Ask LaFleur: Do you know about Albert Einstein's ties to Greenville?

Question: I'm reading the biography of Albert Einstein by Walter Isaacson. I was surprised to read that Einstein's son, Hans Albert Einstein, once lived in Greenville, South Carolina. He and his wife lived here for five years. While here, their 5-year-old son died of diphtheria. I wonder if it's possible to find out where the house they built was located, and if it is still standing. Also, where is the cemetery in which the son was buried? 

During the five years that Hans Albert Einstein and family lived here, it was written that Albert Einstein would visit and that "... he would sometimes wander the roads and forests, often in dreamy thought, spawning colorful anecdotes from astonished locals who helped him find his way home," according to the biography.

Answer: This reader gets bonus points for giving me a great excuse to do a little historical reading on the job. 

Hans Albert Einstein, born in Switzerland in 1904, was the second child of arguably the world's most famous theoretical-physicist. Though readers may not have ever heard of Hans Albert Einstein, he did in fact live in Greenville for about five years beginning in the late 1930s, according to the American Society of Civil Engineers.

The young Einstein worked for the United States Department of Agriculture and Clemson University, according to documents provided to The Greenville News by Clemson University Libraries.

Hans Albert Einstein was involved in a joint project with the Soil Conservation Service and the state of South Carolina on the Enoree River, according to the American Society of Civil Engineers. Hans Albert Einstein, a hydraulic engineer with a Ph.D., worked at a field laboratory on that river about 14 miles southeast of Greenville.

In 1939, while living in Greenville, Hans Albert Einstein's 5-year-old son died. Klaus Martin Einstein, was buried at Woodlawn Memorial Park under a stone identifying him as the grandson of Albert Einstein. The cemetery, which opened in 1936, was referred to as "a tiny new cemetery in Greenville" in the Einstein biography written by Isaacson. It's now one of the Upstate's largest with more than 35,000 interments. The young boy's grave can be found in section U, not far from the Wade Hampton Boulevard entrance.

Census records from 1940 show Hans Albert Einstein, his wife, and their surviving son lived in a home on Randall Street in the North Main area of Greenville during their time here. That home, which remains a private residence, is still standing.

Hans Albert Einstein's half-decade spent in Greenville was nearly 80 years ago. However, there are a handful of tales about his time here.

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According to a 2011 interview with Bakersfield.com, he connected with a similarly- named distant cousin, Hans Einstein, who happened to live in Greenville at the same time. Hans Einstein, also an immigrant, came to Furman University and connected with Hans Albert Einstein after noticing his last name in a telephone directory. The two became close and Hans Einstein said he even dined with Albert Einstein and his son when the physicist traveled from Princeton University to South Carolina for visits. 

Hans Einstein told Bakersfield.com he would occasionally take his famous relative to visit the Furman campus where classes would often be cancelled so students could gather to listen to the famous physicist.

In 1997, News columnist Jimmy Cornelison shared a bit more about Albert Einstein's visits to Greenville, as told by his distant cousin who called him "a very warm" person, but noted "He didn't make small talk. He really wanted to know what people were thinking and doing."

Hans Albert Einstein eventually left South Carolina for California where he continued working for the USDA at California Institute of Technology. Death records show he died in 1973 at age 69 in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, and is buried at a cemetery near that location.

Do you have a question you want answered? Send it to elafleur@greenvillenews.com, contact Elizabeth on her Facebook page at facebook.com/ElizabethSLaFleur or send questions via mail to Elizabeth LaFleur 32 E. Broad Street Greenville, SC 29601. Answers will appear in the Tuesday and Friday print editions of The Greenville News.