ESKELES and WERTHEIMER Family Tree

[10.2] Bernard Gabriel ESKELES (aka R. Berusch Isachar ESKELES) (b. 1691 Olkusz, d. 2 Mar. 1753 Vienna), founder of Line 2 of ESKELES Family Tree.

Av beit din of: Kremsier at the age of 18 (1710-1719), Prossnitz, and Mainz (starting 1717). Kur-Mainzer-Landesrabbiner. Succeeded his father, Rabbi Gabriel ESKELES, as av beit din Nikolsburg and as Moravian Landesrabbiner, and in 1725 also his father-in-law Samson WERTHEIM as Hungarian Ober- und Landesrabbiner.

Bernard Gabriel ESKELES first married (1707 Wien) [10.12] Chava Rebekka WERTHEIMER (b. 1691, b. 31 Aug. 1749 Vienna).

Bernard settled in 1719 in Vienna as court purveyor, supplying arms and other commodities. Using his influence in the court, he prevented the expulsion of Jews from Moravia in 1741.

He established the ESKELES Foundation for Torah which taught Torah to children and provided dowries for brides. The foundation continued to operate in Brno (Bruenn) until the 1930s.

• [9.12] Margarethe ESKELES (b. 1741, d. 19 Apr. 1772 Wien).

Bernard remarried (1749 or 1750) [10.13] Hanna WERTHEIMER (b. 1725). In the year of his death (1753), their household included 42 persons including his wife, 2 daughters, and 28 servants with 6 children.

• [9.13] Ester ESKELES (b. 1750, d. 24 December 1752 Vienna)

• [9.14] Eleonora Lea ESKELES (b. 15 April 1752, d. 20 Aug. 1812 Vienna) m. [9.15] Moses Ephraim FLIES. She lived with [9.19] Valentin GUENTHER, court official, and they had two sons [7.13-14]. Valentin GUENTHER was a confident of Kaiser Joseph, and has a cabinet position responsible for copying secret documents. In 1772 was falsely suspected of being involved in espionage, and are thus portrayed in a poor light in various autobiographies of Wolfgang Amadeus MOZART.

• [9.16] Baron Bernhard Berush VON ESKELES (b. 1753 after his father's death, d. 7 October 1839), one of the outstanding financiers in Austria. After an unsuccessful start in Amsterdam, losing his father's legacy (over 400,000 florins) he returned in 1774 to Vienna. He married (1800 Wien) [9.17] Cicilie Zipora ITZIG (b. 1760, d. 25 April 1836) who had previously been married to Simcha Bonem WOLF. Bernhard went into partnership with his brother in law Nathan VON ARNSTEIN, founding a banking house together. Bernhard was an advisor to emperors Joseph II and Francis I. After discovering a banking forgery (1795), he was entrusted with government financial tasks. Founded Austrian National Bank in 1816. Promoted railway construction in competition with Solomon ROTHSCHILD. Enobled in 1797. Became baron in 1822. Presumably wrote anonymous expose of the Jewish predicament upon which Joseph II's doctrine of Toleranzpatent was based. Only Austrian Jew invited to Napoleonic Sanhedrin in 1806. Cicilie's lavish parties rivaled those of her sister Fanny VON ARNSTEIN. Bernhard and Cicilie had two children which were baptized in 1824.
  • [7.7] Daniel Denis von ESKELES (d. 1867) m. (6 Oct. 1831 Wien) [7.8] Emilie Baroness Brentano CIMAROLI (b. 28 Oct. 1809 Wien, d. 5 July 1880). Daniel was baptized in 1825. Last male descendant of the Austrian ESKELES line. His six daughters all married Austrian, French and Italian noblemen. The bank ARNSTEIN & ESKELES went bankrupt in 1873 facing fierce competition from the ROTHSCHILDs.
    • [6.10] Helene Maria Caecilie Auguste Baroness von ESKELES (b. 30 May 1837 Wien, d. 13 Feb. 1899 Wien) m. (12 Nov. 1853 Wien) [6.16] General Ludwig Baron von GABLENZ (b. 13 or 16 July 1814 Jena, d. 28 or 30 January 1874 Zuerich). Famous General.
    • [6.11] Mathilde Katharina Caecilia Auguste Baroness von ESKELES (b. 10 Aug. 1839 Meidling (Wien), d. 1857) m. (1 July 1857 Enzesfeld) [6.17] Joseph de Cadoine Marquis de Gabriac (b. 16 Feb. 1831 Bern, d. 22 Nov. 1903 Paris). French ambassador.
    • [6.12] Emilie Maria Baroness von ESKELES (b. 17 Feb. 1841 Wien, d. 9 Mar. 1917 Wien) m. (16 Sep. 1862 Salzburg) [6.18] Dr. Theodore Baron von RAULE (b. 20 Apr. 1830 Wien, d. 10 Jan. 1884 Wien). Dr. Juris.
    • [6.13] Malvine Henriette Baronesse von ESKELES (b. 10 Oct. 1842 Hietzing (Wien), d. 18 Dec. 1918 Graz) m. (2 Mar. 1859 Wien) [6.19] General James Knight von BAERTLING (b. 6 May 1817 Hannover, d. 25 June 1894 Graz)
    • [6.15] Maria Flora Cecilia Augusta Baroness von ESKELES (b. 26 May 1849 Hietzing (Wien), d. 12 Sep. 1930 Wien) m. (10 Jan. 1867 Wien) [6.21] Wilhelm Count Saracini de Belfort (b. 23 July 1831 Triest, 11 Apr. 1907 Wien)
    • [6.14] Bernadine Seraphine Baroness von ESKELES (b. 4 Apr. 1845 Wien, d. 10 July 1879 Wien) m. [6.21] Giovanni Hippolite Marchese Canigniani de Ceschi (b. 2 July 1834 Santa Lucia)
  • [7.9] Marianne (Maria Anna Caecilia Bernhardine) Baroness von ESKELES (b. 1 Mar. 1801 Wien, d. 10 Aug. 1862 Munich) baptized in 1824. She married [7.10] Lieutenant Field Marshall Franz Emil Lorenz Heereman Imperial Count von WIMPFFEN (b. 2 Apr. 1797 Prag, d. 26 Nov. 1870 Goerz). The Emporer would not approve the marriage until her father's bank made it a condition of a loan that the Emporer appear at his daughter's wedding.
    Marianne remarried Josef Jacob HARTOG (d. 1774).

• Leon ESKELES

• Judit ESKELES m. Bernh. HAHN.
  • Hanna HAHN

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