Person:Henry Ahrens (1)

Henry was born in Batterwarden. The location of the town is difficult to find. I (Ken) visited several map shops in the Hamburg area but none could locate the town, even though, they said, the suffix “warden” was coomon only in the area just to the south and west of Hamburg. On a map of Central Europe, 1786, on file, the Grand Duchie of Oldenburg is located just to the northwest of Bremen. Thus, Henry Ahrens was born in that area to the NW of Bremen.

In the Hamburg area I found several pages in the telephone directory of persons with the name Ahrens. There is to the northwest of Hamburg two towns containing the name Ahrens.

At what age and why Henry came to America is unknown at this time, although his daughter, Annie, thought that he had come as a boy with his parents. His parents were present at the baptism of Annie.

Henry was a successful business man in Philadelphia. He owned a German beer garden/restaurant in Philadelphia. According to his daughter, Annie, a street, Ahrens Street, was named for him. The beer garden was, insisted Annie, not a pub or bar, but a high class German restaurant. He also was a produce broker in the Philadelphia produce market. A business card listing him as a produce broker is in my possession.

In his mid–forties, Henry fell while boarding a trolley car in Philadelphia. His leg had to be amputated and caused him trouble from then on. He died of complications in that leg at the age of 49.

His widow, Karolina, was outwitted, per her daughter Annie, by supposed creditors and eventually lost most of what was left to her in Henry’s estate.