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Washington Women’s Heritage Project records, 1900-2000 
University of Washington Libraries Special Collections 
Erna Dora Meerscheidt Bouillon 
October 2, 1980 
Cassette 1, Side 2 
 
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  00:04 
Washington Women's Heritage Project, interview with Erna Bouillon by Susan Ehlers, October 
2, 1980. Tape one, side two. [Pause] Testing, one, two, three. Okay, well, you can't find it. Well, 
maybe we can look for-- 
 
Erna Bouillon  01:55 
Yeah. 
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  01:55 
--try and find out later, okay?  
 
Erna Bouillon  01:58 
Yeah. Here's the Academy in New Braunfels. 
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  02:02 
Okay, and grandmother's name, paternal grandmother's name? 
 
Erna Bouillon  02:10 
The, let's see, that's the father? 
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  02:15 
Yes, father's mother.  
 
Erna Bouillon  02:17 
The father's mother was Louise.  
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  02:21 
L-O-U-I-S-E. Remember what her maiden name was? 
 
Erna Bouillon  02:26 
That was a maiden name, Louise.  
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  02:28 
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No, I mean, but the last name.  
 
Erna Bouillon  02:30 
Oh, no, I don't. Wait a minute, it may have been Reutzel, R-E-U-T-Z-E-L. 
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  02:30 
R-- 
 
Erna Bouillon  02:30 
E-U-T-Z-E-L. I hate to give you this information [inaudible], I might make mistakes.  
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  02:57 
Oh, that's okay. Let's see, oh, okay, your mother's name was, maiden was Olga-- 
 
Erna Bouillon  03:09 
Olga Remer, and she got married at the age of 16 by the doctor, her father, and her mother. And 
my father was 28 and she was 16. 
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  03:36 
Okay, what year was that, do you know? 
 
Erna Bouillon  03:42 
No, I could, I could find everything, I've got books galore, but got, I'm all connected here. 
[Movement] These are the books, now that's the family coat of arms on my father's side. See the 
family record, page 116, 114, here. He's Alexander Meerscheidt and he married Olga Remer, see, 
and Family Branch-- Oh, her name was, his mother was Amanda Carolyn. Amanda-- 
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  04:42 
This is the paternal?  
 
Erna Bouillon  04:43 
Pat-- The father's.  
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  04:45 
Okay, Amanda.  
 
Erna Bouillon  04:47 
Amanda Carolyn von Rosenberg. 
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  04:54 
Oh, that was her maiden name? 
 
Erna Bouillon  04:56 
Yeah, yes, the family branch.  
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  05:02 
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B-U-R-G, or B-E-- 
 
Erna Bouillon  05:04 
R-O-S-E-N, Rosenberg. And they're the von Rosenbergs. And the, my father was Alexander 
Meerscheidt and he was 28, he, he had a very, I don't know how much you want me to go in. 
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  05:28 
Okay, well, okay. Well, do you know the year that your mother was born? Let's get that. 
 
Erna Bouillon  05:34 
Let's see, mother, let's see. She was born in-- I can't read that.  
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  05:51 
Looks like 1864. 
 
Erna Bouillon  05:55 
In New Braunfels, Texas, in February. And she died. You want that?  
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  06:12 
Yes, [reading family tree] 1931. 
 
Erna Bouillon  06:16 
Yeah, [inaudible] my mother. 
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  06:22 
[Inaudible.] 
 
Erna Bouillon  06:26 
And these are the von Meerscheidt, my father's people, when they came to this country, dropped 
the title of von, their name really was von Meerscheidt, they had the double title, von Hullessem. 
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  06:45 
Von Meerscheidt, von-- 
 
Erna Bouillon  06:46 
Hullessem, von and I'll tell you how to spell Hullessem.  
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  08:30 
Just a moment, before Meerscheidt and-- 
 
Erna Bouillon  08:34 
Von Hullessem, H-- 
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  08:35 
Mm-hmm. 
 
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Erna Bouillon  08:38 
H-U-umlaut, you know what that is?  
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  08:43 
Yes, the double dots. 
 
Erna Bouillon  07:05 
Yeah, L-L-E-S-S-E-M, Hullessem. So, and they dropped their title, my father did, von 
Meerscheidt, because they knew, you know, the, what the negro, negros down south did? They 
would pick up prominent names, maybe of their master, only they had to make their first name 
different and, but my father knew that no black man would take pick up his name, it was too hard 
to spell. And so they dropped their titles on the way over. But the von Rosenbergs thought that 
people would think they were Jewish. In fact, I showed, she asked, who you-- Oh, I showed her 
this, and said, "Who's your grand, grandmother?" And I said, "Well, von Rosenberg." She said, 
"Oh, they were Jews." I said, "No, because in Germany, no Jew can have a title." They can-- So 
they kept their, their, their title, von, when they came to this country, because they didn't want 
people to think they were Jews.  
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  08:44 
Okay, let's see, I think I have [inaudible], birth and death date.  
 
Erna Bouillon  08:44 
Oh, what was that, now? Was that 19? 
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  09:23 
I don't know. I didn't see what the--  
 
Erna Bouillon  09:25 
15, 16 here, I think, yeah. 
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  09:30 
Let's see, that was, oh, I see that was-- Oh, that's death. [?Olga, you?] got married, age 16, 1881. 
[Inaudible]. Okay, and that was in Seattle, or, where are we? No, [?New Brauns?]-- 
 
Erna Bouillon  09:35 
These were, they-- My father was married in New Braunfels. And when he wanted to marry 
Olga, the father, the doctor and his wife, refused, said she was too young to get married. She was 
15 or 16, and he, he said, "Well, I think you're very, it's very foolish, because on the rebound, she 
may marry any old person, whereas I will," see they wanted her to have more education because 
they were educated people. He said, "I am well educated, and I will educate her. I will talk to her 
and explain things. She'll travel all over Europe, and she will be introduced only in the very best 
of families, and will have all those advantages. And she will, she will gain by this." So, the 
doctor and his wife, Olga's mother, thought it over, and they said yes, and they gave them a 
wedding. So they were married. 
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  10:50 
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So your maternal grandfather was a doctor? 
 
Erna Bouillon  09:28 
That my, my mother's father was a doctor. And he was offered to come, he was practicing in 
New Braunfels with a [?Dr. Herb?], and I've got him written up.  
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  09:35 
Okay. I just wanted to pick up on that. 
 
Erna Bouillon  10:18 
Here, yeah, I've got that all written out here.  
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  11:32 
Okay, well, let's dig a little more with your parents, [inaudible]. Okay, your mother was a 
housewife. Did she ever work outside the home?  
 
Erna Bouillon  11:41 
Oh, no, no. They didn't work, they had servants. 
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  11:47 
[?Oh, that's a?] homemaker. 
 
Erna Bouillon  11:49 
And traveled, see, they traveled so much. I got-- 
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  11:56 
Both, and they're both of German origin?  
 
Erna Bouillon  11:58 
Yes.  
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  11:59 
Okay, what, let's see. What year was your father-- 
 
Erna Bouillon  12:02 
[Inaudible] Olga married in 1881 and Alexander, that was my father, was 28, 28 years old. Oh, 
18--yes--81 at 16.  
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  12:26 
Okay, your father was 28 in 18-- 
 
Erna Bouillon  12:31 
He was born in 1850, my grand-- My father.  
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  12:41 
1850 and what year did he--  
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Erna Bouillon  12:46 
1853, I made a mistake.  
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  12:47 
1853 and what year did he die? 
 
Erna Bouillon  12:48 
Well, I don't know whether I have that written down. He was born-- Oh, he died, this was, who 
was, who are we talking about?  
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  13:00 
Father, your father. 
 
Erna Bouillon  13:02 
Alexander, nine, he died in 1921. 
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  13:07 
Okay, and he was born in New Braunfels? 
 
Erna Bouillon  13:13 
No.  
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  13:14 
He was born in Germany? 
 
Erna Bouillon  13:15 
No, he was born in San Antonio, yeah.  
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  13:20 
And he died in Seattle? 
 
Erna Bouillon  13:28 
Yeah. And, let's see, I had pictures, this one ancestor, back further was, his picture was in the 
Alamo because he was an architect and the engineer, and he set the-- See, the Mexicans were 
always trying to take the Texas land from the white people. So he set the boundary lines for 
Texas, what he thought they should be. And the legislature in, I think it was in Austin, approved 
his boundary lines and threw out the ones they had made. And then the legislature in 
Washington, DC threw out their plans for Texas and accepted his. He was a very learned man, 
and his picture--  
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  14:15 
So, the boundary lines for the state? 
 
Erna Bouillon  14:24 
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Texas, for the state. And, and his picture hung in the Alamo, and I was down there in June of this 
year, and I saw it. 
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  14:47 
See, okay, and you had how many sisters? You said, two? 
 
Erna Bouillon  14:53 
No, I had three sisters. The two-- Do you want their names?  
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  14:59 
Yes, please.  
 
Erna Bouillon  15:00 
Well, my oldest one was Beulah, and then Emita. 
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  15:10 
Emita?  
 
Erna Bouillon  15:10 
E-M-I-T-A. 
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  15:11 
E-M-I-T-A.  
 
Erna Bouillon  15:14 
That's a Spanish influence. And then myself, and then Ilma, I-L-M-A, Ilma Ottoni, O-T-T-O-N-I, 
who was nine years younger than I am, and she died about six months ago. 
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  15:41 
O-T-T-- 
 
Erna Bouillon  15:42 
O-N-I. 
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  15:46 
Okay. And did you have any brothers?  
 
Erna Bouillon  15:48 
I had an older brother. He was-- They lost two babies in the Texas heat, the first two, one was a 
boy and one was a girl. So, of course, we didn't know them, they were the two oldest children. 
And then my brother, Arthur, was born A-- No, I guess Arthur was born first, A-R-T-H-U-R. 
And you see, my mother was so young, and she had such a small waist, that she laid in that bed 
three days trying to give birth to the child. In this day and age, they would have had a-- 
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  16:31 
Cesarean section. 
Page 8 of 8 
 
 
Erna Bouillon  16:32 
--cesarean section, and so he, his brain was injured, and he had a blood clot, it would travel 
around, when it hit a certain point, he'd fall to the floor and, and have a spell. Everything would 
shake, and everything, sort of like epilepsy, but the doctors say it was not epilepsy. But it was, I 
always told my high school friends not to get frightened if they were visiting me and he fell, and 
had had a spell like that, because when it was over, [inaudible]. And he was very intelligent, he 
read everything and took notes, he was, had notebooks galore that he wrote in. But you see, he 
never worked, my father supported him. And, and we grew up on Mercer Island. I have pictures 
of all our homes, and I, my home in San Antonio, and you'd be interested in seeing them all.  
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  17:33 
Okay. Do you have the years of birth of your sisters?  
 
Erna Bouillon  17:39 
Oh, dear me, let's see. I don't think I wrote them down. Well, my sister, Emita, was, her birthday 
was July 7, she was two years older than I, and when, mine would have been-- 
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  18:00 
So that would make it 1891. 
 
Erna Bouillon  18:02 
I think so.  
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  18:03 
And if Ilma was--  
 
Erna Bouillon  18:06 
Nine years younger than I.  
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  18:08 
1902. 
 
Erna Bouillon  18:10 
So when we were in this boarding school in Germany, my mother and father took an apartment 
in Berlin, and with that little, she was four years old, my little sister, with her and my sick 
brother, lived in Berlin. 
 
Susan Lynn Ehlers  18:54 
Washington Women's Heritage Project, Erna Bouillon, interviewed by Susan Ehlers, October 2, 
1980, end of tape two-- One, side two. 
 