Re: Franziska -An Interesting Story on Her own - A Timeline of Her Life #1

[Denise]

I think he was a history professor at the local university, so he had a lot of interest in the subject to begin with. I doubt he would have married her otherwise, especially if that "swear in writing you are Anastasia before I marry you" story is true... I heard that it was a marriage of convenience anyway, as she needed a green card or something like that. Don't quote me on it, but I just remember picking this bit of info somewhere. He was a lot younger than her, something like 15-20 years...

This ties in with my general knowledge of the man as well.  Still, the high speed road chase at the end of her life just seems such a pathetic end to her high profile existence.  Especially as it indirectly led to her death.  I can't remember WHY he took her from the home.  Do you recollect?

[helenazar]

... the high speed road chase at the end of her life just seems such a pathetic end to her high profile existence.  

 Well to give the man credit, it wasn't exactly a high speed chase  . But it kind of amounted to the same thing, as they were wanted and I believe he took her across the state line or something like that...

I can't remember WHY he took her from the home.  Do you recollect?

I can't remember for sure, but I think it had something to do with some delusion or other he had, or perhaps she had or they both had, and she asked him to take her out and he did it... I don't remember. Either way, there was absolutely no reason for handling it the way he did.

Also the fact that he allowed their house to deteriorate the way it did, with hundred of cats and trash, etc, does not say much for his state of mind either...

P.S. Of course I didn't know the man personally, all this information comes from reading things about him here and there, and from some documentaries I've seen.

[Mgmstl]

I read a bit on Manahan today, sounds a bit like an opportunist, a way to get his name forever in the history books..... His motives are questionable, as are  AA's, who married him to stay in the US.  Her visa had expired.

BTW, he left his fortune to a younger woman, evidently he was worth some money, the site I read said "millions", how true that is I don't know, but IF AA would ever be declared AN this woman has some sort of rights through the estate to cash in on it.  Bizzare, if you ask me.

[Denise]

Things really got worse for him after her death.  Someone else on the board posted that he ended up involved with a female con woman who took him for everything he had.  Such a sad end to a man who really did try to do his best for AA....

[helenazar]

I read a bit on Manahan today, sounds a bit like an opportunist, a way to get his name forever in the history books..... His motives are questionable, as are  AA's, who married him to stay in the US.  Her visa had expired.

BTW, he left his fortune to a younger woman, evidently he was worth some money, the site I read said "millions", how true that is I don't know, but IF AA would ever be declared AN this woman has some sort of rights through the estate to cash in on it.  Bizzare, if you ask me.

Yeah, but would you have expected anything less?  

[helenazar]

 

..he ended up involved with a female con woman who took him for everything he had.  

 Was this his "heiress"?  

[Denise]

Here's Dashkova's post on what happened to John.  There is a thread devoted to him on page 3.

Well regarded, but still considered a bit odd. Rested on his family laurels a lot, but we tend to do that in Virginia.  Manahan would like to have remarried -- a woman who was a true opportunist (wound up getting him to put his house in her name) and I'm not sure, but I think she wound up with his power of attorney as well.  He died alone and from what I've heard, pretty sad and miserable.

His would-be girlfriend had the house remodeled and lived there for some time. The neighbors *hated* her, for obvious reasons.  However, they were also not so thrilled with Anna Anderson, and most people I know in the area and region were not convinced of her claim whatsoever.

Not sure if the "girlfriend" (Althea Hurt) still lives there in the house or not, but she is still a practicing attorney (and married as well).  According to a friend of mine who recently had her do some legal work; her fees are high but she got good results.

Dashkova,
Writing just outside Charlottesville

[helenazar]

Well, the neigbors couldn't have been that upset with her if she cleaned up the property a little... Who knows what the story really was. Fact is, neither Mr Manahan, nor his wife, were exactly the epitomies of good sense and judgment...

[Mgmstl]

Late in life Anna married an American, Jack Manahan. When she died, Jack became her heir. Jack grew dotty in his dotage and before he died, he named as his heir a young woman believed, rightly or wrongly, to be a fortune hunter. She wasn't, but she showed great tenacity in fighting off challenges to Jack's will. By winning it all she came into enough wealth (millions) to pursue Romanov claims around the world for the rest of her life, should Anna Anderson be proven to be the genuine article. And this heir is a lawyer.

The above was from this site...I laughed when I reread it but thought I would post this...

[Denise]

Fact is, neither Mr Manahan, nor his wife, were exactly the epitomies of good sense and judgment...

Judging by her history, that goes without saying for AA....

[helenazar]

Yes, the whole thing would be quite funny if it weren't so pathetically sad...

[Denise]

Late in life Anna married an American, Jack Manahan. When she died, Jack became her heir. Jack grew dotty in his dotage and before he died, he named as his heir a young woman believed, rightly or wrongly, to be a fortune hunter. She wasn't, but she showed great tenacity in fighting off challenges to Jack's will. By winning it all she came into enough wealth (millions) to pursue Romanov claims around the world for the rest of her life, should Anna Anderson be proven to be the genuine article. And this heir is a lawyer.

The above was from this site...I laughed when I reread it but thought I would post this...

Where exactly did you find this?  I haven't heard such a thing before....

[Alexa]

Not necessarily. If she didn't have this child in a hospital which often women didn't at that time, there wouldn't really be any record. Plus we don't know what name she may have used when she gave birth. But it is a fact that AA did give birth, since the physicians could tell during the examination. If the child lived or not, is another story. The child could have also been inofficially adopted, we just don't know... I don't think that records were kept as thoroughly back then, especially post war...

Birth registration all depends on what country you're talking about.  I can't say for certain, but from the research I"ve done it can be assumed that most Western countried required the documentation of a baby's birth by the end of WWI.  Some countries are much earlier (I think in England it goes back to the late 19th century).  In the US it's around WWI (depending on which state you're talking about).  If AA had a baby and it was delivered by a doctor, wether at home or in a hospital, then there is a chance that birth would have been recorded.  Two of my aunts and an uncle were born in Poland in the early to mid-1920's; all were born at home and all have Polish birth certificates.  But without knowing the name AA used, or which country it happened in, then it'd be impossible (or near enough so) to find.

Alexa

[Denise]

But without knowing the name AA used, or which country it happened in, then it'd be impossible (or near enough so) to find.

Alexa

This was what I was thinking to, because of the sheer "unknown" factor of the AA case.  We don't know who she was or where she came from.  If she was FS, one would think there would be some way to find a record of a child's birth.

[AGRBear]

There was the famous composer Peter Tchaikovsky (1840-93).  Where there is one Tchaikovsky in Russia there is probably a dozen more and they need not be related.

So,  what do we know about AA's  Alexander Tchaikovsky?
1.  AA said he rescued her in a cart
2.  He had a brother named Serge
3.  AA doesn't recall very much of the trip to Romania to Bucharest...
4. AA recalled living for a time in a gardener's cottage on Svienti Voyevoda  [could have been Sfintii Voyevozi which is a street near the German embassy].
5.  He married AA in Bucharest.... in, maybe, a Romanov Catholic church..
6. Alexander Tchaikovsky was shot in the streets and AA believed he had been murdered by the Bolsheviks
7.  Serge T. , also, vanished...

The data above is Found on pps. 67-69  in Lovell's ANASTASA, THE LOSE PRINCESS.

I'll be back with the different spellings of Tchaikovsky.

Thanks Curious One for adding the Soundex list.

AGRBear