What if ....

Between 1874 and 1901, three incidents defined the course of our family:

• The death of CF Woerishoffer's only son, Oswald, a week after he was born in 1874.
• CFW’s untimely death in 1886 at the age of 41.
• The death of his eldest daughter (grandmother) Antoinette when giving birth to Uncle Antoine in 1901.

CFW died leaving a 36-year-old widow, two daughters (Antoinette and Emma Carola, respectively 11 and 1 years old) and a colossal fortune.

What if ....
his only son Oswald F. had not died an infant and had followed in his father's footsteps?
Anybody's guess.

What if ...
Great-grandfather Charles F. Woerishoffer had not died at such an early age?  He would have been 54 when Carlo S. married his daughter and he could easily have lived another 30 years.

Being who he was, he would have had great influence over the young couple and Carlo would never have behaved the way he did.

Nor would Nettie have inherited at such an early age.

CFW might even have taken Carlo under his wing at Woerishoffer & Co.  and everything would have evolved very differently.

What if ....
Antoinette had not died giving birth to Uncle Antoine?

After a few years living in Frensham, Surrey without friends or family and having to put up with Carlo's shenanigans, bankruptcies, and other tribulations on the London Stock Exchange, she decided to pack her bags and return to New York.

....   we'd all be American today!      

What if ....
Wasserburg had been chosen to house Uncle Antoine’s Princes Gate Collection instead of the Courtauld Institute?

A fit which would have given a true purpose to Wasserburg.

One of Austria’s great cultural attractions.

A national treasure.

Hypothetical and contrary to fact. Just wondering.      PS 36 

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