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Artist/Maker Kruse - Photo Studio

DateDate Unknown

MediumPaper mounted on board

Dimensions6 1/2 x 4 1/4 in. (16.5 x 10.8 cm)

Donor credit lineGift of Mary Ann Weiglhofer in Memory of Josephine Galfy

Object number2024.21.2

Institutional Credit LineCourtesy of the New Bedford Whaling Museum

DescriptionFormal studio portrait of two women in nurse uniforms.Label TextBiography of Josephine Galfy (18 March 1880 – 7 Jul 1970)
Austrian Servant in Captain William Weeks (1813-1906) Household, 97 State Street, New Bedford MA
Written by grandniece Mary Ann Weiglhofer Plattsburgh NY 518-534-2231 maw815@yahoo.com

Josephine Galfy emigrated to the United States from Vienna, Austria via Antwerp, Belgium arriving in New York, NY on the SS Kensington on October 19, 1898.2 My mother said Josephine2 told her that she came from a foundling home in Vienna, but her mother was from Bohemia. Whether or not she was sent to a “care” family in rural Austria to be raised is unknown.3

Her (Catholic) confirmation prayer card states that she was confirmed in 1892 in Kirche Stiefern (8 km north of Langenlois, Lower Austria). At some point she came to know the Blauensteiner and Weiglhofer families of Schiltern bei Langenlois, about 10 km from Stiefern and 85 km from Vienna. When Josephine applied for U.S. Social Security benefits in 1963, she listed Joseph and Anna Blauensteiner as her parents4 although they were probably foster parents or close friends. Joseph and Anna were born in 18195 and would have been about 61 years of age when Josephine was born.

Before emigrating to the United States, Josephine became friends with Marie Blauensteiner (1873-1974) of Schiltern, granddaughter of Joseph and Anna. I do not know whether she was encouraged by her friend, Marie (Mary)6, living in New Bedford, to come to the United States or had a previous promise of employment in New Bedford. I have not been able to find her name in the Ellis Island database of passengers which would have provided information on why she emigrated or who sponsored her.

Josephine and Marie were lifelong friends and while working in New Bedford had a studio portrait taken of the two of them in costume (c. 1898) at the Kruse Artistic Photography studio on Purchase Street (see JG Photos No. 2). Throughout the years Josephine kept in contact with Marie, who lived in nearby Fairhaven as well as Long Island and eventually moved to a Fairhaven old age home by the mid-1950s.

According to the 1900 US Census, Josephine was a servant in the household of master mariner, Captain William Weeks (1813-1906). He and his family lived at 97 State Street in New Bedford. Weeks sailed primarily for whaling merchant Edward C. Jones in the ships Endeavor, Congress, Iris, Swallow and Lapwing.7 He and his first wife, Almira (Myra) Elliott Allen, had seven children: Almie, Mary Adaline (Addie) (1839-1911), Hannah Charlotte, Thomas F., Eliza Ann, Myra Allen, and William Major. He and his second wife, Lucretia H. Faunce, had six children: Edward Jones, John Faunce, Eliza Lucretia, Lucretia Anna, William Joshua, and John Lorimer. Captain Weeks’ granddaughter, Myra Clifton Heyer (1881-1919), daughter of Myra Allen Weeks (1850-1881) and master mariner Andrew R. Heyer (1832-1898) 8, also lived at 97 State Street. Her mother had died in childbirth in 1881 while residing in St. Helena, and her father died in 1898.9
I could find no descriptions of Josephine’s life at 97 State Street but when she came to live with us in New Jersey in 1955, she brought many items from her days in New Bedford (see JG Excel workbook). I heard her speak fondly of her dear friend, Myra Clifton Heyer. They must have been great chums because they traveled together to Austria in 1908 and returned to the U.S. on the S.S. Rhein from Bremen on September 24, 1908 (see JG Docs No. 8). They also exchanged gifts, including books at Christmas.
According to the 1910 US Census Josephine moved to 406 Union Street. Living with Mary Adaline Weeks (Head of Household) was Myra Clifton Heyer (niece and stenographer), and Josephine (servant doing housework). I surmise that many of the New Bedford items Josephine acquired were from Addie who died in 1911 and Myra who died in 1919. After Captain Weeks’ death in 1906, John L. Weeks (youngest son of William), John’s wife Grace, their son, and his mother Lucretia lived at 97 State Street (1910 US Census).
By 1915 Josephine and Myra had moved to 44 Chestnut Street and resided there until Myra’s death in 1919.10 By the 1920 US Census, Josephine is listed as owner and head of household at 44 Chestnut Street and employed as a maid with a private family. In the 1921 and 1924 New Bedford City Directories she is living at 35 Willis Street. In the 1922 and 1923 Norwich City Directory she is residing at 36 Williams Street in Norwich, CT. I do not know why she moved to CT and then returned to New Bedford.

I have not been able to document Josephine’s whereabouts during the next decade. I do know that she eventually moved to New York City where she was employed as a nanny by Arthur and Edyth Wolff, son of Manhattan book manufacturer Harry Wolff, and resident of Park Avenue. They had two children, Harry (b. 1928) and Patricia/Patsy (b. 1934).

As the Wolff children grew up and left home, Josephine transitioned to full-time retirement. In 1955 she moved in with our family in Teaneck, NJ, commuting by bus to New York City for a few years and visiting her longtime “nanny” friends in Paramus. When we moved to south Jersey in 1963, she saw her friends less frequently but the Paramus nannies and Patsy and family would stop by every year. She kept busy knitting, writing letters, playing cards, visiting with friends and family, reading and watching her favorite TV shows, in including Perry Mason. Josephine died on July 7, 1970 at Riverview Hospital in Red Bank at the age of 90.11

Notes
1Her friends called her Jo, the Weiglhofer family called her (Aunt) Josephine, and I and my mother’s family called her Nanny. Birth record: https://data.matricula-online.eu/de/oesterreich/wien/08-alservorstadtkrankenhaus/01-118/?pg=350
2US Department of Justice, Immigration and Naturalization Service, 20 May 1942. She entered the US under the name Josefa Talfy. I was not able to find the actual ship manifest listing her as a passenger in 1898.
3 Viennese Foundlings in Bohemia. https://cgsi.org/message-board/viennese-foundlings-bohemia
4FamilySearch.org.
5FamilySearch.org.
6Marie (also Mary) Blauensteiner was born on 22 October 1873 in Schiltern bei Langenlois (Schiltern Taufbuch), and came to New Bedford in 1892 according to the 1900 US Census. She was listed as a boarder at the residence of Frank Blauensteiner, 60 North Second Street, New Bedford. I do not know how they were related. She probably employed until her marriage to Adolphe Lenhart of New Bedford in 1900. They had one son, Edward, who later became an architect. Adolph died in 1911 and Marie died in 1974, age 101.
My grandfather, John (Johannn) Weiglhofer of Schiltern and Maria Blauensteiner were first cousins (see Blauensteiner-Weiglhofer chart). When John Weiglhofer visited the United States in 1908 (Ellis Island ship manifest) his destination was New Bedford to visit his cousin Marie. He eventually married my grandmother, Eleanora Oswald, in 1913 in New York.
7Representative Men and Old Families of Southeastern Massachusetts, Vol. III (Chicago: J. H. Beers & Co.,1912), 1680.
Viennese Foundlings in Bohemia. https://cgsi.org/message-board/viennese-foundlings-bohemia
8FamilySearch.org.
9Members of the Weeks and Heyer families are buried in the Weeks family plot, in Oak Grove Cemetery, and in Rural Cemetery. JG is buried in Rural Cemetery near her friend Myra Clifton Heyer.
10New Bedford and Fairhaven City Directories; FamilySearch.org.
11New Jersey Office of Registrar of Vital Statistics (Red Bank, Monmouth County NJ)

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