MARGARETE KURTZMAN DIES IN HOSPITAL AT AGE OF 92

Owner of Painting Stored In Court Clerk’s Office Since 1904

Death Thursday of Mrs. Margarete Kurtzman, 92, in the Norfolk state hospital may soon bring the answer to an enigma of 38 years.

It is a large painting titled “Christ Bearing the Cross” and it has hung in the vault of the district court clerk’s office at Blair since 1904 when Mrs. Kurtzman, its owner was committed to the hospital.

Mrs. Kurtzmann and her husband, the late Theodore Kurtzmann, had always asserted the painting was the work of Raphael. They treasured it in their modest home at Blair, and later at Fort Calhoun. They were bitter when some doubted their assertions.

Kurtzman’s principal confidant was I. C. Eller, former county judge. He told Eller his wife had belonged to royalty in Germany, and that they eloped, with the bridegroom carrying the prized painting on his back. Neighbors heard the same story from Mrs. Kurtzmann. She said the painting had been acquired in the seventeenth century by her ancestors.

Fifty eight years ago the Kurtzmans moved to Blair from Germany. A short time later they located at Fort Calhoun where they owned a grocery store. Then their daughter, an only child, died and they began to shun their neighbors.

Finally Mr. Kurtzman was committed to hospital in Iowa where he died. After that Mrs. Kurtzmann blame a recluse, refusing to see her neighbors until a Sunday in March, 1904 when her house caught fire. Neighbors came to the rescue and she begged them to save only one thing - her painting. this they did.

A short time later Mrs. Kurtzmann was sent to the state hospital.

County records list the painting as her only asset. No effort had been made to dispose of it.

Many connoisseurs have viewed the painting, but none gave a positive opinion on its worth according the Washington county officials. If genuine ,the painting is of great value and inasmuch as Mrs. Kurtzmann is not known to have immediate relatives, proceeds of a sale of the painting might revert to Washington county.

~~~Obituaries courtesy of the Nebraska Washington County Genealogical Society. Newspaper clippings on file in the Blair, Nebraska Public Library~~~

Find a Grave Memorial #18175932