Elisabeth Sophie Luitgard Albertine Castendyck was born 8 Aug 1876 to Karl Ottmar Castendyck (1850-1913) and Anna Amalie Charlotte Wilhelmine Konradine Wagner (1850-1913) in Mainz, Germany. She had one sister, Meta, who lived only four short months.
Elisabeth’s father was active in the Prussian military, rising eventually to the rank of Royal Major General. The family resided for most of Elisabeth’s childhood at Derfflingerstrasse 19a in Tiergarten, Berlin, Germany.
Elisabeth married Alfred Paul Bollmann (aka, Paul) on 28 Dec 1897 in Strassburg, Germany. Their first son, Friedrich Carl Wilhelm Julius Bollmann (aka, Fritz; 1899-1947), was born in Thorn, West Prussia, and their second son Eugen Alfred Paul (dates unknown) soon followed.
Her husband Paul was also active in the military, and it is presumed the family moved with his assignments. Their third son Werner Eugen Bollmann was born 3 Feb 1906 in the Spandau district of Berlin.
Paul achieved the rank of colonel and was mortally wounded in World War I. He died in Spandau on 16 Jul 1917 and is buried in Falkenhager Feld there. For the rest of her life, Elisabeth was known as “Frau Oberst.”
After Paul’s death and through the mid 1920’s, Elisabeth resided at Rheingaustrasse 23 in the Charlottenburg district of Berlin. Her son Werner married Liselotte Theophilia Wedell (aka Lilo). Elisabeth and Lilo did not get along well, mostly because Lilo was Jewish and the decades of the 1920’s and 1930’s were turbulent. Werner’s and Lilo’s son Heinz (b. 1934), lived with Elisabeth briefly during the war. By that time, Elisabeth had moved to her family home in Braunfels, Germany, where it was deemed safer for a child of “mixed race.”
In 1947, her son Fritz died of tuberculosis. His wife Alexandra Studemann continued to live with Elisabeth to the end of her life. Her son Paul had married Lise (last name unknown), who also lived with her.
Werner and his family moved to the United States in 1946. He and his daughter Rosemarie (aka, Rosie; b. 1944) visited Elisabeth in 1955 in honor of her 80th birthday. Rosie recalls Braunfels to be a quaint Germany town and taking an orchid as a birthday present.
Elisabeth died on 7 Oct 1955 of bronchial pneumonia. Her gravesite, if existing, is unknown.
The Budding Genealogist 