A pre-Civil-War street scene in Charleston, sketched by British artist Eyre Crow in 1853 and engraved in 1861.
Philip Jatho's grave marker at Magnolia Cemetery in Charleston.
Charleston was home to one of the largest colonies of German immigrants in the entire United States. Several of our ancestral lines meet up in Charleston, including watchmaker Georg Wilhelm Jatho, who had emigrated in 1848, and his future wife, Elise Schuchmann. Elise had arrived several years earlier with her mother Marie and brother Philip to join her father Louis Schuchmann, whose prosperous fancy-goods store on King Street was established in 1840.
G.W. Jatho married Elise Schuchmann in Louisville, Kentucky a few months after the birth of their first child, Philip, who was probably named for both his great-grandfathers (Philipp Dressel and Philipp Schuchmann), the Herman perhaps from his great-uncle Hermann Dressel. We don't have a baptism record for Philip but all documents associated with him say that he was born in Charleston in 1852.
Information about Philip is scant. We have no photos or family stories, and he left no descendants, having never married. He didn't follow his father's trade but became a deputy clerk in the district court and also served as a notary public, both professions suggesting that he obtained a good education.
Philip died of broncho-pneumonia a day after his 33rd birthday in 1885 and was predeceased by his younger sister Elise (1881) and his father G.W. (1870). The Jatho family plot had already been established at Magnolia Cemetery, and Philip's mother and brothers provided him with a nice grave marker (though there's a mistake on it -- Philip died on October 20, not October 19).
Watch a short video of the Jatho family plot to see the beautiful and restful environs of Magnolia Cemetery.