In this article we discover what happened to the Beethoven family after the death of Ludwig van Beethoven, the composer.
Ludwig van Beethoven never got married and did not have children. This way there is no bloodline continuing from the famous composer. In his family seven children were born, but only three survived childhood: Ludwig himself, Kaspar and Nikolaus. From the three brothers only Kaspar had children, a son named Karl.
|Related: The siblings of Ludwig van Beethoven
After the death of Kaspar in 1815, Beethoven sought legal action against the mother of Karl seeking sole custody of the boy. He regarded Johanna (the mother) not suitable for custody. As his brother in his last will appointed both of them as co-guardians, the bitter legal battle lasted for years. He finally won, but irreparable emotional damage had been done to the boy, who later in his life committed an unsuccessful suicide.
Kaspar died in 1815, Ludwig in 1827 and Nikolaus in 1848. Karl, despite his uncle’s wishes joined the army in Bohemia, in December 1826. Soon, Ludwig van Beethoven died (1827) and in his last will left everything to Karl.
Karl remained in the army till 1832, then married Caroline Naske with whom they had five children, four girls and a boy who was named Ludwig after the famous uncle. Ludwig Johann van Beethoven had education in the Piarist Gymnasium of Vienna, then he joined the army just as his father had done.
This man, Ludwig Johann van Beethoven, was not worthy for the name of the family! In 1862 he stole money from his regiment, then six years later he had to flee Vienna running from creditors and criminal court. In both occasions his mother helped him out. He settled down in Munich, Bavaria.
Here he was introduced to Richard Wagner and through him to the king of Bavaria, who happened to be another Ludwig, King Ludwig II. To gain favors he falsely claimed himself the grandson of Beethoven, the composer. The trick worked as the King was so impressed that he paid him a monthly income to live on! For some, he represented himself as a Baron, cheating money out from them.
In 1871 Ludwig Johann and his wife Marie (a pianist), along with their son Karl Julius had to flee to Hamburg and there sail to America. Both faced criminal charges, Johann four years, Marie six month of jail.
In America he changed his name to Louis Van Hoven, worked for the Detroit Railroad Company, later started a wheelchair renting business in New York. Marie became a piano teacher and a concert pianist touring the United States. The couple had six children, but only Karl Julius survived the childhood.
Later the family returned to Europe (supposedly in the ‘80s), briefly to Vienna, then Paris and Brussels. Louis van Hoven (aka Ludwig Johann van Beethoven) died impoverished in Brussels in 1913. His wife Marie in 1917.
The only remaining Beethoven, Karl Julius, in the beginning worked as a journalist for newspapers in Brussels, later joined the Austrian Army in 1916. A year later after a surgery he died of peritonitis. His death attracted great attention as people realized the last bearer of the name Beethoven, died.
