A painting of Anna Marie Dressel, about 1827, for her presentation at court in Hesse-Darmstadt.
A church in Bessungen, Hesse-Darmstadt
View of King Street in Charleston, 1883, looking south on the block where Schuckmann's Store was located.
Johann Ludwig Schuchmann was born in May 1805 in Reinheim, Hesse-Darmstadt, the son of Georg Philipp Schuchmann and Elisabetha Margaretha Vonderschmidt. Philipp was a haberdasher, a maker of lace, braid and trimmings for fabrics; so was his son Ludwig.
In November 1828 Ludwig married Anne Marie Dressel, born December 1811 in Bessungen, a suburb of Darmstadt, daughter of Johann Philipp Dressel, a master-butcher ("Metzgermeister"), and Elisabetha Mass. Marie's baptism record also gives us the name of her grandfather (also a master-butcher), Heinrich Philipp Dressel, and her grandmother, Catharina Elisabetha Künzel. Marie was named for her step-grandmother Anna Maria (Buxbaum) Schuchmann.
Ludwig and Marie had two children, Elisabeth Margarethe (born 1829) and Johann Philipp (1829). Louis emigrated to Charleston, South Carolina around 1840 and established a prosperous fancy-goods store on King Street, one of the major shopping areas in town. He was naturalized in 1841. An advertisement for his store can be seen by clicking the link in the column at left. The family surname was changed to Schuckmann in Charleston.
Marie Dressel Schuckmann and the children followed several years later. Mrs. Schuckmann was much admired for her artistic and patriotic embroidery; she contributed a flag to the local regiment, details of which are noted in two articles from the Charleston Mercury at left.
Son Philip joined his father in running Schuckmann's Store on King Street; Philip was also a second lieutenant in the Palmetto Riflemen Company in 1861, defending Charleston from Northern troops during the Civil War. In 1868 he married Susan Caroline Cater, daughter of Charleston auctioneer Theodore M. Cater and his wife Susan Evans. Philip and Susan Schuckmann had no children.
Louis and Marie's daughter Elise married Georg Wilhelm Jatho, a watchmaker and jeweler from Dransfeld, Hanover. Together they had seven children.
When Louis died in 1872 his son Philip became sole proprietor of Schuckmann's Store. Philip's nephew William Jatho worked as a clerk in the shop and took over the business when Philip died in 1900.
Marie Dressel Schuchmann died in 1882. She, her husband Louis, son Philip and daughter-in-law Susan Caroline are all buried in Bethany Cemetery in Charleston.
There may be a connection to a Schuchmann family who lived in Louisville, Kentucky and who spent some time in Pennsylvania and Louisiana as well. The Louiville family patriarch, a prosperous tailor, was known as Louis Schuchmann, born about 1818 in Hesse-Darmstadt, and married Adeline Pfleiger or Pfleger around 1842. It was in Louisville that Elise Schuckmann married G.W. Jatho in 1852. We assume that this presumed family connection (and possibly the birth of their first son a few months prior to the wedding) drew the bridal couple to a discreet place to celebrate their nuptials. We hope to uncover evidence to prove the connection.