Heinrich Albert Küstner (1810 - 1833)

Born 4 Jan 1810 in Leipzig, Germany

Ancestors

Died 8 Jun 1833 at age 23 in Gulf of Mexico (at sea)

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Michael Meurer [send private message]

Biography

Heinrich Albert Küstner was born on January 4, 1810, in Leipzig, and died on June 8, 1833, on board the ship "Vandalia" in the Gulf of Mexico. He was the owner of the firm Duport, Küstner, and Company in Mexico and Veracruz, and the Saxon consul in Mexico. He never married.

(Here is a story worth researching! The Vandalia was a gunship of the United States Navy, at the time (1832-39) engaged in fighting piracy, and escorting merchant ships.

(Why was young Küstner's firm located in Mexico and Veracruz? It appears that Veracuz, a Mexican state on the Gulf coast, was caught up in the post-Independence (1810-21) tug of war between the aspirations of the emperor/president Agustín de Iturbide in Mexico City, and General Antonio López de Santa Anna in Veracruz state.

(So how did Saxon consul Heinrich Albert Küstner fit in with that struggle? Why was he on board an American warship at the time? How did he die?)

(My grandmother, Wanda (Reuter) Meurer, wrote in her copy of the family-history book (source of the text, below) that there was a "quadratisches Bild bei Wanda Meurer" - i.e., she had a square picture of him. I don't know what happened to it after her passing in 1996.)

"geb. Leipzig 4.1.1810 † auf dem Schiffe 'Vandalia' im Golf von Mexico 8.6.1833. Inhaber der Fa. Duport, Küstner, u. Co. in Mexiko und Veracruz, sächs. Konsul in Mexiko. (Unverheiratet.)"

Sources

• Notes and translation by Michael Meurer
• von Schroeder, Felix: Die Familie Schröder - v. Schroeder aus Königsberg i. Pr., Band 2: Die Geschwister Felix, Heinrich, Irene v. Schroeder: Ahnenlisten, Stammlisten, Nachfahrenlisten (Krailing, Germany, 1989), p. 396
• Wikipedia article, Vandalia
• Wikipedia article, missions of Vandalia's squadron
• Wikipedia article, Veracruz