Henriette Hedwig (Yette) Austen (DaM VIII 12)

Henriette Hedwig (Yette) Austen, née Eckart, (DaM VIII 12), (*May 13, 1902, in Wailuku, Maui, Hawaii, USA, † March 2, 1999, in Honolulu, Oahu, Hawaii, USA), married Edmund John Austen on June 19, 1925, in Honolulu, Oahu, Hawaii, USA

Henriette "Yette" Eckart, around 1916.

Henriette Eckart was born on May 13, 1902, in Wailuku, Maui, Hawaii as the twelfth child of Maximilian Eckart and Maria Louisa Campbell. Her mother Maria Louisa died in 1908, when Yette was only six years old. She was raised by her father and elder siblings, until, after finishing eighth grade, she was sent to Kamehameha boarding school in Honolulu in 1917. She graduated from this boarding school in 1919 and started work as a teacher at Territorial Normal School Honolulu shortly thereafter. Her granddaughter Barbara Austen later recalled that Yette’s profession became her vocation. On June 19, 1925, Yette married Edmund John Austen, who was originally from Canada, in Honolulu. Between 1926 and 1930, Yette Austen had four children: Roselani in 1926, Wilby George in 1927, Edmund in 1928 and Kanani in 1930.

In the postwar period and the 1950s, Auntie Yette was the driving force when it came to maintaining contact between the family lines in Europe and the United States. From time to time, she provided the Eckarts who were living in Poing, Germany, with groceries such as chocolate and cocoa – a big luxury in the postwar period in Germany. Between 1955 and 1957, she and two of her 20 grandchildren spent two years in Werner Eckart’s family home in Germany. During that time, she worked as an exchange teacher in Munich. Yette wanted to see as many of her German relatives as possible which is why Werner organized the first reunion of the Eckart family. She was very interested in genealogical research. Thanks to the cooperation and an active exchange of letters with Heidi Killinger, they managed to complete the family tree of the American and Hawaiian Eckarts. Yette’s 80^th birthday was a fitting occasion for the first family reunion for which the German relatives traveled to Hawaii. Yette Austen died on March 2, 1999, in Honolulu.

Family reunion 1982 in Hawaii. Portrait of Yette Austen.

Sources regarding Auntie Yette

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  Austen family
  Yette, Edmund Austen and their four children Roselanie, Wilby, Edmund and Kanani (from left to right).

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  Second family reunion 1967
  Yette sings with Kurt and Harriet Teshima.

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  Emskirchen 1967
  Werner Eckart and Henriette Austen in front of the inn "Goldener Hirsch" (Golden Deer) in Emskirchen, Germany.

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  Auntie Yette
  Auntie Yette celebrated her 80^th birthday in Hawaii in 1982. The newspaper Honolulu Advertiser published a detailed report, also with a particular focus on the delegation of Eckarts from Munich, including Werner Eckart.

References and sources

Eckart, Otto and Kamp, Michael: "Die Geschichte der Familie Eckart. Von Franken nach München und Hawaii" (The History of the Eckart Family. From Franconia to Munich and Hawaii), Munich 2015.

Lily Susanna Pearson: "Maximilian Eckart. The Years in Hawaii. 1868 to 1918."

Eckart family archive, FA-S1165, Correspondence between the Hawaiian relatives and Anny, Werner and Heidi Eckart, 1981 to 1999. Sources used: correspondence with Henriette Austen.