Tangara gyrola catharinae (Hellmayr, 1911) (1 Viewer)

[Taphrospilus]

Tangara gyrola catharinae (Hellmayr, 1911) OD here

I have named this well-characterized new form after my wife, who takes considerable interest in ornithology and has materially helped me in the preparation of this report.

The Eponym Dictionary of Birds claims

Bay-headed Tanager ssp. Tangara gyrola catharinae Hellmayr, 1911
Mrs Catharine 'Kate' Hellmayr (fl.1944) was the describer's wife.

The Key to Scientific Names

Catharine Hellmayr (fl. 1944) wife of US ornithologist Carl E. Hellmayr (subsp. Tangara gyrola).

Would say Carl Eduard Hellmayr (1878-1944) Austrian/US ornithologist. Nevertheless it would be interesting to get his wifes life dates and maiden name. I assume her name was Katherina (but have no final evidence).

 

[PScofield]

All I can find is that she was Katherina and was German-born about 1881

 

[mb1848]

John Zimmer's memoriam for Hellmayr has good information.
https://sora.unm.edu/sites/default/files/journals/auk/v061n04/p0616-p0622.pdf .
Hellmayr never became a US citizen. That is OK one quarter of my town are not either. He was in Chicago from 1922 to 1931. The Americans refered to him as Charles and his wife as Kate.
Museum News .
He was imprisoned when the Nazi's took over in Vienna and his real property in Munich was conficated. Was this just for believing in science and not the occult?
See, Emberiza cia prageri Laubmann, 1915 & Parus ater prageri Hellmayr, 1915 .
Max Prager's brother Willy was transported to Auschwitz in 1943.

 

[Taphrospilus]

She might have died in Switzerland as her husband?

 

[Taphrospilus]

Sorry another thought. Do we know where and when Hellmayr married? In Munich?

 

[mb1848]

Zimmer says 1903 to 1905 Munich 1905 to 1908 Tring England. 1908 to 1922 Munich. Name is dated 1911 and dedication sounded like they were newly married to me. Munich old town 90% destroyrd by allied bombing unlikely to find 1910 Munich marriage records. Maybe he took her back to meet family in Austria and get married?

 

[PScofield]

See attached Katharina Hascher (1881-) Born 13 March 1881 Munich, Bavaria, Germany

In Germany the spelling of the surname is extremely unusual (and I suspect an Austrian dialectal thing). In German most are Heilmaier. However, there is a K. Hellmayr living in Hamburg in 1960.

 

[mb1848]

Great find! I think document shows why they returned to Europe in 1931 seven years after the filing of this intention in 1924. I am glad I was born here as I am an anarchist and although I do not believe in polygamist practices I really like their genealogy works.

 

[Taphrospilus]

I speculate either died in Switzerland or returned to Germany after war.

 

[mb1848]

I speculate either died in Switzerland or returned to Germany after war.

Thanks to a link provided by Bjorn here:
Björn Bergenholtz .
We can see that the couple in September 1939 decided to return to the US but history interceded. I wonder if Mrs. Hellmayr returned to Chicago.? In the Ibis it mentions they only got to Switzerland through a bluff by a US citizen??

Chicago Natural History Bulletin June 1944 lists Kate Hellmayr as living in Geneva Switzerland.
v. 15 (1944) - Bulletin - Biodiversity Heritage Library .

​

 

[Taphrospilus]

In Memoriam-Carl Eduard Hellmayr

In late 1943, he and Mrs. Hellmayr moved to Orselina, near Locarno, for the winter in the hope that the milder climate of the Tessin region would benefit him.

He is survived by his widow, Mrs. Kate Hellmayr, whose name he had given many years before to the colorful tanager, 'Calospiza gyroloides catharinae.'

And Orselina is the place where he died.

 

[Björn Bergenholtz]

Ok, this far we've got a "Kate" (Katherina/Katharina*) Hellmayr, born in Munich (München), Germany, (apparently/allegedly as "Katharina Hascher"?), on the 13th of March 1881, wife of the Austrian ornithologist Carl [Charles, in the US] E. Hellmayr.

Small steps forward ...

Well done guys!

Björn

---

*Inconsistent spelling of her original (German) name; Katherina/Katharina (in this thread, that is) versus the Key's (more English): "Catharine Hellmayr (fl. 1944)" ... ?

 

[Björn Bergenholtz]

Notheworthy (at least to me), in Hellmayr's own (Catalogue of) Birds of the Americas ... (Vol.13, Part 9, 1936), Mr Hellmayr himself wrote the name of this Bird as:

Calospiza gyrola catharinae ... CATHARINA'S GREEN TANAGER

[here]​

Thus, this far, I'd go for Catharina Hellmayr (born 1881), a k a 'Kate' ditto in the US, ... (German) Wife of Carl E. [Eduard] Hellmayr, .... and onwards.

Also note Mr Hellmayr's (first) Obituary, in The Ibis 87 (1), 1945, which ends with the Phrase:

His invariable companion was his faithful wife, who now survives him and remains in Switzerland.

[here]​

Good luck finding her (in full) ...

/B

PS. Also see Neue Deutsche Biographie, where we in the entry for Carl E. Hellmayr, (written by Erwin Stresemann) find his wife mentioned/listed as "N. N.; kinderlos". [N.N. = nomen nescio, ('No Name'), i. e. name unknown (to me); kinderlos = without issue], here.

 

[Taphrospilus]

Not very German Catharina with C.

 

[Björn Bergenholtz]

Sure, but still, that's Mr Hellmayr's (own) choice of words.



/B

 

[Taphrospilus]

But in an English publication.

 

[Björn Bergenholtz]

Another (now updated) English source of reference (i.e. the Key itself) now says:

● Catharine Hellmayr (b. 1881) German wife of Austrian ornithologist Carl E. Hellmayr (subsp. Tangara gyrola).

... ?

I'd put my money on the ...rina ending of her Given name.

For what it's worth.




/B

 

[mb1848]

In the document posted by Paul the woman herself declared "so help me God" her name was Kate with a K. In 1924 people shyed away from lying under oath. The document was filed in US District Court, ie making it a federal matter. Not to be taken lightly. I have looked up the ship SS Reliance it existed. I looked up the street address it still exists. I do not think she lied.

 

[PScofield]

She was Katharina Hascher (1881-) Born 13 March 1881 in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. In the first record, Kate's mothers name is on the wrong line. A Katherina Hascher is still living in Munich in 1950.

 

[Björn Bergenholtz]

In the document posted by Paul the woman herself declared "so help me God" her name was Kate with a K. In 1924 people shyed away from lying under oath. The document was filed in US District Court, ie making it a federal matter. Not to be taken lightly. I have looked up the ship SS Reliance it existed. I looked up the street address it still exists. I do not think she lied.

Sure, Mark, that she did, though note that she also, at the same time, in the same document, "do declare on oath", that the name of her husband was "Charles E." ... (and not Carl E., his original proper/correct name).

Until proven wrong, I'd regard "Kate" as a "nick-name", alt. what was she was called, in everyday Life (and even more so, in US/English connections/contexts).

/B