The Seeman Family| The Natt Family | Origin of the Natt Family | Life in Frankfurt
Life in the United States | Bernie and Bobby | Julius Natt Branch

Julius Natt was my father's brother, born in Langenlonsheim in 1872. Since he could not get along with his step-mother Rosa Natt he emigrated to the U.S.A. in 1904. In 1908 he married Griedje Pardo Kulp, whose family came from Holland, but were Sephardic Jews originating from Portugal, then living in Paris. Julius and Griedje ran a chicken farm in New Jersey and had 4 children namely Ted, born 1910 in New York, and Rose, George and Marion, born in Carteret, N.J. in 1912, 1914 and 1916 respectively.

Since Julius could not take care of the 4 children after his wife passed away in 1923 he split up his family by keeping Ted with him in New York and sending the 3 younger children to Paris to be brought up by their maternal grand parents. Fortunately their father had strongly advised the children never to give up their U.S. citizenship. This saved their lives by being able to escape from France after Hitler's hordes conquered this country. Marion's report about their perilous flight from France is told by her on page 34. All members of the Pardo family were deported to the East and murdered. Julius Natt died in San Francisco in 1953.

Julius' oldest son Ted lived with his father and Aunt Emily for several years and then, while studying at the University of Oregon, enlisted in the ROTC (Reserve Officer's Training Corps). In the mid 1930s he converted to the Episcopalian Church and married Martha Sue McClelland in 1940. Their two Sons, Ted and John, for a long time had no knowledge of their Jewish heritage. After transferring to the Airforce he was stationed in England where he visited my parents several times. Ted took part in the invasions of North Africa, Italy and Southern France and finally retired from the military in 1961 with the rank of Colonel. He then worked for 10 years for one of the defense divisions of Philco-Ford until 1972, the year he passed away. He is buried in the Arlington National Cemetery.

Ted's oldest son, also named Ted, is an outstanding journalist, having received the much coveted Pulitzer Prize some years ago and runs the newspaper he owns. His younger brother John is an economist. Ted married Diane Gail Shields in 1963 and both of them are very interested in the history of the Natt family. It is to their credit that with the help of Ted's aunt Marion and her daughter Margaret they were able to locate us. Please refer to page 92 for details of this branch of our family. At this time we are in regular contact with Marion and her daughter Margaret, as well as with Ted and Diane. Ted even took a special trip to London and Langenlonsheim to trace the roots of his family, and Diane met Bernard on her trip to Israel.

George Natt was an officer in the Merchant Marine during the war and 3 of his ships were torpedoed out from under him, in shark infested waters. He passed away in 1997 but left no descendants. Marion and her daughter live in Manhattan and we see them every so often. We never met Rosa, she too lives in the West, but at this time is not well anymore.

We were very sad to learn that on August 7th, 1999, Ted Natt perished.  In his letter to us from June 1999, he told us how happy he was just to have been certified to pilot helicopters.  He had owned a regular fixed wing airplane for many years and was an excellent pilot.  Now he had purchased a helicopter as well, which he enjoyed very much.  On August 7th, he returned from a dinner not too far from his home but during the bad weather on this flight, the helicopter crahed and Ted was killed instantly.  It took about 6 weeks until the crash site was located.

It was a privilege to have known Ted Natt and we all shall miss him.