A long tale about a worrisome Fortean.
Frederick G. Hehr came into this world 11 April 1890 in Germany. Later, he would say he was an “iconoclast and born Fortean who never took anything on somebodies say-so. Of which ample proof at age 3.” He traveled a lot—“more than a Limey sailor or official of the Colonial Office in the good old days”—and there are records of him in Mexico, Cuba, New Orleans, and New York City during the 1920s. Hehr says he visited Liverpool in 1912, where he found the women soap and water shy. He “acquired a knowledge of a number of languages to dispense with translators”—and those same records from the 1920s have him able to read and write English. Dutch, he thought, was the most useful language—one of his opinions on many, many items: “THE language for correct pronunciation, not only of Spanish, but of Arabic, Turkish, Russian and a dozen other assorted languages is, Holland Dutch. The German ch is as different from the Spanish j as the German and English w’s and th’s. For one who has to learn many languages, learning Dutch really is a timesaver as it contains all the vowels and combinations of consonants used anywhere.”
Working as a seaman, he learned engineering and, in 1928, moved to Hempstead New York, taking work at the Aerol Engine Corporation. The following year, he was joined by his wife, Elizabeth, and their two children (also Elizabeth, born around 1922, and Frederick, born around 1926. Seriously). The elder Frederick and Elizabeth had been married around 1920. Their lives in Germany are unknown. The family were still on Long Island in 1934, though 30 miles away in Sayville, and seemed to be still working for Aerol. He may have been in Missoula, Montana in 1935. (There’s a letter written to Liberty magazine, volume 12, issue 2, page 57, arguing for more scanty dress, which reads like something from Hehr and gives Missoula as his address.) By 1937, he and Elizabeth (and presumably their children) lived in Los Angeles, according to the city directory, where he worked as a machinist. His life seems to have undergone some turmoil on the West Coast. After 1942, the city directory no longer lists Frederick and Elizabeth together. (Rather, it seems the two Elizabeths lived together.) In 1944, the directory linked him to Dorothy Hehr, a housewife. And after 1952, he was listed alone. Frederick G. Hehr stayed in the area until his death in 1970.
Frederick G. Hehr came into this world 11 April 1890 in Germany. Later, he would say he was an “iconoclast and born Fortean who never took anything on somebodies say-so. Of which ample proof at age 3.” He traveled a lot—“more than a Limey sailor or official of the Colonial Office in the good old days”—and there are records of him in Mexico, Cuba, New Orleans, and New York City during the 1920s. Hehr says he visited Liverpool in 1912, where he found the women soap and water shy. He “acquired a knowledge of a number of languages to dispense with translators”—and those same records from the 1920s have him able to read and write English. Dutch, he thought, was the most useful language—one of his opinions on many, many items: “THE language for correct pronunciation, not only of Spanish, but of Arabic, Turkish, Russian and a dozen other assorted languages is, Holland Dutch. The German ch is as different from the Spanish j as the German and English w’s and th’s. For one who has to learn many languages, learning Dutch really is a timesaver as it contains all the vowels and combinations of consonants used anywhere.”
Working as a seaman, he learned engineering and, in 1928, moved to Hempstead New York, taking work at the Aerol Engine Corporation. The following year, he was joined by his wife, Elizabeth, and their two children (also Elizabeth, born around 1922, and Frederick, born around 1926. Seriously). The elder Frederick and Elizabeth had been married around 1920. Their lives in Germany are unknown. The family were still on Long Island in 1934, though 30 miles away in Sayville, and seemed to be still working for Aerol. He may have been in Missoula, Montana in 1935. (There’s a letter written to Liberty magazine, volume 12, issue 2, page 57, arguing for more scanty dress, which reads like something from Hehr and gives Missoula as his address.) By 1937, he and Elizabeth (and presumably their children) lived in Los Angeles, according to the city directory, where he worked as a machinist. His life seems to have undergone some turmoil on the West Coast. After 1942, the city directory no longer lists Frederick and Elizabeth together. (Rather, it seems the two Elizabeths lived together.) In 1944, the directory linked him to Dorothy Hehr, a housewife. And after 1952, he was listed alone. Frederick G. Hehr stayed in the area until his death in 1970.