Update: I have finally connected Wilhelm Alexander Troost with the Troost textile family — thanks to an emigration record that shows Wilhelm Alexander Troost-Simons (born 1838, Elberfeld, Prussia) leaving the Rheinland for Saxony with his parents, Wilhelm Troost-Simons and Wilhelmine Troost-Simons (née Simons). All of my theories below were indeed correct!
Frequently, genealogy research is a treasure hunt. You look over and over for those tiny small clues, which hopefully will eventually add up into people and family relationships. As a professional research librarian, I never assume anything and I don’t take anyone else’s word for it — I need to see a real historical or academic source for something or someone before I make a connection official.
The problem, however, comes when you can’t find those key clues that will let you make the connections you’re looking for. A great example of this is Alexander Troost, husband of Virginie Blennow (one of the most famous trickriders of the mid-19th century) and eventual director of Circus Blennow/Circus Troost. He is someone whose origins fascinate me, mostly because of his fabulous wife and the choices he made in his life. I have yet to verify his origins, but I have been doing a lot of research on him lately, so I thought I would post a bit about the clues that I have found and my theories:
Verified Facts:
I know a lot about Alexander Troost, from the time of his marriage to Virginie Blennow through his death. This is summarized on his biographical page. What I don’t know for certain is about his origins.
His marriage certificate tells us:
- His full name is Wilhelm Alexander Troost
- He lives in Leipzig
- His father’s name is Johann Wilhelm Troost
- He was born in 1838. The date and month are blurred, it appears to be 19/6 (June 19).
- There is more information in the marriage record, but I can’t read it (it doesn’t help that I don’t read German). If you can read any other information on this document, please contact me!
Newspaper reports about his death tell us he was born in Austria.
Newspaper reports about his marriage tell us he was a wealthy manufacturer in some kind of textile-related industry.
Newspaper reports after his marriage tell us he continued to live in Leipzig.
There was a financial scandal in 1865 that involved Alexander Troost’s secretary, Heinrich Hirsch. Troost was in a lot of debt (this was at the time of the failure of the Circus Troost). Amongst various financial shenanigans, Hirsch went to Paris to obtain money from Troost’s sister, the wife of banker who lived in Paris. She agreed to give Alexander an annual payment if he gave up his circus, but he would not agree.
Unverified Facts:
Circus historian Saltarino refers to Troost as a baron [Das Artistentum und seine Geschichte, pg. 64]. The death certificate of Troost’s wife, Virginie, writes that her (now deceased) husband was a German baron of independent means. I have not been able to verify either of these claims. I have done a great deal of searching and found no mentions of a baron Troost, which makes me suspicious. You would think that a baron entering the circus business, and then failing at it, would cause some kind of comment in the press! If nothing else, if there was a baronetage associated with the Troost family, it should be mentioned somewhere — but it’s not.
Tracking down the Troost Family:
Searching for the Troost family in Germany, there is only one family that appears in genealogical databases, newspaper reports, and other publications: the extended family of Johann Caspar Troost, a wealthy textile manufacturer based primarily in Elberfeld and Mülheim. I strongly suspect Alexander Troost to be related to this family, but I have yet to prove how.
Alexander’s marriage record tells us his father’s name is Johann Wilhelm. I have located two different Johann Wilhelm Troosts. Both are reported to have been the American consul for Westphalia and the Prussian provinces of the Rhine, and to have lived in Elberfeld and Leipzig.
1. Frank Heidermanns’s genealogy site provides the basic information for a Johann Wilhelm Troost, American consul, 1767-1833, son of Johann Abraham Troost and Helena Christina Korthaus, married to Helena Michaels. This cites the Deutsches Geschlechterbuch, an important German genealogical publication, which indeed provides this information and states that this is JW Troost is the American consul… but all my research contradicts this, as the consul Troost died in 1852.
2. Erik Troost’s genealogy site provides the basic information for a Johann Wilhelm Troost, American consul, 1793-1852, son of Johann Abraham Troost and Maria Auff’m Ordt, married to Maria Wilhelmina Simons. There are no citations to this research, but my own has proved this to be the accurate listing, at least as far as the American consul Johann Wilhelm Troost is concerned:
- The American consul is almost always named as Wilhelm Troost Simons.
- His wife was named Wilhelmine Simons. (Did the last name “Troost Simons” come from combining his last name with his wife’s family name?) She died in Elberfeld in 1853.
- Troost Simons was a manufacturer: director of the Rheinisch-Westindischen Kompagnie (Elberfeld), the Abraham Troost & Sons cotton factory (Elberfeld),and a (paper?) factory (Leipzig)
- In addition to being based in Elberfeld, Troost Simons clearly also lived in Leipzig: he is listed in the 1851 Leipzig address book, his family has a tomb in Leipzig, and newspaper reports of his wife’s death notes that she is “from Leipzig.”
- He died in on 5 Nov 1852 at his country home in Muldenau, near Grimma, Germany.
- He had two children that have been noted: Richard Arthur and Selma.
Theories:
Was Wilhelm Alexander Troost a later child of Wilhelm & Wilhelmine Troost Simons?
- Wilhelm Troost Simons is the only Troost I have been able to locate who is associated with Leipzig, where Alexander lived at the time of his marriage and for some time thereafter.
- Alexander had a sister who married a wealthy banker and who lived in Paris. Selma Troost, daughter of Wilhelm & Wilhelmine Troost Simons, married Clement August Auff’m Ordt; he was a wealthy banker from Germany who primarily lived in Paris.
- Alexander Troost had only one child (that I have been able to find): Selma Troost, born c. 1865-68 in Milan. This was right at the time that he was trying to get money from his sister. If his sister was Selma Troost Auff’m Ordt, did he name his daughter after his sister, either for affection or sucking up?
Circus Blennow & Blumenfeld Genealogy 