MY ANCESTOR, THE DENTIST
This year I decided to take part in the challenge "52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks" created by Amy Johnson Crow of "Generations Cafe". I have enjoyed creating blog posts to match the specific topic for each week, however, this week has been a real challenge trying to decide just what to write about. The topic "Bridge" just did not "speak to me".
After debating this all week I decided to take the topic and spin it in a different direction - dental direction! Yes, dentists do bridges for patients and I came up with this post.
In my ancestral history I only know of one dentist. His story is unique in several ways and I decided to write about him for this post.
Otto Hermann Erich Colberg was one of my maternal grandmother's 67 first cousins. While she never met him, from all I have learned about him I am sure they would have enjoyed each other's company.
Otto Colberg was born March 24, 1904 in Alt Latzig, Kreis Rummelsburg, Pommern, Germany to my grandmother's uncle, Johann Eduard Colberg and his wife Berta Wilhelmine Hepke. He remained in Germany all of his life though 5 of his father's brothers did immigrate to the US and adopt the spelling of the surname as Kolberg.
In approximately 1925, at the age of 21, Otto began his career as a dentist in Berlin. At that time he discovered that there was another dentist in the area, also named Otto Colberg, so my ancestor decided to change his name to Otto Kolberg in order to differentiate himself from his fellow dentist. His immediate family maintained the spelling of Kolberg as their surname though all the other descendants of Johann and Berta Colberg continued to spell their surname as Colberg.
On June 15, 1928 in Berlin, Otto married Martha Herta Hedwig Birke. Here is a wedding photo of the two of them:
When writing this post I wondered just when dental bridges became widely used. I found the following on Google:
"About 4,000 years ago in China, people carved bamboo into tooth-shaped pegs, then used them to complete their smile. By 1500 BC, the Egyptians were using gold and silver wire to thread artificial teeth together. These early versions of dental bridges were then secured to adjacent teeth to fill in gaps and spaces."
With this information it is safe to say that Otto Hermann Erich Kolberg did his share of dental bridges for his patients though I am sure the procedure was much improved since the Chinese first started doing them.
When I visited Berlin in 2008 and visited with Otto's son, Gerhard Kolberg and family, they took me to the section of Berlin where Otto's dental office had once been. Despite the ravages of WWII on Berlin the building was still standing though not a dental office any longer. It was emotional to be able to stand and view a building that at one time was a place where an ancestor had practiced dentistry.
Otto Kolberg's former dental office (taken in 2008):
Unfortunately, Otto was unable to practice dentistry for very long as he suffered from cardiac issues and passed away at the age of 33 of a heart attack. His son, Gerhard, was only 7 when his father died. However, Gerhard continued to honor the memory of his father and as an adult devoted many years to tracing his Colberg/Kolberg family which would have pleased his father I am sure.
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