Elene Constantine

To bloom in Heaven
Sam and Elene
children of
Nick & Lotta
Constantine
Oct 31, 1881, June 10, 1883;
June 18, 1885, Feb. 22, 1885

Photo Credit: Rosa G. Gonzales

---

Sam and Elene Constantine

These two little ones are the children of Nic Constantine (of Greece) and his wife Lotta Kischler. Both children died young. Sam was born October 31, 1881; and Elene was born June 10, 1883. Both died in 1885 only about four months apart. It was apparently very hard on their parents. Their mother ultimately committed suicide. The account of her death notes that she was born Lotta Kischler, a native of Pogorzela, Germany about 1860. On April 27, 1899 she took two ounces of carbolic acid and died before doctors could save her. Lotta was laid to rest in the Jewish cemetery of the city and was survived by her husband Nic (who ran the Constantine Hotel), children Leon and Edna, her mother and a brother in Germany, a brother in New York, and her brother Mr. J. M. Kischler of Skidmore (Corpus Christi Caller, April 28, 1899 page 4, col. 4 and also Corpus Christi Caller, May 5, 1899, page 5, col. 2). By September of that year her widower Nic had moved to Laredo (Corpus Christi Caller, September 22, 1899, page 4, col. 4). Some years later the local paper (Weekly Corpus Christi Caller of June 16, 1911 on page 5, col. 1) reported the death of Leon Constantine on June 6, 1911 at Nogales, Arizona. The paper noted that Leon was born in Corpus Christi in the early 1880s like Sam and Elene. The obit of Leon says that his father, who was Greek, had formerly conducted the Old Constantine Hotel. Another article reported that Nic the Greek was the most celebrated chef in the area—“ the best cook south of Beeville, for he could take a trout, fry it on one side and stew it on the other†(Corpus Christi Caller & Daily Herald of May 6, 1916, page 3, col. 3-4).

.

Research and transcription: Michael A. Howell