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CHAPTER 3
Loves Closer to Home
Julia Seeman was born in Cincinnati on June 6, 1867 to George and Caroline
(Carrie) Goodhart Seeman. George Seeman was a cotton factor. The Lehmann brothers, who originated their cotton
brokerage business in Montgomery, Alabama, asked George to go to New Orleans to start an office there. Cincinnati
and New Orleans had many family and business relations, and the two cities were directly linked by the Queen and
Crescent Railroad. The Lehmann family also had a New Orleans connection. Mrs. Lehmann had been a Neugast. The Seemans
moved to the city in the mid-i88os and lived, first on Coliseum Square, then in a large home on St. Charles Avenue
near Clio, and the family finally built a grand home on the lakeside of St. Charles Avenue between Aline and Delachaise.
Next door on one side was the Isidore Newman mansion and on the other was that of Morris Wolff. Accustomed to the
homes in the north where it was typical for the structure to have a subsurface basement, George Seeman insisted
that the house he built in NewOrleans should have one. Ruth claims that the Seeman home was the first in the city
to have been so designed. When George retired in 1904, the Seemans returned to Cincinnati, and the Danziger family
bought the home.
In the decades in which FJD grew up very assimilated and very eligible,
there were relatively few young Jewish women of interest. Ruth finds that it was "logical" that Julia
and FJD should meet. By the summer of 1889, they already had developed a relationship. In July, Julia wrote the
earliest surviving letter of their correspondence, explaining that, due to the "intense heat," her "Mama"
did not "approve of our intended sojourn to the Pass [Christian] ." The Seemans also were planning to
leave "for the North" and needed Julia's "assistance" at home. Julia, of course, regretted
that she would miss "the pleasure of spending a couple of days across the Lake" and looked forward to
indulging in "a jolly time there in the near future." On his part, FJD loved to tell how, when courting
Julia, he used to go to the Seeman home on Coliseum Square every Sunday evening because the cook made such wonderful
oyster soup.
When FJD had completed his stint in the legislature, he was ready to consider
settling down. Of course, even when deeply involved with politics, he had not neglected his law firm and notarial
practice.
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