I surely know about Schloss Moderwitz--my great granfather Bernhard von Beust was born there. He was one of the numerous von Beust family.
(We are only distantly related the famous Count Ferdinand von Beust who was an important figure in the German and Austrian
politics of the 19th century. von Beusts are still around in German politiics cf Ole von Beust).
Moderwitz is a small town outside Neustadt an der Orla in Thuringia. It is close to Apolda, where the Doberman dog was
developed by Dobermann the man(a sacred spot for some of us--I have three Dobermans myself)
The "Schloss Moderwitz" name for the house was by way of being a bit of fun, a reflection of our family's tendency to make
off the wall jokes that we keep to ourselves. The house is not a schloss(castle) at all
but a rather nice country house--grandiose perhaps, but not a castle! It still stands. I have a photo if anyone cares.attached file
My great great grandfather Max Freiherr von Beust was an army officer himself, but since he died in 1832 and the experts say this
uniform is from the late nineteenth century, this could not be Max. On the other hand, Max(who was the master of Schloss Moderwitz
in his time) had eleven children. So it seems quite likely that this is one of his numerous sons--not my great grandfather
however. I know what he looks like and this is not he.
I have family records that say that someone named Tilo von B did indeed reside at Schloss Moderwitz(someone is writing about going
to visit him) later in the 19th century--
presumably one of Max's sons who stayed(my great grandfather went first to the USA eventually and others of Max's numerous
children did, also(eg Agnes von B who married Adolh Douai, a well known figure in American education, one of the early introducers
of kindergarten in the USA).
But I do not have a complete list of Max's children and I have no way to know whether the Tilo of my family records
was really named Tilo or if that was some sort of nickname, nor do I know whether he was an army officer,
My great grandfather was--but in the Union Army of the Civil War. He was an army doctor at the Harper's Ferry Hospital
with the rank of major(I have an oil portrait of him in uniform)
If anyone can identify the man in the picture , I would surely be interested.
Thanks
Robert E. Greene
