Great Grandfather of Ute Gertrud Meyer Ullrich

Great-Great Grandfather of Sandra Schulze

 

Seaman Quartermaster on German Sloop – 1858-59

Seaman Quartermaster USS Cyane 1860-1863

 

Paul Albrand was born on 4 September 1839 to Carl Eduard Albrand and Frederike Louise Gronbeck Romer in Bad Shulze, Mecklenburg, Germany. His father Carl died on 22 November 1848 when Paul was only nine years old.

 

At age 20 Paul was a seaman serving on a German Sloop of War which came into the San Francisco harbor in 1859. While there he was recruited to serve on the ship USS Cyane, a Naval Sloop which was joining the Pacific Squadron. He assumed the name of William Brown because he belonged to a prominent family in Germany. The USS Cyane was built in a Boston shipyard and was to be part of the Pacific Squadron maintaining peace in the Pacific in the 1860’s. The vessel cruised along the coast of Mexico and California to protect the mail steamers, and the heavy shipments of gold during the American Civil War. His service ended in 1863 and it appears that he may have returned to Boston for a short time, but then returned to Germany.

 

At age 30 he married Dorothea Louise Lisette Auguste Dohse on 18 February 1870. Their first child, a son Paul was born in 1871, a daughter Martha in 1872, a son Friedrich in 1873, a son Otto in 1874 (he did not survive), a daughter Kathe in 1875 (died in 1876), a son Werner in 1877 (he died at age 22), a daughter Elisabeth in 1881 (she did not survive) and a son Ludwig in 1884. His mother Frederike died on 23 December 1875 in Bad Shulze, Mecklenburg, Germany.

 

Among the paperwork submitted by Ute and Sandra to join the Daughters of Union Veterans of the Civil War, 1861-1865 were many interesting documents. One of special interest was a note written in German requesting membership in the Grand Army of the Republic (G.A.R.). There was also a certificate showing that he was admitted to the Charles Russel Lowell GAR Post No. 1 in Boston, Massachusetts in 1891. He applied for an Invalid Pension on 20 May 1922 which listed his name as “Albrand, Paul – Brown, William 2nd (Alias). Discharged 1863 – Naval Service Cyane North Carolina.”

 

A few years before Paul Albrand died, he received this letter from the American Ambassador to Germany:

                                                                                    Berlin, February 12, 1930

My Dear Captain Albrand:

            It has come to my attention that you and Mrs. Albrand are celebrating on February eighteenth the sixtieth anniversary of your marriage.

            I am told that you are a veteran of the American Naval forces, having served in the United States S.S. CYANE during the Civil War, which service has been and still is acknowledged by the Government of the United States of America.

            I am deeply interested in the surviving members of the American Army and Navy of the Civil War period. My own father was one of these veterans and I myself am a member by inheritance from him of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United States.

            In view of the foregoing I desire to present to you, a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, and through you to Mrs. Albrand, my very sincere congratulations and good wishes on the occasion of your anniversary and to express the hope that you will both be spared for many more years of happiness.

            I am, my dear Captain Albrand,

                                    Very sincerely yours,

                                    (Signature unclear)

                                    American Ambassador

 

Paul Albrand died on 28 June 1935 in Warnemunde, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany at the age of 95. His wife, Dorothea died on 18 February 1937 in Roggendorf, Mecklenburg, Germany at age 89.

 

Written by Wenda Fore

Material from the DUVCW membership applications of Ute Ullrich, and Sandra Schulze

February 2020