The Bäetge family lived in Tallinn (formerly Reval), a port city on the Baltic Sea and capital of Estonia. Patriarch Ernst Karl Friedrich Bäetge was a prosperous merchant within the Hanseatic League. Ernst served as mayor of Tallinn from 1864 to 1875 and is still remembered for his visionary leadership.

Ernst Karl Friedrich Bätge

Ernst Karl Friedrich Bäetge, mayor of Tallinn, Estonia, between 1840-1876.

Ernst Karl Bäetge disowned his son, Dr. Arthur Ernst Bäetge, when Arthur chose to become a medical doctor rather than join his father in the family's merchant business. Arthur married Therese Sophie Agathe Berg, the daughter of another merchant in Tallinn, on August 25, 1886.

The couple’s youngest daughter was Maria Lilli Margarete Bäetge.

Dr. Arthur Ernst Bätge

Dr. Arthur Bäetge, circa 1900.