorster is listed as living at 221 Washington Street in Memphis with his wife Clara. He is described as a music teacher from Russia, born February 1854. They had been married for four years. Mary Elizabeth von Dorster was back in Catawissa with her father Solomon Rinard. Karl and Mary Elizabeth's son Herbert was at Yale, listed in the census as living in Duncan Hall (today the Hotel Duncan) at 1151 Chapel Street in New Haven, Connecticut. Bettie Dorster, listed as divorced, and her daughter Carrie, now 14, were living with her parents James and Carry Crump at 104 Polk Street in Memphis.
Also living with the family was a cousin, Edward Hull Crump, who later became a powerful political boss and the Mayor of Memphis (1910-1916). Blues pioneer W. C. Handy wrote "Crump's Blues" (later called "Memphis Blues") for his 1909 mayoralty campaign. In Handy's autobiography Father of the Blues he says that in Crump's campaign he got to "play the blues to the general public for the first time in America".
Karl and Clara moved to Camden, Arkansas around 1905. On April 26, 1906 Karl applied for a passport in Fordyce, Arkansas, to travel abroad and return "within two years". He gave his birth date as January 14, 1854. The application was verified by C. J. March, MD, of Fordyce. No record of his voyage has been found.
On November 21, 1908, Karl applied for a second passport for twelve months abroad. The application was signed by Perry M. Byram of Camden, Arkansas. Karl returned with Clara on the S. S. Rhein, which sailed from Bremen on September 1, 1910 and arrived in Baltimore on the 13th.
In 1909 Karl's daughter Carrie Dorster married Harry Wilson.
In the 1910 Census, Bessie Dorster was listed as a widow, living with her mother Carrie Crump at 1403 Union Avenue in Memphis with Carry and Harry Wilson and two servants. Karl Maria Dorster, married once before, was in Ecore Fabre Township in Camden, Arkansas, with Clara, in the thirteenth year of their marriage.
On May 30, 1913, Karl applied for a third passport for a twelve-month trip, describing himself as 5' 9" and with blue eyes. They left New Orleans on May 13, 1914 (reported in the April 14, 1926, Times Picayune). He and Clara were in Berlin at the outbreak of the First World War on August 1, 1914, when the loyalty of German Russians was attacked by both Germans and Russians, but he was unable to find news of his family. In fact, his mother had died in 1900 but his father was still alive and outlived him by three years. Karl returned to the United States, arriving with Clara at Ellis Island on October 10, 1914 from Liverpool on the Saint Paul.
The 1920 Federal Census records two C. Dorsters living in Memphis. The first is listed as C.A. Dorster, a Russian music teacher aged 63 who had immigrated to the United States in 1874 and was naturalized in 1881. He lived at 1900 Central Avenue in Ward 30 with his wife Margaret, age 41, who immigrated from Germany. Karl M. Dorster is also listed as a Russian-speaking music teacher from Russia, living less than a half of a mile away at 1066 Oakview Street in Ward 31 with his wife Clara, a German speaker from Germany. Carl A. Dorster may have been a relative, perhaps one Karl Adolph Herman Dorster, born around 1845.
In 1920 Mary Elizabeth Rinard was in Catawissa, now living with her brother Abraham Lincoln Rinard. Her son Herbert and his wife Florence Beishline and their two children, Herbert Jr. and Mary Elizabeth Jr. were living nearby.
E.C. Dorster was living with her daughter Carrie Wilson, married to Harry Wilson. He and their two daughters, Elizabeth, born around 1912, and Mary around 1915, were living with them at 1252 Agnes Street in Memphis.
Karl and Clara moved to Anniston, Alabama. In 1923, Karl's death was recorded in the Anniston Star:
________________________________________________________________________
Anniston (Alabama) Star, Thursday, September 27, 1923
PROF. DORSTER ENDS LIFE WITH PISTOL BULLET
Talented Musician, Despondent Over Ill Health, Suicides Wednesday Night
BODY SENT TODAY TO ST. LOUIS FOR BURIAL
AGED MAN'S RASH ACT OCCURRED IN WIFE'S ROOM ON LEIGHTON AVENUE ABOUT 10 O'CLOCK AT NIGHT
Despondency over increasing deafness, advancing age and feebleness, with the additional worry over failure to have heard from relatives in Russia since before the beginning of the World War, is believed to have been the contributing causes for the suicide of Prof. C. M. Dorster who sent a bullet crashing through his brain at his apartment at 1212 Leighton avenue about 10 o'clock Wednesday evening.
Mrs. Dorster was sitting in their room reading a newspaper when she was startled by the sound of the pistol in her husband's hand, the body falling heavily to the floor of the room as she sprang up at the sound of the shot. Inmates of the home rushed to find the aged man dying on the floor.
The stricken wife had noticed that Prof. Dorster had been unusually despondent and apparently depressed during all of Wednesday but had not heard any suggestion of self destruction in their conversations.
Coroner Leo Smith was notified of the tragedy and after hearing the statement of Mrs. Dorster, decided that an inquest was not necessary, the body of the aged musician having been removed from the home to the Smith and Usrey parlors to be prepared for burial.
Prof. Dorster was a member of a wealthy Russian family but he had been a resident of America for many years. He made a trip to Russia several years ago for the purpose of visiting his relatives and was in that country at the opening of the World war. Failure to locate any of his people during that time or to secure any information as to them since the war is believed to have contributed to his worries.
The musician conducted a studio at Memphis for several years, going from that place to Virginia college at Roanoke. After a tour there, Prof. Dorster and his wife moved to Anniston where their combined talent has attracted much attention, they being considered the best musicians and teachers ever located in this city.
The announcement of Prof. Dorster's death created a profound shock in musical and other circles in the city, their close friends being particularly grieved at his death.
Prof. Dorster's body was prepared for burial at Smith and Usrey's and was shipped Thursday afternoon at 2:17 over the Southern for St. Louis, Mrs. Dorster having a sister living in that city.
________________________________________________________________________
The cause of death was typed in the certificate of death as "homicide; gun shot wound through right ear", with "murder" crossed off and "suicide" written in by hand. The place of death was given as 1213 Leighton Avenue, perhaps an error or perhaps across the street from his home. The document is signed by G. A. Cryer, Registrar and Thomas Leo Smith, MD, coroner. Virginia College for Women in Roanoke was a girls' preparatory school that closed in 1934.
Bessie Crump died of a cerebral hemorrhage in Memphis on December 8, 1925, aged 59. She was buried in Elmwood Cemetery. Karl's father Theodor Johann Dorster died in 1926, age 93.
In the 1930 census, Harry C. Wilson is listed as still living at 1252 Agnes Street in Memphis with his daughters Elizabeth and Mary. His wife is now listed as Lucia C. Wilson, parents from Mississippi, age 44, the same age as Carrie Dorster. Herbert von Dorster, living in Catawissa, listed his father as from Pennsylvania.
Karl's grandfather Johann Jacob Dorster came to Riga from Hirschenhof, a German-speaking colony near Riga begun in 1766 by Catherine the Great. His great-grandfather Johann Martin Dorster traveled as a boy with his family from Niederhofen (a village between Heilbronn and Karlsruhe) to Vorbasse in Denmark from 1760 to 1765. He and his family were farmers in Moltkenberg colony. They then moved to Hirschenhof in 1766. Johann Martin's grandfather was Johann Martin Doster, born in 1655.
Karl had a sister, Julie Caroline Lucia Dorster, born in 1862, and five brothers: Theodor Gustav Dorster, born in 1856; Friedrich Christian Dorster, born in 1858; Friedrich Leberecht Dorster, born in 1859; John Alfred Dorster, born in 1866; and Friedrich Eduard Dorster, born in 1868.
In a passport application, Karl stated that he arrived in Baltimore from Bremen on the Leipzig on July 22, 1871. He was listed as Carl Maria Dorsta, female (probably because of the 'Maria'), 'merchant' from Riga, seventeen years old.
In 1873, Karl wrote to Solomon Dyer Rinard, father of Mary Elizabeth, who was living with Karl in Scranton, Pennsylvania. He was 19 and Mary Elizabeth was 24. No record of a marriage has been found.
Scranton 2 8. 73.
Mr. S D Rinard
Dear Sir
I was very glad to hear from you and tell you my best thanks for the contents of your letter. You was very surprised to find that we was stopping here, jet [sic], but I found out I could get along here as well as in N.Y. and better, then in a smaller place where very few teachers are, it is easier to get something to do then in a large city like N.Y. So I think to build my home here.
Was glad to hear you are well, we are well too. Hoping you will us soon write again I remain
Yours truly
C M von Dorster
________________________________________________________________________
In 1875, C. M. von Dorster was a music instructor at the Cheltenham Academy near Philadelphia.
Herbert Rinard von Dorster was born to Karl and Mary Elizabeth on May 9, 1879, in Philadelphia. A later census records that Herbert was the only surviving child of five. The 1880 Census has no record of Karl, Mary Elizabeth and young Herbert. Could they have been overseas?
Around the time of Herbert's birth, Karl returned to Europe. He then came back to the US, leaving Bremen on June 19, 1881 on the General Werder and arriving on July 3. He never returned to Mary Elizabeth Rinard, who may or may not have known that he was still alive.
Fort Wayne Gazette, 25 Aug 1883 announces appointment on 28 Aug of Prof. Carl M. Dorster of Leipsic (!) for the fall term of the Fort Wayne M.E. College as a teacher of music and modern languages.
On May 12, 1884 in Marshall County, Mississippi, he married Bessie H. Crump, born on November 10, 1866. Her family was from Holly Springs, Mississippi, just across the state border from Memphis.
In February of 1886 Bessie gave birth in Mississippi to a daughter, Carrie Dorster.
According to a 1913 passport application, on April 17, 1886 Karl was naturalized in Memphis. Some time between then and 1891, he and Bessie were divorced.
In 1891 Mrs. Bessie E. Dorster is listed in the Memphis City Directory as living on the north side of Polk in the first house east of Walnut. Another directory from the period lists Elizabeth H. Dorster as boarding at 1336 Union Avenue.
In around 1898 Karl was married to Clara Kornick (although there is no record of a marriage), a German speaker from Ridultau, today Rydultowy in Poland just north of the Czech border, born on January 15, 1878. She and her father Leopold, a Jewish bookbinder from Radibor, and her mother Fannie immigrated in 1887. She had a sister in Saint Louis.
In the 1900 Census Karl M. Dorster is listed as living at 221 Washington Street in Memphis with his wife Clara. He is described as a music teacher from Russia, born February 1854. They had been married for four years. Mary Elizabeth von Dorster was back in Catawissa with her father Solomon Rinard. Karl and Mary Elizabeth's son Herbert was at Yale, listed in the census as living in Duncan Hall (today the Hotel Duncan) at 1151 Chapel Street in New Haven, Connecticut. Bettie Dorster, listed as divorced, and her daughter Carrie, now 14, were living with her parents James and Carry Crump at 104 Polk Street in Memphis.
Also living with the family was a cousin, Edward Hull Crump, who later became a powerful political boss and the Mayor of Memphis (1910-1916). Blues pioneer W. C. Handy wrote "Crump's Blues" (later called "Memphis Blues") for his 1909 mayoralty campaign. In Handy's autobiography Father of the Blues he says that in Crump's campaign he got to "play the blues to the general public for the first time in America".
Karl and Clara moved to Camden, Arkansas around 1905. On April 26, 1906 Karl applied for a passport in Fordyce, Arkansas, to travel abroad and return "within two years". He gave his birth date as January 14, 1854. The application was verified by C. J. March, MD, of Fordyce. No record of his voyage has been found.
On November 21, 1908, Karl applied for a second passport for twelve months abroad. The application was signed by Perry M. Byram of Camden, Arkansas. Karl returned with Clara on the S. S. Rhein, which sailed from Bremen on September 1, 1910 and arrived in Baltimore on the 13th.
In 1909 Karl's daughter Carrie Dorster married Harry Wilson.
In the 1910 Census, Bessie Dorster was listed as a widow, living with her mother Carrie Crump at 1403 Union Avenue in Memphis with Carry and Harry Wilson and two servants. Karl Maria Dorster, married once before, was in Ecore Fabre Township in Camden, Arkansas, with Clara, in the thirteenth year of their marriage.
On May 30, 1913, Karl applied for a third passport for a twelve-month trip, describing himself as 5' 9" and with blue eyes. They left New Orleans on May 13, 1914 (reported in the April 14, 1926, Times Picayune). He and Clara were in Berlin at the outbreak of the First World War on August 1, 1914, when the loyalty of German Russians was attacked by both Germans and Russians, but he was unable to find news of his family. In fact, his mother had died in 1900 but his father was still alive and outlived him by three years. Karl returned to the United States, arriving with Clara at Ellis Island on October 10, 1914 from Liverpool on the Saint Paul.
The 1920 Federal Census records two C. Dorsters living in Memphis. The first is listed as C.A. Dorster, a Russian music teacher aged 63 who had immigrated to the United States in 1874 and was naturalized in 1881. He lived at 1900 Central Avenue in Ward 30 with his wife Margaret, age 41, who immigrated from Germany. Karl M. Dorster is also listed as a Russian-speaking music teacher from Russia, living less than a half of a mile away at 1066 Oakview Street in Ward 31 with his wife Clara, a German speaker from Germany. Carl A. Dorster may have been a relative, perhaps one Karl Adolph Herman Dorster, born around 1845.
In 1920 Mary Elizabeth Rinard was in Catawissa, now living with her brother Abraham Lincoln Rinard. Her son Herbert and his wife Florence Beishline and their two children, Herbert Jr. and Mary Elizabeth Jr. were living nearby.
E.C. Dorster was living with her daughter Carrie Wilson, married to Harry Wilson. He and their two daughters, Elizabeth, born around 1912, and Mary around 1915, were living with them at 1252 Agnes Street in Memphis.
Karl and Clara moved to Anniston, Alabama. In 1923, Karl's death was recorded in the Anniston Star:
________________________________________________________________________
Anniston (Alabama) Star, Thursday, September 27, 1923
PROF. DORSTER ENDS LIFE WITH PISTOL BULLET
Talented Musician, Despondent Over Ill Health, Suicides Wednesday Night
BODY SENT TODAY TO ST. LOUIS FOR BURIAL
AGED MAN'S RASH ACT OCCURRED IN WIFE'S ROOM ON LEIGHTON AVENUE ABOUT 10 O'CLOCK AT NIGHT
Despondency over increasing deafness, advancing age and feebleness, with the additional worry over failure to have heard from relatives in Russia since before the beginning of the World War, is believed to have been the contributing causes for the suicide of Prof. C. M. Dorster who sent a bullet crashing through his brain at his apartment at 1212 Leighton avenue about 10 o'clock Wednesday evening.
Mrs. Dorster was sitting in their room reading a newspaper when she was startled by the sound of the pistol in her husband's hand, the body falling heavily to the floor of the room as she sprang up at the sound of the shot. Inmates of the home rushed to find the aged man dying on the floor.
The stricken wife had noticed that Prof. Dorster had been unusually despondent and apparently depressed during all of Wednesday but had not heard any suggestion of self destruction in their conversations.
Coroner Leo Smith was notified of the tragedy and after hearing the statement of Mrs. Dorster, decided that an inquest was not necessary, the body of the aged musician having been removed from the home to the Smith and Usrey parlors to be prepared for burial.
Prof. Dorster was a member of a wealthy Russian family but he had been a resident of America for many years. He made a trip to Russia several years ago for the purpose of visiting his relatives and was in that country at the opening of the World war. Failure to locate any of his people during that time or to secure any information as to them since the war is believed to have contributed to his worries.
The musician conducted a studio at Memphis for several years, going from that place to Virginia college at Roanoke. After a tour there, Prof. Dorster and his wife moved to Anniston where their combined talent has attracted much attention, they being considered the best musicians and teachers ever located in this city.
The announcement of Prof. Dorster's death created a profound shock in musical and other circles in the city, their close friends being particularly grieved at his death.
Prof. Dorster's body was prepared for burial at Smith and Usrey's and was shipped Thursday afternoon at 2:17 over the Southern for St. Louis, Mrs. Dorster having a sister living in that city.
________________________________________________________________________
The cause of death was typed in the certificate of death as "homicide; gun shot wound through right ear", with "murder" crossed off and "suicide" written in by hand. The place of death was given as 1213 Leighton Avenue, perhaps an error or perhaps across the street from his home. The document is signed by G. A. Cryer, Registrar and Thomas Leo Smith, MD, coroner. Virginia College for Women in Roanoke was a girls' preparatory school that closed in 1934.
Bessie Crump died of a cerebral hemorrhage in Memphis on December 8, 1925, aged 59. She was buried in Elmwood Cemetery. Karl's father Theodor Johann Dorster died in 1926, age 93.
In the 1930 census, Harry C. Wilson is listed as still living at 1252 Agnes Street in Memphis with his daughters Elizabeth and Mary. His wife is now listed as Lucia C. Wilson, parents from Mississippi, age 44, the same age as Carrie Dorster. Herbert von Dorster, living in Catawissa, listed his father as from Pennsylvania.
Karl Maria Dorster was born in Riga on February 14, 1854. In that year, Riga was in Russia; today it is the capital of Latvia. Karl's parents were Theodor Johann Dorster, born in Riga in 1831 and Louise Karoline Wortmann, born in Warsaw in 1832. Theodor Dorster, a master barber and Elder of the Artisans Guild, was a member of the Duma of Riga from 1886 to 1905.
Karl's grandfather Johann Jacob Dorster came to Riga from Hirschenhof, a German-speaking colony near Riga begun in 1766 by Catherine the Great. His great-grandfather Johann Martin Dorster traveled as a boy with his family from Niederhofen (a village between Heilbronn and Karlsruhe) to Vorbasse in Denmark from 1760 to 1765. He and his family were farmers in Moltkenberg colony. They then moved to Hirschenhof in 1766. Johann Martin's grandfather was Johann Martin Doster, born in 1655.
Karl had a sister, Julie Caroline Lucia Dorster, born in 1862, and five brothers: Theodor Gustav Dorster, born in 1856; Friedrich Christian Dorster, born in 1858; Friedrich Leberecht Dorster, born in 1859; John Alfred Dorster, born in 1866; and Friedrich Eduard Dorster, born in 1868.
In a passport application, Karl stated that he arrived in Baltimore from Bremen on the Leipzig on July 22, 1871. He was listed as Carl Maria Dorsta, female (probably because of the 'Maria'), 'merchant' from Riga, seventeen years old.
In 1873, Karl wrote to Solomon Dyer Rinard, father of Mary Elizabeth, who was living with Karl in Scranton, Pennsylvania. He was 19 and Mary Elizabeth was 24. No record of a marriage has been found.
Scranton 2 8. 73.
Mr. S D Rinard
Dear Sir
I was very glad to hear from you and tell you my best thanks for the contents of your letter. You was very surprised to find that we was stopping here, jet [sic], but I found out I could get along here as well as in N.Y. and better, then in a smaller place where very few teachers are, it is easier to get something to do then in a large city like N.Y. So I think to build my home here.
Was glad to hear you are well, we are well too. Hoping you will us soon write again I remain
Yours truly
C M von Dorster
________________________________________________________________________
In 1875, C. M. von Dorster was a music instructor at the Cheltenham Academy near Philadelphia.
Herbert Rinard von Dorster was born to Karl and Mary Elizabeth on May 9, 1879, in Philadelphia. A later census records that Herbert was the only surviving child of five. The 1880 Census has no record of Karl, Mary Elizabeth and young Herbert. Could they have been overseas?
Around the time of Herbert's birth, Karl returned to Europe. He then came back to the US, leaving Bremen on June 19, 1881 on the General Werder and arriving on July 3. He never returned to Mary Elizabeth Rinard, who may or may not have known that he was still alive.
Fort Wayne Gazette, 25 Aug 1883 announces appointment on 28 Aug of Prof. Carl M. Dorster of Leipsic (!) for the fall term of the Fort Wayne M.E. College as a teacher of music and modern languages.
On May 12, 1884 in Marshall County, Mississippi, he married Bessie H. Crump, born on November 10, 1866. Her family was from Holly Springs, Mississippi, just across the state border from Memphis.
In February of 1886 Bessie gave birth in Mississippi to a daughter, Carrie Dorster.
According to a 1913 passport application, on April 17, 1886 Karl was naturalized in Memphis. Some time between then and 1891, he and Bessie were divorced.
In 1891 Mrs. Bessie E. Dorster is listed in the Memphis City Directory as living on the north side of Polk in the first house east of Walnut. Another directory from the period lists Elizabeth H. Dorster as boarding at 1336 Union Avenue.
In around 1898 Karl was married to Clara Kornick (although there is no record of a marriage), a German speaker from Ridultau, today Rydultowy in Poland just north of the Czech border, born on January 15, 1878. She and her father Leopold, a Jewish bookbinder from Radibor, and her mother Fannie immigrated in 1887. She had a sister in Saint Louis.
In the 1900 Census Karl M. Dorster is listed as living at 221 Washington Street in Memphis with his wife Clara. He is described as a music teacher from Russia, born February 1854. They had been married for four years. Mary Elizabeth von Dorster was back in Catawissa with her father Solomon Rinard. Karl and Mary Elizabeth's son Herbert was at Yale, listed in the census as living in Duncan Hall (today the Hotel Duncan) at 1151 Chapel Street in New Haven, Connecticut. Bettie Dorster, listed as divorced, and her daughter Carrie, now 14, were living with her parents James and Carry Crump at 104 Polk Street in Memphis.
Also living with the family was a cousin, Edward Hull Crump, who later became a powerful political boss and the Mayor of Memphis (1910-1916). Blues pioneer W. C. Handy wrote "Crump's Blues" (later called "Memphis Blues") for his 1909 mayoralty campaign. In Handy's autobiography Father of the Blues he says that in Crump's campaign he got to "play the blues to the general public for the first time in America".
Karl and Clara moved to Camden, Arkansas around 1905. On April 26, 1906 Karl applied for a passport in Fordyce, Arkansas, to travel abroad and return "within two years". He gave his birth date as January 14, 1854. The application was verified by C. J. March, MD, of Fordyce. No record of his voyage has been found.
On November 21, 1908, Karl applied for a second passport for twelve months abroad. The application was signed by Perry M. Byram of Camden, Arkansas. Karl returned with Clara on the S. S. Rhein, which sailed from Bremen on September 1, 1910 and arrived in Baltimore on the 13th.
In 1909 Karl's daughter Carrie Dorster married Harry Wilson.
In the 1910 Census, Bessie Dorster was listed as a widow, living with her mother Carrie Crump at 1403 Union Avenue in Memphis with Carry and Harry Wilson and two servants. Karl Maria Dorster, married once before, was in Ecore Fabre Township in Camden, Arkansas, with Clara, in the thirteenth year of their marriage.
On May 30, 1913, Karl applied for a third passport for a twelve-month trip, describing himself as 5' 9" and with blue eyes. They left New Orleans on May 13, 1914 (reported in the April 14, 1926, Times Picayune). He and Clara were in Berlin at the outbreak of the First World War on August 1, 1914, when the loyalty of German Russians was attacked by both Germans and Russians, but he was unable to find news of his family. In fact, his mother had died in 1900 but his father was still alive and outlived him by three years. Karl returned to the United States, arriving with Clara at Ellis Island on October 10, 1914 from Liverpool on the Saint Paul.
The 1920 Federal Census records two C. Dorsters living in Memphis. The first is listed as C.A. Dorster, a Russian music teacher aged 63 who had immigrated to the United States in 1874 and was naturalized in 1881. He lived at 1900 Central Avenue in Ward 30 with his wife Margaret, age 41, who immigrated from Germany. Karl M. Dorster is also listed as a Russian-speaking music teacher from Russia, living less than a half of a mile away at 1066 Oakview Street in Ward 31 with his wife Clara, a German speaker from Germany. Carl A. Dorster may have been a relative, perhaps one Karl Adolph Herman Dorster, born around 1845.
In 1920 Mary Elizabeth Rinard was in Catawissa, now living with her brother Abraham Lincoln Rinard. Her son Herbert and his wife Florence Beishline and their two children, Herbert Jr. and Mary Elizabeth Jr. were living nearby.
E.C. Dorster was living with her daughter Carrie Wilson, married to Harry Wilson. He and their two daughters, Elizabeth, born around 1912, and Mary around 1915, were living with them at 1252 Agnes Street in Memphis.
Karl and Clara moved to Anniston, Alabama. In 1923, Karl's death was recorded in the Anniston Star:
________________________________________________________________________
Anniston (Alabama) Star, Thursday, September 27, 1923
PROF. DORSTER ENDS LIFE WITH PISTOL BULLET
Talented Musician, Despondent Over Ill Health, Suicides Wednesday Night
BODY SENT TODAY TO ST. LOUIS FOR BURIAL
AGED MAN'S RASH ACT OCCURRED IN WIFE'S ROOM ON LEIGHTON AVENUE ABOUT 10 O'CLOCK AT NIGHT
Despondency over increasing deafness, advancing age and feebleness, with the additional worry over failure to have heard from relatives in Russia since before the beginning of the World War, is believed to have been the contributing causes for the suicide of Prof. C. M. Dorster who sent a bullet crashing through his brain at his apartment at 1212 Leighton avenue about 10 o'clock Wednesday evening.
Mrs. Dorster was sitting in their room reading a newspaper when she was startled by the sound of the pistol in her husband's hand, the body falling heavily to the floor of the room as she sprang up at the sound of the shot. Inmates of the home rushed to find the aged man dying on the floor.
The stricken wife had noticed that Prof. Dorster had been unusually despondent and apparently depressed during all of Wednesday but had not heard any suggestion of self destruction in their conversations.
Coroner Leo Smith was notified of the tragedy and after hearing the statement of Mrs. Dorster, decided that an inquest was not necessary, the body of the aged musician having been removed from the home to the Smith and Usrey parlors to be prepared for burial.
Prof. Dorster was a member of a wealthy Russian family but he had been a resident of America for many years. He made a trip to Russia several years ago for the purpose of visiting his relatives and was in that country at the opening of the World war. Failure to locate any of his people during that time or to secure any information as to them since the war is believed to have contributed to his worries.
The musician conducted a studio at Memphis for several years, going from that place to Virginia college at Roanoke. After a tour there, Prof. Dorster and his wife moved to Anniston where their combined talent has attracted much attention, they being considered the best musicians and teachers ever located in this city.
The announcement of Prof. Dorster's death created a profound shock in musical and other circles in the city, their close friends being particularly grieved at his death.
Prof. Dorster's body was prepared for burial at Smith and Usrey's and was shipped Thursday afternoon at 2:17 over the Southern for St. Louis, Mrs. Dorster having a sister living in that city.
________________________________________________________________________
The cause of death was typed in the certificate of death as "homicide; gun shot wound through right ear", with "murder" crossed off and "suicide" written in by hand. The place of death was given as 1213 Leighton Avenue, perhaps an error or perhaps across the street from his home. The document is signed by G. A. Cryer, Registrar and Thomas Leo Smith, MD, coroner. Virginia College for Women in Roanoke was a girls' preparatory school that closed in 1934.
Bessie Crump died of a cerebral hemorrhage in Memphis on December 8, 1925, aged 59. She was buried in Elmwood Cemetery. Karl's father Theodor Johann Dorster died in 1926, age 93.
In the 1930 census, Harry C. Wilson is listed as still living at 1252 Agnes Street in Memphis with his daughters Elizabeth and Mary. His wife is now listed as Lucia C. Wilson, parents from Mississippi, age 44, the same age as Carrie Dorster. Herbert von Dorster, living in Catawissa, listed his father as from Pennsylvania.
Karl's grandfather Johann Jacob Dorster came to Riga from Hirschenhof, a German-speaking colony near Riga begun in 1766 by Catherine the Great. His great-grandfather Johann Martin Dorster traveled as a boy with his family from Niederhofen (a village between Heilbronn and Karlsruhe) to Vorbasse in Denmark from 1760 to 1765. He and his family were farmers in Moltkenberg colony. They then moved to Hirschenhof in 1766. Johann Martin's grandfather was Johann Martin Doster, born in 1655.
Karl had a sister, Julie Caroline Lucia Dorster, born in 1862, and five brothers: Theodor Gustav Dorster, born in 1856; Friedrich Christian Dorster, born in 1858; Friedrich Leberecht Dorster, born in 1859; John Alfred Dorster, born in 1866; and Friedrich Eduard Dorster, born in 1868.
In a passport application, Karl stated that he arrived in Baltimore from Bremen on the Leipzig on July 22, 1871. He was listed as Carl Maria Dorsta, female (probably because of the 'Maria'), 'merchant' from Riga, seventeen years old.
In 1873, Karl wrote to Solomon Dyer Rinard, father of Mary Elizabeth, who was living with Karl in Scranton, Pennsylvania. He was 19 and Mary Elizabeth was 24. No record of a marriage has been found.
Scranton 2 8. 73.
Mr. S D Rinard
Dear Sir
I was very glad to hear from you and tell you my best thanks for the contents of your letter. You was very surprised to find that we was stopping here, jet [sic], but I found out I could get along here as well as in N.Y. and better, then in a smaller place where very few teachers are, it is easier to get something to do then in a large city like N.Y. So I think to build my home here.
Was glad to hear you are well, we are well too. Hoping you will us soon write again I remain
Yours truly
C M von Dorster
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In 1875, C. M. von Dorster was a music instructor at the Cheltenham Academy near Philadelphia.
Herbert Rinard von Dorster was born to Karl and Mary Elizabeth on May 9, 1879, in Philadelphia. A later census records that Herbert was the only surviving child of five. The 1880 Census has no record of Karl, Mary Elizabeth and young Herbert. Could they have been overseas?
Around the time of Herbert's birth, Karl returned to Europe. He then came back to the US, leaving Bremen on June 19, 1881 on the General Werder and arriving on July 3. He never returned to Mary Elizabeth Rinard, who may or may not have known that he was still alive.
Fort Wayne Gazette, 25 Aug 1883 announces appointment on 28 Aug of Prof. Carl M. Dorster of Leipsic (!) for the fall term of the Fort Wayne M.E. College as a teacher of music and modern languages.
On May 12, 1884 in Marshall County, Mississippi, he married Bessie H. Crump, born on November 10, 1866. Her family was from Holly Springs, Mississippi, just across the state border from Memphis.
In February of 1886 Bessie gave birth in Mississippi to a daughter, Carrie Dorster.
According to a 1913 passport application, on April 17, 1886 Karl was naturalized in Memphis. Some time between then and 1891, he and Bessie were divorced.
In 1891 Mrs. Bessie E. Dorster is listed in the Memphis City Directory as living on the north side of Polk in the first house east of Walnut. Another directory from the period lists Elizabeth H. Dorster as boarding at 1336 Union Avenue.
In around 1898 Karl was married to Clara Kornick (although there is no record of a marriage), a German speaker from Ridultau, today Rydultowy in Poland just north of the Czech border, born on January 15, 1878. She and her father Leopold, a Jewish bookbinder from Radibor, and her mother Fannie immigrated in 1887. She had a sister in Saint Louis.
In the 1900 Census Karl M. Dorster is listed as living at 221 Washington Street in Memphis with his wife Clara. He is described as a music teacher from Russia, born February 1854. They had been married for four years. Mary Elizabeth von Dorster was back in Catawissa with her father Solomon Rinard. Karl and Mary Elizabeth's son Herbert was at Yale, listed in the census as living in Duncan Hall (today the Hotel Duncan) at 1151 Chapel Street in New Haven, Connecticut. Bettie Dorster, listed as divorced, and her daughter Carrie, now 14, were living with her parents James and Carry Crump at 104 Polk Street in Memphis.
Also living with the family was a cousin, Edward Hull Crump, who later became a powerful political boss and the Mayor of Memphis (1910-1916). Blues pioneer W. C. Handy wrote "Crump's Blues" (later called "Memphis Blues") for his 1909 mayoralty campaign. In Handy's autobiography Father of the Blues he says that in Crump's campaign he got to "play the blues to the general public for the first time in America".
Karl and Clara moved to Camden, Arkansas around 1905. On April 26, 1906 Karl applied for a passport in Fordyce, Arkansas, to travel abroad and return "within two years". He gave his birth date as January 14, 1854. The application was verified by C. J. March, MD, of Fordyce. No record of his voyage has been found.
On November 21, 1908, Karl applied for a second passport for twelve months abroad. The application was signed by Perry M. Byram of Camden, Arkansas. Karl returned with Clara on the S. S. Rhein, which sailed from Bremen on September 1, 1910 and arrived in Baltimore on the 13th.
In 1909 Karl's daughter Carrie Dorster married Harry Wilson.
In the 1910 Census, Bessie Dorster was listed as a widow, living with her mother Carrie Crump at 1403 Union Avenue in Memphis with Carry and Harry Wilson and two servants. Karl Maria Dorster, married once before, was in Ecore Fabre Township in Camden, Arkansas, with Clara, in the thirteenth year of their marriage.
On May 30, 1913, Karl applied for a third passport for a twelve-month trip, describing himself as 5' 9" and with blue eyes. They left New Orleans on May 13, 1914 (reported in the April 14, 1926, Times Picayune). He and Clara were in Berlin at the outbreak of the First World War on August 1, 1914, when the loyalty of German Russians was attacked by both Germans and Russians, but he was unable to find news of his family. In fact, his mother had died in 1900 but his father was still alive and outlived him by three years. Karl returned to the United States, arriving with Clara at Ellis Island on October 10, 1914 from Liverpool on the Saint Paul.
The 1920 Federal Census records two C. Dorsters living in Memphis. The first is listed as C.A. Dorster, a Russian music teacher aged 63 who had immigrated to the United States in 1874 and was naturalized in 1881. He lived at 1900 Central Avenue in Ward 30 with his wife Margaret, age 41, who immigrated from Germany. Karl M. Dorster is also listed as a Russian-speaking music teacher from Russia, living less than a half of a mile away at 1066 Oakview Street in Ward 31 with his wife Clara, a German speaker from Germany. Carl A. Dorster may have been a relative, perhaps one Karl Adolph Herman Dorster, born around 1845.
In 1920 Mary Elizabeth Rinard was in Catawissa, now living with her brother Abraham Lincoln Rinard. Her son Herbert and his wife Florence Beishline and their two children, Herbert Jr. and Mary Elizabeth Jr. were living nearby.
E.C. Dorster was living with her daughter Carrie Wilson, married to Harry Wilson. He and their two daughters, Elizabeth, born around 1912, and Mary around 1915, were living with them at 1252 Agnes Street in Memphis.
Karl and Clara moved to Anniston, Alabama. In 1923, Karl's death was recorded in the Anniston Star:
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Anniston (Alabama) Star, Thursday, September 27, 1923
PROF. DORSTER ENDS LIFE WITH PISTOL BULLET
Talented Musician, Despondent Over Ill Health, Suicides Wednesday Night
BODY SENT TODAY TO ST. LOUIS FOR BURIAL
AGED MAN'S RASH ACT OCCURRED IN WIFE'S ROOM ON LEIGHTON AVENUE ABOUT 10 O'CLOCK AT NIGHT
Despondency over increasing deafness, advancing age and feebleness, with the additional worry over failure to have heard from relatives in Russia since before the beginning of the World War, is believed to have been the contributing causes for the suicide of Prof. C. M. Dorster who sent a bullet crashing through his brain at his apartment at 1212 Leighton avenue about 10 o'clock Wednesday evening.
Mrs. Dorster was sitting in their room reading a newspaper when she was startled by the sound of the pistol in her husband's hand, the body falling heavily to the floor of the room as she sprang up at the sound of the shot. Inmates of the home rushed to find the aged man dying on the floor.
The stricken wife had noticed that Prof. Dorster had been unusually despondent and apparently depressed during all of Wednesday but had not heard any suggestion of self destruction in their conversations.
Coroner Leo Smith was notified of the tragedy and after hearing the statement of Mrs. Dorster, decided that an inquest was not necessary, the body of the aged musician having been removed from the home to the Smith and Usrey parlors to be prepared for burial.
Prof. Dorster was a member of a wealthy Russian family but he had been a resident of America for many years. He made a trip to Russia several years ago for the purpose of visiting his relatives and was in that country at the opening of the World war. Failure to locate any of his people during that time or to secure any information as to them since the war is believed to have contributed to his worries.
The musician conducted a studio at Memphis for several years, going from that place to Virginia college at Roanoke. After a tour there, Prof. Dorster and his wife moved to Anniston where their combined talent has attracted much attention, they being considered the best musicians and teachers ever located in this city.
The announcement of Prof. Dorster's death created a profound shock in musical and other circles in the city, their close friends being particularly grieved at his death.
Prof. Dorster's body was prepared for burial at Smith and Usrey's and was shipped Thursday afternoon at 2:17 over the Southern for St. Louis, Mrs. Dorster having a sister living in that city.
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The cause of death was typed in the certificate of death as "homicide; gun shot wound through right ear", with "murder" crossed off and "suicide" written in by hand. The place of death was given as 1213 Leighton Avenue, perhaps an error or perhaps across the street from his home. The document is signed by G. A. Cryer, Registrar and Thomas Leo Smith, MD, coroner. Virginia College for Women in Roanoke was a girls' preparatory school that closed in 1934.
Bessie Crump died of a cerebral hemorrhage in Memphis on December 8, 1925, aged 59. She was buried in Elmwood Cemetery. Karl's father Theodor Johann Dorster died in 1926, age 93.
In the 1930 census, Harry C. Wilson is listed as still living at 1252 Agnes Street in Memphis with his daughters Elizabeth and Mary. His wife is now listed as Lucia C. Wilson, parents from Mississippi, age 44, the same age as Carrie Dorster. Herbert von Dorster, living in Catawissa, listed his father as from Pennsylvania.
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