After discovering that so many old family homes have been knocked down, it’s refreshing to find one that has survived. That said, Julius Kruttschnitt’s magnificent summer villa at 2077 Forest View in Burlingame, Ca., came perilously close to suffering the pitiless blows of a wrecking ball. Builder Otto J. Miller bought the Julius Kruttschnitt, Sr., […]
The Kruttschnitt Summer Home in Connecticut Was Hard to Find
It was no easy matter locating the New Canaan, Conn., summer home of Julius Kruttschnitt, Sr., the former very wealthy chairman of the executive board of the Southern Pacific Railroad. One can only imagine what it must have been like for visitors arriving in horse-drawn carriages or early automobiles in 1910. All we could glean […]
Great Uncle John Fired His Brother Because He Couldn’t Find the Lost Dutchman’s Mine
What kind of man fires his brother because he couldn’t find the mythical Lost Dutchman’s Gold Mine? The kind of man who is sued for allegedly seducing a Polish Countess, I suppose. Both stories are lovingly ascribed to family eccentric John Kruttschnitt (1887-1982). According to family legend, Kruttschnitt spent most of his very long adult life […]
Rebecca Kruttschnitt Was a Published Illustrator
I guess it shouldn’t come as a surprise, given how many people in my family draw well. Nevertheless, I was astonished to discover recently that Rebecca de Mendes Kruttschnitt (1889-1974), my great-grandaunt, was a professional illustrator. Rebecca Kruttschnitt adeptly illustrated a drawing-room novel — that’s right, a roman de salon — published in 1910. The […]
Henry de Clifford Anthony Woodhouse Shot Down at Least Five German Aircraft During WWII
This one has always intrigued me: How did the child of New Orleans’ Rebecca de Mendes Kruttschnitt (1889-1974) wind up being a Royal Air Force squadron leader credited with at least five air victories during World War II? Well, Rebecca, the youngest daughter of my second great grandfather, Julius Kruttschnitt, Sr., married Henry de Clifford Woodhouse […]
Hidden Evidence Proves the Kruttschnitts Did Actually Live in Tucson House
By the time Patti Toci and her husband bought the Julius Kruttschnitt, Jr. house in Tucson, previous owners had taken virtually everything the family had left behind. Then, one day in the 1960s, a remodeling crew opened a plaster wall and discovered a small piece of uncrumpled paper behind the lathe. “It was a receipt,” […]