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Barbara Peterson
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Updated: November 10, 2022
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Barbara (Kustler) Peterson was born to Ferdinand Kustler. Family, friend, or fan, this family history biography is for you to remember Barbara (Kustler) Peterson.
In the late 1930s in New York City there lived a man named Ferdinand and his wife and three grown daughters, all who had grown up and moved away from home. One of his daughters had already had three sons, of which Ferdinand was very proud as he was now a grandpa.
Ferdinand worked as a waiter in a very exclusive restaurant in a hotel in New York City called “The Astor” which was in the Times Square District. There was a beautiful single young lady also working as a waitress by the name of Cecelia. Over a short period of time they dated and fell in love, despite the fact that Ferdinand was married.
But then one day Cecelia discovered she was pregnant and Ferdinand had no intentions of leaving his wife despite the fact he loved Cecelia very much. Cecelia was alone and afraid and did not know how she could afford to raise a child. Unbeknownst to Ferdinand, during her pregnancy she made arrangements with an attorney to sell the baby on the black market.
In November of 1939, baby girl Barbara was born and named after Ferdinand’s mother, who had died giving birth to Ferdinand in Vienna, Austria in 1891. Ferdinand visited Cecelia and his newborn baby girl every day while she was in the hospital. He even had prepared a nursery for Barbara upon her return from the hospital. When he came to visit both mother and baby after they were released from the hospital the crib was empty. He was devastated and demanded to know where Barbara was. At this point Cecelia had no choice but to tell him she had made arrangements for the baby to be adopted.
Ferdinand made Cecelia give him the name of the attorney who she had made contact with or he was going to call the police and report him for accepting a baby on the black market. The black market is a way that babies are adopted illegally without going through the necessary legal channels that are required for adoptions.
Immediately Ferdinand got on the subway and went to the attorneys office and demanded the return of Barbara from the couple who had already taken his baby home. Within a short period of time Barbara was returned to Ferdinand. A big snowstorm had been developing that day and Ferdinand wrapped his newborn baby girl in blankets and carried her inside his coat for the return trip to Cecelia. He promised Cecelia she would never have to work and he would support the both of them if she raised his child.
CHAPTER TWO
As Barbara grew up he kept his word. He found an apartment for both of them conveniently located three blocks away from where he and his wife resided. The apartment was located on the route he had to take to board the subway each day to go to work. He would see Barbara every morning and every afternoon. On the weekends he would take Barbara to the playground, to the beach, to the zoo, to amusement parks and on boat rides up the Hudson River.
For the first seven years after Barbara was born he was able to maintain this secret without his wife finding out he had another family. Ferdinand did tell his three daughters and of course they were appalled but also kept it a secret from their mother.
Then one day Sara, the wife of Ferdinand, was walking their dog in the neighborhood park and low and behold Ferdinand and Barbara were playing ball on a big field. The dog broke loose when he saw Ferdinand and came running across the grassy field towards him. At this point Barbara had thrown the ball to her dad and because he got distracted she yelled out “Daddy catch the ball”. That is how Sara found out about her husband’s other life.
Eventually Cecelia put a stop to Ferdinand’s romantic overtures because she knew he had no intention of ever leaving his wife. Although she loved Ferdinand very much because her heart was broken, she could no longer continue to have an affair with him.
Years passed by quickly and when Barbara got old enough to be inquisitive about her life she began to ask questions and wanted explanations. Her parents lied and told her they were divorced and that her dad’s previous wife had died years earlier and that he had three grown daughters from his first marriage. He claimed he was living with one of them who was recently divorced. That was the first time Barbara found out she had three half sisters. Of course now she wanted to meet them but her dad said unfortunately they did not want to meet her. Barbara was confused and could not understand why her sisters did not want to meet her. Her mom comforted her by telling her that the three sisters were ugly, mean and jealous of her because she was so beautiful, like the Cinderella fairytale.
Over half of Barbara’s life while she was growing up her mother began to show signs of mental illness. As each year passed her condition worsened. Cecelia began hallucinating, accusing neighbors of conspiracies. The house was filthy and roaches were everywhere. She made scenes in the street and embarrassed Barbara continuously. Fortunately her friends were very compassionate and sheltered her in their homes from time to time. Barbara met a man who was six years older than her when she was 14. He had a very stable family environment and she began spending much of her time visiting them over the next tree years.
As time went by Barbara got married at the age of 17 and got pregnant shortly after the wedding. During her pregnancy she visited her mother’s cousin, Anna. During the course of her visit Anna got drunk and told Barbara the truth about her parents. She found out that her father had been married all these years and that her mother was never married to him. In fact he didn’t live with his daughter. He was living with his wife. The three half sisters were already in their 40’s and two of them had children. Of course Barbara was shocked initially but now all the lies she had been told began to make sense.
Barbara confronted her dad and he had no choice but to admit everything she had been told. At this point she insisted that her father give her the addresses of these three grown women, who were her half sisters. Her dad told her he did not think they would respond and sure enough he was right.
Shortly after Barbars’s marriage, Ferdinand stopped supporting Cecelia. She was only 52 years old and had not worked since giving birth to Barbara. She was suffering severely from mental illness. Several months after the rent and utility bills had not been paid Cecelia was evicted from her apartment and her few belongings were placed in the street. She had no choice but to get government aid. She was placed into a furnished room and given a small amount of money for her food each month. During this time Barbara went to visit her several times but she could not financially help her mother as she and her new husband and baby were struggling themselves.
Eventually over the next few years Cecelia was able to get through this dramatic move in her life and eventually started working as a waitress in the Pocono Mountains during the summer months. She also got various jobs as a housekeeper and eventually moved to Miami, Florida and was employed by the Fountainbleau Hotel as a chamber maid. While living in Florida she met a man who was an elevator operator in a downtown Miami hotel where she was living. She eventually moved in with him and they got a small efficiency apartment on Miami Beach.
CHAPTER 3
Seventeen years went by and Barbara had three children and recently got divorced and moved to Miami. During the summer of 1975 Barbara took a ten week trip to Europe and had not been in touch with her father for all that time. Upon her return the first thing she did was call her dad. He was now living in a small apartment in New Jersey after the demise of his wife a few years earlier.
Much to her surprise a man’s voice answered the phone. She inquired if her father was there and the stranger replied he was out of town visiting his daughter in New Hampshire. Innocently Barbara asked the man to leave her dad a message and tell him his daughter Barbara had called. The man replied that she must have the wrong number as Ferdinand did not have a daughter named Barbara. She insisted she did have the right number and asked the gentleman who he was. He replied “I’m his grandson, Skip”. At this point the lengthy conversation began. Skip was shocked as his mother had never told him of her existence. Of course now he wanted to meet her.
Over the next several years Skip and Barbara got to know each other as they were able to arrange several meetings although he lived in New Jersey and she was currently living in Miami.
CHAPTER 4
When Ferdinand passed away in 1983 at the age of 93, Skip was the person who contacted Barbara. He suggested Barbara ask her son to be one of the pallbearers. There were whispers at the funeral service as to who this young man was. By this time his three daughters had died years earlier, but the grandchildren were there and by now they knew who this mysterious young man was. After the service Barbars’s son left and never attended the family gathering as he was young and did not know these people and felt uncomfortable socializing with them. After the funeral Barbara lost touch with Skip for at least the next thirty years.
CHAPTER 5
Then came the internet. Barbara occasionally would search for information about her deceased father, but nothing would come up. Then one day low and behold a story popped up with the name Ferdinand Kustler. It was a genealogy story written by Christel, the great granddaughter of Barbara’s dad. This portion of the family were Mormons and members of the Church of the Latter Saints. As she read the story she made notes of the family members names and decided she would do some research to find these long lost relatives who probably did not even know she existed.
The first contact she made was with Christel’s sister, Karin. Karin immediately told her siblings. This portion of the family all lived in Utah near Salt Lake City. Barbara asked about Skip’s family and Karin put her in touch with Renee, who lived in New Jersey. Barbara had a better chance of meeting Renee in person because of her frequent trips to New York to visit her son.
After many email and text messages to Renee they arranged to meet and that her dad, Skip, was looking forward to getting together after all these years. Skip had a twin brother named Dick. Several months later a meeting was set up to finally meet Dick and his wife Diane as well as Skip and his daughter Renee.
Renee got along immediately and bonded so quickly as though we were long lost friends. We discovered we had so much in common and were overjoyed in this new discovery of finally meeting a member of her secret family.
CHAPTER 6
Eventually Barbara was now curious about meeting her family in Utah. It took a few years to arrange a trip but she was determined to do so.
On her first trip to Utah she met Kenneth, Karin and Christel along with their teenage children. They welcomed Barbara into their home and were full of questions about her dad, which was their great grandfather.
Ferdinand Kustler
Ferdinand Kustler
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Ferdinand Kustler of Englewood, Bergen County, NJ was born on November 25, 1891 at Vienna, Austria, and was the father of Barbara (Kustler) Peterson. Ferdinand Kustler died at age 92 years old circa September 1984 at Englewood, New Jersey, and was buried in September -1984 at George Washington Memorial Park 234 Paramus Rd, in Paramus.
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2020 marks 20 years since the inception of AncientFaces. We are the same team who began this community so long ago. Over the years it feels, at least to us, that our family has expanded to include so many. Thank you!
2020 marks 20 years since the inception of AncientFaces. We are the same team who began this community so long ago. Over the years it feels, at least to us, that our family has expanded to include so many. Thank you!
