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Nancy Burkenroad was one of the ten children
of Fanny Schwabacher and Henry Burkenroad. Born in Goodman, Mississippi, when
Nan was 12 years old, her mother died of a ruptured appendix. Her father, an
immigrant from Wehrda in Hessen, Germany, was a soldier in the Mexican War, an
itinerant peddler in Texas, Mississippi, Canada. and Louisiana, placed Nancy,
Willie, and Stella in St. Joseph's Convent in Marshall, Texas. The nuns were
kind to Nan. Since she and her sister and brother were Jewish children, the nuns
respected their father's request -- they didn't have to attend mass. After she
graduated, from the convent, Nancy moved to New Orleans. There her older sister
Sadie taught Nan to type so that she could get a job.
When Nan was 23, she chose among three
suitors Lewis Scherck to be her husband. He admired her sensible attitude, her
trim figure, her thick wavy brown hair that she brushed a hundred times each
morning -- he loved her. Nan thought that Lewis had a good future. He had
graduated from Tulane University and hoped to become a lawyer. His mother,
Esther Marks was born in Charleston, South Carolina to a family going back to
the American Revolution. Lewis's father, Isaac Scherck, born in Posen, Prussia,
was a veteran of The American Civil War. When Lewis Scherck and Nancy Burkenroad
were married in October,1896, the bride carried a bouquet of golden rod.
When his father died, Lewis had to give up
his dream of being a lawyer. He became an assistant manager of a broom factory,
and then later became a sugar tester for J. Aron Coffee Company, his wife's
family's business. Whatever he had, however, Lewis always thought was the best:
his job, his wife, his own recipe for making molasses candy or his recipe for
preparing oatmeal. They lived in a yellow frame house with gingerbread trim next
door to Nan's brother Willy.
On a cold December morning in 1898, their
daughter was born. That morning, Nan awakened her husband. "You'd better get the
doctor; my pains are close." Lewis ran to the St. Charles Avenue street car, a
horse drawn trolley When Lewis returned with Dr. Magruder, they could her Nan
cry out. Dr. Magruder raced up the stairs where Nan was delivering the baby.
"Oh, my," he said "You're torn, but you have a healthy baby girl " There she
was, a perfect squalling baby, brown as a pecan. "No more babies for you," Dr.
Magruder said, but you do have a lovely baby girl. They named her Fanny Vera,
after Nan's mother and after Lewis's cousin Vera in Germany because they liked
the name.
Nan made for the baby a pink French
flannel saque crocheted around the edge. The baby's dresses and bonnet had tiny
tucks and were trimmed with ribbons and lace. Vera looked up at her mama with
large brown eyes, and soon she smiled at her papa. Her great grandfather in
Charleston wrote her a letter:
My Darling Vera
Although I have three boys here, I love you the same as ever, and would give
one thousand dollars for a sweet kiss and nice hug from you.
Never mind I will soon meet you in N.O. , and I expect to have a jolly good time
with you.
God bless and protect you, your dear mama and dear papa.
Your loving great grandpa,
Jos, H. Marks
Dave March, Lewis's friend, sent Fanny
Vera a ten dollar gold piece.
Vera grew tall, her dark hair thick and long.
Soon her mother would brush her hair into curls, and later Vera wore a braid
down her back. She would climb onto her daddy's lap. "I love you, Daddy, "she'd
say." Can I see your watch?" He'd take his gold watch from his vest pocket, place
it next to Vera's ear so she could her its gentle tick, tick. Or, when he opened
the back cover, she was fascinated with the the bright red jewels inside and the
tiny wheels that turned. |
