History of German immigration in the United States : and successful German-Americans and their descendants

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HISTORY OF

GERMAN IMMIGRATION

IN THE UNITED STATES

AND

Successful German-Americans
and Their Descendants

BY

GEO. VON SKAL

To the memory of the late

(Earl

who, a steadfast and loyal American, remained
true to German ideals, and devoted his life to the
betterment of his adopted country, never forget
ting or belittling the gifts he had received from
the land of his birth,

thin work IB

COPYRIGHT BY
FREDK T. SMILEY
PRINTING & PUBLISHING CO.

NEW YORK CITY

CARL SCHURZ.

INTRODUCTION

THIS work is intended to be a record of all that
Germans have accomplished in the United States—
a record of honest endeavor, energy, perseverance,
strength and achievement. It shall, in addition, show
the part that the American citizen of German blood has
taken in the making of these United States, in peace
and war, on the battlefield as well as in the counting
house, the workshop and laboratory, in the realm of
science and education or in the long fight that was neces
sary to extend civilization and culture over a continent.

It contains a history of German immigration in the
United States from the first settlements to the present
day, showing what the Germans were who left the
fatherland, why they came, and what they did in their
new country. Every incident throwing light upon the
work done by the German element has been made use
of to give a complete, though concise, and impartial re
cital of its activity, and a description of the influence it
has exerted upon the development of the Union.

In the second part the biographies of many Americans
of German nativity or descent are given. History is
not complete if it chronicles only the deeds of the few
who in times of strife and combat rise above the surface;
it must tell us of the many who have fought and suc
ceeded. The value of so large and important a part of the
American people as the German immigrants and their
descendants can be fully understood only if it is shown
how many of them have been successful, and how
they have, by long and earnest travail, risen to unusual
heights.

THE EDITOR.

CONTENTS

PAGE

Introduction 5

History of German Immigration in the United States - - - 7-42

A Martyr to Liberty -- ---11

The Pennsylvania Germans - 13

The Germans During the Revolution 18

From the Revolution to the Year 1848 - 25

The Forty-Eighters - - 28

The Civil War and the Years Following It - 32

From the Franco-German War to the Present Day - 34

Conclusion 39

The Percentage of German Blood in the American People 41

Successful German-Americans and Their Descendants 43

HISTORY OF GERMAN IMMIGRATION IN THE

UNITED STATES

According to the last Census there were living
in the United States in 1900 not less than
2,669,164 persons born in the German Empire.
Within the few years passed since then, no great
change can have taken place, for the number of
German immigrants has probably not been much
larger than the decrease of the German-Amer
ican population by death or the return of Ger
mans to the Fatherland. There is, however, no
doubt but that the number of Germans living
in the United States is considerably larger than
the figures given above, for the Census, in de
termining nationality, does not take into account
race but political divisions, and calls only those
persons Germans who have been born within
the borders of the German Empire. Several
hundred thousand immigrants who have come
from Switzerland, Austria and the Baltic prov
inces of Russia, and who are thorough Germans
in race, tradition and customs, are not classed as
such by the Census. It is, therefore a very con
servative estimate if we assume that the num
ber of Germans living in the United States ex
ceeds three millions. But even then we cannot
estimate the strength of the German element and
the influence it exerts, correctly, because we must
take into consideration the descendants of the
immigrants, in whom, although moderated by
American influences, German ideas and ways of
thinking are more or less preserved. Here sta
tistics cannot help us, for while the Census Bu
reau has given us a number of tables showing
how many native-born Americans had German
fathers, mothers, or both, this information, val
uable as it is, does not tell us how many of
these descendants may be called German-Amer
icans in the sense that they have retained some
of the valuable traits of their ancestors. How
quickly complete Americanization destroys even
the last vestige of the German origin depends
upon innumerable circumstances, and it happens
frequently that children who were born in
Germany and brought to America in early youth
lose all distinguishing traits before they grow up,
and retain nothing that betrays their origin,
while on the other hand, many families remain
German in disposition and certain ways of think

ing for three and even four generations. Where,
for instance, the knowledge of the German lan
guage is cultivated, and the children are made
acquainted with German literature, the German
influence upon the mind becomes strong enough
to be traced and in turn exerted even after all
connection with the Fatherland has long ceased.
Taking all these factors into account, and con
sidering all manifestations of German origin —
as, for instance, the numbers of societies which
are either composed of Germans and their de
scendants in the first generation, or which, al
though outwardly American, pursue objects and
ideals essentially German — and viewing the
strength of movements based upon German ideas,
the conclusion does not appear extravagant that
the so-called German-American element comprises
nearly ten per cent of the population of the Uni
ted States. The percentage of German blood in
the American people is undoubtedly much larger;
careful and conservative investigators have placed
it as high as twenty-five per cent.

It goes without saying that so large a part of
the total population of the country must neces
sarily have exerted considerable influence upon
the formation of the character of the American
people. Whether this influence has always been
used in the right way and with the full strength
it possessed is an open question and has been
doubted by many, especially by Germans with
scant knowledge of American conditions. The
United States would long have been a German
country and the English language would have
disappeared if pen and printing ink could have
accomplished it. Extravagant love of race or
country and unreasoning enthusiasm based upon
impractical hopes and dreams are, however, not
sufficient to bring about tangible results and do
not qualify their possessors to sit in judgment
upon the work accomplished by Germans in
America. To do this a thorough knowledge of
the history of the country, of its institutions and
evolution, as well as of the German immigra
tion since its beginning is required. In another
chapter the attempt will be made to show what
Germans could accomplish here, and what they
have done, but before this is undertaken a short

8 HISTORY OF GERMAN IMMIGRATION IN THE UNITED STATES

but exhaustive sketch of the history of German
immigration will be given.

There is, unfortunately, no complete history
of German immigration in existence. A number
of works have been written dealing with single
states or treating short periods. But sufficient
material is at hand to show how widely the qual
ity of the immigrants differed in the several
periods during which Germans arrived here in
large numbers, and how far apart these periods
were. A careful examination of all known facts
will not only show what the Germans brought to
America but also whether they made full use of
the opportunities extended to them. And it may
be stated right here that the result cannot fail
to raise the popular estimate of the value of the
German immigrant.

The first traces of the German immigration
extend back to the settlement of Manhattan
Island by the Dutch. Peter Minuit or Minnewit,
who was appointed director-general of New Neth
erlands by the Amsterdam Chamber of Com
merce and purchased Manhattan Island from the
Indians for sixty guilders, came from Wesel and
was therefore a German. Among the colonists
who arrived here during the first half of the
Seventeenth Century were many Germans, prin
cipally from the lower Rhine, from Geldern,
Westphalia, Friesland and Ditmarschen. Ger
many and Holland were at that time neither po
litically nor economically as sharply separated as
now. The Dutch language was closely related to
the dialects spoken in the neighboring provinces
of Germany and its difference from them be
came more marked much later through the in
fluence of the Flemish. German immigration
was not confined to the districts named, however,
for many carue from Holstein, Hesse, Thuringia,
Swabia, the Hanse cities and from Switzerland.
These colonists could exert no influence whatever
upon the development of the new country. They
were not numerous enough, consisted mainly of
laborers and mechanics, and possessed probably
very little education. They soon lost their iden
tity, changed their names to make them sound
Dutch, and disappeared completely among the
Hollanders. Every trace of them would be lost
if shipowners in Amsterdam had not kept and
preserved the lists of the passengers they for
warded to America.

A few years later an attempt was made to
found a German colony in Delaware, near the
present site of the city of Wilmington. It is
true that this settlement was founded by the
Swedish Government and called New Sweden,
but incontrovertible proofs show that the colo
nists came almost without exception from Pom-

erania and Western Prussia, German provinces
temporarily occupied by the Swedes. The leader
of the first expedition was the same Peter Minne
wit who had bought New Netherlands from the
Indians and had later left the Dutch service.
The treaty through which he acquired the neces
sary land for his new enterprise was written in
Low-German or Plattdeutsch. Minnewit arrived
in the spring of 1638 and succeeded in taking the
fur trade on the Delaware away from the Dutch.
Three years later he disappeared, but whether
he died or returned to Europe remains a mystery.
His successor was the Swedish officer, Johann
Printz, Edler von Buchau, another German and
a scion of a well known German family which
still exists. While he ruled New Sweden the
quarrels between this colony and the Dutch of
New Netherland began, because the thrifty
Hollanders wanted a monopoly of the fur trade
and did not intend to divide it with others. Printz
returned soon to Europe and was followed by
another German, Johann Resingh of Elbing. In
the meantime the Thirty Years' War had ended,
Sweden was too weak to assist the distant colony
and when, in September, 1655, Peter Stuyvesant
appeared with a strong force before the Swedish
fortifications, Resingh was forced to surrender.
He was permitted to return to Sweden with his
troops, but many of the colonists were killed or
robbed of all their possessions. The few who
were allowed to remain had to swear allegiance
to the Dutch Government. The second attempt
to form a German colony in America had thus
ended in complete disaster and did not even leave
traces of the work done.

But soon a mighty stream of German immi
grants began to flow. For almost one hundred
years they came to seek homes, liberty and peace.
Not always in such masses as during the first
half of the Eighteenth Century, and sometimes
interrupted, but sHll continuous and steady
enough to markXn epoch in the history of the
country. And/the Germans who arrived here
during that time were in the main so much alike
and the motives which caused them to leave their
Fatherland were so similar, and at the same time
so different, from the causes of later movements
of the same kind, that this one must be treated
by itself and may be designated as the religious
period of German immigration.

The Thirty Years' War had ended. Its rav
ages had well nigh destroyed the German nation
jind changed a flourishing country into a desert.
Towns and villages were in ruins, horses and cat
tle had all but disappeared. Worse than this :
the spirit of the people, hunted, persecuted, robbed
and murdered without interruption for thirty

years, was utterly broken. The burgher, once so
proud and active, had become weak and timid.
Only masters and serfs were left. The people
had neither strength nor courage to fight for the
rights that had been taken away by the soldier
who rode through the land and took what he
wanted. Germany was divided into small prin
cipalities without number, ruled by princes who
claimed to be set up by the grace of God, and
who considered the land and the people as their
own personal property. The very meaning of
freedom and liberty had become unknown ; noth
ing but constraint was visible, in trade, in the ex
ercise of the religious creed and even in domestic
life. The long and bloody war had prevented the
extinction of Protestantism but it had not brought
religious liberty. The people were powerless
against the oppression practised on all sides.
Their only hope was in flight from unbearable
conditions. And now began the remarkable spec
tacle that whole congregations and communities
set out on the long and weary march to the At
lantic Ocean where ships were waiting to carry
them to other shores. Led by their ministers
and teachers, singing psalms and hymns, they
marched thus, carrying their women and chil
dren on heavy wagons drawn by the strongest
of the men, through Germany and Holland, fol
lowed and persecuted by the Government until
they had crossed the border. And down the river
Rhine floated large boats and barges carrying the
population of whole villages with their belongings.

Not all these emigrants left their homes be
cause they were prevented from exercising their
religion. Even at that time agents of ship
owners traveled through Germany, notably along
the Rhine, in the Palatinate and in Swabia, try
ing to persuade people to emigrate to America.
They were lavish in their promises and held out
hopes that could never be realized, and they found
many followers. Want and poverty and the
seeming impossibility of ever improving the con
ditions surrounding them drove many away. The
terrible winter of 1708-9, when the birds froze
in the air in their flight and the wine in the casks,
and when almost all the vineyards in the Palati
nate were destroyed, caused the emigration of
many thousands. The devastation of the Palat
inate by the French under General Melac, of
which the ruins of the castle at Heidelberg still
remain as a memento, induced many others to
cross the ocean. But the desire to escape oppresT
sion and constant want and to find civic and re^S
ligious liberty were the general causes of this
mighty movement of many thousands of people ;
and gave to it the peculiar character it possesses. ]

The first large body of which authentic reports

are in existence consisted of farmers from Alsa-
tia and the Palatinate. They arrived in 1677 and
settled along the W_ajlkill River, where they
founded the still flourishing town of New Paltz.
They were followed by a number of Huguenots
and to this day most of the family names of the
district in question show the German or French
origin. In 1709 came sixty-one families from the
Palatinate under the guidance of their pastor,
Josua von Kocherthal, and founded Newburg.
They were the advance guard of the many thou
sands already moving towards the land of prom
ise. Kocherthal was a man of great energy and
skill ; he succeeded in settling nearly three hun
dred families on both banks of the Hudson.
Hunterstown, Kingsbury, Annsbury, Haysbury,
Rhinebeck, Newtown, Georgetown, Elizabethtown,
Kingston and Esopus were founded by him. These
colonists were at -first treated with great respect
by the English authorities. They received as much
land as they needed and the settlement at New-
burg was given five hundred acres to support
the Protestant Church. But as soon as the poor
Germans had changed the wild forest into well-
tilled fields and blooming gardens the English
and the Dutch sought means to deprive them of
the fruits of their labor. They succeeded in
many cases and the greater part of the German
settlers on the Hudson lost courage finally and
went to Pennsylvania where large numbers of
their countrymen had taken undisturbed posses
sion of extended tracts of land. In 1747 the
Protestant Church at Newburg was taken away
from the remaining Germans by force.

The greatest body to leave at the same time
started in the spring of 1709, after the hard win
ter that has been mentioned. They went through
Holland to England and the governments of both
countries were practically helpless when this vast
army descended upon them. A large camp was
formed near London and this is said to have con
tained fifteen thousand people at one time. For
a while it excited the curiosity of the Londoners
and the Court visited it repeatedly. But it was
impossible to feed this mass and means had to
be found to disperse it. Almost all the Catho
lics were returned to their homes. Nearly four
thousand were sent to Ireland where they re
tained their customs for over a century but final
ly disappeared. Between six hundred and seven
hundred were sent to North Carolina where they
were swallowed up by the English-speaking popu
lation, although traces of them can still be found
in the names of towns and families. Many of
the young men were drafted into the army, and
several thousand succumbed to the privations they
had to undergo. Of three thousand that went

to New York eight hundred died during the
journey. Several hundred remained in New York,
the rest, probably two thousand, were given land
on both banks of the Hudson, a few miles south
of Catskill. This was a distinct breach of the
promises made to them by the English Govern
ment which had set aside for them the fertile
district on the Schoharie and the Mohawk rivers.
When in their camp near London, the Germans
had met several Mohawk chiefs who had invited
them to settle among them, and the crown had
granted the necessary permission. But when the
colonists arrived at New York Governor Robert
Hunter decided that they ought to be made to
repay the expenses their support and transporta
tion had caused, and in order to accomplish this
he sent them to the pine forests of the Hudson
to make pitch until their debt was liquidated.
The enterprise failed completely. The poor Ger
mans were without tools or implements and had
not even the most necessary means of subsistence.
Hunter did not furnish them with the promised
rations, took away their rifles, because he re
mained in constant fear that they would go away,
and thus made it impossible for them to hunt
game. Their children were taken away from them
and apprenticed to Englishmen in New York, and
two years elapsed before the first crop could be
gathered. In their despair the settlers revolted
against their oppressors but were quickly sub
dued by British troops. But the man to meet the
emergency arose. Johann Konrad Weiser, who,
as one of the leaders of the settlers, had incurred
the special disfavor of Governor Hunter, and
whose children had been taken away from him,
persuaded about one hundred of the more enter
prising spirits to follow him to the Schoharie.
They set out in the winter of 1712, in deep snow,
pursued by soldiers, and arrived at their desti
nation after suffering terrible hardships. When
they arrived among the friendly Indians they
were well nigh starved and exhausted, and in ad
dition they were greeted by a formal order from
Hunter to return forthwith to their camp on the
Hudson. But the Indians offered to protect them
and the Governor did not have enough troops to
risk a war with the Mohawks. The new set
tlement flourished, and Weiser's little band was
soon joined by many of those who had remained
behind. Before many years had passed a string
of villages dotted the shores of the Schoharie
and of the Mohawk but the troubles of the Ger

mans were not ended. The English and Dutch
colonists looked upon the independent farmers
who tilled their own land with envy and hatred.
They wanted to own the land and rent it out to
' tenants working it. A feudal state with the aris
tocracy possessing all the land was their ideal.
They attacked the crown titles of the Germans
and constant quarrels were the consequence.
Weiser went to London to get justice, but failed,
was captured by pirates and sold into slavery.
Years later he returned, an old man, but not
broken in spirit. Rather than submit to the de
mands of the English and Dutch landholders he
decided to move his tents again. In 1723 he
started out as the leader of thirty-three families,
taking their women and children with them.
Guided by Indians they followed the Schoharie
into the mountains till they reached the head
waters of the Susquehanna. Down this river they
went to the mouth of the Swatara and then along
its shores to the region that is now Berks County,
Pa. Here they found at last the peace they had
been looking for so long. They were given the
land they needed, and not far from where large
numbers of their countrymen had already settled.
Their trials were ended. What they accomplished
in Berks County will be told when the settlement
of Pennsylvania by the Germans is described, but
it must be mentioned here that they would never
have succeeded in their search if they had not
made friends of the Indians. Weiser and his son,
Konrad, were just in all their transactions with
the savages, treated them kindly and were not
only never molested but frequently assisted by
them when they needed help. They retained their
influence over them until they died. Konrad
Weiser became justice of the peace, colonel in the
militia and official interpreter for the government
of Pennsylvania, for he spoke the languages of
all the tribes in the territory east of the Missis
sippi. His services were constantly required for
negotiations with the Indians. His daughter mar
ried the Rev. Heinrich Melchior Miihlenberg, who
had come to America in 1742, and her two sons,
General Peter Miihlenberg and Friedrich August,
president of the Pennsylvania convention which
ratified the Constitution of the United States, and
first speaker of the House of Representatives un
der Washington's administrations, played import
ant parts in the establishment of the independence
of the United States of America.

HISTORY OF GERMAN IMMIGRATION IN THE UNITED STATES 11

A MARTYR TO LIBERTY

We must interrupt our narrative here to give
the history of a man who may rightly be called
the first martyr to liberty on American soil. His
memory should be preserved and he deserves a
place in this history, not so much because he was
a German, but because it seems to have been for
gotten that he died in a righteous cause. Even
in the text-books used in American schools he is
often called a rebel, and the impression prevails
that his execution was the natural consequence of
disloyal acts. Nothing could be farther from the
truth.

Jacob Leisler was born in the neighborhood of
Frankfurt-on-the-Main as the son of poor peas
ants. He was hardly more than a boy when he
emigrated to the Netherlands and entered the
service of a merchant as apprentice. In 1660 he
came to New Amsterdam to engage in the fur
trade on his own account. Shrewd, frugal, care
ful and yet enterprising, he soon prospered. His
business became very large and compelled him to
make frequent trips to Europe. On one of these
journeys he was captured by pirates and sold into
slavery but regained his liberty by paying a large
ransom. In the meantime England had taken
possession of the colony and changed its name to
New York. During the reign of Charles II and
of James II the governors and other high officials
sent from England joined hands with the landed
proprietors in the hope of founding an aristocracy-
that could rule the other inhabitants after the
manner of the feudal system existing in Europe.
The favorites of the King who had received
grants of large tracts of land did not sell any of
it but rented it to those wishing to cultivate the
soil. The population became divided into two
parts, the aristocrats and the common citizens
who were preyed upon in every conceivable man
ner. The merchants naturally became the lead
ers of the people and Leisler was foremost among
the defenders of equal rights and justice for all.
He was kind of heart and possessed unlimited
courage. When Governor Sir Edward Andros at
tempted to deprive the colonists of the privileges
granted to them, Leisler protested and was thrown
into prison. His friends desired to give bail to
release him, but he would not permit it. He said
that by furnishing bail he would recognize the
authority of the governor to arrest him, and this
he did not want to do. He remained in jail until
Andros had to set him free. This action increased
his prestige with the people immensely. From his

many charitable deeds one may be selected. Many
of the Huguenots who came to America had been
compelled to flee from France without money or
other means of subsistence. They were as a rule
sold to the highest bidder who had to pay their
passage and in this way acquired the right to
work these serfs — for that is what they were in
fact — until he considered that they had repaid
his outlay. Leisler happened to be at the wharf
when one of these ships arrived. He felt deep
pity for the unfortunate passengers who were well
educated and had evidently been brought up in
comparative luxury. Before the usual auction
began, he paid the passage money for all of them
and sent them to a tract of land he owned on
Long Island Sound. There they founded a vil
lage and called it New Rochelle.

When William of Orange became King of Eng
land the Governor of New York and his aristo
cratic friends tried to suppress the news. The
people, however, soon heard of the change and
naturally hailed it with delight. As the officials
continued their rule of oppression a riot broke out
on June 2, 1689. Jacob Leisler as the commander
of the militia was forced to take charge. He
compelled Governor Nicholson to deliver into his
hands the fort and the treasury. A Committee of
Safety was organized with Leisler at the head.
On June 22 the inhabitants formally took the oath
of allegiance to William and Mary. Later on
Leisler was appointed Governor of New York.
But his administration was not successful because
the aristocracy did not recognize his authority
and tried to place obstacles in his way. When the
war with France broke out he was unable to de
fend the colony, partly because the English gen
erals did not consider themselves bound to act in
harmony with him, partly because he did not
possess the knowledge required for operations of
this kind. The reverses he suffered made it easy
for his enemies to gain the ear of the King, and
Leisler was deposed two years after he had taken
office.

In Leisler's place General Sloughter had been
appointed, a man of loose habits and addicted to
drinking. Sloughter was in no hurry to come to
New York because he liked the hospitality ex
tended to him by the landed proprietors whose
plantations he passed on his way from the South.
He sent a Captain Ingoldsby ahead to take pos
session of the colony, but Leisler declined to de
liver the fort and the treasury because Ingoldsby

12 HISTORY OF GERMAN IMMIGRATION IN THE UNITED STATES

could not produce any written order or authority
from Sloughter. This was the opportunity for
which Leisler's enemies had been waiting. In spite
of the fact that the former governor treated In-
goldsby with great courtesy and immediately gave
up everything to Sloughter when the latter finally
arrived, they complained that Leisler had wilfully
resisted the commands of the King. Sloughter
appointed a special court consisting of four of
his own officers and four civilians, all enemies of
Leisler, to sit in judgment upon the late Governor
and his son-in-law. The composition of the court
was so manifestly unfair that the accused and
practically the whole population, with the excep
tion of the aristocratic element, protested, but
Sloughter would not listen to them. As was to
be expected, Leisler and his son-in-law, Milbourne,
were found guilty of high treason and were con
demned to death by hanging. But even Sloughter
hesitated to sign this severe decree, and Leisler's
enemies had to arrange a banquet in order to
make the Governor drunk, in which condition it
was an easy matter to make him sign anything.
They did not want to run the risk of a mitigation
of the sentence after Sloughter had become sober
and consequently their victims were executed on
the morning of the following day while Sloughter
was still asleep. The scene was dramatic in the
highest degree. On the scaffold Milbourne faced
the instigator of this brutal act, the same Robert
Livingston who, in later years, became the op
pressor of the Palatines, and called out to him :
"Robert Livingston, for this deed you will have
to answer before the judgment throne of Al
mighty God." Leisler remained quiet and com
posed; in a few words he stated that he had done
nothing but his duty, and then said to the sheriff :
"I am ready." At this moment dark clouds hid
the sun, a terrific storm arose and the rain came
down in torrents. The immense crowd that had
assembled around the gallows began to cry and
to pray, and loud condemnations against the Gov
ernor and the aristocracy were heard from all
sides. As soon as Leisler was dead the people
fairly stormed the gallows and cut off his hair
and his clothes ; they were divided into bits and
these preserved as relics of the first martyr to
liberty on American soil. Four years later the
English Parliament reversed the judgment pro
nounced by Sloughter's court. Lord Bellamount,
later Governor of New York, stated, after a care
ful examination of the papers : "These men were
murdered, cruelly murdered." Leisler's son re
ceived an indemnity of one thousand pounds from
the crown. But it was too late, two of the no
blest men that ever lived in the colony had been
killed and could not be brought back to life. Jus

tice requires it, however, to keep in mind that
Jacob Leisler was not a rebel, but a patriot and
hero, and wherever we find a statement that does
not agree with these facts it should be corrected.
It may be mentioned here that it was a German,
too, who first defended the right to a free press.
Johann Peter Zenger had come to New York in
1710 as a boy and had been apprenticed to William
Bradford, a printer. He was a very intelligent
and ambitious young man and won his employer's
confidence to such a degree that he became his
partner. But Bradford was a champion of the
aristocracy and defended it in his paper, the New
York Gazette, while Zenger took the side of the
common people. They parted, and Zenger founded
the Weekly Journal. He did not hesitate to at
tack Governor Cosby when he, in order to
strengthen his party, went beyond the limits of
his authority. As repeated warnings could not
swerve Zenger from doing what he considered
his right and duty, Cosby had him arrested and
kept him in prison for nearly nine months. All
efforts of Zenger's friends to procure a regular
trial for him seemed to be in vain, but finally
the Governor yielded to the determined stand
taken by the people's party. Zenger was brought
to trial in 1735 and his friends secured for him
the services of one of the most brilliant advocates
of the day, A. Hamilton of Philadelphia. The
defence proved that every statement made by the
Weekly Journal had been true, and the prose
cution attempted to show that the press had no
right to criticise the government under any cir
cumstances. In a grand speech that has become
a classic and was widely and with great effect
quoted when fifty years later the fight for a free
press was successfully waged in England, Ham
ilton plucked this claim to pieces, and the jury
acquitted Zenger immediately after the court had
made its charge. He was taken home by a
throng that was wild with delight, and a few
days later the aldermen of the city presented him
with a golden snuffbox. The bold attempt to
muzzle the press had been successfully baffled
by a citizen of German birth. These two
incidents indicate, what can be shown with the
help of many facts beyond confutation, that all
through the colonial days the Germans were
always arrayed on the side of the people and
liberty, and that it must be ascribed to them to
a large extent if all attempts to transplant the
European feudal system to America and to per
petuate a class with special privileges and the
right to govern the masses, were frustrated.
From the earliest days they have stood firmly
against oppression and never faltered when the
liberties of the people had to be defended. It

HISTORY OF GERMAN IMMIGRATION IN THE UNITED STATES 13

will be shown how they were among the first
to take up arms during the war of the revolution.
They knew from bitter experience what oppres

sion meant, and they were not willing to allow
themselves to be robbed of the choicest fruit of
all their sacrifices, liberty.

THE PENNSYLVANIA GERMANS

We must now retrace our steps because the
German immigration in Pennsylvania must be
treated as a distinct and separate chapter, and
has not been touched upon in order to furnish
a consecutive narrative of the fate of the Ger
mans following the first settlers on Manhattan
Island. The Pennsylvania Germans, or as they
are generally called, the Pennsylvania Dutch,
came in such numbers and kept so closely togeth
er for almost a century, preserving even to this
day many of their customs and their language,
though their speech has been corrupted by the
adoption of English words and the change of
German expressions where they sounded similar
to those used by Americans, that they must be
looked upon as a group different from all the
others. Their importance to the United States
may be judged from the fact that at the begin
ning of the revolutionary war at least 100,000
Germans had settled in Pennsylvania, but it will
be shown here that they exerted a strong influ
ence not by their numbers alone but also by other
and more valuable qualities.

The causes which drove these masses from
their homes were the same that have been ex
plained at length in the first chapter. The misery
caused by the Thirty Years' War and by the
tyranny of the princess after peace had been
concluded, together with the failure of crops,
but above all religious persecution, were the mov
ing forces. The emigration to Pennsylvania
differs from other similar movements, however, in
one important particular, inasmuch as it was
started by one man, William Penn. He had be
come a Quaker missionary and as such visited
several places in Germany where small numbers
of Quakers existed or where similar sects had been
founded that might be converted to the creed
he followed. His eyes were turned towards
America where he hoped to find freedom of wor
ship for his followers. In Frankfurt-on-the-
Main he succeeded in forming a society with the
object of buying a tract of land in America and
emigrating thither. The opportunity for execu
ting his plans came when Charles II, in pay
ment of a debt of sixteen thousand pounds the
crown owed to Penn's father, gave the son the
vast tract between the colonies of New Jersey

and Delaware. Penn immediately resolved to
found a state in which religious as well as po
litical freedom should be granted to every inhab
itant. He called it a "Holy Experiment." In
pamphlets printed in English and German he
called attention to his plans. One of these fell
into the hands of Franz Daniel Pastorius, a
young law student, who was acquainted with sev
eral members of the society Penn had founded
at Frankfurt. He became so enthusiastic that
he decided to emigrate. His friends were not
ready to join him, but he found a number of
Mennonites and Quakers at Kriegsheim and Cre-
feld who were willing to follow him. Pasto
rius set out almost immediately, arriving at Phil
adelphia on August 16, 1683, where he was
warmly welcomed by Penn. The ship Concord,
frequently, and with good reason, called the
> German Mayflower, landed the first thirteen Ger
man families on October 6, 1683, and this day
marks the real beginning of German immigra
tion into the United States, and is to this day
celebrated as "German Day." The little band
settled near Philadelphia and founded German-
town, not without trials and hardships, for most
of the men had been weavers and were not used
to the hard work awaiting them. They succeeded,
however, and after about fifty more families had
followed them the tract of land heretofore held
in common was divided. In 1691 Germantown
was made a city and the number of inhabitants
had increased to such an extent that a number
of them could devote themselves to the indus
tries they had learned in their youth. Soon Ger
mantown became known for the excellence of the
linen and knit goods its inhabitants manufac
tured. Thus the Germans laid the foundation of
one of the most important industries of the
United States long before Americans thought
of producing at home anything but the plainer
and coarser fabrics, and while all superior goods
were imported from England.

The fame of Pennsylvania soon spread all
over Germany. The country where every one
could follow his religious convictions and where
nobody was persecuted, punished or banished for
belonging to any church not recognized by the
government — and only the Catholic, the Lutheran

14 HISTORY OF GERMAN IMMIGRATION IN THE UNITED STATES

and the Reformed Church were officially sanc
tioned — seemed indeed like the promised land.
The sufferings the German people had undergone
had created in this nation, so much given to in
trospective contemplation, a deep religious feel
ing which was not satisfied but rather offended
by the dogmatic strictness of the established
churches. New sects sprang up almost every day,
every one attempting, in its own particular way,
to restore the true teachings of the Savior ac
cording to the ideas of the founders. Some of
them found their peace in the most remarkable
and sometimes strange forms of worship but all
were imbued with that deep religious feeling
which has found expression in the word pietism.
They all sent colonies to America. The first
were the Mystics, who arrived in 1694 under
the leadership of Johann Kelpius, and settled
on the banks of the Wissahickon. Their com
munity did not last long, and the last survivor,
Conrad Beissel, became the founder of the
Ephrata community. Large numbers of Men-
nonites followed them ; the founders of German-
town were German Mennonites but members of
this sect did not arrive in large numbers until
after some of the Swiss cantons expelled them
in 1710 on account of their refusal to bear arms.
The "Tunker" or Dunkards, the Schwenkfelders,
the Pietists and other sects followed. The Mo
ravians had originally settled in Georgia but
came to Pennsylvania in 1738 because they had
been asked to take up arms in the war between
England and Spain. They differed from other
sects because they were not content with prac
tising their religion but devoted themselves to
educational and missionary work. Their work
among the Indians was especially successful.
They did not alone preach to the savages but
they taught them how to work and proved at
that early day what many people will not believe
even now : that the Indian can be brought to till
the soil and to learn a trade. Their work in this
direction was not destined to last. The English
could never be prevailed upon to look at the
Indian as a brother, and considered his advance
ment a danger to civilization ; the High Church
clergy was incensed at the number of Indians
who joined the Moravians, and the traders hated
the missionaries because they would not allow
them to sell brandy to their charges. The Mo
ravians were driven out of New York and Penn
sylvania and founded flourishing settlements in
the primeval forests of Ohio. Here their Indian
pupils, surrounded by fertile fields and orchards,
increased in number from year to year, buried
the tomahawk and lived in peace and plenty until,
in 1782, a band of backwoodsmen, under the

leadership of David Williamson, set upon them
and with almost incredible cruelty annihilated
them. The unarmed Indians were allowed to as
semble in two houses where they took leave of
each other, prayed and sang hymns in the Ger
man tongue until the last one had been mur
dered in cold blood. Only two boys, who had
been fortunate enough to find secure hiding places,
escaped. The villages and the work of the Mo
ravian missionaries, extending over many years,
were wiped out of existence within a few hours.
To defend this awful deed some historians have
claimed that the Indians and their teachers were
a danger to the white population because they
allowed hostile savages to dwell near white set
tlements under the guise of peaceful converts.
Nothing can be found to substantiate this claim,
and as far as the missionaries are concerned we
have abundant proof that they were always ready
to sacrifice themselves for the welfare of their
white brothers. In 1758 one of them, Christian
Friedrich Post, traveled from Fort Duquesne
through the wilderness to the camps of the In
dians whom France tried to make allies in her
war upon the English colonies. He succeeded
in winning them away from the French and
thereby probably saved the day for England. His
diary is still in existence and shows what ter
rible dangers he underwent in order to serve his
country.

A word must be said as to the trials and trib
ulations these immigrants had to pass through
before they could begin to found new homes for
themselves. We have already described how they
reached the coast of the Atlantic. There they
were literally packed into sailing vessels which
were in no way prepared for carrying human
beings. As a rule they were not even sufficiently
provisioned, and when the trip lasted longer than
the captain had anticipated the passengers had
to live on the rats and mice they caught. Caspar
Wintar tells us of such a journey during which
one hundred and fifty passengers died from fever
and starvation. Mittelberger, who published an
account of his voyage to America, says that
thirty-two children died and were buried in the
ocean. Ship fever was so prevalent that it was
called "Palatine Fever" and was looked upon as
a peculiar sickness to which German immigrants
were victims. Nobody thought of disinfecting
the ships, and smallpox broke out again and
again on the same vessel, which continued to
carry immigrants in spite of this. But nothing
could break the spirit of those sturdy men and
women who were imbued with the deepest re
ligious feeling. In the hour of danger and
amidst all the horrors they would assemble and

HISTORY OF GERMAN IMMIGRATION IN THE UNITED STATES 15

sing their hymns or pray to the good Lord to
deliver them, having an unbounded faith in His
will and kindness. Their firm belief that they
were in His hands helped them to endure all
suffering.

For many of them the hardships were not
ended when they had reached the new country.
As soon as emigration increased to such an ex
tent that the carrying of passengers became a
profitable business, shipowners sent agents to
Germany and Switzerland promising free passage
to America. Many availed themselves of this
seemingly liberal offer. Others who could have
paid were induced to spend their money before
embarking, and were then carried free. But
when they reached America they were sold to
people needing help and had to work for them
until their passage money was paid. Children
whose parents died during the voyage were sold
into virtual slavery and the property of any pas
senger who died was taken possession of by the
captain. These abuses lasted until long after
the Revolution. It has been said that the custom
of selling passengers to work for their passage
was not wholly bad, that it was certainly not
looked upon as a disgrace, that it helped many
to come here who would otherwise have been
compelled to remain in misery, and that this
semi-serfdom gave the immigrants an opportun
ity to acquire a knowledge of their new sur
roundings before they were compelled to strike
out for themselves. There is some truth in this
but it must not be forgotten that a great many of
the immigrants were of good education and not
used to work as menials, and that frequently the
different members of a family were sold to dif
ferent parties living widely apart. In this way
parents and children, brothers and sisters, and
even husband and wife, were sometimes separated
forever. It must, however, be said that the im
migrants sold for service were as a rule treated
fairly well, protected by the law and furnished
with an outfit when their time had expired. Still
the system was cruel, and not much more can be
said for it than that it might have been worse
yet.

These immigrants were by no means unedu
cated and ignorant as has been supposed by many
writers. The vital fact must be kept in view
that most of them did not go to America in
order to improve their material welfare alone.
This was one of the motives but by no means
the strongest. They yearned for religious free
dom, for freedom of thought, and nobody cares
for this whose mind has not been awakened.
Since the Reformation it had become the general
custom in Protestant Germany to unite religion

and education. Hardly a village was without a
teacher and there were few children who did not
learn how to read and write. Many of the im
migrants were quite well educated and there was
even a sprinkling of what might be called learned
men among them. Their leaders had almost
without exception received a university education.
It stands to reason that they would not have gone
to America with a horde of utterly ignorant
people, nor would they have been selected as
leaders by them. Daniel Pastorius, Josua von
Kocherthal, Johann Kelpius, Heinrich Bernhard
Koster, Daniel Falckner and others were men
of the very highest attainments. Additional
proof is furnished by the fact that the German
settlers sent to Germany for their preachers
when the original leaders had died. They wanted
men of intelligence and learning to lead them,
and they could not get them in America because
there the schools had not progressed far enough.
It was quite natural that they looked upon their
ministers as the intellectual leaders because their
whole life was centered in religious thought and
they could not imagine any other way of satis
fying their thirst for knowledge. In this man
ner many eminent men came to America as
preachers and teachers and the German parochial
schools were soon readily acknowledged as su
perior to the English. Among these men was
Heinrich Melchior Miihlenberg. He had studied
at Goettingen and Halle and came to America
in 1742 where he soon became the organizer of
the Lutheran Church. Within a few years he
had united the different congregations and cre
ated an organization that has lasted to this day.
What Miihlenberg did for the Lutherans, Mi
chael Schlatter accomplished for the Reformed
Church. The leader of the Moravians, Count
Zinzendorf, failed, however, when he came to
America, in 1741, with the intention of carrying
out his plan of uniting all the different sects in
one Protestant Church. Numerous others came
but not enough to satisfy the colonists for in
examining the documents of the time we hear
continually that more ministers and teachers were
wanted.

It is true that the German settlers bitterly op
posed the establishment of the free common
schools but this does not prove, as some writers
have claimed, that they were hostile to education.
On the contrary, they saw clearly that their own
schools were better than the first common schools
established, and for this reason wanted to retain
the former. They also desired very much that
their children should learn the language of their
parents. Above all, however, it was their deep
religious feeling which made it practically im-

16 HISTORY OF GERMAN IMMIGRATION IN THE UNITED STATES

possible for them to permit their children to
attend a school in which either religion was not
taught at all, or where different creeds were
treated with equal respect. They believed firmly
that the child belonged first to God, then to its
parents and then to the state. The fight was a
bitter and a long one but it was finally won by
the common schools, and it is significant that
the governor of Pennsylvania who succeeded in
having the system adopted was a German, George
Wolf. That the Pennsylvania Germans were
not opposed to education as such is best shown
by the fact that the state they helped to
found contains more high schools than most of
the others, and that many of these institutions
were founded by Germans. These people were
very pious but by no means narrow-minded fan
atics. The different sects often clashed on re
ligious questions but they never carried their
differences so far as to persecute those who be
lieved differently. They admitted every man's
right to hold and preach his particular religious
convictions. While witches were burnt and
Quakers executed in New England the Pennsyl
vania Germans, though divided into many sects,
lived together in peace and practised toleration.
They had themselves suffered too much and the
true Christian spirit had taken possession of them
too fully to allow them to harm others who did
not try to harm them, but simply had chosen a
different road to reach the same goal. Their
beneficial influence upon the development of the
religious life and the relations between church
and state, as well as between the different sects,
cannot be overestimated.

It has already been mentioned that the Penn
sylvania Germans were as solicitous for their
mental as for their material welfare. It was only
natural that above all they wanted books treat
ing the religious side of life, for the whole trend
of their mind tended to keep them away from
worldly things and from literature of a worldly
kind. Besides, they could not have kept up a
connection with the Fatherland close enough to
keep them informed of the literary activity go
ing on there. Consequently hymn and prayer
books were the first which the German printers
published. Not they alone, for American print
ers, among them the great Benjamin Franklin,
issued books and newspapers printed in the Ger
man language. In fact, Franklin published not
only the first German books printed in America,
but also the first newspaper of which, however,
only a few numbers appeared. This was in 1732
and up to that time only small pamphlets and
leaflets had been printed. But to Christoph Saur
belongs the credit of having founded the first

printing house that used German type. He came
to America in 1724 and first tried farming in
Lancaster County but did not succeed. In 1738
he imported a printing-press and type from Ger
many and established a business in Germantown
that soon reached large dimensions. His first
publication was the "High-German-American Al-
manach," which appeared regularly until 1778.
Many other publications followed, mostly hymn
.and prayer books but also quite a number of
historical works, English and German school
books and political pamphlets. On August 20,
!739, he published the first number of the first
German newspaper on American soil (the abor
tive attempt on Franklin's part deserves no con
sideration). The paper was at first published
monthly, then semi-monthly, and finally weekly.
It had a very large circulation for those days
and exerted great influence. Saur's greatest
work, however, was the printing of the first
Bible on American soil. Not the first German
Bible, but the first Bible of any kind, for the
first Bible in the English language was not
printed in America until forty years later. Saur's
enterprise was really gigantic, for the type,
specially cast for this work, had to be imported
from Germany, and the facilities at Saur's dis
posal were of a very limited kind. In addition,
it was a great question whether the undertaking
would pay, for the expenses were very large. But
Saur succeeded, the Bible appeared in 1742, had
a large sale and several editions had to be
printed. The paper was furnished by another
Pennsylvania German, William Rittenhouse, who
had built the first paper mill in America. From
now on German printing houses and newspapers
increased rapidly; in 1753 Franklin stated that
of the six printing houses in the province two
were German, two English and the other two
half English and half German. Of the news
papers founded in that period several are still
in existence.

But it is as a farmer that the Pennsylvania
German excelled. He did not, like his American
brother of different origin, continually try to
make new conquests, ready to give up the home
for the hope of finding a better one farther west.
He loved the soil as he loved his family. When
he had found the spot that suited him he stayed
and cultivated it until he had changed the pri
meval forest into a veritable garden spot. The
be"st soil in Pennsylvania for farming purposes
is limestone and almost every acre of this soil
is still in the hands of the descendants of Ger
man settlers. They farmed not for one harvest
but forever, they did not dream of leaving the
homestead after the first strength of the soil

had been exhausted. They carefully burned the
trees they had felled to clear the land as well as
the stumps and roots, and did not let them rot
like other settlers ; in this way they enriched the
soil and saved their ploughs. They introduced
irrigation and treated their horses so well that
they could do twice the work other farmers
made them do. They built large and substan
tial barns, known to this day as "Swisser Barns,"
and they erected comfortable stone houses. The
Pennsylvania farmer introduced horticulture and
truck farming in America, and it is not sur
prising that he prospered and increased. From
the neighborhood of Germantown the Germans
spread over Montgomery, Berks and Lancaster
counties; they crossed the Susquehanna and set
tled York and Cumberland. Northampton, Dau
phin, Lehigh, Lebanon, Centre and Adams fol
lowed. Under Jost Hite they advanced into the
Shenandoah valley and founded Frederick, Rock-
ingham, Shenandoah and other counties in Vir
ginia. Others went to Ohio. Everywhere the
Pennsylvania German became the pioneer of civ
ilization who cleared the forest and prepared the
soil for the masses that were to follow him.

At the beginning of the Revolution there were
at least one hundred thousand Germans or chil
dren of German parents in Pennsylvania. John
Fiske estimates that the descendants of the Eng
lish who emigrated to New England before 1640,
number about fifteen millions. According to this
estimate, there must be at the least five million
descendants of the Pennsylvania Germans in the
United States. There are certainly two millions
of them in Pennsylvania alone. The others have
spread all over the country. They are difficult
to trace because their names have been changed
long ago, in many cases so much that the orig
inal can hardly be discovered. It is comparatively
easy to detect the German origin in Wanamaker,
Pennypacker, Custer, Beaver, Hartranft, Keifer,
Rodenbough, etc., but it becomes more difficult
when the name has undergone several transfor
mations, as for instance Krehbiel to Krehbill,
Grebill, Grabill and finally Graybill, or Krumm-
bein to Krumbine and Grumbine, or Schnaebele
to Snavely, Gebhard to Capehart, Herbach to
Harbaugh or Gnege to Keneagy, and it is almost
impossible to trace the descent if the names have
been translated like Froehlich into Gay, or Klein
into Little or Small. The radical changes have
mostly been made by those families who went to
other states ; of those remaining in Pennsylvania
the larger part has retained names which show the
German root and can be traced with comparative
ease, except of course where the name has been
translated into English.

Nowhere else have the Germans remained to
gether in such compact masses as in Pennsyl

vania, and nowhere else can, therefore, their in
fluence upon the formation of the character of
the American people be better observed. They
still retain their characteristics to a marked de
gree, the peculiar forms of the religious life, the
habits and even the physical appearance of their
forebears. Their language is still different from
that of other parts of the population ; it is a
composite of English and German words and
forms, foreign to either and yet in many re
spects akin to both. It is wonderful how these
people have preserved, at least in part, the lan
guage of their ancestors who settled in Pennsyl
vania more than two centuries ago, for they did
not receive any additions to speak of which
might have kept the memories of the Fatherland
and its language green and fresh. Most of the
immigration from the same districts that came
in later periods remained in the cities or went
to the West and Northwest. We find likewise the
traits that distinguished the first settlers still in
existence ; the strong desire for independence and
the almost stubborn resistance against every fan
cied or real attempt to encroach upon their rights,
the untiring industry, strongly marked honesty,
frugality and the inclination to take life seriously.
All these qualities have produced a conserva
tism which has frequently caused the statement
that the Pennsylvania Germans were obstinate
and self-willed but which withal has exerted a
very beneficial influence. It has kept them and
their offspring upon their farms and perhaps re
tarded the development of the region they in
habited in a certain sense ; at least their cities
have not grown as rapidly as those of the West,
but on the other hand the soil their ancestors
conquered has not been given up and left
unfilled because the young men became restless
and went away to more distant regions, as has
been the case in New England. The compact
mass of the Germans in Pennsylvania still forms
a reservoir from which the American people
draw strength and conservatism, and it is still a
great factor in the equalization of the many
qualities brought here by immigrants from widely
differing countries. The statement is justified
that the often ridiculed and sometimes despised
Pennsylvania Dutchman has been one of the
most valuable factors in the development of the
mighty republic that has arisen on the North
American continent, and he deserves the fullest
appreciation and gratitude.

While the bulk of the German immigration of
the period under consideration went to Pennsyl
vania and New York, it must not be supposed
that these states alone received settlers from Ger
many. All through the South we find German
names in old records and deeds. According to
the Colonial Records of Virginia, a number of

18 HISTORY OF GERMAN IMMIGRATION IN THE UNITED STATES

the victims of the massacre of March 22, 1622.
led by Chief Opechancanough, were undoubtedly
Germans. We know that .the Salzburgers set
tled in Georgia in 1734 and that a large body of
immigrants from Switzerland arrived in South
Carolina in 1732. About the same time German
Valley and Friesburg were founded in New
Jersey and a German Roman-Catholic Church ex
isted in Maryland in 1758. Even in New England

we find German settlements, for in 1740 Waldo-
borough in Maine was founded and about ten
years later Leydensdorf in the same state, its
name indicating the sufferings the immigrants
had to undergo. But, as has been stated, most
of these groups have entirely disappeared among
the English population, and none of them dif
fered enough from the great mass that settled
in Pennsylvania to deserve separate treatment.

THE GERMANS DURING THE REVOLUTION

We have seen that during colonial times the
Germans were always found on the side of the
common people and sturdily opposed all at
tempts of the aristocratic element to curtail the
liberties granted by the crown, but they were
always loyal to the Government. In the war
against the French and the Indians the French
had counted on the assistance of the Germans,
especially of those in the Mohawk valley who
had been so cruelly treated by the English, but
they remained true to their Government. They
had to pay dearly for it, for in November, 1757,
a party of Frenchmen and Indians, under Captain
Belletre, appeared, burned all the houses and
barns, killed or maimed the cattle, massacred the
settlers, their women and children and carried
many of them into captivity. In the following
spring the attack was repeated, but in the mean
time the settlers had erected a fort and defended
their lives successfully under the leadership of
Nicolaus Herckheimer, of whom we will hear
more later on. Their houses were, however,
again burned to the ground. The Germans in
Pennsylvania furnished many volunteers for the
war. Of the officers of the provincial militia
more than one-third were Germans. Conrad
Weiser, the younger, commanded a battalion of
whom two-thirds were Germans, and Nicholas
Wetterholt's regiment was composed of his
countrymen entirely. Another regiment, com
manded by General Bouquet, a Swiss whose real
name was Straus, consisted entirely of German
officers and men. But there is no doubt that the
necessity of defending life and home against a
cruel and unrelenting foe had as much influence
upon the position taken by the Germans as loy
alty. They had no love for the English, nor
had they any cause for it. Outside of Pennsyl
vania they had been badly treated wherever they
settled, the promises made to them had been
broken, and the attempts to deprive them of their
liberty as well as of the fruits of their industry

had never ceased. So the great movement for
liberty and for independence found them in a
receptive mood and fully prepared.

Another factor must be taken into considera
tion. The German immigrants and their children
still loved their Fatherland. They had left it
to escape oppression, persecution and tyranny,
but in their hearts lived the wish to see the
Fatherland delivered from the conditions that
made the German people so miserable. To see
the great German Empire restored to its old
power and importance was a dream they cher
ished. When they heard of the deeds of Fred
erick the Great of Prussia, when they read how
he had taken a firm stand for religious liberty
and had vanquished the princes and princelings
who had oppressed them, their hearts went out
to him. He became immensely popular all
through the German colonies. Taverns bearing
his name were found in almost every village
where Germans lived and his portrait had a place
in every dwelling. They saw in him the great
liberator, the unrelenting foe of oppression in
every form, as indeed many Americans of his
time did. They took inspiration from him and
his deeds, and their yearning for freedom, their
readiness to fight and if need be to die for it be
came stronger as they followed his triumphant
career. Taking it all in all, no part of the popu
lation of the colonies was more ready for the
Revolution and for the complete separation of the
colonies from England, than the Germans.

When the call to arms was sounded the Ger
mans were ready. They had long prepared for it
and drilled in every township. Pastor Helmuth
of the Lutheran Church at Lancaster writes on
February 25, 1775, that the whole country was
ready for war, that every man was armed and
that the enthusiasm was indescribable. Even the
Quakers and Mennonites, whose creed forbade
them to bear arms, came forward and renounced
their creed in this time of great emergency. It

HISTORY OF GERMAN IMMIGRATION IN THE UNITED STATES 19

is a significant fact that the first company of
militia to arrive at Cambridge in 1775, after the
battle of Lexington, came from York County,
Pa., and was composed entirely of Pennsylvania
Germans. The commander was Captain Henry
Miller and the company had marched five hun
dred miles to reach its destination. But Penn
sylvania did not stand alone ; from Georgia to th&
Mohawk valley every German settlement sent its
young men to fight for liberty. One of the most
dramatic incidents was furnished by Johann
Peter Miihlenberg, the eldest son of Heinrich
Melchior Miihlenberg, who has been mentioned
as the organizer of the German Lutheran Church
in America. Johann Peter had been sent to Ger
many to study theology but his fiery temperament
chafed under the restrictions placed upon him.
He ran away from the seminary at Halle where
he had been sent by his father and apprenticed
himself to a merchant at Liibeck. This life did
not suit him any better and he listened willingly
to the promises of fame and glory held out by
one of the many English recruiting officers who
plied their questionable trade in Germany. He
became a private in a regiment of dragoons and
soon earned the sobriquet "Devil Pete" by his
recklessness and daring. But his regiment was
sent to America and his father purchased his
release. Johann Peter seemed to have quieted
down ; at least he finished his studies, passed the
examinations and became pastor of the German
Lutheran Church at Woodstock, Va. But the
change was only apparent and probably executed
more to please the father than from inclination.
The young minister spent more time in the for
ests and on the mountains hunting game than
at church work and became a firm friend of
George Washington and Patrick Henry. When
the movement for independence began he entered
into it with heart and soul and served as presi
dent of the Council of Safety and as member of
the convention at Williamsburg which elected
delegates for the first Continental Congress. Fi
nally, in January, 1776, he assembled his congre
gation and from the chancel told them that the
time had arrived when every citizen must serve
his country to the best of his ability; that he be
lieved he could do more in the field than in the
church, and that for this reason he had accepted a
commission as colonel to raise a German regiment
and asked all men who could bear arms to fol
low him. With these words he threw off his
priestly gown and stood before the congregation
in full regimentals. He then left the chancel,
took a position in front of the church doors and
gave orders to sound the drums and swear in
recruits. Lieutenant-colonel Baumann and Ma

jor Helffenstein stood at his side. A tremendous
wave of enthusiasm swept over the multitude;
fathers who were too old to go to the war
pushed their sons forward and wives their hus
bands and before the day closed three hundred
men had enlisted. A few days later Miihlen
berg had a regiment of four hundred and fifty
men, more than most regiments numbered. He
did splendid service in Virginia, the Carolinas,
Georgia, in the battles of the Brandywine and
Germantown. At the end of the war he was
made a major-general and served as vice-pres
ident of the Executive Council of Pennsylvania,
did valiant work to induce the Pennsylvania Leg
islature to ratify the Federal Constitution, be
came a member of Congress, United States sen
ator and later, until his death in 1802, internal
revenue collector at Philadelphia.

How great the enthusiasm was among the Ger
mans is shown by an incident of almost hu
morous aspect. At Reading three companies of
militia had been formed who drilled diligently.
The old men of the town did not want to be
left behind and formed another company to
which nobody under forty years of age was ad
mitted. The commander was ninety-seven years
old, had served forty years in the Prussian army
and taken part in seventeen battles. The drum
mer was eighty-four years old. Whether this
troop ever saw active service is not known. The
German butchers guild of Philadelphia passed
resolutions demanding independence for the colo
nies in 1774 before the question whether the
colonies should separate from England had been
decided in the affirmative. A splendid figure,
worthy of being remembered, was the baker,
Christoph Ludwig, at Philadelphia. He had been
born in 1720 at Giessen in Germany and had
learned his trade from his father. When he
was seventeen he enlisted and fought with the
Austrians against the Turks and later under the
great Frederick against the Austrians. Then he
became a sailor and passed several years of his
life in the East Indies. In 1754 he settled in
Philadelphia, started a bakery and amassed con
siderable wealth. When the Revolution broke
out he was fifty-five years old, but he threw
himself into the movement with the ardor of a
young man. He served on almost all the Revo
lutionary committees and when the convention
of 1776 proposed a popular subscription in order
to raise money for the purchase of arms, and
when there was hesitation as to the advisability
of such a step, Ludwig arose in his seat and
said: "Mr. President, I am only a poor baker,
but I am willing to start the list with two hun
dred pounds sterling." This action ensured the

20 HISTORY OF GERMAN IMMIGRATION IN THE UNITED STATES

success of the undertaking. On May 5, 1777, Lud-
wig was appointed baker-in-chief for the army.
As such he shpwed his honesty by pledging him
self to furnish one hundred and thirty-five
pounds of bread for every hundred pounds of
flour, while his predecessors had given only one
hundred pounds of bread. The army inspectors
had not known, though the bakers probably
knew, that the weight of the moisture contained
in the bread must be deducted. Washington ap
preciated Ludwig's services highly and never
failed to receive him when he came to Philadel
phia; in fact, the lowly baker was repeatedly in
vited to the great man's table.

One of the most heroic figures of the war of
the Revolution was Nicolaus Herckheimer, who
has already been mentioned as the leader of the
German settlers in the Mohawk valley during
the French War. These settlements formed the
frontier between New York and the Indian ter
ritory and a wall which protected the white in
habitants of the colony against the attacks of
the savages. The English authorities did not
take great pains to help the settlers in their
fights with the Indians, in fact they let them shift
for themselves as we have seen. The Germans
of the valley of the Mohawk, therefore, formed
four companies of riflemen who had to hold
themselves ready at all times to defend the set
tlements against the Indians. Herckheimer was
their commander. When the Revolution broke out
the whole population of that section hailed it
with delight and offered to serve against the
English Government. Herckheimer was appointed
commander of the militia of western New York
with the title of brigadier-general, by the con
vention which had taken charge of the colony.
At first it did not seem as if Herckheimer would
have to do much more than protect the border
against Indian raids, but it developed soon that
he was destined to play a very important role in
the war for liberty.

In the summer of 1777 General Bourgoyne
started from Canada with a large army to reach
New York by way of Lake Champlain and Lake
George. At the same time Admiral Howe was in
and around New York with another large army.
The presumption was natural that an attempt
would be made to unite these two armies. Now
Washington knew very well that he could never
succeed if he did not prevent the union of the
British forces, not only in this case but during
the entire war. All his manceuvers and the
selection of all his positions and winter camps
were always done with one object in view : to
be able at any time to strike at an enemy advan
cing against the line of the upper Hudson,

whether he came from the seacoast or from Can
ada. He was well aware of the fact that his
cause was lost if two hostile armies operating
from those points could unite and thus divide
the colonies into two halves unable to communi
cate with each other. This was exactly what
Bourgoyne had planned and Washington ex
pected. Neither could know that Howe would
leave New York and go to Philadelphia instead
of pushing north to join Bourgoyne. But both
knew that the question whether the army coming
from Canada could reach the valley of the lower
Hudson might decide the war. Washington had
sent his best generals and troops to stop Bour-
goyne's advance, but the Englishman had so far
overcome all resistance. He had reached Fort
Edward and waited there for news from Howe.
When this failed to arrive he determined to ad
vance as soon as his right wing under General
St. Leger would reach him. St. Leger had started
from Montreal and, landing at Oswego, had
reached the portage from Lake Oneida to the
Mohawk and thereby the direct and easy road
to Albany. Had he been allowed to continue his
march he would have protected Bourgoyne's right
flank successfully, at the same time threatening
the left flank of the American army. But at
the upper Mohawk Fort Stanwix had been
erected and this was held by seven hundred
Americans under Colonel Gansevoort. At the
beginning of August St. Leger appeared before
the fort with seven hundred regulars and over
one thousand Indians led by Chief Josef Brant.
He asked Gansevoort to surrender but the
American refused, he and his men knowing the
importance of holding their position as long as
possible. The very next day they received the
welcome news that Herckheimer with the Ger
man militia was on the way to succor them. He
had collected his force of four battalions, all to
gether eight hundred men, as soon as he had
heard of St. Leger's approach. On the evening
of August fifth, he reached the point where the
Oriska joins the Mohawk River and the
present village of Oriskany is situated.
From here he sent messengers to Fort
Stanwix and decided to advance as soon
as he knew that Gansevoort could sup
port him by a simultaneous attack upon the ene
my. This prudent and wise determination did,
not, however, please the younger and less expe
rienced element among his command. They
wanted to attack in the early morning regard
less of the dangers connected with a fight against
large numbers and in a dense forest where the
enemy could not be seen. Herckheimer resisted
their urging as long as he could, but when some

HISTORY OF GERMAN IMMIGRATION IN THE UNITED STATES 21

of the rashest among them said he had become
afraid of the Indians in his old age, he reluct
antly consented to the advance. Events unfor
tunately proved that his judgment had been cor
rect. After the long and slim column had en
tered the forest on a narrow path it was sud
denly beset on all sides by the Indians assisted
by a detachment of regulars. Herckheimer or
dered his men to hide behind the trees and suc
ceeded in getting them together in some kind
of order. A short hand-to-hand fight convinced
the Indians that victory could not be won as
easily as they had believed. Herckheimer was
wounded by a shot through the knee that shat
tered his leg. He ordered his men to place him
on a saddle under a large tree and from this
position encouraged them and gave his orders as
if nothing had happened to him. About noon a
thunderstorm with a heavy fall of rain inter
rupted the bloody work for some time and gave
Herckheimer the opportunity to place his men in
a large circle and close together. He also gave
orders that two men should be behind each tree
because the Indians had waited until a volunteer
had fired his rifle when they jumped on him and
scalped him. His men obeyed him willingly now.
Late in the afternoon heavy firing was heard
from the direction of Fort Stanwix. The gar
rison had made a sortie and was on its way to
join Herckheimer. The enemy, already discour
aged by the strong resistance of the Germans,
fled precipitately. The day was won and Herck-
heimer's judgment was vindicated. But a high
price had been paid. Two hundred of the militia
men were either dead or so severely wounded
that they could not be removed. Many more had
been captured by the Indians. Whole families
were wiped out. Nine members of the Schell
family were left on the battlefield, two of the
Wohlleben, several Kast, Demuth, Hess, Kau-
mann, Vetter, Orendorff, etc. Herckheimer him
self lived but a few days longer; he did receive
the congratulations General Schuyler sent him
but died soon after. The city of Herkimer was
named after him and the state of New York
erected a monument in his honor. He had ren
dered the American cause a service, the value
of which can hardly be estimated high enough.
Oriskany was the first successful engagement in
the efforts to resist the advance of Bourgoyne;
Herckheimer's victory discouraged the British
troops and the Indians who left their allies in
large numbers, and made it possible for Gates
to advance against Bourgoyne without running
the danger of being attacked in flank and rear.
The surrender at Saratoga would have been im
possible without the victory of Oriskany; it is

even a question whether Bourgoyne could have
been prevented from reaching New York. Wash
ington himself said that Herckheimer brought
about a change in the situation in the northwest
when it seemed hopelessly dark, and when every
quality of leadership seemed to be absent. And
he added : "General Herckheimer served and gave
his life to his country because he loved it, and
not because he desired preferment, fame or
riches."

The most prominent German in the War of the
Revolution was, without question, Friedrich Wil-
helm von Steuben. We are, indeed, justified
when we say that his services to Washington and
the American cause were of greater importance
and value than those of any other foreigner
serving in the American army, not excepting
General Lafayette. As an individual Steuben did
far better and more valuable work than the
Frenchman, whose importance was based on the
fact that he represented a whole nation and
brought the aid and enormously valuable assist
ance of the French Government. Lafayette be
came the exponent of all that France did for
the United States, and upon him were showered
the expressions of the gratitude the. American
people justly felt for his country. A dashing
figure, of undaunted courage, though lacking in
experience, with many amiable traits which were
more prominent than during the later years of
his life, he fully deserved the love and admira
tion extended to him. But for the practical
services he rendered as an individual we look
in vain in the annals of the great struggle. Steu
ben played an entirely different part. He had
very little opportunity to show his ability as a
general in the field, he did not look for glory
or admiration but worked hard and unceasingly
and found contentment and happiness in strict
and unremitting devotion to duty. Thus it came
about, as it is always in this world, that La
fayette became a popular hero and received in
numerable proofs of the appreciation felt for him
while Steuben had to wait many years before
Congress gave him a pension sufficient to pass
his remaining years in peace and comfort, and
is all but forgotten by the American people.

Friedrich Wilbelm August von Steuben was
the son of an officer who had served in the Rus
sian and the Prussian armies. Hardly seventeen
years old, the son entered the army of the Great
Frederick in 1847, soon after the close of the sec
ond war with Austria. When the Seven Years'
War broke out, Steuben was first lieutenant, and
took part in the battles of Prague and Rossbach.
During the year 1758 he served as volunteer in
General von Mayr's Free Corps, one of those

22 HISTORY OF GERMAN IMMIGRATION IN THE UNITED STATES

detachments which were so frequent in former
wars. They did not belong to the regular army,
acted independently and were meant to harass
the enemy in his flank and rear by appearing sud
denly at the most unexpected places and disap
pearing again as quickly. After the death of his
commander he was appointed adjutant-general to
General von Huelsen, took part in the battles of
Kunersdorf and Liegnitz and the operations
against the Russians, was taken prisoner by them
but soon set free. The close of the war found
him an aide-de-camp to the King and quarter
master-general of the army. For a time he had
commanded a regiment but the King was forced
to economize after peace had been declared and,
like many other officers, Steuben was reduced to
the rank of captain. This and other reasons
which have never been fully explained, induced
him to resign his commission, although the King
had given him many proofs of his favor. Dur
ing the next ten years Steuben served as court
marshal to the Prince of Hohenzollern-Hechin-
gen and after that for three years in a similar
capacity to the Margrave of Baden. But his
ambition could not be satisfied by the quiet life
at one of the many small German courts. He
traveled extensively and made repeated efforts to
procure a commission in the Austrian army. In
this he did not succeed and made up his mind
to go to England. On his way there he visited
Paris and did not want to let the occasion pass
without calling on an old friend, the French
minister of war, Count St. Germain. The Count
immediately tried to persuade him to go to
America and join the Colonial army. After much
hesitation — which was justified, for Paris was
full of French and other officers who had gone
to America with letters of recommendation and
even promises from the American agents, but
had been refused commissions and had returned
penniless — Steuben decided to follow St. Ger
main's advice, in spite of the fact that the Amer
ican agents, Deane and Franklin, refused to pay
even his traveling expenses. Franklin said he
would try to induce Congress to give to Steuben
a large tract of land, but this promise seemed so
vague that Steuben declined it and preferred to
offer his services without stipulating any reward.
After his arrival at Boston he wrote letters to
the Congress and to General Washington in
which he said that he had given up all his offices
and his income in order to gain the honor, if
need be with his blood, to become one of the de
fenders of liberty. He asked for commissions
for himself and his companions, but stated ex
pressly that he expected no reward of any kind

until he had shown by his services that he had
earned it.

He arrived at an opportune moment. Wash
ington was in camp at Valley Forge with an
army that lacked practically everything neces
sary for active warfare. It was the darkest
time of the whole war. The American army had
neither sufficient clothing, nor ammunition, nor
provisions. It had dwindled to five thousand
men, many of whom were sick, insufficiently clad
or without arms. The discipline was lax and
there was nothing like uniformity in drill and
tactics. Each colonel drilled his regiment in the
way he found best, and quite a number of them
possessed little or no knowledge of military
science. After a few conversations with Steuben,
Washington was convinced that he had found in
him the man for the hour. He ordered him to
take temporary charge of the duties of the in
spector-general, a very wise move, because it did
not arouse the natural jealousy of the American
officers which a permanent appointment would
have done. Steuben took charge immediately,
drew up rules and regulations and a complete
military code, and compelled the regimental com
manders to interest themselves in their men. He
not only supervised the drill, but formed a corps
of one hundred and twenty men under the pre
text that a special bodyguard for the general-in-
chief was necessary. This corps he drilled in
person and its proficiency soon aroused the am
bition of every colonel to show equal results with
his men. This was exactly what Steuben had
intended and expected. In his diary he describes
at length the methods he pursued and one can
not withhold the greatest admiration from the
man who, without any knowledge of the con
ditions and the language of the country, immedi
ately perceived how he had to proceed, what
parts of the European systems could be adopted
and how this army, officers as well as men, had
to be handled in order to make it a homogene
ous and effective body that could meet the well-
drilled Britishers in compact formation on their
own ground.

The results of Steuben's work were seen
quickly. On April 30, 1778, a little more than
six weeks after the German had begun to drill
the army, Washington asked Congress to give
him a commission. In his letter he said : "It
would be an injustice if I were to continue leav
ing the services of Baron von Steuben unmen-
tioned. His ability and his military accomplish
ments, as well as the untiring energy which he
has shown since he entered our service, compel
me to state that he is a distinct gain for our
army, and I recommend him to the special at-

HISTORY OF GERMAN IMMIGRATION IN THE UNITED STATES 23

tention of Congress." Steuben was accordingly
appointed major-general and inspector-general of
the army.

But the great test was yet to come; the question
had to be decided how Steuben's reforms would
influence the action of the troops under the fire
of the enemy. He had not long to wait. On May
20, 1778, Lafayette had made a demonstration
against the enemy and advanced a little too far.
When Washington saw that Lafayette was in
danger of being cut off he gave orders to ad
vance in force. Within less than fifteen minutes
the whole army was in position. This was a
feat never before thought even possible. Steu
ben's work had accomplished it. But a still bet
ter demonstration of the value of his services
was soon to be given. On June twenty-eighth the
battle of Monmouth was fought. Although most of
his generals, especially Charles Lee, advised
against it, Washington decided to attack the
British army under Clinton. He alone was con
fident that his army was now in a condition to
cope with a well-drilled and disciplined body of
troops. The result vindicated his conviction.
When the advance guard under Lee had been
repulsed and its retreat began to assume the pro
portions of a complete rout, Washington ordered
Steuben to collect the fleeing soldiers and to re
store them to order. Not only did Steuben suc
ceed in this but all the other troops remained
firm and were not in the least influenced by the
spectacle Lee's detachment offered. This would
not have been possible before the army had been
reorganized by Steuben; the fleeing advance
guard would have carried the others along and
the engagement would have been lost. Washing
ton acknowledged freely that the credit for the
victory at Monmouth had to be ascribed to Steu
ben, in spite of the fact that the German had
not been actively engaged in the battle itself.
Even Alexander Hamilton, not a friend of Gen
eral Steuben at that time, declared that he had
been greatly surprised by the ease with which
the fleeing regiments were re-formed and the
others kept in good order, and added that at that
moment only he had grasped the value of disci
pline and military training. One year later an
other illustration of the excellence of Steuben's
methods was furnished, when the American
troops stormed Stony Point at the point of the
bayonet without firing a single shot. When he
began his work, the bayonet was looked upon
with contempt by the Americans; like all insuf
ficiently drilled troops they wanted to shoot as
soon as they saw the enemy. He had taught
them to remain cool and collected under the

enemy's fire, and after Stony Point they acknowl
edged freely that his views were right.

We cannot follow General Steuben's career
during the entire war. He served as inspector-
general, as chief of the general staff and for
some time in the South. He was in command
in the trenches before Yorktown when Corn-
wallis offered to surrender. During all these
years he had worked hard and used what time
he could spare to perfecting the rules and regu
lations for the organization of the American
army in war and peace. It was Steuben who first
proposed the foundation of a military academy
and when Congress erected the academy at West
Point his plans were used to a great extent.
When General Lincoln resigned as Secretary of
War in 1783 nobody doubted that Steuben would
be appointed his successor. His ability as well
as his unselfish devotion to his new country had
been sufficiently proven. But Congress selected
General Knox who, though brave and an able
commander, had never shown any special fitness
for this office, on the absurd plea that so im
portant a place should not be given to a man
not born in America. A few months later Steu
ben resigned his commission, and the thanks of
Congress were voted to him, coupled with the
promise that his valuable services would be fit
tingly rewarded. Congress also gave him a
sword. This he received three years later, but
he had to wait seven years before the pension
promised to him was granted, in spite of the
fact that Washington and others urged Congress
to action. All of Steuben's efforts to get at least
an accounting and reimbursement for the sums
he had expended out of his own pocket were
unsuccessful. For years he had to live in bitter
poverty, in a cheap boarding house in New York,
and without the assistance of some personal
friends he might have starved. In 1790 Con
gress was at last induced to grant him a pension
of $2,500 per annum. Several states had given
him tracts of land, among them New Jersey,
which offered him the confiscated possessions of
a Tory named John Zabriskie. When, however,
Steuben heard that Zabriskie was penniless, he
transferred the gift to him. He accepted a quar
ter section of sixteen thousand acres from the
state of New York near Utica. Here he erected
a modest house, gave some of his land to for
mer officers and rented another part to colonists.
Giving considerable attention to agriculture, he
lived there during the summer and passed his
winters in New York City. He died on No
vember 28, 1794. The cities of Albany and New
York had made him an honorary citizen and he

24 HISTORY OF GERMAN IMMIGRATION IN THE UNITED STATES

had been appointed a regent of the University
of the State of New York.

Another German served as general in Wash
ington's army, Johann Kalb, or, as he called
himself, Baron Jean de Kalb. But he was more
of a Frenchman than a German. He had been
born in Germany, it is true, but emigrated to
France when hardly more than a boy. His work
as waiter did not please him and he decided to
enlist, but as he did not care to serve as private
he assumed the predicate of nobility and secured
a commission as lieutenant in the regiment Low-
endal. De Kalb was a good soldier and fought
in all the campaigns of the French army from
1743 to 1763. He then resigned and married the
daughter of a wealthy merchant. He must have
enjoyed the confidence of the French Government
to a high degree for when the first news arrived
that the British colonies in America were dis
satisfied with, and might revolt against, English
rule, de Kalb was sent to America to inves
tigate the situation. On his return he reported
that things were not ripe yet, but would be in
a few years. When the Revolution broke out de
Kalb went to America in the company of La
fayette. He was made a major-general and ren
dered valuable services. After heroic efforts
to save the troops under his command from an
nihilation by an enemy many times stronger, he
was killed in the battle of Camden, S.C., on
August 16, 1780.

This narrative would not be complete without
mention of a picturesque figure that has become
immortal under the name of Molly Pitcher. It
seems almost an irony of fate that great gen
erals should have been forgotten because they
were not born on American soil, while this sim
ple woman, also of German birth, is still re
membered, and this only because the name the
soldiers gave her induced people to believe that
she was an American. Her real name was Maria
Ludwig and she was in the service of Dr. Irvine
of Philadelphia. When she left his service she
married Wilhelm Heiss. He enlisted in the ar
tillery when Dr. Irvine became colonel of the
Second Pennsylvania Infantry. His wife went
with him, cooked for the soldiers, nursed the
sick and the wounded, and, during the frequent
engagements, carried water to the firing line in
a large pitcher. In this way she earned the
name under which history knows her. In the
battle of Monmouth the battery to which Heiss
belonged suffered severely from the British fire.
Most of the men, including Molly's husband, had
been wounded and the rest showed signs of
weakening. Thereupon the courageous woman
sprang forward, grasped the rammer and started

to load a gun. The spirits of the soldiers re
vived at this spectacle, they gave three cheers
for Molly Pitcher, redoubled their efforts and
forced the British to retire. It is reported that
Heiss, whose wounds were not serious, was made
a sergeant by Washington on the spot.

Two more names must be mentioned, not of
warriors, but of men whose services were of
great value to the young nation in the hour of
its greatest need. One of them is Friedrich
August Miihlenberg, a brother of the Reverend
and General Johann Peter. He was also a min
ister of the gospel, but soon exchanged the chan
cel for the political platform. Of commanding
ability, he was a member of the Continental Con
gress, president of the Pennsylvania convention
which ratified the Constitution of the United
States, Speaker of the Pennsylvania Legislature,
and Speaker of the first and second United States
Congress under Washington's administration. The
other is Michael Hillegass, who was treasurer
of the Continental Congress.

Enough has been said to show that the Ger
mans did their full part — and perhaps more — to
win independence for this country. They did
then, as always afterward, prove their loyalty
and devotion, their trustworthiness and their
right to receive full and complete justice. If
this was not, and is not now, given to them,
they do not complain but find solace in the con
sciousness that they are doing their duty and do
not require praise from others.

The history of this period would not be com
plete if we did not mention the Hessians, as the
German troops fighting with the British army
were generally called in America. They were
by no means all Hessians but came from several
of the small German principalities. It would be
entirely wrong to draw from their presence the
conclusion that the German people were in sym
pathy with England. These troops were sold by
their rulers for cash, and compelled to fight for
a cause which did not interest them in the least.
They had no choice, and even the princes who
sold them cannot be called allies of Great Britain.
They were simply heartless tyrants who gave
their helpless subjects to the highest bidder. If
the American colonies had been willing and able
to pay a better price there is no doubt that the
Hessians would have been sold to them. These
soldiers interest us because a goodly number of
them remained in America after peace had been
concluded. They were loyal and fought bravely
whenever called upon, but naturally felt no en
thusiasm. When they were captured by the Amer
icans they considered that their duty was done
and did not need very close watching as a rule.

HISTORY OF GERMAN IMMIGRATION IN THE UNITED STATES 25

Many of the prisoners were given into the cus
tody of German farmers for whom they worked
willingly and with whom they felt quite at home.
There were so many of them that at one time
the Congress seriously considered the advisa
bility of forming a regiment composed of Hes
sians, for quite a number had taken such a liking
to their new-found friends that they were willing
to take up arms for them. The project was,
however, abandoned. But when peace came not
all the Hessians who had been brought to Amer

ica returned. According to very conservative es
timates at least five thousand of them remained.
Some of them had intermarried with the families
of German settlers, others had become used to
the new country, and many did not care to go
back to conditions that had become distasteful
to them after they had learned to appreciate re
ligious and political liberty. They settled mostly
among the Germans in Pennsylvania, Xew York
and the neighboring states. No distinct traces
of them have remained.

FROM THE REVOLUTION TO THE YEAR 1848

After the Revolution a period set in during
which comparatively few Germans came to the
United States. The French revolution and the
Napoleonic wars acted as preventatives to emi
gration. This may appear contradictory at the
first glance because, as a rule, troublous times
are apt to drive people to seek new homes. It
is, however, quite natural. The events that led
to the French revolution filled the German people
with a new hope. The belief that absolutism, re
strictions and serfdom would be done away with,
became general. Why go to foreign shores if
the happiness that might be found there was al
most certain to arrive at home? And after the
long wars had broken out the state needed every
able bodied citizen at home, while at the same
time the ports of the Continent of Europe were
closed to navigation and the seas were no longer
highways of commerce, but the scene of never-
ending strife between France and England, mak
ing it difficult and perilous for merchant vessels
to cross the ocean. It is true that German im
migration never ceased completely, but it was not
numerous enough to make a strong impression
nor even to strengthen the already existing Ger
man settlements sufficiently to prevent their
Americanization by slow but sure steps. Thus
for nearly forty years the German element in the
United States remained stationary as far as the
number of newcomers was concerned.

But the Germans remained by no means idle.
They continued to spread in the way we have
indicated and carried their characteristics into
new regions. They took part in the conquest of
the great western territory that had been pur
chased from the French Government. There
were, in fact, many Germans among the bold
spirits who forced their way through primeval
forest and over pathless mountains with the firm
purpose to extend the frontier of the colonies

farther toward the setting sun. Their names
have been forgotten, with few exceptions, but it
is known that the large majority of the settlers
who followed in the footsteps of the conquerors
and advanced along the banks of the Ohio River,
making Kentucky, Ohio and Indiana habitable,
were of German blood. They also did a large
share of the winning of Tennessee. Here, as
everywhere, and at all times, the German settler
did the real work. He did not look for fame
or glory, he did not seek adventures and the
spoils of war and the chase, but he cleared the
soil and tilled it until it was changed into fer
tile fields and gardens. Valuable as the pio
neer's work was, his methods could never have
opened the land to civilization. His log cabin
served him more as a place of retreat in times
of need than as a permanent home, while the
German immediately began to produce and to
improve, preparing the country for peaceful and
permanent habitation by the millions who were
to follow soon. All during this period the Ger
man proved his value for the land of his adop
tion and never ceased to be one of the most im
portant factors in its development.

The Napoleonic wars had hardly ended when
the immigration from Germany began to increase
again. The great bulk consisted, as before, of
peasants who came to find new homes on virgin
soil. But withal a great change was discernible,
for there arrived also a large number of men of
the highest accomplishments and education, not
as leaders of the masses or with them, but on
their own accord. Again it was persecution that
drove them from the Fatherland. They had to
go because they had been foolish enough to be
lieve that the German people did not rise against
the great Napoleon for the sole reason of re
placing their princes and princelings upon the
thrones the conqueror had taken away from them.

26 HISTORY OF GERMAN IMMIGRATION IN THE UNITED STATES

They had really believed that these princes owed
some little gratitude to the people and should
recognize the fact that they should be given some
part in the government. They were mistaken ;
the princes were determined to continue their rule
of absolutism, and persecuted relentlessly every
body who dared to disagree with them. Thus po
litical persecution, in place of the religious per
secution of former years, drove untold thousands
of the very best and ablest Germans across the
Atlantic. These political refugees gave the Ger-

, man immigration, beginning about 1818, its pecu
liar' character ; the movement lasted until well in
to the second half of the Nineteenth Century, but
may be divided into two periods, the first one
extending until the German revolution of 1848,
during which it was rather limited as to num
bers, and the second one comprising the arrival

. of the revolutionists in large masses. There is
another distinction which has not been taken note
of by historians generally. The Germans arriv
ing after the revolutionary movement had failed
were united by one distinct idea that had already
been transformed into action. Their object may
be called visionary, unclear and premature, but
it had crystallized in the desire to unite the Ger
man nation under a liberal, preferably a repub
lican government. Between the Napoleonic wars
and the revolution Germany passed through a
period of romanticism which filled a large part
of the youth of the German people with an in
distinct longing for something, the nature of
which they did not understand and really did
not wish to know. Thus many came to America
who were searching for things unknown and had
no other reason to expect that they would find
them here but that they did not know anything
of the country. Among them was the poet, Ni-
kolaus Lenau, who expected to find in America
not only human perfection but everything else he
was yearning for. He returned to Europe after
a short stay, disappointed and embittered. Many
others were not so fortunate, and thousands who
did not know why they had left their homes
perished in misery. In the same category be
long, though different in character, the differ
ent attempts to found colonies of German no
blemen who were planned to bring to life again
the conditions under which knighthood flourished
in the Middle Ages. They came to nothing,

' though some led to the establishment of im
portant German settlements, as New Braunfels
in Texas. The romanticism has exercised no in
fluence upon the American people, and this could
not have been expected because its exponents did
neither find a fertile soil nor were they strong
enough to make converts to their ideas. In this

respect the year 1848 forms a dividing line, be
cause by that time the aimless dreaming had
been replaced by a frequently extravagant and
highly imaginative but withal healthy idealism,
which strove for concrete objects.

It is our main purpose, however, to trace the
influence that has been exerted by German im
migrants upon the development of the American
people. And this influence was quite strong dur
ing the period under consideration by the
political refugees. Liberal ideas had not yet
taken root in the masses of the German people
which were busy healing the wounds the long
wars had left behind through hard work. The
universities were then, as always, the centers
from which the spirit of liberty began to spread
over the country. The princes and their hirelings
knew this and persecuted relentlessly professors
and students who were suspected of liberal lean
ings. Thousands of the noblest and best spirits
were compelled to flee in order to escape im
prisonment or death. For the first time men
who had already won renown in the field of let
ters and in science or who had prepared them
selves for such careers came to America in large
numbers. Their influence made itself felt. The
German press which had survived the long inter
val but showed few signs of high ideals and
rather catered to mediocrity, entered upon a new
period of healthful activity. Bookstores were es
tablished where the newest and best German
books could be bought. New schools were
founded and old ones remodeled. In short, the
new German immigration did not longer place its
material welfare at the head of its desires and
did not satisfy its hunger for spiritual nourish
ment with what religion could give but it culti
vated the sciences, letters, music and the fine
arts. Of the large number of eminent men who
emigrated during this period only a few can be
mentioned, and if their prominence is unques
tioned, they were but typical of the many who
cannot be named here.

The best known of all of them is Franz Lieber,
born in 1798 at Berlin. Hardly more than a
boy he fought against Napoleon at Ligny and
Waterloo and later studied law. The active part
he took in the movement for political liberty
caused his banishment from Prussia, and after
a short stay at Jena he went to Greece to take
part in the war for freedom. There he found
so little of the spirit he had expected that he
returned to Prussia, where he was immediately
arrested and thrown into prison. His relatives
succeeded after a while in procuring his release,
but he was ordered to leave Germany. After
a few years in England, where he eked out a

HISTORY OF GERMAN IMMIGRATION IN THE UNITED STATES 27

miserable existence with literary work, he came
to America in 1827. Here he started a swim
ming school and later on translated a German
encyclopaedia into English. This occupation
brought him into contact with many prominent
men. His gifts and his knowledge were soon
universally recognized. When Girard College in
Philadelphia was founded the German Lieber
was chosen to prepare the course of instruction.
In 1835 he was called to the University of South
Carolina as Professor of History and Internation
al Law. There he remained until 1851. He left
because he could not and would not remain
quiet in the conflict that began to separate the
North and the South. It was well known that
Lieber was bitterly opposed to slavery, but he
might have retained his position if he had kept
quiet. His conscience did not allow this, and
on July 4, 1851, he delivered his celebrated "Ad
dress on Secession" which has become a classic.
He was immediately discharged and went to
New York. After a few years of rest he be
came Professor of History, International Law
and Political Economy at Columbia College. At
the outbreak of the Civil War Lieber was too
old to fight, but placed his services at the dis
posal of President Lincoln. In many speeches
and pamphlets he argued for the cause. Fol
lowing the wish of General Halleck he prepared
the manual for the conduct of the army in-fa-mes...
of war, and during the entire war he was con
stantly consulted by the President on questions
of international law and the laws of war. He
was recognized as an authority on such ques
tions by the whole world and several of his
books have become standard works, especially
those on "Political Ethics" and on "Civil Liberty
and Self-Government."

Karl Follen was not as fortunate as Lieber.
He also had taken part in the wars against the
French Emperor, had studied and later taught
law at German universities. Of an inflammable
temperament, with almost fanatical love for lib
erty, he threw himself into the agitation for
political freedom with all the ardor of a born
poet. His songs and his speeches aroused the
enthusiasm of teachers and students. When the
Russian Kotzebue was killed by the German
student Sand, the fact that Follen belonged to
the same society as the murderer gave the Gov
ernment the welcome opportunity to order the
arrest of the young professor. He fled in time,
for in the event of his capture he would have
been condemned to death. In Switzerland he
found a refuge but only for a short space of
time, for the German Government demanded his
extradition. Follen fled to America in 1824 and

was fortunate enough to meet Lafayette, with
whom he had become acquainted in Paris.
Through his assistance he secured employment
as teacher of German at Harvard University.
Pollen's individuality made a deep impression ;
before many months had elapsed he was sur
rounded by a large circle of admirers, composed
not of students alone, but of men who repre
sented all that was best and highest in the life
of the nation. Before the term for which he had
been engaged was ended — Follen in the mean
time had secured complete mastership of the
English language — a chair as Professor of the
German Language and Literature was created for
him. But his love of liberty drove him away
as it had done once before. The movement for
the abolition of slavery could not leave a Follen
uninterested. With fiery eloquence did he rep
resent the Anti-Slavery Society before the Mas
sachusetts Legislature and on other occasions.
But the time was not ripe for the sentiments he
so ably preached, and when the term of his pro
fessorship had elapsed he was not reappointed.
Follen now became a minister of the Unitarian
church to which he belonged, but died, at the be
ginning of a splendid career in his new field,
at the burning of the steamship Lexington in
1840, twice a martyr for liberty and freedom of
thought and speech. •

Dr. ,J$art Beck had come to America with
Follen and for the same reasons. He first taught
school at Northampton, N.H., established a school
at Philipstown and finally was called to Harvard
as Professor of Latin. There he remained for
more than twenty years. Friedrich August Sei-
densticker and his son Oswald came in 1845,
when the father, after having been kept in prison
for many years, was pardoned on condition
that he would leave Germany. Oswald Seiden-
sticker became one of the most valuable his
torians of the German-Americans. Beginning
with 1833 quite a number of Germans with
similar antecedents settled in the neighborhood
of Belleville in Illinois. They tried farming and
succeeded in a measure, some more and some
less. Unused to the spectacle of seeing men of
superior education engage in this occupation, the
people called them "Latin Farmers." Quite a
number of them distinguished themselves. Georg
Bunsen introduced the Pestalozzi system of edu
cation into the United States; Julius Hilgard
became Chief of the United States Coast Survey
and his brother Eugene, Professor of Chemistry
in the Smithsonian Institute. Both were acknowl
edged authorities in their respective fields. The
creator of the Bureau of the Coast Survey and

28 HISTORY OF GERMAN IMMIGRATION IN THE UNITED STATES

its first superintendent was another German,
Ferdinand Rudolph Hassler.

There were in fact many practical men among
those who came here before 1848. The great
Johann August Roebling had left Germany to
join a communistic colony, but soon became tired
of it and took up his profession as engineer.
He built the bridges over the Monongahela at
Pittsburg, over the Niagara, the bridge connect
ing Cincinnati with Covington and the Brook
lyn Bridge. During this period Germans entered
the ranks of the great American merchants and
bankers. Johann Jakob Astor, the son of a poor
butcher at Waldorf near Heidelberg, became one
of the richest men of the country and was the
first one to hoist the American flag at the shore
of the Pacific Ocean, at Astoria. The second
time the Stars and Stripes were raised over the
coast of the Pacific, a German was again re

sponsible for it, Johann August Sutter, born in
Baden in 1803, and he succeeded in winning the
territory he had taken possession of for the
United States, while Astor had failed. August
Belmont came to New York in 1837 from Frank
furt. Many other commercial enterprises were
started by Germans, and not a few of them are
still in existence. In fact, in every branch of
human activity the German immigrants began
to appear in the front rank.

This list could be extended for many pages.
It will, however, suffice as proof of the claims
made for the German immigration during this
period. No other country has sent to the United
States so many men of high attainments at one
and the same time, and when they were so much
needed. They repaid freely with their work and
their knowledge the hospitality extended to them
when their own Fatherland drove them away.

THE FORTY-EIGHTERS

During the first three decades of the Nine
teenth Century the number of German immi
grants seldom exceeded one thousand within any
one year. When the July revolution had broken
out in Paris in 1830, the stream began to flow
with new strength. The German liberals had
been encouraged by this event to double their
efforts for a constitutional government, while at
the same time their rulers were frightened by it
and concluded to put down the liberal movement
with renewed vigor. The number of those who
were forced into exile steadily increased. Thus,
between 1830 and 1840 over 15,000 Germans came
to the United States every year, and in the next
decade, the annual average of German immigra
tion, rose to 43,000 souls. The arrival of the
Forty-eighters, as those were called, who had to
leave the Fatherland because they had taken part
in or sympathized with the German revolution
ary movement of 1848-49, did not begin until
the latter year and reached its height somewhat
later still, because most of them lingered for
some time in Switzerland, France and England,
in the vain hope that the fight would be taken
up again.

The immigration that came in consequence of
the German revolution was in many respects dif
ferent from that which had immediately pre
ceded it. While prior to 1848, as has been
pointed out, the liberal movement in Germany
was practically confined to the educated classes,
it had now spread, especially in Baden, the Pala

tinate and Rhenish Prussia, to the body of the
people. Consequently the refugees were no long
er almost without exception men of high at
tainments and superior abilities, as had been the
case before. These classes still formed a large
percentage, but with them came small shopkeepers,
artisans, farmers and even laborers. The Forty-
eighters showed a high average intelligence but
were not, as has sometimes been supposed, with
out exception highly educated. Quite a number
of them, in fact, were lacking in the experience,
knowledge and judgment required to fully under
stand the ideas they had been fighting for. These
frequently showed an exaggerated belief in their
own importance, and were apt to cover their
inability to defend their position by sustained
argument with an aggressiveness sometimes verg
ing on intolerant and intolerable fanaticism. They
did considerable harm for a time. For while
the leaders whose names had become known to
the American people even before they arrived
were received with open arms and showed them
selves worthy of the appreciation extended to
them, many of the rank and file repulsed the sym
pathy felt for their cause by word and action.
The idea had taken possession of them that in
order to be truthful, the common usages of or-
diriSry politeness must be dropped, and for the
same reason they believed themselves bound to
give expression to their own opinions without
regard to the feelings of others and without being
called upon. Thus, for instance, many of the

HISTORY OF GERMAN IMMIGRATION IN THE UNITED STATES 29

newcomers, who were almost without exception
atheists, or as they preferred to call themselves,
freethinkers, considered it their duty to ridicule
all believers and to attack churches and ministers,
as well as worshippers as narrowminded and
unprogressive fools. Such behavior, coupled with
an almost studied unconventionality of apparel
brought about a revulsion in the American mind,
and the German revolutionists were no longer
looked upon as martyrs of liberty to be wel
comed to the shores of the only free country on
the face of the globe, but rather as a danger to
a country whose people were imbued with deep
religious feeling and, it must be said, were at
that time rather provincial in their views on the
larger questions which had come to the front in
Europe. There can be no doubt that such ac
tions formed one of the contributing causes to
the knownothing movement which swept over the
country during the Fifties. While indefensible
in itself, it was, to some extent, a reaction against
the position taken by a part of the German rev
olutionists whkh caused the latent nativism al
ways in existence to break out in agitation of
an unreasonable and most deplorable kind. This
feeling was intensified by the fact that quite a
number of the German immigrants for quite a
while considered this country only in the light of
a temporary home. They were waiting for a
new revolution in Germany and continued to
dream of the establishment of the great German
republic, which would call them back to the
Fatherland. In the meantime, they shifted for
themselves as best they could, with a firm belief
in their own superiority, which they never hesi
tated to express, and with very little regard for
the feelings of the people whose hospitality and
protection they were enjoying.

All these defects disappeared quickly, however.
Even the most ardent spirits made their peace
with the new conditions surrounding them and
settled down to work. They became most valu
able citizens of the republic, as soon as their hon
est, but under the circumstances, purposeless en
thusiasm had changed into the sober endeavor
to secure an existence by hard work and industry.
Many of them, it is true, did not succeed, be
cause their training had not fitted them for the
combat that was before them. Comparatively
few were fortunate enough to continue in the
professions they had followed before they emi
grated, and quite a number were compelled to
enter occupations which they would have con
sidered far beneath them only a few years before.
But they tried hard, and the great majority ac
complished finally what they had set out to do.

For the United States this immigration was of

the greatest benefit. For we must not forget
that the man who is ready to sacrifice his all
for an idea is always superior to those who are
willing to suffer oppression and tyranny as long
as they are allowed to earn a scanty living. Thus
even those who were not highly educated and
who came from the ranks of the artisans and
laborers were the best of their kind. They were
filled with the same spirit that had made the
colonies free and independent. They had been
fighting for liberty without counting the odds
which were overwhelmingly against them. With
all their faults they fitted into the institutions
they found here and they became excellent
Americans as soon as the natural opposition to
unaccustomed surroundings had worn off. And
they brought certain traits which were still rare
in this new country, born in strife and inhab
ited by a people that had been compelled to use
its best gifts in the struggle for existence and
material welfare. These Germans were idealists
to a man ; they were filled with a deep love for
the beautiful in nature, in the arts and in liter
ature. They saw in music not only a pleasant
amusement which permitted them to spend a few
hours agreeably now and then, but the means
of elevating the soul. They exerted a softening
influence upon the American character, hardened
in the incessant fight with nature and the ele
ments. They strengthened by their teachings and
example the conviction that there was something
higher in the life of man than the effort to
amass riches, and they showed to those among
whom they had settled that life had a beautiful
side to it and that no harm could come to the
soul by enjoying it. Above all, they proved that
the correct policy in everything was moderation,
and that all excesses were harmful, whether in
the direction of self-denial or indulgence. They
simply could not live without at least a taste of
the beautiful, and wherever they settled they
founded societies for the pursuance of higher
objects, especially singing societies, which have
^spread and improved to such a degree that they
' form an important and valuable factor in the
life of the nation at present. They laid the
foundation for the development of athletics in
this country through the numerous "Turner" so
cieties, the first of which had been founded by
Karl Follen, and which now sprang up every
where. There were quite a number of poets and
writers of more than average ability among the
revolutionists, and the standard of the German-
American press rose quickly. The desire for a
higher life, so strong among these men, did not
only influence the German part of tne population,

30 HISTORY OF GERMAN IMMIGRATION IN THE UNITED STATES

but also the native Americans wherever they
came in contact with the immigrants.

Considering all circumstances, it did not take
so very long to bring about a readjustment. The
Germans lost much of the roughness which, after
all, was only external, adopted American ways
and customs and became a homogeneous part of
the American people, while the Americans
learned to overlook the traits that at first had
repulsed them, and began to appreciate the many
good and valuable qualities their new friends
possessed. The mutual appreciation was hastened
by political developments. Up to the arrival of
the Fortyeighters the Germans had been Dem
ocrats almost to a man. The Democratic party
had attracted them on account of its greater
liberality towards foreigners and its freedom
from nativistic tendencies. When the great
struggle for the abolition of slavery commenced,
the German revolutionists threw themselves into

1 it with the same ardor with which they had
fought for liberty in the Fatherland. It was
sufficient for them that the liberty of human be
ings was at stake, and their idealistic views of
life left them no choice. The active part they
took during the political campaigns which ended
in the election of Abraham Lincoln brought them
nearer to their fellow-citizens of American birth,
especially as they succeeded in winning over the
great body of German voters to the new Repub
lican party. The task was a difficult one and
not quite free from dangers, for it must not be
forgotten that the Germans were almost fanatics

, in their adherence to the Democratic party at
that time, and that they felt deep resentment
against their own countrymen who tried to lead
them away from their political moorings although
they were comparatively recent arrivals and cer
tainly did not possess the same knowledge of
American institutions and the same experience
as those who had already lived many years in
the United States. But the work was accom
plished and the Fortyeighters swung the German
vote in Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Iowa,
' Missouri and other western states, as well as in
Pennsylvania for the Republican party and the
Union. It must be mentioned here that the west
ern states named had been largely settled by Ger
mans, not by revolutionists alone, but by many
farmers who had come in the wake of the refu
gees. Wisconsin, especially, was overwhelmingly
German and the same was true of whole dis
tricts in Indiana, Illinois, Ohio and Iowa, while
in cities like St. Louis, Cincinnati and Indianapo
lis the German element formed a large percent
age of the inhabitants.

It is, of course, impossible to give anything

like a complete list of the men who came to
America in consequence of the German revo
lution and reached eminence in one field of hu
man activity or another. We must confine our
selves to the most prominent among them. At
the head of the list stands, of course, Carl
Schurz, the great orator, author and statesman.
His career would have been a brilliant one, even
if a native American had reached the same
heights. How much more admiration do we owe
to him when we consider that this man came to
America without knowing the language and the
customs of the country, and in spite of these
drawbacks within a few years was counted among
the ablest men of the nation ! Schurz had hardly
taken his citizen papers when he was made the
candidate of his party for the lieutenant-gover
norship of Wisconsin, and took part in the coun
cils of the party as one whose advice was to be
listened to and heeded. It was his influence more
than that of any other single man that induced
• the Germans of the West to enlist in the cam
paign against slavery. After the election of Lin
coln he was appointed minister to Spain and ren
dered a great service to the country which is not
as generally known as it deserves. His obser
vations in Europe prompted him to inform Pres
ident Lincoln that the only way to prevent suc
cessfully the recognition of the Confederacy by
the western European powers, notably England
and France, was the declaration of the American
Government that it waged war for the abolition
of slavery. It is well known that the Govern
ment for a long time hesitated to do this for
many reasons, chiefly because the effect of such
action upon the Democrats in the Xorth and
upon the border states was feared. Schurz's
earnest appeal hastened the adoption of the only
policy which could have prevented the strength
ening of the Confederacy to the danger point. He
served with distinction in the Civil War and
as United States senator for Missouri, and was
Secretary of the Interior under Hayes. The most
important work in which he engaged and to which
he consecrated almost his whole life consisted
in the relentless and unremitting fight against
the spoils system and for the establishment of
the merit system, generally known as Civil Ser
vice Reform. For many years the president of
the National Civil Service Reform Association, he
gave his full strength to this work. He saw
clearly that the spoils system was a cancerous
growth which was slowly but surely destroying
the very life blood of the nation, and that with
out its abolishment the public morals would be
hopelessly corrupted, not to mention the impos
sibility of ever securing a decent administration.

HISTORY OF GERMAN IMMIGRATION IN THE UNITED STATES 31

The work he has done in this direction is not
yet fully appreciated, but some day the services
of Carl Schurz for the country he loved so much
will be recognized. As an orator he belongs in
the front rank, and few, if any, Americans of
his epoch have surpassed him. His literary activ
ity was abundant, and his essay on Abraham Lin
coln as well as his life of Henry Clay in the
American Statesmen's Series have become class
ics. He was the finest type of the Fortyeighter,
always ready to fight, and if needs be to die, for
his convictions; never hesitating to defend them,
whatever the consequences might be for him;
the born idealist to whom wrong of any kind
was abhorrent, and who lived in the firm belief
that no good could come from any other mode
of life than the steadfast pursuit of the highest
ideals. Always ready to suffer defeat in the
conviction that right must triumph ultimately, he
never compromised on points which he considered
of vital importance in order to gain a temporary
success. He was so imbued with idealism of the
very best kind that his influence alone would have
been sufficient to prove the immense benefits
America derived from the German revolution
ists, but there were many like him, though not
quite so able and not of so farreaching import
ance.

Oswald Ottendorfer was another of the men
of this period who may justly be called great.
Several reasons may be assigned for the fact
that he did not attain the same prominence as
Schurz. Although a Unionist in the critical
epoch of the republic, he was a Democrat of
firm convictions and could never bring himself to
look upon the Republican party otherwise than
as the propagator of theories dangerous to the
continuance and life of the institutions forming
the foundation of the Union. While he, like
most Germans, did not hesitate to take a firm
stand against his own party whenever it suc
cumbed to influences which, to his mind, were
wrong and dangerous, he lived and died a firm
adherer to the doctrines of the Democracy. Un
der the circumstances it was natural that political
preferment was not for him, because the party
of which he counted himself a member was out
of power during the largest part of his life. In
addition Oswald Ottendorfer had become the
editor of a great newspaper, the New Yorker
Staats-Zcitung, which position compelled him to
devote a large part of his time and activity to
his business. All this might not have prevented
his acceptance of political honors if his health
had not been such that he had to husband his
strength very carefully. It is difficult to esti
mate what this man would have accomplished if

he had been stronger in a physical sense and if
conditions had been more fortunate. By no
means must the inference be drawn from these
remarks that Oswald Ottendorfer did not par
ticipate in public affairs ; on the contrary, he was
for many years a power in his party as well as
in the independent element that esteems the wel
fare of the country higher than that of the party,
and even during his last years, when he was al
most constantly confined to his room, his ad
vice was eagerly sought by men standing high
in the nation. And while he and Schurz differed
radically in temperament, Ottendorfer was as
much an idealist as the former. Every move
ment that promised to improve the conditions
under which his fellow beings were living, or of
the public morals, whether it emanated from his
political friends or opponents, was certain of
his earnest support. Like Schurz, he was a
mighty power for good in the life of the nation.
Hans Kudlich, the liberator of the Austrian
peasants, arrived in the early fifties. As a young
man he had been elected a member of the first
Austrian parliament, and as such moved the abol
ishment of the mediaeval laws which compelled
the servants to work for the owners of large es
tates without receiving pay, thus making them
virtual serfs of the nobility. These laws had
long been abolished in other parts of Germany
but had remained in full force in Austria. While
Hans Kudlich modestly declined to take the
credit for this great reform and tried to arouse
the impression that a mere accident made him
take the step which any other member might
just as well have taken, it is nevertheless a fact
that he, himself the son of a peasant, and there
fore a daily witness of the wrongs perpetrated,
was, from the beginning of his public career,
filled with the desire to free the sufferers from
injustice. Great changes like this one are indeed
not brought about by single men; when the time
is ripe for them it requires only action at the
right moment to complete them, but they are
often delayed because an opportunity is lost. The
man who acts when he knows that the right mo
ment has arrived, and who thereby achieves the
result wished for is justly entitled to all the
credit attached to the deed. History has recorded
the fact that Hans Kudlich freed the Austrian
peasants from serfdom, and nothing, not even
his own modesty, can take this away from him.
And it was not only compassion with the suf
fering servants that caused Kudlich to act, but
his deep love for freedom and for humanity.
With all his enthusiasm for the cause of liberty
he threw himself into the revolutionary movement,
was condemned to death and fled to America,

where he established himself as a practising phy
sician but engaged with the vigor he had dis
played before in every cause that made for lib
erty and equality and for the happiness of man
kind.

There were others who reached political prom
inence, in those times always a proof of moral
and mental superiority. Gustav Koerner, who has
written a very valuable history of the German
immigration before 1848, was elected lieutenant-
governor of Illinois, Jakob Mueller held the same
office in Ohio, Nikolaus Rusch in Iowa and Ed
ward Salomon in Wisconsin. Quite a number of
Germans served in the state legislatures and in
Congress. The most valuable services were ren
dered, however, in the field of letters and on the
battle-field. It has already been mentioned that
after the arrival of the German revolutionists the
German-American press began to spread and to
improve. This was quite natural, for among the
immigrants were many who could use the pen
better than any other way to earn a livelihood,
and the great mass of the Germans were used to
reading. We have referred to the New Yorker
Staats-Zeitung founded by Jacob Uhl and ex
panded into the greatest German paper by Oswald
Ottendorfer. Hermann Raster, after a stay of
several years in New York, did the same service
for the Illinois Staats-Zeitung in Chicago, making
it the best and most influential German paper in
the West. Schurz founded the Abendpost in
Detroit, and later, with William Pretorius.

brought the Wcstliche Post in St. Louis to a high
state of success. William Daenzer did the same
for the Anseiger des West ens in the same city.
Friedrich Hassaurek, a man of rare gifts, founded
the H oclnvac liter ; P. V. Deuster edited the Sec-
bote in Milwaukee for many years. Before them
Eduard Schaeffer had founded the Nationalzei-
tung dcr Deutschen, Daniel C. L. Lehmus had
edited with success Die alte und die neue Welt,
and Heinrich Rodter had started the Volksblatt
in Cincinnati. From this time on, and under
the guidance of men of ability, the German press
in America became an important factor in the
life of the American nation. It confined itself
no longer to entertaining its readers and giving
them the news they wanted to hear, but it dis
cussed American political problems in an in
structive way and strove to explain to the newly
arrived immigrant American institutions and cus
toms. With few exceptions these newspapers
were edited in a more independent spirit than the
American papers. While they supported one of
the two parties, they never went so far as to
defend every one of its acts. They were always
ready to criticize when this seemed necessary,
and the blind partisanship that knows no reason
ing was quite foreign to them. They were thus
able to educate by encouraging the reader to
judge for himself, and they did this work thor
oughly. It has been continued to the present
day by men of equal devotion to principle and,
in many cases, of similar ability.

THE CIVIL WAR AND THE YEARS FOLLOWING IT

The full story of what the Forty-eighters did
for the United States has not been told because
one chapter, and by no means the least important
one, has to do with the Civil War. In recount
ing the part the Germans took in this struggle
there will be occasion to complete the story. But
before we mention the deeds of the adopted citi
zens let us glance at the behavior of the descend
ants of those Germans who came more than a
century before the North and the South met on
the battle-field. We remember how promptly the
Pennsylvania Germans had responded to the call
to arms when the Revolution broke out and how
a company of Germans from York -County was
the first troop to reach Washington after the
battle of Lexington. The spirit of the fathers
lived in the children, for when Abraham Lincoln
needed protection in 1861 the first regiment to
reach Washington was composed of five com

panies from Reading, Allentown, Pottsville and
Lewiston, almost entirely composed of the de
scendants of the German patriots of Revolutionary
days. Of the eight thousand soldiers furnished
by Berks County, Pa., during the Civil War, fully
eighty per cent bore German names. As about
nine-tenths of the inhabitants were of German
descent, and many families had anglicized their
names, there is no doubt that the descendants of
the German immigrants of former times fur
nished their full ratio of fighters for the Union.
It was the same all through Pennsylvania, and
in fact throughout the North.

The Americans of German birth responded in
^the same way. They and their sons formed whole
regiments and came to the front. From New
York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania in the East,
from Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Ohio, Iowa and
Michigan they marched forth, ready to die in

HISTORY OF GERMAN IMMIGRATION IN THE UNITED STATES 33

order to save the country they had learned to love,
from destruction. And the old Fortyeighters were
in the lead everywhere. They became regimental
commanders and generals, for most of them were
versed in tactics and had fought before. The
greatest of them all was the gallant Franz Sigel,
who had led the revolutionary army in Baden and
since then had taught school in the United States.
At the outbreak of hostilities he was instrumental
in saving Missouri to the Union cause. He and
some others organized the German Turners of St.
Louis into a regiment and offered their services
to Frank Blair. Their example was quickly fol
lowed by others, and it is an historical fact that
without the German troops thus quickly gotten
ready the attempt of the secessionists to take pos
session of St. Louis would have been successful.
Sigel then took the field and prevented the Con
federate general Price from invading Missouri.
After having shown his ability in several small en
gagements he decided the battle at Pea Ridge,
the first real success the Union side achieved. He
was made a corps commander and was the only
general who held his position against the on
slaught of the enemy in the second battle of Bull
Run. When the Union army was compelled to
retreat Sigel covefed the movement and kept the
pursuing enemy at bay. He was undoubtedly a
general of exceptional ability but had little
opportunity to show it. It cannot be left unsaid
that the "German" was not much liked by many of
the other commanders, and that he was repeatedly
ordered to make attacks when the troops under
his command were entirely insufficient. His fail
ure in such cases was successfully used to keep
him from getting the commands he was entitled
to. Personally Sigel was one of the most lovable
of men, filled with a vast store of knowledge,
an idealist of the first flower, and of a modest
and retiring nature.

All the Germans who reached the rank of gen
eral in the Civil War cannot be mentioned but
to show how numerous they were the most im
portant shall be named. Besides Sigel the follow
ing were made major-generals : Carl Schurz, who
fought at Chattanooga and Gettysburg and com
manded a corps at Chancellorsville; Joseph Peter
Osterhaus, who took part in the campaigns of
Vicksburg. Chattanooga, Atlanta and Savannah ;
Julius Stahel, who distinguished himself at Shi-
loh ; August Kautz, one of the most daring cavalry
leaders on the Union side; Gottfried Weitzel, who
commanded on the James River and led the first
troops into Richmond, and Friedrich Salomo, who
had charge of Arkansas. Of brigadier-generals,
Adolph Englemann was killed at Shiloh ; August
Willich saved Kentucky by his victory at Bowling

Green; Ludwig Blenker saved the Union army
from complete destruction after the first battle
of Bull Run ; Friedrich Hecker, Carl Eberhard
Salomo, August Moor, Hugo Wangelin and
Adolph von Steinwehr served with distinction ;
Alexander Schimmelpfennig was the first to enter
Charleston, Heinrich Bohlen fell on the Rappa-
hannock, and Max Weber was killed at Antietam
at the very moment when he was ready to break
through the enemy's center, an advantage that
would have routed the Confederates but was lost
through the death of the leader.

Not Germans alone who lived in the United
States at the outbreak of the war fought for the
Union. Untold thousands came over the ocean
to join the ranks. It is true that many of them
were adventurers who did not care very much
what cause they fought for, but even these ren
dered valuable help and became good and loyal
American citizens after peace had been restored.
Many others came because they felt a deep sym
pathy with the cause, as was natural, for the Ger
man people took a very decided stand for the
North. The Union had no truer and stancher
friend than Germany, and this fact was so well
known that the recognition of the Confederacy by
France and England was delayed until it became
impossible by the position of the Prussian Gov
ernment. Two reasons may be found for this,
one of a practical nature, and the other a more
idealistic one. There were already several millions
of Germans living in the United States and the
vast majority of them was in the northern states;
many of them were Democrats in politics, but all
were Unionists. The German people naturally
took sides with that section in which almost all
their friends and relations lived. But not less
strong was the feeling that the North fought
for humanity and for that liberty that is dear
to every sentimental German heart. For though
the statement may appear strange and almost
ridiculous to Americans, it is nevertheless a fact
that the vast majority of the German people,
though monarchists at home and always ready
to submit to the will of the Government, at
heart loves liberty and is always ready to assist
other peoples to gain freedom. More Germans
have volunteered and died in the wars other
nations have waged for freedom than in fights
against oppression at home. This is one of the
reasons why Germans so quickly learn to love
American institutions.

It may be mentioned here that there were a
few Germans who took a prominent part in the
Civil War on the other side. They were with
out exception Unionists at heart and opposed
to secession, but felt constrained to follow their

34 HISTORY OF GERMAN IMMIGRATION IN THE UNITED STATES

states when the Confederacy was established.
Among them was General Johann Andreas Wag-
ener, who defended Charleston against the Union
army. Karl Gustav Memminger became secre
tary of the treasury of the Confederate Govern
ment.

We have seen that over ninety-five thousand
German immigrants had annually come to the
United States between 1850 and 1860. In the
following decade the average was nearly as high,
reaching eighty-two thousand. Thus not much
less than two millions of Germans came within
twenty years. Most of them were farmers, and
they spread all over the West and the North
west. The German element in the western
states, which we have repeatedly mentioned, be
came more numerous and much stronger. Many
immigrants went farther west and when the
great overland railroads had been completed they
swarmed to the Pacific Coast. Oregon and
Washington were largely peopled by Germans
who, like their forerunners nearly two hundred
years before them, introduced horticulture in that
region so well adapted to this purpose, and there
by laid the foundation for one of the greatest
industries of the present day.

But other elements arrived in ever larger num
bers. Germany began to emerge slowly from
the conditions under which it had suffered since
the Napoleonic wars. Although the people them
selves were perhaps not fully aware of it, the
trend towards national unity and greatness be
came apparent. It still required a violent con
vulsion to bring it about, but it was in the air
and the German people became more active, self-
reliant and enterprising, and also more practical.
The immigrants who were highly educated were
no longer composed of those who had been per
secuted, who had failed for some reason or other
or who were dissatisfied with their surroundings,
but among them were many who knew that
America offered them better opportunities for

the use of the knowledge they had acquired, and
who emigrated for this reason alone. In the
United States progress had been rapid, and the
sciences and arts were receiving the attention
they deserved. Commerce between the two
countries was increasing rapidly. The number
of German merchants and bankers grew and
their enterprises became more and more im
portant. While German universities were at
tended by American students, German professors
and teachers came to America. For the Amer
ican had also gone through an awakening and
learned the lesson that practical knowledge ac
quired in the course of every-day work is not
sufficient to solve the great problems of mod
ern life. He saw the need of the higher edu
cation based upon the sum of the experience
gathered by others. He began to build up gi
gantic industries and perceived that the rule o'
thumb worked well enough where every man pro
duced his own necessities or those of his imme
diate neighbors, but that more was required for
large enterprises. The money he needed for his
railroads and other enterprises had been readily
furnished by foreigners, and a large part of it
by Germans, and the goods he wanted could
easily be bought. But now that he desired to
make them at home he was compelled to look
for men who had been specially educated for
producing them. The American began to found
schools and colleges that would in time produce
what he wanted, but he could not wait for them.
In looking around he found that Germany, above
all other countries, was in position to supply what
he needed, and he made quick use of it. But
the arrival of large numbers of graduates of
German universities and technical colleges really
belongs in the next chapter, even though it be
gan about this time, as likewise the immigra
tion of trained minds of other professions in
large numbers.

FROM THE FRANCO-GERMAN WAR TO THE PRESENT DAY

Immediately after the war with France, Ger
man immigration rose to very large figures. Over
four hundred thousand Germans arrived in 1871,
1872 and 1873. It then fell off, but increased to
proportions heretofore unknown in 1880, for be
tween that year and 1892 nearly two millions
came. Since then the German immigration has
fallen off, and during the last few years has been
almost insignificant. The reasons for this and

the probable future of German immigration to
America will be touched upon further on.

The immigration during the period following
the Franco-Prussian War and the creation of
tlTe German Empire differed in many respects
from that of earlier times. The years between
i860 and 1870 had already foreshadowed the
change, but though the German had begun to
acquire a larger fund of self-reliance and of jus-

HISTORY OF GERMAN IMMIGRATION IN THE UNITED STATES 35

tifiable confidence in his own worth, he did not
yet call himself a German outside of the borders
of the Fatherland. Germany was still a geo
graphical name only, and while numerous forces
were making towards unity, the inhabitants of
all the large and small principalities were first
of all subjects of their rulers, and in a political
sense no Germany or German people existed. The
governments of other countries did not know
German subjects, and German ambassadors or
German passports which would protect the trav
eler in foreign countries did not exist. The
German going abroad was a Prussian, Bavarian,
Hessian, etc., and only as such could he claim
protection or the rights accorded to foreigners
outside of the jurisdiction of their home govern
ment. The creation of the empire changed all
this, and for the first time the German citizen
felt that he belonged to Germany and not to a
small part of it, and that behind him stood the
officials and the full strength of a mighty em
pire. And inasmuch as this new empire had
been born out of a tremendous demonstration of
strength and of unity of feeling and purpose, it
immediately became a power, recognized and re
spected by all other nations, and at the same time
endowed its own citizens, for the first time in
centuries, with unlimited confidence in their own
strength as well as in the present power arid the
future of their own country. The effect upon
the German character was immediate and mani
fested itself at home in the increase of enter
prise, in commercial and industrial life, and
abroad in greater readiness to demand the rec
ognition a citizen of a world power is entitled to.
This showed in the German immigration during
the last third of the Nineteenth Century which,
not only on account of its numerical strength,
but also for the reasons givgn, became more im
portant and aggressive, produced greater results
and exerted a larger influence upon the develop
ment of the American people, than the German
element in the United States had ever done be
fore.

Another factor must not be overlooked. Prac
tically all the Germans that came to this country
during this period had served in the army, and
many had seen active service in one or several
wars. Americans, who are naturally and rightly
averse to a standing army and compulsory mili
tary service, frequently overlook the fact that
this institution has large educational advantages.
It teaches a man to measure his own powers and
to use them correctly, to overcome defects in
character and temperament, and also many vir
tues that are of great value in every walk of life.
To use a short but very apt phrase : a very few

years of service under strict discipline gives to
a man the opportunity to find himself. The best
proof that this is fully recognized by the German
people is the fact that the number of young men
who emigrate in order to evade military service
is steadily growing less and has become almost
insignificant, while formerly it was very large.
In Germany more than in any oiher country, the
profession of the soldier is surrounded with a
dignity and gives a standing that produces pride
and self-consciousness — qualities which may
sometimes be developed excessively but are nev
ertheless of great value.

In short, the time had gone by when the Ger
man immigrants arriving in America were flee
ing from one kind of persecution or another.
They came with the firm conviction in their
hearts that they not only received but also gave
something. Their aims were no longer confined
to the wish to find peace, protection and liberty,
they wanted to reap the fruit of the gifts and
the labor which they placed at the disposal of
their new country. There were perhaps not so
many idealists among them who were ready to
sacrifice themselves for the benefit of mankind
without the slightest hope of reward, but they
were all filled with the healthy idealism which
does not lose sight of the practical side of life.
The great materialistic wave of thought which
swept over the civilized world at the end' of
the last century had already begun to exercise
its influence. Even in Germany, the home of
the idealistic dreamer, materialism was advancing
with steady steps. This is not the place to dis
cuss the relative values of the two theories of
life, but it is necessary to mention which bne
was the dominating one at the different periods
in order to explain the difference between the
character4of the immigration at various times. It
may be said in addition that the trend towards
the materialistic conception of life was greatly
strengthened, if indeed not caused, by the ex
ample the United States furnished, for their
unparalleled success in the direction of material
progress caused many to overlook the fact that
the American people possessed a large fund of
idealism. In Germany, where for generations
pure and almost transcendental idealism had been
accepted as the highest aim, materialistic ten
dencies were naturally softened and could not
change the character of the people completely.
They rather produced a blending of the two the
ories which was followed by the happiest conse
quences until they became too dominant to leave
the idealistic spirit undefiled. One of the first
and most important consequences of the change
consisted in the effort to make science of prac-

36 HISTORY OF GERMAN IMMIGRATION IN THE UNITED STATES

tical service. Germany, with her magnificent edu
cational system and her clear perception of the
value of thorough knowledge, was the first
country to erect commercial, industrial and tech
nical schools and colleges where the pupils were
not only instructed in the ways of doing things,
as in the so-called manual training schools, nor
in abstract science, but where both methods were
combined. Soon Germany trained large num
bers of young men in every branch of human
knowledge after scientific methods, and the grad
uate of a commercial or technical high school
combined the practical with the theoretical knowl
edge to such a degree that very little practise
was necessary to make his services far more val
uable than those of his competitors in other coun
tries. Germany began to supply a large part of
the world with civil engineers, with chemists, ar
chitects, etc. German merchants were found in
every important trading place on the globe, and
even German clerks invaded other countries, es
pecially England, where attempts were made to
prevent their employment, which, however, was
unsuccessful as their worth was undisputed. This
union of scientific methods and research with
the experience gleaned from actual and practical
work showed in a development of the industrial
life such as the world had never before witnessed,
for it included the transformation of a whole
people which had, as a whole, not unjustly been
accused of being addicted to impractical dream
ing, and of an inherent inability to produce re
sults, into a hard-headed, practical and enter
prising people with a clear perception of the
usefulness and value of every deed and act.

Of such mould were the German immigrants
of latter days. They fitted better into the indus
trial life of the nation than their forerunners.
They could immediately assist in the development
of the natural resources of the country then un
der way. There were many among them who,
like their forebears, tilled the soil and conquered
the wilderness, being the instruments that added
state after state to the nation ; all of them brought
the peculiar virtues with them which have long
been recognized as essentially German ; all of
them were furthermore imbued with that touch
of idealism that has been so valuable an admix
ture to the American spirit, and many helped to
build up the industries which quickly grew to
dimensions beyond the dreams of the most fertile
imagination. In every field of human activity
the brain and the brawn of the German became
an important factor, in some it predominated
and was the moving force.

It is impossible to go into details but a few
of the most important facts must be mentioned.

No less an authority than Andrew Carnegie has
stated that the American iron and steel industry
could never have reached its present develop
ment without the assistance of the German en
gineer who can be found in every office prepar
ing plans and devising means for the work to
be performed. There is hardly an industrial en
terprise, a large railroad company or a munici
pality in the United States on whose staff of
engineers are not Germans. As soon as the
American manufacturer grasped the fact that
chemistry was a valuable aid and could save him
enormous amounts of labor and money, as well
as insure the uniform quality of his product, he
turned to the German chemist who is now found
almost everywhere in the United States, not only
in the manufactories of chemicals, but wherever
his knowledge can be used to advantage. When
the glass-making industry emerged from the
primitive state during which only the cheap quali
ties were manufactured here, Germans were
brought to America to do the work and to in
struct Americans. In the textile industries the
manufacture of silks and woolens is still largely
in the hands of Germans. It is a well known
fact that the introduction of beer, which bids fair
to become the national beverage and has done so
much to promote moderation by reducing the con
sumption of strong liquor is entirely due to Ger
mans and that this enormous industry is still al
most entirely in their hands. It is hardly neces
sary to state that the manufacture of pianos in
this country owes its development mainly to Ger
man immigrants and their descendants. One has
only to follow the advertisements in order to
be convinced of the fact that this vast industry
may even at this late day be called a German one,
though of course most of the founders of the
great firms engaged in it have died. The piano
manufacturers played an especially important role
in the development of the country because they,
or at least many of them, were instrumental in
bringing European artists to America and raising
the taste for and the appreciation of high-class
music to the present level. The claim is justi
fied that without their help the musical art in
the United States would be far bejow the high
standard it has reached. To this we will refer
again when we speak of the influence German
immigration has exerted upon the musical life
of the American people. In going over the lists
'Of the lithographers producing work of highly
artistic quality few American names will be
found, most of the establishments of this kind are
still managed by Germans or their descendants.
This list could be extended indefinitely, but these
few examples will suffice to show what the Ger-

HISTORY OF GERMAN IMMIGRATION IN THE UNITED STATES 37

mans have done for America in this direction.

It was the same in commercial and financial
life. The German banking houses have grown in
number and importance until at the present day
no transaction of great magnitude can be com
pleted without their aid. Many of the insurance
companies have been founded by and are still en
tirely managed by Germans. A German-American
invented the first practical and to this day the
best typesetting machine. In the import and ex
port trade of the United States more Germans
are engaged than men of any other nationality,
Americans not excepted. One of the great over
land railroad routes was planned and constructed
by a German, Henry Villard, who later on was
instrumental in securing a firm basis for the de
velopment of the electrical companies of the
country.

Leaving business and the more practical pur
suits alone, we find that the first exponent of
political caricature, or cartooning, as the Amer
ican prefers to call it, was the German Thomas
Nast, while another German, Joseph Keppler, de
veloped and improved upon the somewhat crude
though always effective methods of his predeces
sor. These two men may be called the origina
tors of this art in the United States, and among
those now active in this line there are many Ger
mans, the most eminent being, without doubt,
Henry Mayer, who combines American wit with
German artistic feeling and French grace. Of
artists, the German immigration has given to
America many shining lights. Emanuel Leutze
should be known to every American, for one of
his great paintings, "Washington Crossing the
Delaware," has been reproduced innumerable
times and is found in many American house
holds. He painted the mural paintings in the
new wing of the capitol, erected in the fifties.
One of these, "Westward the Star of Empire Takes
its Way," is almost as well known as the one
mentioned above. Albert Bierstadt became one
of the greatest of all American landscape paint
ers, and some of his works, most of which were
of colossal dimensions, found the fullest appre
ciation and admiration in Europe. His paintings
of the scenery of the Rocky Mountains and the
Sierra Nevada are unsurpassed. Henry Schrey-
vogel, born in New York, but of German par
entage, is best known by his painting, "My
Bunkie." Among the many sculptors of renown
who came from Germany, Karl Bitter deserves
the first place.

During this period the American institutions
of learning extended their field of usefulness con
stantly, and it was but natural that they came
into closer contact with the German universities.

Without debate the fact was conceded that Ger
many was still the home of the exact sciences
and the best source to draw from whenever
knowledge of and instruction in the way of ac
quiring it was needed. Thus a steady stream of
German teachers began to flow to these shores
until there was hardly a university or college
without German professors on its staff. Their in
fluence is all the larger as it is exerted upon the
American youth at a time when the mind is still
plastic and ready to receive and retain impres
sions. Of the learned professions that of medi
cine has given to the United States most. Ger
man physicians of exceptional ability came to
America from the beginning of the Nineteenth
Century, but their numbers grew to great propor
tions after the Franco-Prussian War until they
formed a large percentage of all the physicians
in the United States. The great progress made
in medical science is, to a large extent, due to
their example and their efforts to elevate the
profession to which they belonged.

In the field of music the German has played a
more important part than in any other. It may
almost be said that the history of music in Amer
ica, from the moment when music ceased to be
more than a pastime with which people were will
ing to while away a few hours agreeably, is a
German history. As soon as the American be
came musical, that is as soon as he began to
perceive that beautiful music is art of the high
est kind and elevates the soul, in making it re
spond to the most exquisite sensations and lifting
it above all wordly things, the German composer
and musician came to the front.

It is well known that the Germans are a mu
sical people. They had already produced com
posers of note when they began to come to
America. At that time it was hardly thought of
in England that music was one of the fine arts.
The English colonists brought little or no knowl
edge of music to America ; the Puritans discour
aged it even, and considered all music, except the
singing of psalms and hymns, sinful. Among the
German immigrants there were, no doubt, many
who would even now be called good musicians,
but no record exists of them. They did their
share in increasing the appreciation of good music
but they did not accomplish much until the first
decades of the Nineteenth Century had passed.
From that time on we can trace the progress of
music in America. The beginning was not easy.
If one desires to know how much — or rather how
little — the American people at that time under
stood of music one has only to read the criti
cisms that appeared in the newspapers when the
first artists of note were brought over and gave

38 HISTORY OF GERMAN IMMIGRATION IN THE UNITED STATES

concerts. Some of the passages are so naive as
to be almost touching. It seems that the critics
— and the audience, too, of course — were much
more interested in the rapidity with which a pian
ist moved his fingers or the power with which
he worked the pedals than in the sounds he pro
duced. We read of one artist who had charmed
the whole world that his playing showed that he
had devoted considerable time to the study of
harmony. In short, these criticisms show an ig
norance of music that could hardly be found to
day in a border town. It had to be overcome,
and it speaks volumes for the great gifts the
American people possesses that within half a cen
tury it had emerged from such deep ignorance
and was fairly on the way that leads to the
complete mastering of one of the highest and most
beautiful arts. The part that the Germans played
in this evolution cannot be described here at
length, but the facts that can be given will be
sufficient to make good the claim that in this field
they did by far the largest part of the work.

We find the first traces of systematic efforts to
bring serious music before the public in 1838
when Daniel Schlesinger, a German musician of
great gifts, became the conductor of the Concor-
dia of New York, a society devoted to the cul
ture of vocal and instrumental music. Almost at
the same time, in 1839, another German named
Schmidt organized a similar society in Boston.
These first sparks kindled the sacred flames and
in 1842 the New York Philharmonic Society was
formed, which still exists and to which not only
the city of its birth but the whole country owes
a great debt of gratitude. Among its conductors
were men like Theodore Eisfeld, who must also
be remembered as the founder of a quartet that
rendered chamber music ; Carl Bergmann, who
later on was active in the opera field ; Henry C.
Timm, Adolph Neuendorf, Theodore Thomas,
Anton Seidl and many other Germans. At the
birth of the Philharmonic Society, twenty-two of
its fifty-four members were Germans ; in 1900, out
of ninety-four members eighty-nine were either
born in Germany or children of German immi
grants. Not much later Eisfeld formed the New
York Harmonic Society, which was devoted main
ly to the production of oratorios. In 1850 the
celebrated Germania Orchestra came from Ger
many and traveled all over the country with im
mense success, awaking everywhere the taste for
good music. Many of its members remained in
America when the orchestra was dissolved. The
West did not remain behind. In 1850 Hans Ba-
latka formed the Musikverein in Milwaukee. He
was one of the pioneers of music in the western
states and did much for the advancement of the

art. After years of fruitful work in Milwaukee
he founded and took charge of the Chicago Sym
phony Society. In St. Louis the Polyhymnia was
founded in 1845 by Dr. Johann Georg Wessel-
hoeft, and the Philharmonic Society by Edward
Sobolewsky in 1859. The Cecilia Society of Cin
cinnati was started about the same time. The
mightiest warrior of them all in the fight for the
recognition of good music was Theodore Thomas,
who did not know what defeat meant and was
ever ready to begin again when disaster had
overtaken him. After he left New York he took
charge of the Chicago orchestra and to him more
than to any other single man America is indebted
for the musical festivals now held from time
to time in many cities. He was the creator of
the great Cincinnati Musical Festival and was
indefatigable in his efforts to make Americans
acquainted with the works of the modern com
posers. It may fairly be said that he forced the
public to like and appreciate what he knew was
good in his art, and the fact that such works did
not please his audiences at the start never made
him swerve from his path. Many German singers
and musicians of great renown came to the Uni
ted States as visitors and assisted in spreading
artistic feeling.

The movement was greatly helped by the Ger
man singing societies. They had existed on a
small scale for some time, but they became large
and influential when the German immigration in
creased in the middle of the last century, and
contained a much larger percentage of educated
men and women. They were soon to be found
in every place where Germans had settled. They
combined into federations which held singing fes
tivals at regular intervals in different cities. At
such occasions Americans did not only hear good
music but also learned how serious work can be
combined with innocent enjoyment. In this way
these societies became important educational fac
tors. Many of them earned a national reputation,
especially the German Liederkranz and the Arion
of New York, the Germania and the Apollo Mu
sical Club of Chicago, the Orpheus of Buffalo
and the Junge Mannerchor of Philadelphia. Sev
eral of them added to their usefulness by engaging
as conductors Germans of exceptional ability and
assisting them in their efforts to get a foothold
in wider fields. Among the men who began their
career in America as conductors of German sing-
Jng societies and afterward became leaders of
large orchestras were Hans Balatka, Leopold
Damrosch and Frank van der Stucken. Others,
like Carl Bergmann and Carl Anschutz, devoted
part of their time to singing societies.

In the field of opera the Germans in America

HISTORY OF GERMAN IMMIGRATION IN THE UNITED STATES

39

have always stood for progress and it is due to
their efforts that the works of the modern mas
ters became known to the American people. In
1850 Max Maretzek produced Weber's "Frei-
schutz," and in 1856 Beethoven's "Fidelio." Carl
Bergmann gave the first performance of a Wag
ner opera when, on April 4, 1859, he produced
"Tannhauser." On this occasion the Arion So
ciety of Xew York furnished the chorus. Carl
Anschutz was the leader of the Strakosch and of
the Ullmann opera companies, the latter giving
for the first time in the United States opera in
German with Carl Formes and Madame Fabbri.
In 1877 Adolph Neuendorf produced "Lohengrin"
and "Walkuere" and the Pappenheim Opera
followed one year later with "Rienzi" and
the "Flying Dutchman." But the man who put
German opera on a firm footing in the United
States was Dr. Leopold Damrosch. He had been
the conductor of the Arion Society and had
founded the Oratorio Society in 1873, and when,
in 1884, Italian opera had failed again to satisfy
the New Yorkers, he organized a German opera
company, brought a number of the best German
singers to this country and gave the first per
formances of Wagner's works in America that
were worthy of the great master. Unfortunately,
he died before his first season was over, but the
work was continued by Anton Seidl, who for
many years remained the greatest interpreter of
German operatic and orchestral music in the Uni
ted States. Since the day when Leopold Dam
rosch first lifted his baton in the Metropolitan
Opera House in New York the best works of the
modern composers have been produced on the
American operatic stage by the foremost singers
of the world, and the times are past forever
when the old Italian opera alone satisfied the
American public. Without losing the faculty of
appreciating what is beautiful in the music of the

past, it has learned to understand and to love
the best and highest in the music of the present
and the future. And this is true not only of
opera but of every other kind of music.

From this short sketch it will be seen that we
have not claimed too much when we said that the
Germans taught the Americans to look upon music
as more than a mere pastime to while away a few
hours. They deserve the largest part of the credit
if the United States has become a musical coun
try, if refined taste and good judgment as well as
full comprehension of the art of music and its
aims have spread to an extent nobody would have
dreamed of half a century ago. Anybody who
doubts this may easily convince himself of the
truth. Any history of music in the United States,
any newspaper and even the programs of musical
events will show that to this day Germans and
their descendants preponderate in the musical life
of the nation. They are found in overwhelming
numbers among the singers and the musicians, the
leaders and the virtuosos, the musical agents and
the impresarios, and even among the teachers and
the musical critics. Without them the demand for
good music, now so strong in the United States,
could not be filled, and would, in fact, never have
been created. There can be no dispute over this
question if the facts are known, and it must not
be forgotten that only of late music has become a
calling in which others than a few great singers
and virtuosos may reasonably expect to reap large
material gain. Most of the men whom we have
named and the great host that cannot be men
tioned here, worked incessantly and gave their
full strength without receiving more than a
meager reward. Many of them were, in fact, con
tinuously in sore straits, and it was the love for
their art and the unbounded enthusiasm that is
ready to bring every sacrifice for an ideal which
kept them at their work.

CONCLUSION

In order to do full justice to the Germans who
have settled in the United States it is necessary
to consider the difficulties which they had to
overcome before they could fairly start on the

_£pad to success. Most of them did not know the
language of the country which they had chosen

-as the field of their activity. Practically none of
them were acquainted with its political institutions
beyond knowing that they gave to every citizen
the right to participate in the government and to
every inhabitant, whether a citizen or not, the

fullest privilege to use his ability in any direction
he might choose. Even the general views of the^
people in regard to the way of living and the
social customs were foreign to them. All this
they had to learn, and this could not be done
without constant disappointments, for they did not
always meet with kindness. On the contrary, they-
had to overcome hostility from many quarters
which frequently made itself felt in attempts to
ridicule their speech and customs, sometimes took
the form of contemptuous treatment, and in not

40 HISTORY OF GERMAN IMMIGRATION IN THE UNITED STATES

a few cases led to brutal attacks. Naturally sen
sitive to criticism and slights, whether intended
or not, the Germans suffered greatly under this
treatment, but to their credit it must be said that
they did not hold the American people responsible
but understood that the acts they had just cause
to complain of were committed by a small and
narrow-minded minority. Neither their apprecia
tion for the new conditions surrounding them nor
their endeavors to prepare themselves for Amer
ican citizenship was lessened by the unpleasant ex
periences they had to undergo. With rare excep
tions they took the oath of allegiance as soon
as the law permitted it and fulfilled their duties
as citizens with exceptional regard for the wel
fare of the country as they saw it. This was nat
ural, for they did not gain American citizenship
like the native American who receives it without
effort on his part. They, on the contrary, had
to pay dearly for it. They had left home and
Fatherland and parted from relatives and friends
in order to serve their new country and they con
sequently held in much higher esteem what was
acquired under difficulties and sometimes hard
ships than the man is apt to do who has but to
stretch out his hand to grasp the ripe fruit. They
were, and are to this day, proud of their suffrage,
and in using it follow their convictions and con
science more closely than the average American.
Party ties sit lightly upon them and they do not
follow blindly leaders who cannot convince them
of the disinterestedness of their motives. Their
independence and their disinclination to submit
to dictation or to subordinate their opinions to the
will of others are some of the reasons why the
German-Americans have not exerted more influ
ence upon political organizations. That compara
tively few Germans have reached high political
positions is easily explained by the fact that for
most of them the English language remains, after
all, a foreign tongue, and that the German is
not attracted by so hazardous a venture as the
embarking in the game of American politics may
justly be called. The influence of the German
upon the course of politics has, however, been
very great, and in the main beneficial. The very
fact that the so-called German vote always re
mained an uncertain quantity and in many states
and cities held the balance of power has caused the
professional politicians in almost every important
campaign to be more careful than they would
have been if they had known that the German-
American voters would follow the party regard
less of principles and consequences.

The Germans in the United States have fre
quently been criticized because they associate
among themselves and do not mingle freely with

Americans. In considering this statement we must
first of all strongly emphasize the fact that the
American citizens of German birth or descent
never act in concert when American questions
are to be decided, that is questions which involve
the interests of the American people as a whole.
It is almost impossible to unite the German vote
on purely political questions. It will sometimes be
cast almost solidly for one side or the other but
this is only the case when questions are to be de
cided that, on account of their ethical or moral
importance, appeal strongly to the German mind,
or when efforts are made to deprive a part of the
population of the right to live in the way it has
been accustomed to because a few fanatics desire
to compel everybody else to accept their teach
ings. When Germans come together to discuss
political questions they do so because many of
them desire to hear arguments in their mother
tongue, not being able to master them completely
if delivered in English. They not only have the
right to do this, but it is to the interest of the
whole country when means are found to instruct
every citizen, no matter where he has been born,
until he understands fully all questions in the de
cision of which he must participate.

It is quite true that in social life the German-
American population keeps very much to itself.
The reasons for this are obvious. The German
immigrant has no relatives or friends among the
native element. He has left behind him the asso
ciations formed during his youth, which, for the
man who remains in the country of his birth, of
themselves create a constantly widening and
changing circle of acquaintances. The German in
America must seek new friends and has to begin
life all over again in this respect. Everything
American is strange to him, the customs, the lan
guage and the people themselves. Quite naturally
he associates with his own countrymen with whom
he can converse freely and who have the same
tastes. After he has become used to his sur
roundings and conquered the homesickness that
arises now and then he begins to associate with
Americans, but as a rule to a limited extent only
unless he is so situated that he finds no other con
genial society. His preference for his own coun
trymen is not caused by hostility to native Amer
icans, but solely by the fact that the tastes and
customs of the two elements differ widely. Their
ways of amusing and entertaining themselves and
others are not the same, and they follow different
rules even in eating and drinking. Aside from
that part of the population which has become cos
mopolitan in its ways of living, the German does
not derive full satisfaction from the exclusive in
tercourse with Americans, and the American can-

HISTORY OF GERMAN IMMIGRATION IN THE UNITED STATES 41

not get used to German ways. This involves no
reproach upon either but is a natural condition.
If the complete Americanization of the German
immigrant is somewhat retarded by it, this may
be called a distinct benefit for the country. The
many valuable traits of the German can only be
preserved and made a part of the character of
the American people if assimilation does not pro
ceed too quickly. They would be weakened and
perhaps lost altogether if the immigrant dropped
everything he has brought with him immediately
after his arrival. The amalgamation comes quick
ly enough, for the first generation born on Amer
ican soil is already thoroughly American in the
full sense of the word, and in the second genera
tion the German origin of the family is as a rule
little more than a tradition.

If the Germans have, at least to a large extent,
their own and separate social life, they are in
every other way an inseparable part of the Amer
ican nation. Their loyalty to the country they
have chosen and to its institutions is unquestioned
and has been proven on every occasion. In peace
and in war they have worked and fought with the
same ardor and enthusiasm as the native Amer
icans. On every battle-field of every war that
has been fought for the republic, German blood
has flowed freely. They have done their full share
in the upbuilding of this great country, in the
conquest of a whole continent and the change of
a vast wilderness into a land inhabited by mil
lions and producing wealth beyond the dreams
of avarice. In commerce and industry, in sci
ence and art, in every endeavor that makes for
progress and improvement their influence has
been potential and of the greatest benefit. They
have made a lasting impression upon the char
acter of the American people, softening many
of its harsh traits, strengthening others that were
insufficiently developed, and contributing some
of the most valuable qualities which have en
abled this great nation, composed of so many
different elements, to rise to the heights it oc
cupies at present. And while they continue to
love and cherish the Fatherland that has given
them so much, they are proud of their Amer
ican citizenship, and their whole strength is de
voted to the greatness and happiness of the only

country they now recognize as their own, the
United States of America.

If at times German immigration has been
called harmful by some, the American people as
a whole have always recognized its great value,
and do, perhaps, appreciate it now more than
ever and to such an extent that they look with
regret upon its decline during the last ten years.
The time may come when a new infusion of
German blood into the American body politic
may even appear highly desirable. It is by no
means impossible that this may happen at any
time. The tide of immigration rises and falls
periodically, and for all who would rather see
children of the Teutonic race settle upon the
land still unoccupied the following words of
the greatest German-American, the late Carl
Schurz, spoken at a banquet given in his honor
only a few years before his death, may bring
encouragement. He said :

"There has been a great deal of talk of late
that the German element is in a state of decline
because immigration has decreased, the old gen
eration is dying off, and the children of the Ger
man immigrants are getting completely Amer
icanized. The fact is that since I came to this
country the German element has been several
times in the same condition of seeming decline
but has always recovered through increased im
migration of highly desirable kind in regard to
numbers, character and vitality. This immigra
tion is dependent upon political and economical
conditions which are subject to constant changes.
The present decline may, therefore, soon change
into a new and healthy revival."

The time may arrive when doubt is permissi
ble whether the United States is in need of
further immigration or not. There is no doubt
possible that as long as there is work and room
for immigrants, and as long as there is work to
be done that can only be accomplished with the
help of immigrants, it is highly desirable that
as large a proportion as possible of the addition
to the population be of the Germanic races. The
history of the country proves that they have done
more for its development than all the others.
Therefore, let us hope that Carl Schurz's
prophecy may be fulfilled before it is too late.

THE PERCENTAGE OF GERMAN BLOOD IN THE AMERICAN PEOPLE

In order to ascertain what influence German
immigration has exercised upon the character of
the American people it is at least useful to find
out what percentage of the inhabitants of the
United States have German blood in their veins.
The figures given here have been collected by

Mr. Emil Mannhardt, secretary of the German-
American Historical Society of Chicago, and a
historian of undoubted ability. Mr. Mannhardt
has been very conservative in his estimates, and
has taken the lowest figures given by different
authorities for the German element whenever

42 HISTORY OF GERMAN IMMIGRATION IN THE UNITED STATES

authoritative statements were not obtainable. The
conclusions he has reached will surprise those
who still believe that the United States is in
habited principally by the descendants of the so-
called Anglo-Saxon race, but their correctness
cannot be doubted. They are given here with
the conviction that the researches of which they
are the result were carefully and conservatively
made, and with the knowledge that the informa
tion underlying the following table is correct and
has been used with all necessary caution.

Mr. Mannhardt divides the population of the
United States according to the Census of 1900
into three groups :

A. The descendants of the inhabitants of the

United States before the year 1830.

B. The immigrants that arrived in the United

States during the Nineteenth Century and
their children.

C. The grandchildren and further descendants of

the immigration of the Nineteenth Cen
tury.
He arrives at the following result :

1. Americans, that is that part of the

population which had been so thor
oughly assimilated in 1830 that its
origin could not be ascertained. ... 12,713,036

2. Anglo-Saxons

A. 6,806,383

B. 4,242,882

C. 1,069,375

3. Germans

A. 12,046,919

B. 8,714,233
C.

4. Scandinavians

A

B. 2,223,345
C- 515,555

12,118,640

25,477,583

2,738,900

5. Dutch and Belgians

A

B. 246,280

C. 50,010

2o6 2QO

6. Germans mixed with other Germanic races

A

B. 22,376

C. 29,942

52,318

7. Celts and Welsh
A

B. 5,225,161

C. 2,850,182

8. Latin Races

A

B. 1,860,966

C. 261,536

9. Slavs

B.

10. Semites

B.

11. Hungarians and Finns

B.

12. Germans mixed with other,

races

B. With Celts

With Latin races
With Slavs
With Hungarians

13. All others
B.

8,075,343

2,122,502
1,136,212

572,764

286,315
not Germanic

473,56i
93,276
38,380
14,825

— 616,042

286,617

From these figures the following conclusions
may be drawn :

1. The German element forms at present the
largest part of the population of the United
States.

2. The German element is twice as large as
the Anglo-Saxon and more numerous than the
Anglo-Saxon and the American together.

3. The Anglo-Saxon and the American ele
ment together form thirty-seven per cent of the
entire population; the Teutonic element (Ger
mans, Scandinavians and Dutch) forty-three per
cent.

4. The entire part of the population that may
be designated as of Germanic origin together
with the American element comprises fifty-three
and one-half millions or eighty per cent of the
white inhabitants of the country.

And these conclusions lead to the others :

1. The claim that the American people is pre
eminently an English or Anglo-Saxon people is
without foundation in fact.

2. An immigration of at least forty millions
of non-Germanic people is necessary in order
to overcome the preponderance of the Germanic

' element in the United States.

SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS

DR. HANS KUDLICH.

44

SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR

DESCENDANTS

CARL SCHURZ was born March 2, 1829, in
the village of Liblar, near Cologne; in 1840 he
entered the Catholic Gymnasium of Cologne, and
in 1846 proceeded to the University of Bonn with
the intention of studying philosophy and his
tory. Like many other ardent and generous-
minded young students, he fell under the influ
ence of Professor Johann Gottfried Kinkel.
Kinkel was a poet, an orator, an idealist, a man
fitted by nature to arouse the enthusiasm of
youth, and ready, when occasion called, to at
test his faith by his works. He threw himself
unreservedly into the revolutionary movement
of 1848, and served as a private among the in
surgents in the spring of 1849. Schurz, follow
ing the example of his friend and teacher, served
as adjutant of General Tiedemann, and, when the
latter surrendered the fortress of Rastadt with
forty-five hundred revolutionary troops on July
21, 1849, he made an almost miraculous escape
from it through the sewer connecting with the
Rhine, and fled to Switzerland. In the following
summer he returned to Berlin, under an as
sumed name, for the purpose of liberating Kin
kel, who had been taken prisoner, tried for
treason, and sentenced to imprisonment for life.
With the aid of wealthy sympathizers, this daring
and romantic project was carried to a successful
conclusion in November, 1850, and created a sen
sation throughout Europe. Friedrich Spielhagen,
the popular novelist, born in the same year as
Schurz, and his fellow-student and friend at
Bonn, has embalmed this adventure as a stirring
episode in his book "Die von Hohenstein," in
which Schurz figures as Wolfgang von Hohen
stein, and Kinkel as Dr. Miinzer. In fact, a
more remarkable instance of self-sacrifice and
heroism for friendship's sake has seldom been
recorded, and it demonstrated the singular no
bility of Schurz's character. Schurz and Kinkel
escaped on a Mecklenburg vessel to Leith in
Scotland. Of the latter we may here take leave,
merely mentioning that, after a five years' resi
dence in this country, he held a professorship
at a girls' school in London, where he also es
tablished a German newspaper, Hermann, in 1866
accepted a call to the Polytechnikum in Zurich,

and died there on November 15, 1882. Schurz
spent about two years in London and Paris, sup
porting himself by giving music lessons and by
acting as correspondent of. German newspapers.
In July, 1852, he maj«ed Ma'rgjaret Meyer, the
daughter of a well-^iown Hanljurg merchant.
The match was a romantic one^Bie acquaintance
being traceable to the fame of Schurz's exploit in
liberating Kinkel, and was the beginning of a
long and happy union, broken only by the death
of the wife in March, 1876. In September, 1852,
Schurz crossed the ocean and took up his abode
in Philadelphia, where he remained for three
years, removing then to Watertown, Wis. He
attached himself at once to the newly formed Re
publican party, and in the following year, 1856,
made German speeches which contributed so
materially to carrying Wisconsin for Fremont
by a majority of more than thirteen thousand
votes, that in 1857, although he had but just be
come a citizen, he was nominated Republican can
didate for lieutenant-governor, and came within
one hundred and seven votes of an election. Two
years later he was offered the same nomination
and declined it. His first^English speech, made
in 1858, during the senatorial contest in Illinois
between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Doug
las, attracted general attention, and was widely
circulated under the title of "The Irrepressible
Conflict." In the following year he began the
practise of the law in Milwaukee. On a lecturing
tour through New England he made a decided
impression by attacking the ideas and policy of
Douglas, and by opposing a proposed Constitu
tional amendment directed against naturalized cit
izens. The latter subject he again brought before
the National Republican Convention of May,
1860, which he attended as chairman of the Wis
consin delegation, and which, upon his motion, in
corporated in the fourteenth paragraph of the
party platform a declaration unequivocally pledg
ing the Republican party against all legislation by
which the existing political rights of immigrants
could be impaired or abridged. Moreover, he
supported George William Curtis in his success
ful appeal for the insertion in the platform of
the sentiments of the Declaration of Independ-

45

46 SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS

ence, which had been denied to Mr. Giddings. Al
though he steadily cast the vote of his whole del
egation for William H. Seward, Schurz was ap
pointed a member of the committee to notify
Lincoln of his nomination; a member of the
National Republican Committee, consisting of one
representative from each state; and also a mem
ber of the Executive Committee, which then con
sisted of only seven members. During the ensu
ing canvass he made many brilliant speeches in
German and in English, which were an important
factor in bringing about the election of Lincoln,
who, after his inauguration, recognized the valu
able services of Schurz by appointing him United
States minister to Spain. Schurz presented his
credentials to Queen Isabella on July 16, 1861,
but in December resigned his post, and, after a
brief visit to his native land, returned to his
adopted country in January, 1862, to take ser
vice in the Union Army. He was commissioned
brigadier-general in April, and on June seventeenth
took command of a division in the corps of General
Franz Sigel, participating in the second battle of
Bull Run (August twenty-ninth and thirtieth).
He was appointed major-general on March 14,
1863, and on May second commanded a division
of General Oliver O. Howard's Eleventh Army
Corps, at the battle of Chancellorsville. With the
same corps he participated in the battles of Get
tysburg and Chattanooga, and served under
Sherman in the Georgia campaigns. The sur
render of General Johnston to General Sherman
on April 26, 1865, terminated the war; and
Schurz, having obtained leave of absence, pro
ceeded at once to Washington and resigned his
commission as general. His resignation was filed
May fifth, and was the first one received by the
War Department, with the sole exception of Gen
eral Sigel's, which was filed May fourth. In the
summer of 1865 Schurz was commissioned by
President Johnson to make a tour of the South
ern States and prepare a report on their condi
tion and the state of public sentiment. He made
a careful and conscientious study of the subject,
and embodied the result of his investigations in
a candid and judicial-minded report, in which he
recommended that before readmitting the rebel
lious states to full political rights a Congressional
committee be sent there to make a thorough sur
vey of the ground and suggest appropriate legis
lation. In the winter of 1865-66 Schurz was
Washington correspondent of the New York
Tribune; in 1866 he went to Detroit and became
editor of the Detroit Post; in 1867 he removed to
St. Louis to become editor and, with Emil Pre-
torius, joint proprietor of the Westlichc Post.
At this time he made a journey to Europe, and

was received in Germany with distinguished con
sideration; in an interview with Bismarck the
latter requested him to give a history of his
Kinkel exploit, and, after listening to the account
with great interest, remarked that he thought in
Schurz's place he would have acted in the same
way. Having been appointed temporary chair
man of the Republican Convention of May, 1868,
which nominated General Grant, Schurz was in
strumental in inserting in the platform a reso
lution recommending a general amnesty. Even
during the war, and while in active service in
the field, Schurz had not intermitted his activity
as a political orator, but had occasionally taken
leave of absence when it seemed necessary to
rouse public sentiment to support the Adminis
tration, and in 1864 had made some notable
speeches in the second Lincoln canvass. As a
matter of course he was one of the most ef
fective speakers in the campaign of 1868, which
resulted in the first election of Grant. On Janu
ary 19, 1869, the Legislature of Missouri elected
him senator, and he took his seat at the special
session beginning March fourth, being the first
German-born citizen who had ever been a mem
ber of the upper house of Congress. The career
of Carl Schurz in the Senate would have been
sufficiently remarkable if regarded merely as a
demonstration of his great gifts as a parliamen
tary orator and of his readiness as a debater. He
was not only the most effective speaker in the
Republican party, but the greatest orator who has
appeared in Congress in our generation. Unlike
many of his most distinguished colleagues, he
never resorted to inflated or bombastic rhetoric,
and never stooped to any of the well-worn arti
fices with which demagogues from time imme
morial have been wont to tickle the ears of the
mob. As was truly said of him, he always spoke
as a rational man to rational men ; he was al
ways sure of his subject and always full of it,
and the natural consequence was that he always
had something to say that was worthy of serious
attention even from those who might differ from
him in opinion. His unusual natural gifts for
oratory he had sedulously cultivated by a diligent
study of the best models, with the remarkable
result that although he had arrived at man's es
tate before acquiring a practical acquaintance with
our language, his English style very rarely, and
even then only very slightly, betrayed his foreign
birth and education ; and in acquiring so perfect
a" command of a foreign idiom he had never in
any degree forfeited his mastery of his native
tongue. To his other qualities he added a quick
wit and a biting sarcasm, which could cut very
deep without ever overstepping the bounds of

GUSTAV H. SCHWAB.

47

SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS 49

parliamentary decorum, and which made him for
midable both in attack and in defense. In fine,
we might say, speaking on Bacon's hint, that he
was at once a full man, a ready man, and an
exact man. But he has a better claim than that
to the respect of the American people. It is
Bacon, again, who tells us that "talk is but a
tinkling cymbal where there is no love," and
Schurz's greatness as an orator lies in this, that
he not only spoke as a rational man to rational
men, but as a man of heart and of conscience,
who judges other men by himself, and feels that
his best hold is in appealing to the better nature
of his hearers. What he said of Sumner in his
unsurpassed eulogy of the Massachusetts sena
tor, that "he stands as the most pronounced
idealist among the public men of America," might
with equal truth be said of himself. The course
of events has taken his part in nearly all the
controversies which put him at odds with his
party in the Senate. He was in advance of public
sentiment, not so much by reason of any su
perior foresight or political sagacity, as because
of his fidelity to his ideals, and his conviction
that, in the long run, truth was bound to prevail.
He was the original Independent in politics, and
the whole political faith of the Independent can
be educed from his utterances. He was a warm
advocate of civil service reform, of tariff reform,
of currency reform, at a time when the friends
of any kind of reform were few and far be
tween, and had nothing to expect from either
party but obloquy and sneers. Perhaps the great
est practical service he rendered at this time was
in his unwavering advocacy of correct principles
on the currency question. He was almost the
only public man who never made any concession
on this point to ignorant public clamor, and his
mastery of the subject was equal to the honesty
and courage with which he stood for the right.
The two speeches against inflation and in favor
of a return to specie payments which he made
in the Senate on January 14 and February
24, 1874, were models of sound doctrine. Of
the second of them Professor Bonamy Price of
Oxford, certainly a sober-minded and competent
critic, said that it was the ablest speech ever
made on banking in any parliament, that its range
and solidity were wonderful, and that it offered
a body of detailed doctrine which almost through
out will bear the test of the closest examination.
Any adequate account of Schurz's course in the
Senate will confirm the judgment of William M.
Evarts that Schurz had presented, under adverse
circumstances, an instance of an elevated Amer
ican statesman, and the opinion of James Rus
sell Lowell, who thought his loss to the Senate

a national misfortune. The complimentary dinner
at which the sentiments just quoted found ex
pression was given to Schurz on April 27, 1875,
to mark the regret which honest men of all par
ties felt at his retirement from the Senate, at his
being (in the words of one of them) "exiled from
one party by his independence and principles, and
repelled by the other apparently because it is too
ignorant to recognize his value in public life."
It was certainly an unusual tribute to be tendered
to a man whose public life was apparently closed,
and it found an appropriate echo on the following
day in a banquet and serenade given by Germans,
and a few weeks later in another banquet given
to him in Berlin by Americans and attended by
many Germans of distinction. But a more sig
nal vindication awaited him on his return from
Europe. Although he had broken with and de
fied the Republican party by taking sides against
it in the Louisiana question, in the matter of
the Ku-Klux laws, in advocating a general am
nesty; although he had opposed the Administra
tion in the San Domingo discussion, in the de
bates on the sale of arms to France, and on
abuses in the New York Custom House ; al
though he had originated the Liberal Republican
movement in Missouri in 1870, and had thereby
given the first impetus to the current of inde
pendence in politics which has since swept the
country ; although he had presided over the Lib
eral convention of May, 1872, which nominated
Horace Greeley for the Presidency and had ad
vocated (with much reluctance, it is true) the
election of Greeley ; although he had done all
these things, and many others that equally demon
strated how little amenable he was to the ordi
nary canons of party discipline, and how much
he placed the cause above the party — in spite of
all this, no sooner had he returned home, than
he was appealed to by the Ohio Republican Com
mittee to stump that state in favor of Hayes and
honest money, as against Allen and inflation.
Within a week he was in harness, and resumed,
with all his wonted boldness and brilliancy, the
good fight against financial folly, quackery, and
knavishness which he had fought in the Senate,
and which he was to fight over again for many
years to come. It was to his valiant efforts more
than to those of any other one man that the
victory then achieved was due. In the presiden
tial election in the following year he once more
cast in his lot with the Republican party, believ
ing, as did many other Independents, that sound
currency and civil service reform were, on the
whole, safer with Hayes and his following than
with the Democratic supporters of Tilden. There
was an impression abroad that he had received

50 SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS

positive pledges from Hayes that civil service re
form would be carried out in good faith. At all
events he threw himself into the canvass with
his customary energy, and his appointment by.
Hayes to the secretaryship of the interior was
only a just recognition of the importance of his
services, and at the same time a partial redemp
tion of the pledge, if a pledge there was, in re
gard to civil service reform, of which it was on
all sides admitted that Schurz was a sincere and
ardent advocate. So well was this understood by
the enemies of the reform that, while his nomi
nation was pending, they spread a report that
his confirmation would be opposed by some Re
publicans from a "dispassionate belief" that he
did not possess business experience and admin
istrative ability enough for the proper discharge
of the multifarious duties of the office. The du
ties of the office were, indeed, multifarious, but
Schurz was soon to convince the country that an
idealist can be a very practical man in any busi
ness which is compatible with honesty, industry,
intelligence, and courage. He was confirmed
on March eleventh, and before a week had ex
pired he assured the clerks that no removals
would be made except for cause, unless the force
had to be reduced, in which case the least com
petent would be removed; that no promotions
would be made except for merit, and that, as
there were no vacancies, no recommendations to
office would be entertained. This was not empty
declamation, for Schurz did not even bring a new
private secretary with him. On April sixth he
promulgated an order providing for the investi
gation and practical determination of questions
connected with appointments, removals, and pro
motions by means of a board of inquiry com
posed of three clerks of the highest class; and
his subsequent actions demonstrated that there
was no sham about this measure, but that it was
meant in sober earnest. The reform of the ser
vice, however, was but a small part of the work.
The new Secretary, in violation of all precedent,
made up his mina, to master personally the busi
ness of his office, which included the management
of the Indian service, with an army of officers, a
quarter of a million of Indians, and their land
reservations ; the Pension Office, the Patent
Office, the census, the public lands the geological
and geographical surveys, the transactions with
the land grant railroads, and numerous other
matters. He worked from nine till six, and some
times late at night, and made the most of his time
by devoting to business the hours which most
of his predecessors had sacrificed to politics and
wire-pulling. As a natural consequence, he un
earthed numerous abuses which previous secre

taries had known nothing about, and probably
did not want to know about. He found the ser
vice in a deplorable condition, particularly the
Indian Bureau. The Secretary of the Interior,
and even the Commissioner of Indian Affairs,
were kept in ignorance of what was going on,
and contractors and Indian agents were allowed
full swing. As fast as Schurz could fasten the
responsibility for wrongdoing or negligence or
even mere carelessness, he made changes and
removals right and left, regardless, as he had
ever been, of the enemies he made. His efforts
to check the timber thieves brought him into con
flict with powerful corporations, and with his
old Republican antagonists in the Senate ; while
his intelligent and well-considered Indian policy
was attacked not only by a noisy company of
traders, who had a vested interest in corruption,
but by army officers on the one hand, and by well-
meaning, sentimental philanthropists on the other.
All of these foes he faced undismayed, and did
not allow clamor or vituperation to swerve him
from what he considered the straight path of
duty. He put an end to the swindling of Indians
by agents who were appointed to protect them,
and in four years gave the wards of the nation
a better start towards civilization than they had
ever had before. During his term of office the
agricultural products raised by them were doubled.
In his first annual report he outlined an Indian
policy, the chief points of which were : the main
tenance of good faith with the tribes ; the dis
couragement of hunting; the concentration of
tribes dependent on hunting within reservations ;
their conversion to agriculture and stock-raising;
the establishment of schools and of agency farms ;
together with many other similar measures which
suggested themselves to a humane, conscientious,
and highly educated official, who had taken pains
to master the subject, and was no respecter of
persons or of unreasoning prejudices. In other
departments, he displayed the same capacity for
practical business. During four years he recov
ered and paid into the Treasury almost as much
money for timber depredations as had been col
lected in twenty-two years before, and he was
the first to demonstrate the ability of the Pacific
railway companies to establish a sinking fund for
the payment of their indebtedness to the Gov
ernment. Without going more into detail, it will
be seen that in his official career as a Cabinet
minister Schurz was as great a contrast to the
ordinary politican as he was during his term in
the Senate. Instead of laboring for his own
aggrandizement, and striving to build up a party
of personal adherents, on whose cooperation he
could count through thick and thin ; instead of

JACOB HENRY SCHIFF.

51

.^SRARY ~

ulHt» jl

3F JJ

HENRY P. GOLDSCHMIDT

52

SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS 53

currying favor with men of influence by con
niving at abuses which helped the party; instead
of using his official power to reward his friends
and intimidate his enemies; instead of resorting
to any such devices which are but too familiar in
our politics, he was a veritable tribune of the
people, always ready to use his great abilities to
promote the public welfare, and for the further
ance of good government. Apart from the spe
cific services which he rendered as legislator, as
administrator of a public trust, as a popular ora
tor, in procuring the enactment of salutary laws,
in preventing the passage of bad ones, in purify
ing the civil service and purging it of scandals,
in promoting public economy and justice, in com
bating financial heresies and educating public
sentiment — apart from all this, which would suf
fice to give him a strong claim on the national
gratitude, he has a still stronger claim to ad
miration and respect, in that, in a time of great
corruption and demoralization, he was found
faithful among the faithless; faithful, that is, to
a high ideal of public duty and private morality.
His life will ever be a shining example to the
rising generation, the hope of mankind, showing
them that it is still possible for a man to achieve
great honors and high station without bartering
away his soul for a mess of pottage. It is his
unblemished character more than his brilliant
talents that will secure him a place in American
history. Returning to private life, when his term
of office had expired, and making his home in
New York, Schurz became one of the editors of
the Evening Post, when that journal changed own
ership in July, 1881, and retained the position un
til December 9, 1883. In 1884. he took a promi
nent part in the Independent movement, which
was called into being as a revolt against ten
dencies in the Republican party that represented
the antipodes of everything he stood for. He
had himself contributed materially by example
and by precept to creating the public feeling
which made such a movement possible, and he
contributed no less to its culmination in the elec
tion of Grover Cleveland, with whom he had, in
deed, much in common. The leisure afforded him
by his release from public duties he employed
to good purpose in writing his "Life of Henry
Clay," which appeared in 1887, and at once secured
him a high rank as a man of letters. It was
widely recognized as the best life of Clay, and
the best work of the series in which it was pub
lished. Its value consists not only in the correct
ness of its style and in its readableness, but large
ly in its quality as a contribution to political his
tory by one whose own political experience gave
him a peculiar insight into the period he de

scribed. This work, together with his contribu
tions to periodicals, notably his Atlantic Monthly
article on Abraham Lincoln, will insure him a
secure place among American authors. Repeat
edly chosen president of the National Civil Ser
vice Reform Association, his speeches and activi
ties in that behalf were notable. He was also
connected with various large business enterprises,
in which his capacity no less than his integrity
gained him the esteem of his associates ; but he
was too honest and unmercenary, in a money-
getting age, to enrich himself. His quiet re
fusal to accept the large sum which admiring
German-Americans offered him was characteris
tic of the man. In the elections of 1888 and 1892
he again effectively supported Cleveland, although
in the latter year his health did not permit him
to take as active a part as he had been accus
tomed to do. His latest literary effort was de
voted to his autobiography, now in course of
publication. Mr. Bryce has expressed surprise
at the want of influence upon American politics of
the great German infusion, and it is certain
that no one of the refugees of '48 attained any
thing like the distinction of Carl Schurz, or had
either so conspicuous or so happy a share in re
paying his debt to his adopted country. As a
whole, it may be said of the Germans as of the
Irish, that, deceived by the name of "Democracy,"
they cast their weight — at least during the years
of moral agitation — against the anti-slavery party.
In this particular Schurz shines by contrast, since
he at once saw things as they were, and divined
the essential unity between the Slave Power and
the despots of the Old World. He differed again
from many of his countrymen in making a com
plete surrender to his new nationality, desiring
and aiming to be only a high-minded American
citizen. Unlike his noble compatriot , Friedrich
Kapp, he was not tempted by the conquest of
German unity to return to his Fatherland. In
the end, he came to think in English rather than
in German, though both languages were constantly
on his lips. In the multifariousness of his talent
and his experiences in public and in private life, it
was not to be expected that he should be equally
surpassing. His military career was certainly
less brilliant, though not less creditable, than his
civilian. As a journalist, too, he was less suc
cessful than as an orator, and in fact, the world
has seldom seen these two functions combined
(in the first order) in the same person. The
speaker's rhetoric is opposed to the directness
and terseness demanded of the daily writer for
the press, and as a speaker, it is to be observed
that Schurz was accustomed to elaborate his
weightier deliverances by a careful preparation

54 SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS

in his closet. The journalist has no time for this,
and pays the penalty in an ephemeral fame. It
would be unjust to close this imperfect appreci
ation without a word as to Carl Schurz's private
character, which was both pure and amiable in
a singular degree. He was very companionable,
very warm and kindhearted, most affectionate in
his family relations ; passionately fond of music ;
absolutely simple and unaffected in his manner,
and happy to escape from the observation of the
world and the exactions of society to be at home
with his books and engaged in literary pursuits.
Like Lowell and like Curtis, he learned that the
possession of these virtues, superadded to abun
dant examples of public spirit, patriotism, and
self-abnegation, was no security against the most
vulgar and odious aspersions on the part of his
political adversaries. Yet the fullest appreciation
came, too. His seventieth birthday was celebrated
not only in private by his friends but publicly by
the Chamber of Commerce. Caricature was so
busy with his fine head and tall figure that few
public characters were more recognizable on the
street ; but art will yet be worthily employed in
a reverential monument to his memory. He died
in New York City on May 14, 1906.

DR. HANS KUDLICH.— Had it not been for
the downfall of the German and Austrian revolu
tionary movement in 1848, this country would
not, in all probabilities, have gained the subject
of this sketch for one of her most distinguished
countrymen who, during that eventful period, came
to this country with a host of fellow subjects.
The life of Dr. Kudlich has been set forth many
times as an example to those who desire to re
main true to their ideals, no matter how alone
they might stand in their own convictions ; and
again it proves that notwithstanding the difficul
ties encountered upon the thoroughfares to a use
ful career, that enviable height can only be sur
mounted by those who possess the sterling quali
ties of the doctor. He was born in Lobenstein,
Austria, October 25, 1823, and received a thorough
education in the Gymnasium College of Troppau,
Austria. He attended this institution for six
years, in which time he mastered the Latin and
Greek languages. After his graduation from the
Gymnasium, he went to Vienna, where he took a
course in law, and which he continued up to
1848, when the revolution broke forth. His
patriotism asserted itself immediately, and he
offered his services for the uplifting of his fellow
countrymen and the cause he was in sympathy
with. During an encounter with the Imperial
troops in March of the above year, and which
terminated victoriously for the revolutionist?, he

was wounded, but after being nursed back to
life again, he was elected to the Congress which
was called by the Emperor, under pressure from
the party he represented. A constitution was
framed by that Congress for the realm, and the
provision that was most important and enduring
was fathered by young Kudlich. The abolition
of tithes paid by the peasants to the land owners,
and of the robat, was championed by him. The
peasants had been required to work without pay
three days per week upon the lands of the lords.
Most of the good work accomplished by the Con
gress was swept away when the counter revolution
occurred, but the restoration of tithes and the
robat was not undertaken by the Emperor and
to this day the Austrian peasants are exempt from
those taxes. This great public service rendered
by Dr. Kudlich has made his name dear to mil
lions of Austrian peasants. It was during the
memorable siege of the Emperor's troops under
Prince Windischgratz that Dr. Kudlich effected a
miraculous escape and endeavored to organize an
army among the peasantry with which to raise
the siege, but after many futile efforts his plans
miscarried. He then joined General Siegel's rev
olutionary army in the southern part of Germany,
and when it met with disaster he fled into the
interior of Switzerland. His extradition was
sought by Austria, but Switzerland merely re
quested him to withdraw from the country. From
Switzerland Dr. Kudlich went to Paris, and in
1853 came to the United States, settling in Green-
point and later in Williamsburg. One year later
he removed to Hoboken, N.J., where he has since
resided, enjoying a large and lucrative practise
of his profession. His home is located at No. 506
Hudson Street, where he is surrounded by all that
culture and taste can desire. It was during his
exile in Switzerland that Dr. Kudlich first pur
sued the study of medicine and his course was
concluded in the University of Zurich, graduating
therefrom in 1853 with the highest honors. After
taking up his residence in Hoboken, it was not
long before his skill as a practitioner was ob
served and the practise he established grew rap
idly; up to the time of his retirement from ac
tivity his was undoubtedly the largest in the city.
During the year of 1853 he married Miss Louise
Vogt, daughter of William Vogt, a distinguished
professor in the University of Bern, in Switzer
land. Dr. Kudlich became associated with the
r anti-slavery movement shortly after his arrival
in this country, and was one of the most ardent
supporters. He was a trustee of the Bank of
Savings of Hoboken for many years, and was one
of the founders of the Hoboken Academy. For
many years he was the president of the German

JOSEPH SELIGMAX.

55

ISAAC N. SELIGMAN.

56

SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS 57

Club. He is also a member of the Society of
German Physicians of New York and also the
Hudson Medical District Society of Physicians.
Nine children were born to Dr. and Mrs. Kud-
lich, of whom seven are living. Their son, Will
iam T., is one of Hoboken's leading physicians;
Paul F., who is temporarily in music, and Her
man C., who was a former city magistrate by
Mayor Strong in 1895 and who resides in New
York; Hans V., who resides in Dedham, Mass.,
and is engaged in business there. While abroad
with his family in 1872 he visited Austria and
received many expressions, both public and pri
vate, of the great affection entertained for him
by his countrymen in appreciation of his valued
services rendered during the revolution of 1848.
Notwithstanding his advanced years, he takes a
keen interest in matters pertaining to the better
ment of German conditions in America, and his
advice upon the social and economic questions
is regarded as authoritative.

GUSTAV H. SCHWAB is the grandson of the
well known German poet, Gustav Schwab. His
father, the son of the German poet, took up a
mercantile career and after spending six years
in the office of H. H. Meier & Co. in Bremen, took
passage for New York in 1844, where he first
established the firm of Wichelhausen, Recknagel
& Schwab, and in 1858 entered the firm of Oel-
richs & Co. On his mother's side Gustav H.
Schwab is a descendant of the early German set
tlers in this country. One of his ancestors, Con
rad Weiser, entered the country in 1710 with a
large number of German emigrants from the
Palatinate. Conrad Weiser was then a young
man and became thoroughly acquainted with the
Indians, learning their language and living with
them for a number of years. He was instru
mental in negotiating many treaties between the
colonies of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania,
Virginia and North Carolina and the Indians.
His daughter married the Rev. Henry Melchior
Miihlenberg, one of the patriarchs of the Luther
an Church, whose daughter married Dr. John
Christopher Kunze, a professor in Columbia Uni
versity and pastor of one of the German churches
in New York. The daughter of Dr. Kunze mar
ried Caspar Meier, the founder of the firm of
Caspar Meier & Co., in 1798, which firm after
wards assumed the style of Oelrichs & Co. as,
after the death of Caspar Meier, the laws of the
state of New York did not permit the use of
the name of Caspar Meier. A daughter of Cas
par Meier married Lawrence Henry von Post,
of an old Bremen family, who became a member
of the firm of Caspar Meier & Co. early in the

last century, and Gustav Schwab, the father of
Gustav H. Schwab, married the daughter of Law
rence Henry von Post. Gustav H. Schwab was
born on May 30, 1851, on the banks of the Hud
son at the foot of One Hundred and Nineteenth
Street, where his great-grandfather had built a
house in 1807, now obliterated by the Riverside
Drive. He received his early education at the
hands of a private tutor, and in his fourteenth
year was sent to the Gymnasium at Stuttgart,
Germany, where he remained four years under
the care of his uncle, Professor Christoph Schwab,
another son of the poet. Having chosen a mer
cantile profession, Gustav H. Schwab in his
eighteenth year was sent to Bremen, where he
entered the office of H. H. Meier & Co., founded
by the brother of Caspar Meier in 1805, and
spent four years as a clerk in this business, after
having spent a year in the office of the North
German Lloyd in Bremen. He then went to
Liverpool, where he remained for half a year for
the purpose of becoming acquainted with English
business methods, and in the fall of 1873 returned
to his native city, New York, where he entered
the office of his father's firm, Oelrichs & Co., and
took charge of the agency of the North German
Lloyd, which was in the hands of the firm of
Oelrichs & Co. On July I, 1876, he became a
member of the firm of Oelrichs & Co., and has
continued active in the management of the firm's
affairs, especially devoting his attention to the
steamship business until the present day. Early
in his career Gustav H. Schwab devoted much of
his time and leisure to public affairs and in 1890
was instrumental in forming the so-called "Peo
ple's Municipal League" that nominated Mr.
Frank M. Scott for mayor. Although unsuc
cessful, the movement demonstrated a wide-spread
public sentiment in favor of the separation of
municipal affairs from national and state poli
tics, and in 1894 Gustav H. Schwab took an
active interest in the formation of the Committee
of Seventy, the chairman of which was Mr. Jo
seph Larocque, which nominated and finally
elected Mr. William L. Strong as mayor of the
city of New York as a protest against the mis-
government of the city by Tammany Hall. In
later movements Gustav H. Schwab took a prom
inent part in the campaigns of the reform party
of the city of New York, in the formation of
the Citizens' Union, and in the election of Mr.
Seth Low as mayor. Gustav H. Schwab has
also been active in his Assembly District, the
Twenty-seventh Assembly District of New York,
and in the election of local candidates in that dis
trict. In questions of national concern Gustav H.
Schwab took a prominent part in the sound money

58 SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS

movement undertaken by the Chamber of Com
merce of the state of New York, and in the ef
forts to secure a revision of the tariff laws and
the introduction of reciprocal trade arrange
ments with foreign countries. On the death of
his father in 1888, who was a member of the
Committee on Foreign Commerce and the Reve
nue Laws of the Chamber of Commerce of the
state of New York, Gustav H. Schwab was elected
a member of this committee in his place, and a
few years thereafter was made chairman of this
important committee. He has taken and still
takes an active interest in the deliberations of the
Chamber of Commerce of the state of New
York. Gustav H. Schwab also took the place of
his father on the Board of Directors of the Mer
chants National Bank, of which his father was a
director, and was also elected, and is now, a di
rector of the United States Trust Company. He
is also a member of the Board of Directors of
the Atlantic Mutual Insurance Company. Gustav
H. Schwab is chairman of the Canal Committee
of the New York Produce Exchange and took a
prominent and active part as chairman of the
Canal Improvement State Committee, formed by
New York and Buffalo business interests, in the
long campaign for the enlargement and improve
ment of the Erie Canal, which, after several years
of hard work, resulted in the adoption by the
people of the state of New York of the so-called
"One Thousand Ton Barge Canal" plan, for which
the expenditure of $101,000,000 was authorized by
the people. In common with a large majority of
the business men of New York, he considered the
future supremacy of the state and city of New
York to be bound up with the modernization of
the Erie Canal, to which the state of New York
owes her present position among her sister states.
As chairman of the New York Committee of the
American Reciprocal Tariff League, Gustav H.
Schwab is interested in the agitation for recip
rocal trade agreements between the United States
and foreign nations as a necessary condition for
the continued extension and growth of the for
eign trade of the United States. In charitable
work it should be added that Gustav H. Schwab
was formerly a director of the Juvenile Asylum and
is still a member of the Board of Directors of
St. John's Guild. He was also for fourteen years
president of the German Society of the city of
New York, and is still a director of that society,
which was founded by his great-great-grandfather,
Professor John Christopher Kunze, with other
Germans, in the year 1787.

JACOB HENRY SCHIFF, banker and capi
talist, was born at Frankfurt-on-the-Main, Ger

many, on January 10, 1847, as the son of Moses
and Clara Schiff. He was educated in the schools
of his native city and entered the employ of a
commercial firm after completing his education.
At the age of eighteen, he decided to emigrate to
America, and came to New York City, where he
engaged in the banking and brokerage business.
Operating on a modest scale at the beginning, his
ability to grasp intricate financial problems and
his skill in solving them, as well as his quick per
ception of opportunities, were soon recognized by
the men who at that time controlled the financial
markets of the country. His advice was sought
more and more, his judgment was relied upon
by larger numbers from day to day, and his in
fluence in financial circles grew constantly both
in America and Europe, until he had become
one of the central figures in almost every large
transaction that took place. He rose rapidly and
is now the head of the large banking house of
Kuhn, Loeb & Co., a director of the National City
Bank, Western Union Telegraph Co., Bond &
Mortgage Guarantee Co., Morton Trust Co., Title
Guarantee & Trust Co., and many other financial
corporation?. Occupying a commanding position
in the financial world, Mr. Schiff is also widely
known through his almost boundless charity and
his generous contributions to educational insti
tutions. He follows the best traditions of his
race by devoting a large proportion of his income
to benevolent purposes. It has been stated and
never contradicted or even doubted, that no ap
peal to Mr. Schiff on behalf of a deserving cause
ever meets with a refusal to aid. He is one of
the founders and president of the Montefiore
Home for Chronic Invalids, founder of the Jew
ish Theological Seminary of New York, of the
Nurses' Settlement, and a liberal contributor to
practically every Jewish and non-sectarian charity
of New York City. A handsome stone fountain
with bronze ornaments which stands on Rutgers
Square and bears the simple inscription : "Pre
sented to the City of New York, 1895," is a gift
from Mr. Schiff, the name of the donor remaining
unknown for several years, until revealed by ac
cident. He presented to Harvard University the
first Semitic Museum established in America and
devoted to Semitic studies in 1903, and is chair
man of the Semitic Committee of the university.
Mr. Schiff is a former vice-president of the New
York Chamber of Commerce, member of the Met
ropolitan Museum of Art, the Museum of Nat-
^ural History, the American Fine Arts' Associa
tion, and of many other communal and altruistic
societies. He has also taken a deep interest in
public affairs, and has been identified with prac
tically every movement inaugurated to improve

HONORABLE CHARLES ADOLPH SCHIEREX.

59

SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS 61

the administration of the city and state. Mr. Schiff
was married on May 6, 1875, to Miss Theresa
Loeb, daughter of Solomon Loeb, his senior part
ner in business, and has two children.

JOSEPH SELIGMAN, banker and capitalist,
was born at Bayersdorf, in Bavaria, on Septem
ber 22, 1819, as the oldest of eight brothers, all
of whom became active partners in the banking
house founded by him. He received a superior
education and studied medicine at the University
of Erlangen in his native country. After gradu
ating he devoted some time to theological studies,
but neither of the two professions satisfied his
active mind which yearned for a larger field where
knowledge and intelligence of high order could
be made the basis of far-reaching operations. His .
university life had broadened his mind and kindled
the love for freedom in his heart. Germany was
at that time undergoing a period of political
reaction, and Mr. Seligman decided to emigrate
to America at the age of seventeen. Soon after
his arrival he accepted a position with Asa Packer
of Pennsylvania, who was then beginning busi
ness as a contractor. Young Seligman was em
ployed as cashier but removed to Greensborough,
Ala., after attaining his majority, and started in
business on his own account. His success in
duced his brothers to follow him and Jesse and
Henry established themselves in Watertown, N.Y.,
in the furnishing goods business. In 1848 Mr.
Seligman, who had been very successful and had
accumulated considerable capital, decided to trans
fer his operations to New York City and commu
nicated his intention to his brothers to whom
the narrow limits imposed upon business activity
in a small town had also become irksome. In the
meantime the other brothers had come to Amer
ica, and the eight Seligmans united their re
sources and established an importing house in
New York City which, under the able leadership
of Joseph, prospered from the start, and in such
a remarkable degree that at the beginning of
the Civil War it was one of the largest and
wealthiest in the city. Mr. Seligman's active
mind clearly perceived that the United States
Government would have to engage in immense
financial operations to carry on the war, and that
consequently the banking business offered enor
mous opportunities. His brothers coincided in
his views and determined to give up the import
ing business, transferring their united capital to
a banking house. This they organized under the
firm name of J. & W. Seligman & Co. With the
large amount of capital at their disposal, they
could not only engage in extensive operations but
also provide for an ample reserve for any con

tingency. The master mind of Joseph Seligman
directed the vast operations with such success that
the business expanded rapidly and branch houses
had to be founded in London, Frankfurt and
Paris, as well as in the larger cities of the Uni
ted States. The parent house in New York was
presided over by Joseph, assisted by Jesse and
James. -Leopold and Isaac took charge of the
London house, William became resident partner in
Paris, and Henry and Abraham resident partners
in Frankfurt. In 1872 a branch house was es
tablished in San Francisco under the supervision
of Joseph, but was later on merged in the Anglo-
Californian Bank, which, however, retained its
connection with the Seligmans. During the dark
days of the Civil War Mr. Seligman was ever
loyal to the Government and proved a mountain
of strength for the Union. Through his influ
ence mainly a market for United States bonds
was found in Germany and the sympathy of the
German people strengthened. The London house
was made the authorized depository for the State
and Naval Departments, and it was Mr. Selig
man who formulated the plan under which a
syndicate took up the 5-20 bonds which the Gov
ernment in 1870-1872 concluded to refund, thus
becoming as prominently connected with the re
funding of the national debt as he had been with
the issue of the bonds. When it was decided to
resume specie payments the Seligmans were in
strumental in assisting the Government, and the
house took $20,000,000 of the $150,000,000 loan
issued by the Government in 1879. Secretary Sher
man of the Treasury and Secretary Thompson of
the Navy publicly acknowledged their indebted
ness to Mr. Seligman for his assistance in crit
ical monetary crises in their Departments. Since
1876 the house has been connected with every
important syndicate. Mr. Seligman evinced all
his life an honest and fatherly solicitude for the
welfare of his brothers, possessing in a high de
gree the devotion of his race to family ties. His
home life was charming. He was intensely patri
otic, a member and vice-president of the Union
League Club, a warm personal friend of General
Grant and a member of the famous Committee
of Seventy. He also served on the Rapid Transit
Commission which gave to New York its elevated
railroads, and was connected with almost all the
great railroad enterprises which connected the
Atlantic with the Pacific and did so much for the
development of the country. Mr. Seligman was
of an extremely charitable disposition and a friend
of the poor in the fullest sense "of the word. His
name was connected with almost all the great
charities carried on in New York, and he took
great interest in the Ethical Culture Society, of

62 SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS

which he and Professor Adler were the leading
spirits. Without question the best known and
one of the most prominent and popular Hebrews
of the city, he gave large sums for benevolent
purposes without asking whom they would benefit
as long as they were worthy of support. He be
queathed one hundred thousand dollars for phil
anthropic purposes to such societies and institu
tions as his executors would select, and provided
that no distinction should be made on account
of religion or race. His wishes were carefully
carried out, but this large amount was but a
trifle compared to the sums he gave away during
his lifetime. He died suddenly at New Orleans on
Sunday, April 25, 1880, while visiting his daughter.

ISAAC N. SELIGMAN, banker, was born on
Staten Island, N.Y., on July 10, 1856, as the son
of Joseph Seligman, the founder of the well
known banking firm of J. & W. Seligman &
Co. He received his first education in Europe,
but returned in 1866 and entered Columbia Gram
mar School at the age of ten, graduating with
honors in 1876, the Centennial year, from Colum
bia College. While in college, he was president
of his class and took a lively interest in sports,
being a member of the famous eight-oared crew
which won the race on Saratoga Lake in 1874, de
feating Harvard, Yale and nine other crews. Dur
ing the years 1877 and 1878 he was connected
with the New Orleans branch of the firm of J. &
W. Seligman & Co., and in 1879 was admitted to
partnership in the New York house. This firm was
prominently identified with establishing the cred
it of the United States Government both at home
and abroad, with placing the bonds issued by the
American Government under President Grant,
and with the resumption of specie payments under
President Hayes and Secretary of the Treasury
Sherman. Mr. Seligman is now, since the death
of his uncle, Jesse Seligman, the head of the
well known banking firm. In 1883 he married
Miss Guta Loeb, daughter of Mr. Solomon Loeb
of the banking house of Kuhn, Loeb & Co. He
has always maintained his connection with Colum
bia College, has been president of the Columbia
Boat Club for several years and one of the prom
inent members of the Alumni Association. Presi
dent Seth Low appointed him as one of the com
mittee to raise funds for the new site of Colum
bia University. He is identified with almost every
charitable organization in New York City. He
has taken great interest in every movement de
signed to improve the city administration, and it
may be truly said that every cause worthy of be
ing supported by good and patriotic citizens,
whether of a political or administrative charac

ter, or in the interest of humanity at large, has
found a liberal contributor and earnest co-worker
in Mr. Seligman. His position in the front rank
of public-spirited citizens of this republic is
universally recognized and undisputed. His great
activity and the confidence he enjoys is shown by
the numerous positions of trust and honor he oc
cupies. Mr. Seligman is a trustee of the Munich
Fire Reinsurance Co., Rossia Fire Reinsurance Co.,
United States Savings Bank, United Hebrew
Charities, Manhattan State Hospital (appointed
by Governor Morton and reappointed by Gover
nor Higgins), of the New York Oratorio Society,
Soldiers' and Sailors' Home Protective Associa
tion, Legal Aid Society, American Institution of
Social Service, McKinley Memorial Association,
Fairmount College in Wichita, New York Sym
phony Society and of the Solomon and Betty Loeb
Convalescent Home ; trustee and treasurer of the
St. John's Guild, the Hudson-Fulton Celebration
Committee, Carl Schurz Memorial Committee;
treasurer and director of the City and Suburban
Homes Company ; trustee and chairman of the
Finance Committee of the City Club ; treasurer
of the Citizens' Union since the Low campaign ;
treasurer of the Carl Schurz Columbia University
Memorial Fund; chairman of the Finance Com
mittee and trustee of the National Child Labor
Committee, treasurer and chairman of the An
drew H. Green Memorial Committee, vice-presi
dent of the Economic Association, treasurer and
member of the Executive Committee of the Cele
bration of the two hundred and fiftieth anniver
sary of the Jewish Settlement in New York City,
chairman and trustee of the Endowment of the
Chair at Columbia University of Social Ethics,
director of the Academy of Design, General Grant
Tomb Committee, Finance Committee of the Canal
Association of Greater New York, and a member
of the Committee on National Conference of
Charities and Correction, of the Committee of
the Columbia University Memorial Hall, of the
Advisory Board of the Republican National Com
mittee, the New York Historical Society, Cham
ber of Commerce and of its Executive Commit
tee on Taxation, the Executive Committee of the
Civic Federation, of the Committee of Nine on
Police Investigation, Citizens' Union Committee
of Fifty, Executive Committee of the Great Na
tional Association for Advancement of Science,
Art and Education, chairman of the Special Com
mittee on Commerce and Education appointed by
the New York Chamber of Commerce, and a
member of the University Club, Lotus Club, Arts
Club, Mid-Day Club, City Club, Lawyers Club,
New York Athletic Club, Union League and the
Merchants' Association.

JAMES SPEYER.

63

SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS 65

HON. CHARLES ADOLPH SCHIEREN.—
The choice of Brooklyn as the place in which
to make their home in America, by the par
ents of ex-Mayor Charles A. Schieren, when
they came to this country in 1856, gave to
the city one of its foremost citizens. He was
born at Xeuss, Rhenish-Prussia, February 28,
1842. His education was begun in the schools
of his native town and continued in the public
schools of his adopted city. He was for sev
eral years engaged in the cigar manufacturing
business with his father and in 1864 accepted a
position in the leather belting house of Philip
F. Pasquay of New York. Upon the death of
Mr. Pasquay in the following year, he was made
manager of the concern, where he remained for
three years. Having saved a moderate capital
from his earnings, he then embarked in business
for himself, and from that small beginning has
grown one of the largest and best equipped es
tablishments of its kind in the world. The
growth of the business was rapid and constant
from the start, and its continued prosperity has
been directly due to the keen business foresight
and executive ability of Mr. Schieren, who,
during the forty years of its existence, has given
it his close personal attention. He has also
made a number of inventions which aided sub
stantially in the upbuilding of this great in
dustry. Among his inventions may be mentioned
the "Electric Belt" (which was coated to pro
tect the leather), the "American Joint Leather
Link Belt," and the "Perforated Belt." As de
mands increased and conditions changed, the
output of his factories has been changed and
amplified, until the matter of supplying the
market with just what is needed has been re
duced to an exact art, and his brand has been
made famous by the constant reliability of the
goods produced. It was found necessary many
years ago to establish branch houses in the lead
ing cities of the country, and now such houses
are maintained in Boston, Philadelphia, Pitts-
burg, Chicago and Denver, also in Hamburg, Ger
many, while a large lace leather tannery has
been operated in Brooklyn since about 1880. But
probably the most noteworthy extension of facili
ties was the establishment of the Dixie Tan
neries in Bristol, Tenn., in 1893. This plant and
its adjunct, the Holston Extract Company, cov
ers thirty-one acres, and has a capacity of over
one hundred thousand hides a year. Here, as in
all the other departments of this vast business,
are employed all the best methods and processes
known to the leather and belt making arts. Some
of these methods are the latest results of sci
entific experiments, and some are the time-hon

ored methods which have stood the test of gen
erations. A notable instance of this is the re
tention of the old process of vat tanning with
rock oak bark, which requires four months to
produce a perfectly tanned hide. Mr. Schieren
is still the active head of the company which
bears his name. He is also president of the Ger-
mania Savings Bank of Brooklyn, a trustee of
the Brooklyn Trust Company, a director of the
Nassau National Bank, a trustee of the Ger-
mania Life Insurance Company, and a trustee of
the Aachen & Munich Fire Insurance Company.
He has been prominently connected with the
Leather Association of New York since its or
ganization, and one of the founders and members
of the National Association of Manufacturers —
is a member of its Executive Committee, and
was formerly its treasurer. He is a recognized
authority on the subject of leather and belting,
and his remarks in interview or in public speak
ing are highly valued. He wrote "The Uses
and Abuses of Belting," "Transmission of Pow
er by Belt," "History of Leather and Belting,"
"From Tannery to Dynamo," which he presented
before the National Electric Light Association
in 1888, and the Technical Society of New York,
and which were subsequently published in the
trade journals. While the foregoing would seem
sufficient to fully occupy him, Mr. Schieren
has always found time to take an active inter
est in public affairs. He was a member of the
famous "Wide Awakes," in 1860, who did such
splendid work toward securing the election of
Abraham Lincoln to the presidency, and since
that time has been an ardent advocate of the
principles of the Republican party. He took a
leading part in the reorganization of the party
in Brooklyn upon the election district association
plan, which finally led to the overthrow of Dem
ocratic sway in the city. In 1893 he was nomi
nated by his party for the office of mayor of
Brooklyn and was elected by an overwhelming
majority of thirty-three thousand votes. The
campaign was conducted along the line of anti-
machine rule, and was one of the first of its
kind in the country to result in success. Mr.
Schieren has a national reputation as a reformer
in politics, but his work has been toward secur
ing purity in politics, rather than in support of
so-called "Reform" movements which usually ac
complish a little more than to thwart the people as
a whole in their real choice of public officials. His
term as mayor was signalized by the straight
forward business methods employed, and the
large number of important public improvements
which were planned and executed. During his
term of office Wallabout Market was remodeled

66 SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS

from an unsightly, inconvenient mass of wooden
buildings, to a substantial, picturesque, and valu
able market, having twice its former capacity.
Through his influence and energetic advocacy the
bill was passed by the Legislature in 1895 au
thorizing the construction of the Williamsburg
Bridge, the initial plans were made and the work
started. By the addition of five new parks, Mr.
Schieren's administration more than doubled the
area of the parks of the city of Brooklyn. The
largest of these, Forest Park, comprises five hun
dred and thirty-six acres, is noted for its ele
vation, natural beauty, and fine view of both
the ocean and Long Island Sound. Dyker
Meadow Park, containing one hundred and fifty
acres, is also of great importance, as it em
braces several thousand feet of ocean front. Final
plans were adopted and riparian rights secured
for the Shore Driveway, which, when completed,
will be one of the finest in the world. He also
was one of the founders of the Brooklyn Mu
seum and laid the corner-stone during his admin
istration as mayor for this magnificent building
on the Park Slope. It is an instance worthy of
note, that during his occupancy of the mayor
alty he devoted his entire time to the duties of
his office. He declined a renomination, retiring
from office with the city in splendid financial con
dition. Since then he has received unsought ap
pointments to several positions of honor and re
sponsibility. The late and greatly lamented Pres
ident McKinley, of whom he was a close personal
friend, appointed him a member of the Cuban
Relief Committee, of which he was treasurer. He
was chairman of the New York State Commerce
Commission, appointed by Governor Black, which
urged the enlargement of the Erie Canal, and
was largely instrumental in passing the Barge
Canal referendum by a tremendous majority of
nearly two hundred and forty-five thousand votes ;
also a member of the Greater New York Char
ter Revision Commission, appointed by Gover
nor Roosevelt. He is now president of the
Brooklyn Academy of Music, for the building of
which a million dollars has been raised. For
many years, and during his term as mayor, Mr.
Schieren advocated the consolidation of New
York and Brooklyn, and his influence aided
greatly in finally securing its enactment. Mr.
Schieren is a member of the Church of the Re
deemer, English Lutheran, and is probably the
most prominent lay member of that denomina
tion in the United States. He is not only a lib
eral supporter of his own church, but has given
financial aid in the building of new churches and
the extension of religious work all over the coun
try. His beneficence in this direction has even

crossed the ocean, the new chancel stained-glass
windows in the Lutheran Cathedral in Xeuss, Ger
many, in which he was baptized, being of his do
nation. He also presented to the cathedral in
Speyer-on-the-Rhine the colossal bronze statue
of Martin Luther, the base of which was given
by other German-Americans. He aided in the
erection of the Luther statue in Washington and
was a member of the committee which erected
the Beecher and Stranahan statues in Brooklyn.
He is a trustee of the Young Men's Christian As
sociation, the Young Women's Christian Associ
ation, and was for several years a trustee of the
Sunday School Union, the Union for Christian
Work and the Society for the Prevention of
Cruelty to Children. He has been for many years
a member of the Union League Club of Manhat
tan and the Hamilton Club of Brooklyn. Mr.
Schieren was married in 1865 to Miss Louise
Bramm, a daughter of George W. Bramm of
Brooklyn, and has four children : Charles A.
Schieren, Jr., Miss Ida May Schieren, George Ar
thur Schieren and Harrie Victor Schieren.
Charles A. Schieren is a representative of the
large portion of the population of the United
States which has been furnished by the German
Empire, and he is one of which his native and his
adopted country may well be proud. Brilliantly
successful in all his undertakings, public-spirited,
clean-charactered, and ever ready to support by
his means and influence any enterprise which has
for its purpose the betterment and welfare of the
community of which he has been an honored
member for half a century, he is a splendid speci
men of the highest type of American citizenship.

WILLIAM WICKE, president of the William
Wicke Ribbon Company, was born at Neue-
miihle, near Hessen Cassel, Germany, on June
4, 1840. He attended the public schools at Cas
sel until 1855, at which time he emigrated to
America, arriving in New York on August second
of that year. His object in coming to this coun
try at such an early age was to assist his brother,
George Wicke, who had established a good busi
ness in manufacturing cigar boxes. After mas
tering that trade and when he was twenty-one
years old, a copartnership was formed June 4,
1861, under the firm name of George Wicke and
"Brother, which was continued until 1872; on ac
count of illness, George retired from business,
William continuing under the firm name of Will
iam Wicke & Company. In 1882 Mr. Wicke built
an extensive factory on First Avenue, between
Thirty-first and Thirty-second Streets and East
River, on a plot covering twenty-two city lots. It
was the largest establishment of its kind in the

OTTO H. KAHN.

67

CARL WALTHER, D.DV PH.D.

68

SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS 69

world. In this factory he introduced silk-weav
ing, manufacturing cigar ribbons, bindings for
underwear, blankets and ladies' dresses. He also
began the importation from Cuba and Mexico of
cedar and mahogany in logs. The mahogany he
disposed of to furniture manufacturers; the cedar
being converted into veneers at his own mills, this
product being largely utilized by himself for the
manufacture of cigar boxes. His surplus stock
was disposed of to other cigar box manufactur
ers. In 1891 he incorporated his extensive busi
ness under the name of the William Wicke Com
pany. A branch house employing one hundred
hands was opened at Tampa, Fla., for the manu
facture of cigar boxes. In 1899 the company
purchased seventy city lots at Glendale, Brooklyn,
where an immense factory, giving employment to
three hundred people, was built for the manufac
ture of silk ribbons and bindings. On January
30, 1901, the New York City factory, where six
hundred hands were employed, was totally de
stroyed by fire. The company decided not to
rebuild but to devote their attention to the Brook
lyn plant. The box factory at Tampa was also
disposed of. The Brooklyn establishment contains
the most modern machinery and improvements.
After the destruction of the Xew York City
plant the corporate name of the concern was
changed to its present one — William Wicke Rib
bon Company. In cigar boxes alone the company
turns out every ten hours — a day's work — thirty-
four thousand completed cigar boxes. The main
business and executive offices are located at No.
36 East Twenty-second Street, Xew York City.
The company's output is marketed throughout
the United States, but principally in Xew York
City. The officers of the company are William
Wicke, Sr., president ; George H. Wicke, vice-
president, and William Wicke, Jr., secretary. On
February 6, 1868, Mr. Wicke married Miss Louise
Margaret Linder of Weissenburg, Elsas. Six
children have been born to the union, viz. : Louise
Margaret, George Henry, William, Jr., Carl
Wicke, Anna and Henry, the two latter having
died in infancy. Carl Wicke, the youngect son,
is at present a student of Columbia Law School.
In politics Mr. Wicke is Independent. He is a
member of a large number of social, benevolent
and other organizations, prominent among them
are the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to
Animals, American Museum of Xatural History,
Legal Aid Society, Association for the Protection
of the Adirondacks, German Society, Citizens'
Union, American Scenic and Hi toric Preserva
tion Society, Young Men's Chr'stian Association,
New York Academy of Sciences, Vereinigten
Deutschen Gesellschaften der Stadt Xew York,

Linnaean Society of New York, Prison Associ
ation, Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute,
Xew York Botanical Garden, German Lieder-
kranz, Germanistic Society of America, Arion So
ciety, Students' Club, Metropolitan Museum of
Art, Jung Arion, National Municipal League and
also a member of numerous other charitable in
stitutions. Mr. Wicke is a self-made man in
everything that the term implies. His success in
life is due entirely to his indomitable courage, fine
business principles and conscientious scruples. For
his years he is a splendid type of vigorous man
hood and of a most pleasing personality. He en
joys a large social and commercial acquaintance
and is universally esteemed. He is a large holder
of Xew York City, as well as outside realty. Un
der his guidance Mr. Wicke's sons have acquired
the practical methods he has so well mastered, for
the continuation of the extensive business when
he shall have laid aside the mantle of commercial
life.

MAX AMS_. — One of the many examples of
indomitable courage and perseverance that is so
prevalent in the German race, and to which this
country owes much of its international promi
nence, is shown in the subject of this sketch. Born
in Waldkirch, Baden, Germany, Xovember 2,
1844, he received a liberal education in the public
schools of his place of nativity, graduating there
from at an early age. It seems that the future
of Mr. Ams was decided upon shortly after leav
ing school, when fourteen, for he chose commer
cialism at the start. Beginning as a clerk in a
general store located at Freiburg, a distance of
twenty miles from Waldkirch, he laid the foun
dation of a most remarkable career. His clerk
ship ended when he was nineteen years of age,
after occupying a place as bookkeeper and trav
eler in Pforzheim for three years, and during
that time his capabilities had been developed to
such a degree that a trip to the United States
was decided upon, and he came to this country
determined to make a name for himself. He went
to Detroit, Chicago and Milwaukee, but returned
to XTew York, after an absence of six months, and
started the nucleus of his present enormous en
terprise. It was only after the hardest kind of
endeavor, close application, and the honorable
methods he pursued, together with the high es
teem he attained, and in which he is now held,
that his name'has been brought into such prom
inence, that the company he heads is internation
ally preeminent. In 1873 he engaged in the man
ufacture and packing of fine groceries, operating
along wholesale lines. In 1892 he organized the
Marser Manufacturing Company, of which he is

70 SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS

the president. The company maintain an exten
sive plant at Mt. Vernon, N.Y., where sterling
silver ware is manufactured, giving employment
to over five hundred skilled workmen. The stores
and showrooms are located on Fifth Avenue and
Thirty-first Street, New York City, where the
product is disposed of at wholesale and retail. In
1902 he organized the Max Ams Machine Com
pany, which he heads. Mr. Ams is a director of
the American Encaustic Tiling Company and has
served in that capacity for the past twenty years.
He was a director of the Riverside Bank for ten
years, but his multifarious duties compelled him
to resign that post. In 1903 he organized the
Max Ams Beef and Fish Company, of which he
is its executive, and besides these interests he is
a stockholder in various corporations. He is a
member of the Arion Society and is affiliated
with several societies and fraternal bodies. Mr.
Ams was united in marriage on February 8, 1866,
to Miss Louisa Stoltz (now deceased), and to
this union were born eight children, four of whom
have died. Those living are : Carl M., Fred L.,
Emil A. and Louisa Theresa, now Mrs. C. B.
Smith of Boston, Mass. Mr. Ams has given his
sons the benefit of his early training and is now
rewarded by being ably assisted by them in his
various enterprises, thus relieving him of many
heavy burdens ; he is nevertheless seen regularly
at his office every day and gives much of his
time in further developing his large interests.
Once a year he goes abroad for recreation and
keeps in touch with all things of international
importance ; is a great reader, and has a finely
equipped library.

JAMES SPEYER, banker and capitalist, was
born in New York City, in 1861, the descendant
of an old family of Frankfort-on-the-Main,
known for centuries for the broad spirit of phil
anthropy it has manifested and for its well-di
rected efforts in aiding those in need and in bet
tering the condition of the poor, as well as on
account of the distinguished and prominent posi
tion it occupied in the commercial world. While
the name of Spire, Spira or Speier appears in the
chron-'cles of Frankfort-on-the-Main as early as
the middle of the Fourteenth Century, the first
member of the Speyer family concerning whom
accurate data is obtainable, and of whom Mr.
James Speyer is a direct descendant, was Michael
Speyer, who died in 1686. An interesting illus
tration of the standing of the family, even as far
back as 1792, is found in the fact that when in
that year the French General Custine brought
three leading citizens of Frankfort to Mainz, as
hostages for the payment of a war indemnity

levied by Napoleon I on the city of Frankfort, one
of them was the imperial court banker, Isaac
Michael Speyer. An uncle of Mr. James Speyer,
Philip Speyer, established the Speyer firm in New
York in 1837. He was joined by his brother,
Gustavus Speyer, the father of James Speyer, in
1845. I'1 J878 the firm name became Speyer &
Co. After receiving his education in Frankfort-
on-the-Main, Mr. Speyer at the age of twenty-two
began his business career in his father's banking
house in that city. He then went to Paris and
London, and in 1885 returned to New York,
where he has since resided and is now the senior
partner of the well known banking house of
Speyer & Co., as well as a partner in the Frank
fort, London and Amsterdam houses. Mr. Speyer
enjoys a high reputation in the world of finance,
and Speyer & Co. have been connected with
many of the most important financial underta
kings in relation to American railroads, and have
acted as fiscal agents for the Mexican and Cuban
Governments, etc. He is a director and trustee
in the following corporations : Baltimore & Ohio
Railroad Co., Bank of the Manhattan Company,
Central Trust Company of New York, Citizens'
Savings & Trust Co. of Cleveland, Ohio, General
Chemical Company, German Savings Bank, Gi-
rard Trust Company of Philadelphia, Guarantee
Trust Company of New York, Lackawanna Steel
Company, Maryland Trust Company of Baltimore,
North British & Mercantile Insurance Co., Rock
Island Company, Title Guarantee & Trust Co.,
Union Trust Company and Underground Electric
Railways Company of London, Limited. He is
also vice-president and director of the Societe Fi-
nanciere Franco-Americaine. He has taken a
deep interest in public affairs as an independent
and non-partisan citizen, especially in municipal
campaigns. He was vice-president and treasurer of
the German-American Cleveland League in the
Cleveland campaign of 1892, an active member of
the Executive Committee of the Committee of
Seventy, and a charter member of the Citizens'
Union. In 1896 he was appointed a member of
the Board of Education by Mayor William L.
Strong. He was a supporter of Mr. McKinley
both in 1896 and 1900, and i< an ardent sup
porter of President Roosevelt. He is active in
charitable and educational affairs, and in fact in
all movements which tend for the betterment of
social conditions in general. Mr. Speyer was
one of the founders and is now president of the
Provident Loan Society. He is treasurer of the
University Settlement Society and of the Peo
ple's Symphony Concerts and is connected with
a number of other similar philanthropic efforts,
among them being trustee of Teachers College,

JACOB LANGELOTH.

71

WILLIAM SEBASTIAN STUHR.

72

CHARLES PFIZER.

73

A. B. HEINE.

74

SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS 75

Hospital Saturday and Sunday Association, Isa
bella Heimath and the Mount Sinai Hospital.
His charity knows no difference of race, creed
or color. He has given large sums for educa
tional purposes, as for instance the building of
the Speyer School, and was also the creator of the
Theodore Roosevelt professorship at the Univer
sity of Berlin. Although not a clubman, Mr.
Speyer is a member of the City, Manhattan,
Players, Racquet, Reform, Lawyers, Lotos, Whist,
City Midday, New York Yacht clubs and the
Deutscher Verein. In November, 1897, Mr. Speyer
married Ellin L. Prince (Mrs. John A. Lowery),
daughter of the late John Dyneley Prince, who
also takes an active part in charitable and philan
thropic work in New York.

OTTO H. KAHN, banker and capitalist, was
born at Mannheim in Germany on February 21,
1867. His father was a banker at Mannheim,
alderman of the city and knighted by the Grand
Duke of Baden. His mother was Miss Eber-
stadt of Worms, the daughter of the mayor of
that city. Mr. Kahn was one of eight children, of
whom several have distinguished themselves in
various lines. His brother, Robert, is a composer
of note and professor in the Royal Conserva
tory at Berlin ; another brother, Franz, has se
cured a reputation as a jurist of great ability.
Mr. Kahn was educated in the gymnasium at
Mannheim and after graduating attended lectures
at Karlsruhe for three years. After finishing
his education he entered the service of the London
branch of the Deutsche Bank, where he remained
for five years, rising from one position to another
and acting during the last year as manager. In
1893 he came to New York and entered the em
ploy of Speyer & Co., bankers. Since 1896 he
has been a partner in the banking house of Kuhn,
Loeb & Co. Mr. Kahn is not only widely known
as an able and prominent financier but also
through his connection with the arts and litera
ture. He is deeply interested in all matters con
nected with the higher life. As a director of
the Metropolitan Opera House he has been es
pecially active and was instrumental in securing
a new management when the present head of the
enterprise decided to retire. It may, in fact, be
said, that Mr. Kahn was the moving force that
solved the difficulties arising from the situation,
and placed opera in New York upon a new and
satisfactory basis. He is also one of the found
ers and the most active promoters of the New
Theater, an institution that is intended to present
to America a theater similar to the famous "The
atre Frangais" in Paris. To Mr. Kahn's inde
fatigable activity, combined with practical busi

ness sense and literary knowledge of high charac
ter the fact is largely due that this enterprise was
successfully launched, and that the city of New
York will soon have a playhouse where the best
classical and modern plays will be presented in a
perfect way by a stock company, and where art
in its highest sense will be fostered with the help
of a school for dramatic art, an endowment fund,
a pension fund for actors, and other institutions
in keeping with the altruistic purpose of the enter
prise. In this as in other similar undertakings
Mr. Kahn is moved solely by the desire to foster
art and artistic ideals in the interest of the whole
people and mankind in general." He is very fond
of gentlemanly sports, such as riding, golfing,
automobiling, yachting and coaching. An expert
driver himself, he is often seen tooling his splen
did four-in-hand and has taken several ribbons in
contests at horse shows. Mr. Kahn lives during
six months of the year at Morristown, N.J.,
spends two months at his summer home on Up
per Saranac Lake in the Adirondacks and the re
mainder at his town house in Sixty-eighth Street,
New York City. He is a member of the Eastern
Yacht Club, Lotos, City, St. Andrews Golf, Mor
ristown Field, Lawyers' and City Midday clubs
and of the Chamber of Commerce. He is also
a large contributor to practically every charity
worthy of support. ' On January 8, 1896, Mr.
Kahn was married to Miss Addie Wolff, daugh
ter of one of the partners of the firm of Kuhn,
Loeb & Co., and has four children : Maud Emily,
Margaret Dorothy, Gilbert Wolff and Roger
Wolff Kahn.

HUGO WESEXDONCK was born at Elber-
feld, in Germany, on April 24, 1817, and received
his education in the Gymnasium of his native
city. After graduating, he studied law at the
University of Bonn and later in Berlin, where
he served as one year's volunteer in the Royal
Rifles. Passing through all his examinations
with great success, he worked for four years
with the District Court at Elberfeld and finally
established himself as attorney at Diisseldorf.
His knowledge of the law and his ability as an
advocate, rapidly brought him renown, and he
was engaged in some of the most important cases
of the period, among them the litigation of a
large railroad company for the right of way,
and the divorce suit of Countess Hatzfeld, known
as the friend of Ferdinand Lassalle. The stir
ring times that preceded the revolution of 1848,
when the German people rose to secure the liber
ties so long promised but denied them, found the
young lawyer in the front rank of the movement.
He was elected to the Prussian House of Rep-

76 SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS

resentatives and to the German Parliament,
which assembled at Frankfurt-on-the-Main, and
was intended to formulate a constitution for the
new German Empire. This body was forced to
dissolve, its meeting place being surrounded by
troops, and some of its members, Mr. Wesen-
donck among them, decided to continue their de
liberations at Stuttgart. Here their meetings
were again prevented by force and the leaders
were indicted for high treason. Mr. Wesendonck
fled to Switzerland and later to Paris, but was
tried in his absence and condemned to death. Af
ter a short sojourn in France, he emigrated to
the United States and engaged in commercial
pursuits in Philadelphia and New York City, the
practise of law not appealing to him. But the
real work of his life, with which his name will
ever be connected, and which is a monument to
his enterprise and sagacity, began in 1860, when
he founded, together with his friend, Friedrich
Schwendler, the Germania Life Insurance Com
pany. Mr. Wesendonck believed that an inst'tu-
tion managed by Germans and conducted on Ger
man principles of strictest honesty and economy,
was not only necessary, but would be eminently
successful, and the future proved that he was
right. The Germania Life was organized as a
mutual company and some of the most prominent
citizens of the city acted as directors, among
them the mayor, the Prussian Consul and many
bankers and merchants. The new company felt
its way carefully and preferred a slow but sure
growth to large and quick results accomplished
by unsafe methods. Its business soon spread
over the whole United States and was extended,
in 1868, to Europe. Its headquarters are now in
its own building at No. 20 Nassau Street, New
York, and the European business is conducted
from their offices at Behrenstrasse 12, Berlin. In
addition, the company owns a fine building in St.
Paul, Minn. While its growth has been very
successful, it has continued to follow the sound
and conservative principles laid down by its
founder, and was one of the few companies that
weathered the insurance investigation in 1906
without the discovery of a single flaw in man
agement or policy. Mr. Wesendonck belonged
to that group of "Fortyeighters" that brought so
much idealism and love for beauty in every field
of human endeavor to this country. His early
life had been passed at Dusseldorf, when that
city was the home of many artists of note, and
his home had been the gathering place for many
men of genius. He continued these traditions in
his new country, and every enterprise that was
started, to increase the taste for art, the love
for the beautiful and the uplifting of the people,

found in him a generous contributor. His name
was connected with every movement in the in
terest of the German population, as well as the
whole people from the time he landed on these
shores until his life work was completed. His
wife, whom he married in 1844 and who died be
fore him in 1889, ably assisted him and was the
first president of the Women's Auxiliary of the
German Hospital, when this institution was
founded. Mr. Wesendonck died on December
19, 1900, and left two sons and one daughter.

HENRY IDEN.— What one may achieve by
strict observance of concentrated purpose is bril
liantly illustrated in the career of one of New
York's oldest and highest esteemed commercial
men, Henry Iden, who was always proud of the
fact that he was of German nativity. He was
born at Duvenstedt on November i, 1823. The
village free school furnished his rudimentary ed
ucation, in fact it was the only tuition he ever
boasted of, and during this period he lost no op
portunity to make the very best of the instruc
tion the institution offered. He was about four
teen years old when he sought employment and
acting upon the first impulse his mind dictated, he
turned his attention to the trade of wood-carving.
Finding this work congenial, he exerted all his
energies to master every detail, and at the age of
twenty-six he completed his apprenticeship and
came to this country. He settled on Baxter
Street, at that time a rather substantial residen
tial section, and for a year or more pursued his
chosen vocation with an earnestness that was
characteristic. It was not long thereafter that
his enterprising spirit asserted itself. The reali
zation of his early ambition was materialized
when in 1854 he started in business on his own
account and established a thoroughly equipped
six-story furniture house at, 194-196 Hester
Street, New York City, at that time the best
building in that neighborhood. It was here he
manufactured and sold his product. For seven
teen years he operated this business and was very
successful. In 1865 his mind turned toward a
different channel, that of chandelier manufactur
ing. This was his first and only change during
his whole business career, and it was a change
for the better. He realized this, after having
looked over the new field and found it would be
far more remunerative than the former. He im
mediately remodeled his building, the birthplace
of his second enterprise, and installed everything
his new venture would require, and again started
with greater determination to realize his idea of
a successful commercial life. Every year his
industry gained gradual strength and the day

WILLIAM WICKE

ABRAM JESSE DITTENHOEFER.

79

MICHAEL C. GROSS.

80

SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS 81

finally came when a change of quarters was
found necessary. It was in 1887 that Mr. Iden
constructed the present building at Xos. 42 to 50
University Place, and realizing the importance of
a modern equipped plant, he spared no expense to
make the new commercial home complete through
out. At the time of construction, this building
was one of the largest, in that section of New
York, and, like the old Stewart Building, wa,s
an object of great interest to those visiting this
city. To-day this building is a landmark of old
New York, but containing everything modern
for the manufacture of chandeliers, etc., and en
joying a patronage that extends all over this
country. All the employees, through the excep
tional relationship that existed and still exists be
tween them and their employer, take a personal
interest in furthering the prosperity of the com
pany. On July 2, 1849, Mr. Iden married Mus
Christine Greve of Germany. Three children
were born to this union, two sons and one daugh
ter, of whom Henry, Jr., is the sole survivor.
On October 25, 1854, Mr. Iden was made an
American citizen and began at once to take
a great interest in the affairs of his adopted
country. In politics he was a stanch Democratic
supporter and his affiliation with that party con
tinued up to the time of his demise. He served
in the Fifth New York State Militia and wa-
honorably discharged August 12, 1862. Mr. Iden
was a director of the old Third Avenue railroad
company for many years and a director of the
Union Square Bank, now the Corn Exchange
Bank. He was not a club man, his leisure mo
ments being spent quietly at home with his fam
ily. He was a member of the Presbyterian
Church. Mr. Iden was always the personifica
tion of energy. He was always busy, work and
hard work was his plea?ure. He always breathed
good will and suggested mental, moral and physi
cal wholesomeness ; he had a dignity of manner
and carriage that commanded respect and atten
tion and the ability to make people feel at ease
was one of his greatest charm?. He was gener
ous to a fault and his philanthropy was known
to many deserving charities. Mr. Iden passed
away at his home in Mount Vernon in 1903 and
the vast interests he had built was left to the
able administration of his son, Henry, Jr., who
possesses many of his father's noble character
istics. The employees of Iden & Company, after
the death of Mr. Iden, adopted resolutions of
sympathy and presented them to his son, one of
many tributes to a man of genuine sterling quali
ties.

HENRY SIEGEL, merchant, was born at
Eubigsheim, in Germany, on March 17, 1852,
as the son of Lazarus, burgomaster of the town,
and Zerlina Siegel. He received his education in
the schools of his birthplace, but came to Amer
ica when but fifteen years of age and attended
the night schools in Washington, D.C., to com
plete his education. Immediately after his arrival
in this country, young Siegel found employment
in a clothing store in Washington at a salary of
three dollars and a half per week. Full of am
bition and determination to succeed, he devoted
himself to his duties with such energy that he
rose rapidly, and at the end of four years had
been advanced to fifteen dollars weekly. In 1871
he went to work for his brothers who had estab
lished a store at Parkersburg, Pa., and five years
later, in 1876, removed to Chicago to start on his
own account. He established the firm of Siegel,
Hartsfeld & Co., cloak manufacturers, which was
later on changed to Siegel Bros. While very suc
cessful in this venture, the real rise of Mr. Siegel
began when he started, in 1889, in conjunction
with Frank H. Cooper, a department store under
the firm name of Siegel, Cooper & Co. This has
been said to have been the first real modern de
partment store, and whether this is correct or
not, the fact remains that the new firm intro
duced methods heretofore unknown, and rapidly
became one of the great retail trading centers of
the country. The business grew to such large
proportions that the firm soon needed more com
modious quarters and erected the "Big Store" at
State and Van Buren Streets, which was occu
pied in 1889. While this would have been suf
ficient for an ordinary man, Mr. Siegel's tre
mendous activity needed larger fields and in 1896
another "Big Store" was erected in New York, at
the corner of Sixth Avenue and Eighteenth Street,
which revolutionized the retail business of the
metropolis and forced other long-established con
cerns to change their methods completely. Some
years later Mr. Siegel retired from the Siege!-
Cooper Co. and purchased the old house of Simp
son, Crawford & Co., reorganizing the business
completely and building up a large retail trade. In
1904 he opened his Fourteenth Street store, on
the old Macy site at the corner of Fourteenth
Street and Sixth Avenue, and in 1905 he added
the Henry Siegel Co. of Boston to his chain of
retail stores. Mr. Siegel himself ascribes his
success to hard work and persistency, but this is
a rather modest statement. He is full of new
ideas and constantly adds methods heretofore un
known. He is in constant touch with every de
partment and watches every development with the
utmost care. As a characteristic illustration the

82 SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS

fact may be mentioned that Mr. Siegel did away
with the old method under which advertisements
were written up by special writers from infor
mation furnished by the heads of the different de
partments. Mr. Siegel held correctly that nobody
could write a really good advertisement without
having seen the merchandise and having formed
an opinion as to its qualities. He, therefore, in
sists that the advertisement writers must exam
ine the goods about which they are asked to write.
A remarkable memory and the rare faculty of
assembling a multitude of facts in his mind with
out ever getting them tangled have assisted this
prince among retail merchants to carry on and
bring to success business operations of a mag
nitude that is truly appalling to the ordinary mind.
His ideal is to buy and distribute merchandise
so economically that it may bring things hereto
fore unattainable to the family of average means
within the reach of all. And while this implies
the reduction of expenses to the lowest possible
figure, Mr. Siegel understands fully that one of
the greatest dangers to a business of this kind lies
in the attempt to save in the compensation of
the employees. For their welfare he is most so
licitous, and always ready to device new means
to help them. He furnishes them with free med
ical attention, and with good and nourishing food
at less than cost, and he assists their relief asso
ciations, savings banks, etc. Above all, he is
constantly on the watch to find men and women
who have earned the right to promotion and who,
with a little help, may be started on the road to
success. His solicitude in this direction may be
surely designated as one of the reasons for his
own success. Mr. Siegel was married twice, in
1885 to Miss Julia Rosenbaum of Chicago, who
died in 1886, and on April 25, 1898, to Mrs. Marie
Vaughan Wilde, the well known authoress.

JUSTIN FREDERICK WILLIAM MOHR,
cotton and coffee merchant, with extensive offices
located in the New York Cotton Exchange Build
ing, is a native of Bremen, Germany. For the
past forty-two years Mr. Mohr has been a resident
of New York City, where he has long been pop
ular in the select German circles. He is a mem
ber and president of the German Club, the most
exclusive of its kind in the country; he is also
a member of the New York Cotton Exchange,
the New York Coffee Exchange, a director of the
Mutual Alliance Trust Company and several other
minor organizations. In 1875 Mr. Mohr married
Miss Clothilde Klein; the union has been blessed
with two children, one deceased and a daughter
now married. Mr. Mohr has never been active in
political life, nor has he ever desired or sought

public office. He is a gentleman of high culture
and resides in a handsome apartment at No. 450
West End Avenue, New York City.

ERNST THALMANN, banker, was born in
the Rhenish Palatinate, Germany, on June 19,
1851, and received his education at Mannheim. He
came to America when seventeen years of age and
engaged in the banking business, where his ability
and wide knowledge of men and affairs soon se
cured for him a prominent position. As head of
the well known banking house, Ladenburg, Thal-
mann & Co., Mr. Thalmann has been identified
with many of the most important financial trans
actions both here and abroad. He is chairman of
the Board of Directors of the North American
Exploration Co., Limited; vice-president and di
rector of the Birmingham & Atlantic Railroad
and the United States & Hayti Telegraph & Cable
Co. ; trustee in the United States for the Frank
fort Transport, Glass & Accident Insurance Co.,
and the Munich Reinsurance Co. ; trustee of the
Aachen & Munich Fire Insurance Co., the Ba
varian Mortgage & Exchange Bank of Munich,
New York Trust Co. ; director of the Alliance
Realty Co., Century Realty Co., De La Vergne
Machine Co., Lawyers' Mortgage Co., Mercantile
National Bank, Mortgage Bond Co., Omaha Water
Co., United Railroads Co. of San Francisco,
Seaboard Air Line Railway, Realty Finance Co.,
Richmond Trust & Safe Deposit Co., United Rail
ways Investment Co. of San Francisco, and the
Van Norden Trust Co. Mr. Thalmann was mar
ried in December, 1881, to Miss Michaelis and
has two children, Edward E. and Paul Thalmann.

LOUIS WINDMULLER, merchant, financier
and author, was born in Westphalia, Germany,
and received his education at Miinster in a gym
nasium founded by Charlemagne. He came to
the United States in 1853 and ever since has been
a resident of New York City. Mr. Windmuller
achieved business success and associated himself
with financial institutions. He took part in
founding the Title-Guarantee & Trust Co., the
German-American Insurance Co., the German Al
liance Insurance Co., the Maiden Lane Savings
Bank, the Maiden Lane Safe Deposit Co., the
South Manhattan Realty Co. and the Bond &
Mortgage Guarantee Co. Most of these institu
tions he continues to serve as director ; he is
president of the Maiden Lane Savings Bank.
Mr. Windmuller has taken a deep interest in
public affairs, especially in the advocacy of a
sound currency, a purely revenue tariff and civil
service reform. He has written many magazine
and newspaper articles on these subjects and

SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS 85

stands high as an authority on financial and
economical questions. Amongst other magazine
articles which have commanded attention are
"History of Encyclopedias" and "Pleasures of
City Pedestrians" in the Review of Reviews;
"The Art of Drinking" and "A Plea for Parks"
in the Forum; "Food That Fails to Feed" and
"Disposal of the Dead" in the North American
Review. He has written articles for the Out
look, Harper's Weekly and numerous daily pa
pers. Practically every movement for public im
provements of one kind or another has found in
him an enthusiastic and indefatigable supporter.
Of the many associations with which he is identi
fied the following may be named : the Cham
ber of Commerce, in which he was chairman of
the Committee on Internal Trade and Improve
ments, the Executive Committee for the im
provement of the state canals, as member of
which he worked successfully for the amendment
of the Constitution, which made that improve
ment possible; the Business Men's Relief Com
mittee and the Board of Trade, in which he is a
managing director. He is also interested in a
number of charitable institutions, being treas
urer and director of the Legal Aid Society, which
furnishes gratuitous advice to the ignorant
needy without regard to nationality. Of his ser
vices in behalf of charity his efforts for the ben
efit of the German Hospital Fair in 1888 de
serve especial mention. In connection with this
affair Mr. Windmuller arranged a collection of
paintings and a souvenir containing autobio
graphical contributions from the best American
and German authors. He is known as an art
connoisseur and collector of paintings and books.
He was also treasurer of a fund for the erection
of a monument to Goethe and vice-president of
the Heine Monument Society. Mr. Windmuller
is connected with many clubs, among them the
Merchants, German, Lotos, Underwriters, New
York Athletic and Arion, the Metropolitan Mu
seum of Art, the Germanistic and the New York
Historical Society, of which he is a life mem
ber. Few of the German merchants in New York
City have been so closely identified with the life
of the nation during the last fifty years, in all
of its manifestations, in politics as well as in
the development of the arts, literature and char
itable undertakings of every kind.

LUDWIG NISSEN, merchant, was born at
Husum, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, on De
cember 2, 1855. He is descended, on his father's
side, from the great Danish statesman, George
Nicolaus von Nissen, and on his mother's side
from the old noble family of von Dawartzky.

Mr. Nissen was educated in the common schools
of his native town and afterwards became a clerk
in the Imperial Court. Recognizing that the op
portunities for advancement were very limited
and could not satisfy his ambition, he emigrated
to the United States and arrived here in 1872
with two dollars and a half in his possession.
But the determination to succeed was in him, he
accepted the first position that was offered to
him, and worked for four months in a barber
shop as porter and bootblack. He then worked
as dishwasher in a hotel on Dey Street, where
his ability was recognized by the proprietor, who
made him first a waiter, then bookkeeper and
finally cashier. Mr. Nissen then sought and
found a clerkship in a factory but the firm failed
and he lost his position. He had saved some
money and decided to go into business for him
self, but the next five years brought him nothing
but a varied though withal valuable experience.
He tried the butcher business for a while with
out succeeding, started a restaurant and eold it
again, invested the proceeds, five thousand dol
lars, in the wholesale wine business and lost it
all within nine months, being in debt for one
thousand dollars in addition. This did not dis
courage him. He made the acquaintance of a
diamond cutter, who carried on a small shop, but,
like himself, had more debts than assets. Mr.
Nissen went into partnership with him, under
the firm name of Schilling & Nissen, and quick
ly mastered the details of the business. He was
so successful in selling the goods his partner
manufactured that the firm soon prospered. Its
name was later changed to Ludwig Nissen &
Co., and the firm drifted from diamond setting
to diamond importing. Five years after the
partnership had been formed Mr. Nissen bought
out his partner and formed a new partner
ship, the firm name remaining the same. The
house is now one of the best known and most
prominent in its line, in spite of the fact that it
is comparatively young. Mr. Nissen's energy has
by no means been confined to his business. He
has taken an active interest in public affairs, his
intelligent treatment of public questions and his
strong character making a deep impression upon
all who have come in contact with him. He has
been identified with almost every movement in
augurated for the general welfare and the bet
terment of conditions in municipal affairs as
well as the government of the state and nation.
Many honors have been offered to him, some of
which he was compelled to decline, bearing tes
timony to his high standing in the community and
the appreciation of his character and services
by his fellow citizens. He has been president of

86 SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS

the New York Jewelers' Association, the Manu
facturers' Association of New York and the
Brooklyn League. He is vice-president of the
Oriental Bank, a trustee of the Dime Savings
Bank of Brooklyn and of Adelphi College, a di
rector of the Board of Trade and Transportation,
First National Bank of Jamaica and Guardian
Trust Co., and member of the Chamber of Com
merce of New York. In 1892 he was chairman
of the committee representing the jewelry trade
which went to Albany to obtain a larger appro
priation for the World's Fair exhibit of the Em
pire State, the other members being C. L. Tif
fany and Joseph Fahys. He served as member
and treasurer of the Brooklyn Commission to
the Tennessee Centennial Exposition at Nash
ville in 1897, and was appointed a member of the
Jury of Awards in the Department of Commerce
and Manufactures. In 1898 Governor Black ap
pointed him one of the commissioners of the
state of New York to the Paris Exposition of
1900, and he was later elected treasurer. He is
also one of the incorporators and trustees of the
Hudson-Fulton Celebration Commission by the
act of the Legislature of New York. His polit
ical activity has been pronounced. He served on
the Brooklyn Citizens' Committee of Fifty, or
ganized for the establishment of non-partisanship
in municipal affairs, in 1897, and was nominated
for the office of president of the Council of
Greater New York, but declined. In 1898 he
took an active part in the formation of the Brook
lyn League, designed to protect the interests of
Brooklyn under the new charter. On his return
from Europe in 1900 he was met by his friends
on a special chartered tug and given a reception
at the Brooklyn Club, being strongly urged to
accept a nomination for Congress, but declined.
In the same year and in 1901 he took a lively
part in the events which led to the fusion of
the elements opposed to Tammany, and was of
fered the nomination as controller ; his name was
also presented to the conference committee as r
suitable choice for mayor, but he refused to ac
cept either office. He also refused an appoint
ment offered to him by Mayor Wuster of Brook
lyn in 1896, to become a member of his cabinet
but accepted the position of member of the Civil
Service Commission. When, in 1903, Mayor
Low offered to make him chairman of the
Brooklyn Change of Grade Commission, he like
wise declined. On the other hand his growth
in purely business matters has been constant,
for, when, as a result of the revelations made
during the life insurance companies investigations
a few years ago, the Equitable Life Assurance
Society concluded to do some house-cleaning and

undergo a thorough reorganization, he was
elected one of its new directors. The public
functions at which Mr. Nissen has presided, or
in which he took an important part, are innu
merable. In addition he has never ceased to
work for the advancement of his own trade ; in
1896, he delivered a lecture on "Gems and Jew
els" before the Manufacturers' Association of
Kings and Queens Counties, which was published
in the Jewelers' Circular and widely copied in
France, Germany and England as well as in this
country. No better illustration of the oppor
tunities this country extends to a man of high
character, ambition and intelligence can be fur
nished than the remarkable career of Ludwig
Nissen, who landed in New York less than forty
years ago practically penniless, and who is now
not only a citizen of high standing and repute in
consequence of his material success, but who has
left his impress upon many of the most important
events in the history of his new country, and
whose counsel and assistance are eagerly sought
by the best element among native Americans.

HENRY HEIDE, manufacturer, was born at
Obermarsberg in Westphalia, Germany, on Oc
tober 24, 1846, and received his education in the
elementary school of his birthplace. He came
to America in 1866 and established himself as
manufacturer of confectionery and almond paste.
Starting on a small scale, his plant is now one of
the largest in its line in the United States, and
his goods are known and sold all over this coun
try, Canada, Europe and Australia. A man of
striking personal appearance and of genial dis
position, Mr. Heide is one of the most widely
known and generally esteemed Germans of New
York City. His business, grown to large pro
portions, is a monument to his enterprise, indus
try and intelligence. He is a member of the
Church of the Holy Sacrament, German Lieder-
kranz, Arion, the Catholic and Chemist clubs.
Mr. Heide married on January 28, 1873, Miss
Mary Jaeger and has eight children.

ADAM WEBER, architect, builder and manu
facturer, was born at Bechtheim, near Worms-on-
; the-Rhine, in the Grand Duchy of Hessen-
Darmstadt, in 1825. He received his education
in the schools of his native city and was appren
ticed at an early age to his father, who was an
architect and builder. When he reached his ma
jority, the qualities which were to make him one
of the prominent figures in the city of New York
and, in fact, in the United States, manifested
themselves. He felt that the opportunities he
longed for would be denied to him in the nar-

ERNST THALMAXX.

87

HERMAN A. METZ.

88

EDWARD LAUTERBACH.

89

LEOPOLD STERN.

90

SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS; 91

row circle of a small German town; and he de
cided to emigrate to America. In 1847 he sailed
from Liverpool in the full-rigged ship Columbus,
then making her maiden voyage, and landed at
the Battery wharf with a small supply of money,
but full of ambition and determination. He
found employment with a local architect and
builder, and the thorough training he had re
ceived, together with exceptional intelligence,
quickly made him a valuable assistant. Hardly
two years had elapsed when Mr. Weber decided
to strike out for himself, fully convinced that
he would succeed. In this he was not mistaken,
for the knowledge and rectitude of the young
builder were immediately appreciated. The con
tracts he received were large and numerous, and
he built all the sugar refinery houses that were
erected and operated by the Havemeyer family in
Xew York, Brooklyn and Jersey City. In 1854
he erected for Mrs. Anna Uhl the first building
the Xew Yorker Staats-Zeitung occupied, at No.
224 William Street, and three years later he
built the second home for the Staats-Zeitung at
Xo. 17 Chatham Street, the site of which is now
occupied by the Manhattan terminal of the
Brooklyn Bridge. In the meantime Mr. Weber
had become interested in the manufacture of
firebrick and erected the first large firebrick fac
tory in the United States, in partnership with
Mr. Balthasar B. Kreischer, the firm name being
Kreischer & Weber. This concern was dissolved
in 1857, and the succeeding firm of Maurer &
Weber constructed the largest firebrick factory
in the country at that time in New York City,
on East Fifteenth and Sixteenth Streets, be
tween Avenues B and C. It covered an entire
block and the plant included one of the largest
chimneys in the city. It stands erect to-day and
is familiarly known as the Weber landmark, a
point of guidance to many thousands of navi
gators of the East River, who took their reck
onings from it to steer clear of the dangerous
rocks that lined the shores of its turbulent tides.
But his ever active mind was not satisfied with
what he had accomplished, and always looked
out for new fields to conquer. In 1858 his in
timate knowledge of fireclays and their refrac
toriness brought forth the idea of constructing
a clay retort to supersede the iron type of re
torts then almost universally used in gas works.
Innumerable objections were raised when he first
promulgated his theory, but he overcame them
all and succeeded "beyond his greatest expecta
tions. Within a few years Mr. Weber's retorts
were adopted by practically all the gas works in
America and Europe, and the returns from their
sales made the man who had arrived almost pen

niless a little more than ten years before, a wealthy
man. ' Many other inventions followed; Mr.
Weber patented a number of forms of design in
bench work and furnace construction, among
them the Weber half-depth and full-depth recu
perative systems. He personally installed the
bench work in the generating houses of the New
York Gas Company, the Manhattan Gas Co., the
Metropolitan Gas Light Co., the Mutual Gas
Light Co., the Municipal Gas Co. and the Knick
erbocker Gas Co. In fact, wherever gas works
construction was under way, Mr. Weber's name
was almost sure to be connected with it, and to
enumerate the places of his activity would re
quire the naming of almost every city of im
portance in the United States. His fame ex
tended far over the boundaries of the country,
Cuba, South America, Mexico, and even far-away
China and Japan used his inventions. In addi
tion, he invented an advanced lime process for
the elimination of carbonic acid from gas, and
it may be said without fear of contradiction that
Mr. Weber revolutionized the methods of man
ufacturing gas. In 1890 he partly retired from
active business, for in that year the corporation
of Adam Weber's Sons was formed which car
ried on the business of the great factories con
structed by the founder in the town of Weber,
Middlesex County, N.J., known everywhere as a
model establishment and surrounded by hamlets,
also laid out and owned by Mr. Weber, which
shelter hundreds of workmen. The oldest son,
Oscar B. Weber, who, unfortunately, died sud
denly in September, 1904, became president, and
the second son, Albert J., vice-president of the
corporation. Adam Weber was preeminently a
man of resourcefulness, hard work and success.
Practical knowledge, acquired by observation and
study, was most happily associated in him with
the ardent desire to overcome obstacles and
solve problems that makes the inventor. To few
men has come success so widely appreciated and
so free from envy as to him, for the question
never arose whether it was deserved. A lover
and connoisseur of good music, widely traveled
and well read, w'th a refined taste for art, his
influence worked ever for the best. One of the
pioneers among the Germans of New York City,
not one of the thousands who left the fatherland
to seek success in the new country, has brought
greater honor upon his native and his adopted
country. He was a member of the American Gas
Light Association and the Pacific Coast Gas As
sociation ; the American Engineers' Club, German
Liederkranz, Arion, Lotos and Manhattan clubs ;
a founder of the German Society, member of the
former Palette Club; a director of the Ger-

92 SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS

mania, German Exchange, Union Square and
Corn Exchange Bank, the Trust Company of
America, the Independent Ice Co. and one of
the largest shareholders of the Consolidated Gas
Co. He was also a noted Mason and Past
Grand Master of Trinity Lodge No. 12, with
which Mr. Weber contributed were legion. He
tury. The benevolent and charitable societies to
which Mr. Weber contributed were legion. He
took an active interest in public affairs, and dur
ing his long connection with the Board of Edu
cation it was his persistence and zeal that se
cured the introduction of the teaching of German
in the public schools of New York. For his work
in this connection he received a letter of thanks
from Emperor William I, and a decoration of
high order. He was captain of the Engineer
Corps of the militia from 1852 to 1860, and
served in the Fifth Infantry during the War of
the Rebellion. His home was filled with art
treasures and he was happiest when he could
assemble his numberless friends within its hos
pitable walls where they had the opportunity to
listen to the greatest and best singers and musi
cians. A stanch Democrat, he could on occasion
forsake his party when it traveled roads which
he considered dangerous. Mr. Weber died De
cember 22, 1906. He was married on April 12,
1858, to Miss Catherine Elizabeth Kreischer,
daughter of the late Balthasar B. Kreischer of
Kreischerville, S.I., who, together with four chil
dren, Lina A., Mathilde E., Charles C. and Al
bert J., and a grandchild, Frances L., survive
him. The large attendance at the funeral and the
innumerable letters and despatches of condolence
from all parts of the world formed a testimonial
of the great esteem felt for him wherever he
was known. He certainly was a man of men,
grand in more than one respect, and in him dwelt
strength and resourcefulness, beautifully tem
pered by that charity which assists without inflict
ing regret, and to his home and its treasures he
was a guardian animated solely by the spirit that
moves those whose loving care is the great light
of their lives.

CAPTAIN J. B. GREENHUT— What energy,
intelligence and perseverance may accomplish is
illustrated in the life of Captain J. B. Greenhut,
now one of the leading merchants in the Uni
ted States. Born in the town of Bischof-Teinitz
in Bohemia on February 28, 1843, his parents
brought him to America in 1852 and settled in
Chicago. Young Greenhut had to go out into
the world early, like so many of those who in
later years have rerched prominence. He learned
the trade of a tin and coppersmith thoroughly

and was employed in quite a number of im
portant establishments, the last one being the
shops of the Mobile & Ohio Railroad in Mobile,
Ala. The genius slumbering in the boy mani
fested itself early; he was not satisfied with
doing the work laid out for him, but made sev
eral valuable inventions, among them a new
style of roof for railroad cars which is still in
use. Extensive travels and a sojourn of two
years in the South had brought him face to
face with the great question of the day, the
evils of slavery. Already on the road to success,
though not yet out of his teens, the idealism he
had brought with him did not let him pursue
the course that might have brought material suc
cess quickly. When Abraham Lincoln, after the
fall of Fort Sumter, issued his first call for vol
unteers, young Greenhut concluded at once that
it was his duty to fight for humanity and the
preservation of the Union. On April 17, 1861,
he enlisted as a private in Company A, Twelfth
Illinois Volunteers, his being the second name
on the enlistment rolls in the big city of Chicago.
And he did not propose to play at being a sol
dier. As soon as his term of three months was
ended, he enlisted anew for three years and was
made drill sergeant of his company. He served
under General Grant and was severely wounded
in the arm at the storming of Fort Donelson.
This compelled him to take his honorable dis
charge, but not for long, for his wound had hard
ly been healed when he went to the front again,
this time as captain of Company K, Eighty-sec
ond Illinois Volunteers. His regiment was com
manded by that old German revolutionist, Col
onel Frederick Hecker, and assigned to the
division of General Carl Schurz, then in Vir
ginia. Here the youthful captain saw some
severe fighting. He was in all the battles of
the Army of the Potomac in 1862 and 1863, in
cluding Fredericksburg, the unfortunate affair
at Chancellorsville, where the German troops
saved the Federal Army, and Gettysburg. Soon
after his regiment was transferred to the West
to relieve General Rosecrans and Colonel Hecker
was given the commmand of a brigade in
Schurz's division, whereupon he selected the
young and brave captain as his clr'ef of staff. As
such he kept close to the enemy. After the mid
night battle at the Wauhatchee, near Chattanoo
ga, he engaged in all the fights in that neigh
borhood, the taking of Missionary Ridge and
Lookout Mountain, the "Battle Above the
Clouds," as it has been called, and in the cam
paign to relieve General Burnside at Knoxville,
Tenn. In 1864, when the war neared its end
Colonel Hecker had some disagreement with his

JUSTIN FREDERICK WILLIAM MOHR.

93

HUGO WESENDONCK

94

AUGUST GOERTZ.

95

ADOLPH ROTHBARTH.

96

SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS 97

superiors and resigned. The faithful chief of
his staff considered it his duty to follow his
commander. Mr. Greenhut returned to his first
love and occupied himself with the invention of
a number of mechanical devices. Many of them
were valuable and successful, especially an auto
matic twine-binder for reaping machines, which
was adopted by the McCormick Reaper Co., and
is still in use. But this field was too small for
the enterprising and restless young man; he did
his duty as a citizen and took part in the efforts
to improve the administration of the city of
Chicago. An appointment to the important of
fice of deputy county clerk for Cook County
was the well merited reward. However, the fer
tile mind turned to larger fields. In 1869 he en
gaged in the distilling business and conducted it
with unprecedented success until 1895. Assisted
by his practical experience, he saw at once where
savings and improvements could be introduced,
and erected the largest distillery in the world
at Peoria, 111. The Distilling and Cattle Feed
ing Co., organized in 1887 with a capital of thir
ty-five millions of dollars, was the child of his
brain. This company, comprising practically all
the large distilleries in the country, had been
planned by Mr. Greenhut with the greatest care
and foresight, and became the forerunner of
many similar consolidations, none of which, how
ever, proved more successful. Still there was an
immense amount of work connected with his
management, and while its founder was in the
flower of manhood and in the fullest possession
of his strength and faculties, he looked around
for a more peaceful occupation. This he found
in the East, where, in 1896, he bought an inter
est in the Siegel-Cooper Company, which had
undertaken to build the largest department store
in Xew York. He acquired the control of this
business in 1901 and became its president, while
his son, B. J. Greenhut, was made secretary and
treasurer. In 1906 he bought the site and store
formerly occupied by B. Altman & Co., a new
and modern building, and opened this in the
fall of 1907 as a department store conducted on
the lines which had brought success to Mr. Alt
man. The lad who started out to carve his own
fortunes with no assistance than his strength
of purpose, the gifts his Creator had bestowed
upon him and the teachings of devoted parents,
became a master of men and took part in the
shaping of the destiny of his country in peace
and war. A life full of hard work and honest
endeavor but also rich in the fruits that fall to
those who justly succeed, is that of Captain J. B.
Greenhut. Mr. Greenhut was married in 1866
to Miss Clara Wolfner at Chicago, and their

union was blessed with four children, of whom
one daughter, Fannie, and two sons, B. J. and
X. W., are living. He retains his residence at
Peoria, where he spends much of his time, for
his large interests in and around the city in
which he laid the foundation for his fortune re
quire his constant supervision.

MARC EIDLITZ. — The American has unlim
ited admiration for the self-made man — the man
who achieves success by his own effort through
strength of character and indomitable power of
will. But in judging men who have come to
the front the American is apt to overlook the
fact that the foreigner who arrives at these
shores without a knowledge of the language and
the customs of the people, who has no friends
or relatives to guide him and who must, there
fore, blaze his own path in a wilderness, has a
much heavier task to accomplish than any na
tive. If such a man not only succeeds but be
comes a leader in his chosen field, all honor
is due him. A man of this kind was Marc
Eidlitz, one of America's foremost builders. He
was born in Prague, the capital of Bohemia, on
January 31, 1826. After attending the common
schools it became necessary for him to earn his
own living and he secured employment in a mer
cantile establishment. In 1847 his father died and
the young man immediately departed for Amer
ica to find the larger sphere for which he felt
himself fitted. His courage and purpose was
shown by his decision to acquire all the details
in connection with the best work and he began
by apprenticing himself to a mason builder for
a term of four years. The full weight of this
step can only be appreciated when it is kept in
mind that young Eidlitz had already reached his
majority and had never done manual labor. Such
was his zeal and so energetically did he apply
himself to his self-appointed task, supplementing
his daily toil by work during the evening hours,
that before the expiration of his term of ap
prenticeship, he was given a position as foreman
in charge of a building. A few years later, in
1854, he started in business for himself with a
capital of ten dollars. But he was by this time
well known and his integrity and reliability
brought him many new friends. In 1857, when
barely thirty-one years old, he was selected to
build the Broadway Tabernacle, for a long time
one of the largest churches in Xew York. The
stonework for this building was brought from
the quarries and actually cut at the site. Shortly
afterwards he erected the Lord & Taylor Build
ing on Grand Street, for a generation one of the
landmarks of the city ; Steinway Half on Four-

98 SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS

teenth Street, which for many years was the
principal concert hall of this city. His reputa
tion was now firmly established and the city he
had made his home soon became filled with the
fruits of his labor. Among the more important
buildings he built are : The German Hospital,
Presbyterian Hospital, St. Vincent's Hospital, St.
Francis Hospital, Baldwin Pavilion of the Wo
men's Hospital, Home of the Sisters of Bon Se-
cours, German Dispensary and Library, Isabella
Heimath, Metropolitan Opera House, Eden Mu-
see, part of Astor Library, Seamen's Bank for
Savings, Gallatin Bank, Temple Emanuel, Ger
man Club, Manhattan Storage and Warehouse,
stores for Arnold, Constable & Co., Lord & Tay
lor, Le Boutillier Brothers, residences of J. Pier-
pont Morgan, Adrian Iselin, Jr., Ogden Goelet,
Robert L. Stuart, Charles Moran, Peter Doelger
and many others. But the enormous respon
sibilities and the concentration required by his
business did not fully absorb the energies of
Marc Eidlitz. He became a pathfinder in yet
another direction, for he was instrumental in
forming the National Association of Builders,
an organization intended to give stability to the
Building Trades in uniting those engaged in them
and by adjusting disputes by arbitration. Mr.
Eidlitz was, up to the time of his death, the
president of the Building Trades Club of New
York City, and a director as well as chairman
of the General Committee of the National Asso
ciation. In 1873 he was elected a director of the
Germania Bank, and in 1888 he became its pres
ident, holding this position until his death. His
manifold and arduous duties did not prevent him
from taking active interest in many enterprises
of a charitable or philanthropic character. He
contributed to every worthy object that was laid
before him and showed especial interest in edu
cational matters, never forgetting the hardships
of his early youth, and for this reason ever ready
to assist young men who were similarly situated.
When he passed away, on April 15, 1892, this
man, who, through his own efforts, had devel
oped from a friendless boy into a successful man
with a national reputation, left innumerable
friends and admirers. His name is perpetuated
by the work he has done and which is being con
tinued by his sons, Otto Marc and Robert James,
who were his associates.

GEORGE EHRET, brewer, was born at Hof-
weier, near Offenburg, in Baden, on April 6,
1835, and received his education in the public
schools of his birthplace. At the age of four
teen he was apprenticed to his father, a thriv
ing cooper at Hofweier. Here he worked for

several years until he had mastered his trade, but
during all that time tried to induce his father to
allow him to learn the brewing business which
seemed even to so young a man more promising.
Finally his wish prevailed and he was placed as
an apprentice into a brewery at Offenburg. He
quickly acquired a thorough knowledge of his
new trade and, after the custom of those times,
started out to perfect himself by working in
other breweries. The first stop was made at
Heidelberg, and after that young Ehret worked
for some time at Mannheim. Convinced by the
reports of a cousin that he would find a larger
field and greater opportunities in America, he de
cided to emigrate to the United States and ar
rived in New York on November 20, 1857. He
found no difficulty in securing employment, and
worked at first for the firm of Romell & Co.,
and later on in the Anton Hiipfel brewery.
Within the short space of three years he had
risen to the responsible position of foreman and
brewmaster. But even this rapid advancement
did not satisfy a man of the ambition, knowledge
and force of character like Mr. Ehret. His aim
was to become independent and in 1866 he started
his own brewery in the neighborhood of Hell-
gate, from which it was given the name Hell-
gate Brewery. Mr. Ehret had himself selected
the spot which was at that time far up-town
and removed from the built-up portion of the
city, and there were many who looked upon the
location as unwise, but he knew what he was
doing, for he had found there what proved to
be of the greatest value, namely water of the
quality needed for his purposes. The growth of
the new firm was astonishing and it soon dis
tanced all competitors, in spite of some serious
setbacks, as for instance a disastrous fire in 1870.
The enormous establishment produces now close
to eight hundred thousand barrels yearly, em
ploys over five hundred men and uses over two
hundred drays, thirty of which are electric
trucks. It is equipped with the best and most
modern machinery, for Mr. Ehret is one of those
men who seem to be able to look clearly into
the future and is ready to adopt every improve
ment as soon as its value is proven. When the
brewing industry, which had long been carried on
on rather primitive lines, was revolutionized by
The introduction of modern business methods, Mr.
Ehret was one of the first to reorganize his es
tablishment. Personally, Mr. Ehret is quiet and
unassuming and his great modesty prevents him
from taking the position in public life which his
achievements and his immense popularity enti
tle him to. He prefers to distribute the large
sums he devotes to charity and other underta-

HENRY IDEN.

99

FRANK GASS.

100

WILLIAM KEUFFEL.

101

THEODORE CLEMENS HEITEMEYER.

102

SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS 103

kings for the general welfare, in a quiet way, and
is averse to notoriety in every respect. A great
lover of music and a musician himself since his
childhood days, he finds recreation in listening
to the very best the art has produced, and his
highly refined taste is well known to music lov
ers. In 1866 Mr. Ehret married Miss Anna
Hasslocher, who died in 1899 and left him nine
children, of whom the two sons, George, Jr.,
and Louis, take an active part in the manage
ment of his brewery.

ALBERT FRANK.— The career of Mr. Albert
Frank is remarkable in more ways than one,
though it may be summed up in the statement
that it was the natural career of a truly remark
able man. He was born in Breslau, the capital
of the Prussian province of Silesia, in 1831, but
received his education at Berlin, whither his par
ents had removed soon after his birth. When
hardly more than a boy, Albert Frank left his
home to enter the employ of Baron Felleisen,
the head of the banking-house of Felleisen & Co.,
bankers to the Russian Crown at St. Petersburg.
In his capacity as secretary to Baron Felleisen,
he came in contact with many prominent people,
traveled extensively and had the opportunity to
use a pronounced gift of acquiring foreign lan
guages. While still a young man, he had a good
knowledge of Latin, Greek and Hebrew, and
spoke eight modern languages fluently. His love
for art had been kindled in his home, where he
had been surrounded by everything that culture
and refinement could procure. In his new field
this trait of his character grew stronger and ex
panded and when he, several years later, joined
his uncle in the publishing business at Paris, the
art treasures 6f the French capital found in him
an appreciative and critical admirer. But among
all the arts music appealed to him most, and an
unerring taste combined with deep feeling for
the beautiful made him a master in judging and of
enjoying whatever was brought forth. Towards
the enf of the sixties Albert Frank came to New
York and established himself as a banker and
gold broker. But he soon abandoned this field
to enter a new one, or, more correctly, to cre
ate an entirely new business. His thorough
knowledge of the banking and of the publishing
business led him to perceive that financial ad
vertising was done without system, and he set
about to introduce reforms beneficial to the ad
vertiser as well as to the press. His firm, oper
ating under various names as the partners
changed but best known by the last and still ex
isting one of Albert Frank & Co., was much more
than an advertising agency. It acted as adviser

and general publicity agent for the advertisers
and kept in close touch and almost familiar re
lations with all the great newspapers. This is
best proven by the fact that the press of the
whole country, separately and through its vari
ous organizations, at the news of his death has
tened to assure the surviving relatives of the
high esteem in which Mr. Frank had been held,
and the deep regret felt at his departure. He
did more than any one man to raise the stand
ard of the advertising agent ; an advertisement
given out by Albert Frank & Co. was not only
taken everywhere without question but was in the
nature of a certificate of respectability for the
newspaper printing it. No wonder that the firm
was immensely successful, and that its reputation
became world-wide. Albert Frank was thus a
self-made man in the highest sense of the word.
He succeeded not only through his own efforts
and by the intelligent use of the education he had
received in school and in early life, but also by
creating something entirely new and hitherto not
thought of. He perceived that there existed a
necessity for a new way of handling financial
advertisements, and he conceived the methods
that could bring about a change. He put them
into practise and the success was the fruit of his
genius. He therefore stands before us, as far as
his business' activity is concerned, as one of the
best and noble'st representatives of the multitudes
who have come from Germany to help make this
country greater and better. But aside from this
he was a most remarkable man. His appearance
was striking, almost commanding, but softened
by an air of refinement and a warmth that re
vealed the man of the world in the very best
sense of the word ; the man who would be at
home anywhere and would be recognized as ex
ceptional wherever he went. The friendly glow
of his eye did not belie the heart, for Albert
Frank was full of charity and always ready to
help. He did not belong to many clubs, but to a
large number of charitable organizations. His
tastes were rather domestic; the company of his
daughters who had lost their mother early, a
good book or a discussion of an interesting sub
ject with a few friends of similar erudition
gave him happiness. He was an extensive reader
and hardly a book appeared in any of the im
portant modern languages that he did not at least
examine. His knowledge of the literature of
the civilized countries was marvelous but sur
passed by his familiarity with musical works of
every description. He knew the scores of whole
operas by heart and was a regular attendant at
every musical event of importance. He left three
daughters, all happily married, and his business

104 SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS

is being continued by his son-in-law, Mr. James
Rascovar. It is not surprising that after his
sudden death, on August 19, 1901, regret was
universal and the family was overwhelmed with
signs of esteem and affection to such an extent
that they felt as if the loss had not been their
own alone but of the whole people. Few men
who never held official position have been hon
ored by their contemporaries as Albert Frank
was.

LEONARD A. GIEGERICH, jurist, was born
in Bavaria on March 20, 1855. He came to New
York City with his parents when he was one year
old and received his education in the village
school of Woodstock, Conn., and in the public
and parochial schools of New York City. He
studied law and engaged in the practise of his
profession, after being admitted to the Bar in
1877. From his early youth he had taken a lively
interest in public affairs and politics, making
many friends who admired his straightforward
way, his unimpeachable honesty and his genial
disposition. He was elected member of assembly
in 1886 and made such a splendid record that it
was warmly approved by the Reform Club. He
took a leading part in the struggle for personal
liberty, which won for him the good will of all
German-Americans. He refused all free railroad
passes and insisted upon paying his fare to and
from the capitol at Albany. President Cleveland
appointed him as collector of internal revenues in
July, 1887, in which capacity he served until
March, 1890, when he was appointed by Gover
nor Hill as a justice of the City Court for the
term expiring December 31, 1890. Before retiring
from the Bench, he had been elected County
Clerk, but gave up that position after less than
one year's service in consequence of his appoint
ment as judge of the Court of Common Pleas
by Governor Hill. He was elected to a full term
in 1892 on the nomination of all parties. This
court was merged in the Supreme Court in Jan
uary, 1896. Ever since which time he has served
as a justice of the latter court, he having been
reelected in 1906 on the nomination of all parties
including the lawyers' nomination. He was a
delegate to the constitutional convention of New
York State of 1894. Justice Giegerich has
the confidence and respect of the Bar. His
high character led to his* appointment by the
Appellate Division, at the request of counsel
for both sides, to pass upon a large num
ber of contested ballots in the memorable election
of 1905, when William R. Hearst was a candidate
for mayor again=t Colonel George B. McClellan.
Although the title of the office of mayor and

eight thousand ballots cast for William Travers
Jerome for district attorney hinged upon his
decision, his rulings were regarded as eminently
fair by all concerned and were therefore never
appealed from. Judge Giegerich enjoys a large
and well deserved popularity among the German-
Americans of New York, who look upon him as
one of the best representatives of their race, in
character, achievements and ability. He is a
member of the Arion, German Press Club, Fi
delia Gesang Verein, Catholic Club, Catholic
Benevolent Legion, Knights of Columbus, St.
Francis Xavier Sodality, New York Historical
Society, Manhattan College Alumni Society, Tam
many Society, honorary member of the New
York State Bar Association and has received
the honorary degree of LL.D. from Manhattan
College. He was married on September 6, 1887,
to Miss Louise M. Boll, and has two sons, Leon
ard A., Jr., and Arthur N.

HUGO REISINGER, merchant, was born at
Wiesbaden in Germany on January 29, 1856, as
the youngest of six children. His father was a
man of superior attainment1-, doctor of philoso
phy, and had taken an active part in the Hungarian
revolution of 1848, acting for some time as sec
retary to Ludwig Kossuth. He had settled at
Wiesbaden and become proprietor and editor of
the Mittel-Rheinischc Zeitnng, the oldest daily pa
per of that 'city. Young Reisinger received his
education at the gymnasium of his birthplace and
engaged in mercantile business after leaving
school at the age of sixteen. Ten years later,
having received a thorough business education
and being established in business for some time,
he went to America as representative of the fa
mous Siemens Glass Works at Dresden. Arriving
here in January, 1884, he traveled all over the Uni
ted States and Canada several times in order to
introduce the goods, and met with such signal suc
cess that in 1886 he established his present general
importing and exporting business, which devel
oped into one of the largest in the United States.
Since 1886 Mr. Reisinger has lived in New York
City, spending four months of every year in
Europe in the interest of his business and for
^recreation. He is a man of many accomplish
ments and widely known as an art connoisseur
and collector. While fully appreciating the beauty
and worth of the old masters and recognizing the
fact that true art cannot be bounded by geo
graphical or national lines, Mr. Reisinger has de
voted himself to introduce German art into this
country and to secure for it the position it de
serves. With this purpose in view, he has writ
ten a number of newspaper and magazine articles

HENRY SIEGEL.

,-

105

of

OF

MARC EIDLITZ.

106

HERMANN JOHANNES BOLDT.

107

HENRY A. C. ANDCRSO-V.

108

SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS 109

and carried on an agitation that promises to bear
fruit in the near future. He owns the largest and
most complete collection of modern German
paintings in the United States, as well as the best
and most valuable in an artistic sense, and he is
arranging for an exhibition of German art in
America which is intended to arouse an interest
in the work of German artists heretofore sadly
lacking. Mr. Reisinger has founded a yearly prize
in Berlin for German art, known as the Hugo
Reisinger prize, and is acknowledged to be an
expert judge of paintings. He is very fond of
outdoor sports, a golf player of no mean ability,
a noted whip, frequently tooling his splendidly
appointed four-in-hand through the park, and a
fine rider. Mounted on his favorite horse and
accompanied by his two sons, who are as accom
plished horsemen as the father, the little caval
cade attracts much attention by its dashing ap
pearance and soldierly bearing. Mr. Reisinger is
a member of St. James Lutheran Church, the
Deutsche Verein, Garden City Golf Club, Subur
ban Riding and Driving Club, National Arts Club,
Metropolitan Museum and an officer in various
corporations. He was appointed honorary com
missioner to Europe by President Francis of the
World's Fair at St. Louis in 1904, and was dec
orated by the German Emperor in recognition of
his services with the Royal Order of the Prus
sian Crown. On February 10, 1890, Mr. Reisin
ger was married to Miss Edmee Busch of St.
Louis and has two sons, the oldest one, a lad of
sixteen, being of a serious and studious bend of
mind, is now preparing to enter Harvard Univer
sity for the study of law.

WILLIAM DEMUTH, merchant, was born at
Rimbach, Odenwald, Germany, Xovember i, 1835.
He received his early education in Darmstadt and
as a poor boy of sixteen years came to America
and settled in Xew York City, where he has re
sided ever since. His extraordinary ambition and
his intelligence showed itself in his youth, and
he soon established what is now and has been for
years pact, the largest manufactory of pipes and
smokers' articles. His progressive and inventive
talent remodeled the entire industry, and his in
ventions are to-day universally adopted by all the
manufacturers of pipes. Aside from his devotion
to his business, he also found time to cultivate
his artistic taste which he happily applied in a
commercial sense. This he showed repeatedly in
his highly rewarded effort in exhibiting the finest
specimen of the art of pipe manufacturing at all
important exhibitions, such as Philadelphia, Paris
and Chicago, showing in each one something new
and individual. Everv one will remember the

unique display in the Paris Exposition, amongst
which was a highly artistic group of meerschaum
pipes, successfully portraying all the presidents
from Washington down. Mr. Demuth received
for his exhibit the well-deserved gold medal, a
triumph of the ambition and energy of the New
World against the accumulated knowledge and
experience of the Old. Politically, Mr. Demuth
has always affiliated with the Republican party.
He has never desired nor held any public office.
He is a member of the most important benevolent
and educational societies, as well as hospitals too
numerous to summarize. He is also a member of
the Chamber of Commerce, the Civil Service Re
form Association and life member of the Amer
ican Museum of Natural History, which, through
his liberal contribution, is enabled to exhibit to
the public a most unique collection of antiquities
of pipes found in the Old Country. Mr. Demuth,
in October, 1861, married Harriet Laurent, the
living children being Louis, Edgar and Aimee.
Mr. Demuth is a man of unusual intelligence, is
full of public spirit, charitable, genial and as pop
ular amongst his friends as he is strong, practical
and true in his commercial relations.

HERMAN A. METZ, merchant and manufac
turer, was born in New York City on October
19, 1867. His career is one of the most remark
able among German-Americans and their de
scendants. Compelled to go to work while still
attending school, at the age of thirty-two he was
the head and sole proprietor of a large business
concern which he had entered as office boy when
fourteen years old. Mr. Metz received his edu
cation in the public and in private schools in
New York, and in 1881 entered the employ of
Schulze, Berg & Koechl, manufacturers of drugs
and chemicals, as office boy. Full of ambition,
the boy perceived immediately that his education
was not sufficient to allow him to rise as quickly
as he desired, and he devoted his evenings to
the study of chemistry at Cooper Union. Having
finished his course, he entered the laboratory of
the firm, was traveling salesman and Boston
agent for two years, and became vice-president
and treasurer of Victor Koechl & Co., incorpo
rated, in 1894. Five years later he purchased the
interest of Victor Koechl and became the presi
dent of the concern. Since then the business has
not only continually increased, but Mr. Metz has
become interested in many other enterprises of
importance. His vitality and ability to dispose
of work is truly stupendous, and in spite of the
large extent and great variety of his business
interests he has found time to devote himself to
public affairs to a degree in itself remarkable.

110 SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS

Mr. Metz has been a delegate to a number of
Democratic state conventions, and to the na
tional convention at Indianapolis in 1896, mem
ber of the Brooklyn Board of Education for sev
eral years, and of the county, general, executive
and state committees of the Democratic party.
In November, 1905, he was elected controller of
the city of New York and has as such redoubled
his activity in every direction. He is a member
of the Reform, Chemists', Crescent Athletic, Ger-
mania, Riding and Driving, National Civic and
Brooklyn Democratic clubs, of the German Lied-
erkranz, Arion, German Hospital societies of
New York and Brooklyn, Brooklyn Institute of
Arts and Sciences, American Museum of Nat
ural History, Metropolitan Museum of Art,
Chamber of Commerce, Board of Trade and
Transportation, Manufacturers' Association and
the Society of Chemical Industry of London. Mr.
Metz served on the committees on import and
appraisement and for the revision of the customs
administration of the Merchants' Association, is
captain in the Thirteenth Regiment, N.Y.S.N.G.,
and a Mason of Commonwealth Lodge 409, Jeru
salem Chapter No. 8, Adelphic Council No. 7,
Palestine Commandery No. 18, Mecca Temple of
the Mystic Shrine, and Thirty-second Degree
Mason New York Consistory.

JOHN EICHLER, brewer, was born at Roth-
enburg in Bavaria on October 20, 1829, and edu
cated in the schools of his native city. After
leaving school, he entered the brewery of Wolff
& Ott at Rothenburg, where he served his ap
prenticeship. He then found employment in the
Wertheim Brewery at Baden and later in the
Hasenhaide Brewery at Berlin. Having studied
the business thoroughly and mastered every de
tail of his profession, Mr. Eichler, who at that
time already was considered an expert in his
field, decided to look for wider opportunities
than the fatherland, with its many barriers for
men who desired to rise by their own efforts, af
forded. He sailed for America and arrived at
New York in 1853, at the age of twenty-four,
finding employment almost immediately as brew-
master in the Franz Ruppert, or Turtle Bay
Brewery. For an enterprising spirit like Mr.
Eichler this was, of course, but a period of tran
sition ; he saved his money, studied the new con
ditions surrounding him and worked industriously
until the opportunity he had been waiting for
offered itself. In 1861 his ambition was realized
and he went into business on his own account
with Mr. Solman as partner. Within a few
years he bought out his partner and purchased
the Kolb Brewery which was located on the pres

ent site of the plant of the John Eichler Brew
ing Co., at Third Avenue and One Hundred and
Sixty-ninth Street. The brewery Mr. Eichler
acquired was small and lacked all improvements,
the business being carried on in a desultory way,
and it required all the indomitable energy of the
new proprietor to develop it. His financial re
sources were limited, but with restless energy
he went to work and turned his splendid facul
ties to account. From the start he had resolved
to use his full strength and not to rest until he
had succeeded. This he accomplished. His ster
ling integrity, his thorough knowledge of his
profession and his ability were speedily recog
nized, and willing hands came forward to furnish
the means that were necessary. It was a long
and uphill fight, for Mr. Eichler was never sat
isfied with what he accomplished until his ideal
was reached. He kept on improving and enlar
ging the plant, and every new invention was sure
to be tried and if it stood the test to be adopted
in his brewery. But the deserved reward finally
came and the day arrived when the John Eichler
Brewing Company's plant was conceded to be
one of the best equipped in the United States, and
its owner could proudly look upon his achieve
ments with the satisfying knowledge that he had
done what he set out to do. When Mr. Eichler's
health began to fail in 1888, he consented to the
organization of a stock company with himself as
president, Jacob Siegel, as vice-president and
treasurer, Louis J. Heintz as secretary and John
C. Heintz as trustee for the stockholders. When,
in 1890, the grippe made its first appearance in
New York, Mr. Eichler was one of its first vic
tims, and while he recovered from the attack,
he never regained his health completely. His
originally robust constitution, which had with
stood the tremendous activity during many years
of incessant labor, was severely shaken, and death
claimed him on August 4, 1892, while he was on a
visit at Gollheim, in the Rhenish Palatinate. His
brother-in-law, Mr. Jacob Siegel, went to Ger
many and brought back the remains, which were
interred in the family burial plot in Woodlawn
Cemetery. Mr. Eichler was married in 1857 to
Miss Mary Siegel of Gollheim, who proved a
valuable helpmate and adviser in building up one
of the largest business enterprises in New York
City, and remained constantly at his bedside dur
ing his illness. He was a member of a large
number of social and benevolent organizations,
among them the United States Brewers' Associa
tion, Brewers' Board of Trade of New York and
Vicinity, Brewers' Exchange, New York Produce
Exchange, German Society, German Liederkranz,
Arion, Beethoven Miinnerchor, Eichenkranz,

MAX AMS.

Ill

JOHN MARTIN OTTO.

112

MATTHIAS HOHNER.

113

HANS HOHNER.

114

SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS 115

Freimaurer Sangerbund, Schnorer Club, Morris-
ania Sangerbund, Harmonic Singing Society, New
York Independent Schuetzen Corps, Morrisania
Schuetzen Corps, Rheinpfalzer Mannerchor, Five
O'Clock Club of Morrisania, and a Mason of
Wieland Lodge and Ivy Chapter. John Eichler's
life and achievements form a lasting monument
to the qualities of the man, and an illustration of
what unfailing industry, sterling integrity and
firmness of purpose may accomplish.

LOUIS J. HEINTZ (deceased), whose name,
character and services are still frequently recalled
throughout the Bronx (New York City), which
he championed and whose favorite son he was,
shows plainly how deep and lasting the impress
was he made. He was only thirty when he died;
he was rich and might have taken life at ease; but
he was enterprising, aggressive and public-spirited
and threw himself, instead, into the work of up
building and developing the community in which
his lot was cast. From one of the numerous
obituaries published at the time of his death,
March 12, 1893, we take the following account
of his life : He was born in Manhattan, at Fifty-
fourth Street, near Tenth Avenue. His father
died when he was a boy and after his school
days were over he entered the brewery of his
uncle and thoroughly mastered the business. He
was secretary and treasurer of the John Eichler
Brewing Company and married the daughter of
the brewer, Ebling. He was president of the
Brewers' Board of Trade of New York and
vicinity and was identified with other important
interests. It was, however, in his public career
that he cut the most distinguished figure. His
admirers still hold that, as a man of the people,
he would have risen, had he lived, to high po
litical station. Until he came to the front mis-
government had been very much the lot of the
"Annexed District." He it was who succeeded,
after much opposition at Albany, in getting
through an act providing a separate board of im
provements for the district. Under this statute
the district obtained the power to have its own
department of street improvement. Toward the
expense incidental to the passage of this bill he
contributed out of his own pocket liberally. This
action in behalf of the taxpayers of the Twen
ty-third and Twenty-fourth Wards was appre
ciated. He was selected as the proper man him
self to put the law in motion and was nominated,
accordingly, as the first street commissioner, was
endorsed by the Taxpayers' Association, the coun-
ty Democracy and the Republicans, and trium
phantly elected. His administration — of which it
was said that, in the discharge of his duty, he did
more even than the public could reasonably ex
pect — was interrupted by his sudden taking off.

His death was due primarily to a cold contracted
during a trip to Washington for the Cleveland
inaugural ceremonies. He was taken down while
in the capital, and was brought home for treat
ment. An operation for appendicitis performed
upon him was unsuccessful and he failed to re
cover from the effects of it. He was a member
of many organizations. He founded the famous
Schnorer Club and was its president five terms.
He belonged to the Produce Exchange, the Cen
tral Turn Verein, the Lexington Democratic Club,
the Harmonic Singing Society, the Morrisania
Liedertafel, the Arion, the German Press Club
and many more. He is buried in Woodlawn. Re
membering his devotion to their interests, the
people of the Bronx still mourn his loss. Some
day, perhaps, they will give him a public memo
rial — for certainly he well deserves it.

ADOLPH G. HUPFEL, brewer, was born in
Orange County, N.Y., receiving his educa
tion in the public and private schools, coming to
New York City in 1854. By political affiliation
he is a Democrat, but has never held or sought a
political office. The Hupfel Brewery, of which
he is the head, is numbered among the pioneer
brewing industries which have made Bronx
Borough noted. The buildings occupied by this
establishment have stood so long on St. Ann's
Avenue and One Hundred and Sixty-first Street,
that they have become known as landmarks in the
Bronx. Among the organizations of which Mr.
Hupfel is an active member, may be mentioned
the New York Produce Exchange, Brewers'
Board of Trade, of which he is the ex-presi
dent ; Associated Brewers ; ex-trustee and ex-treas
urer State Brewers and Maltsters ; ex-director of
the Union Railway, North Side Board of Trade,
New York Botanical Society, Wieland Lodge
No. 714, F. & A.M., Freundschaft Lodge No. 4,
Improved Order of the Knights of Pythias, Mel-
rose Turn Verein, Arion Liedertafel, Central
Turn Verein, German Hospital, Deutsche Gesell-
schaft, Terrace Bowling Club, Manhattan Club,
Democratic and Schnorer clubs. On May 13,
1873, he married Miss Magdalen Kuntz, to whom
four children have been born, viz. : Catherine G.,
Adolph G., Jr., Antoinette G. and Otto G., all of
whom are living.

JOHN CHRISTIAN GLASER HUPFEL,
brewer, was born in New York City on December
12, 1842, as the son of German parents. Educa
ted in Public School No. 49 in East Thirty-sev
enth Street, he engaged in the brewing business,
which he has carried on with success. Having
studied his trade both here and in Germany, Mr.
Hupfel was able to introduce new methods when
ever they stood the test he knew how to apply arid

116 SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS

to bring his plant up to the highest grade of effi
ciency. He has been closely identified with every
movement designed to improve the conditions
under which the brewing business is carried on,
and with every effort to lift it upon a higher level.
Public-spirited and charitable, he is a regular
contributor to a large number of associations de
voted to the public welfare. Fond of healthy
sports and social diversions, Mr. Hupfel is de
servedly popular and has a large circle of friends.
He is a member of the Arion and Jung-Arion
Societies, the German Liederkranz and its Bach
elor Circle, Fessler Lodge No. 576 F. & A.M.,
Beethoven Maennerchor, Tammany Hall, Ter
race Bowling Club, Xew York Athletic Club, Red
Bank Yacht Club, Rumson Polo Club, Automobile
Club of America, founder of the Original Brew
ers' and Coopers' K.U.V., Metropolitan Museum
of Art, Isabella Heimath, Wartburg Orphans'
Farm School, German Society, German Hospital,
Charity Organization, Xew York Zoological So
ciety, American Forestry Association, Presbyte
rian Hospital, St. Mark's Hospital, Xew York
Skin and Cancer Hospital, St. John's Guild, Xew
York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to
Children, Xew York Society for the Prevention
of Cruelty to Animals and the Society for Im
proving the Condition of the Poor. On May 19,
1868, he married Miss Anna Lebkuchner and
had five children : Anna G., Anton C. G., prac
tical brewer ; Adolph G., mechanical engineer, and
Christian G., lawyer, who are associated in busi
ness with their father; and Frederick G., who
died in infancy.

DAVID MAYER, president of the David May
er Brewing Co., was born at Bodenheim on the
Rhein on January 8, 1827. He received his edu
cation at the gymnasium of Mainz, where he grad
uated and entered upon the study of medicine
at the University of Giesen. At the outbreak of
the revolution of 1848-1849 in the Palatinate and
the Grand Duchy of Baden, Mr. Mayer, who was
imbued with the love for freedom, joined the
Students' and Turners' Legion and fought under
General Mieroslawski. The revolutionists were
routed at Kirchheimbolanden, where they met a
superior force of regulars of the Prussian army,
while they were insufficiently organized and
armed. After the battle Mr. Mayer went to Ba
den and fought under General Franz Sigle in sev
eral engagements, retreating with the revolution
ary army to Switzerland, where his regiment was
disbanded. He then, like so many of his com
patriots, fled to America, the land of liberty and
freedom, and worked for a time as laborer on
the Erie Railroad, then being constructed. Un

accustomed to manual labor, he was forced to
seek other ways of supporting himself and bought
a small stock of merchandise, traveling through
the country as a peddler. This venture did not
appeal to him and after a few weeks he returned
to New York, where he found employment in a
high school as teacher of languages, which posi
tion he filled with success and distinction until
the Hungarian patriot, Louis Kossuth, arrived in
America. Mr. Mayer joined the agitation started
to secure recognition of the independence of
Hungary, which, however, proved a failure. He
thereupon decided to secure a thorough knowl
edge of the country where he had decided to re
main and went South. Here he established him
self in commercial business and met with decided
success. In 1860 he married Miss Bernhardt of
Xew York, who has been his faithful companion
and loving helpmate in adversity as well as in
happiness. Seven children, four sons, one of
whom died while on duty on the Peninsula and
three daughters, were born of the union. When
the Civil War broke out, Mr. Mayer threw in his
lot with the Confederacy, and served as com
missioned officer of the Albany Guards, Fourth
Regiment of Georgia. A severe illness com
pelled him to resign his commission and he took
his family to XTew York, leaving behind him all
he had amassed in many years of hard work and
devotion to his business. At his arrival in New
York he was practically without means, but his
spirit was not broken, his ability unimpaired and
his sterling integrity known to a large circle of
friends. He started again in business on his own
account but later on became a partner in the Clif
ton Brewery on Stafen Island which his brother
had established. When this establishment was
destroyed by fire in 1879, Mr. Mayer reestablished
the business in the upper part of the city and
since that time has been at the head of the David
Mayer Brewing Co. in the borough of the Bronx.
Mr. Mayer is in the fullest and best sense of the
word a self-made man, having achieved success
by hard work, indomitable energy and upright,
correct business methods. Of dignified bearing,
he is a German of the old school which is rapidly
disappearing, but has done so much for this
country by faithful devotion to ideals and un
swerving honesty. He is of benevolent disposi
tion, ready to assist those who are in need of
and deserve help, and very charitable in an unos
tentatious way, preferring to give quietly instead
of proclaiming to the world the good he does. Mr.
Mayer is a member of many educational, philan
thropic, literary and charitable societies and one
of the few surviving members of the Association
of German Patriots of 1848-49.

ADAM WEBER.

117

LUDWIG NISSEN.

118

I- 1. OR r AN KRUG.

119

UNIVLRSITY

OF

EMANUEL BARUCH.

120

SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS 121

WILLIAM PETER, the founder and presi
dent of the William Peter Brewing Company,
was born at Achern, Baden, Germany, March 16,
1832. The schools of his native town furnished
his early education and he graduated from same
at an early age. His studies were concluded at
the Moravian Brother's Institute of Koenigsfeld,
Baden, after having taken a two years' course. At
the age of sixteen young Peter entered upon the
field of brewing, which, at that time was in its
infancy compared to the great industry of to-day.
Apprenticing himself under a brother-in-law, he
learned the trade thoroughly and continued in this
capacity for two and one-half years. So indus
triously had he applied himself during his ap
prenticeship, his qualifications were such that as
sured him the foundation he had endeavored to
attain. He came to this country in 1850 with
his parents and settled in Xew York City. The
trade he had chosen offered better opportunities
here and he found little difficulty in procuring
employment. For four years he worked in vari
ous breweries. In 1854 he made his first trip
to Cincinnati, Ohio, and was employed there in
the same capacity until 1857, when he returned to
the East. At the age of twenty-eight he estab
lished a business of his own in the wectern sec
tion of the city and conducted it in a small way
with an output of but two and three-quarter bar
rels per day. In 1862 he purchased property at
Union Hill, X.J., and during the same year he
erected a small plant that had a daily capacity of
twelve barrels. After a copartnership of one
year, he sold his entire interest to his partner
and during the year of 1864 he accepted a posi
tion as foreman of the Fausel Brewing Com
pany of Union Hill, where he remained until
the spring of 1865. He again engaged in busi
ness for himself during that year, erecting a
brewery having a daily capacity of seventy bar
rels. From 1866 to 1868 the firm was known as
Peter and Brock and later as Peter and Hexamer,
but it was not until 1870 that Mr. Peter became
sole proprietor, and the first real progress that
was made, and which has terminated so success
fully, commenced that year. The facilities and
capacity of the plant were greatly enlarged and
whenever anything new appeared in the line of
brewing that meant advancement, Mr. Peter imme
diately installed same. Like all large enterprises, its
growth was gradual and each year marked a step
forward. To-day this imposing plant, with its
modern fire-proof buildings, machinery and meth
ods, stands as a monument to the memory of its
founder. The annual output is over one hundred
and twenty-five thousand barrels and a yearly ca
pacity of five hundred thousand. Eighty hands are

employed throughout the various departments. The
firm's main office, which is located on Hudson
Avenue, was erected in 1900 and is a credit to
Union Hill. Classical in architecture, built of
marble and brick and containing appointments of
richness and convenience. Directly opposite is the
residence of Mr. Peter, one of the handsomest in
Union Hill, and where he has resided for twenty-
two years. Mr. Peter incorporated his brewing
interests on May i, 1890, and the concern became
known as The William Peter Brewing Company ;
the stock is held by Mr. Peter's own immediate
family. The officers of the company are : Will
iam Peter, president; William Peter, Jr., vice-
president; Emil Peter, secretary; William Braun-
stein, treasurer; August Peter, assistant secretary
and treasurer, and Charles Peter, manager. All of
Mr. Peter's sons have received a careful commercial
training and the efficient way in which they trans
act their official and other duties is characteristic
of the father. In 1859 Mr. Peter was united in
marriage to Miss Magdaline Jaeger of Bavaria,
Germany; six children were born to this union.
Mrs. Peter died in 1868. Later Mr. Peter again
married, this time a Mrs. Caroline Ohlenschlager
(nee Apply) of Zurich, Switzerland, who died
in 1900. Two children were born to this mar
riage. In 1902 Mr. Peter married Miss Sophia
Vogel of Carlsruhe, Baden. Mr. Peter is a great
lover of art and music. He goes abroad once a
year and always finds the time to portray the
beautiful scenery in Switzerland and Germany in
oil. His home contains many creditable works of
his own.

JACOB RUPPERT, brewer, was born in Xew
York City on March 4, 1842, as the son of Ger
man parents, and received his education in the
public and private schools of his birthplace. At
an early age he engaged in the restaurant busi
ness and later on started a brewery, being one of
the pioneers of this industry in the United States.
While the conditions favored the growth of his
enterprise, it was his business ability, his fore
sight and thorough knowledge which made his
brewery one of the largest in this section of the
country. It has been enlarged from time to
time and equipped with the most modern appli
ances, for Mr. Ruppert was always ready to in
troduce new methods as soon as their value had
been proven. From small beginnings his inter
ests have grown to very large proportions, and
he is now interested in a number of other enter
prises. A Democrat in politics, Mr. Ruppert has
served as presidential elector for the state of
XTew York on the Democratic ticket, but has re
fused all other offers of public office. He is a

122 SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS

member of the Arion and the German Lieder-
kranz and of a large number of hospital and
other benevolent societies. In 1864 Mr. Ruppert
married Miss Anna Gillig. Six children were
born to him, of whom four, Jacob, Jr., Anna
Schalk, George and Amanda Sellick, are living.

HEINRICH CONRIED, impresario, was born
at Bielitz, Austria, on September 13, 1855. He
was educated by private tutors and graduated
from Schottenfeld College in 1869. Following
the wish of his father, he learned the trade of a
weaver, but having a natural and profound fond
ness for the stage, he decided to follow that pro
fession and made his debut at the Imperial Court
Theatre at Vienna on February 23, 1873. His
advancement was rapid and he had already at
tained high rank in his new calling when he ac
cepted in 1878 a call from the United States and
became stage manager at the Germania Theater
in New York City. As stage manager and as
actor his success was pronounced, and in the
following year he made a triumphant tour of the
German theaters in the United States as a star.
For some time he was connected with the Thalia
Theater in New York, where he acquired well
deserved fame by magnificent productions of
modern plays and comic operas. He then formed
a connection with the New York Casino and
later organized the Conried Opera Company
which gave performances all over the United
States with great artistic and financial success.
In 1892 Mr. Conried became proprietor and
manager of the Irving Place Theater in New
York which he devoted exclusively to German
drama. This institution he raised to great dis
tinction not only through the engagement of
some of the foremost German actors, but also
through the great care which he bestowed upon
the production of modern and classical plays. The
Irving Place was soon known as a model theater
and its fame spread far beyond the German-
speaking population. There Mr. Conried intro
duced to the American public such artists as
Sonnenthal, Mitterwurzer, Barnay-Schratt,
Gallmeyer, Knoack, Agnes Sorma and many oth
ers and produced the works of modern authors
like Hauptmann, Ibsen, Voss, Sudermann and
Fulda, together with many classical plays. For"
more than a decade Mr. Conried devoted a large
part of his energies to the elevation of the Amer
ican stage, being firmly convinced that the uni
versity, the church and the stage form the three
great universities and has given performances
at Yale, Harvard and other institutions of learn
ing, bearing all the expenses. A memorable event
was the production of Goethe's "Iphigenie" at

Harvard University, the entire receipts being de
voted by Mr. Conried to the fund for the es
tablishment of the new German Museum at Cam
bridge. In 1904 Mr. Conried took charge of the
Metropolitan Opera House, and the artistic as
well as the financial success of this institution
under his leadership is too well known to re
quire extended recapitulation. In 1908, at the
close of an unusually successful season, he de
sired to retire from this position because he
needed rest and desired to devote himself
entirely to the new National Theater where
he expects to realize his plans as to what the
perfect stage should be. He is an indefati
gable worker. During his short • career he
has staged over one thousand plays and
crossed the ocean nearly one hundred times in
the interests of his enterprises. In spite of his
arduous labors he has found time to deliver lec
tures on the drama at Yale, Harvard and Colum
bia universities and the University of Pennsyl
vania. He has received the degree of M.A. from
Pennsylvania, Harvard and Columbia and nu
merous decorations from European monarchs,
and has been made a Knight of the Order of the
Iron Crown by the Emperor of Austria-Hun
gary, Knight of the Order of the Royal Crown
by the Emperor of Germany. The King of
Italy conferred upon him the rank of Cavaliere,
raising him to the nobility. Mr. Conried was
married in 1884 to Augusta, daughter of E. M.
Sperlin, and has one son, Richard Conried.

C. F. ACKERMANN, retired, and residing at
No. 86 Pierrepont Street, Brooklyn, was born at
Dessau, Anhalr, Germany, April 5, 1835. He
attended the Gymnasium school of his native
city until he reached the age of fifteen years, at
which time he went to Bremen, wh«re he obtained
a position with an export and importing house,
with whom he remained for a period of four
years. On September 16, 1854, when at the age
of nineteen, he landed in America, locating at
Brooklyn, N.Y., and after holding various mer
cantile positions in New York he, on January I,
1859, established the importing and export firm
of Meissner, Ackermann & Company, which grew
in time to be the most extensive in the petroleum
export trade in the country. In 1861 Mr. Ack
ermann soon after the discovery of petroleum
his firm made their first shipment, which grew
from year to year to very large proportions and
shipped this commodity to all parts of the world.
In 1800 Mr. Ackermann retired from active busi
ness life, leaving behind him an unblemished
reputation throughout the commercial world. He
enjoys an extensive acquaintance both in this

CAPTAIN J. B. GREEXHUT.

123

JACOB WEIDMANN.

124

BENEDICT PRIETH.

125

JOHN B. OELKERS.

126

SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS 127

country and Europe. He is a member of the
Germania Club of Brooklyn, and was reared in
the Lutheran Church. Mr. Ackermann was one
of the founders and is a charter member of the
German-American Insurance Company of New
York and has been a director of it ever since
it was organized. He was joined in wedlock on
February 7, 1860, with Miss Henrietta Marie
Wilckens, daughter of Dr. J. Frederick Wilckens,
at one time a prominent physician of Xew York
City. They have seven living children.

RUDOLPH J. SCHAEFER, brewer and mer
chant, was born in New York City on February
21, 1863. He received his education in the pub
lic and in private schools of his birthplace, and
passed through a business college. After leaving
school, he became interested in the F. & M. Schae-
fer Brewing Company, of which his father had been
one of the founders, and soon took an active part
in the management. He is now vice-president of
this concern and president of the Schaefer (Real
ty) Company, and also a director in several other
industrial corporations. Mr. Schaefer has taken
a very active part in all movements inaugurated
for the welfare of the industry in which he is en
gaged and is president of the Lager Beer Brew
ers' Board of Trade of New York and Vicinity,
vice-president of the Associated Brewers of New
York and Vicinity and treasurer of the New
York State and the United States Brewers' Asso
ciations. He is a member of the American Brew
ing Institute and has devoted much time and
study to the modern development of the brewing
industry, introducing new methods into his es
tablishment as soon as they had stood the test of
careful investigation. Of an active and lively dis
position, Mr. Schaefer is fond of all manly sports,
such as riding, driving, skating, billiards, yacht
ing, rowing and swimming, and is a member of
the New York Athletic Club, the National Asso
ciation of Amateur Billiard Players, trustee of
the Larchmont Yacht Club and member of several
other yacht clubs. He served as vice-president of
the German Liederkranz and is a member of the
Lambs Club. In addition, he is interested in a
number of charitable organizations and others
working for the public good ; a trustee of the
German Hospital and Dispensary, chairman of
the Brewers' Auxiliary of the Hospital Saturday
and Sunday Association, life member of the So
ciety for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children,
member of the German Society, the Isabella Hei-
math, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and many
other societies. He is a Lutheran and a Demo
crat in local, but generally a Republican in na
tional affairs. Mr. Schaefer was married on Oc

tober 15, 1890, to Miss Frederica V. Beck and
has three children, F. M. Emile, Edmee Eloise,
and Rudolph J., Jr.

HUGO SOHMER, manufacturer, was born at
Dunningen, near Rottweil, in the Black Forest in
Wuerttemberg, in 1846. His father was a physi
cian and left nothing undone to give the boy a
good education. At an early age Mr. Sohmer
developed an unusual talent and love for music
and while still a child attended every concert in
the old city of Rottweil and in Stuttgart, the
capital of Wuerttemberg, thus preparing himself,
without knowing it, for the career he was to fol
low in later years. When he was sixteen years
old, the boy decided to emigrate to America. The
Wanderlust, which drives so many Germans into
foreign countries, had taken hold of him and he
heard so many wonderful stories about America
that he was determined to see the land with whose
riches his imagination was filled. He arrived in
1863 and found work in the piano factory of
Schuetze & Ludolff. The ardent desire for knowl
edge which the father had planted in the boy's
heart, and the ambition to rise gave him the
strength to overcome all obstacles. He used his
evenings to increase his knowledge of music
through private lessons, at times suffering severe
privations because his earnings were small and
he was alone in the world, his father having died.
In 1868 Mr. Sohmer had earned enough money
to go to Europe, where he visited all the important
piano factories in order to increase his knowledge
of the business he had decided to embrace. At
Vienna he made the acquaintance of Mr. Josef
Kuder, a practical piano maker, and associated
himself with him and several other experts in the
same line under the firm name of Sohmer & Co.
The new factory was started in 1872 at the cor
ner of Third Avenue and Fourteenth Street with
limited means and could produce but two or three
pianos a week during the first year. But the fact
that nothing but the very best material was used,
and not a single instrument was allowed to leave
the workshop that was not mechanically and ar
tistically perfect quickly established the reputation
of the new firm. After three years it became nec
essary to enlarge the factory considerably, and in
1886 a new factory was built at Astoria, which is
equipped with all modern improvements and
known as a model establishment. The Sohmer
piano has found its way in many thousands of
homes, is used by the best and greatest artists,
and agencies of the firm have been established in
almost every city in the United States. Mr. Soh-
mer's success has been pronounced, and is re
markable not only because it started from the

128 SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS

smallest beginnings imaginable, but also for the
reason that it has not changed him in the least.
Widely known, he is as modest and unassuming
as at the beginning of his career, full of devo
tion to his duty and to his family, a member of
many social organization?, but fond of home
life, a large contributor to a multitude of chari
ties, and a lover of good music who not only sel
dom misses a good concert or opera, but is always
ready to assist gifted pupils and artists lacking
the means for a musical education.

OTTO WISSXER, manufacturer, was born
near Giessen in Hessen, Germany, on March 2.,
1853, and received his education in the Real-Gym
nasium at Giessen, evincing special interest for
languages and becoming proficient in Latin, Greek,
English and French. At the age of sixteen, Mr.
Wissner came to the United States and found em
ployment in various piano factories, learning the
business thoroughly and from the bottom up. In
1878 he started his own factory in Brooklyn and
while he had to begin on a small scale, so much
care was taken in the selection of the material
and the construction of the instruments, that the
Wiesner piano quick'y secured recognition among
artists and the public at large. The factory and
the salesrooms had to lie enlarged and agencies
were established in all the important cities of the
United States. Mr. Wissner frequently traveled
through the country and became widely known as a
man of sterling integrity and unusual ability and
as a manufacturer whose knowledge of his busi
ness and enterprise had rapidly brought him into
the front rank of American industrial and artistic
life. Artists like the late Anton Seidl, Emil Paur,
Lillian Nordica, Julie Rives-King, Jan Kubelik
and many others used his pianos and became his
friends. Mr. Wisi-ner took a lively interest in
musical affairs, and was always ready to assist
the German organizations devoted to the mission
of awakening and strengthening the love and ap
preciation for good music in America. In 1900
he was appointed by the United Singers of Brook
lyn a member of a committee of three to transmit
the German Emperor the thanks of the singers
for the silver trophy Emperor William had given
as a prize for the singing festival held at Brook
lyn, and to present copies of the songs which had
been rendered at the competition for it. The dele
gation was graciously received by Emperor Will
iam and treated with much distinction. Mr. Wiss
ner is an Independent in politics and lives in
Brooklyn, but spends much of his time at his
beautiful summer home, The Westerly, in Nas
sau County. He is a member of the German
Lutheran Church, the German Liederkranz,

Brooklyn Arion, Saengerbund, Royal Arcanum,
and a Mason, also a director of the Mechanics
Bank and trustee of the Germania Savings Bank.
In 1881 Mr. Wissner was married to Miss Katie
Leckerling and has six children, four daughters
and two sons, who now manage his factory.

EDWARD LAUTERBACH, whose brilliant
career as a lawyer and politician has made his
one of the most familiar names in New York,
was born in New York City on August 12, 1844.
His education was begun in the public schools
and continued in the College of the City of New
York, from which institution he was graduated
with honors in 1864. He worked hard in school
and college, as one to whom study was a privi
lege rather than a drudgery, and as soon as he
received his degree entered upon a course of
law in the offices of Townsend, Dyett & Morri
son. After his admission to the Bar he became
a member of this firm, which was then reor
ganized under the name of Morrison, Lauter-
bach & Spingarn. The death of Mr. Spingarn
terminated the partnership and Mr. Lauterbach
formed his present connection with the firm of
Hoadly, Lauterbach & Johnson. Individually,
the firm is an unusually strong one, and is well
known throughout the country. Mr. Lauterbach
has made an exhaustive study of the statutes
relating to corporate bodies, and has a high
standing at the Bar as a specialist in this depart
ment of practise. He has successfully conducted
a large number of important litigations involv
ing intricate points of law, and has a wide repu
tation for being able to settle large cases outside
the courts. In addition to his other practise, Mr.
Lauterbach is a prominent figure in railroad cir
cles as an organizer. He was instrumental in
bringing about the consolidation of the Union
and Brooklyn elevated roads, and the creation
of the Consolidated Telegraph and Electrical
subway, and was concerned in the reorganiza
tion of many railroads. He was counsel for and
a director of a number of street surface rail
roads, among others the Third Avenue system.
Mr. Lauterbach has always been a Republican
and has taken as active a part in state and local
politics as the absorbing nature of his profession
~would permit. For some years he was chairman
of the Republican County Committee of New
York and was associated with Chauncey M. De-
pew, Thomas C. Platt, Frank S. Witherbee and
Frank Hiscock in the advisory committee of the
Republican State Committee. In the Republican
National Convention, held at St. Louis in 1896,
he was a delegate at large from New York,
was the member from New York of the com-

I 29

HERMANN HEINRICH HORNFECK.

131

SAMUEL WEIL.

132

SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS 133

mittee on resolutions, and was one of the sub
committee of nine appointed to draft the plat
form, the financial plank of which presented the
greatest issue that had been before the Amer
ican people for many years. Mr. Lauterbach
was one of the three delegates at large from
the city of New York to the Constitutional Con
vention, which met in June, 1894. He was made
chairman of the committee on public charities,
an appointment which was considered highly ap
propriate, as he has been very prominent in all
philanthropic and benevolent work, and is con
nected officially with many charitable organiza
tions. The cause of education has a sympathetic
and practical friend in Mr. Lauterbach, who has
done much in various ways for its advancement.
Mr. Lauterbach is married and has four children.
The oldest, a son, was educated for his father's
profession and was admitted to the Bar at the
age of twenty-one. The other three are daugh
ters. Mrs. Lauterbach has for years been a
conspicuous figure in New York society, not only
in its brilliancy and pleasure-seeking, but also in
its beneficent activities. She became interested
in the Consumers' League, and did much to se
cure legislation for the benefit of women em
ployed in factories. She has been interested in
the movement for woman suffrage, the Prizon
Guild and many other enterprises for the im
provement of social, industrial and educational
conditions.

ABRAM JESSE DITTENHOEFER, jurist,
was born at Charleston, S.C., on the seventeenth
day of March, 1836. He is the son of Isaac and
Babetta Dittenhoefer. His father, a native of
Germany, emigrated to the United States in 1836,
arriving in the city of Baltimore. He then moved
to Charleston, S.C., and subsequently to the city
of New York, where he became a successful
merchant and a man of great local influence ; his
mother was also a native of Germany. His par
ents were married in Baltimore. He acquired
his early education in the public schools of the
city of New York and later attended Columbia
College Grammar School, then situated in Mur
ray Street, and in 1852 he entered Columbia Col
lege, which was then situated in College Place;
and Charles King was its president. During his
college course he was especially distinguished
for his proficiency in Latin and Greek ; the fa
mous Dr. Charles Anthon, the professor of
Latin, called him "Ultima Thule." After grad
uation and in 1857 he entered the law office of
Benedict & Boardman. At that time John E.
Parsons, the celebrated lawyer, was managing-
clerk in the same office. At the age of twenty-

one he was admitted to the Bar. His active
connection with the Republican party, then form
ing, began about the same time. Though his
friends and relatives urged him to join the Dem
ocratic party, which was then in supreme control
in the city of New York, his strong convictions
that slavery was a crime and should be rooted
out influenced him not to follow their advice. At
that time New York City was virtually a pro-
slavery city, and during the draft riots at the
breaking out of the Civil War, he was notified
by the rioters to leave the city, which he declined
to do. In 1858 he was nominated by the Repub
lican party for justice of the Marine (now City)
Court, but the party being in a hopeless minor
ity, his election was impossible. In 1864 he was
elected one of the presidential electors for the
state of New York, and as such he had the great
honor to cast his vote in the Electoral College
for Abraham Lincoln, with whom he became in
timate and who, during his term, offered Mr.
Dittenhoefer the appointment of United States
judge for the district of South Carolina, his
native state. He declined the appointment as he
was unwilling to abandon the large practise he
had secured in the city of New York. In 1862
Governor Fenton appointed him to fill the va
cancy caused by the death of Judge Florence
McCarthy and he gave his entire salary during
the whole term to Judge McCarthy's widow, who
was in want. This act of kindness and gener
osity has been characteristic of his life. At the
expiration of the term he declined a renomina-
tion, to enable him to devote himself to his large
and lucrative practise. In 1876 he was a dele
gate to the National Republican Convention in
Cincinnati, which nominated General Hayes for
president, and for eight weeks stumped without
compensation in the states of Ohio and Indiana.
For twelve consecutive years he was chair
man of the German Republican Central Commit
tee of New York and has always effectively
served his party as an influential factor in its
councils and as an effective campaigner. Judge
Dittenhoefer stands in the front rank of the New
York Bar and as a lawyer has secured a distin
guished reputation. While his services have been
required in every branch of the legal profession,
he has been conspicuous in litigations relating to
the law of the stage, being recognized as an au
thority on that branch of the law. He procured
the incorporation of the Actors Fund of Amer
ica, the great theatrical charity, and has served
as its counsel without compensation. It was
largely through his efforts that the law giving
the license fees collected from theaters to the
Society for the Reformation of Juvenile Delin-

134 SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS

quents was repealed. This stamped the theater
as the nursery of criminals and its repeal was
recognized as a great advance. In recognition of
these services he was presented with a testimonial
and, together with ex-President Cleveland, Dr.
Houghton and other distinguished men, was
elected an honorary member. He also secured,
at the instance of the American Dramatists' Club,
the amendment of the copyright law making it a
crime to steal the production of one's brain, as
it always was a crime to steal tangible property.
He has also been distinguished in many commer
cial and corporation cases and has been frequent
ly retained in important criminal cases. Early in
the seventies he was appointed by the Board of
Aldermen of the city of New York as one of
its counsel to represent them when they were in
dicted for granting permits to encumber the
streets with newspaper stands in violation of the
charter and he succeeded in quashing the indict
ment. He made a telling point when he a<ked
the court to mark the newsboy, whose stand was
the subject of controversy, as Exhibit A. He
was counsel for the old excise commissioners,
Dr. Merkle and Richard Morrison, when they
were indicted for an infraction of the law, and
succeeded in obtaining their acquittal. When
their successors, Commissioners Meakin, Fitzpat-
rick and Koch, were subsequently indicted, he
was their leading counsel and after three years
of litigation the indictments were dismissed on
a motion made by Judge Dittenhoefer. In 1896
as one of the counsel for Elverton A. Chapman
of the well known banking firm of Moore &
Schley and a number of newspaper correspond
ents who were prosecuted in Washington for re
fusing to answer questions of the United States
Senate Committee investigating the sugar tariff
scandal, Judge Dittenhoefer was conspicuous
and successful, gaining a notable victory of
great value for the liberty of the press. He was
counsel for the defendants in what are known as
the Japanese Silk Fraud Cases, instituted by the
United States. These were vigorously prosecu
ted and attracted great attention all over the
world. He succeeded in freeing his client. He
was counsel for the Metropolitan Opera Com
pany in the attempt on the part of the widow of
the famous master, Richard Wagner, to secure
an injunction to restrain the performance of
"Parsifal." One of the arguments made by Mrs.
Wagner's counsel was that Richard Wagner
left the wish on his death-bed that "Parsifal"
should not be performed anywhere else than at
Beyreuth, and that said wish should be piously
respected. In reply Judge Dittenhoefer asked :
"Suppose Shakespeare had left the dying wish

that 'Hamlet' should not be produced anywhere
else than at Stratford-on-the-Avon, would it be
right to deprive the world of the pleasure and in
struction to be derived from listening to that un-
equaled work on the stage?" He was counsel for
the captain and directors who were indicted in
connection with the burning of the General 570-
cum, on which over nine hundred lives were lost.
He is now one of the counsel of the Lincoln
National Bank, of which General James, a mem
ber of President Garfield's Cabinet, is president,
and of many other corporations. An amusing
incident in Judge Dittenhoefer's career occurred
a few years after he was admitted to the bar. A
German by the name of David retained him to
defend him. He had been charged with pur
chasing a quantity of clothing on false representa
tions. When the case came on for trial it was
the sixteenth on the day calendar. Every case
ahead of his having answered ready on the first
call, Judge Dittenhoefer left the court with in
structions to be sent for should, by any chance,
his case be reached. In less than an hour, the
calendar having broken down, his presence was
demanded. When he arrived the jury had already
been empaneled. Being quite near-sighted he
could not find his client and requested his young
man to look for him, who quickly reported that
he was sitting on his own jury. After much dif
ficulty the judge, who felt inclined to punish him
for contempt of court, allowed him to go. The
judge then asked him how on earth he got on
the jury. He answered: "Didn't I have to $ro?
The clerk called my name." His name was in
the wheel with a hundred others and by a strange
coincidence when his case was called by the trial
judge his own name was turned out among the
twelve to act as juryman. Judge Dittenhoefer
then asked him how he could have the cheek to
sit on his own jury. His answer was : "Veil,
who knows more about dis case den I do?" The
judge said that he was not a rascal but merely
a fool who did not know any better. Judge Dit
tenhoefer married in the city of New York in
1858 a Miss Englehart of Cleveland, Ohio, and
has five children. One of them, his son, Irving
Meade Dittenhoefer, is IT'S partner, and a mem
ber of the firm of Dittenhoefer, Gerber & James.

CHARLES A. STADLER was born at Ger-
mersheim in the Bavarian Palat:nate on July 15,
1848. He came to America in 1851 with his par
ents and received his education in St. Nicholas's
Parochial School, the public schools and in De La
Salle Institute. After graduating, Mr. Stadler
engaged in the brewing industry and subsequently
in the grain trade and eventually established

GEORGE EH RET.

135

AUGUST MIETZ.

136

GEORGE C. DRESSEL.

137

OF ~

UNIVERSITY

OF

HERMAN CHRISTIAN HENRY HEROLD.

138

SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS 139

himself as a maltster. The development of the
brewing industry and the change to modern
methods which almost revolutionized that trade
during the latter part of the last century was
foreseen early by Mr. Stadler and made use of
in every possible way. He clearly perceived the
ways and means with the help of which he could
get to and keep at the front, and was soon recog
nized as one of the ablest men in his line. Of a
genial disposition, warm-hearted and ever ready
to help those in need, it is but natural that he has
a host of friends and that his popularity is not
confined to his business associates. A Democrat,
and from his early youth interested in public af
fairs, political honors were offered to him re
peatedly. He served as inspector of schools, as
state senator from 1888 to 1892, as delegate to
the Constitutional Convention and as a member
of the State Democratic Executive Committee,
and only his determination to devote his time to
his business affairs prevented his election to
higher offices. He had by this time interested
himself in various enterprises and is now presi
dent of the American Malting Company and of
the Sebastian Wagon Company, vice-president
and treasurer of the Sicilian Asphalt Company,
vice-president of the Nineteenth Ward Bank and
a director of the Germania Bank, member of the
Produce Exchange of New York and of the
Boards of Trade of Chicago and Buffalo. Fond
of good and congenial societies, he is a member
of many clubs, among them the Manhattan, Dem
ocratic, Army and Navy and New York Ath
letic ; the Geographical Society, German Society,
German Liederkranz, Arion and many other pub
lic and charitable organizations. He is major
commanding the Old Guard. Mr. Stadler was
married twice : in 1866 to Miss Josephine Contes,
who died in 1885, and on June 21, 1888, to Miss
Pauline Roesicke of Brooklyn, and has five
daughters.

A. B. HEINE, merchant. — Almost prophetic
were the words of the distinguished lyric poet
and namesake, Heine : "When you speak of the
best of men, you must include him." A. B. Heine
is indeed one of the best merchants of the age,
combining at once the highest qualities of the old
conservative school with the most advanced, far-
reaching, most courageous methods known to
that division of commerce of which he became a
master mind. Liberated in his early life anfl
business career from all the limitations which
are so often the real impediment to genuine suc-
cers, he soon made a mark quite equal to the
foremost men in the business which to-day ranks
second to none in magnitude, in volume, in

wealth and progress. As an organizer of men
and affairs it was only natural that his work
should be crowned by that magnificent world in
dustry bearing his name. No merchant has
proven more versatility, more originality in
thought and action, no importer has made a
clearer record, has been a truer friend of right
and justice and a better advocate of correct
business ethics and established sounder princi
ples, both in that branch of the Government ex
ecuting the customs laws, than has A. B. Heine.
His voice was always heard in the forum when
the Treasurer of the United States listened to the
just complaints of the importing merchant; while
his triumphs, his victories over dark and doubtful
ways and means never inflated his mind in con
nection with the normal discharge of his duties
to the trade and the individual. It is always rec
ognized that as a leader in all movements for
the betterment of commerce, A. B. Heine takes
no back seat; he is nothing if not first, foremost,
true and strong. As a perfect harmonious mani
festation of these virtues stands that monument,
"that city on the hills" of which both hemi
spheres speak in loud terms of praise and won
der; the largest industrial combination in em
broideries and kindred produces.

CHARLES PFIZER, manufacturer, was born
at Ludwigsburg in Wuerttemberg, Germany, on
March 22, 1824. He received a very thorough
education in the schools of his native town, which
furnished him with an excellent foundation so
that he was able, in later years, to build upon it
a rich fund of knowledge, although he never at
tended a college or other high institution of learn
ing. After leaving school, Mr. Pfizer served an
apprenticeship in a drug and paint house at Mann
heim for several years. Having learned the
business completely, he secured a position as con
fidential clerk with a large exporting firm at
Rotterdam, Holland, where he had occasion to
extend his knowledge and to develop the quali
ties that were the reasons for his success in later
years. In 1849 a business depression set in,
partly in consequence of the political upheavals
in Germany, and as all Europe suffered from
these conditions, Mr. Pfizer decided to emigrate
to America. Here, in a wider field, where his
ability was not confined by narrow limits and tra
dition, he established himself in Williamsburg,
then part of Brooklyn, as a manufacturer of
chemicals, with an office on Beekman Street, in
partnership with his brother-in-law, Charles F.
Erhart. The firm rapidly acquired a reputation
for the quality of their goods, for fair dealing
and strict integrity, and the business grew from

140 SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS

year to year. Mr. Pfizer's knowledge of his
trade was so complete, his education having given
him the opportunity to master every detail, and
he was so eager to take advantage of every new
discovery in his line that his firm soon became
known as one of the most important and largest
in its line, the factory in Brooklyn occupying
some thirty-four city lots. In 1870 the business
moved to No. 81 Maiden Lane where it is still
carried on with a branch office in Chicago. Mr.
Erhart died in 1891 and Mr. Pfizer retired from
active business in 1900, when the concern was in
corporated and is now in the hands of his two
sons, Charles, Jr., and Emile Pfizer, and his
nephew, William H. Erhart. Mr. Pfizer was a
Republican in politics but never held public office
though taking a warm interest in public affairs,
and being widely known as a man of correct
and sober judgment, reliable and worthy of es
teem and admiration. His long life has been a
splendid illustration of the possibilities offered by
this country to the German who brings ambition,
intelligence and firm purpose to these shores, as
well as of the great value of German emigration
to the United States. Mr. Pfizer was married in
1859 to Miss Anna Hausch and has five children,
three sons and two daughters, viz. : Charles, Gus-
tave, Emile, Helen and Alice, all of whom are
living. Mr. Pfizer's death occurred October 19,
1905. He was a member of the Germania Club
of Brooklyn, of the Brooklyn Riding and Driving
Club and of the Downtown Association of New
York City.

MICHAEL C. GROSS, lawyer, was born in
New York City on February 18, 1838, as the
son of German parents. He was educated in
private schools in New York and studied law.
After being admitted to the Bar he practised his
profession in New York City and became rapidly
known. Soon after reaching his majority he
was elected a member of the Board of Council-
men from the Fifth Senatorial District and re
peatedly reelected, serving in this capacity from
1861 until 1864. He had taken an active part in
politics as a Democrat and displaying unusual
ability as an orator, as well as lawyer, it was
natural that he was selected to fill a judicial
office. Elected in November, 1865, he served as^~
Justice of the Marine Court — the present City
Court — from 1865 until January I, 1876. Since
then he has devoted himself to the practise of his
profession. Although born in America, Justice
Gross has always kept in close touch with Ger
man-Americans, and with everything worthy of
admiration and emulation produced by the coun
try which gave birth to his parents. Every move

ment tending to increase the knowledge of and
appreciation for the achievements on the part of
the German race in the realms of the arts, the
sciences and literature has found in him a
willing and enthusiastic supporter. He married
in June, 1866, and is a member of the German
Liederkranz, German Society, German Hospital
Association and German Club.

JOHN LOUIS SCHAEFER, merchant and
banker, was born in New York City on August
4, 1867, the son of German parents, and educated
in the public schools and the evening high schools
of his birthplace. On leaving school, he entered
the employ of a mercantile house and rose so
rapidly that he was vice-president and director
of the world-famed firm, the Wm. R. Grace
Company, commission merchants and South
American bankers, before he was forty. He is
also a director of the Hamilton Bank Note Co., of
the New York & Pacific Steamship Co., the Cuban
American Fertilizer Co., the Nitrate Agencies
Co. and of the Advisory Board of the Corn Ex
change Bank. Mr. Schaefer has taken a warm
interest in the affairs of the Lutheran Church,
with which he has been connected all his life,
and is a trustee of St. Lucas Evangelical Luth
eran Church and the Wartburg Orphan Asylum.
He was one of the organizers and founders of
the Luther League movement in the United States.
Under the will of the late William R. Grace, the
founder of the firm that bears his name, Mr.
Schaefer is trustee and treasurer of the Grace
Institute for Girls. A Democrat in politics, he
has never taken an active part in partisan strife,
and is a member of the New York Athletic Club,
Mariners Club and the Maritime Exchange. Mr.
Schaefer was married in 1896 to Miss Susan
Karsch and has four children, Bernhard J., Louis,
Jr., Kathryn C. and Susan Grace.

AUGUST MIETZ, one of New York's fore
most manufacturers of marine and other types
of engines, was born in the picturesque town of
Wilsnack, Province of Brandenburg, Prussia, De
cember i, 1834, ar>d like many of those who ap
pear in this volume, obtained his early and only
schooling in the native town. Apprenticing him
self in 1849 to a machinist, he learned that trade
thoroughly ; the foundation of the successful
career ahead of him being laid by the close ap
plication which characterizes the German race.
His aptitude fitted him for the vocation he had
chosen at an early age, being only nineteen when
he sought employment in Berlin. After six years
of diligent work, three as a mechanic and later
three years as foreman, which strengthened the

LEONARD A. GIEGRICH.

141

CARL LENTZ.

142

RICHARD A. FINN.

143

LOUIS W. HRABA.

144

SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS 145

confidence in himself and prepared him for his
immigration to the United States in 1859. He
came here determined to succeed, remaining one
year in New York, prior to his settling in the
southern part of this country. He was not long
in finding what he came for, a permanency in a
city which afforded better opportunities. When
the Civil War began, he moved back to New York
City (1861), found employment as a machinist,
then later as a contractor with the Aetna Sewing
Machine Company and in 1874 opened an iron
foundry and machine shop at No. 87 to 91 Eliza
beth Street, which was for years a necessity in
that section of the city. Notwithstanding the suc
cess he attained, his ambition had not been
achieved. He saw the importance of enlarging
his interests, and not long thereafter purchased
the adjoining property with the intention of erect
ing a modern plant for manufacturing purposes.
His plans were carried out, and when his new
building (at that time) at No. 128 to 132 Mott
Street and connecting with the original foundry
in Elizabeth Street was completed, his efforts
were rewarded by great success on a much larger
scale. In 1894 an opportunity presented itself to
Mr. Mietz and, realizing the possibilities it prom
ised, acted upon the suggestion that has since
placed him at the head of engine manufacturers.
In the above year Mr. C. W. Weiss, a native of
Germany, and Mr. Mietz took out various joint
patents on engines and they made an agreement
together whereby Mr. Mietz, with the capital and
equipped plant, took up the manufacture and sale
of engines, giving them the name of the Mietz &
Weiss engines. Mr. Weiss has charge of this
department, with the result that Mr. Mietz to
day has become a factor as a manufacturer of
engines which are patented in the United States
and principal foreign countries, and exported to
all parts of the world; over thirty thousand horse
power in operation. A new adjoining building
was found necessary, and same was erected,
making it one of the largest of its kind in the
city. Having a frontage of one hundred and fifty
feet on Mott Street, it runs through to Elizabeth,
connecting the foundry. Mr. Mietz has spared
no expense in the installation of modern ma
chinery for manufacturing purposes and to-day
his name has become widely known through the
stationary and marine, gas, oil and alcohol engines
for which he finds an unlimited market. Gov
ernment bids have been awarded with the results
as specified. Awards of the highest character,
presented by the superior juries of the Paris, Pan-
American, Charleston and the Louisiana Purchase
exhibitions, are treasured by Mr. Mietz as tes
timonials of his workmanship. In his private life

Mr. Mietz is a lover of the home circle. He be
longs to but few organizations, being a member
of the Arion and Eichenkranz, a patron of the
German Hospital and subscriber to various chari
ties, and has devoted a great portion of his spare
time to study and the advancement of his indus
try. He has been president of the American
Carbonate Company, manufacturing liquid car
bonate acid gas, the plant being erected at Nine
teenth Street, between First Avenue and Avenue
A, for the past twenty-two years, and owns over
three-quarters of the capital stock. This company,
having a frontage of two hundred feet on Nine
teenth Street and running through to Eighteenth
Street, is to-day the largest of its kind in this
country, covering twelve city lots. He was the
founder of this enterprise, but the active man
agement of the company he has entrusted to Mr.
Emil Rueff, his son-in-law. Mr. Mietz is a wor
shiper at the German Lutheran Church. On
June 5, 1861, he married Miss Maria Lenz. Five
children were born to them, two boys and three
girls. One daughter, Mrs. Emil Rueff, survives.
Mr. Mietz's personality is such that one never
leaves him without a deep impression of his ster
ling qualities. His life has been one of honest
endeavor and the enterprise that stands as a mon
ument to his genius represents what a man can
accomplish with a strength of purpose.

CHARLES C. CLAUSEN, brewer, was born
in New York City on January 7, 1844, as the
son of German parents. He received his educa
tion in the schools of his birthplace and entered
the business founded by his father after gradu
ating. When the great change from old-fash
ioned to new and modern methods became nec
essary in the brewing industry, Mr. Clausen was
one of the first to see the importance of the
movement and devoted his whole energy to bring
it about in the establishment in which he was in
terested. The immediate success following this
upheaval, as it may justly be called, was a splen
did testimonial to his ability and foresightedness.
Although born in America,, Mr. Clausen has taken
a deep and active interest in the life and af
fairs of the German-American population, assist
ing in every movement inaugurated by them and
worthy of success. His help and advice have been
as readily given as eagerly sought. As an exam
ple of the American citizen of German descent
who retains the love and admiration for all that
is great and good in the history and the character
of the German race, and is anxious to increase
the influence of German immigration upon the
slowly-forming character of the American people,
Mr. Clausen stands in the front rank. In poli-

146 SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS

tics a Democrat, he is a member of the Arion
Society, the German Liederkranz and the Lu
theran Church. He was married on June 13,
1872, to Miss Henriette F. Knoche and has three
children.

WILLIAM SOHMER.— Of the old German
towns whose sons have won marked recognition
and distinction in this country, the historic Wuert-
tenburg is important as the ancestral environ
ment of William Sohmer. May 26, 1852, wit
nessed the day of his birth, following which not
less than five years elapsed before his parents
embarked with him to New York. With a public
school education supplemented by a thorough busi
ness college course, as a foundation, Mr. Sohmer,
at an early age, entered the insurance field, which
at that time was in the early stage of its devel
opment. After remaining a few years in the ser
vice of a prominent fire insurance company, Mr.
Sohmer resigned the position of manager to es
tablish himself independently in the Metropolitan
Bank Building at Nos. I and 3 Third Avenue,
where his offices have been located ever since. His
unbounded enthusiasm and energy, coupled with
the telling advantages of business sagacity and
concentration of purpose, produced the natural re
sult of 'instantaneous recognition and to-day the
name of William Sohmer is synonymous with
the modern systematization and expancion of the
insurance business in this city. The characteristic
enterprise and compelling personality of Mr.
Sohmer attracted unconscious attention on all
sides and it was with a sense of confident grati
fication that his friends hailed his association with
political and governmental institutions. In 1889
the representation of the Tenth District was con
fided to him and so conscientious was his fulfil
ment of the trust that increasing majorities con
ferred two reelections upon him. Mr. Sohmer
next appeared before the public as candidate for
sheriff on the Democratic ticket and although it
was an adverse election for the entire ticket, no
little significance lies in the fact that he led all
his associate candidates by eight thousand votes.
In i$95 he was elected register, again running far
ahead of his ticket and at the expiration of his
term was prominently mentioned as the Demo
cratic mayoralty candidate for the ensuing elec
tion. While the choice of the convention did not
devolve upon him, he was nominated and trium
phantly elected as county clerk by a majority of
over seventy thousand votes. Mr. Sohmer's
clean-cut career serves to exemplify the aphorism
that it is but consistent honesty and steadfast
ness of purpose that can stand the test of time.
Highly honored in the rolls of Democracy and

Tammany Hall, the office of Sachem has been
dignified with his incumbency and as chairman of
the Executive Committee and Committee on Or
ganization and as a member of the Democratic
State Committee, he served his party faithfully
and with distinction. Mr. Sohmer is at present
serving the state in the Senate and because of
his varied and unlimited experience, and his pecu
liar adaptability to the functions of a legislator, is
a forceful and interesting figure in that body. The
artless simplicity and inherent frankness that go
to make up Mr. Sohmer's individuality assert his
respect in the social world. He is a member of
the New York Athletic Club, the Catholic Club,
the Arion, Liederkranz, Eichenkranz, New Yorker
Turn Verein, Beethoven Maennerchor, the Ger
man-American Schuetzen Club and the National
Democratic Club. He has a brother in this city
who is in the piano business. To those publicists
who are watching for the finest result of assimi
lated citizenship in this country, William Sohmer
has, by force of his own magnetic personality, ex
ercised an attention that ranks him high among
the successful German-Americans whose standing
has so contributed to the moulding of a true
American nationality.

THEODORE CLEMENS HEITEMEYER
was born at Paderborn in Westphalia on Sep
tember 26, 1844, and received his education in
the High School and the Gymnasium at Mtin-
ster, Westphalia. After various positions in the
leather business he entered the firm of R. Nea-
mann & Co. and established with his present
partner the manufacturing concern of fine fancy
leathers in Newark, NJ. In 1888 the firm, find
ing better inducements as regards location and
commerce, erected their present large works in
Hoboken. Mr. Heilemeyer has been the man
aging partner at the works from the start and
still gives the greatest part of his time to their
supervision. The goods produced by the firm are
known far and wide, and its success is not sur
prising if it is borne in mind that thorough
knowledge of the business in all its branches,
strict integrity, enterprise and an unusual or
ganizing and executive ability are combined in
the person of one of its members. Mr. Heite-
weyer is one of those men who appear to be sur
charged with energy, hardly ever resting and
observing with a keen eye whatever is important
or of value. This valuable gift of recognizing
the importance of every detail, or, on the other
hand, every defect almost before it manifests
itself, together with the ability to decide quick
ly what must be done, is one of his most
marked characteristics. Mr . Heitemeyer has

SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS 149

traveled widely and is fond of social diversions.
He is a member of the German Verein, Ger
man Liederkranz and Arion of New York and
of the German Club of Hoboken and a director
of the Trust Company of New Jersey. On July
8, 1874, he was married to Miss Mathilde Wege-
ner. Of his three children the son, Robert, is a
partner in the father's firm; one daughter, El-
frida, married Count Tareggi, and Elizabeth
lives with her parents.

WILLIAM KEUFFEL, manufacturer, was
born at Walbeck, Germany, on July 19, 1838.
He received his education in the public and pri
vate schools of his birthplace. At the age of
fifteen he left school and became an apprentice
in a general merchandise store where he re
mained for four years, receiving a severe but
thorough mercantile and business training, which
fitted him for the successful career of later
years. He then entered the employ of a large
hardware house in Hanover, Germany, from
where, several years later, he went to Birming
ham, England. In 1866 he came to the United
States where, in 1867, he founded, together with
his friend, Hermann Esser, the firm of Keuf-
fel & Esser, now so well known. Drafting was
at that time in its infancy in this country and it
was Mr. Keuffel's foresight which appreciated
its coming importance accompanying the phe
nomenal development of American manufactur
ing and engineering enterprise. To supply all
the requirements, in office and field, of the sur
veyor, engineer, architect and draftsman and
make a specialty of this business was the pur
pose of the new firm and Mr. Keuffel can well
be called the pioneer of this line, because, up to
the founding of his firm, drafting supplies had
not been carried exclusively by any house in the
United States. The business, beginning in a
very small way, was successful from the start
and already three year? later the firm published
its first catalogue of drawing and surveying in
struments which has become a s.andard. Forty
years of labor and progress see Mr. Keuffel at
the head of the largest house in its line in the
world. His factories at Hoboken are one of
the landmarks of that city and cover over five
and one-half acres floor space. The main store
at 127 Fulton Street, New York, is a model es
tablishment, where every requisite of the engi
neer and draftsman can be found and where un
usual facilities are afforded for examining and
testing the many delicate instruments of pre-
ci^ion included in this line. Similar stores are
maintained at Chicago, St. Louis and San Fran
cisco, but the reputation of Keuffel & Esser

goods is not confined to the United States, but is
recognized over the inhabited world. The busi
ness which Mr. Keuffel established forty years
ago, when only he and his partner comprised the
entire force, employs to-day close to one thousand
people. The great success which Mr. Keuffel
has attained in building up a business of such
magnitude and standing is due to his untiring
energy, his far: eeing understanding of the needs
and the possibilities of his business, his indomita
ble will to overcome obstacles and his enthusi
asm which enabled him to call forth the best
efforts of those working with and under him.
His personality was so far above the average
that those who met him could not help recogniz
ing it. Mr. Keuffel has been a resident of Ho
boken almost from the day he landed in Amer
ica and has taken a great deal of interest in
public and social affairs in Xew York and Ho
boken, being a member of many prominent or
ganizations. He has, however, never entered
politics. For many years he was the president
of the Hoboken Academy, the well known Ger
man-American school, and later on he was much
interested in the Manual Training School, of
which he was a trustee for a number of years.
He is also a member of the Advisory Board of
the German Hospital and Dispensary. Mr. Keuf
fel has a fine summer residence at Elka Park
of which association he is honorary president.
On December 26, 1871, he married Miss Bertha
Schneeberger of St. Louis. He has four chil
dren.

CHARLES VIXCEXT FORXES.— Although
a native of the United States and the son of a
Frenchman who was brought to America by his
father at an early age, Charles Vincent Fornes
attributes a large part of his success in life to
the influence of his mother, who came from Ba
den, Germany, and whose family name was
Krumholz. Mr. Fornes was born on his father's
farm in Erie County, X.Y., in 1848, as the sev
enth of nine children. When he was four years
old the father, who had in the meantime re
moved to Xiagara County, died and the widow
had a hard struggle to keep the homestead and
bring up the children. Until he went to school
at the age of six, Charles V. Fornes spoke Ger
man only and had to learn English before he
could play with his schoolmates. He was an ex
ceptionally bright and diligent scholar and when
he had to give up attending the summer term be
cause his help was needed on the farm, he used
the little money he could earn from time to time
to buy books which he studied during the win
ter. He soon was able to earn enough money to

150 SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS

pay his way through Lockport Academy from
which he graduated when sixteen years old. The
principal of this institution, B. M. Reynolds, was
so much taken with the bright young man that
he taught him Latin and Greek privately and
offered to pay his expenses through Yale College.
But Mr. Fornes's mother had become an invalid
and needed his assistance and the dutiful son
gave up the opportunity to enter upon a scientific
career. He accepted a clerkship in the office of a
grain dealer in Buffalo during the season of navi
gation and in the winter took charge of a dis
trict school in Erie County. His work there
caused the superintendent of public schools of
Buffalo to offer him a principalship, which Mr.
Fornes accepted and held for three years. He
then decided to devote himself entirely to mer
cantile pursuits and entered a wholesale cloth
house as cashier and bookkeeper. Eight years
later he formed the firm of Dahlmann & Fornes,
which, in 1877, removed to New York and soon
assumed the name of C. V. Fornes & Co. These
are the milestones in a career which began hum
bly but through untiring industry, sterling honesty
and a keen grasp for public affairs was destined
to round out beautifully. In 1889 Mr. Fornes
was elected president of the Catholic Club and
held this position until 1894. During this time
the beautiful club-house on Central Park South
was erected. He was a member of the committee
of one hundred that had charge of the Columbus
Centennial Celebration. In 1891 he was elected
a trustee of the Emigrant Industrial Savings
Bank, and since 1896 he has been the treasurer
of the Catholic Protectory. He is also a di
rector of the City Trust Co., which he helped to
organize. In 1901 Mr. Fornes was elected presi
dent of the Board of Aldermen, which position
required him to act as mayor of the city of New
York during the absence of the mayor. The tact
and ability he displayed during his term of of
fice brought about his reelection two years later.
Mr. Fornes received the nomination for Congress
of the Eleventh Congressional District and was
elected to that body in 1906 by a large vote.

LOUIS F. HAFFEN was born on November
6, 1854, in the old village of Melrose, town of
Morrisania, now part of the borough of the
Bronx. His father was born in Germany in 1814'
and had come to America in 1832, while his
mother, a descendant of an Irish father and a
Scotch mother, was born in Ireland in 1823 and
came to America in 1840. The father settled
originally on a farm outside of Williamsburg,
L.I., but moved to Melrose early in 1851. Mr.
Haffen received his first education in the village

school of Melrose, where instruction in English
and German was given, and from 1866-1868 in
Melrose Public School. He attended St. John's
College at Fordham from 1868 until 1869, and
Niagara University at Suspension Bridge, N.Y.,
until 1871, returning to St. John's College until
he graduated in 1875. He then entered the
School of Mines, now School of Sciences, of
Columbia University, and studied civil engineer- L--
ing, graduating in 1879. He received the de
grees of A.B., A.M. and LL.D. from Fordham
University and of C.E. from Columbia Univer
sity. After the completion of his studies Mr. Haf
fen engaged in the private practise of his pro
fession as civil engineer and city surveyor for
several years, but in 1882 decided to study and
practise civil and mining engineering in the Far
West. Returning to New York in 1883, he was L
appointed engineer in the Department of Public
Parks and served as such until 1893, when he
was promoted to the position of engineer in
charge and superintendent of the new parks of
the Twenty-third and Twenty-fourth Wards, city
of New York and adjoining in Westchester Coun- .
ty. In 1893 he was elected commissioner of street
improvements for the Twenty-third and Twenty-
fourth Wards, now the borough of the Bronx,
and reelected until the creation of the Greater
City of New York, when he was elected the first
president of the borough of the Bronx, This
office he has held ever since, having been elected
six times in succession to the highest office in
the gift of the people of his territory. For ten
years he has been the Democratic leader in the '
Bronx and he has seen how the district in which
he was born grew from a collection of hamlets
and villages to a city of nearly four hundred
thousand inhabitants. Mr. Haffen was married
in February, 1886, to Miss Caroline Kurz, who
gave him nine children, eight boys and one girl,
of whom six are living.

JACOB WEIDMANN of Paterson, N.J., was
born at Thalweil in the Canton of Zurich in
Switzerland, on May 22, 1845. He was educated
in the public schools of his birthplace and ap
prenticed to a dyer when sixteen years old. He
learned his trade thoroughly, being naturally am
bitious, and therefore not satisfied with master
ing the mere routine of the calling which he had
selected. The knowledge he thus acquired made
it easy for him to secure employment when, in
1867, he came to America. He settled in South
Manchester, Conn., and was employed in the dye
ing plant of the large silk manufactory of Cheney
Bros, from 1867 until 1872. In that year the
plan he had always cherished and never lost sight

WILLIAM DEMUTH.

151

JOHN LOUIS SCHAEFER.

152

SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS 153

of, to make himself independent, ripened and
was successfully executed. Mr. Weidmann
started a dyeing establishment in Paterson at the
corner of Patenon and Ellison Streets. While
large enough for that period, it was almost insig
nificant when compared with his present gigantic
plant. It covered eight city lots and employed
between one hundred and two hundred work
ing men. The capacity was from two thousand
to two thousand five hundred pounds daily and
the water was procured from the city with the
exception of one artesian well. But the work
done was of such superior quality and the in
tegrity and reliability of the proprietor became
so quickly known and appreciated that a larger
establishment was needed. The present plant
was started in 1886 and covers now forty-three
and one-half acres of ground. It is the largest
dyeing establishment in the world, employs four
teen hundred hands and can handle from ten
thousand to twelve thousand pounds of raw ma
terial every day. The question of procuring
water in abundance, and of the right quality was
of course of the greatest importance. Mr. Weid
mann had artesian wells drilled along the river
bank opposite the plant and the growth of the
business can best be indicated by the fact that
while as late as 1896 fourteen of these wells
were sufficient, the work now requires fifty-six
of them, drilled to a depth of four hundred feet
and furnishing every twenty-four hours about
ten million gallons of fine clear spring water
splendidly adapted for dyeing even when the
most delicate shades are used. The operations
of Mr. Weidmann's firm extend all over the Uni
ted States, and the plant is, as has been stated,
the largest of its kind in the world. From what
has been said it will be understood as a matter
of course that Mr. Weidmann is much more than
a dyer. He combines with a thorough knowledge
of the technique of his business an exceptional
gift for organization, for systematizing labor and
methods in such a degree that large operations
of a multifarious character can be carried on
simultaneously without interfering with each
other or causing confusion. The whole gigantic
establishment is run so smoothly that delays
which might interfere with the work to be done
are practically unknown and as good as impos
sible, thanks to the genius of Mr. Weidmann
for organization. Another trait of this remark
able man is his endeavor to make his employees
feel that he takes great interest in them, and his
success in doing this. He is ever watchful that
they are well treated, and leaves nothing undone
that can increase the comfort and the happiness
of those whose work shows that they deserve con

sideration. His efforts in this direction are great
ly facilitated by his personality, for a man of
more winning ways, with the engaging courtesy
of a gentleman of the old school, can hardly be
found. To this we must add a vigor and spright-
liness seldom met with in a man of Mr. Weid
mann's years, and it will be understood at once
that his great success was the natural outcome
of his qualities" Mr. Weidmann is a Repub
lican in politics, a member of the Union League
Club and third vice-president of the American
Silk Association. He married in 1870 Miss
Ellenor C. Cheney and has one daughter, Esther.

THEODORE SUTRO, lawyer, was born at
Aachen (Aix-la-Chapelle), Prussia, on March 14,
1845, youngest son of Emanuel and Rosa (War-
endorff) Sutro. His father, a large cloth man
ufacturer and a man of literary and artistic
taste, died in 1847, and three years later Mrs.
Rosa Sutro emigrated with her seven sons and
four daughters to the United States in order
to find a better field for their future, the revolu
tion of 1848 having disturbed business affairs
and prospects in Germany. She was a woman of
rare beauty, intelligence and strength of char
acter, and educated her children with great care.
Theodore Sutro received his education at the
City College of Baltimore, where the family had
located, at Phillips Academy, Exeter, X.H., at
Harvard College, where he graduated with high
honors in 1871, receiving the degree of A.B.,
and at Columbia Law School, New York City,
where he graduated with the degree of LL.B. in
1874, and in the same year was admitted to the
Bar and commenced the practise of law. In 1878
he was admitted to the Bar of the United States
Supreme Court. While at Harvard, although he
stood so high in his clars that he was elected
a member of the Phi Beta Kappa Fraternity,
Mr. Sutro paid his own expenses in an unpre
cedented manner. At the close of his freshman
year, he interrupted his studies for three years
and accepted employment in a large importing
house in Baltimore, after which he returned to
college to complete his studies but at the same
time established a commission business in Bos
ton, the profits of which paid his expenses at
Harvard and for the rest of his law studies. Af
ter he had commenced to practise, Mr. Sutro gave
this business to one of his former employers who
had met with financial reverses. His practise
was successful from the start; he devoted him
self mainly to the interests of corporations and
mercantile houses, at first alone, and later as
member of a law firm to which ex-Governor Ed
ward Salomon of Wisconsin also belonged and

154 SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS

which represented the German and Austrian Gov
ernments as well as many German institutions in
New York City. In 1887 he saved the interests
of the Sutro Tunnel Co. for the stockholders
who were threatened with foreclosure, and the
able manner in which he managed the litigation
and reorganization of the company brought him
much renown. In 1895 ne accepted an appoint
ment as tax commissioner by Mayor Strong, and
served in this capacity for three years, his great
experience as a lawyer proving of much value
to the department. Since then he has been en
gaged in many complex tax and other litigations.
A Democrat in politics, he has been identified
with almost every movement for the betterment
of existing conditions, followed the late Oswald
Ottendorfer as president of the German-Amer
ican Reform Union and was a member of the
Sound Money National Democratic Convention
in 1896, and of the National Democracy and the
State Democracy. Mr. Sutro is known as a pow
erful and convincing orator and has also writ
ten many poems and a number of essays and
pamphlets on questions of taxation, corporation
law, medical jurisprudence, mining, sociology,
politics, as well as general literature. In 1904
some of his occasional letters and poems ad
dressed to his wife were gathered by her in a
volume under the title of "Milestones on Life's
Pathway," and which, though privately printed,
attracted wide attention. He is also a musician
and a connoisseur of art and in 1905 a critical
and historical work from his pen, entitled "Thir
teen Chapters of American History, Represented
by the Edward Moran Series of Thirteen His
torical Marine Paintings," elicited most favora
ble comment. Mr. Sutro is connected with nu
merous clubs and scientific, literary, civic and
other organizations, in most of which he has held
important positions. He has been president of
the Society of Medical Jurisprudence, is a mem
ber of the City and State Bar Associations and
the American Bar Association, of which latter he
is chairman of the Committee on Taxation ; the
International Law Association, the National Tax
Association, the American Political Science As
sociation, Phi Beta Kappa Fraternity, Columbia
University Alumni, the Phillips Exeter Acade
my Alumni, Harvard, Reform, German, Lieder-
kranz, Patria and Drawing-Room clubs ; a fouiT-
der of the Signet Club of Harvard University,
member of the Folk Lore Society, Genealogical
and Biographical Society, West End Association ;
was vice-president of the United Real Estate
Owners' Associations; is precident of the United
German Societies; president of the German-
American Alliance of New York State ; director

of the German Language Society, Association
of German Authors in America, German Social
Scientific Society and a member of the German-
American School Association ; was vice-president
of the Hundred Year Club; president of the
Legal and Medical Aid Society ; president of the
Association for Public Duty; member of the
Metropolitan Museum of Art, Society for the
Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, Oratorio Soci
ety, Association for Improving the Condition of
the Poor and the National Health League. Mr.
Sutro has been especially active in all matters
of interest and benefit to the German-American
population of this country, and has served on
many occasions as their representative. On Oc
tober i, 1884, Mr. Sutro was married to Miss
Florence Edith Clinton, a descendant of the well
known Clinton family of colonial times. Mrs.
Sutro was a most beautiful woman of singular
gifts and accomplishments in all the higher
fields of human activity, and her home was a
center of attraction to distinguished men and
women in all walks of life. She died, much too
early, when scarce forty-one, on April 27, 1906.

CARL LENTZ, lawyer, was born at Bam-
berg in Bavaria on July I, 1845. After attend
ing the schools at Jena and Wiesbaden in Ger
many and receiving a good education, he came to
America when little more than a boy, and on his
sixteenth birthday enlisted for the Civil War.
From July i, 1861, until mustered out in Decem
ber, 1864, he saw almost continual service, was
commissioned first lieutenant in May, 1864, and
severely wounded at the battle of Cedar Creek
on October 19, 1864, losing his right arm. After
having received his honorable discharge, Mr.
Lentz continued his studies at the Columbian Uni
versity at Waslv'ngton. D.C.. passing through the
law school of this institution and graduating in
1873. He settled in Newark, N.J., and engaged
in the general practise of his profession with
great and lasting success. A Republican in poli
tics, he took an active part in public affairs and
served as chairman of the Republican County
Committee of Essex County from 1892 to 1906.
He was also president of the State Board of Tax
ation of New Jersey. Mr. Lentz has always taken
a lively interest in movements either inaugurated
by citizens of German birth or descent, or likely
to increase their welfare and influence. Himself
a German by birth, he has never hesitated to ex
ert himself in the interest of his countrymen
when his assistance could be of benefit. He has
been for some time the president of the North
eastern Saengerbund, an association composed
of the German singing societies in all the states

ADOLPH G. HUPFEL.

155

HENRY EGGERS.

156

SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS 157

between Lake Erie and Chesapeake Bay. In this
capacity Air. Lentz has displayed great tact and
diplomacy, and thereby maintained the harmony
so necessary to the success of an association of
this kind. He is a member of the German Lu
theran Church and was married on October 11,
1876, to Miss Huldah E. Wildrick. One daugh
ter, Mrs. Wilhelmine Lentz Bailey, and one son,
Carl Wildrick Lentz, are the fruits of this union.

RICHARD A. FINN was born in Oelze in
Thuringia, Germany, on February 21, 1856, and
received his education in the public school of his
birthplace until he came to America, when four
teen years of age. Here he attended public school
for about one year in order to acquire a knowl
edge of the English language and then took a
course in a business college. In 1873 Mr. Finn
secured a position with the New Jersey Life In
surance Company which failed in 1877, when he
was appointed a clerk in the controller's office.
In 1881 the chief clerk and cashier of this office
absconded, after having embezzled a large
amount of money, and Mr. Finn was selected
to replace him. Since then he has held these po
sitions under all the successive controllers of the
city of Newark, whether Republicans or Demo
crats, and has in that time handled more than
two hundred millions of dollars. Although com
ing in contact with all kinds of people in his
daily work, Mr. Finn has remained true to the
traditions he brought with him to this country
and, while a patriotic American and a faithful
official of an American city, has not lost his love
for German customs, nor his pride in German
achievement. All his children were educated in
German schools of Newark and speak and write
the language of the Fatherland perfectly. He
seeks his social diversions mainly among his
German compatriots, and is a member of the
Aurora and Germania Singing Societies, the
Newark Turn Verein, German Diogenes Lodge
F. & A. M., and of many other social and benev
olent organizations. Mr. Finn is also secretary
of two building and loan associations and treas
urer of Mt. Washington Lodge K. & L. of
Honor. He takes a lively interest in all German
affairs and is esteemed as a tower of strength in
all movements affecting the German-Americans,
as well as on account of the honor his career
and character have conferred upon his country
men in their new home.

AUGUST GOERTZ, merchant and manufac
turer, was born in Ohligswald near Solingen in
Rhenish Prussia on September 23, 1846. He re
ceived his education in the schools of his native

city and graduated from the high school when
seventeen years old. Like practically the whole
population of the district in which he grew up,
his father was engaged in the business of manu
facturing cutlery and fine metal goods. As soon
as the son had left school, he entered the father's
factory and learned the business from the bot
tom up and as thoroughly as is the custom where
whole families have followed the same calling
for generations, and wholesome pride in the fame
of the goods produced is fully developed. Young
Goertz learned rapidly, but when he reached his
majority, he followed the example of so many
young men to whom the narrow confines of a
small city and the conditions surrounding them
became irksome and emigrated to America in
1867. He settled at Newark, N.J., and readily
found employment, for his skill was indeed ex
traordinary. While he had every reason to be
contented, his ambition to be independent never
left him and in 1881 he decided to strike out for
himself. With two intimate friends he formed
the firm of August Goertz & Co., and began
manufacturing fancy metal goods in a factory
on New Jersey Railroad Avenue. The business
prospered from the start and the small plant soon
proved to be insufficient. In 1885 the firm erected
a new factory on Morris Avenue, which since
then has been repeatedly enlarged. There more
than three hundred working men are kept busy
all the year and improved machinery is constantly
added to increase the output. As a business man
and manufacturer Mr. Goertz is widely known
and the enviable reputation he has acquired shows
what integrity, persistence and sagacity can ac-
compli?h when combined with a thorough knowl
edge of business. At the same time Mr. Goertz-
has taken a great interest in public affairs and
devoted much time to the German-American
school on Beacon Street. He is a Republican but
has never taken an active part in politics. A
great lover of music, it was natural that he joined,
soon after his arrival in Newark, one of the Ger
man singing societies, the Phoenix, as whose
president he served for twelve years. He
is a member of the Arion, the Germania and
the Harmonic, as well as of several other socie
ties. Whenever the Germans of Newark under
took a larger task than usual, Mr. Goertz was
ready with aid and advice. During the great
National Singing Festival of 1891 he acted as
chairman of the reception and prize commit
tees, and at the more recent festival of 1906 he
was unanimously elected president and succeeded
in conducting this immense and difficult enter
prise with so much skill and tact that not a
breath of dissatisfaction was raised. He is one

158 SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS

of the many Germans who came to this country
with not much more than a noble character, a
thorough knowledge of his business, and the firm
determination to succeed, and who have achieved
what they set out to do. Mr. Goertz is vice-
president of the West Side Trust Company, a
member of the Chamber of Commerce and mem
ber of the Board of Directors of the German
Hospital. He was married twice; on January 3,
1872, to Miss Catherine Larouette, and on June
6, 1901, to Mrs. Minnie Noll (nee Dietz). His
first wife gave him three children, Frieda, Paula
and Fred, and Walter and Herbert are the fruits
of his second union.

BENEDICT PRIETH, journalist, was born at
Graun in the Austrian Tyrol on January 7, 1827.
He received a very superior education at the uni
versities of Innsbruck, Graz and Vienna, where
he studied law and received the degree of LL.D.
A man of great knowledge and high attainments,
he preferred the career of a newspaper editor to
the practise of law, and settled in Newark, N.J.,
in 1857, founding the New Jersey Frcic Zeitung,
whose editor he remained until his death in 1879.
His influence soon extended over the whole state
and even beyond its boundaries, and his counsel
was eagerly sought by men interested in public
affairs. A Republican in politics and always
ready to fight for the principles he advocated,
never wavering in his devotion to the cause he
had embraced after carefully examining its right
eousness, he never accepted public office, although
he could easily have secured it. Mr. Prieth did
not only assist his countrymen, the German-
Americans of his state, in every way possible,
but he was of great value to them as a repre
sentative, his exceptional attainments winning for
him the esteem and admiration of the whole com
munity, thus increasing the influence of the ele
ment with which he was identified. He was un
doubtedly one of the best and most powerful
journalists German immigration has given to the
United States, and his devotion to his ideals was
instrumental in improving the tone of public dis
cussion and of everything in which he took an
interest. He lived to see the paper to which he
had devoted his life's work become a powerful
institution. Married in 1860 to Miss Theodora-
Sautermeister, he left five children, Benedict and
Edwin Prieth, Mrs. Henry Thielen, Mrs. Charles
A. Feick and Mrs. Lothar W. Faber.

JOHN B. OELKERS, manufacturer, was born
at Algermissen near Hildesheim, Province Han
over in Germany, on December 17, 1846, and re
ceived his education in the parochial school of

his birthplace and later in a private school where
students of the Gymnasium Josephinum in Hil
desheim, who prepare themselves for a career as
teachers, give instruction. At an early age he
learned the trade of damask weaving from his
father and was later on apprenticed to the mer
cantile house of Ferdinand Meyer & Co. in
Braunschweig, where he had to attend a com
mercial school twice a week. Having thus re
ceived a thorough education in every sense of
the word, Mr. Oelkers decided to emigrate to
America, where he arrived in 1864, not yet
eighteen years of age. Not afraid of hard work,
he turned to what he could find, and was em
ployed for some time in an iron foundry. In
1868 he formed a partnership with his friend,
Christian Deppe, and established a factory for
variety wood work and ivory articles. When
celluloid was discovered and the use of this ma-
-terial became general, the firm, with clear per
ception of the possibilities, discontinued the mak
ing of ivory articles and used henceforth cel
luloid. Mr. Oelkers has been very successful
in his business, using his knowledge to great ad
vantage and quickly establishing a reputation for
honesty and reliability, but has found time to
devote a considerable part of his energies to pub
lic affairs. A Democrat in politics, he served for
many years as treasurer of the Democratic Com
mittee of Essex County, but resigned when Will
iam J. Bryan was nominated in 1896, and joined
the Gold Democrats, attending the convention at
Indianapolis that nominated Palmer and Buck-
ner, as a delegate. He has been a member of the
Board of Education of the city of Newark for
seven years and in 1904 was appointed member
of the Board of Fire Commissioners. Mr. Oel
kers belongs to many benevolent and social or
ganizations and is very active in German af
fairs, serving as first vice-president of the United
Singers of Newark for seventeen years, and as a
director of the Northeastern Saengerbund for
twelve years. He is one of the most prominent
figures in German Catholic circles and has de
voted much time and energy to their affairs, fill
ing the office of state president of the German
Catholic Associations of New Jersey. For the
last five years he has been president of the Ger
man Catholic Central Federation of the United
States, an association extending over all the
states of the Union and composed of close on to
one hundred and twenty thousand members. Mr.
Oelkers was married twice : to Miss Mary Helene
Schmitt, born in Newark as the daughter of Ger
man parents, who gave him six children, of
whom two boys and one daughter are alive, and
after her death to Miss Elizabeth Mary Jackes,

DAVID MAYER.

159

FREDERICK JOSEPH.

160

SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS 161

also born in America of German parents, whose
seven children, five boys and two girls, are liv
ing. At his home in Newark, Mr. Oelkers is
respected and looked up to by the people of all
classes and nationalities, regardless of their de
scent or religious belief. Although a positive
and consistent Catholic, he is thoroughly liberal
in his views and actions where others are con
cerned, conceding to everybody the right of full
freedom in his convictions and opinions. No bet
ter proof of his popularity and the esteem he
enjoys can be cited than the fact that he was
elected a member of the Board of Education
three times in succession with steadily increas
ing majorities in a district where hardly ten per
cent of the voters are Catholics.

HENRY EGGERS, merchant, was born in the
province of Hanover in Germany on December
31, 1850, and educated in the schools of his birth
place, supplementing his education by a course
in the evening schools of New York City, where
he graduated. At the age of seventeen, Mr. Eg-
gers decided to seek his fortunes in America and
landed in New York on August 13, 1868. He
found employment as bookkeeper in the whole
sale grocery house conducted by John H. Brett-
mann and remained there until 1872, when he ac
cepted a position as office manager with Mahnken
& Morsehouse, likewise wholesale grocers, being
promoted after a short time to the position of
sales manager. After a few years he decided
to make himself independent and on April i, 1879,
started in the wholesale grocery business under
the firm name of Mohlman & Eggers, this being
changed on May I, 1884, to Henry Eggers & Co.
The business grew rapidly to large proportions
and has for many years amounted to several
millions a year. This is due principally to Mr.
Eggers's intimate knowledge of, and to his con
stant devotion to, the business. He declined all
offers to become interested in banks or other en
terprises, believing that a director should really
direct, and knowing full well that he could not
spare the time to watch other affairs without
neglecting his own interests. Mr. Eggers is a
gentleman of the old school and believes in the
strictest kind of honesty. His maxim, that six
teen ounces and not a particle less make a pound,
governs all his transactions, and nothing can
swerve him from the path of duty. He is just as
firmly convinced that a man can only succeed if
he does not allow other interests to interfere with
his work. True to this belief, he does not spend
much time in clubs or society, but devotes al
most every hour he can spare from his business
to his family, where he is the beloved head of a

charming and contented circle. His charity is as
unostentatious as extended and while he is a
member of and contributor to many hospital and
other charitable associations, hardly a day passes
without some person or some worthy cause re
ceiving substantial aid from him. Air. Eggers is
a member of Grace German Lutheran Church,
the Arion Society, the Columbia Yacht Club and
the Produce Exchange. He was married on Feb
ruary 12, 1885, to Miss Hermenia Schmidt and
has six children, Hedwig, Henry who is associ
ated with his father in business, Hermine, Her
man, Helen and Elsie.

HANS HOHNER, merchant and manufac
turer, was born at Trossingen in Wuerttemberg
on April 25, 1870. His father, Matthias Hohner,
born at Trossingen on December 12, 1833, was a
clockmaker by trade, manufacturing his clocks
during the winter and traveling during the spring
and summer through Southern Germany and
Austria in order to sell them. The hardships he
encountered and the small profit he realized from
this method of earning his living induced him to
look out for something more promising. He was
in the habit of carrying a few harmonicas or
mouth-organs with his stock of clocks, and found
that they were more easily disposed of. Slowly
the conviction grew in him that he could do
a much larger and more profitable business by
devoting himself entirely to harmonicas if he
could only procure them more cheaply by manu
facturing them on a larger scale. He put his
idea into practise in 1857 when he ceased making
clocks and started manufacturing harmonicas ex
clusively. His facilities were naturally limited
but he found it very simple to produce the neces
sary tools, owing to his skill as a mechanic. Up
to that time the making of harmonicas had been
treated as a secret, but Mr. Hohner took a
broader view of the matter and took into his
employ everybody who wished to learn the trade.
The sequel proved that he was right, for the
business started in so humble a way has assumed
gigantic proportions, and has changed the little
village of Trossingen, where formerly only a few
clockmakers carried on a small and unimportant
industry, into a busy industrial center. From the
very beginning Mr. Hohner followed two princi
ples strictly : Firstly, that all goods turned out
by his factory must be perfect and first class in
every respect, and secondly, that the process of
manufacturing must be simplified to increase the
rapidity of the output, and to reduce the cost.
One of the first improvements he introduced con
sisted in cutting the metal plates from large
sheets, instead of casting them singly as jiad been

162 SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS

the custom. He also had his name stamped upon
every instrument that left the factory, and the
excellence of his goods is best proved by the
fact that in 1866, less than ten years after he had
started his factory, part of a shipment of har
monicas was rejected by an American buyer be
cause, probably in consequence of an oversight,
the name of the manufacturer had not been
stamped upon the instruments. The buyer de
clared that harmonicas without the name Hohner
were unsalable. In 1880 a new large factory
was erected at Trossingen, and the first steam
plant in that village installed. Later on branch
factories were built in several of the neighbor
ing villages and the establishment of Frederick
Hotz in Knittlingen in Saxony, which is reputed
to have been the first harmonica factory in the
world, was purchased. All the branches were
equipped with modern and labor-saving ma
chinery. In September, 1900, Mr. Matthias Hoh
ner retired from active business, after forty-three
years of unceasing work. He placed the estab
lishment in the hands of his five sons, Jacob,
Matthias, Jr., Andreas, Hans and William, who
have continued it on the same lines. A concep
tion of its growth may be formed from the fact
that it was started in 1857 with one working man
and turned out six hundred and fifty harmonicas
in the first year, while in 1907 it employed two
thousand and fifty hands and produced nearly
seven million instruments, besides one hundred
and fifty thousand accordeons, the manufacture
of which was begun in 1903 in a factory especially
erected for this purpose. Matthias Hohner, the
founder of the firm which now enjoys a world
wide reputation, died on December n, 1902, be
loved and mourned by all who knew him. He
was a member of the Chamber of Commerce and
a trustee of the National Association of Musi
cal Instrument Makers, mayor of his native city
for six years and member of the Board of Coun
cil for thirty years. The nomination for sena
tor offered to him by the National Liberal Par
ty of Germany he had declined. In the mean
time branch offices had been erected in New
York, London, Toronto, Warsaw and Vienna.
The fourth son of the founder, Hans Hohner,
took charge of the New York office, the most
important of all, for America had from the start
taken a large part of the output. His headquar
ters were at first at 354 Broadway, but were moved
to 475 Broadway after the building mentioned had
been destroyed by fire. Mr. Hans Hohner was
educated in the schools of his native city and
the High School of Commerce at Stuttgart, where
he graduated with honors. Since 1890 he has,
with short interruptions, been a re'ident of

New York City and succeeded not only in con
tinually extending the business of the firm but
also in making many warm friends. He was mar
ried in 1893 to Miss Caroline H. Birk, and is a
member of the Arion Society.

CHARLES CHRISTIAN WEHRUM was one
of those Germans who have achieved success in
America entirely by their own efforts, and who
have surmounted obstacles which only excep
tional qualities can deal with. He was born at
Pirmasens in the Rhenish Palatinate on October
I, 1841, and came to America in January, 1852,
after having attended the schools of his native
city for a few years. His parents settled in
Third Street, near Avenue A, New York City,
and the boy was sent to Public School No. 13 in
Houston Street. When he was thirteen years old
his mother died, and he went to East Cambridge
for one year to learn the art of wood carving.
Returning from school, he worked for four
years at making gilt mouldings, and was for a
while associated with his stepfather in the deco
rating business. At the outbreak of the Civil
War, young Wehrum, hardly nineteen years old,
enlisted at Fort Warren in the Twelfth Massa
chusetts Infantry, commanded by Colonel Flet
cher Webster, the only son of the great Daniel
Webster, who had outlived the father. After
the two months for which he originally enlisted
had expired he reenlisted and took part in every
campaign of his regiment until he was mustered
out with the rank of captain in July, 1864. Dur
ing that time he saw a great deal of active ser
vice and participated in thirty-three battles. At
Antietam he was severely wounded but rejoined
his command as soon as he could leave the hos
pital, and was commissioned adjutant on account
of his soldierly qualities and high order of in
telligence. He was again wounded at Gettysburg
but took part in the campaigns under General
Grant until mustered out. The value of his ser
vices is eloquently attested by the following sen
tence, added by his colonel to his discharge: "In
character a brave and excellent officer, distin
guished for energetic attention to his duties in
camp or field, always reliable, always at his post
of duty." The young captain — for he was only
twenty-three years old — returned to New York
and entered the employ of a firm dealing in lum
ber, some years later known as C. W. Allcott
& Co. Here, too, he was "always reliable, al
ways at his post of duty," and rose from step to
step, until eight years later he was admitted to
partnership. Under his management the firm
grew to be one of the largest in its line in the
city, and Mr. Wehrum amassed a fortune large

HEINRICH CONRIED.

163

HUGO SOHMEK.

164

ADOLPH C. HOTTENROTH.

165

CHARLES VINCENT FORNES.

166

SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS 167

enough to permit him to retire in 1889. This
did not mean to him that he should live out his
life in idleness but he had now the time and
opportunity to devote himself to matters that
had always appealed to him. He became a stu
dent of the Civil War and wrote a number of
monographs dealing with different events and
phases. Among them are a sketch treating the
beginning of the war, an exhaustive study of the
great battles, separate papers on the battles of
Antietam, Gettysburg, Chancellorsville, the Wil
derness and Spottsylvania Court House, a treatise
covering the actions of the Army of the Poto
mac after Gettysburg and a sketch of the end
of the war, including personal reminiscences.
Many of these papers were read before organiza
tions of veterans and other associations, and in
a series of lectures in the Normal College of the
City of New York Mr. Wehrum went over the
same ground before large and enthusiastic audi
ences. While never active in politics and de
cidedly independent in the treatment of all public
questions, Mr. Wehrum was appointed a com
missioner of education by Mayor Grant in 1891.
In this capacity he made a brilliant record. He
devoted practically his whole time to the dis
charge of his duties and displayed such syste
matic and practical activity that he was soon rec
ognized as one of the ablest members of the
board. He fought with energy and insistence for
the continuation of instruction in the German lan
guage in the public schools which was threat
ened by some of the authorities on the ground
that the knowledge of more than one language is
of the greatest benefit and an important educa
tional factor, and that in a city with so large a
population speaking German it was a matter of
course that this language should be selected. He
took the initiative in the movement to secure
pensions for teachers who were compelled to re
tire on account of advanced age, and to his ef
forts the success of this meacure was due. When
the bill finally passed the Legislature Governor
Flower expressed his admiration to Commis
sioner Wehrum for the energy with which he
had purhed it until it became a law. He was re-
appointed by Mayor Strong but resigned before
the expiration of his term in October, 1896, on
account of ill health, to the great regret of all
friends of the public schools. Mr. Wehrum was
married on May 26, 1868, to Miss Elizabeth
Schumacher of Buffalo, who died on November
25, 1905, and left him seven children, six sons
and one daughter. He was a member of the
Twelfth Regiment Massachusetts Association,
Reno Post G.A.R., St. John's Guild, German Hos-
• pital Association, German Society, Presbyterian

Hospital, Metropolitan Mmeum of Art, Amer
ican Museum of Natural History and the Loyal
League, also a Mason of Eastern Star Lodge No.
227 and Empire Chapter No. 170. His death oc
curred March n, 1908.

EDWARD PAUL REICHHELM, manufac
turer, was born at Striegau in Silesia, Germany,
on November 13, 1843, and came to America with
his parents in 1848, when five years old. He re
ceived his education in a country school and later
in Dr. Dulon's German-American Academy, one
of the first German-American schools in this
country and justly celebrated for its excellence.
After graduation he studied mechanical engi
neering at Cooper Institute at night, while ap
prenticed to the firm of A. & F. Brown at the
age of sixteen, to learn the trade of machinist.
When the war broke out, young Reichhelm's en
thusiasm induced him to run away from home
and to enlist in the Third Missouri Infantry on
September 5, 1861. He rapidly gained promotion
and was advanced from grade to grade, until he
received a commission as lieutenant in the Fifty-
first United States Colored Infantry, being ap
pointed regimental adjutant and mustered out on
June 16, 1866, with the rank of captain. Mr.
Reichhelm saw hard and severe service and took
part in twenty-three battle?, among them Pea
Ridge and the taking of Vicksburg. He was
wounded several times and repeatedly commended
for bravery upon the battlefield, at Pea ridge,
Arkansas Post, Chickasaw Bluffs and the assault
upon Vicksburg on May 22, 1863. After re
turning from the war Mr. Reichhelm was em
ployed as a clerk until 1873, when he established
himself in the business of manufacturing and sell
ing mechanics' tools. In 1876 the firm of E. P.
Reichhelm & Co. was founded and began busi
ness at 65 Nassau Street, and in 1886 Mr. Reich-
helm organized the American Gas Furnace Com
pany, of which he is president, and which is en
gaged in utilizing several of his inventions for
the better use of gas in mechanical heating proc
esses. The plant of this concern is located at
Elizabeth, N.J., and employs many skilled me
chanics. The system of heating invented by Mr.
Reichhelm has been adopted by many of the sci
entific departments of the United States Gov
ernment, especially by the Bureau of Standards,
the Mints and the Arsenals. It is al?o exten
sively used by scientific schools and colleges,
among them Columbia University, Stevens Insti
tute, University of Minnesota, McGill University
of Montreal, Cornell University and many oth
ers. It has found its way abroad and is in use
in the British Mint, the British Arsenal, the Im-

168 SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS

perial German Gun Factory at Spandau and in
the plants of large private concerns like Siemens
& Halske of Berlin. The company has dealings
with practically all the large firms in this line in
the United States, as the Westinghouse Com
pany, the General Electric Co., U.S. Steel Cor
poration and many others. Mr. Reichhelm has
received many medals and awards in recognition
of the value of this system of heating, among
them the John Scott Legacy medal of the Frank
lin Institute of Philadelphia, several medals from
the American Institute and a number of exposi
tion prizes. In 1900 Mr. Reichhelm established
the American-Swiss File & Tool Company at
Elizabeth, N.J., for the purpose of making only
the finest grade of files which, up to that time,
had been exclusively supplied by Swiss file ma
kers who alone were able to turn out the finer
grades. This new enterprise was based upon a
wide experience of treating steel under heat, and
a long series of experiments, lasting over four
years, but evolving new methods in making files
which resulted in the production of the best files
in the world. This was quickly recognized, and
at the St. Louis Exposition in 1904 Mr. Reich-
helm received the first prize, a gold medal, for
the files he exhibited. Mr. Reichhelm is a re-
ident of Hudson County, N.J., is an independent
Republican and takes an active interest in all
movements for good government and the better
ment of existing conditions. He is president of
the Park Commission of Bayonne, a member of
the Masonic Fraternity, Loyal Legion, Cooper
Union Alumni Association, G.A.R. Post Geo.
H. Thomas No. 29 of New Jersey, the Arion
Society, Schubert Glee Club and Cosmos Club
of Jersey City. Mr. Reichhelm attends the First
Reformed Church of Bayonne. Of his five chil
dren, three are alive : two sons who are associ
ated in business with the father, and one unmar
ried daughter. Mr. Reichhelm takes an occasional
trip to Europe, but likes most to spend his leisure
time in reading and studying. His favorite sub
ject is political economy, and he finds great
pleasure in evolving inventions and designing new
methods that tend to improve the products of
his factories, which enjoy the reputation of be
ing the best of their kind.

LEOPOLD STERN, manufacturer and im
porter and senior member of the firm of Stern
Brothers & Company, was born at Monzingen,
Germany. Thirty-seven years ago Mr. Stern
came to New York, where he has resided con
tinuously ever since. He has always taken great
interest in public affairs. In 1901 he was ap
pointed by Governor Roosevelt a commissioner

to the Pan-American Exposition at Buffalo. He
has always been identified with the Republican
party and in 1896 was a McKinley elector; he
is a trustee of Bellevue and allied hospitals ; a
director of Market and Fulton National Bank,
the Great Eastern Casualty Company; as well as
a trustee and director in a number of other in
stitutions. Mr. Stern is a member of the Freund-
schaft and Republican clubs ; a member of the
Chamber of Commerce, also a member and trus
tee of Temple Beth El. He married in 1883 and
has two sons, Nathan J. and J. Ernest. Mr. Stern
is a man of unassuming manners, of an agreeable
personality and is charitable to a marked degree.

JACOB WOLFGANG MACK, merchant, was
born at Fiirth in Bavaria on February 25, 1845,
and educated in the schools of his native city. He
came to New York in 1863 and subsequently en
gaged in the machinery business with pronounced
success. Mr. Mack has taken a lively interest in
public affairs and in almost every movement in
augurated to reform the administration of the
city. His zeal in this direction has brought him
a wide acquaintance, and his assistance has been
as eagerly sought as readily given. He is of
studious disposition, fond of literature and ex
ceptionally well read, and an accomplished lin
guist, having studied and learned almost all im
portant languages, some of them during the time
he could spare from his business. His accom
plishments, and the attention he had paid to
educational matters, led to his appointment as
commissioner of education. He served two terms
in this capacity and was one of those to whom
the city of New York is indebted for the i"'ro-
duction of modern methods in its public schools
and the extension of the whole educational sys
tem. Mr. Mack is a member of the Harmonic,
German Liederkranz, National Arts, City Re
form, Lawyers' and Century Country clubs, the
Chamber of Commerce, Metropolitan Museum of
Art, Museum of Natural History, Geographical
Society and many other social and scientific as
sociations, as well as vice-president of the Society
for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children.

JOHN MARTIN OTTO.— Among those who
have been instrumental in the progressiveness
of Williamsburg, New York City, the subject
of this sketch has been foremost in his support,
not only in an industrial way, but has devoted
considerable time and energy to all matters per
taining to the development and welfare of that
section of Greater New York in which he resides.
Mr. Otto was born at Thalheim, Wuerttemberg,
Germany, November 18, 1843, where he received

OTTO WISSNER.

169

WILLIAM PETER.

170

JOHN CHRISTIAN GLASER HUPFEL.

171

CARL FREDERICK GOEPEL.

172

SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS 173

his early education, and only schooling, in the
German public institutions, which have always
been noted for their thoroughness. He entered
upon his life's work at an early age, taking up
the trade of cornice manufacturing, sheet iron
working, etc. He was an apprentice in that line
for three years and every spare moment was
utilized for profiting himself in the vocation he
had chosen. It was not until 1860 that Mr. Otto
decided to come to this country and establish a
business for himself, but the undertaking was not
accomplished until 1865, when he founded his
present establishment, which is located at Xo. 46
Maujer Street, Brooklyn. It was not long be
fore his personality brought him many friends
and his business interests grew rapidly. When
the Civil War broke out he was one of the first
to offer his services; he enlisted and saw active
service throughout the entire campaign. He was
honorably discharged from service. It was im
mediately thereafter that he began devoting his
entire time and attention to the establishing of
his present business. In 1872 he received patents
on "Otto's Iron Surface Coolers and Swimmers,"
which, in 1876, received the highest award at
the World's Exhibition at Philadelphia, and are
the only ones so honored. These coolers of which
he is the sole manufacturer and patentee, have
many advantages over all other surface coolers.
Formerly it was an often repeated complaint that
surface coolers always leaked and could only be
kept tight by a great expenditure of time and
money. By using these improved and patented
surface coolers, all these difficulties are overcome.
One great improvement consists in the arrange
ment of T-irons under the joints, between the
several sheets of iron, which constitute the bot
tom of said pan, in such a manner that by such
T-irons the bottom is strengthened and the edges
of the sheets of iron are prevented from bulging
up, thereby producing a flat and even bottom,
which is a great desideratum in cooling pans. The
rim of the pan is formed by bending the extreme
edges of the outer sheets upward to the desired
height, and said rim is strengthened by angle-
irons, which are riveted to it, extending through
out its entire length and width. By means of
these T-irons the joints between the several
sheets are rendered tight and perfectly flat, the
sheets being effectually prevented from bulging
up, so that a cooling pan is obtained which is
superior in strength and durability to cooling
pans as heretofore constructed, and in which the
operation of cooling can be carried on with ease
and facility. The swimmers, as made by Mr.
Otto, were in use for some years in many
of the large breweries in New York, Brooklyn,

Newark, Boston, Union Hill, Staten Island, etc.
These swimmers are made out of XXXX tin,
are easy to handle and so formed that they need
no special weights to keep them in proper posi
tion. They are no doubt the best, most dura
ble, practicable and cheapest swimmers that are
manufactured. Their form also gives them the
advantage above all others, that they balance
themselves and do not sink. Throughout his long
and successful career he has always been held in
the highest esteem by his fellow citizens and
through honest endeavor and hard work he has
built up one of Brooklyn's largest enterprises. In
politics he has always been a stanch Republican;
his first vote was cast for Abraham Lincoln in
1864. Aside from exercising his franchise right,
Mr. Otto has never aspired to hold any public
office ; he has always contributed liberally to the
Republican cause in the securing of good gov
ernment. Mr. Otto is identified with many fra
ternal and social orders ; most prominent among
them are Mansfield Post of Brooklyn, Coper
nicus Lodge No. 545, Masonic Order, a member
and trustee of Williamsburg Masonic Board of
Relief; a director of the German Savings Bank
of Brooklyn, Arion Singing Society and of the
German Lutheran Church. It was during the
early part of his business life that he met Miss
Agnes Roehr and on the eleventh of November,
1866, they were married. To this union have been
born four children : three sons, Martin, Frederick,
Carl L., living, and a son and one daughter now
deceased. Mr. Otto has given his sons a very
careful training for their life work, with a thor
ough education. He has been rewarded by seeing
them develop into successful business men. Carl
studied architecture at Columbia College and com
pleted his profession in the Paris Ecole des Beaux
Arts, from which he graduated. Upon his return
to this country he opened offices at 130 Fulton
Street, New York City, and has since then been
identified with many important architectural en
terprises. He has constructed several large
churches in Brooklyn, the German Presbyterian,
corner Bushwick Avenue and Ralph Street, Ger
man Baptist Church, corner Evergreen and Wood
bine Streets, and several others, and he gives
every promise of becoming one of the best in his
chosen profession.

CHARLES ENGELHARD, merchant and
manufacturer, was born at Hanau-on-the-Main,
on March 8, 1867. His father was Julius Engel
hard, a diamond merchant at Hanau, who died
in 1897. His mother, who is still living, was Su-
sanne Holzmann, daughter of Philip Holzmarm,
the founder of the firm of Philip Holzmann &

174 SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS

Co. at Frankfort, one of the largest building and
engineering concerns in the world. Mr. Engel
hard received his first education at the Realschule
of his native city, but was, on account of delicate
health, entrusted to the care of the Reverend
Seeger at Seckmauern in the Odenwald, where
he was given private instruction. He completed
his education at the Bender Institute at Wein-
heim in Baden and passed the examination secur
ing the right for one year's voluntary service in
the Army. After graduation, Mr. Engelhard
worked as apprentice in the banking-house of A.
Mumm & Co. at Frankfort-on-the-Main for two
and one-half years, when he went to London
where he was employed as clerk for two years.
He then returned to Hanau, assisting his father
in his business until in 1891 he came to America
and established himself in New York as the
representative of W. C. Heraeus, platinum works,
at Hanau. This is one of the largest establish
ments of its kind and known all over the world.
One of the members of the firm is the brother-
in-law of Mr. Engelhard. His activity is by no
means confined to this branch. Under the firm
name of Charles Engelhard, Mr. Engelhard does
a large importing business on IT'S own account, and
is the president of the American Platinum Works
at Newark, N.J., a director of Baker & Co., Inc.,
and president of the Hanovia Chemical & Mfg.
Co. of the same city ; director and treasurer of
the Glorieux Smelting & Refining Works of
Irvington, N.J., and director of the American
Electric Furnace Co. of New York City. Mr.
Engelhard is a member of the German Club, Ger
man Liederkranz, German Society, Legal Aid
Society, Chemists' Club, American Chemical So
ciety, German Hospital Society, St. Marks' Hos
pital Society, New York Diet Kitchen Association
and many other benevolent organizations, and
belongs to the Dutch Reformed Church. His
paternal grandfather was the last teacher of the
Dutch Reformed School of the Huguenot set
tlement at Hanau-on-the-Main. On April 18,
1900, Mr. Engelhard was married to Miss Emy
Canthal, eldest daughter of Commercienrath Can-
thai of Hanau.

EMIL WELTE, importer and manufacturer,
was born at Voehrenbach in the Black Forest m
Baden on April 20, 1841. He received his early
education in the schools of his birthplace and
learned the trade of making orchestrions in the
factory of his father, attending at the same time
the Gewerbeschule. A further musical instruc
tion followed by Hof Kappell, Meistex Joseph
Straus in Karlsruhe rrT~rTafmonick of instrumen-
tation. The father, Michael Welte, had been

educated by an uncle who was secretary to Bishop
von Wesenberg but had been transferred to a
small town on account of his liberal political
views. Mr. Welte's uncle was a man of superior
attainments and instructed the nephew in music,
physics, natural history, mathematics, etc. At
that time the industry of making musical clocks
striking chimes at every quarter of an hour was
carried on extensively in the Black Forest and
young Welte used his knowledge in improving
the rather primitive product by enlarging the
scale and inserting two or more stops for the
pipes. In 1845 he received an order from one
of the traders who visited the district once a
year to buy clocks, for as complete a musical
clock as he could make. He worked on this in
strument for three years and succeeded in pro
ducing something entirely new, imitating all the
different instruments of a complete orchestra, in
cluding the bass drum, snare drum and the tri
angle and playing Beethoven's symphonies as well
as overtures, opera selections, marches and dan
ces. The instrument was exhibited in 1849 under
the protectorate of Prince Fuerstenberg and met
with enormous success, the press calling it an or
chestrion, which designation has remained. Mi
chael Welte continued to improve his invention
and orders increased, but for a long time orches
trions were built only when ordered and practi
cally all the orders came from foreign countries.
In 1865 it became necessary to send a representa
tive to the United States and the oldest son, Emil
Welte, was selected. He opened a store and
showroom on Fifth Avenue and soon did a
thriving business. When he found that the
wooden cylinders could not withstand the change
of climate, he invented the pneumatic action
worked by paper rolls in 1878 to 1883 for which
he secured patents and which have since then
been successfully employed with other instru
ments. A complete orchestrion represents all the
instruments of an orchestra from the deepest
note of the contra basso to the highest note of
the piccolo. Six hundred labia pipes represent
the full string quartette, the flute and piccolo,
trombone, bassoon, trumpet, English horn, clario
nets and oboes represented by one hundred and
seventy reed pipes, and by the combination with
the labia pipes, the character and the individu
ality of the orchestral instruments are repre
sented in a most realistic manner. Besides these,
all the other instruments perform in perfect pre
cision, and in harmony, piano and forte as re
quired. The orchestrion music rolls reproduce
practically every piece of music played by an or
chestra. The sale of these instruments has in
creased immensely and many of the crowned

JOHX EICHLER.

175

JACOB RUPPERT.

176

HERMAN JOSEPH.

177

RUDOLPH J. SCHAEFER.

178

SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS 179

heads of Europe and other continents, as well as
men of the highest standing in every country of
the globe have bought them. Mr. Emil Welte is a
member of the German Liederkranz. In 1871 he
married Miss Emma E. Foerstner of Norwich,
Conn. His son, Carl M-, is associated in business
with the father and both associated with M.
Welte and Soehne in Feiburg, Baden.

GEORGE C. DRESSEL, manufacturer, was
born in 1828 at Frankfurt-on-the-Main and re
ceived his education in the schools of his native
city. When he reached his majority, Mr. Dressel
decided to find a larger sphere of activity and
emigrated to America, where he arrived in 1849.
He had taken passage on a sailing vessel, the day
of elegant and fast steamers not yet having ar
rived, and the trip was connected with consid
erable hardship. But the young man came full
of hope and energy and with the firm resolve to
succeed. He entered the employ of the New
York Central & Hudson River Railroad, after
working for some time as mechanic, and remained
with them for eighteen years in the capacity of
expert mechanic. In 1881 he resigned his posi
tion and entered into partnership with his young
est son, Frederick W. Dressel, under the firm
name of George C. Dressel & Co. A small fac
tory was erected on the north side of One Hun
dred and Seventy-third Street which still stands
and forms not only an interesting landmark but
also shows how small the beginning of the pres
ent immense plant was. The firm started by man
ufacturing a practical lunch satchel for railroad
men and mechanics. The manufacture of signal
lamps was later begun and this venture met with
such success that the manufacture of lunch boxes
was discontinued and the entire time and energy
devoted to making and improving all kinds of
lamps used in railroading. The eldest son, Charles
H. Dressel, became a member of the firm in 1892,
and the original establishment proved too small.
A tract of land on Park, then Vanderbilt, Av
enue was acquired in 1893 and the present fac
tory erected in the following year. The new
plant was equipped with the best and most mod
ern machinery that could be secured and the firm
began to further extend its field by the manu
facture of locomotive headlights. All the mem
bers of the firm being experts in mechanics
and of an inventive turn of mind, they constantly
made improvements and secured patents which
proved of great value. Many of the articles man
ufactured by the concern have been accepted as
standard by the largest railroads in the United
States. On January 15, 1895, the firm was in
corporated under the laws of the state of New

York under the name of the Dressel Railway
Lamp Works, with George C. Dressel as presi
dent, Frederick W. Dressel as vice-president and
Charles H. Dressel as secretary. When Mr. George
C. Dressel died on July 3, 1899, after an illness
extending over a number of years, Frederick W.
Dressel was elected president and Charles H.
Dressel vice-president, in which capacity they still
serve. The products of the firm have been sold
and are used all over the United States and Can
ada, and in recent years they have also been sold
to Mexico, Cuba, South America, China and
Japan. The continual growth of the demand for
the goods made by the firm led to plans for an
other increase of the plant and the addition of
new products, such as electrical goods, navy lan
terns, automobile lamps, etc. The large factory
is run in a most systematical way, which makes it
a model establishment. The basement is used as
a storeroom for the material. On the first floor
we find the machine shop, press room, packing
and shipping departments and offices. The lighter
grades of work, such as spinning, assembling and
japanning, are done on the second floor, while
the third floor is entirely used for the manufac
ture of locomotive headlights, with the exception
of some space occupied by the buffing, plating
and polishing departments. Each department is
practically independent, being managed by a fore
man who is responsible to the firm direct, every
item of expense being charged to the department
requiring the outlay. In the same way salaries
and running expenses are divided. In this way
the management knows at all times how the sep
arate departments are conducted, while at the
same time the different foremen are compelled
to use their knowledge and ability in the inter
est of the business to the fullest extent. Sev
eral years ago the firm added its own foundry
and tinning plant to the factory, enabling it to
construct every part of their product except
steel, glass and sheet metals. The magnitude of
the operations may be understood from the fact
that while every railroad lamp serves practically
the same purpose, almost every railroad has some
system that cannot or is not used by others. Thus
the styles and colors of the lenses alone are very
numerous and complicate what otherwise would
be a comparatively simple operation. The main
office is located in the factory building but it
has been found necessary to establish another
office in the business part of the city and branches
in Chicago and Atlanta.

FREDERICK JOSEPH, president of the New
York Butchers' Dressed Meat Company, was born-
January 31, 1851, at Reichelsheim, Darmstadt,.

180 SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS

where he received his primary education in the
local schools. Later, Mr. Joseph took a three
years' course of study in the Boys' Seminary at
Pfungstadt und Michelstadt. At the age of four
teen he went to Frankfurt, where he remained
for one year, after which he returned to his na
tive place and engaged in business pursuits with
his father, a gentleman who was widely and
favorably known in that section of Germany as
one of the largest owners and buyers of cattle,
and with whom he remained until he was sev
enteen years of age. It was under the careful
business tuition of the elder Jo.eph (the father
of the subject of this sketch) that he obtained
valuable knowledge of many of the details which
so practically fitted him in his subsequent career
after coming to America which occurred in 1869.
When he arrived he had but limited capital.
After remaining a few months in New York
City he went West, locating at Chicago, 111.,
where he obtained a position as bookkeeper and
manager in a brewery of that city, and where
he only remained for a period of one year (1870-
1871). In the latter named year he went to At
tica, Ind., where he remained intermittently until
1877. During the greater portion of the time
between 1871 and 1878, however, Mr. Joseph
spent in travel throughout the Far West section
of the United States, and along the great cattle
ranges where he obtained practical details of
the cattle and live stock business, adding it to
his already great storehouse of knowledge. Dur
ing this period he made Chicago his headquarters,
but transacted the greater portion of his busi
ness in New York City. In the early part of
1878 Mr. Joseph located permanently at New
York City, residing in East Fifty-first Street. On
February twenty-fourth of that year, when at the
age of twenty-seven, he married Miss Fannie
Schwarzchild, daughter of the late Joseph
Schwarzchild, Esq., who was the founder of the
great packing-house of that name, and of which
he was the head up to the time of his retirement
in 1885. At that time Mr. Joseph assumed the
active duties of Mr. Schwarzchild, which con
tinued until the winter of 1907, at which time he
resigned, he having filled the po'ition of vice-
president of the company from the time of its
incorporation up to the above year. The close
family and business relations from this source
also enabled Mr. Joseph to still further increase
his knowledge of the dressed beef and provision
business, which, coupled with his own practical
ideas, is in a great measure responsible for the
splendid success he has made of his commercial
life. For twenty-nine years Mi. Joseph, repre
senting his large interests in the Schwarzchild

and Sulzberger Company, distinguished himself
as the practical man of the concern. His great
business sagacity and foresight were splendid
assets which enabled the house to extend its op
erations and multiply its output. His name
then, as to-day, stands a synonym of all that is
authoritative in the packing industry of this
country and Europe. On May I, 1907, Mr. Joseph
was elected president of the New York Butchers'
Dressed Meat Company. Since his election to
the presidency of the company, its output and
sales have tripled. Judging from the past career
of its president, coupled with his great executive
ability, it is safe to assert that within a period
of a few years, this concern will be one of the
most extensive of its kind in this country. Mr.
and Mrs. Joseph have five children living, viz. :
Moses Henry, Leo, Hugo, Adele, now Mrs. Leon
ard B. Shoenfeld of New York City, and Beat
rice. Mrs. Joseph's father, the late Joseph
Schwarzchild, Esq., was active in the German
Revolution of 1848 and was a warm friend of
the late Carl Schurz. Mr. Joseph is not a club
man but is one of the splendid characters which
a clo e home life moulds. He is fond of travel
and for the past thirty years has made an an
nual tour of Europe. During his long associ
ation in the commercial world he has made many
friends whose numbers are legion. His stand
ing for probity and integrity is a fact where-
ever he is known. He ha? always been a man of
large charities — giving without any ostentation.

HERMANN WISCHMANN.— A prominent
member of that class of energetic men who are
engaged in mercantile life in this city and who
constitute such an important factor in Brooklyn's
commercial importance, is Mr. Hermann Wisch-
mann. Like many others who have built up large
business interests here, Mr. Wischmann is an
adopted citizen of this country, having been
born August 18, 1831, in the Kingdom of Han
over, now a part of Prussia. His father was a
farmer, living near the Baltic sea-coast, who gave
his son the educational advantages which were
afforded by the village school as conducted un
der the well known and thorough German sys
tem. The lad lived quietly at home until he was
seventeen years of age, never having traveled far
or seen a city. Two brothers had preceded him
to America and their letters awoke in him the
desire to leave the quiet farm life, to see some
thing of the world and to try his fortunes in the
United States. He accordingly took passage for
America, arriving in New York, as so many oth
ers have done, poor in purse, but rich in hope,
ambition and energy. His stay in the city ex-

FERDINAND THUN

181

HENRY K. JANSSEN

182

SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS 183

tended over three years, during which time he
was employed as clerk in the grocery business.
Then came an opportunity to invest in an under
taking which promised well, and he put his sav
ings in the New York Submarine Wrecking
Company, an organization which was formed for
the purpose of raising sunken vessels. The
company did not succeed and recovered neither
sunken vessels nor sunken capital, so Mr. Wisch-
mann lost his all and was forced to begin again
at the bottom of the ladder. Notwithstanding
the ebb of his fortune, he took unto himself a
wife, whose acquaintance he had made in South
Brooklyn while duck hunting in the bay. Casting
about for something to do, he remarked upon
the crowds of people daily passing over Fulton
Ferry and reached the conclusion that a dining
saloon on the Brooklyn side, near the ferry,
would be remunerative. He, therefore, opened
such an establishment at Xo. 25 Fulton Street,
beginning in an humble way, but gradually en
larging his accommodations as he was able. At
the end of six years he had accumulated some
capital, and what was better, hand won the con
fidence and esteem of all who knew him. An
advantageous offer was made him, at this time,
to go into the coffee trade as clerk in Waring's
house, where he remained four years, giving such
satisfaction that a share in the business as part
ner was offered him, of which offer he availed
himself. The firm relations existed for ten
years, when he decided to start in business for
himself, having acquired the necessary experience
and some capital. He bought and rebuilt the
stand at No. 78 Fulton Street with Mr. Ho-
horst as his partner, who only remained for only
a year, however. By close attention to his busi
ness and good management, Mr. Wischmann was
able to increase his operations year by year, add
ing to his place of business, putting in a steam
engine and requisite machinery, until the small
store of a few years since has become a large
wholesale establishment dealing in coffees, teas
and spices, employing a number of men and
horses and turning out many thousands of dol
lars' worth of manufactured products annually.
Early in his business life he adopted the motto
"Pay as you go," which has proved as advan
tageous in his case as it universally does. No
man achieves success in mercantile life by acci
dent or accumulates property without faithful,
persistent labor. The winner, while many are
losers, must combine industry, enterprise and in
telligence with business tact; at the same time
he must be known to men to be honest and re
liable in his dealings. These qualities distin
guish Mr. Wischmann and have brought him not

only wealth but also the esteem of men for his
integrity and manhood. His interest in the affairs
of the city leads him to favor those measures
that would tend to the public good and to oppose
strongly all forms of dishonesty in municipal
matters, though he takes no part in politics be
yond voting, and that the Republican ticket gen
erally. He is fond of reading and is well posted
on the current events of the day. Affable in man
ner, his courtesy is genuine, springing from a
kind heart that does much in charity towards re
lieving the misfortunes of others. His church
connections are with the German Lutheran
Church in Henry Street, Brooklyn, of which or
ganization he has been treasurer for many years.
Always fond of society, he has been a member
of several social organizations and a military
company ; he is also a member of Joppa Lodge
of Free Masons, is vice-president of the Borough
Bank of Brooklyn and a director of the Kings
County Bank. His time is still mostly devoted
to his large business interests, which he over
sees for himself, although receiving the assist
ance of a young partner in carrying out the de
tails. Mr. Wischmann is to be congratulated
upon having won by his own exertions a suc
cessful career and a good name, both among busi
ness men and in society at large.

JOHN GODFREY STEENKEN was born at
Bremen, Germany, on February 14, 1839, and
received his education in the schools of his native
city, graduating from the high school in 1854 at
the age of fifteen. Soon after leaving school he
emigrated to America and found employment as
errand boy with an exporting house. Here he
stayed for two years but left as soon as he had
become sufficiently familiar with American condi
tions to see his way for advancement. In 1858
he joined the firm of Battelle & Renwick, man
ufacturers of chemicals, at 163 Front Street, New
York City, and rapidly worked his way up. The
splendid education he had received, the ambition
which filled the heart of the young man and his
unswerving attention to duty brought him quickly
to the front. He was admitted to partnership in
1887 and when, in 1902, the firm which had been
founded in 1840 was incorporated, Mr. Steenken
was elected a director and president of the com
pany. In the meantime he had become inter
ested in numerous other enterprises and is now
president and director of the National Sulphur
Co. of New York, a director of the New York
Tanning Co. and the Argentine Quebrecks Co. ;
president and director of the Croton Chemical
Co. of New York; trustee of the Germania Sav
ings Bank of Brooklyn ; member of the Chamber

184 SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS

of Commerce, New York, and the Down Town
Association. He has been a resident of Brooklyn
since 1866 and for twenty-five years was treas
urer of St. Luke's Evangelical Lutheran Church
on Washington Avenue in that borough. On De
cember 13, 1866, Mr. Steenken was married to
Miss A. M. Bischoff of Charleston, S.C., who
died in October, 1891, and left him seven children,
viz. : five sons and two daughters : Albert Daniel,
John Godfrey, Jr., Edgar Herman, George Will
iam, Elsie, Anna, Martha and Francis Lewis.
Edgar Herman is secretary of the Croton
Chemical Co. ; George William assistant secre
tary of Battelle & Renwick. His daughter, Elsie,
is married to Christian E. Grandeman of Brook
lyn and the youngest son, Francis Lewis, a stu
dent at Harvard College since 1905. John God
frey, Jr., died in 1895 in his twenty-fifth year. As
one of the substantial business men of New York,
whose rise has been as rapid as well deserved,
and as a public spirited citizen, Mr. Steenken has
brought honor and credit upon his Fatherland
as well as the country he adopted when he came
to America, and he may be classed among the best
exponents of the valuable qualities which Ger
man immigration has contributed to the people
that have grown up on the new continent.

ROBERT VOM CLEFF, deceased, founder of
the house of vom Cleff & Company, was born at
Cronenberg, near Solingen, Germany, January
29, 1847. He came to America in 1867 and for
several years was employed in the New York
German Consulate. In 1873 he founded the busi
ness of which he has always been the head, it
being incorporated under the present style in
1902, he becoming its president. The business of
the house has always been the manufacture and
importation of general hardware, such as pliers,
nippers, surgical instruments, jewelers' tools, pocket
cutlery and kindred lines, drawn principally from
Germany and France. Mr. vom Cleff was edu
cated at the public schools of Cronenberg, gradu
ating therefrom at the age of fourteen years. He
was an apprentice in the cutlery trade up to the
age of seventeen years. After arriving in the
United States he settled at Hoboken, N.J., where
he remained until 1869, at which time he re
moved to Jersey City Heights. In 1873 he en
gaged in business on his own account at No. 105
Duane Street, New York City. In politics Mr.
vom Cleff was a Republican. At one time he was
elected a member of the Board of Education in
Jersey City, but on account of illness was unable
to accept the office. He was one of the found
ers of the German-American School of Jersey
City. He was a member of the German Luth

eran Church, the German Club of Hoboken, the
Hardware Club, New York City; the Arion Sing
ing Societies of both New York and Jersey City;
he was for many years district deputy in the Ma
sonic fraternity and later a member of the Grand
Lodge of New Jersey. An association that was
dear to him was his connection with the German-
American School of Jersey City, he having served
as president of the board of trustees for many
years. He was also a member of the Deutsche
Gesellschaft, a noted German organization of
New York City. On April 13, 1871, he married
Miss Celine W. Oppitz, daughter of William Op-
pitz of Jersey City, who was a native of Bo
hemia, but who came to America in 1848. Three
children blessed the union of Mr. and Mrs. vom
Cleff, viz. : Celine, who married Dr. Louis H. A.
Schneider of New York City ; Robert and Clara
B. The death of Mr. vom Cleff occurred on
Friday, September 13, 1907, at Watkins, N.Y. He
was buried from his home in Jersey City on the
eighteenth of the same month, mourned by a
large circle of friends and relatives. Mr. vom
Cleff was a big-hearted, whole-souled gentleman,
a generous and most considerate employer. He
was a man of high character, capable, thoroughly
honest and of unquestioned integrity. He is sur
vived by a widow, two daughters and a son. The
affairs of the house he founded are still being
carried on as usual.

ADOLPH LANKERING, manufacturer, was
born at Verden, Germany, on January 9, 1851,
and received his education in the public schools
of his native city. After serving in various mu
nicipal and government offices he entered the
Prussian army at the age of eighteen. During
the Franco- Prussian war he was assistant in
the commissary department and later on placed
in charge of a responsible position in the army
mail service. At the end of his term of enlist
ment he was honorably discharged with especial
recognition of his services, and with a diploma
which entitled him to the appointment as pay
master. He preferred, however, to return to
civil life and secured employment as assistant
controller with the Rhenish Railway Company at
Cologne and later on as private secretary and
tiead bookkeeper with one of the largest banking
institutions of that city. In 1875 he decided to
visit Chicago, where his married sisters lived,
and after a stay of several months, made up his
mind to remain in America, inviting his brothers,
George and Fred, to join him. Later he en
tered the firm of Sandhagen & Co., tobacco deal
ers, as partner. Frequent trips to the East in
the interest of his business induced him to sever

LOUIS F. HAPPEN.

185

LOUIS J. HEINTZ.

186

JOHN P. \VI.\DOLPH.

187

BERNARD FERDINAND DRAKENFELD.

188

SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS 189

his connection with the Chicago firm and he es
tablished himself with his brothers at Hoboken
in the cigar manufacturing and jobbing business.
Mr. Lankering has been extremely successful in
his undertakings, owing to his wide experience,
his hard work and sound business sense, and his
sterling integrity. His many good qualities were
promptly recognized and his popularity grew all
the more rapid as he showed warm and intelli
gent interest in public affairs. A Democrat in
politics, he was appointed police commissioner
in 1900 and elected mayor of the city of Hoboken
in 1902. The same traits that had brought him
success in his business were instrumental in
making his administration so satisfactory to the
citizens of Hoboken that at the end of his term
he was reelected with an increased majority. Mr.
Lankering is very active in social affairs. He is
a member of almost all the singing societies of
Hudson County, the German Club of Hoboken
and many other social organizations. He has re
peatedly served as president of the Hoboken
Quartet Club and as master of Hudson Lodge,
F. & A.M., now holding office in the Grand Lodge.
The Alliance of German Societies of Hudson
County made him their president since 1906.
In this capacity he has rendered excellent ser
vice in defense of personal liberty and in the agi
tation against intolerance and fanaticism. The
defeat of proposed legislation to establish local
option and final prohibition of the sale of intox
icating beverages in the state of New Jersey is
greatly due to his activity in organizing the Ger
man element throughout the state and in arousing
general sentiment against such laws. In 1883
Mr. Lankering married Miss Louise Tistedt, the
daughter of one of the earliest and best known
settlers of Milwaukee. They have one son.

BERNARD FERDINAND DRAKEXFELD

was born June 27, 1849, at Erlangen in Bavaria
and received his education at the gymnasium and
university of his native city. In 1869, when nine
teen years of age, he came to America and set
tled in Los Angeles, where he rose rapidly in the
business with which he associated himself. Al
though his future on the Coast was assured, he ac
cepted the invitation of his brother, Mr. Edward
Drakenfeld, who had in 1869 established himself
with Mr. John Marsching, under the firm name of
J. Marsching & Co., in the business of importing
mineral colors and bronze powders in Xew York,
to enter the house with the view of learning the
business and purchasing his brother's interest,
which plan was duly consummated in 1886. In
1893 he bought out the interest of Mr. J. Mar
sching. The business, now known as B. F. Dra

kenfeld & Co., has been located at 27 Park Place,
Xew York, for over thirty years, and has
branches in Chicago and East Liverpool, Ohio. It
gives employment to over one hundred hands and
is the largest and best equipped in its lines in the
United States, in fact it is the largest mineral
color house in the world. Mr. Drakenfeld is a
member of the German Liederkranz, the Arion,
the Technological Society, Museum of Xatural
History, Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Ger
man Lutheran Church, also a number of charita
ble and benevolent societies and is a Mason and
an Elk. He married, on Xovember 10, 1875, Miss
Elizabeth E. Bettis of California and has two
children, Bernard Ferdinand, Jr., who is associ
ated with him in business, and a daughter, the
wife of Mr. E. O. Beyer of Xeuss, Hesslein &
Co., Xew York.

HEXRY EXDEMAXX, importer, was born at
Dortmund in Westphalia on February 10, 1865.
He received his education in the public schools
and the gymnasium at Dortmund and came to
America in 1884, when nineteen years old. He
succeeded in finding employment in Philadelphia
at five dollars per week, but came to Xrew York
three years later and engaged as a clerk with
the firm of F. W. Biining & Co., china and glass
importers, becoming a partner after a few years.
When Mr. Biining retired in 1894 the present
firm of Endemann & Churchill was established.
He has been very successful and while his start
in this country was not made under very aus
picious circumstances, the severe training he re
ceived gave him the experience which, when com
bined with intelligence of a high order, unfailing
energy and strict integrity, always brings ulti
mate success. His business standing naturally
led to an extension of his activities and inter
ests, and he is a director of the Aetna Xational
Bank and of the Consumers' Brewing Co. of
Brooklyn at Woodside. An independent Demo
crat in politics, who, like so many Germans, will
not hesitate to vote against his party when he
conceives such action to be necessary for the good
of the whole country. Mr. Endemann is also a
member of the Arion, the German Liederkranz,
the Xew York Athletic Club and the German So
ciety. He was married on XTovember 29, 1892,
to Miss Louise Lindenmeyr, daughter of the late
John Lindenmeyr, the founder of the well known
paper-house, Henry Lindenmeyr & Sons, and has
one son, Henry William.

HERMAXX HEIXRICH HORXFECK, man
ufacturer, was born at Gera in Thuringia on
February 5, 1839. He attended the public sc

190 SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS

of his native city and at the age of fourteen was
apprenticed to a furrier. He learned the business
thoroughly, as was the custom in those days, and
when he decided to leave for wider fields he knew
more about his trade than many a manufacturer
of the present time knows after many years.
For several years he traveled in Germany, work
ing at his trade here and there, and always in
creasing his stock of knowledge. When he had
reached his majority his mind was made up that
he would seek a field where natural ability, am
bition and intense desire to rise quickly were not
hampered by narrow and antiquated restrictions,
and where the man was judged alone by what he
accomplished. He set sail for America and ar
rived here in 1860. For a man of his stamp it
was not difficult to secure employment, but this
did not satisfy him. Slowly he felt his way and
husbanded his resources until he was able to es
tablish himself in business on his own account.
The sequel proved that the confidence in his abil
ity was well founded, for he prospered from the
start and the rapid increase of his business made
it imperative to enlarge the facilities steadily until
he settled at his present place at 35 West Thirty-
first Street. A lover of nature, he moved his
residence to Verona, in the Orange Mountains, in
1865, where he has lived ever Fince. A Republi
can of independent mind, he never engaged ac
tively in politics and did not care for public office
although his standing in the community had be
come such that he could have secured it easily.
But when he had to send his eight children to
school, the inborn desire of the German to secure
a good education for his family induced him to
accept the position of school trustee at his place
of residence and he served in this capacity for ten
years, winning the deserved approval of the resi
dents of Verona for his devotion to duty and
the intelligence which marked his official acts.
Mr. Hornfeck was married on February 5, 1866,
to Miss Anna Kathrine Cimiotti, a native of Vi
enna, and has four sons and four daughters, one
of whom is married to W. H. Loftus, superinten
dent of the Clark O.N.T. thread works. Arriving
in this country with empty hands, he has suc
ceeded beyond his own expectations and furnishes
a splendid illustration of what the German may
achieve in Free America if endowed with nat
ural gifts and a noble character. Mr. Hornfeck
is a member of the Arion Society.

FERDINAND SULZBERGER, president of
the Schwarzchild and Sulzberger Company, was
born in the Grand Duchy of Baden sixty-five
years ago. In 1863, while a young man, Mr.
Sulzbereer came to America, locating in New

York City, where he has resided ever since. His
family consists of eight boys and four girls, four
of the sons being now actively engaged in busi
ness of the corporation of Schwarzchild and
Sulzberger Company. Mr. Sulzberger has always
been a liberal contributor to numerous religious
and charitable organizations. He has never taken
any active interest in politics. The corporation
of Schwarzchild and Sulzberger Company, of
which Mr. Sulzberger is the head, saw its begin
ning in 1853. On the date above mentioned, the
slaughtering of fifty cattle weekly was consid
ered a large business and compared to the pres
ent output of about fifteen thousand cattle per
week, together with the handling of thousands of
sheep, lambs and hogs, fhows the progress and
growth of the company. Schwarzchild & Sulz
berger Company, more familiarly known as the
"S. & S. Co.," may be truly classed as one of
the pioneers in the handling of refrigerated
dressed beef, and is now conceded to be one of
the packing powers of the world, which is due
in a great measure to the high standard of its
goods and strict business principles. During the
early history the business was carried on as a
firm, of which the partners were Mr. Joseph
Schwarzchild and Mr. Ferdinand Sulzberger, the
latter being president of the present corporation.
It early demonstrated itself to the firm that in
connection with the slaughtering of cattle, the
success of an abattoir business depended largely
on the most advantageous handling and utiliz
ing of by-products which had been given little
and careless attention by the old-time slaughter
ers, particularly the fats. The adoption of new ma
chinery and ideas backed by the energy and ex
perience of the firm resulted in placing on the
market the famous "Harrison Brand" of oleo
oil, which soon found favor on the domestic
and European markets, and to-day is conceded
the leading brand, with a world-famed demand
and reputation." In 1888, on account of increased
European business, Mr. Sulzberger went abroad
for the general promoting of their foreign inter
ests. In 1892 the rapid increase of domestic
and export business having outgrown the ca
pacity of the New York plant, the firm saw the
advantages of an additional plant in the West and
negotiated the purchase of a corporation, at that
time known as the Phoenix Packing Company,
having a plant located at Kansas City, Mo., with
a few distributing branches in the East, and a re
frigerator car line, known as the Cold Blast
Transportation Company. Enlargements of the
plant to several times its original capacity, with
added modern machinery and facilities, immedi
ately followed. After purchasing the western

ALBERT FRANK

191

THEODORE SUTRO

192

SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS 193

interests, the New York plant gradually increased
the output of Kosher killed cattle for the sup
ply of Greater Xew York, as an equivalent for
volume transferred to Kansas City for export
and general branch distribution. On May 10,
1893, there was filed with the secretary of state
in Albany, N.Y., a charter of incorporation known
as the Schwarzchild & Sulzberger Company,
which is the corporation of to-day. Branch
houses were rapidly established throughout the
country and the export business was materially
increased. The "S. & S. Co.'s" success and
growth again demonstrated the further enlarge
ment of plant requirements, and in 1900 it was
decided to build the famous Chicago plant, con
ceded to be the finest in the world, which, with
that at Kansas City, gave the company the ad
vantage of being located on two of the leading
cattle markets of the country, Kansas City and
Chicago. With modern plants, an increased re
frigerator car line, and a complete equipment of
live stock cars for transporting its cattle to New
York, it put the company in an advantageous po
sition to compete for the general business of this
country and Europe second to none. The present
officers of the company are Ferdinand Sulzber
ger, president ; M. J. Sulzberger, first vice-presi
dent and treasurer; J. N. Sulzberger, second vice-
president and secretary; G. F. Sulzberger, third
vice-president.

GEORGE GILLIG was born at Zeuln, on the
river Main, Oberfranken, Bavaria, on October
9, 18097 At the age of twenty he became a jour
neyman brewer and for seven years and until
1836 worked as such in different cities in Ger
many. In the fall of that year he entered the
Bavarian Army and, serving three years, was hon
orably discharged. Shortly thereafter he came to
America, located in New York City and in 1840
established himself in business in a brewery oc
cupying the present site of the Vanderbilt man
sion on Fifth Avenue, between Fifty nd Fifty-
first Streets. Subsequently he built and operated
a brewery at Thirtieth Street and Lexington Av
enue and later on, in 1843, one in Third Street
between Avenues A and B. During the following
year and in the last mentioned plant he enjoyed
\ the distinction of being the first one to brew
lager beer, as we know it to-day, in New York
City, the product of all the brewers prior to
that time being what was known as "small beer."
Mr. Gillig was at this time also the owner of
breweries at Staten Island and Williamsburg. He
sold the former to a Mr. Bischoff and the latter
to a Mr. Hamm. In 1853 he sold the Third
Street brewery to Mr. Joseph Doelger and took

possession of a newly erected one between Forty-
fifth and Forty-sixth Streets, and First and Sec
ond Avenues. This he conducted until his death
in 1862. His estate continued the business for
some years and then leased it to the firm of
Gillig & Oppermann, composed of Mr. Gillig's
son, John George, and Frederick Oppermann, Jr.
Mr. Gillig was married in 1841, and at his death
left him surviving four children, one son and
three daughters : John George, above mentioned,
and who is widely known through his connec-*
tion with the business of his brother-in-law, Ja
cob Ruppert, the well-known brewer of Xew
York City; Anna, the wife of said Ruppert; Cor
nelia K., widow of Dr. B. A. Mylius, and now
residing in Berlin, Germany, and Amanda B., the
wife of John A. Douglas.

JOHN GEORGE GILLIG was born at Xew
York City on January 8, 1852, the son of Ger
man parents who lived at that time in Third
Street, between Avenues A and B. He received
his early education in the public schools of Xew
York and in Fordham College and was sent to
Bamberg, Germany, to complete his course of
study. After graduating, he entered the em
ploy of a produce merchant at Bamberg and re
mained with him for one year. At the age of
eighteen Mr. Gillig returned to Xew York and
accepted the position as assistant receiving teller
with the Germania Bank, resigning it in order
to take a position with his brother-in-law, Mr.
Jacob Ruppert, the well known brewer. Here he
stayed for one year, and in the latter part of
1872 joined the firm of Gillig & Oppermann, brew
ers. In 1877 he decided to sell his interest in
the brewery and returned to Mr. Ruppert as fi
nancial and general manager, in which capacity
he is still active. Mr. Gillig is widely and fav
orably known not only in the brewing industry
but also far beyond its limits as an active and
energetic man of business with a reputation for
far-sightedness and strict integrity, endowed with
qualities of head and heart which have se
cured him a large host of friends and admirers.
A Democrat in politics, he has never sought nor
held public office, but confined his activity in this
direction to the prompt and conscientious dis
charge of his dutes as a citizen. He is a member
of the Arion Society, the Terrace Bowling Club,
which he helped to organize in 1870 and of which
he is treasurer since 1877', the New York Pro
duce Exchange, Red Bank Yacht Club, and of a
great number of other social, benevolent and
charitable associations, as well as a Mason, be
ing a member of Trinity Lodge No. 12 F. & A.
M. On January 28, 1874, Mr. Gillig was married

194 SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS

to Miss Catherine E. Oppermann and has four
children: George J., Anna M., Mrs. Jacob Siegel
and Mrs. John F. Betz, 3d, of Philadelphia.

ADOLPH C. HOTTENROTH, lawyer, was
born on May 9, 1869, in the city of New York as
the son of German parents. Receiving his first
education in the public schools of what was then
known as the annexed district and now as the
Bronx, he was graduated from the College of
the City of New York with the class of '88 and
from the Law School of the University of the
City of New York with the class of '90. Simul
taneously with starting in the practise of his pro
fession, Mr. Hottenroth took an exceptionally
active interest in public affairs. It may indeed be
said that hardly another private citizen has bat
tled with equal fervor and persistence for the
welfare of the people and especially the section
in which he grew up and now makes his home,
the Bronx. Elected a member of the constitu
tional convention in 1894 by the citizens of New
York, Putnam and Westchester Counties, he led
the debate on the canal improvement, framed the
minority report and secured the adoption of the
constitutional amendment which received the larg
est number of votes of any, and made possible
the improvement of the canals now under way.
With equal determination and success he fought
for the protection of Niagara against the threat
ening destruction. From 1898 to 1892 he served
as member of the City Council, having been
elected by the people of the Bronx by a substan
tial majority. Since 1904 he has been president of
the Taxpayers' Alliance of the Bronx, the rep
resentatives of over thirty property owners' asso
ciations having chosen him for this important
position. He has been indefatigable in working
for needed improvements, as increased rapid
transit facilities for the Bronx, the five cent fare
bill and many other important matters. He insti
tuted and conducted to a successful conclusion
against the most strenuous oppocition the liti
gation which compelled the Manhattan Elevated
Railway Company to give continuous service to
and through the Bronx for a five cent fare. His
victory was a notable one, being achieved singly
against a formidable array of the most able coun
sel backed up with the immense wealth of that
corporation. The result of its enforcement was
to usher in an era of growth and prosperity in
the Bronx, the like of which was never witnessed
in any other community. Mr. Hottenroth has an
immense circle of friends and is a member of
many clubs, among them the Arion Society, the
Bar Associations of the State of New York and
the Bronx, the Automobile Club of America and

the Auto Club of the Bronx, the American Acad
emy of Political and Social Science, Bedford Park
Property Association, Beethoven Maennerchor,
City College Alumni Association, Fordham Club,
Jefferson Club, Lawyers' Site Purchasing Com
pany, Melrose Turn Verein, National Geograph
ical Society, National Democratic Club, North
End Democratic Club, New York University
Alumni Association, Schnorer Club, Tallapoosa
Club, Taxpayers' Alliance, Twenty-third Ward
Property Owners' Association, Tammany Soci
ety, West Morrisania Club, Kingston Club and
is a Mason of Strict Observance Lodge. Mr.
Hottenroth is a director in a large number of cor
porations, including the United States Award
and Assessment Company, Map and Abstract
Company, Sandrock Realty Company and others.
He was married on April 28, 1900, to Miss Ma
mie A. Schmidt and has four children, two sons
and two daughters.

HERMAN JOSEPH, jurist, was born in New
York City September 10, 1858. He received his
education in the public schools of the city, at
tending the old Allen Street School No. 42 and
graduating at an early age. Later he finished his
education at New York University, graduating
from that institution in 1878. After leaving school
he entered the law office of Abraham Hershfield
and during this time he devotee! himself so closely
to the study of law and showed such aptitude for
his chosen profession that he acquired not only
a wide knowledge but also a deep insight unusual
for one of his years. After being admitted to the
Bar in 1878 immediately opened offices of his
own at No. 293 Broadway and engaged in general
practise. His success was assured from the start
and his ability, as well as his profound learning,
were recognized by an ever-widening circle. The
growth of his clientele compelled him to engage
larger offices at 287 Broadway and he began to
take a deep interest in politics and educational
affairs. When, in 1898, Judge McKeon resigned
his position as justice of the Municipal Court,
Mayor Von Wyck appointed Mr. Joseph to fill
the vacancy. In November of the same year he
was elected for the remaining two years of the
term and reelected for the full term of ten years
in 1900. On the Bench Judge Joseph has earned
a reputation for the dignity with which he pre
sides in a court that has not always had the for
tune to be conducted by men of his ability. He
has decided many questions of far-reaching im
portance and the rapidity and penetration with
which he disposes of cases, the never-failing fair
ness to both parties, the correct interpretation of
the law and the reputation he has acquired for

JOHX GODFREY STEENKEX.

195

CHARLES ENGELHARD.

196

FERDIXAXD SULZBERGER.

1Q7

ADOLPH LANKERING.

198

SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS 199

' the clearness and precision of his decisions are
but the natural outcome of deep study combined
with superior intelligence and sterling character.
His success has been rapid but it may safely be
said that it has surprised none of his friends who
knew the qualities of the man, and that his friends
by no means believe that he has arrived at the
end of his career, fitted as he is for splendid
work in a much larger sphere of action. His keen
interest in educational affairs was shown at a
remarkably early age. After finishing his common
school education he edited a journal that dealt
with evening school matters, and in this his
ability asserted itself. He advocated many im
provements in the public school system and in
1873 (age fourteen years) he read an essay, pre
pared by himself, at Steinway Hall under the aus
pices of the late J. F. Wright, who was princi
pal of Christie Street School, advocating the in
struction of modern languages in the New York
public schools. Judge Joseph is fond of litera
ture and arts and visits Europe every year to
find the relaxation he needs after his strenuous
work. He is a member of the Arion, Progress
Club, Montefiore Home, Mt. Sinai Hospital, of
the board of governors of the Democratic Club,
Tammany Hall and the regular Democratic Gen
eral Committee, the Elks, Eagles, a Mason and
belongs to a large number of other social and
charitable organizations. In politics he is a
Democrat. Judge Joseph was married in 1881 to
Miss Sarah Kurzman and has one daughter, Rose.

HERMAN L. TIMKEN (deceased), a former
mayor of Hoboken, N.J., was born at Lilienthal,
Hanover, Germany, April 2, 1830. His father
served with distinction as a soldier in the English
Army under Wellington, also in the German Ar
my under Bliicher and was roadmaster of his
district. After a service himself of seven years
in the Hanovarian Army, Mr. Timken was pro
moted to the rank of sergeant. After severing
his connections with his regiment in 1857, he came
to the United States, settling at New York City,
where he secured a position working at his trade,
that of a wood carver and turner. Later he aban
doned this class of work, engaging in the flour
business on his own account. Two years after
his arrival in this country, in 1859, he married
Miss Betty Kotzenberg of Hoboken, N.J., and
during the same year became a resident of that
city. A short time thereafter Mr. Timken be
gan laying the foundation of what grew to be an
extensive flour and feed business by establishing
the firm of Krone and Timken in New York City.
Two years later, after an honorable career, the
firm was dissolved, Mr. Timken continuing with

Mr. S. M. Rohdenburg, trading under the firm
name of Timken & Rohdenburg. In 1870 Mr.
Timken purchased the interest of his partner in
the business and continued alone until 1876, at
which time he began a copartnership with Mr. H.
Jacobsen, conducting the business on a more ex
tensive scale both in New York City and Hobo
ken, N.J. Four years later — in 1880 — another dis
solution occurred, Mr. Timken succeeding to firm
business in New York, and Mr. Jacobsen to
that in Hoboken. In 1885 Mr. Timken removed
his business to the latter city and in 1800 Mr.
August Hanniball, a son-in-law, confidential clerk
and adviser, became his partner ; a year later he
retired from active business, leaving his son, J.
Henry Timken, and Mr. Hanniball to conduct the
affairs under the firm name of Timken & Han
niball. Later Mr. Hanniball succeeded to the
entire business which he now conducts and which,
to-day, is the most extensive of its kind in Hudson
County, N.J. Besides ably conducting these in
terests, Mr. Hanniball is the president of one of
the largest wholesale bakery establishments in
New York City. He is widely known as a gen
tleman of honorable reputation, as well as being
possessed of large commercial acumen. During
his lifetime, Mr. Timken was a man who took a
deep interest in all public affairs connected with
the city of his adoption. Not being a politician,
as the term is largely understood in the present
day, his motives were based upon a higher plane,
always having uppermost in his mind everything
that would in any way promote the interests of
the people. He very properly became known far
and wide as the "Reform Mayor" of Hoboken.
His first publ;c office was that of councilman hav
ing been elected to that position from the Third
Ward in 1869. He was reelected the following
two years. After a temporary retirement on his
part for several years, he removed to the Second
Ward, and in 1880 was returned as a member
of that district. In 1883 Air. Timken was elected
mayor of Hoboken, serving for three consecutive
terms, each administration being able, dignified
and honest. During his several administrations of
the office he largely reduced the tax rate. He
strongly favored the creation of the present paid
fire department but was opposed in this effort.
In 1891 he received the nomination for sheriff of
Hudson County from the Jeffersonian Democracy
but withdrew from the contest later. In the same
year he was a member of the Board of Tax Com
missioners, it being the last political office he ever
held. Mr. Timken was one of the organizers of
Company D, first battalion of the old Second
Regiment, in which he served as captain. He
formerly served for some years as major of

200 SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS

the Fifth Regiment, N.G.S.N.Y. He was vice-
president and one of the organizers of the Sec
ond National Bank of Hoboken ; was the first
president of the American District Telegraph
Company of that city. In matters relating to the
improvement of the city, Mr. Timken erected the
first French type of flat houses in Hoboken at
the corner of Sixth and River Streets. Myers
Hotel, the finest in Hoboken, was also built by
him and belongs to his son, J. H. Timken. He
was a member and past master of Hudson Lodge,
F. & A. M., the German and Hoboken Quartet
clubs, a director of the United States Shuetzen
Park Association and a member of the New York
Produce Exchange. On July 22, 1892, Mr. Tim-
ken's death occurred. He is survived by his wife
and five children, viz. : J. H. Timken, H. L. Tim-
ken, Alfred Timken, Bertha Hanniball and W. H.
A. Timken. The death of Mr. Timken removed
from Hoboken one of her most honored citizens,
a loving father and husband and a man of un
tarnished reputation. No man can leave a higher
or better heritage to those who come after.

CHARLES F. SCHIRMER was born at Min-
den, Westphalia, Germany, on March 19, 1834,
and received his education in the public schools
of his native city. His father intended to let him
study engineering, and he had already begun pre
paring himself for this profession when family
reverses interfered and the boy of fifteen was
compelled to abandon the career originally laid
out for him and to learn a trade. He selected the
upholstering trade and finished his apprenticeship
when eighteen years old. While the instruction
given to him had been very thorough, for at that
time an apprentice was not permitted to follow
his trade unless he had proven that he had mas
tered it, young Schirmer traveled for over a year
through Europe to see and learn more. Thus
equipped, he came to America in 1853, settling
at 181 Third Avenue, where he established an up
holstery business. His confidence that the knowl
edge of his trade he had acquired by hard work
and intelligent devotion to his duties would bring
him success in the wider field that America of
fered was not misplaced. Here, where no re
strictions and antiquated laws stood in the way,
and where the faculties of the able and ambitious
young upholsterer could freely unfold them
selves, he experienced a rapid and well-decerved
rise. Mr. Schirmer is a Democrat, but has never
taken an active part in politics nor held public
office. He belongs to the Lutheran Church and has
been a member of the Arion Club since 1878. He
was married in 1857 to Miss Elizabeth Hilsdorf
of Germany and has one son, Charles J., Jr., who

served in the Twenty-second Regiment and man
ages business which now bears the name of
Charles F. Schirmer & Son.

HENRY A. C. ANDERSON, physician, son
of a Danish father and a German mother, was
born in Hamburg, Germany, on August 2, 1841.
He received his elementary education in the
schools of his native city, but his parents having
died, he was sent, when hardly twelve years of
age, to American relatives in New York City,
who had him attend the old Greenwich Street
School. Having no opportunity to speak or hear
German spoken, he almost forgot the little Ger
man he knew when he arrived here. In 1857 he
came to Yorkville at that time a village, and
found employment as office boy wiih the Third
Avenue Railroad Company. Some years later
he entered the present Bellevue University to
study medicine, but his patriotism caused him to
enlist as private in Company C, One Hundred and
Twenty-seventh Regiment, N.Y.S. Volunteers, in
August, 1862. After serving in the ranks for
three months, the surgeon of the regiment had
him detailed as his secretary. After the One
Hundred and Twenty-seventh Regiment was or
dered to Folly Island, just outside of Charles
ton Harbor, with part of the old Eleventh Army
Corps, Anderson attracted the attention of the
chief medical officer who induced him to accept
the position of hospital steward of the depart
ment. While on leave to New York, his regi
ment was sent to Beaufort, S.C., and on his
arrival there he was assigned to duty in the
military hospital of that town. Young Anderson
was perhaps the first man who saw the Blue and
the Gray shake hands. At the hospital were sev
eral wounded Confederate officers, prisoners of
war, who had been sent there for treatment, and
not one of them ever complained that he was
treated less kindly than the Union patients. Among
them was Colonel Montague of Charleston, who
hobbled about on crutches, a true Southern gentle
man in the fullest sense. On a sunny afternoon
a Union general, accompanied by a lady, called at
the hospital and inquired if a Colonel Montague
was a patient at the hospital and on receiving an
affirmative reply, requested that the Colonel be
called and he was asked to come to the office. He
"had hardly stepped in when the lady rushed at
him and throwing her arms around his neck, with
a kiss said : "My darling brother." Then the
two men, one in blue and the other in gray, shook
hands — General Robert Anderson of Fort Sum-
ter fame and Colonel Montague of Charleston.
Mrs. Anderson and Colonel Montague were sis
ter and brother. After the war Anderson re-

EDWARD PAUL REICHHELM.

201

LOUIS ANTON EWALD.

202

SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS 203

turned to the college and in due time received
the degree of doctor in medicine. He built up
a large practise in Yorkville, which secured for
him not only a large income but also a well-de
served reputation. However, his professional ac
tivity, extensive as it was, did not suffice for
his surplus energy and his almost restless tem
perament. He was a loyal and patriotic Amer
ican citizen, but he loved German speech and
song, German literature and art and entered Ger
man circles to become more proficient. Soon
after he recognized the fact that the Ameri
cans of German birth did not occupy the posi
tion to which their intelligence and honesty justly
entitled them, especially in public life, he conse
quently devoted a large part of his time, energy
and fortune to bring about better results. It
may well be said that for the last twenty years
Dr. Anderson was a leader in every movement in
augurated to increase the influence of our Ger
man-American citizens for liberal government
and honesty in politics. He is now serving his
twelfth term as president of the Central Turn
Verein and is virtually the founder of the Uni
ted German Societies of the city of New York,
of which he was unanimously elected president in
1892. He served in this capacity for two terms
and his reelection was prevented only by his re
fusal to sanction the changing of their consti
tution, which limited the term of service of the
president to two terms. Independent in politics,
he has unceasingly labored for the best interests
of the public. He is at present honorary presi
dent of the United German Societies president
of the Central Turn Verein, a member of the
State, County and Greater New York Medical
Societies, the Society of Medical Jurisprudence,
the Manhattan Clinical and Manhattan Medical
Societies, the Arion, Yorkville Maennerchor, As-
chenbroedel and Pomuchelskopp Verein, the Vet
eran Legion of the Civil War and Bunting Lodge
No. 655. He served six years as United States
pension examiner under Cleveland and McKin-
ley. On December i, 1903, Mayor McClellan
offered him the appointment of commissioner of
Bronx parks, but he declined to accept the honor.
Dr. Anderson was married in 1874 to Miss Nan
nie Lungershausen of Thueringen, Germany, and
has four children, two boys and two girls.

HERMANN JOHANNES BOLDT, physician,
was born at Neuentempel, near Berlin, Ger
many, on June 24, 1856, and received his early
education in Germany. He came to America with
his parents when quite young and completed his
education in this country, studying medicine and
graduating with the degree of doctor of medi

cine from the University of New York in 1879.
Since then he has been a practising physician in
New York City, limiting his practise to gynae
cology, in which branch of his profession he has
become widely known and is acknowledged as an
authority. He is professor of gynaecology in
the New York Post Graduate School of the Uni
versity of New York, attending gynaecological
surgeon to several hospitals, and consulting gynae
cologist to others. Dr. Boldt was formerly chair
man of the section of obstetrics and diseases of
women of the New York Academy of Medicine
and president of the New York Obstetrical So
ciety and the German Medical Society. A man
of wide learning, devoted to his profession, a
diligent student and fond of good literature, Dr.
Boldt is a member of a number of the leading
national and international societies devoted to
his special line of practise and of the German
Liederkranz. On August 20, 1891, he married
Miss Hedwig Krueger and has one son, Hermann
Johannes, Jr.

OTTO GEORGE THEOBALD KILIAXI,
surgeon, was born at Munich in Bavaria on Sep
tember 5, 1863, as the ?on of Hermann Kiliani, a
justice of the Royal Supreme Court, and his
wife, Caroline K. Faulstich. He was educated
at the gymnasium at Augsburg, graduating in
1881, and studied medicine at the universities of
Munich, Halle and Leipzic, where he received
his degree as doctor of medicine in 1888. A year
before, on August 12, 1887, he had married Miss
Lillian Bayard Taylor at Friedrichsroda in Ger
many. Dr. Kiliani served as surgeon in the Third
Royal Bavarian Artillery Regiment in 1890 in
Munich. He came to New York in 1891 and
has since practised his profession with pro
nounced success, quickly taking rank as one of
the leading surgeons of the city. Since 1900 he
has acted as surgeon to the Imperial German
Consulate General. He is a fellow of the Acad
emy of Medicine, the New York County Medical
Society, a member of the German Medical Soci
ety, the Medico-Surgical Society, the Physicians'
Mutual Aid Association, the New York Surgi
cal Society and the Surgical Society of Berlin,
and surgeon to the German Hospital. Dr. Kiliani
is a constant contributor to medical journals
and encyclopedias and the author of "Diagnosis,
1905, W ii." He is a Knight of the Bavarian
Order of St. Michael and the Prussian Order
of the Red Eagle. With a large practise and fre
quently being called into consultation in serious
cases, devoted to his profession and constantly
eager to increase his knowledge which rests upon
an exceptionally firm foundation acquired in

204 SUCCESSFUL GERMAN:AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS

many years of study at the best German univer
sities, Dr. Kiliani has little leisure left and be
longs to but two clubs, the German and the New
York Athletic.

FLORIAN KRUG, physician, was born at
Mainz, Germany, on December 12, 1858. He was
educated in the high school of his native city
and, after graduating, studied medicine at the
universities of Freiburg, Marburg, Goettingen,
Heidelberg, Vienna, Budapest and Paris. After
completing his studies and having received the
degree of doctor of medicine, he acted as assist
ant to Privy Councilor Professor Dr. Hegar in
Freiburg, Germany, at that time one of the most
eminent gynaecologists in the world. In 1884 Dr.
Krug came to New York and began practising his
profession, confining himself more and more to
his special field, that of gynaecology. The large
experience he had secured during the years of
study and work in some of the most renowned
clinics in Europe, and a genial disposition com
bined with authoritative firmness, rapidly secured
for him a splendid reputation among patients as
well as physicians. Before many years he was uni
versally recognized as an authority in the field
he had selected, and as one of the leading gynae
cologists of the country. He has acted as at
tending gynaecologist to the German Hospital of
New York for over twenty years and when the
new Mount Sinai Hospital was erected he was
appointed gynaecologist to that institution also.
He is not only one of the most successful among
the present generation of German physicians in
America, but has brought great credit and hon
or to German knowledge and science in the Uni
ted States. Dr. Krug is a member of the Ger
man Club, German Liederkranz, New York Ath
letic Club and of various other social and sport
ing organizations and a fellow of practically all
the prominent medical societies in the United
States and abroad.

LOUIS HAUPT, physician, was born in New
York City on January 7, 1851, as the son of
German parents. He received his education in
the public schools of this city, where he gradu
ated and afterwards studied in Miami Univer
sity at Oxford, Ohio, a literary college, the Med
ical College of Louisville, Ky., and the Medical
College of New York University. Having com
pleted his studies and received the degree of
doctor of medicine, he engaged in the general
practise of his profession in New York. Of
studious habits and well read in the classics as
well as in modern English and German literature,
Dr. Haupt took a great interest in educational

matters and served for several years as school
trustee and is now a member of the board of
education where his ripe knowledge of conditions
and extended experience have been of the greatest
value for the public schools of his native city. Dr.
Haupt is a Republican in politics, a member of
the Arion Society, New York Botanical Garden,
New York Zoological Garden, American Museum
of Natural History, American Geographical Soci
ety and Metropolitan Museum of Art and of the
County, State, American and German Medical
Societies.

HERMAN CHRISTIAN HENRY HEROLD,
physician, was born in New York City March 4,
1854. He removed to Newark, N.J., with his
parents when a child, and afterward resided
there. His father and mother both died before
he was eleven years old and he was left the
second in age of six surviving children to rely
entirely on his own exertions after that time, as
well as to assist his younger brothers and sisters.
He attended the old Twelfth Ward German and
English school, which was founded by his father
in 1859, the public school of the same ward, and
the Newark High School, earning his own living
while in attendance on the latter. After leaving
the high school in his senior year, he began his
business life at the age of nineteen, in a gro
cery store. In two years he had saved enough
money to warrant him in entering Bellevue Hos
pital Medical College, New York, and he was
graduated from that institution in the class of
1878. He at once commenced the practise of his
profession in Newark and there built up a large
and lucrative business, also establishing his
youngest brother in the same profession. He has
for many years been a member of the board of
health of the city, entering it in 1883 ; two years
later he became its president and has continued
as such till the present date. His zeal and ef
ficiency while a member of this board are most
commendable. While devoted to his profes
sion, Dr. Herold has always taken a great inter
est in public affairs. In politics he has been a
pronounced Republican and very popular with
his party. He was an alternate delegate-at-large
from the state of New Jersey to the national Re
publican convention of 1888, which nominated
General Harrison for President, and a district
delegate from Newark to the national conventions
of 1892 and 1904. He is emeritus surgeon to St.
Michael's Hospital and a member of the Essex
County Medical Society. He was for fourteen
years connected with the National Guard as sur
geon of the Fifth Regiment, from which position
he was placed on the retired list when, on the

CHARLES CHRISTIAN WEHRUM.

205

CHARLES A. STADLER.

206

SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS 207

reorganization of the First Brigade, N.G.S.N.J.,
that regiment was disbanded. He is treasurer
of the Order of Military Surgeons of Xew Jer
sey. He is also president of the Security Build
ing and Loan Association, and belongs to the
Masonic fraternity, Knights of Pythias, Benev
olent Order of Elks, and numerous other organi
zations and societies. He was married November
6, 1882, to Louisa, daughter of Thomas Kurfess
of Newark, N.J. His home is one of the most
hospitable in the city, where he entertains a large
circle of friends.

SIGMUND LUSTGARTEN, physician and
specialist on skin diseases, was born at Vienna,
Austria, December 19, 1857, and he was edu
cated at the University of that place. He came
to New York City in 1889, where he has since
resided. Dr. Lustgarten held the chair as lec
turer on dermatology at the Univercity of Vi
enna ; he fills the same position at Mount Sinai
Hospital and at Montefiore Home, New York
City. He is author of a number of scientific
communications and is correspondent member of
Foreign Medical Societies of Paris and Vienna.
In politics he is independent, having never sought
any public office. He married Beatrice Davis of
Montreal in 1891.

RUDOLF C. R. DENIG, physician, was born
at Frankenthal in Germany on December 8, 1867,
a? the son of Hippolyte and Elisabeth M. (Dalle-
mand) Denig and received his early education in
the gymnasium at Neustadt in the Palatinate,
graduating in 1886. He studied medicine at the
universities of Heidelberg, Munich, Berlin and
Wuerzbnrg, where he received the degree of doc
tor of medicine, and later continued his studies
in Vienna, London and Paris. Soon after be
ginning his studies, he had made a specialty of
ophthalmic surgery, became assistant and in
structor at the University Eye Clinic in Wuerz-
burg and became rapidly known through his pro
ficiency and knowledge in this field of medical
science. His rising fame as an ophthalmologist
caused Dr. Herman Knapp, the founder of the
New York Ophthalmic and Aural Institute, to
induce him to come to America as his assistant.
Dr. Denig arrived in New York City in 1896 and
immediately took a place in the front rank of
physicians engaged in work similar to his own.
He is an acknowledged authority in his chosen
field and a large private practise together with
extensive work in hospitals and other institutions
furnishes proof of the esteem in which he is held
by his colleagues as well as the public. He is
ophthalmic surgeon to the German Hospital and

Dispensary and employs most of his time not
taken up by his arduous duties to study and
writing. Dr. Denig has written many essays and
articles on ophthalmic subjects, is a regular col
laborator of the Zeitschrift fur Augenheilkunde
in Berlin, and is now publishing a book on eye
surgery which will appear in 1909. He is a fel
low of the New York Academy of Medicine, a
member of the New York State and County Med
ical Associations, the German Medical Society,
the Heidelberg Ophthalmic Society and a number
of other medical, social and charitable organiza
tions. Dr. Denig resides at 56 East Fifty-eighth
Street, New York City, and is unmarried.

LOUIS ANTON EWALD, physician and sur
geon, was born at Hammelburg in Bavaria on
June 13, 1871, as the son of Frederick G. and
Catherine Ewald. He was educated at the gym
nasium at Munnerstadt and after graduating,
studied at the universities of Wurzburg, Berlin,
Munich and Greifswald. In addition to the study
of medicine, he devoted himself to geography and
geology, securing a more than ordinary knowledge
of these subjects. He completed his studies in
1896 and received the degree of doctor of medi
cine from the University of Wurzburg. In 1897
he came to the United States where his father
had settled and established himself in the prac
tise of his profession in New York City. His
rise was rapid and having made a specialty of
gynaecology, he soon was recognized as an au
thority in this branch of medicine. He was ap
pointed gynaecologist to the German Hospital and
Dispensary in 1901 and professor of medicine to
Fordham University in 1907. He is a member of
many medical societies and clubs, the Catholic
Club, and the German Liederkranz. Dr. Ewald is
one of the best and most favorably known of
the younger German physicians in New York and
his career has been as remarkable as brilliant.
Practically all the time not required by his large
practise he devotes to the study of his profes ion
and other scientific subjects in which he is inter
ested.

CARL OTTO PETERS, merchant, was born
at Brunswick, Germany, where he received his
education in the schools of his native city. He
engaged in mercantile business and came to Amer
ica when quite young in years as the representa
tive of several of the largest and most favorably
known wine houses in Germany and France. For
fifty years he carried on the business of im
porting wines with pronounced success and gained
an enviable reputation for himself and the quality
of his goods all over the country. Mr. Peters

208 SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS

was a member of the German Club, German Lied-
erkranz, Arion, Manhattan Club, Jockey and Lo
tos clubs and of a large number of benevolent
and charitable organizations. He was married in
August, 1861, to Miss Lizzie Liebrich and has two
children, Mrs. Louise Offelm.eyer and Conrad L.
Peters, who is associated with him in his busi
ness.

RUDOLF HELWIG, importer, was born at
Mannheim, Germany, on June 13, 1864. The foun
dation of his education was laid in the public
schools of his native city. After passing through
them he entered Leeds College in Yorkshire, Eng
land, where he studied commercial chemistry and
dyeing, graduating in 1889. During the next
four years he was employed in England by a large
firm and gained the reputation of being' an au
thority in his profession. In October, 1893, he
came to America and established himself in the
business of importing highgrade wood pulp. The
fact that he was an expert chemisT~and^conse-
quently a judge of what was needed in special
lines of the paper trade, helped him greatly and
before long he occupied a commanding position
in the branch he had selected as the field of his
activity. He now imports annually about twenty
thousand tons of the highest grades of sulphite
pulp used for fine writing and bond papers, and
supplies manufacturers all over the country, it
being well known that he handles only the best
qualities. An independent in politics, Mr. Hel-
wig has never taken an active part in partisan
strife but confined himself to doing his duty as a
citizen according to his convictions. He was mar
ried on December 7, 1895, to Miss Anna M. Stad-
ler and has two children. A member of the Arion
and the German Liederkranz, he devotes more
time to outdoor sports than to social amusements
and belongs to the Wa-Wa-Yanda Fishing Club
of Fire Island and to a number of country clubs
where he can indulge his ardent love for nature
and all the pastimes a true sportsman cherishes.

CHARLES VON DER BRUCK, merchant,
was born in 1862 at Ems in Hesse-Nassau, Ger
many, and received his education in the Real-
Gymnasium at Wiesbaden where he graduated.
He gained his commercial experience in Cologne,
Berlin and other commercial centers of Germany.
In 1887 he established himself in business in New
York as importer of mineral waters, and so
successfully introduced the Rhens water — an al
kaline table water from Rhens-on-the-Rhine — that
it is to-day one of the best known and most
popular mineral waters in the United States. He

is also the general agent for the Royal Prussian
mineral springs of Ems and Schwalbach and for
the mineral waters of the spa Wildungen of Wai-
deck. During the Louisiana Purchase Exposi
tion at St. Louis he acted as the business repre
sentative of the mineral springs owned by the
Prussian Government. Mr. von der Bruck was
married in 1895. He is a member of the Arion,
German Liederkranz, Eichenkranz, Beethoven,
German Press Club, the German Writers' Asso
ciation and other social, literary and benevolent or
ganizations, and is also a Mason. While retaining
all his affection for his native land, he has become
a loyal and devoted American citizen.

ALBERT E. KLEINERT, building contractor,
was born on the Island Ruegen, Germany, on
June 14, 1862. He was educated by private tu
tors under the supervision of his father, who him
self was a school teacher and a man of wide and
unusual attainments. He planted in the boy's mind
the desire for knowledge and higher culture. Mr.
Kleinert, after passing an examination practically
and theoretically as a master builder, came to
America in 1882 and settled in Connecticut where
he remained until 1884, when he removed to
Brooklyn. Here he engaged in the building busi
ness and soon began to take large contracts, rap
idly establishing a reputation for good and relia
ble workmanship which, naturally, increased his
trade until his operations were carried on on a
large scale. From the beginning he has evinced
a deep interest in public affairs and organized the
Central & Smith Street Board of Trade and also
joined and became active in the Prospect Heights
Board of Trade, thus joining several movements
whose object was the improvement of public ad
ministration and morals. In fact, Mr. Kleinert
soon came to be looked upon as a man whose
assistance was of great value and whose readi
ness to assist fearlessly every effort for better
ment in the community led to his appointment by
the borough president to the advisory committee
of one hundred. He also received his appoint
ment by the mayor of New York City as a mem
ber of the Hudson-Fulton Celebration Commis
sion. He is an Independent Democrat in politics
and used all his efforts to bring his fellow Ger-
' man- American citizens to the foremost position
they should hold in this community. His services
as a member and officer of the United German
Singers of Brooklyn were instrumental in the
bringing about of numerous concerts being given
in the public parks, devoting a larger part of his
energies to this work and encouraging his associ
ates with work and deed whenever called upon.

HON. CHARLES G. F. WAHLE.

209

AUGUST P. WAGNER.

210

SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS 211

As president of the Brooklyn Saengerbund Society
for five consecutive years, he was instrumental in
bringing the same to the foremost position of any-
kindred organization financially and socially. As
a member of the German Hospital Association,
he served one term on the board of trustees. On
March 18, 1888, he married Miss Emma Lousinger
and has five children. Mr. Kleinert is a member of
the following organizations : Kings County Demo
cratic Club, Brooklyn Lodge of Elks, Indepen
dent Order of Odd Fellows, Free Masons and
Mystic Shriners, Brooklyn Turn Verein, Municipal
Art Society of New York, the Brooklyn League
and Allied Board of Trade and Tax Payers'
Association.

PAUL LICHTENSTEIX, banker, was born at
Frankfort-on-the-Main, and engaged in the bank
ing business after receiving a superior education.
In 1868 he emigrated to America, settling in New
York, where he has since been connected with
some of the largest banking houses in the coun
try. He is a member of the board of trustees of
the German Society of the city of New York, of
the Deutsche Vere'n, the Brooklyn Germania
and the Crescent Athletic Club. In politics a
Republican, he is independent in his actions, and
supported Grover Cleveland for the presidency.
Mr. Lichtenstein takes a warm interest in all
matters relating to the arts and fine 1 terature,
and is known for h's judgment and refined taste.
On August 28, 1872, he married Miss Clara Kapp,
the daughter of the well known lawyer, historian
and later on member of the German Reichstag,
Friedrich Kapp. Of their three children, Julie
Louise and Friedr'ch L. Lichtenstein died in in
fancy, while Alfred F. Lichtenstein survives.

FREDERICK STRANGE KOLLE, M.D., sur
geon and author, born Hanover, Germany, No
vember 22, 1871. Graduated in medicine from
Long Island College Hospital 1893. First came
to Flatbush as a visiting interne in March, 1893,
at Kings County Hospital, ending his term in
1894, when he took up service at the Kingston
Avenue Contagious Disease Hospital during the
epidemic of smallpox. The same year traveled
through Mexico and on his return to Brooklyn
settled into private practise early in 1895. One
of the first X-ray investigators in the United
States. Lecturer in electro-therapeutics and asso
ciate editor Electrical Age, 1897-1902. Radio
grapher to M.E. Hospital, Brooklyn. Settled
permanently in Flatbush in 1899. Inventor : ra
diometer, Kolle X-ray coil and switching devices,
dentaskiascope, oesophameter, folding fluoroscope,
X-ray printing process, Kolle focus tube, direct-

reading X-ray meter and many instruments used
in plastic surgery, etc. Author: "The Recent
Roentgen Discovery, 1896"; "The X-Rays, Their
Production and Application," 1896; Medico-Sur
gical Radiography," 1898; "Pen Lyrics," 1902;
"Olaf," a scientific novel, 1903; "The Grown Ba
by Book," 1903; "Lisps and Lilts," 1905; "Fifty
and One Tales of Modern Fairyland," 1906 ; "Ax
el and Valborg," 1907; "Subcutaneous Hydrocar
bon Protheses," 1908; also many papers on X-
rays and kindred scientific subjects, child's verse
and contributions to the daily press. Residence :
The Japanese House, 131 Buckingham Road, Flat-
bush. Office: 18-20 West Twenty-fifth Street,
New York City.

ADOLPH ROTHBARTH, merchant, was born
at Frankfort-on-the-Main on May 20, 1860, and
received his education in the high school of his
native city. After leaving school he entered the
old house of Rothbarth & Co., which had been
founded by his grandfather, Phillip Rothbarth, in
1835 and is now carried on by the third genera
tion of the same family. The firm was and is
now one of the largest importers and exporters
of hops and Mr. Rothbarth became an expert on
this article. At the age of twenty-two he started
for America with the intention of establishing a
branch office of Rothbarth & Co. He was en
tirely alone and left to his own resources, with
.only such letters of recommendation as the son
of an old established and well known house can
command. With characteristic pluck he opened
his office and set out to do business, relying on
his thorough knowledge of the goods he intended
to deal in, and determined to succeed. Like his
grandfather and his father before him, he pros
pered and steadily increased his operations until
he was in the front rank of his line of trade. His
fairness, his reliability, his expert knowledge of
hops which made his judgment the final arbiter
of many a dispute, and his amiability gave him a
standing in the community worthy of the name
he bears. In every way he upheld the traditions
of the family and of the firm to which he suc
ceeded. Mr. Rothbarth is a member of the Ger
man Liederkranz and finds his relaxation in bowl
ing, fishing and other sports of similar nature. He
is connected with practically every charitable or
ganization in the city of any consequence and
worthy of support and takes an active interest
in many of them in an official capacity.

CHARLES J. OBERMAYER was born in
New York City on November 8, 1869, the son
of German parents, and received his education in
the public schools and the College of the City of

212 SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS

New York. He left the college to become a book
keeper and later studied law while still acting as
bookkeeper and cashier for the German-Amer
ican Real Estate Title Guarantee Company, of
which he was later elected secretary and treas
urer, having served in this capacity for over
twelve years. He is interested and affiliated with
many other concerns through investments or offi
cial relations. He holds considerable real estate
in Manhattan and Brooklyn and his property
claims much of his attention, but the greatest part
of his time is probably given to his financial in
terests in connection with the Greater New York
Savings Bank, of which he has been president
since its organization and whose success and stand
ing are essentially due to his efforts. The bank
was organized on March 27, 1897, and opened
for business on May third of the same year. The
institution is located at the corner of Fifth Av
enue and Twelfth Street in Brooklyn and is the
only bank in the district. The necessity for such
an institution to, and its great value for, the
neighborhood have been attested by the prosperity
it has enjoyed from the start. The career of Mr.
Obermayer illustrates most forcibly the oppor
tunities which America affords to her citizens,
recognizing their merits and rewarding their ef
forts with success. While connected with many
extensive and important business interests, his
efforts toward advancing the municipal interests
of Brooklyn are so incessant and wisely directed
and therefore so generally recognized that they
cannot be considered as of secondary importance
when viewing his career of signal usefulness.
While the interest he has taken in practical poli
tics has claimed much of his time, and while his
stalwart Republicanism on national and state
issues has been exceedingly valuable to his
party, his services in that direction must neces
sarily be considered as less important than those
of much greater value rendered to the community
as a whole through public spirit, progressiveness
and liberality. He is yet a young man but has
left the impress of a forcible individuality upon
business, social and political life wherever his ac
tivity has been aroused. In 1892 Mr. Ober
mayer was married to Miss Ida Bell Sabin, a
daughter of William E. Sabin. He is identified
with a number of fraternal and religious move
ments, including the Royal Arcanum, all Masonic
bodies, Chapters Commandery and I. O. Hepta-
sophs. He was president of the League of Ameri
can Wheelmen in the United States, a member of
the Crescent Athletic Club, Automobile Club of
America, Twelfth Assembly District Republican
Club, Boston Bicycle Club, Good Roads Associa
tion; trustee South Brooklyn Board of Trade,

Brooklyn League, Prospect Heights Citizens As
sociation, the Twelfth Street Reformed Church;
chairman of the advisory committee of the Brook
lyn Nursery and Infants' Hospital; president Nar-
ragansett Furnishing Co. ; director Home Title In
surance Co. ; director Fifth Avenue Branch Me
chanics Bank; Bibliophile Society of Boston. He
keeps well informed on the issues of the day, giv
ing loyal support to the principles in which he be
lieves. Wherever Mr. Obermayer is known, he is
held in the highest regard on account of his ster
ling integrity and his fidelity to principle.

JULIUS W. BRUNN, merchant, was born at
Hamburg on May 22, 1833, and died at 430 Grand
Avenue, Brooklyn, on December 30, 1907. He
was educated in private schools in his native city.
In 1854 he emigrated to America and entered the
employ of a mercantile house. His energy and
ambition led him to seek for wider fields and in
1857 he established himself in the importing
business on his own account. He was successful
from the start and on August 3, 1858, he formed
the firm of Hagemeyer & Brunn, which rapidly
became one of the most important houses in the
line in which it was engaged, and is still doing
business with undiminished prestige. Mr. Brunn
was always a strong Republican and counted
many eminent men, like President Grant and
Henry Ward Beecher, among his intimate friends.
He took a very active part in local affairs and
devoted a large part of his energies to furthering
public improvements in Brooklyn and to the amel
ioration of conditions, especially in the govern
ment and the administration of the city. He was
a member of the German Club, the German Lieder-
kranz of New York City, the Germania Club and
the Lincoln Club of Brooklyn. He was also a di
rector of the German Savings Bank. Mr. Brunn
was married in Europe on December 15, 1857, to
Miss Charlotte Elizabeth Going. Five children,
Constantin, Armin, Lincoln, Freda and Use, sur
vive him. Mrs. Brunn died at her summer home,
Liskeveen Farm, South Woodstock, Conn., on
July 31, 1904.

HEXRY W. BAHREXBURG, a man of af
fairs, was born at Hoboken, N.J., December 13,
^871, where he attended the public schools. Mr.
Bahrenburg is a son of the late John Henry Bah-
renburg, a splendid type of the self-made Ger
man, who died in 1889 and who, when a boy of
twelve years of age, left his native town of Fis-
cherhader, near Bremen, Germany, in 1838, and
emigrated to America. In 1869 he established
what is now the well known wholesale produce
and commission house of J. H. Bahrenburg,

THEODORE SUTRO.

EMIL WELTE.

JACOB WOLFGANG MACK.

PETER H. RAPPENHAGEN.

213

RUDOLF C. R. DENIG.

CARL OTTO PETERS.

1 F

JOHN BORKEL.

JOHN GEORGE GILLIG.

214

GEORGE GILLIG.

215

ANTHONY J. VOLK.

216

SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS 217

Brother & Company, located at Nos. 103 and 105
Murray Street, Xew York City. The concern is
to-day one of the largest, as well as one of the
most reliable of its kind in the country. On
June 30, 1889, Mr. Bahrenburg died at his home
in Hoboken, leaving a widow and three daugh
ters and three sons and mourned by a large circle
of friends. During his lifetime he set a high
standard for the German citizen; he was genial
toward all and correct in principle and practise,
both in business and social life, with an instinct
ive love of what was right, and an equally de
termined antipathy to all that was mean and
wrong. Henry W. Bahrenburg, the subject of
this sketch, is well known in the financial and
commercial world of New York City and Hobo-
ken. He is a member of the old firm of J. H.
Bahrenburg, Brother & Company of Xew York;
is president of the Mountain Ice Company of New
Jersey, president of the New York and New Jer
sey Produce Company ; he is also interested in sev
eral banking institutions of Hudson County, N.J.
In politics he is a Republican. He has never sought
nor desired to hold public office, his time being
fully occupied with his extensive private business
interests. On January 24, 1893, Mr. Bahrenburg
married Miss Jessie A. Gahagan, daughter of
the late James C. Gahagan, Esq., who was born
at London, England, in 1845. He came to Amer
ica with his parents when he was a lad of six
years of age, and has been an honored and es
teemed citizen of Hoboken since 1865. Two chil
dren have been born to the union : Charles Alfred
and Frank Dudley, both of whom are living. Mr.
Bahrenburg resides at Summit, N.J., where he has
a beautiful home over which his wife faithfully
discharges her duties as a charming ho tess. Mr.
Bahrenburg is a man possessed of agreeable and
pleasing manners, a feature he displays in com
mercial as well as in his social walks of life. Al
though a strict disciplinarian, by his kindly dis
position, he commands the esteem of his em
ployees and his perseverance, integrity and abil
ity to organize and execute have secured him a
high position in the business world.

FRANK GASS.— In public life and the busi
ness affairs of this city there is no more repre
sentative or progressive German-American than
Frank Gass, register of the county of New York
and one of the leading Democrats of the borough
of the Bronx. Mr. Gass was elected to the high
office he now holds in the fall of 1905, after a
heated contest, receiving the largest vote of any
candidate on the Democratic ticket. Since as
suming his present responsible position he has
initiated many improvements that have won the

approval of the lawyers and real estate men of
this county. Register Gass has been prominent
in Democratic politics for over twenty years. For
many years he held the office of town assessor
of the old town of Westchester. After annexa
tion he was elected as the first alderman from
that section of the greater city. For four con
secutive terms he was a member of the board,
each term being elected by increased majorities.
Because of his personal popularity it was always
considered a hopeless task for any one to run
against Mr. Gass. Nearly twenty-five years ago
Mr. Gass removed from Harlem to Unionport,
where he has since resided. He immediately es
tablished himself in the real estate business and
to-day is the recognized authority on real estate
in his section. No one ever thinks of consum
mating a real estate transaction east of the Bronx
River without first consulting Register Gass. Dur
ing his membership in the board of aldermen he
was on all the important committees but concen
trated his efforts mainly on securing rapid transit
and other public improvements for the Borough
of the Bronx. No recent improvement in the
Bronx has been secured without the active co-op
eration of Mr. Gass. Mr. Gass is noted for his
modest and unassuming work as a practical phil
anthropist. He is a member of many social and
charitable societies and his practical support is
always sought when meritorious charitable proj
ects are undertaken. He was one of the founders
of the Odd Fellows Home in Unionport, which
is a model of its kind. For many years he was
a trustee of that institution and was active in its
management. He is still deeply interested in the
work of the Home. He is a member of the Chip-
pewa Democratic Club, treasurer of the Tam
many Hall General Committee of the annexed dis
trict, prominent in the Westchester Maennerchor
and other German societies and he is also high up
in the councils of the Masonic order. Register
Gass was born in Bavaria June 9, 1852, and was
educated in the primary and high schools of his
native country. He came to this country in 1872
and settled in what was then known as the old
town of Melrose. He became apprenticed to a
painter and after learning his trade moved to
Harlem and established himself in business. By
thrift and perseverance he soon made his mark
and in a remarkably short time accumulated a
prosperous business. In 1880 he decided to retire
from the painting trade and moved to his present
home in Unionport whither many of his friends
had preceded him. Although a young man he
soon became prominent in the politics of the old
town of Westchester which was shown by his
election as assessor. He has for years been prom-

218 SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS

inent in the public eye and is noted for his pro
bity and high civic and moral ideas. He is mar
ried and with his wife is active and prominent in
the social life of Unionport.

PETER H. RAPPENHAGEN, one of Brook
lyn's foremost citizens, was born April 27, 1831,
at Hanover, Ottendorf, Germany, and like many
other successful men who began life in an hum
ble way, received his education in the local public
schools of his native place. This period was
brief, for he was only fourteen when he left his
school to begin his fight for a future. Seeing
nothing in the way of a business opening, he pro
cured employment upon a farm and for years
he did the hardest kind of work. The desire for
something more congenial whereby better oppor
tunities might be realized, prompted him to come
to this country in 1851. His first position, on
arrival, was that of a porter in Stuart's sugar
house. He remained in that place for only two
months, but the little experience he secured and
from which he made great use, convinced him
that the grocery trade was what he desired. The
next position he took was with a grocery house
in the lower part of New York City; in this
new field he worked hard to gather all the neces
sary details that would warrant him in embarking
in the business on his own account. One more
change for the better, and in the latter place he
remained for two years. At the end of that time
he had saved some money, but had gained more
experience. After having resided in New York
for fourteen years, he moved to Brooklyn in 1868
and settled at the corner of Park Avenue and
Cumberland Street. It was there he realized his
dream, for he conducted one of the finest gro
cery establishments in that part of Brooklyn
which he established with a cash capital of only
eighty dollars. Each year his business grew,
and in 1882 he retired from active life, having
achieved not only commercial success but the
esteem of all who had come in contact with him.
Politically, Mr. Rappenhagen has always been in
dependent. He never sought any public office.
Nearly nineteen years of his life have been given
to military service. In 1860 he joined the State
Militia and from the rank of private he rose to
that of first lieutenant, in which capacity he
served with great dignity for twelve years. It
was not until 1872 that he reached the height
that was more suited to his personality; he was
made a major of the Fifteenth Battalion of
Brooklyn and held this command for six and
one-half years. On May 12, 1854, Mr. Rappen
hagen married Miss Anna Katrina. No children
were born to the union. He is a member of sev

eral organizations, viz. : Trustee of the Home of
Immigration, trustee of Orphan Asylum at Mt.
Vernon, N.Y. ; first vice-president of the Ger-
mania Savings Bank of Brooklyn, a member of
the German Hospital and the German Saenger-
bund.

JULIUS STRAUSS, builder and real estate
operator as well as a man of affairs, was born in
New York City December i, 1862. He obtained
a thorough education in the public schools, after
which he entered commercial fields at an early
age. For the past twenty years he has been a
resident of Brooklyn, where he is largely inter
ested in real estate and building operations. Mr.
Strauss is considered one of the best authorities
on real estate values in the Greater City of New
York. He is the treasurer of the Edgar Im
provement Company, whose extensive offices are
located at No. 12 Court Street, Brooklyn. The
company figure among the most important real
estate and building corporations in New York as
developers and builders. Mr. Strauss is on the
board of directors of Unity Church, Hebrew Or
phan Asylum, Long Island Safe Deposit Co.,
Training School of Jewish Hospital and is vice-
president of the Citizens Trust Co. He married
Miss Tillie Michel December i, 1897. Mr. and
Mrs. Strauss are prominently identified with
Brooklyn social life and have a large number of
warm personal friends.

EMIL V. WALDENBERGER, wholesale
/ leather merchant, was born March 20, 1845, at
Assamstadt, Baden. He was carefully educated
in the public schools and later was given private
instruction in Latin and French preparatory to
entering the Boys' Seminary at Freiberg. It was
the intention of Mr. Waldenberger to study the
ology, but after some application to the profession
he decided his inclinations ran toward a com
mercial career, which he later adopted. In 1866
he came to America, locating in New York City,
where he has resided ever since. The first four
years of his life in New York were spent in the
tea and grocery lines. He then obtained a position
as German correspondent for the Guardian Mu
tual Life Insurance Company, 251 Broadway,
_which he successfully filled for four years. His
next occupation was that of bookkeeper in the
leather, upper and shoe finding house of Henry
Arthin, Nos. 84 and 86 Gold Street, with whom
he remained five years. In 1878 Mr. Walden
berger engaged in that line of business on his own
account. He achieved great success and on Sep
tember i, 1907, retired from active commercial
life. Mr. Waldenberger is a member of the Arion

FRANK H. CORDTS.

219

AUGUSTUS G. MILLER.

220

BERNARD KARSCH.

221

HENRY L. SCHMIDT.

GEORGE H. STEIL.

JONAS WEIL.

HON. JACOB HAUSSLING.

222

SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS 223

Singing Society, the Houseowners' Association
of the Twelfth and Nineteenth Wards. For eight
years (1868 to 1876) he was a member of the
Eleventh Regiment, National Guard, State of New
York. On October 10, 18/4, Mr. Waldenberger
married Miss Magdalena Bang. Ten children
were born to the union, six cf whom are living
and four deceased. The living children are :
Charles, Emmilie, Dora, Emil, George, Alfred.
Thoce who are deceased are Mary, Magdalena,
Gretchen and Herman. Aside from the various
social organizations he is affiliated with, he finds
much time to spend with his family. His suc
cess in life has been acquired only through the
hardest trials and hardships, and now at the age
of sixty-two he can lay aside the cares of a busy
life and feel that he has really succeeded.

PHILIP HEXAMER, one of Hoboken's old
est and highest esteemed citizens, was born Octo
ber 27, 1830, at Meisenheim, Germany, and most
of his early youth was spent around his native
town. He received his only education at Meisen
heim, and that period was very brief as he left
school at the age of fourteen years. He did odd
chores on his father's farm for several years and
his early hardships were rather severe. He was
about twenty-one years of age when he decided to
come to America and face the world upon his
own responsibilities and reached New York City
in the latter part of 1855. After a brief residence
in New York, he moved to Hoboken, NJ. He
engaged in the bakery business and in a short
time he established two stores. He continued in
this line up to the early sixties, when he bought
an interest in a riding academy originally es
tablished by the Stevens family. Mr. Hexamer
joined forces with William Walter and under
their able management the venture was crowned
with success. Later on his labors were directed in
a different channel. He engaged in the brewing
business and for some time the firm was known
as Peter & Hexamer. A few years, however,
brought him back to his former business. He
did not reestablish his riding academy until his
return from Europe in 1873. This academy, the
best in Hoboken at that time, occupied the pres
ent site of St. Mary's Catholic Church on Willow
Avenue and Fourth Street. Up to the time of its
discontinuance, it was the headquarters of the
followers of equestrian sports. In politics Mr.
Hexamer was an Independent. He never aspired
to any public office. In the early sixties he was
one of the enthusiastic organizers as well as one
of the officers of a mounted volunteer military
troop which rendered valuable service to the city
of Hoboken during the early riots and other dis

turbances of those days. Mr. Hexamer was not
a club man. His only affiliation was with the
Masonic order, Hudson Lodge. He attended the
German Lutheran Church. On January 18, 1857, \
he married Miss Anna Peter of Achery, Baden, '
Germany, and to this union were born two chil- 1
dren, one of whom died in infancy. Mr. Hexa
mer died at his residence in Hoboken on June i,
1902, and was mourned by a host of friends who
remembered him as a loyal citizen, whose natural
modesty, affability, and honorable business meth
ods left a lasting impression upon those who had
the good fortune of his acquaintance. His son,
Alexander Philip, was born in Hoboken on Octo- \
ber 29, 1857, and has taken up the reins where his '
father left them and to-day is conducting the
finest and best equipped riding academy in Hobo
ken. He possesses many of his father's admira
ble qualities, and is one of Hoboken's best citi
zens, taking an active interest in city affairs. He
is a director of the Trust Company of New Jer
sey, People's Savings Deposit and Trust Company,
Bergen Lafayette Trust Company, Colonial Life
Insurance Company of America, Hudson County
Gas Company and belongs to the German Club
of Hoboken and the German Riding Club of
Hoboken.

4 N

SAMUEL STRASBOURGER, lawyer, was
born in New York City on May 23, 1867, and
received his education in the public schools and the
College of the City of New York. He studied
law at the University of New York and received
the degree of L.L.B. After being admitted to
the bar, he engaged in the practise of his pro
fession in New York. Mr. Strasbourger has taken
a warm interest in public affairs and served as
tax commissioner under Mayors Low and Mc-
Clellan. He was first vice-president of the New
York Republican County Committee from 1904
to 1905, and a member of the Republican State
Committee. Mr. Strasbourger is a member of the
Republican Club, the Bar Associations of New
York City an3 the state of New York; trustee of
the Hebrew Orphan Asylum and the Sydenham
Hospital, a thirty-second degree Mason and mem
ber of many other social and benevolent organiza
tions. In 1903 he married Miss May Blanche
Gayner and has two children.

ADOLPH W. ENGLER, merchant, was born
at Braunschweig, Germany, on September 23,
1824, and received his education in the Real-
Gymnasium of his native city. After his gradua
tion, Mr. Engler engaged in commercial pursuits
and came to America at the age of twenty-six
years, settling at Baltimore and connecting him-

224 SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS

self with the leaf tobacco trade. On July I, 1863,
he founded a branch house of the Baltimore firm
of F. L. Brauns & Co., in New York City, under
the name of Kremelberg & Co., which, under his
management, soon became one of the leading ex
porting houses ©f leaf tobacco. Mr. Engler is an
independent Democrat in politics and was for
twenty-eight years trustee and secretary of the
English Lutheran Church of the Holy Trinity, of
which he is still a member. He also has the dis
tinction of being one of the oldest living members
of the Deutsche Verein, Chamber of Commerce
and New York Produce Exchange. Mr. Engler
has been married twice: in November, 1858, to
Miss Julia E. Spilcker, who died in March, 1873,
and in April, 1875, to Miss Elizabeth F. Brauns,
who died in November, 1906, both of Baltimore.
Six children were born to him: William S.,
Adolph, Jr., Henry R., Ferdinand B., Minna F.,
married to J. W. Lieb, Jr., and Julia E.

JOHN GEORGE GRILL, merchant, was born
at Hanau on the Main on September 24, 1865. He
received a superior education at the Gymnasium
of his native city and the Hoffmann Institute at
St. Goarshausen. After graduation Mr. Grill
left school and served as one year's volunteer in
the Ninety-seventh Regiment of Infantry from
1884 to 1885. He then engaged in business in
France and Spain but was sent by his Paris house
to America in 1888 and was successful from the
start. Full of energy and of genial disposition,
possessing the gift of making friends quickly and
endowed with decided business ability, Mr. Grill
seemed to be cut out for the profession he se
lected, that of writing insurance in all its branches.
He joined H. F. Poggenburg & Co., one of the
largest and best known firms in this line, and was
admitted to partnership after a few years. In
addition, he is treasurer of the firm of H. S. Le-
clercq & Co., manufacturers of and dealers in pa
per. Mr. Grill is widely known and a member of
many clubs and societies, among them the New
York Athletic Club, German Liederkranz, Arion,
Melrose, Turn Verein, Masonic Club, German
Hospital Association, German Society and Fritz
Renter Altenheim. He is a Mason of Kane Lodge
No. 454. He was married on January 20, 1891,
to Miss Louise Poggenburg and has a family of
seven children, three boy 3 and four girls. He is
a worthy representative of the younger genera
tion of Germans who have come to America and
displayed the same splendid qualities which made
their forerunners such valuable citizens of the
Union, though more practical and with a firmer
grasp of the realities of life, and he bids fair
to be a power in the community before many

years have gone. In politics Mr. Grill is an in
dependent Democrat.

JOHN P. WINDOLPH was born in Prussia
on June 30, 1844, and educated in the public
schools. After learning the trade of a gilder, he
came to America at the age of sixteen years. In
New York he soon found work at his trade and
completed his education in the evening schools. In
1861, when hardly seventeen years old, he enlisted
in the Seventh New York Volunteers, Company
D, and served until mustered out in 1863. During
this time he was continually at the front and took
part in many engagements, notably in Virginia
and in the "Seven Days' Battle" under Colonel
George von Schack. After his term of enlist
ment had expired, he reenlisted in the Second
New Jersey Cavalry and served until the end of
the war in 1865. When mustered out, he returned
to New York and worked at his trade on his own
account. From 1869 until 1884 he was engaged
in the hotel business, operating the Utah House
at Twenty-fifth Street and Eighth Avenue. He
had always taken a lively interest in public af
fairs and politics and gained many friends by his
genial disposition and his readiness to help others
who needed assistance. His election to the As
sembly in 1884 was the natural outcome of his
activity in this direction. He was reelected in
1885 but declined a third nomination which was
offered to him. In the meantime he had retired
from the hotel business and devoted himself to
extensive dealings in real estate, in which he has
been very successful. Following the urgent wishes
of his friends, he accepted the Republican nomi
nation for alderman for the Fifteenth District in
1893 and was elected with a plurality of five hun
dred votes in a district which normally gives the
Democratic candidate a majority of over twenty-
five hundred. In the fall of 1894 he was elected
vice-president of the Board of Aldermen and
served as such for three years. At the end of his
term he was appointed aqueduct commissioner for
the city of New York and still holds this office.
He has been the Republican leader of the Eleventh
Assembly District for over ten years. Mr. Win-
dolph is a member of many clubs and has been
active in all of them. Among them are the Re
publican Club, West Side Republican Club, Union
Republican Club of the Bronx and the Ninth and
Fifteenth Assembly District clubs. He is a di
rector of the Arion Society and was for four
years president of the Heinebund, at the present
time serving as vice-president. As a Mason, he
is a member of Metropolitan Lodge, Washington
Chapter and York Commandery, and the Veterans'
associations he belongs to are James C. Rice Post,

JOHN REIFE.

225

WILLIAM P. RINCKHOFF.

226

CHARLES F. HOLM.

227

JOHN REISEN WEBER.

228

SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS 229

No. 29 G.A.R., and the Veterans' Organization of
the Seventh New York Volunteers. Mr. Windolph
is also a director of the West Side Bank. If
the fact is taken into consideration that John P.
Windolph came to America with nothing but the
knowledge of a trade and such natural gifts as
had been bestowed upon him, and that even his
education had to be completed after his arrival
and while he was already earning his bread by
the work of his hands, the fact that he did achieve
success not only as far as the possession of world
ly goods is concerned, but also by securing the es
teem and friendship of all who came in contact
with him, and that substantial honors were given
to him, easily proves that he belongs among the
American citizens of German birth who deserve to
be placed in the front rank. He married Miss
Eva Appell of New York City and has six chil
dren : August, Arthur, Louisa, Emilie, Emma and
Lydia.

HERMANN HEGENER, merchant, was born
at Brussels, Belgium, as the son of German par
ents, and received his education in the Gymnasi
um of his birthplace. He engaged in mercantile
business and came to New York in 1886, taking
charge of the foreign correspondence of a large
commission house. Having secured the necessary
familiarity with the American market, Mr. Hege-
ner decided to make himself independent, and
went to Europe to secure agencies for high class
goods suitable for export to America. He was
successful in obtaining the agency of one of the
largest and best known lace houses in Brussels
and operated for a time in conjunction with a
commission house. In 1896 he started under his
own name and has since then carried on the busi
ness of importing real lace and other similar
lines with marked success. He spends four or
five months of every year in Europe and must be
counted among the most noticeable and prominent
of the younger generation of German merchants
in New York. He was married in January, 1888,
to Miss Rosa Hofmann of Leipzig.

OTTO GERDAU, merchant, was born at Ham
burg, Germany, in the year 1852. After com
pleting his education at the Johanneum and ser
ving an apprenticeship with a large mercantile
firm in his native city, he went, in 1871, to Lon
don for the well known ivory firm of Heine Ad.
Meyer of Hamburg-. One year later, in 1872, he
decided to come to America and, arriving in New
York, he established himself as importer and com
mission merchant under the firm name of Otto
Gerdau, which, in 1906, was changed to the Otto
Gerdau Co. Air. Gerdau does not believe in "All

work and no play makes Jack a dull boy," but
rather that youth and work should go together
and his untiring application to his business is the
cause -that it is to-day one of the largest in its
line. Mr. Gerdau is fond of yachting and a
member of the German Verein. In 1894 he mar
ried Miss Clara Ehlermann of St. Louis.

JOSEPH FREY, manufacturer, was born at
Altdorf in Baden, Germany, on November 6,
1854. He came to America with his parents when
a boy and received his education in the parochial
and public schools of New York City. After
leaving school, Mr. Frey engaged in commercial
pursuits and finally established'himself as a man
ufacturer of supplies for artificial flowers, in
which line he has met with decided success. Be
ing gifted with great musical talent and an un
usually fine voice, he studied singing and became
well known as a church singer. He is a member
of Mater Dolorosa Parish in Pitt Street, New
York City, and has given much of his time and
energy to church matters, especially devoting him
self to the interests of German Catholics. Mr.
Frey is president of the County Federation of
German Catholics, member of the Katholische
Saengerbund, of the Catholic Club, the executive
boards of the New York State Federation of
Catholic Societies and the German Roman-Catho
lic Central Federation of North America, St. Jo
seph's Benevolent Society, Fidelia Singing Soci
ety, Annunciation Council 71 C.B.L., and the
German Liederkranz ; also a corporate member
of the "Leo Haus" for the protection of German-
Catholic emigrants. He is an independent Demo
crat in politics but has never held public office. On
October 16, 1883, Mr. Frey married Miss Anna
Ziegler of New York City. His oldest son, Dr.
Jo-'eph L. Frey, is a graduate of Georgetown
University and a practising physician ; the other
children are Elizabeth, Leander A., Anna M. and
Maximilian Herbert Frey.

HUGO H. RITTERBUSCH, lawyer, was born
in New York City on September 26, 1862, as the
son of William Ritterbusch, born at Brunswick,
Germany, and his wife, Elise, nee Kohler, who
came from Hesse in Germany. Mr. Ritterbusch
was educated in Public School No. 58 from which
he graduated in 1877; he took the classical course
in the College of the City of New York and grad
uated in 1882 with the degree of bachelor of arts.
He studied law in Columbia University Law
School, graduating in 1887 with the degree of
bachelor of laws, and was admitted to the Bar of
the state of New York in 1888 and to the United
States Courts in 1899. From 1883 until 1888 he

230 SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS

was instructor in mathematics at Stevens High
School in Hoboken, N.J., and since that time he
has been a practising lawyer in the city of Xew
York. He is a Democrat in politics and a member
of the general committee of Tammany Hall. Mr.
Ritterbusch has been a resident of New York City
all his life, but passes a few months of every
year at his country residence at Central Valley
in Orange County, N.Y., where he indulges in his
favorite pastime of outdoor sports, especially fish
ing, for he is known as an expert fly fisherman.
He has taken an active interest in many of the
movements inaugurated for the public welfare,
especially for the promotion of German art and
music, and the preservation of German social
customs, as well as in public demonstrations for
the general welfare. Mr. Ritterbusch never held
public office, but is president of the Heinebund
Singing Society, an ex-president and member of
the board of directors of the West Side Mutual
Building, Loan and Savings Association ; secre
tary and counsel for the Central Valley Land Im
provement Co. ; member of the Arion Society and
for several years one of its directors, a member
of the Columbia University and College of the
City of New York Alumni Associations, a dele
gate to the United Real E?tate Owners' Associ
ation, and counsel and director of a number of
commercial enterprises. During the great Na
tional Singing Festival in 1894 he served on the
board of directors and as chairman of the press
and printing committee. Mr. Ritterbusch mar
ried Miss Annie L. Maack.

CARL EMIL SEITZ, merchant and treasurer
of the Arabol Manufacturing Company, born in
St. Gall, Switzerland, August 20, 1843, obtained
his education at the St. Gall Commercial School,
the Academy of Sciences, Geneva, Switzerland ;
the School of Dr. Clayton Palmer Barnet, near
London, and the evening courses of the Ecole des
Arts et Metiers, Paris. He also attended the
Central Military School for Artillery Officers at
Thun, Switzerland, and was breveted lieutenant
of artillery in 1863. After having occupied cleri
cal positions in prominent business houses in St.
Gall and Paris, he came to America in 1866. In
1870 he became junior partner in the old well-
established and mo t respectable German firm,
C. F. Dambmann & Co., importers of silks, dry
goods and woolens, with a branch house at Lyons,
France, representing some of the most promi
nent German, French and Swiss manufacturers.
C. F. Dambmann & Co. was the first German
import house which, in 1870, took up the sale of
domestic dry goods for account of American
manufacturers against cash advances, Mr. Seitz

taking in one million dollars' worth of such ac
counts during the absence of the partner, C. F. A.
Dambmann, locked up in Lyons in consequence
of the French War when the French manager and
clerks resigned in order to avoid the insults of
their countrymen for serving a German employer.
Mr. Dambmann was safe and unmolested as an
American citizen and intimate friend of the Amer
ican Consul-general Osterhaus. To-day domestic
goods are said to form the bulk of the business of
the big German dry goods importers. The firm of
C. F. Dambmann & Co. was dissolved in 1897
for reasons which would form an interesting
chapter of reading in a book entitled "The Curse
of a Protective Tariff." Mr. Seitz then traveled
for several years in this country and Europe.
Still too young to remain inactive, in 1882 he be
came a member of the firm of Seitz & Gould (suc
cessors to one of the oldest firms in the china
trade, Cary & Co.), as importers of teas and ex
porters of American produce, grain, rosin and
petroleum. By the well known Standard Oil tac
tics playing false to almost every house distribut
ing their oil in foreign countries, a loss of forty-
thousand dollars was sustained in two weeks. Such
lessons were too discouraging and finding besides
the tea and produce commission business too spec
ulative, unsafe and unpromising, Mr. Seitz with
drew. In 1889, with Messrs. Jungbluth and
Weingaertner, experienced drug importers, the
Arabol Manufacturing Co. was formed in order
to exploit an invention for making artificial gum
arabic, a promising enterprise in view of the
Soudan being closed on account of the war with
the Mahdi. However, dextrine knocked out the
head of artificial and natural gum arabic. Al
though expectations in this direction were frus
trated, principally owing to Mr. Weingaertner's
untiring study and energy about two hundred new
articles were created in the line of vegetable glues
and adhesives for pasting and sizing silks, cottons,
woolens, paper, straw, walls, etc., such articles
finding a ready sale in America and many foreign
countries. Mr. Seitz is a Free Trader and in
politics an Independent, so-called Mugwump. At
one time he was trustee of the German-American
School of the Nineteenth Ward and for several
years vice-president of the German Hospital. He
is still a member of the German Liederkranz and
the Arion Singing Societies, the Metropolitan Mu
seum of Art, New York Swiss Club, German Hos
pital and Dispensary, Deutsche Gesellschaft, To-
rey Botanical Club, National Geographical Soci
ety, American Society for the Advancement of
Science, New York Produce Exchange, Swiss
Benevolent Society, Smith Infirmary and Citi
zens' Union. On October 14, 1869, Mr. Seitz

GUSTAV HAUSER.

231

CARL ORDEMANN.

232

OTTO WESSELL.

233

ARTHUR L. WESSELL.

234

SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS 235

married Miss Anna Margaretha Clausen. Four
children have been born, viz. : Carl Arthur, now
doctor of chemistry; Oscar Roland, now vice-
president of the German Liederkranz; Walther
Robert and Ida Carolina.

CARL FREDERICK GOEPEL, merchant, was
born at Oberlungwitz, Saxony, on February 24,

1845, where he obtained an education at the vil
lage school. In 1865 he came to America, locating
in New York City, where he has continued to
reside ever since. From 1865 to 1869, however, he
served in the United States Regular Army and
was stationed most of the time in Texas. Mr.
Goepel is a Republican in politics ; he has never
held any political office, nor has he desired to.
He is a prominent member of the Liederkranz
German Society. In 1872 he married Miss Clara
Heeser, who died in 1879. On August 24, 1879,
he married Miss Heeser, sister of his first wife,
of New York City. They have nine living chil
dren and one deceased. Mr. Goepel is a man who
is popular both in commercial and social walks
of life. Mr. Goepel died suddenly on December
5, 1907, and was mourned by a host of friends.

JOHN RIEFE, president of the Consumers'
Brewing Company of New York, Limited, was
born at Gestemunde, Germany, on September 9,

1846, where he obtained an education in the local
schools. At the age of fifteen, he was employed
as an apprentice by a merchant, with whom he
remained for four years. He then went to
Bremen, where he became connected with a dry-
goods house, with which he remained for three
years. In 1866, Mr. Riefe came to America and
settled in New York City. When he arrived in
this country, he was unable to speak the English
language. He secured a clerkship with a grocery
concern and, after several years of hard work
and steady application, he saved enough money
to embark in business on his own account. He
opened a grocery store in Hoboken, N.J., which
he conducted for nine years. He then returned
to New York and became associated with the
Clausen & Price Brewing Company as a collector
for that concern. Being possessed of great am
bitions and endowed with a strong force of char
acter, Mr. Riefe was soon promoted to the posi
tion of secretary and treasurer of the company.
His knowledge of the brewing process qualified
him as an expert in 1890. With the co
operation of Mr. H. H. Hingslage, Mr.
Diedrich Knabe, Mr. William P. Rinckhoff and
Mr. Henry L. Meyer, Mr. Riefe organized
the Consumers' Brewing Company of New York,
Limited, and he was then afforded a better oppor

tunity to exercise his talents and develop his ex
ceptional qualities. He was elected vice-presi
dent of the new corporation and, after the death
of Mr. Herman Hingslage, the president, in
1900, Mr. Riefe became the executive head
of the company and still continues as such.
Beginning with a comparatively small plant, the
Consumers' Brewing Company of New York,
Limited, is to-day one of the largest cooperative
brewing concerns of its kind in the United States,
and supplies an annual demand of more than
225,000 barrels of beer. Its vast interests are
far-reaching and the magnitude of its product
marks the company as one of the foremost con
cerns in the brewing industry. One hundred and
twenty men are constantly employed by this en
terprising corporation. To the able administration
of Mr. Riefe, the company owes much of its great
success. Being a man of the old school, whose
business principles are the same as those which he
employs in his private life, viz., a kind disposition,
being rigidly honorable and charitable to a degree,
he is held in the highest esteem by all in every
walk of life. Mr. Riefe is honorary president of
the gigantic Plattdeutsche Volksfest Verein, hon
orary president of the Fritz Reuter Altenheim
(Old People's Home), ex-president of Club Vege-
sack, ex-president of Amt. Hagener Club, member
of the Arion Society, member of the Herman
Lodge, F. & A. M., and also member of the Luth
eran Church, as well as being associated with
many other German societies. He was united in
marriage with Miss Gretchen Horstmann, to
whom five daughters and two sons have been born.

MAX F. ABBfi, president of the Abbe Engi
neering Co., was born at Berlin, Germany, where
he received a fairly good education and was em
ployed most of his time in the coal business. In
1886 he came to the United States. In the fol
lowing years of hard struggle he occupied vari
ous positions, took up the study of machinery,
especially machinery for grinding and pulverizing
purposes. After making several inventions he es
tablished himself in business in 1897 and has made
a success of it. Mr. Abbe's numerous inventions
are patented all over the world. The machines
manufactured by his concern are bought by mine
owners, cement works, sugar refineries, chemical
works, porcelain works and other different indus
tries and are also used in laboratories. The labo-
atories of nearly all the universities and col
leges in the United States adopted machines made
by his firm under patents secured by Mr. Abbe,
who has thus protected more than thirty of his
own inventions. The officers of the Abbe Engi
neering Co. are Max F. Abbe, Lina Abbe and

236 SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS

Paul O. Abbe. A Democrat in politics, Mr. Abbe
is a member of the Arion Society and the Amer
ican Institute of Mining Engineers. He was mar
ried on December 3, 1877, to Miss Lina Buenger
and has one son, Paul O. Abbe, who is engaged
in business with his father.

WILLIAM P. RINCKHOFF was born at
Cuxhaven, Hamburg, Germany, on November 24,
1846, where he obtained an education in the local
schools. In 1860, at the age of fourteen years,
he came to the United States and settled in New
York. He then obtained a position as clerk in a
grocery store, at a salary of three dollars per
month. He has been actively engaged in busi
ness ever since. In 1868, after several years of
hard work and steady application, he had enough
money to start a business of his own and opened
a grocery store in Harlem. In 1868, he also
joined the Fifth Regiment, of the National Guard
of the state of New York and rose from a priv
ate to the rank of captain of Company H of said
regiment, but upon his election as captain, for
business reasons, he resigned from the National
Guard. After continuing in the grocery business
for some years, he sold his place in Harlem and
ventured into the liquor business, opening a liquor
store at Forty-sixth Street and Tenth Avenue
and while there he did a prosperous business.
1883-87-88-90, he represented the Seventeenth As
sembly District in the city of New York in the
Board of Aldermen, having been elected on the
Democratic ticket. While a member of the
Board of Aldermen, he was chairman of the
Railroad Committee. He was vice-chairman of
the Democratic Club in his district for about
twenty-five years, but retired from active politics
in 1906, to devote all of his time to business. In
1890, he joined with John Riefe, H. H. Hings-
lage, Diedrich Knabe and Henry L. Meyer in the
organization of the Consumers' Brewing Company
of New York, Ltd., one of the largest co-oper
ative brewing companies in the country, of which
he was elected secretary, and in 1907 he was
elected both secretary and treasurer of said
company. In 1896, together with F. H. Kastens,
E. Lang, Louis Struever and Luer Immen, he
organized the Artificial Ice Company, of which
he was elected president. This company has one
of the largest ice plants in the City of New York.
In 1902, together with F. H. Kastens, E. Lang
and Julius Rinckhoff, he organized the American
Distilled Water Company. In 1900, he was one
of the directors and organizers of The United
National Bank of New York City, which bank in
1905 was merged into the Hudson Trust Com
pany, of which company he is a director and a

member of the Executive Committee. Mr. Rinck
hoff resides at 457 West Forty-seventh Street
New York City, and he has a beautiful summer
home at Monsey, Rockland Co., N.Y. He is a
member of the Arion Society, Herman Lodge 268,
F. & A. M., a member of the Fritz Reuter Alten-
heim (Old Peoples Home), the Plattdeutsche
Volksfest Verein and the National Democratic
Club, as well as a member of other German so
cieties. Mr. Rinckhoff was united in marriage
with Miss Mina Offermann on October 12, 1873,
and five children have been born to the union ;
four daughters and one son.

CHARLES F. HOLM, lawyer, was born on
March 8, 1862, at New York City as the son of
German parents who had emigrated to the United
States. He received his first education at Dr.
Medler's private school in Brooklyn, and from
1871 until 1878 attended the Realschule in the
city of Schwerin, Germany. Returning to the
United States, he studied law at the Columbia
Law School and received the degree of LL.B.
when he graduated in June, 1882. In the same
year he was admitted to the Bar of New York
State and two years later to practise in the Uni
ted States Courts. Immediately after the com
pletion of his studies Mr. Holm engaged in the
practise of his profession and devoted himself
principally to commercial and corporation law.
He is a member of the firm of Holm, Whitlock
& Scarff and has organized a large number of
cooperative enterprises of German retailers,
among them in 1889 the Consumers' Brewing
Co. of New York, in 1898 the Excelsior Brewing
Co., United Wine and Trading Co. and the Amer
ican Exchange Cigar Co., and in later years
the Ferd. Munch Brewing Co., United Na
tional Bank, Hudson Trust Co., Kick Baking Co.,
Consumers' Pie Baking Co., and many similar
corporations of a cooperative character, all of
which have been very successful, paying good
dividends and whose stockholders number in the
aggregate several thousand retailers with assets
running into the millions. Mr. Holm remains
counsel for all these cooperative companies ; he
has probably created more of them than any
other lawyer, and while this fact speaks for his
'great popularity and the esteem in which he is
held by the Germans of New York City, the
further fact that all these concerns are prosper
ous and have stood the test of actual experience,
speaks volumes for the knowledge and ability of
their organizer. He has also incorporated the
Plattdeutsche Volksfest Verein of New York, the
Fritz Reuter Altenheim and many other socie
ties. Mr. Holm is a Republican in politics, but

FERNANDO A. WESSELL.

237

EMIL V. WALDENBERGER.

238

SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS 239

has never aspired to or held public office. He is
vice-president of the Hudson Trust Co. and held
the same position in the United National Bank.
Until 1905 he served in the militia and was cap
tain of Company C of the Fourteenth Regiment.
He is a Mason of Herman Lodge and of the
Thirty-second Degree Aurora Grata Lodge, as
well as of the Riding and Driving Club. Mr.
Holm was married twice : to Miss Carolina Mar-
tiensen, who gave him two children, Una and
Ion C., and after her death to Miss Grace Boies,
also the mother of two children, Tertia and
Grace Holm.

HON. JACOB HAUSSLING was born at
Newark on February 22, 1855, as the son of
Henry Haussling who had come to America from
Deidesheim in Bavaria in 1848. While the elder
Haussling had not taken an active part in the
revolutionary movement, his brother had taken
up arms for liberty and fought in several en
gagements with Carl Schurz. The reaction fol
lowing the collapse of the revolution drove Henry
Haussling from home and fatherland. He set
tled at Newark and founded the mineral water
business which is still flourishing and at present
conducted by his son. Jacob Haussling received
his education in St. Mary's Parochial School, the
Grammar School of the second ward, and finally
in a business college. When he had finished his
studies, he was apprenticed to a marble polisher,
but soon tired of the narrow confines of his
home circle and decided to grow up with the
West, following the advice of Horace Greeley.
Hardly sixteen years old, he went to Chicago,
which was emerging from the ruin the big fire
had wrought, but did not remain long. Return
ing to Newark, he took charge of his father's
business and succeeded in developing it beyond
his fondest expectations. When he started, a
one horse wagon was sufficient to serve all cus
tomers, but ere many years had passed, a regular
wagon park was needed. Mr. Haussling also en
gaged in the business of manufacturing soda wa
ter fountains, which business was sold to an in
corporated company. The manufacture of min
eral waters is still conducted by himself and un
der his name. It has grown to be one of the
largest in its line in the state of New Jersey.
While Mr. Haussling did not seek for political
honors, it was but natural that a man of his well
known energy and character should be put for
ward by his many friends when the citizens of
Newark looked for men to represent them. A
straight Democrat, he was repeatedly compelled
to take nominations for offices when the chances
for victory were slight, but such was his popu

larity that in 1900 he was elected Sheriff by a
majority of over three thousand votes. In 1906
he was elected Mayor of his native city after
a campaign of unusual bitterness, during which
the friends of liberty and toleration rallied
around him without regard to party. Mayor
Haussling married Miss Ellen Elligott of New
ark and has two sons and two daughters, be
sides five grandchildren.

HON. CHARLES G. F. WAHLE, city mag
istrate and a lawyer of great ability, was born
at New York City March 24, 1866. His father
was Carl G. F. Wahle, a veteran of the Civil
War, well known in German veteran circles in
New York City. He attended the public schools,
the College of the City of New York and the
University Law School. He read law in the
office of Frederick H. Betts, at one time a part
ner of former Secretary of the Navy William
C. Whitney, and was later admitted to the Bar.
In 1890 Mayor Grant appointed him school in
spector for the Fifth Inspection District of the
city of New York. He led the first fight for
the introduction of electric lighting in the schools
of his district in the city of New York, succeed
ing in calling to his assistance such men as
Charles F. Chandler, the late Professor Morton
of the Stevens Institute of Technology, Profes
sor Cross of the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology of Boston, Professor Freeman of
Washington and others. In 1891 he was ap
pointed one of the commissioners of accounts of
the city of New York by Mayor Grant, the sal
ary of the office being five thousand dollars ; he
was at that time just twenty-five years of age and
so far as the records of the city of New York
show, was the youngest man who was ever the
executive head of one of the municipal depart
ments of the city of New York. He was re-
appointed to the office by Mayor Gilroy. During
his incumbency of the office of commissioner of
accounts he conducted a public investigation into
the accounts and methods of the Park Depart
ment and succeeded in exposing a corrupt system
of management in various branches of the park
system, which resulted in the enforced resigna
tion of many of the superintendents, and the
flight from the city of the chief gardener. The
reforms which have since been instituted in the
Park Department are the result of that admin
istration. He was the secretary of the commit
tee having in charge the Columbian celebration
in the city of New York and was appointed by
Mayor Gilroy a member of the committee to
represent the city at the Manhattan Day celebra
tion at the Chicago celebration. He is a mern-

240 SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS

her of the Bar Association of the city of New
York, the Society of Medical Jurisprudence,
Tammany Society and Anawanda Club. He is
chairman of the executive committee of the Ger
man Democracy of the city of New York and
has had charge of several vigorous political
campaigns among Germans in the city of New
York. He is also a member of the Liederkranz,
of which organization he has been one of the
board of directors and a trustee ; of the German
Press Club, of which organization he was for
many years the chairman of the finance commit
tee; the German Scientific Society of New York
and other German charitable and social organi
zations. He was one of the counsel who suc
cessfully appeared for the executive committee
of Tammany Hall in its fight to exclude William
S. Devery from that body, is vice-chairman of
the executive committee of Tammany Hall,
one of the vice-presidents of the general commit
tee of Tammany Hall for the Thirty-fifth As
sembly District, and one of the vice-presidents of
the Jefferson Tammany Club of the Thirty-fifth
Assembly District. In addition to this, in mat
ters local to the Bronx section of the city of
New York, he is a member of the Schnorer Club,
North Side Board of Trade, Bar Association of
the Bronx, a vestryman of the Protestant Epis
copal Church of the Holy Faith, president of the
General Church Club of the Protestant Episco
pal Church in the Bronx and is a member of
other organizations. Mr. Wahle was married to
Miss Florence Katherine Budd of Sag Harbor,
who, with their four children, occupy a handsome
home at 1239 Franklin Avenue, Bronx, New
York City. On the first of May, 1905, he was
appointed a city magistrate of the city of New
York for the First Division. He has served as
president of the board of city magistrates and
as such filled the position with great skill and
dignity. As an orator, Mr. Wahle has few equals
anywhere in the state of New York.

SAMUEL THEODOR HERMANN KARL
ENDEMANN, Ph.D., chemist, was born at Ful-
da in Hessen, Germany, on April 4, 1842, and re
ceived his early education in the College and
Polytechnical Institute at Kassel, the capital city
of Hessen. After graduating he studied at the
University of Giessen in 1860 and '61 and at Mar
burg from 1861 to 1864. Successfully passing
through the examinations which entitled him to
apply for the degree of doctor of philosophy, he
accepted a position as tutor at the Polytechnic In
stitute at Stuttgart, Wuerttemberg, where he suc
ceeded in elaborating his dissertation "Die sauren
und neutralen Aether der schwefligen Saure,"

which brought him his degree as doctor of phil
osophy on April 4, 1866. He found his position
at Stuttgart as uncongenial as had been the case
with his predecessors, and resigned at the end
of the winter term of 1866-67 in order to go to
the United States. A few days after his arrival
he succeeded in securing the position as private
assistant to Professor Charles F. Chandler of
the School of Mines, Columbia College, and a
similar position with Professor Jay of Columbia
College. Two years later he resigned these posi
tions and accepted the place of assistant chemist
in the Health Department of the city of New
York, where he remained until 1879, when he es
tablished the laboratory for analyses and investi
gations which is still in existence in the lower
business portion of New York City. The inves
tigations carried on by Dr. Endemann during the
long years of his practise in New York cover a
very large field. In the analytical branch of his
activity he has examined all kinds of food and
drink. He demonstrated beyond a doubt that
the self-purification of river waters by direct
oxydation of sewage, notwithstanding a genera]
belief therein, is practically non-existent. During
the ten years of his service in the health depart
ment he furnished valuable assistance to the
coroners of New York and neighboring cities in
cases of suspected poisoning. Physiological ex
aminations and others relating to the effective
ness of disinfectants and antiseptics were made
by him for the city of New York and the Federal
Government, and he appeared frequently in the
pursuance of such cases before legislative com
mittees at Albany and congressional committees
at Washington. The largest part of his time was
naturally spent in the field of applied chemistry,
such as the manufacture of artificial stone, the
tanning, bleaching and dyeing of leather, the in
vestigation of and experiments with asphalt, gum
resins, paper and paper stock, drugs, fats and
oils, including the refining of them, the preserva
tion of food and in many other directions, the re
sults of which were published in numerous es
says scattered through about twenty different
periodicals. In connection with these investiga
tions upward of fifty patents were obtained which
are almost all in the hands of Dr. Endemann's
clients. He also edited and published an Eng
lish edition of "Gerber on Milk," and edited sev
eral of the first volumes of the Journal of the
American Chemical Society. To this organiza
tion the best years of his life were given, Dr.
Endemann serving for many years as director,
member of the committee on papers and publica
tions and as editor. The first practical impulse
for the formation of this society was given by

WILLIAM SOHMER.

241

PHILIP J. SCHMIDT.

242

SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS 243

him, and with the assistance of Dr. J. Walz, a
small number of chemists was interested, but
the original plan of forming a small local soci
ety was soon superseded by Professor Charles F.
Chandler's idea of forming a national organiza
tion. Calls sent out met with a response suffi
cient to make this possible, though during the
first ten years of its existence the society was
greatly hindered in its prosperity and efficiency
by the opposition of many enemies who only
gradually came to see its usefulness and value.
Dr. Endemann has frequently appeared in the
courts as expert, notably in cases referring to
artificial dyes, the manufacture of paper pulp and
paper, and the utilization of wastes. He is an
original member of the Society of Chemical In
dustry and the American Chemical Society, a
member of the German Technological Club of
New York, the German Chemical Society of Ber
lin and the Verein Deutscher Chemiker. Dr.
Endemann married, on November 27, 1869, Ma
ria Elisabeth, daughter of J. J. Miller, and had
seven children, of whom six are living: Eleonora
L. Grimes, Hermann K., Gertrude, Fred W.,
Clara and Elsa.

X
JACOB LANGELOTH, merchant, was born

at Mannheim, Germany, where he received his
education at the Gymnasium, graduating there
from at the age of sixteen years. Before com
ing to the United States, Mr. Langeloth entered
mercantile life at his native place in 1867. In
1873 he went to London, England, where he re
mained until 1881. He then located at Frank-
furt-on-Main where he became assistant manager
of the Metallgesellschaft. In 1887 he came to
America, locating at New York City, where he
has continued to reside ever since. After his
arrival in New York he established the American
Metal Company, limited, an extensive concern
of which he is president. Mr. Langeloth is a
director of the Corn Exchange Bank, a mem
ber of the German Club, the New York Yacht
Club, the Midday Club, the Downtown Club and
other organizations. He is intimately connected
with copper, lead, spelter, etc., mining and smelt
ing industries in this country, as well as Mex
ico and Canada and among others is president of
the Granby Consolidated Mining, Smelting &
Power Co. of British Columbia~and vice-presi
dent of the Balbach Smelting & Refining Co. of
Newark, NJ. He is widely known as an emi
nently successful business man of exceptional
ability. Cultured and refined in his taste, he is
universally esteemed for his superior qualities
and gifts. Although disinclined to take a lead
ing part in public functions, he must be counted

as one of the leading German merchants of New
York City, on account of his success as well as
his character.

LOUIS W. HRABA, manufacturer of fine
leather goods, such as wallets, pocket-books, trav
eling bags, tourist outfits, mounted in gold and
silver, etc., etc., with offices and salesrooms lo
cated at 29 East Nineteenth Street, New York
City, was born at Vienna, Austria, in 1853. At
the unusual age of sixteen he graduated from the
Gymnasium, a thorough institution of that city.
Shortly after his graduation he came to the Uni
ted States. In 1872 he located in Hoboken, NJ.,
where he at present resides and where he is held
in the highest esteem socially, publicly and com
mercially. After arriving in this country, al
though only a boy, he possessed more than the
usual grit for one of his years at that time; he
obtained a position with the leather goods firm
of Messrs. Enninger & Co., with whom he remain
ed for a short time. After being identified with
other houses in a similar line, in 1879 Mr. Hraba
embarked in business on his own account and
made it a special point to produce the finest leath
er goods on the American soil. He has been
successful in his undertaking and has won the
name and reputation in the American as well
as Vienna, Paris, Berlin and London markets
to stand alone without any near approach, as
the maker of the finest and most artistic leather
goods that human skill can produce. His busi
ness continued to grow rapidly and in order to
keep apace with the times, Mr. Hraba removed
to his present splendid and commodious quar
ters, No. 29 East Nineteenth Street. Mr. Hraba
in 1876 married a Miss Bruetsch, an estimable
lady of Hoboken. They reside at No. 623 Bloom-
field Street in that city. One of the pleasing
features Mr. Hraba possesses is that his success
ful business career has never destroyed his great
simplicity. In his social and commercial walks
in life he possesses none of those snobbish char
acteristics which so often spoil the successful
man of business.

AUGUSTUS G. MILLER, contractor and
manufacturer, was born at Marktbreit, near
Wuerzburg, in Bavaria, on July 14, 1869. He
received his early education in the schools of
Wuerzburg and attended St. Nicholas Parochial
School in New York City for two years, having
emigrated to America with his parents when still
a boy. Mr. Miller engaged in business when quite
young and became the pioneer of the Miller sys
tem of sectional shelving used now by many
thousands of commercial and manufacturing con-

244 SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS

cerns in the city of New York and beyond its
limits. He has always taken a very deep inter
est in public affairs of all kinds and served for
seventeen years in the militia. From 1889 to
1895 he was a member of the Eighth Regiment,
was then transferred to the Seventy-first, took
his discharge and reenlisted in the First Signal
Corps, serving until 1905. During the Spanish-
American War he did his duty with his regi
ment at Camp Townsend and was later on trans
ferred to the armory for recruiting service. He
is commodore of the U.S. Volunteer Life Sav
ing Corps, District No. 2, an organization which
is indebted to Mr. Miller's indefatigable zeal in
its behalf for a large part of its success. His
principal work has been in connection with
needed improvements in the Bronx where he
lives. He is president of the United East Bronx
Improvement Associations, an alliance of all the
important taxpayers' associations east of the
Bronx River. In this capacity he has figured
conspicuously in connection with all improve
ments in the district known as Chester. Care
fully studying conditions before forming an
opinion, his judgment is universally admitted to
be impartial and correct, and it may be said,
without fear of contradiction, that he has been
identified with every public improvement in his
section as one of the prime movers. He fathered
and accomplished the construction of the two
large trunk sewers for Westchester and Union-
port at a cost of $2,500,000, the extension of the
subway along Westchester Avenue, the extension
of Tremont Avenue east of the Bronx and many
other public works of great value. In addition,
he led the fight against the poor service given to
his district by the Union Railway Company and
forced them, with the assistance of the State
Railroad Commission, to furnish larger and
more frequent cars. Mr. Miller was married on
December 20, 1898, to Miss Clara Lohbauer,
daughter of the well known park proprietor of
Westchester. He organized the Morris Yacht
Club, is a Mason of Harmony Lodge No. 199
and belongs to a number of political organiza
tions. In local politics he is a Democrat but a
Republican in national affairs.

ANTHONY J. VOLK, son of Jacob and Rosa
Volk, was born at Hoboken on November 21,
1865. He received his education in the Hoboken
Academy and later in the public schools of his
native city. After graduating, he engaged in
the undertaking business and soon established
himself on his own account. He has been very
successful and has taken a lively interest in
public affairs. A Republican in politics, he was

elected coroner for Hudson County in Novem
ber, 1903, by a majority of nearly fifteen hundred
votes in the ordinarily Democratic city of Hobo-
ken, carrying 'his county by almost six thousand
votes. Mr. Volk remains true to the traditions
of the country where his parents were born, and
while a loyal American citizen, is ever ready to
lend his aid to every movement in the interest
of the German-American element. Of genial
disposition and fond of social diversions, his
friends are very numerous, and his popularity is
proven by his success in business as well as poli
tics. He is a member of the German Evangelical
Church at Sixth and Garden Streets, Hoboken,
Hoboken Board of Trade, the Independent and
City and Hoboken Schuetzen Corps, Lyra Sing
ing Society, Turn Verein, Gehrder Freundschafts
Bund, secretary and treasurer of the Hudson
Consumers Ice Co., the Undertakers' Association
of his state and county, Hoboken Lodge 74, Elks,
Royal Arcanum, K. & L. of H., K. of II., D.O.H.,
a prominent Odd Fellow and a Mason of Hud
son Lodge 71, as well as a member of many
other social organizations too numerous to men
tion. Mr. Volk was married in September, 1888,
to Miss Annie M. Kaiser and has three children,
Florence M. A., Anthony J. Jr., and Anna M. M.
Volk.

GEORGE M. HEUMAN, lawyer, was born
in New York City on September 21, 1876. He
attended Public School No. 18 and took the re
gents' examination in order to study law. While
clerk in the law offices of E. B. & W. J. Amend
he took a course of one year at Columbia Uni
versity and continued his studies in the New
York Law School, receiving the Academic Di
ploma from the University of the State of New
York. He was admitted to the Bar in 1900 and
is now in general practise at 290 Broadway. Mr.
Heuman is very fond of music. He began studying
the piano at the age of seven and later devoted
himself to the organ, this instrument appealing
to him especially. He studied for some time
under S. Austen Pearce, formerly organist of
St. Paul's Church in London, England, and was
organist and choirmaster of St. Ann's and St.
Matthew's churches in Brooklyn. He is a mem-
j)er of the Catholic Church and finds his social
recreation in the Arion Club. On November 16,
1904, he married Miss Veronica D. Burgart.

BENNO LEWINSON, lawyer, was born at
Buk, Germany, on September 27, 1854, and re
ceived his preparatory education in the Louisen-
stadtische Gymnasium in Berlin. In 1866 he
came to America, entered the College of the City

CHARLES J. OBERMAYER.

245

JULIUS STRAUSS.

246

SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS 247

of New York and received the degree of M.S.
after graduating with the class of '73 ; and in
1877 the degree of LL.B. from the law school
of Columbia University. He has been a resident
of New York City since his arrival in this coun
try and practised his profession since finishing
his studies. He is a Democrat in politics, a
trustee of the College of the City of New York,
trustee of the New York Law Institute, one of
the "Judaeans," president of the Columbia Club,
a director of Temple Beth-El Club, a veteran in
the German Liederkranz, a member of the Phi
Beta Kappa and of many other organizations. He
married on October 6, 1881, Miss Fanny Ber
liner and has four daughters.

BENJAMIN L. BRANDNER, lawyer, was
born in New York City on August 13, 1868, the
son of German parents. He received his educa
tion in Public School No. 35 and studied law in
Columbia University. Being admitted to the
Bar, Mr. Brandner engaged in the general prac
tise of his profession and met with immediate
success. He is widely and favorably known for
his social qualities as well as on account of the
position he has made for himself as a lawyer.
Though born in America, he may justly be called
a German-American in the best sense of the
word, because he is a worthy representative of
that element which appreciates fully all that is
good and valuable in the German character, and
is anxious to preserve these traits as long as
possible in order to strengthen their influence
upon the character of the American people. In
politics Mr. Brandner is a Democrat, and he is
a member of the Arion Society, Tammany Hall
and the Anawanda Club.

OTTO KEMPXER was born in Austria July
5, 1858, and came to America with his parents
in 1867. He was educated in the public schools
and the Cooper Institute. At first he taught
school and in 1884 he was made principal of the
Freie Deutsche Schule, a school which was
founded in New York City by the German revo
lutionists of 1848. Mr. Kempner did not remain
long at the profession of teacher and was ad
mitted to the Bar after a course of legal study
at the New York University. When scarcely six
teen years old, Mr. Kempner manifested his in
terest in public questions by appearing as a
speaker in the presidential campaign of 1876.
Following the example of Carl Schurz, he advo
cated the election of the Democratic presidential
candidate, Samuel J. Tilden. He took an active
interest in politics since that memorable cam
paign. In 1892 Mr. Kempner was elected to the

State Legislature from the Tenth District of
New York City, which was then inhabited al
most exclusively by Germans. He sprang into
prominence at one bound at the very opening of
the legislative session by a vigorous attack on the
prevailing boss system in the Democratic party
of the state of New York. The occasion for
his speech was the attempt of the bosses to dic
tate the election of Edward Murphy, Jr., to the
United States Senate over the opposition of
President-elect Grover Cleveland. That first ad
dress won for Mr. Kempner a wide reputation
for independence and oratorical ability. During
the remainder of the session Mr. Kempner main
tained a bitter fight against the debasing condi
tions existing in the Democratic party of New
York. The forces of Tammany Hall were all
arrayed against his reelection, and defeated him
in 1893, but the following year he again entered
the field for the Assembly and was successfully
elected. He made a splendid record during his
second term. Mr. Kempner soon became known
as a leader among those German-Americans who
stood for good government and were opposed
to Tammany misrule. In 1893 he published his
pamphlet on the "Life of Boss Croker," the
notorious Tammany chieftain, which book con
tributed largely to Croker's overthrow. In 1894
the Committee of Seventy nominated Mr. Kemp
ner for sheriff of New York on the Fusion ticket,
but he declined to accept the honor. In 1900
he was made commissioner of public works of
Brooklyn by Borough President Swanstrom and
made a successful administrator. Mr. Kempner
married in 1883 and has three children. His
two sons are graduates of Harvard College, the
elder of whom, Clarence Kempner, is likewise
a lawyer.

FRANK H. CORDTS, president of the
Frank Cordts Furniture Co., the largest retail
establishment of its kind in Hoboken, N.J., was
born at Schulau, Holstein, Germany, December
20, 1863. He obtained his education in the Biir-
gerschule of his native city. His father being
a seafaring man, young Cordts had an early long
ing for travel on the ocean blue. After a year
of service in the employ of the Hamburg-American
Line, he was honorably discharged at the New
York office of the company. About twenty-seven
years ago he landed in Hoboken. He immediate
ly procured employment in a grocery store where
he attended strictly to his duties. Deciding to
go in business for himself, he next started a
bread route. Some six months later an oppor
tunity offered itself and Mr. Cordts became the
proprietor of a small furniture store at old No.

248 SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS

76 Washington Street, and through constant at
tention, increased trade to such an extent that a
few years later he erected the building at in
Washington Street, a store and four floors, which
he occupied solely for the sale of furniture and
floor coverings. Prosperity continued and eleven
years ago the magnificent emporium at the cor
ner of Second and Washington Streets was erect
ed, a large six-story structure. It is to-day the
most modern, as well as the largest house of its
kind on the Hoboken side of the Hudson River
and stands as a monument of honest and
straightforward dealings. On May 25, 1900, the
Frank Cordts Furniture Co. was incorporated
under the laws of the state of New Jersey with
a paid-up capital of $100,000. Mr. Frank H.
Cordts is president of the company and Mr.
Adolph F. W. Matthiessen, born at Oldesloe,
Holstein, Germany, April 13, 1869, is secretary
of the concern. Trade of the Cordts Company is
not confined to New Jersey alone ; almost daily
the wagons of the company travel the full length
of Manhattan Island and Brooklyn. At the age
of twenty-one Mr. Cordts married Miss Kate
Schmitt ; four children, viz. : Adam, the oldest
son, who died recently ; Frank, Jr., Eva and
Henry, blessed the union. Mr. Cordts has been
a member of the German Evangelical Church of
Sixth and Garden Streets for over twenty-five
years. He was made a deacon some twenty years
ago and is acting in that capacity to-day. Being
a man fond of society he is a member of Hudson
Lodge No. 71, F. & A.M.; Hoboken Lodge of
Elks, No. 74; Royal Arcanum, No. 99; K. of P.,
Garfield Lodge, No. 27; Plattdeut?cher Volksfest
Verein of New York, Board of Directors Fritz
Reuter Altenheim Gesellschaft; New York
Schuetzen Corps ; Hoboken Independent Schuet-
zen Corps and other organizations. He is very
fond of horses, horseback riding being his special
hobby. He has been a member of the Germania
Riding Club of Hoboken for many years and
at the present time is president of the club. Be
ing congenial and affable in his manners and pos
sessing strict business principles, has made Mr.
Cordts many friends as well as the foremost mer
chant of Hoboken. He is a self-made man in
the truest sense of the word.

HERMANN KOCH was born in beautiful
Thuringia, Germany, in 1861, as the son of the
prosperous farmer, Friedrich Koch, and his wife,
Sophie. He received his first education at the
public school of his home village, Obersdorf,
and then attended a secondary school (Mittel-
schule) at Sangerhausen. At the age of fifteen
he entered a preparatory school and in 1882 he

graduated from the Royal Teachers' Seminary
of the old city of Eisleben. After teaching school
for a while Mr. Koch went out in search of a
broader field for his activities — to the United
States — and settled in New York City- in 1884.
He chose the business career and by energetical
study of the English language and by close at
tention to business he soon worked his way up;
for a number of years he was manager of a
wholesale importing house. In the meanwhile
Hermann Koch had chosen Long Island City, in
the Borough of Queens, New York City, as the
place of his abode. Since 1905 Mr. Koch has
been established in the real estate and insurance
business, with offices at No. 507 Broadway, Long
Island City. His close study of conditions of the
realty market and his thorough knowledge of
values in Queens have given Mr. Koch the repu
tation of one of the most successful appraisers
of real estate in Queens, whose advice is eagerly
sought by investors in that section of the Greater
City; his strict honesty and unswerving integrity
have secured for him the confidence of a rap
idly growing clientage. While Hermann Koch has
shown profound interest in the promotion of the
German language, German song and German
social ideals in this land of his adoption, he has
at all times impressed his German friends with
the utmost necessity of acquiring the English
language and becoming good and useful Amer
ican citizens. Although Mr. Koch cherishes a
warm spot in his heart for the "Vaterland," and
although he expresses his affection for his old
love on proper occasions, yet he is an ardent ad
mirer of the democratic institutions of this
country and he hails his great "Landsmann" Carl
Schurz, as a model American citizen. Hermann
Koch was instrumental in organizing the United
German Singing Societies of Long Island City in
1899; he was their president for five years and
he has been one of the directors of the "Nord
Ostliche Sangerbund" ever since his home or
ganization became a member of this great and
influential "Bund." As speaker of the Long
Island City Turn Verein, he has been very active
in the cause of that branch of athletics which is
so dear to the German heart ; his earnest endeav
or to interest young Americans in these scien
tific physical exercises has been successful. But
Hermann Koch has not only been an important
factor in German-American life in Queens, he
has also been recognized as one of Queens Coun
ty's most public spirited citizens ; always mani
festing a deep interest in the advancement and
welfare of the community, the progress of pub
lic improvement and the rapid development of
that borough. As a member of local school

ALBERT E. KLEINERT.

249

JOHN GEORGE GRILL.

250

SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS 251

board, District No. 42, for two years, Mr. Koch
will be remembered for his undying efforts to
secure proper recognition for the needs and
wants of the public school system of Queens. The
erection of a number of new school buildings in
Long Island City is traced back to his initia
tive and energetical work. A Democrat in po
litical faith, his unswerving integrity was so
highly appreciated by his fellow townspeople that
he was nominated and elected alderman of the
Sixty-seventh District in 1903 by a very large
majority. His record in that office is a credit to
himself and to his party; he was a true repre
sentative of all the people, he was progressive
and always stood for the best interests of all
his constituents, irrespective of party. With his
extensive commercial pursuits and his deep in
terest in public affairs, he is strictly a home-man
and devotes all of his spare time to the comfort
and advancement of his family. His happy
union with Emma Herrmann has been blessed
with two sons. Heinrich, the oldest son, is
about to take up the study of law at Cornell
University; Alfred, thirteen years of age, is a
pupil of one of the public schools of Long Island
City. Mr. Koch is a member of Advance Lodge,
F. & A. M. ; Enterprise Lodge, No. 228, K. of
P. ; Long Island City Lodge, I.O.O.F. ; Sunswick
Council, Royal Arcanum ; Queensborough Lodge,
No. 878, B.P.O. Elks, also of a number of social
and political organizations.

GUSTAV HAUSER, manufacturer, was born
in Vienna, Austria, on June 2, 1843, and edu
cated in the public schools of his native city.
After leaving school, Mr. Hauser engaged in
the hotel business and was assistant manager or
manager of several of the largest hotels in Ger
many, among them Meisels Hotel in Vienna,
Caspers Hotel in Bremen, Streits Hotel in Ham
burg and Gumprechts Wholesale Hungarian
Wine House in Hanover. He came to America
in 1870 and entered the cigar business, starting
in 1872 the well known and still flourishing
Phenix Cigar Factory at Hoboken. His activity
and his genial disposition won him a host of
friends and brought not only success to his en
terprise but also made him one of the most pop
ular Germans of Hoboken. He took an active
interest in public affairs and was appointed cat
tle inspector under President Cleveland's admin
istration, which office he held from 1892 until

1896. Mayor Stanton appointed him fire com
missioner of the city of Hoboken, in which ca
pacity he served with distinction from 1892 to

1897. In 1901 he was a member of the com
mittee of fifteen appointed to receive the first

vessel of the German Lloyd that reached Ho
boken after the great fire of 1900 had destroyed
the docks. Mr. Hauser went aboard the steamer
in the lower bay and was warmly welcomed and
entertained by the captain, escorting the ship
until she reached her dock. In recognition of
the courtesies extended, the Committee of Fif
teen gave a reception in honor of the captain
and the officers of the ship at Meyers Hotel,
which was largely attended. He is a member of
the Hoboken Board of Trade and the Lyra Sing
ing Society and a Mason of Hoboken Lodge No.
35. On November 30, 1871, Mr. Hauser was
married to Miss Marie Segger of Konigslutter in
Braunschweig, Germany. He had six children,
four sons who are employed in his cigar factory
and two daughters who are teachers in the Ho
boken public schools. Air. Hauser is one of the
most public-spirited citizens in Hoboken. He is
always ready to give substantial assistance to
every movement that has a tendency to promote
public welfare. Once his word is pledged it re
mains inviolate.

HENRY L. SCHMIDT, manufacturer, was
born at Burg on the German island of Fehmarn
in 1857. He received a thorough education in
the schools of the city of Pinneburg in Holstein
and entered the employ of a firm of manufac
turing druggists at Altoona in 1872 as office boy.
His good qualities were fully appreciated and he
rose rapidly until he filled an important position
of trust. With this firm he remained until 1880
and in 1882 emigrated to America, settling in
Hoboken, where he has resided ever since. Al
most immediately he secured a position with
Charles Cooper & Co., manufacturers of chemi
cals at Newark, and the first firm in America
to manufacture liquid carbonic acid gas for com
mercial purposes. Here he remained for ten
years as confidential man. On April i, 1892, Mr.
Schmidt associated himself with Carl Puck, a
manufacturer of mineral water at 114 Hudson
Street, Hoboken, and remained a member of the
firm of Carl Puck & Co. until 1896, when he
bought the interest of his partner and from then
on carried on the business alone. Besides man
ufacturing mineral water, he deals in beer and
ale drawing outfits and supplies and in liquid car
bonic acid gas. His trade grew so rapidly that
the new factory which he had Tmilt at 114 Hud
son Street became too small and in 1899 he re
moved to the premises at 510 and 512 Fourth
Street which he had purchased and fitted up as a
modern bottling establishment, said to be the most
spacious and best appointed factory of its kind
in the state. of New Jersey. He has taken a great

252 SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS

interest in all questions concerning his trade and
was elected treasurer of the Hudson County Bot
tlers' Protective Association in 1892, which posi
tion he still holds. In 1898 he was elected treas
urer of the American Bottlers' Protective Asso
ciation. He has held this office since then with
out interruption, being reelected at every national
convention of the association, a convincing proof
of the high regard in which he is held by the
representatives of his trade. In addition he is
a member of the executive committee of the as
sociation, president of the Beer Pump Jobbers'
Association of Greater New York and director
of the American Bottlers' Publishing Co. In
1900 Mr. Schmidt was offered the nomination as
water commissioner of the city of Hoboken and
elected by a large majority. When his term ex
pired in 1905 he was renominated and again
elected. He has been president of the board of
water commissioners for four consecutive terms.
On October 31, 1885, he married Miss Johanna C.
Paust of Hoboken, who has given him five chil
dren, one son and four daughters. Mrs. Schmidt
has, with her husband, attended every bottlers'
convention for the past ten years. He occupies
an enviable position as a business man and a pub
lic-spirited citizen on account of his integrity
and his readiness to work for the public good, as
well as in social circles, where he is known as a
genial companion and a patriotic American who
has not forgotten the love for the country of his
birth; in short, a model German- American. He
belongs to many societies, among them the Ho
boken Quartette Club and the Fritz Reuter Alten-
heim Association, to Advance Lodge 24 of
Ancient United Order of Workmen, B.P.O.E.
Lodge 74, Herman Lodge 268 New York, and
Hudson County Court, 3342, I.O.O.F.

OTTO WESSELL, manufacturer, was born
at Bramstedt, Holstein, Germany, in 1845. When
he was two years old his parents emigrated to
America and settled in Chicago. In 1850 they
returned to Germany with him and remained
there for three years, when they again crossed
the Atlantic and settled in New York City. As
soon as young Otto was old enough, he was ap
prenticed to Mr. Landers, a cabinet-maker in
Clark Street, but after a short while learned the-
piano trade and became an employee in the fac
tory of Steinway & Sons. Here his exceptional
skill as an artisan, his quick perception and un
faltering devotion to his duties soon attracted the
attention of his employers and he rose rapidly to
a position of trust and importance. But Mr.
Wessell was too ambitious to remain long an em
ployee and soon started with two friends the

firm of Wessell, Nickel & Gross, manufacturers
of piano actions. They began on a very modest
scale, but with the firm determination to produce
only the highest grade of goods and thereby se
cure a reputation for superior work. This policy
has been kept up to the present day and formed
the foundation for the great and rapid success of
the enterprise. Each member of the firm contrib
uted his part to the success. Mr. Wessell had
entire and absolute charge of the business de
partment and the finances. Mr. Wessell often
took delight, in later years, to tell his friends how
in those early days he personally delivered the
actions to their customers, and what a great day
it was when they engaged their first porter and
how later on a horse and wagon were bought
and new machinery installed. In this connec
tion it must be pointed out that the firm has nev
er hesitated to introduce the latest and most im
proved machinery whenever it appeared advis
able in order to improve or enlarge the produc
tion. As the firm grew in importance, the time
and attention of Mr. Wessell were more and more
devoted to visits to customers in the leading
cities of the country. The business of the firm
continued to grow until its products were known
everywhere. Convincing proof of the keen in
sight into the future possessed by the partners
is furnished by the fact that they foresaw the
future popularity of the upright piano as early as
1875, when the firm issued a circular to the
trade of which they ever afterward were justly
proud, and which contained the following lines :
"We beg to inform our customers in the trade
that we are now, and have been since 1874, en
gaged in making grand repetition and upright
piano actions. As was predicted, the demand for
the upright piano has had a steady increase and
it will be the popular instrument in America, as
it is and has been in Europe for many years."
There is no question that the firm gave a great
impetus to the introduction of upright pianos by
making actions of the best quality and continually
pushing them forward. Mr. Wessell was an in
defatigable worker and his ambition to be always
in the lead did not allow him to take much rest,
but his efforts were crowned with success, for
he reached high rank in his field and the boy
who had begun life with not much more than his
iron determination to arrive at the top, became a
large manufacturer, esteemed by everybody with
whom he came in contact and looked up to by
thousands. His friends included men in all con
ditions of rank in the musical industries and in
business, commercial and financial circles, and
his strength of character as well as his pro
nounced individuality, attracted recognition and

JOSEPH FREY.

253

HERMAN L. TIMKEX.

254

SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS 255

compelled admiration. He died on May 25, 1899,
at his residence in New York City and left a
widow and two sons, Arthur, who is a practising
lawyer of prominence, and Fernando, who, dur
ing the life of his father, received a thorough
training in the factories of the firm and studied
the science of making piano actions in every de
tail. He is now in charge of the plant and the
business of the firm is still continuing on the
upward grade.

ARTHUR L. WESSELL, secretary of the
house of Wessell, Nickel & Gross, was born at
New York City January 7, 1875. He was care
fully educated at the public schools, Columbia
Grammar School, Columbia College and the New
York Law School. In 1899 he was admitted to
the Bar, but has never followed the legal pro
fession for a livelihood, preferring to devote his
entire attention to the business of the extensive
corporation with which he is connected. Mr.
Wessell is a Republican in politics, but has never
taken an active part in matters appertaining
thereto, other than exercising his right of fran
chise. He is a member of the New York Ath
letic Club, the West Side Republican Club, Ger
man Liederkranz and Columbia University Club.
On September 25, 1905, he married Miss Edith
Richards, to whom two children have been born,
Benjamin and Edith. Mr. Wessell is a fine type
of young America. He possesses a keen and ana
lytical mind and his work has proven of marked
value to the company of which he is the secretary.

FERNANDO A. WESSELL, treasurer of the
Wessell, Nickel & Gross Company, is a native
of New York City, having been born in this city
January 5, 1877. His education was obtained at
the public schools. After leaving school he im
mediately connected himself with the piano forte
action house of. Wessell, Nickel & Gross and
rapidly rose to the position he now holds. He is a
member of the crack Seventh Regiment, N.G.S.
N.Y., of the German Liederkranz and New York
Athletic Club. Politically, he is a Republican,
but has never held any public office. He mar
ried Miss Elsie Cavalli on September 17, 1899, to
whom one child has been born, Fernando Ar
thur. Mr. Wessell has inherited that genius
which has made the name so famous in the piano
action industry and is devoted to his work for
the development of the house with which he is
so prominently connected. He possesses a ster
ling character and has made a strong impress
on the trade.

*

SAMUEL WEIL, manufacturer, was born at
Emmendingen in Baden, Germany, on April 24,

1846. He was educated in the schools of his
birthplace and came to America when only fifteen
years old. Here he began in the way which has
led so many able, ambitious and energetic men
to success, making full use of the opportunities
offered by American institutions. Systematically
and persistently, though slowly at first, he forged
ahead, until he was in the position to establish
himself as a manufacturer of paste and sizing,
building up a large and lucrative*"business and
making for himself a reputation as an enterpris
ing business man of sterling integrity. With
larger means at his command and a surprisingly
large fund of energy, he branched out and be
came interested in financial enterprises and real
estate operations. By this time his standing in
the community had become such that his advice
and help were eagerly sought by many and posi
tions of honor were offered to him which he will
ingly accepted, discharging his duties in a way
calculated to still increase the esteem of his
friends and fellow-citizens. He was president of
the Temple Israel and is a director of the United
Hebrew Charities, the Chatham National Bank,
the Coal and Iron National Bank, the Mount
Vernon Trust Co., the United Shoe Machinery
Co. ; vice-president of the Hudson Realty Co.,
the Lexington Realty Co. and the Vinyah Park
Realty Co. In a few decades the boy who landed
in America with little more than the firm purpose
to succeed and the strength that a good educa
tion, a splendid character and an iron determina
tion furnish, had become an influential citizen
whose readiness to assist whenever called upon
has brought him a host of friends and admirers.
Mr. Weil was married on May 23, 1875, to Miss
Ray Schulhofer and has three daughters and
one son.

JOHN MOSER of Brooklyn, N.Y., president
of the Frank Brewing Company of Evergreen,
L.I., is a member of the Brooklyn Arion Soci
ety, the Hanover and Hamilton clubs, a director
of the Broadway Bank, the German Savings
Bank and the Academy of Music (Brooklyn,
N.Y.).

AUGUST P. WAGENER.— There is not a
member of the Bar who could more justly at»
tribute his success to his own unaided efforts
than can August P. Wagener of 51 Chambers
Street, New York City. His career has been
eventful, prosperous and remarkably successful.
Through his energy, industry and zeal he has
risen to the foremost ranks of the Bar of New
York City. His fame has been heralded abroad
through this and other countries by the extraordi-

256 SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS

nary attention that has been paid in the New
York dailies to some of his many remarkable
cases. The literal story of how Mr. Wagener
made his way would form not only the basis of a
novel but the book itself. It could not fail to •
stimulate any reader capable of conceiving ambi
tion, to courageous, persevering, determined ac
tion. August P. Wagener was born in Germany
April 7, 1850, of German parentage and of a
good family. An inheritance of $100,000 from
his grandfather in Prussia, that he should have
shared, was misspent by another and at the age
of eleven years he determined to take care of
himself and left home. In 1862 he came to New
York, at the age of fifteen he enlisted in the
old Twelfth Regiment Infantry, United States
Regulars, where he served nine months, being a ,
stanch Republican and anxious to fight for the
Union. After the war he managed the business
of an importer of musical instruments, and event
ually, about the year 1868, began the study of law
and was admitted to practice by the Supreme
Court of New York at the December term
of the year 1870, since which time he has been
in active practise in this city, a period
of over thirty-six years. In preparing himself
and his studies, he became temporarily blind
studying with night classes at Cooper Union
Institute. His affliction retarded his course, but
could not alter his purpose. His practise has
covered all cases imaginable, criminal as well as
civil. His experience as a lawyer bordered on the
marvelous and the history of his thirty-six years
of practise would fill volumes. In 1887 he created
a wide-spread sensation by proving that men and
women were illegally held in the insane asylums ;
he liberated about forty alleged insane persons.
Most of these were without money, and all they
could pay were their humble thanks ; he returned
fathers to their children, husbands to their wives
and wives to their husbands and children, many
sad scenes, tears, anguish and agony did he wit
ness and the expense of many of these cases he
paid out of his own pocket. The whole press of
New York came to his assistance and highly com
mended him for his charitable acts and deeds. In
October, 1887, the released persons gave him a
public serenade and presented him with a reso
lution, the stand of which was made by one of "~
the released alleged insane men who had been
confined on Ward's Island for seventeen years,
and who, on being released, found his wife and
some of his children dead and buried, but still
found several of them alive. This stand and set
of resolutions is held in high esteem by him. As
a lawyer concerning associations, clubs and lodges,
he is considered one of the very best, having

hundreds of cases in which he created either new
law or raised novel and unique questions ; he is
not only considered an expert in this line of busi
ness, but has assisted many a widow to get her
dues and also has pushed many associations out
of existence that were not on a safe footing.
During the year 1878 he defended forty-three
different men, at different times, in the Criminal
Branch of the United States Circuit Court, New
York, before juries, and succeeded in having
forty men, charged with counterfeiting or pass
ing counterfeit money, acquitted of the other
three; one was pardoned, one served six months
and one two years. A remarkable case tried by
him was the case brought by the Countess Ma
rie de Pruschoff, the wife of a Russian Prince,
to recover a painting by Murillo, known as
"The Flagellation of Christ," valued at one
hundred and fifty thousand dollars, which she
had brought to this country from Paris, where
she had been the sensation of her time. This pic
ture had been taken from a Spanish Convent
when the French occupied Spain, and it had come
into the hands of the Countess in Paris. This
case created wide-spread sensation. In the year
1882 he brought a writ of habeas corpus on be
half of Savillar Downing to recover her child;
Mrs. Downing claiming that she had, as she sup
posed, buried her child, but years afterwards dis
covered and claimed a child known as Carlo
Wilson as her own and disinterring the buried
child, discovered that it was not her own but a
different and older child. The entire press of
the country had for many months reported this
case and were occupied by it. The cases against
a number of usurers who charged two hundred
to three hundred per cent on loans on furniture
to poor people were another sensation, he win
ning over three hundred of these cases for the
poor victims of Shylock money lenders on chattel
mortgages, which were declared illegal by the
courts and most of the usurers he drove out of
the business. The habeas corpus case of Carl
Werner, whom he had brought from Sing Sing
Staters Prison to this city, and in which he ex
posed to the public the cruelty practised on pris
oners in the prison, viz. : the dark cell, hanging
up of prisoners in handcuffs, flogging and de
priving them of eating, etc. In the Congressional
investigation of 1888 in this city he exposed the
contract system of bringing musicians to America
under contract to play in street bands and to be
returned to Germany at the end of contract and
the bringing over of criminals ; as a result laws
have been enacted prohibiting their being im
ported. He also represented the New York City
street bands, so imported, before the Board of

GUSTAV OBERLAENDER

257

CHARLES SCHNEIDER

258

SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS 259

Aldermen investigation and succeeded in having
ordinances passed prohibiting the playing of
bands in the streets of New York. An
other sensation was created at the time that
the Chicago anarchists, who were to be hung for
the killing of the police at the Hay -Market in
Chicago, 111., when he produced the confession
of a firebug then in State's Prison at Sing
Sing, claiming that a person not arrested or con
victed had thrown the bomb; that the men con
victed were innocent. The entire press of the
United States backed up this sensation and were
kept busy by it for weeks after that. In 1886
he was the Republican candidate for Congress in
the Ninth Congressional District in New York,
running against S. S. Cox (Sunset Cox), and al
though only four days in the field was only de
feated by a very small majority. As a soldier,
in addition to being a private in the Twelfth
Regiment Regulars, as aforesaid, he served in
the old Fifth Regiment as a private, in the Fifty-
fifth Regiment as a lieutenant, and in the Elev
enth Regiment, National Guards of the state of
New York, as adjutant. The New York press
has at different times given his cases unlimited
space, the Herald giving the Downing case a
page ; on other cases the Sun bestowed a page
and the Commercial Advertiser bestowed a page
at the time of its special number in describing
this career worthy to be copied; the New York
Journal long afterwards gave a whole front page
to the Chicago anarchistic matter.

JOHN BORKEL.— Of the many men that have
settled on the hospitable shores of this great
and free country, few have achieved success and
distinction in the same amount of time in his line
of business, as a metal worker, as Mr. John Bor-
kel, whose place of business is located on the
corner of Houston and Mulberry Streets in this
city. After receiving his education in Germany
he sailed for this country, way back in the '503,
arriving here laden with ambition and a determi
nation to succeed; to-day he can boast of being
very comfortable, and can proudly point to a
record of honesty, integrity and usefulness. Mr.
Borkel was born February 14, 1844, in the beau
tiful city of Alzey, Germany, and was educated
at the Gymnasium, from which he graduated in
1858. On his arrival here, during the same year,
Mr. Borkel engaged as a metal worker in the
large shipyards and right after the war, when
ship-building ceased in New York, he turned
his attention to making metal cornices. As such
he became foreman for Messrs. Connelly & Wil
son at No. 46 Rose Street, this being one of
the most prominent firms in that line in those

days. In 1868 he succeeded the above firm, hav
ing worked his way up to the highest position on
account of his ability, an achievement that any
man might be proud of on account of the high
standing of the firm. From the time he became
the possessor of the firm's cornice works he great
ly improved the mode of manufacturing cornice
and other ornamental work, and introduced prin
cipally copper for ornamentation of first-class res
idences, warehouses and churches. The copper
and bronze work on the Vanderbilt buildings, Fif
ty-first Street and Fifth Avenue and Fifty-
fourth Street and Fifth Avenue, the large mer
cantile buildings corner Waverly Place and
Broadway, and Nineteenth Street and Fourth
Avenue, also the Germania Bank Buildings are
a few of the places in this large city that contain
samples of his original designs in copper work.
His good work became known and talked about
all over the country, and to-day the John Bor
kel concern is one of the best known in the trade.
And the concern that was started in a modest
way in 1835, stands out alone for its good work
and straightforward business methods. The Lor-
illard estate and the Horace S. Ely estate, and
many of the large trust companies are a few of
the names he carries on his books and whose
work he has done for the past thirty-nine years.
In politics Mr. Borkel has always been a stanch
Republican. He was president of the town com
mittee at Rutherford, N.J., for two years. He
is a member of Neptune Lodge No. 317, F. &
A.M. ; a member of the Arion and Beethoven
Singing Societies ; a director of St. George Me
chanical School and of the Mechanics and
Tradesmen's Association. He has served on
many committees of various organizations. Mr.
Borkel has two children; George and Elizabeth.
He worships with his family at the Lutheran
Church.

JOHN STENECK, banker, was born at Ham-
bergen in the province of Hanover, Germany, on
May 24, 1846, and received his education in the
town school of his birthplace. He went into busi
ness at an early age and came to America in
1866, settling at Hoboken. Here he established
himself as banker and steamship agent as mem
ber of the firm of Meyer & Steneck, and met
with decided- success. His reputation as a finan
cier of more than ordinary ability, sterling integ
rity and foresightedness grew constantly, and
many offers were made to him to take an inter
est in other financial institutions. He is now a
director of the First National Bank and the Ho
boken Bank for Savings at Hoboken, N.J. An
independent Democrat in politics, he has never

260 SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS

aspired to public office, although his standing in
the community is such that he could easily se
cure political preferment. Mr. Steneck is a
member of the Lutheran Church, the German
Club of Hoboken and a Mason. On August 22,
1876, he was married to Miss Emma Schmittmann
and had six children, of whom four are living.

BERNARD KARSCH, the well-known jeweler
of Eighth Avenue, is a New Yorker by birth and
was born in William Street of German parents,
October 26, 1843. He was educated in the pub
lic schools of this city and has always resided
here. His father, John Karsch, was prominent
in German circles for many years and conducted
a dry goods business on Eighth Avenue, near
Thirty-sixth Street. He was born in Rohrbach,
Rhein Pfalz, Germany, February 3, 1816, and em-
migrated to America in 1839, landing in New
York City, where he began his career as a tailor,
working hard and saving his earnings until he
had accumulated enough capital to start in
business for himself. He opened a tailoring es
tablishment on Eighth Avenue, which he con
ducted for several years, and then went into the
dry goods business, becoming one of the success
ful men in that line of trade. Like the Astors
and other early settlers he began to invest in
real estate. His first purchase was a lot on Eighth
Avenue, near Thirty-sixth Street, for which he
paid, in 1849, seventeen hundred dollars, and built
a house costing three thousand dollars. The same
property sold two years ago for forty-five thou
sand dollars, which shows the increase of values
in New York and the money that has been made
in real estate by our early residents. Mr. Karsch
was a devout Lutheran and was one of the
founders of St. Luke's Lutheran Church on West
Forty-second Street, being also a trustee up to
the time of his death, which occurred in Janu
ary, 1890. He was charitable and kind to all
who needed assistance and gave liberally of his
fortune to the Lutheran Church and orphan asy
lum. He was a type of the old school of success
ful upright merchants who are rapidly passing
away. In 1843 he married Miss Barbara Kirsch-
mann of Schillerdorf, near Strassburg, Alsace.
The union was blessed with a family of six sons,
one of which died in infancy; the remaining five
boys are all well at present and residing in New
York. Their names are : Bernard, Edward, John
M., Henry and George. All these sons became
successful business men in New York City. The
subject of this biographical sketch is a worthy
son of a worthy sire. Early in life he entered
as an apprentice the old, well-known jewelry
house of Ball, Black & Company which was situ

ated in those days at the corner of Broadway and
Prince Street, where he remained for several
years ; he completed his apprenticeship as a
watch-maker and later became a journeyman in
a Maiden Lane jewelry establishment. In 1869,
with the very modest capital of three hundred
dollars, he started in the jewelry business on his
own account at 635 Eighth Avenue, where he was
successful and where he remained for twenty-five
years. Many years ago he bought the property
at 641 Eighth Avenue, corner Forty-first Street,
intending some day to remove his business there
and make the place his future home, which he
did in 1894. His establishment is one of the
finest retail jewelry houses in New York City.
Mr. Karsch retired from active business during
the year 1907, his two sons becoming his
successors. For many years Mr. Karsch has
been held in high esteem by his business asso
ciates and has for a long time filled the respon
sible position of treasurer of the Jewelers' Alli
ance and is also a member of the executive board
of the Jewelers' League. He is a trustee of the
Franklin Savings Bank and is a member of the
advisory board of the Corn Exchange Bank
(Forty-second Street branch). He is a promi
nent member of the Liederkranz Society, is also
a member of Copestone Lodge No. 641, F. &
A.M. In 1867 he was united in marriage to Miss
Kathrine Alheit of New York. The union has
been blessed with six children, three of whom
are deceased; the living children are Frederick
W. and John H., who have succeeded him in busi
ness, and his only daughter, Susan, who is the
wife of J. Louis Schaefer, vice-president and
treasurer of the famous house of William R.
Grace & Company. Mr. Karsch retires from ac
tive business cares in splendid health and spirits
and carries with him the confidence and esteem
of his old business associates as well as a large
circle of personal friends, both in this country
and Europe.

PHILIP J. SCHMIDT, who represents the
Thirty-third District of New York County in the
New York State Assembly, is a son of German
parents who came to America in the early fifties.
He was born in the city of New York in the
y^ar 1870, where he received his education in the
public schools, graduating at the age of fourteen
years. He then sought and obtained employment
with a mercantile concern, by which he was em
ployed for about three years. In the latter part
of 1887 he engaged in the general insurance bro
kerage business as a clerk, in which position he
remained until August i, 1892, when he entered
the employ of William Sohmer in the same line

JOHN STENECK.

261

PHILIP HEXAMER.

262

SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS 263

of business and with whom he remained until
the end of April, 1899. At this time came the
formation of the firm of William Sohmer, Jr., &
Co., of which he was made a junior member. Mr.
Schmidt has devoted a great deal of study to the
social problems of the day and took a great deal
of interest in local politics from the time that he
reached his majority. Consequently he became
popular in social and political circles and was
nominated by the Democratic party and the In
dependence League jointly, in 1906, to represent
his locality in the State Assembly. Mr. Schmidt
was elected, receiving 7,013 votes, against 2,047
for his opponent. Speaker Wadsworth, early in
the session of 1907, appointed Assemblyman
Schmidt a member of the following committees :
Insurance, fisheries and game. During his first
term the young assemblyman introduced and se
cured the passage of some important changes in
the charter of the city of New York which have
worked a great benefit to the municipality.

CHARLES FROEB, merchant, was born at
Waechtersbach in Hessen-Xassau, Germany, on
November 27, 1857, and received his education in
the schools of his birthplace and of Frankfurt-
on-the-Main, where he graduated in 1871. He
came to America with his parents when still in
his teens and settled first in New York City and
later in Brooklyn. Here he supplemented the
education he had received in his native country
by attending the evening schools. He started in
business at an early age as clerk in a wholesale
liquor house in Murray Street, New York City,
where he remained until 1883. By that time he
had fully mastered the business and felt confident
of his ability to attain success by his own efforts.
He had already acquired a reputation by his
thorough knowledge of his trade and his strict
integrity, and when he decided to begin business
on his own account, his success seemed assured.
Indomitable energy and ambition enabled him to
come to the front rapidly and his firm does at
present, after twenty-five years of existence, a
yearly business of over three-quarter million dol
lars. He took great care to educate his sons to
follow in his footsteps and to become good busi
ness men and they now assist him in the manage
ment of the concern that has assumed such large
dimensions. Mr. Froeb is well and favorably
known as a man who has become thoroughly
Americanized in the best sense of the word, but
retains a deep-rooted love for the Fatherland,
and appreciation for the many qualities which
have made German immigration of such great
value to this country. In every movement car
ried on by German organizations to preserve the

German language, to foster the love for and
knowledge of music, and to spread the interest
in the physical and mental welfare of the peo
ple, he has taken an active and prominent part.
A public-spirited citizen, who never hesitates
to come to the front with advice and assistance
when important questions are at issue, his popu
larity and influence are deservedly large. A
Democrat in politics, Mr. Froeb has never ac
cepted public office, although important positions
were repeatedly offered to him, but followed the
call of his party when, in 1908, he was selected
as one of the electors-at-large for the state of
New York. He is one of those Germans whose
success so forcibly illustrates the opportunities
furnished by this country to the man whose char
acter and ability, coupled with firm determination
and restless ambition, raise him to the highest
point no matter how difficult the start may be.
He is a member of the Brooklyn Arion, of which
he was president for several terms ; the Brook
lyn Turn Verein and the Hanover Club; a trus
tee and second vice-president of the German Sav
ings Bank of Brooklyn, a director of the Man
ufacturers' National Bank of Brooklyn and pres
ident of the Froeb Company of 66 Broad Street,
New York City. In December, 1880, Mr. Froeb
was married to Miss Alma Kirchuebel of Brook
lyn and had five sons, of whom Augustus C.,
Charles, Jr., Frank and Herman are alive.

GEORGE H. STEIL, merchant, mayor of the
city of Hoboken, was born at Hoboken, N.J.,
on March 29, 1861, as the son of German par
ents. He received his education in the public
schools and under private tutors and graduated
at the early age of fifteen, whereupon he imme
diately engaged in mercantile business. His force
ful character and unusual ability carried him rap
idly to the front, and simultaneously with the
growth of his business interests his influence
and popularity increased. Of a genial disposi
tion, of sterling integrity and strict but fair in
his business dealings, and at the same time fond
of social diversions, Mr. Steil was ere long one
of the best and most favorably known citizens of
Hoboken. As president of the Nehr Sanitary
Bed Association, vice-president of the Hoboken
and New Jersey Crematory and representative of
the Consumers Park Brewing Co., his business
activity was extensive and became constantly
more profitable. It did not, however, suffice for
the energy and vitality of a man like Mr. Steil,
and with the patriotic desire to do his full duty
as a citizen, he took an active part in the discus
sion of public affairs. His many excellent quali
fications were quickly recognized and in 1893 he

264 SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS

was elected a member of the Board of Educa
tion which was followed by his election to the
City Council, where he served for ten years as
representative of the Fifth Ward, three years as
a chairman of the body. In 1905 he was elected
mayor of Hoboken on the Democratic ticket by a
majority of over one thousand votes and reelect-
ed on the citizen ticket in 1907, his majority be
ing almost twice as large. Mr. Steil is president
of the Free Public Library and of the Police
Board and a member of the Hoboken Cemetery
Board and Industrial School Board. He be
longs to many social, political and fraternal soci
eties, among them Euclid Lodge 136, F. & A.M.,
Hoboken Lodge of Elks No. 74, Royal Arcanum
99, Order of Eagles, Atlantic Boat Club, Ger-
mania Riding Club, Friday Night Club, Remsen
Club, Robert Davis Association of Jersey City
and Bruenning Bowling Club, and is president of
the Consumers' Park Bowling Club. Mr. Steil
married Miss Margaret Sanderson Daniels of
New Orleans in September, 1889, and has three
children.

HENRY FELDMANN was born at Butzbach
in the Grand Duchy of Hesse on February 12,
1842. He received a first class education in the
excellent public schools and private academy of
his birthplace. He also learned the trade of a
baker from his father, but as he was always an
ambitious student, he had soon mastered the
French and English languages thoroughly, also
stenography, so that he was engaged by a lawyer's
firm in Giessen to put down the court proceedings
in stenography. In order to perfect himself in
his profession, he followed the custom of that
time and wandered through Germany, France and
Switzerland. He arrived in America January 14,
1868. Here Mr. Feldmann found employment
with General Franz Siegel, who was New York
manager of the Great Western Life Insurance
Company, acting as his agent and private secre
tary. Before a year had passed, Mr. Feldmann
had secured the agency of a fire insurance com
pany, and started in business for himself. Since
1878 he has been branch manager of the Royal
Insurance Company under the firm name of Hen
ry Feldmann & Son, at 103 Second Avenue, and
lately added a new branch office at One Hundred
and Forty-ninth Street and Third Avenue, Bronx.
He is widely known in German circles partly
through his activity in the insurance business, in
no less degree through his participation in social
life, above all, however, in his endeavor to spread
and advance the German language, German ideals
and German education. Mr. Feldmann is a mem
ber of the Arion and Beethooven Singing Societies

and of several bowling clubs; honorary president
of the United Bowling Clubs of New York and
honorary member of the Federation of Bowling
Clubs of Germany and of the Bowling Clubs of
Berlin. Bowling is his hobby and he arranged
the excursions of American Bowlers to the Ger
man Bowling Tournaments at Hanover in 1891
and at Solingen in 1904. It may be said, too, that
he has taken an active interest in every movement
inaugurated by the German-Americans of this city
and vicinity to further and uphold a good cause
and is treasurer of the German Peace Society of
New York and holds the position of first vice-
president of the United German Societies of New
York. On November 19, 1869, Mr. and Mrs. Feld
mann, who had known each other from infancy,
were married and their happy family life was
blessed with ten children; seven are alive, one
son, who is associated in business with his father,
and six daughters, of whom five are married. Al
though Mr. Feldmann has been so successful
financially and socially, he is happiest when he can
assemble his children and grandchildren around
his table and preside at the family gathering, com
posed of twenty-two persons.

JOHN REISENWEBER was born in Brook
lyn on October 7, 1851, as the son of German
parents who had emigrated to America. When
he was three years old his parents removed to
New York City and sent the boy to Public School
No. 17 in West Forty-seventh Street, where he
received his education. After leaving school, Mr.
Reisenweber engaged in the liquor and restaurant
business and conducted it so successfully that the
modest establishment on Eighth Avenue near the
Columbus Circle under his hands grew into one
of the showplaces of the city. A shrewd business
man and a genial host, he made good use of the
opportunities arising from the growth of the city,
increased his facilities, improved the establish
ment from year to year, and finally erected a
magnificent building where a few decades ago a
one-story structure had been sufficient for the
accommodation of his guests. His case is one of
those where the ascent to a position of import
ance in the community has been visible to all who
followed his career. Strict and fair in his deal
ings, endowed with sound judgment and an un
usually large fund of common sense, charitable
and always ready to help where assistance is
needed, Mr. Reisenweber has retained the same
amiable and unassuming traits which character
ized him at the beginning of his career. His pop
ularity in the neighborhood where he has lived
practically all his life is well known and he might
have secured almost any public office in the gift

CARL EMIL SEITZ.

265

HUGO H. RITTERBUSCH.

266

SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS 267

of the people if he had been so inclined. He
steadfastly refused all offers of this kind, but has
always taken much interest in public affairs and
politics, serving as the Republican leader of his
district for many years and using his power for
the benefit of his constituents. In 1898 he be
came president of the Excelsior Brewing Com
pany and devoted much time and energy to the
development of this enterprise, having found an
able and trustworthy assistant and manager of
the hotel in the person of his son-in-law, Mr.
Fischer. Mr. Reisenweber is a member of the
West Side Republican Club, the New York Ath
letic Club, the Arion and the German Liederkranz.
He married on December 19, 1871, Miss Freder-
ica Braun. Of his five children, Mrs. Emma R.
Fischer and Mrs. Elizabeth R. Saltzsieder are
living, while John Reisenweber, Mrs. Barbara R.
Fischer and Theresa Reisenweber are dead.

RUDOLPH OSCAR KRAUSE, druggist, was
born at Bromberg in Germany on February 8,
1860, and educated in the Real gymnasium of his
native city. He served as one year's volunteer
in the Twenty-first Regiment of Infantry and
learned the drug trade, studying the profession
of a pharmacist with such success that he passed
the state examination with high honors. The
field for the practise of his profession in Ger
many being limited, because the Government pro
hibits the establishment of pharmacies beyond a
fixed number, he came to America in 1881, set
tling in New York. His success was rapid, for
besides mastering his profession to the fullest
extent, he has the happy gift of making friends
quickly. Mr. Krause takes a deep interest in lit
erature and the arts, is exceptionally well read
and devotes a considerable part of his time to the
study of educational questions. He is a mem
ber of the local school board of the Tenth Dis
trict and has made a splendid record in this ca
pacity. For three years he was president of the
New York Consolidated Drug Company, and is
a member of the German Apothecaries' Associ
ation, as well as a Mason of Solon Lodge. He
married on July 14, 1881, Miss Olga Stuber and
has six children.

CARL BERGER, superintendent of buildings
for the borough of Queens, New York City, also
a skilled architect by profession, is a native of
Germany, having been born there on September
27, 1869. Leaving the Fatherland while a young
man, he came to America, locating at Jersey
City, N.J., where he obtained his primary edu
cation in the public schools and graduating from
the high school of that city with high honors.

Later he took up a course of study at the Evening
High School in New York City. After leaving
school, Mr. Berger decided to make architecture
his life profession; placing himself under capa
ble tutors and by diligent application he soon
ranked among the foremost in his line. Having
a thorough knowledge of everything pertaining
thereto, the selection of him for the position he
now fills was a wise one. Prior to his appoint
ment to the office of superintendent of buildings,
Mr. Berger, from 1902 to 1906, was inspector of
tenements and plan examiner in the Tenement
House Department. He stood first in a list of
over twelve hundred applicants admitted to ex
amination. In conducting the affairs connected
with the administration of his office, civility and
courteous treatment are factors which are a part
of Mr. Berger's everyday life. Those who know
and speak of him have nothing but good words
to sound his praise. Mr. Berger is a consistent
Democrat in politics and is a member of the
Second Ward Democratic Organization. He is
also a member of Mechanics' Lodge, F. & A.M.
of Brooklyn. He has resided in the borough of
Queens, New York City, since 1894. His reputa
tion as a public and private citizen is and has
always been above reproach. He is largely a
self-made man and one whom not only German-
Americans are proud to acknowledge, but fellow
men of the country of his adoption as well.

WILLIAM SEBASTIAN STUHR, lawyer,
was born at Brooklyn, N.Y., October i, 1859, the
second son of William Stuhr, who was for many
years a member of the Board of Freeholders of
Hudson County, N.J. His parents, removing to
Hoboken the following year, he received his early
education at the Hoboken Academy and subse
quently studied four years in Europe. On his re
turn he entered the University of New York and
was graduated therefrom with the degree of
LL.B. in 1879. He was admitted to the Bar of
New Jersey as attorney November 7, 1880, and
as counselor three years later. Mr. Stuhr was
appointed Corporation Counsel of the city of
Hoboken in 1883 and reappointed the following
year. In May, 1888, he was appointed Assistant
Counsel to the Board of Freeholders of Hudson
County and upon completing the work in hand,
resigned September first of that year, believing
the further continuance of that office unneces
sary and a useless expense to the county. He
then devoted himself to his law practise. His
genial disposition, together with his ability and
success, made him hosts of friends and he was
not permitted to live long in retirement. In June,
1889, he was elected chairman of the Jeffersonian

268 SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS

Democracy of Hudson County and in the fall of
that year was nominated by them for State Sen
ator of the county; his nomination was also en
dorsed by the Republican party. After a bitter
contest, the regular Democratic candidate, Ed
ward F. McDonald, was declared elected and took
his seat at the organization of the Senate of New
Jersey in January, 1890. Mr. Stuhr contested
the seat, and being successful was awarded the
same by vote of the Senate, and he held it during
the remainder of the term. As a result of the
testimony taken at the time more than fifty elec
tion officers were indicted by the Grand Jury,
and of that number forty were tried and convict
ed. In 1891 the Democrats, gaining control of
the Senate, unseated Senator Stuhr. Mr. Stuhr
was married on February 18, 1886, to Marietta,
daughter of Thomas Miller, Esq., president of
the New York Cement Company, and who resides
at Flushing, L.I. His wife was also a near rela
tive of General Pettigrew, who was at one time
governor of South Carolina. Mr. Stuhr is iden
tified with a number of social, fraternal and be
nevolent societies in New Jersey.

ROBERT F. WAGNER, lawyer, was born in
Germany on June 8, 1878, and came to America
with his parents when nine years of age. He re
ceived his education in the public schools and
earned enough money by selling newspapers to
support himself until he entered the College of
the City of New York, where he paid his way by
tutoring until he finished his course as the orator
of the class of 1898. He studied law at the New
York Law School, graduating in 1900. Here
again he won renown as the best debater in the
class. Since then Mr. Wagner has been engaged
in the practise of law and has rapidly risen to
the front, being entrusted with many large and
important cases. A Democrat in politics, he has
been elected three times to the Assembly with
large majorities. His record as a legislator is
especially fine and he was identified with many of
the most important measures passed during his
term. He was active and instrumental in securing
the support of his party for the investigation of
the railroads in New York City, and the Public
Utilities bill. His efforts to secure the passage
of a bill fixing a five-cent fare to Coney Island
on all street railroads have been unceasing and
no setback or defeat could discourage or induce
him to discontinue his fight for this measure. Mr.
Wagner is called the father of this bill and the
energy with which he has pushed it and relent
lessly fought its foes has won for him the es
teem of his associates as well as of the people at
large. He is a member of the Algonquin and

Democratic clubs, German Liederkranz, Arion,
the Order of Elks and of many other social, char
itable and benevolent associations.

HERMAN RIXGE was born at Metropolitan,
N.Y. He received his rudimentary education in
the public schools and was graduated from the
Boys' High School, Brooklyn, with high honors.
Mr. Ringe has practically resided in the Borough
of Queens, New York City, his entire life, where
he is popular and enjoys a wide acquaintance.
Prior to his engaging in the public affairs of his
borough, he was for many years a successful
operator in the real estate and building world.
Early in life he espoused the principles of the
Democratic party, of which he has always been
an ardent supporter, and in whose councils he
stands high. He has held a number of prominent
positions under the borough government of
Queens, prominent among which are secretary
of the borough, chief clerk in the highway de
partment, the latter position of which he is at
present the incumbent. He is chief of the
Newtown Fire Department, a member of the
Second Ward Democratic Association, of the
Foresters, Royal Arcanum, Elks, Eagles and of
F. & A.M., Kismet Temple. Mr. Ringe was uni
ted in marriage on March 5, 1896, to Miss Carrie
M. Keller; the children born to the union are
Herman, Jr., and Lester C., both of whom are
living. Mr. Ringe is a man of wide experience,
possessing an unimpeachable reputation and has
the confidence and esteem of the entire commu
nity in which he resides.

CARL ORDEMANN, deceased, was born at
Hanover, Germany, April 19, 1854, where he at
tended school, obtaining his rudimentary edu
cation. He completed his studies under the
tutorship of his father, who was a well known
educator of Hanover, as well as a principal in
the local public schools. After securing his edu
cation and serving his time in the army, young
Ordemann decided to go out into the world to
earn his livelihood. He went to Bremen where
he obtained a clerkship, and at the age of twen
ty-five years he came to America and settled at
New York City, where he resided up to the time
"of his death. His first position obtained in New
York was in a grocery store. He saved money
and rapidly acquired a good knowledge of the
English language. Later, he opened a wholesale
and retail liquor store on his own account in
which he met with great success. After conduct
ing stores in various sections of New York City,
he retired from active business in 1890. Mr.
Ordemann was a member of the Lutheran

HERMANN KOCH,

269

CARL BERGER.

270

SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS 271

Church, the Masonic Order, the Liederkranz,
the Friday Bowling Club and the Liquor Deal
ers' Association. On March 14, 1875, he was
united in marriage with Miss Frederica Metz-
ner, daughter of Carl Metzner of Hanover, Ger
many. One child, a daughter, Dorothy, was born
to the union. Mr. Ordemann was a man who
was fond of travel, art, literature and athletics,
pastimes in which his wife also heartily joined
him. He, with his family, annually made tours
of Europe. Mr. Ordemann was extremely fond
of horse-back riding, a form of exercise in which
both he and his wife took much pleasure. He
was a man of great force of character, modest
and retiring in disposition. He had friends
whose numbers were legion, and to whom he al
ways remained true. His death occurred in
1906, he being survived by his widow and daugh
ter, who still reside in the beautiful home pre
pared by Mr. Ordemann at No. 169 West Eighty-
fifth Street, New York City. \-

JONAS WEIL. — Among the citizens of New
York who devote a large part of their time and
means to practical philanthropy, few are better
known, and none stands higher, than Jonas
Weil, senior member of the real estate firm of
Weil & Mayer. His gifts are so large, numer
ous and well bestowed that he may be justly
called one of the greatest benefactors of his time.
Mr. Weil was born at Emmendingen in Baden,
Germany, and came to America in 1861. His
father, Ephraim Weil, who was highly respected
in the community for his integrity, religious fer
vor and splendid character, had given the son a
good education, and firmly planted in his mind
the principles he believed in and practised with
so much fidelity. Young Weil first engaged in
packing and live stock business and subsequently
in real estate operations. Applying to his busi
ness life the teachings he had received in his
youth, he quickly won the esteem and confidence
of all he came in contact with, and prospered
steadily. And as soon as his means permitted it,
he began to contribute large sums to charities of
all kinds. With increasing prosperity his dona
tions grew in size and number, and to-day there
is practically no deserving charity in this city
and even beyond its confines whose list of donors
does not contain the name of Jonas Weil. All
he asks is that the object is worthy and in the
interest of the needy and the thought never arises
in him to make a difference between Jew or
Christian. Every year he sends large sums to
the mayor of his native town and to the president
of the Jewish congregation at Emmendingen.
He has received innumerable resolutions of

thanks, executed with much skill, and was made
an honorary citizen of Emmendingen. To per
petuate the memory of his father, he erected a
temple in East Sixty-seventh Street, between Lex
ington and Third Avenues which bears his name
and is one of the finest edifices of its kind in New
York. With this place of worship a Hebrew free
school is connected, seating about two hundred
and fifty pupils, many of them poor, but all well
taken care of. It has become the center around
which the Jewish orthodox movements in the
upper part of the city gravitate. Some time ago
Mr. Weil contributed, together with his brother,
Samuel Weil, and his brother-in-law, Ferdinand
Sulzberger, a considerable part of the money
required for the foundation of an orphan asylum
in Baden. His highest ambition and fondest
hopes have been realized in the founding of the
Lebanon Hospital in New York City, for which
he contributed an initial donation of ten thousand
dollars in money, as well as land valued at fifteen
thousand dollars, upon which the training school
for nurses has been erected. This building is
known as one of the finest of its kind, is equipped
with the most modern improvements science has
invented, and contains forty-five rooms, a large
hall for lectures and other accommodations. In
addition Mr. Weil devotes his undivided atten
tion and energy to soliciting outside aid for the
welfare and maintenance of the institution which
has become a life work with him and of which
he is the president. He is also president of the
Zichren Ephraim Temple. His home in East
Seventy-fifth Street, near Madison Avenue, con
tains many treasures of the kind appealing to the
highly cultured mind and is the center of an ideal
family life. Mr. Weil's two sons, Benjamin J.,
and Lewis V., follow in the footsteps of the
father, both being successful business men of
exceptonal ability and deeply interested in char
itable work.

GERHARD H. MENNEN (deceased) was
born at Vegesack, near Bremen, on July 13, 1856,
and received his early education in the Latin
school and Gymnasium of Bremen. He left
school when fifteen years of age and one year
later (1872) came to the United States with his
parents. His knowledge of the English language
was limited, but he was not long in finding em
ployment. He held odd positions in New York
City and Hoboken, N.J., during the first year in
this country. When at the age of seventeen he
obtained a position with a New York druggist.
This was the beginning of his subsequent career.
The evening hours were devoted to diligent study
along the lines he had mapped out for himself,

272 SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS

and his efforts were rewarded on February 3,
1875, when he received h:s diploma and was grad
uated from the College of Pharmacy. Mr. Men-
nen then entered the employ of a retail drug
gist at Newark, N.J., and later was associated
with Albert Brandt of the same city. In Feb
ruary, 1879, he established a retail pharmacy of
his own at Newark. His genius now asserted
itself. The business prospered and Mr. Mennen
used his gifts and opportunities to the fullest
extent. Devoting himself strictly to his business,
he used every moment of leisure to experiments,
and long before he became famous through the
talcum powder business which assumed such gi
gantic proportions, he placed on the market in
1880 the celebrated "Mennen Corn Killer" that
quickly became popular on account of its effi
ciency and is to-day considered one of the best
remedies for the purpose it was intended for.
The enterprise to which he owes his fortune,
however, is the manufacture of talcum powder
which grew from a very small beginning in 1890
to the enormous industry of to-day. After many
investigations and experiments, Mr. Mennen was
convinced that the powder compounded from his
own formula had reached a grade of perfection
higher than any similar article on the market, and
he introduced it to the trade, first in Newark,
where it was manufactured, and gradually extend
ing the sale all over the civilized world. This was
not accomplished at once, for Mr. Mennen was
careful to convince himself first of the merits of
his powder, in which he indeed firmly believed,
but which he decided to test thoroughly by
watching the demand following the first sales.
As soon as the facts had proven that the public
not only appreciated the quality of the article
but that the powder answered the most rigid
requirements, Mr. Mennen began to advertise
on a large scale. He became one of the largest
advertisers in the country, and at the time of
his death in 1902 his advertising account amount
ed annually to over $250,000. To-day it is pro
portionately greater. In street cars, in the cars
of the elevated and other railroads, steamships,
stations, newspapers and magazines, in fact in
every place where people could see it, the words
that are now known in every household : "Men-
nen's Talcum Powder" were displayed. In an *
article of the National Advertiser it was stated
that he was not only one of the most skillful
but also one of the most successful advertisers
in the country. Wherever he saw an opportunity
to extend his business, he acted with promptness
and liberality, and his advertisements not only
appeared in medical, fashion, musical and the
atrical publications and all the modern maga

zines, but also in every conceivable periodical.
And when he believed that results would follow,
the price did not affect him, as long as it ap
peared to be in proportion to the returns. He has
been known to pay as much as four thousand
dollars for one page. His ideas can best be un
derstood by referring to his own words : "My
advertising bills amount to over $13,000 a week
and are steadily increasing; but my business is
also increasing. This was a fact; the volume of
business transacted by him grew with every year
of his life, and in the year preceding his death
it was larger than ever before. The talcum pow
der was used by the United States Government
during the Spanish War. It was used at the
military posts and hospitals in this country and
sent to Cuba, Porto Rico and the Philippines.
To-day the company enjoy this patronage. Mr.
Mennen was a member of many social organi
zations, was a Mason, and in politics a Repub
lican, but never radical in his opinions. Always
broad and liberal in his views, progressive and
enterprising, he remained to his end, although
possessing a fortune exceeding a million dollars,
the same earnest, straightforward, simple man he
had been when struggling for a modest living. He
was one of the men who, in this age of large
fortunes built up by exceptional intellectual en
ergy, persistence and courage, qualified to take
charge of enormous enterprises, assuming the
responsibilities and labors of leaders in their vo
cations. No man in this country can be called
self-made with greater right than Mr. Mennen,
who not only achieved a great personal success,
but also founded an enormous industry giving
sustenance to many, by his genius and his irresis
tible energy. He was esteemed and loved by all
who came in contact with him, and his death,
which occurred on February 3, 1902, was an irre
parable loss to the community. Mr. Mennen was
married on August 27, 1882, to Miss Elma C.
Korb of Newark, N.J., and left, besides his
widow, a son, William G., and a daughter, Elma
C. R. The business was first incorporated on
October 15, 1892, and reincorporated February
18, 1902, with Mrs. Mennen as president and
treasurer ; John J. Korb, Jr., vice-president and
assistant treasurer, and Charles F. Klippert, sec
retary. Mrs. Mennen's efforts regarding the
education of her son to cope with the enormous
enterprise which was founded by the subject of
this sketch have been fully rewarded. Having
been given every opportunity to fit himself for
the continuance of his father's fame, he was
graduated with honors from Cornell University
June 18, 1908.

SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS 273

OTTO G. FOELKER, lawyer, was born on
December 29, 1875, at Mainz, Germany, and
received his first education in the public
schools of his native city. At the age of thir
teen he left school and came to the United
States, engaging in the bakery business at
Troy, N.Y., at the same time attending the
public schools. In December, 1895, Mr. Foel-
ker came to New York City, where he again
engaged in the bakery business, but one year
later decided to fit himself for a profession
that offered greater rewards to his ability. He
accepted a clerkship with the German Legal
Aid Society in 1896 and attended the evening
schools. Later he took a one year's course in
the New York Law School to fit himself for
the Bar. At the end of the course of study he
passed the examination and was admitted to
the Bar in January, 1898. In the meantime
Mr. Foelker had made many friends and his
ability, as well as his unswerving devotion to
principle, had given him an enviable standing
in the district where he lived. A Republican in
politics, he was elected to the Assembly from
the Fifth District in 1904 and again in 1905,
and in the following year to the Senate from
the Fourth Senatorial District. His record as
a legislator is exceptionally fine. He did not
confine himself to his duties as occasion re
quired but quickly became one of the active
factors shaping the course of the legislature.
Mr. Foelker was the first to introduce a res
olution demanding an investigation of the
insurance companies at the special session in
1905, and while his resolution was at first
turned down, it was, a few days later, however,
introduced by another member and passed in
consequence of an emergency message sent
in by Governor Higgins. Senator Foelker
took an active and important part in the in
vestigation, and furthermore distinguished
himself by the independent stand he has
taken in the efforts to prevent the several
power companies using Niagara Falls from
abusing the rights granted to them, and from
extending their operations to the detriment of
this wonderful work of nature. When Gov
ernor Hughes desired to stop gambling at the
race tracks, the Senate divided evenly on the
bills proposed to execute the Governor's
wishes, and the measures would have been
lost if Senator Foelker had not gone to Albany
to cast the deciding vote in spite of the fact
that he had not quite recovered from a severe
operation and his physicians considered the
voyage dangerous in the extreme. In this, as
in other cases, he has shown a devotion to

public duty far above the usual average. Fol
lowing is a letter from the Governor express
ing his sentiments regarding the Senator's at
titude in connection with the anti-race track
bill: "My Dear Senator — I desire to express
my appreciation of your heroic action in com
ing to the Senate this morning. Your courage
ous performance of duty at so grave a risk de
serves the highest praise and will long be
pointed to as a fine illustration of fidelity and
patriotic devotion to the interests of the state.
I trust that you will not suffer any ill effects
and that you will soon be restored to your full
health and vigor. With assurance of my high
esteem and best wishes, I am, faithfully yours,
Charles E. Hughes." Senator Foelker lives in
Brooklyn and is a member of the following
clubs: Republican, Sixth Assembly District,
Union League, Hanover, Kings County Repub
lican, Invincible, Congress, Seward and Rens-
selear County Society, as well as of the
Knights of Pythias, Royal Arcanum and the
Y.M.C.A. He was married twice: first to Miss
Katharine Jordan and after her death to Miss
Nettie Bodenstein.

CARL WALTHER, Ph.D., D.D., was born
on August 28, 1794, at Hof, near Bayreuth in
Germany, and received his early education in
the schools of his native city and of Plauen in
Saxony. After graduating, he entered the Uni
versity of Leipsic in 1813, but his studies were
soon interrupted, for all Germany had risen
against the French who, under Napoleon I, had
ruled the country with an iron hand for almost
a decade. The German people at last decided
to throw off the yoke of the oppressor, and
young Walther took an active part in the fight
for liberty. When peace was concluded, in 1814,
he entered the University of Jena, studied philolo
gy and theology, and received the degree of Ph.D.
and D.D. in 1817. In the same year he received
a call as assistant pastor from a church at Ham
burg, but soon after was elected minister for
Uelzen in the Kingdom of Hannover. Here he
remained for nearly thirty years, marrying Wil-
helmina Schuster of Uelzen and devoting himself
to the care of his parish as well as to extensive
studies. In 1834 he was appointed superintendent
of all the churches in the districts of Hardegen,
Uelzen and Goettingen by the Hannover-
ian Government. But though he had grown
in years and wisdom, his love for civic liberty
and his belief in the right of the people to gov
ern themselves, had not cooled, and with the in
crease of reactionary tendencies on the part of the
government and the growth of the demand for

274 SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS

freedom on the part of the people, he found him
self in opposition to his superiors. While not
espousing the cause of the revolutionists, he free
ly acknowledged his belief in constitutional gov
ernment and the necessity to do away with ab
solutism. As a consequence he was transferred
to a pastorate at Winsen, near Hamburg, but
this did not have the desired effect. He would
not, and in fact could not, suppress his desire to
express his opinions, the conflict with the gov
ernment increased and finally forced him to re
sign his charge. In 1850 he decided to emigrate
to the United States, a martyr for liberty like
so many others who came to America at that
time. Mr. Walther accepted a pastorate in Jer
sey City in 1851, but was called to Amherst near
Buffalo one year later, and in 1853 went to Pitts-
burg, Pa., to take charge of St. Trinity Church.
Here he found the peace his soul had been long
ing for, and here he celebrated in 1867 the golden
anniversary of his service in the ministry of the
Lutheran Church. He died at Pittsburg, Pa., in
April, 1868. His son, Waldemar A. Walther,
born at Uelzen in Hannover on March 3, 1833,
came to America with his father. He had been
carefully educated by private tutors, and entered
active business life immediately after his arrival.
He identified himself with the paper industry and
in 1859 founded the firm of Walther & Co.,
erecting his first factory for the production of
paper specialties and coated papers in Brooklyn,
N.Y., in 1861. His business increased rapidly
and up to the time of his death, on January 10,
1898, he was active in managing and extending it,
until it occupied a leading position in the branch
of industry to which it was devoted. It is now
carried on by his sons, F. O. and C. F. Walther,
who were carefully trained by their father to fol
low in his footsteps, and have succeeded not only
in continuing the business, but have greatly en
larged it. Mr. Waldemar A. Walther was mar
ried in 1863 to Miss Emma Marquering.

HENRY P. GOLDSCHMIDT, banker, was
born on September 15, 1843, at Frankfort-on-the-
Main, where his family history dates back be
yond the Sixteenth Century, and received his
education in the Realschule of his native city.
Graduating at the age of sixteen, he entered the
employ of a banking house and studied the busi
ness from the ground up. In 1866 Mr. Gold-
schmidt was called to New York by the leading
German banking house of Ballin & Sander in the
capacity of confidential clerk with power of at
torney. When the firm was changed to Eugene
S. Ballin & Co., he was admitted to partnership
and remained with the concern until 1879. In

the latter part of that year he established him
self in business on his own account, and had as
associate Mr. Henry Budge. This partnership
continued until 1883, when he founded his present
banking house, under the firm name of H. P.
Goldschmidt & Co. Mr. Goldschmidt as well as
the firms with which he has been connected have
always enjoyed a distinction for absolute integ
rity and reliability, keeping free from alliances
and operations which might even in the most re
mote sense be called doubtful. Of strong char
acter and a very independent turn of mind, Mr.
Goldschmidt's inclinations have, to a certain ex
tent, made him averse to affiliations which pre
vent the free development and manifestation of
individuality. A lover and connoisseur of art,
music and literature, his refined taste is well
known and his judgment generally accepted. His
city residence at 20 East Sixty-fourth Street, as
well as his handsome villa at South Elberon, N.J.,
furnish proof of a highly cultivated taste, and
the faculty of using ample means to gratify the
recognition and appreciation of the beautiful.
On March 23, 1862, Mr. Goldschmidt was mar
ried to Miss Georgette Woodleaf.

ISAAC GOLDMANN was born at Gunder-
sheim in Rhenish Hesse in Germany and received
his education in the schools of his birthplace. At
an early age he was apprenticed to a printer at
Alzey and rapidly acquired as thorough a knowl-

ISAAC GOLDMANN.

edge of his chosen profession as his opportuni
ties made possible. But the limitations of a small
city were too narrow for his ambition and enter
prising spirit, and in 1867 he emigrated to Amer
ica, settling in New York, where for nine years
he worked in some of the largest printing estab
lishments of the metropolis. His ambition never
lessened and he studied with open eyes and ever

SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS 275

wakeful intelligence the methods of his employ
ers. In 1876 he felt that the time had come to
realize his fondest dream, to make himself inde
pendent and strike out on his own account. He
established a printing office at No. 16 North
William Street and quickly gained an enviable
reputation for prompt and accurate work. The
business grew from the start, larger quarters
soon became necessary, until he installed his
present plant in the large building at the corner
of William and Frankfort Streets. The present
plant is one of the largest and best equipped in
the city. In 1900 Mr. Goldmann incorporated
his business under the firm name of the Isaac
Goldmann Company, .in order to perpetuate its
existence if he should ever desire to retire. He
is now assisted in his large and still growing
activity by his sons and nephews but remains
the head and principal factor of the concern
which is especially noteworthy on account of the
cordial relations existing between the firm and
the employees, now numbering over one hundred.

HENRY WOLFSOHN, impressario, was born in
Germany and came to the United States in his
early youth, settling in New York, where he re
ceived his education in the New York Free Acad
emy. An unusual gift for music, combined with
rare judgment and an extraordinary faculty of
discerning the powers of artists as well as the
taste of the music loving public, led him into the
business of arranging concerts and tours of musi
cal celebrities. During the twenty years which
he has devoted to this field of activity, Mr.
Wolfsohn has introduced to the American public
a host of artists who either had already acquired
prominence in Europe or who, under his guid
ance, became later on stars of the first magnitude.
He has had on his books at one time or another
almost every musical artist of note, as well as
many of the best known musical organizations.
His judgment is universally accepted as sound
and reliable, and his advice is eagerly sought by
all who are interested in musical affairs. Inde
pendent in politics, Mr. Wolfsohn has never held,
or aspired to public office. He is a member of
the German Liederkranz and of many benevolent
institutions. On April 22, 1876, Mr. Wolfsohn
married Miss Paula Kesker of Louisville, Ky.
Of their two daughters, one died in early youth,
and the other is married to Mr. George Hammer-
schlag, a manufacturer of paper. V

CARL BECK, surgeon, was born at Neckar-
gemuend, Germany, April 4, 1856, the son of
Wilhelm and Sophia (Hohler) Beck. He was
educated at the institution of his grand-uncle,
Rev. August Hohler, and at the Gymnasium of

Heidelberg. He was a student at the universities
of Heidelberg, Berlin, and Jena, and was gradu
ated from the latter university in 1879 with the
degree of M.D. Dr. Beck married Hedwig S.,
daughter of Chief Justice Friedrich Heinrich von
Loeser. He came to the United States in Febru
ary, 1882. He is president and visiting surgeon
of St. Mark's Hospital; also visiting surgeon to
the German Poliklinik, president of Surgeons'
New York Post-Graduate Medical School and
Hospital, president of Union of Old German Stu
dents of America, president of Society of Medical
Jurisprudence, first vice-president of American
Therapeutic Society; he has published a Manual
on Surgical Asepsis (1895), Text Book on Frac
tures (1900, Saunders & Co., London and Phila
delphia), Die Rontgenstrahlen im Dienste der Chir-
urgie (Seitz & Schauer, Munich), Rontgen Ray
Diagnosis and Therapy (Appleton & Co., New
York), Rontgenlehre (L. Simion Nf). Dr. Beck
resides at 37 East Thirty-first Street, New York
City.

WILLY MEYER, physician and surgeon, was
born in Minden, Westphalia, Germany, July 24,
1858. He became a student at the University
of Bonn (Germany) from where he was gradu
ated with honors, receiving his degree of M.D.
After the completion of his course at the Uni
versity, Dr. Meyer was made Assistant Surgeon
at the Bonn Clinic, a position he held from 1881
to 1884, under Professors Busch, Madelung and
Trendelenburg. In 1884 he came to America,
locating at New York City. He was Professor
of Clinical Surgery at the Woman's Medical
College, New York, from 1886 to 1893. He has
been Instructor and Professor of Surgery at
the New York Post Graduate Medical School
and Hospital since 1887; has been Attending Sur
geon to the German Hospital since 1887, and is
Consulting Surgeon to the New York Skin and
Cancer Hospital and to the New York Infirmary.
Dr. Meyer was the first to introduce in the
United States (1887) Cystoscopy, and Bottini's
operation in 1897. He has devised the radical
operation for carcinoma of the breast. He has
published many articles on appendicitis, diseases
of the urinary organs, etc. Lately he has helped
in solving the problems of intrathoracic surgery,
devising for this purpose new operations and ap
paratus, the latter in connection with his brother,
Julius Meyer, an engineer. He is a Fellow of
the American Surgical and of the American Medi
cal Association and a member of many local
medical organizations. Dr. Meyer married Miss
Lilly O. Maass April 29, 1885. He resides at
No. 700 Madison Avenue, New York City.

276 SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS

FELIX NORDEMAN, M.D., deceased, a
prominent New York physician, and surgeon,
was born at Berne, Switzerland, in 1830. He
was graduated from the university of that city
in 1853, and was intimately connected with the
German patriots of 1848, some of whom were
fellow-students. As a ship surgeon, he landed
at New York City in 1853, never to return to
his native country. His career as a successful
practitioner and Pediatric Specialist was an
arduous one — he never took a week's vacation
during his professional life. Dr. Nordeman
will always be remembered by the Deutsche
Medicinische Gesellschaft, which owes its
existence to his exertions. This society was
founded in 1860, and chartered in 1867; it has
a membership of four hundred German physi
cians, with honorary and corresponding mem
bers in Germany and Austria. In recognition
of his services, the society elected Dr. Norde
man an honorary member, he having held the
position of presiding officer at various times
and at a banquet held in his honor presented
him with a gold-headed cane. He was still
in active practice when he died, September 15,
1907, mourned by a host of friends, patients
and fellow practitioners.

DR. S. ADOLPHUS KNOPF, Professor of
Phthisiotherapy at the New York Post-Graduate
Medical School and Hospital (University of the
State of New York), the son of Adolphus and
Namma Knopf, was born at Halle on the River
Saale, in Germany, November 27, 1857. He re
ceived his preliminary education in the high
schools of his native city and in New York. His
college courses included those of the University
of Southern California; Bellevue and New York
University medical colleges, and the University
of Paris, France. He made special studies in
Philology; Physical Diagnosis; Tuberculosis
Pathology and Tuberculosis Therapy; Tubercu
losis in Prisons ; Tenement-house problems ; Con
struction and Equipment of Tuberculosis Sana
toria. Prior to passing his Doctor thesis in
Paris "Les Sanatoria, Traitement et Prophylaxie
de la Phtisie Pulmonaire," Dr. Knopf visited san
atoria, special and general hospitals in America,
Germany, France, Greece, Italy, Switzerland,
Austria, Roumania, England, etc. As official
delegate he visited the Tuberculosis Congresses
at London in 1901 and at Paris in 1905 ; also the
International Prison Congress at Budapest in
1905. In 1891 and 1895 Dr. Knopf visited the
Clinics of Professor von Leyden at Berlin and
Professor von Schroetter at Vienna. From early
childhood Dr. Knopf had desired to become a

physician. The death of his parents, and the
immigration of his elder sister and brother, forced
him to interrupt his preliminary education,
which he resumed, after having followed his
relatives to America. He soon gained foothold
in the United States. He was engaged for a
number of years in various pursuits until he
had earned enough money to complete his pre
liminary education and begin his medical studies.
He attended the University of Southern Cali
fornia and served one year as interne in the
Los Angeles County Hospital. He took his final
degree as Doctor of Medicine at the University
and Bellevue Medical College of New York in
1888. In 1890 Dr. Knopf matriculated at the
Paris University, and after obtaining his equiva
lent of Bachelor of Arts and Sciences, at the
Sorbonne, entered the Medical School, where in
1895 he obtained the degree of Doctor of Medi
cine for sustaining his doctor thesis on Sanatoria
for Tuberculosis, for which he received the men
tion "extremement satisfait." Between the years
of 1891 and 1895, during his medical studies at
Paris, Dr. Knopf was attached to the Clinics
of Internal Medicine of Professor Petain (L'Ho-
pital de la Charite) ; to the Surgical Clinic of
Professor Tillaux (Hotel Dieu) ; to the Obstet
rical Clinic of Professor Tarnier (rue D'Assas) ;
and the Clinic for Diseases of Children of Pro
fessor Grancher (L'Hopital des Enfants malades).
Following his graduation at the University of
Paris, he served as assistant to Geheimrath Dr.
Dettweiler at the Falkenstein Sanatorium in
Germany. In 1896 he returned to the United
States and did special tuberculosis work in Bel
levue Hospital under Professor Biggs, and some
research work in the Health Department's Labra-
tory. In 1897 he became attending physician to
the Lung Department of the New York Throat
and Nose Hospital. In 1899 he founded, with
eleven other physicians, the first Tuberculosis
Committee of New York, which affiliated with
the Charity Organization Society. In 1903 he
became visiting hospital physician of the Health
Department of the City of New York, and in
1904 associate director of the Clinic for Pul
monary Diseases. In the same year he called a
meeting for the formation of the National As
sociation for the Study and Prevention of Tuber
culosis, of which he became one of the directors.
In 1908 Dr. Knopf was made lecturer of the
State Department of Health, and in the same
year the New York Post-Graduate Medical
School and Hospital created a chair of Modern
Phthisiotherapy, which he was called to fill as
first professor and head of the Tuberculosis De
partment of the institution. Dr. Knopf is active

WILLY MEYER

277

FELIX NORDEMAN, M.D.

278

SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS 279

in Masonic work ; he is a Thirty-second degree
Mason, a member of Crescent Lodge No. 402,
F. & A. M. and a member of the Consistory of
New York City. In 1903 he was instrumental in
starting a fund for the establishment of a sana
torium for consumptive Masons and their fami
lies. He has devoted the greater part of his life
to anti-tuberculosis propaganda, and has often
helped to establish sanatoria, hospitals, and dis
pensaries for the consumptive poor, and open air
schools for tuberculosis and predisposed children.
Upon invitation. Dr. Knopf has lectured on tu
berculosis and public hygiene in nearly every
state of the Union, before legislative bodies,
schools of medicine, medical associations, anti-
tuberculosis societies, teachers' and men's and
women's clubs. Dr. Knopf is a consulting phy
sician in pulmonary diseases ; associate director
of the Clinic for Pulmonary Diseases of the
City of New York ; visiting physician to the
Riverside Hospital Sanatorium of the Health
Department and consulting physician to the Sana
toria of St. Gabriels, Binghamton, N.Y., and
Scranton, Pa. The following honors and dis
tinctions have been conferred upon Dr. Knopf :
Laureate of the Academy of Medicine of Paris
in 1895 ; of the College of Physicians and Sur
geons of Philadelphia in 1898; of the Internation
al Congress to Combat Tuberculosis as a disease
of the Masses in Berlin 1900; of the Institute of
France, 1901 ; of the Louisiana Purchase Exposi
tion in 1904; Honorary fellow Maine Academy
of Medicine and Science; Honorary director of
the Gaylord Farm Sanatorium ; Honorary vice-
president of the British Congress on Tuberculo
sis ; Honorary Vice-president de 1'Association
des Medecins de la langue francaise de 1'Ameri-
que du Nord; Honorary fellow of the Sociedad
Cientifico "Antonio Alzata" of Mexico; Honor
ary member of the New Jersey State Medical
Association ; Member of Committee of One Hun
dred on National Health ; Chairman of the Com
mittee on the Relief of the Sick Poor (State
Conference of Charities) ; Vice-president of the
Pennsylvania Society for the Prevention of Tu
berculosis; Vice-president of the American
Academy of Medicine ; Vice-president of the
Sociological Section of the International Tuber
culosis Congress in Washington, 1908. He is a
member of the following societies and associa
tions : New York County Medical Society ; So
ciety of Medical Jurisprudence ; German Medical
Society of the City of New York; Tuberculosis
Committee of the Charity Organization Society,
New York ; National Association for the Study
and Prevention of Tuberculosis ; National Asso
ciation for the Study and Education of

exceptional Children ; American Medical As
sociation ; American Association for the Ad
vancement of Science; Societe d'Hygiene,
Paris ; International Anti-tuberculosis Associ
ation ; Charter member of the New York Pro
bation Association; Member of the City Club
and Unitarian Club of New York, Fellow of the
New York Academy of Medicine and the Ameri
can Academy of Medicine. Dr. Knopf is author
of the following books and contributions to en
cyclopedias : "Les Sanatoria, etc;" Thesis for the
doctorate, Paris, 1895 ; "Pulmonary Tuberculosis,
Its Modern Prophylaxis and the Treatment in
Special Institutions and at Home ;" Alvarenga
Prize Essay, Philadelphia, 1899; "Les Sanatoria,
Traitement et Prophylaxie de la Phtisie Pulmon-
aire," Paris, 1900; "Die Tuberkulose als Volks-
krankheit und deren Bekiimpfung" ; Kongress
Preisschrift, Berlin 1900; "Tuberculosis as a dis
ease of the Masses and how to Combat it" ;
Six American editions from 1900 to 1909, New
York; Translations of this have appeared in the
Arabic, Brazilian, Bulgarian, Chinese (two edi
tions), Dutch, English, Finnish, French, Hebrew,
Hungarian, Icelandic, Italian (two editions),
Japanese, Mexican, Norwegian, Polish, Russian,
Servian, Siberian, Swedish and Turkish lan
guages between 1900 and 1909. Articles on "Tu
berculosis in the Twentieth Century Practice
of Medicine, New York, 1900; Volume XX and
Volume XXL." Article on Tuberculosis in Nel
son's Encyclopedia; "Public Measures in the
Prophylaxis of Tuberculosis ;" Contribution to
the American Treatise on Tuberculosis; New
York, 1909; "Tuberculosis, A Preventable and
Curable Disease." Some of the more important
articles written by Professor Knopf are the fol
lowing: "Dress Reform and Its Relation to
Medicine"; Southern California Practitioner,
August, 1889. "Les Sanatoria des Phtisiques
sont-ils un danger pour le voisinage"; Revue de
la Tuberculose, December, 1895, (in English in the
Medical Record, October, 1896). "Ein neues bin-
aurales Stethoskop mit Armamentarium fur voll-
standige Auskultatien und Perkussion" ; Zeitschr,
f. Krankenpflege, March, 1898." Die Friiherken-
nung der Tuberkulose"; Zeitschr. f. Tuberk., u.
Heilst. Bd. I, H. 2. "Tenements and Tuberculo
sis"; Journal of the American Medical Associa
tion, May 12, 1900. "Tuberculosis in Prisons
and Reformatories"; Medical Record, March 2,
1901. "Official and Private Phthisiophobia" ;
Medical Record, January 11, 1902. "The Tuber
culosis Problem in the United States"; North
American Review, February, 1899. "The Exclu
sion of Non-pauper Tuberculous Immigrants";
Zeitschrift fur Tubercuose, Board Hi, Heft 3,

280 SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS

1902. "Allure generale de la luttle centre la
Tuberculose aux Etats Unis"; La Lutte Anti-
tuberculeuse, August, 1901. "Respiratory Exer
cises in Pulmonary Diseases," Johns Hopkins
Bulletin, September, 1901 ;" A Few Thoughts on
the Medical and Social Aspects of Tuberculosis,
etc.," Contribution to Professor von Leyden's
Festschrift, Berlin, May, 1902; "The Family
Physician of the Past, Present, and Future,"
Bulletin of the American Academy of Medicine,
February, 1903 ; "The Masonic Sanatorium,"
Masonic Standard, March 14, 1903. "A Plea for
Justice to the Consumptive;" Medical Record,
January 2, 1904. "Hermann Brehmer and the
Semi-Centennial Celebration of Brehmer's Sana
torium," New York Medical Journal, July 2, 1904.
"The Modern Tuberculosis Dispensary," Medical
Record, July 23, 1904; "Every Man's Duty Re
garding Tuberculosis," World's Work, October,
1904; "Women's Duty Towards the Health of
the Nation," New York Medical Journal, No
vember 5, 1904; "Geheimrath Dr. Dettweiler,
Eulogy pronounced at the Occasion of the First
Anniversary of his Death ;" Medical Record,
January 28, 1905 ; "Consumptive Heroes," Colo
rado Medical Journal, September, 1904; "The
Marriage of the Tuberculous and the Size of the
Family in Their Bearing on the Tuberculosis
Problem," American Medicine, January 6, 1906;
"Early Clinical Diagnosis of Pulmonary Tu
berculosis," Journal of the Medical Society of
New Jersey, November, 1905 ; "Le Sanatorium
pour Tuberculeux ; sa mission medicale et so-
ciale;" Zcitschr. Tub., Board, viii, Ht. 4, 1906;
appeared also in German in Tuberculosis, Janu
ary, 1906 (in English in Neiv York Medical
Journal, October 21, 1905) ; "Medicine and
Law in Relation to the Alcohol, Venereal Dis
ease and the Tuberculosis Problems," Medi
cal Record, June 2, 1906; "Maxims for the
Selection of Climates in Pulmonary, Laryngeal
and Bone Tuberculosis," New York Medical
Journal, July 28, 1906. "Tuberculosis a Social
Disease," Johns Hopkins Bulletin, December,

1906. "A Plea for Cremation," Journal of the
American Medical Association, January 26,

1907. "A Plea for More Sanatoria for the
Consumptive Poor in all Stages of the Dis-^
ease," New York Medical Journal, July 11,

1908. "The Popular Lecture in the Crusade
Against Tuberculosis," Tuberculosis Congress,
1908. "L'Adaptation a domicile du Traitement
des Tuberculeux tel qu'en le preconise dans les
sanatoria;" L' Union Medicale du Canada, De
cember, 1908 (appeared in English in Zeitschr.
F. Tuberculosis Board XIII, Ht. 4, 1908). "The
Responsibility of the Family Physician Toward

Tuberculosis," New York Medical Journal, Jan
uary 2, 1909. "Overcoming the Predisposition
to Tuberculosis and the Danger from Infection
During Childhood," Pediatrics, December, 1908.
"Die moderne Tuberkulose Bekampfung vom
sozial-medizinischen Standpunkte betrachtet,"
New Yorker Medizininche Monatsschrift, De
cember, 1908, and in Tuberculosis, Berlin, July,
1909. "The Prevention of Tuberculosis in its
Relation to Life Insurance," Medical Examiner,
August, 1909. The Hopeful Outlook of the
Tuberculosis Problem, Journal of Outdoor Life,
August, 1909.

JOHN C. JUHRING, merchant, was born
in New York City, the son of John C. and
Lena (Stuke) Juhring. His father was a real
estate operator during the period from Octo
ber 6, 1860, to 1875, and at the time of his
death resided in Lincoln Place (Wilson Street),
Brooklyn, E.D. John C. Juhring the younger
received his education in the public schools
and later entered, after a preparatory course,
Mount Washington Collegiate Institute, from
which he graduated. In September, 1873, he
entered the employ of Francis H. Leggett &
Co. Before the year had passed, he had been
made a bookkeeper, then cashier, a little later
assistant-buyer, and finally general buyer in
charge of several departments. Not long after
this he was given a share in the profits, and
in 1892 he was admitted to partnership. When,
in 1892, the firm was changed into a corpora
tion, Mr. Juhring was made vice-president and
secretary. In exactly twenty years the boy
who had begun on the lowest rung of the
ladder had risen to prominence, not alone
through his ability, but because he had devel
oped from the start a pride in the business,
its growth and development, and readily re
sponded to every wish of his employers, never
considering his own comfort or desires. Mr.
Jnhring's activity was by no means limited to
the confines of his business. He is one of
the charter members of the Merchants' Asso
ciation of New York, and at its first meeting,
in 1897, was elected vice-president of the or
ganization and held the position for five con
secutive terms. Imbued with an unusual de
gree of civic pride, he became one of its most
active members and worked unceasingly for
its development. Soon after the organization
of the association he succeeded in adding to
the membership roll one hundred and fifty
representative firms. His pride in the city of
his birth has continually prompted him to ad
vance its interests and its welfare. He is in-

JOHN C. JUHRING

281

WILLIAM MERTENS

282

SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS 283

defatigable in setting forth the advantages of
New York City as a trading center, and he
is so thoroughly identified with its business
interests, that his views on this point are
worth preserving. He said on a recent occa
sion: "The reasons for New York's great pre
dominance are numerous. It is the focal point
of commerce, manufactures and distribution.
There are, of course, other great centers, but
they cannot become the great focal points
upon which the great currents of international
trade converge. The commerce of a nation is
its interchange of commodities with other na
tions, and because we can and do furnish vast
quantities of food products as well as manu
factured goods to other nations, and must in
turn buy tea, coffee, spices and innumerable
other necessities that foreign countries pro
duce, naturally there must always be great
trade currents setting to and from our shores.
New York is the main port of entry for the
whole country, and therefore the greatest dis
tributing center. Hence the principal steam
ship lines converge here to a greater extent
than in any other port on this continent. It
is this concentration that has made New York
the great center that it is, and so soon to be
the metropolis of the world. It is also sig
nificant that more than seventy per cent of
the merchandise that the United States im
ports for business purposes passes through the
port of New York, and it follows as a logical
sequence that these goods can be procured
here to better advantage than in any other
market. These are a few of the reasons for
New York's commercial supremacy, and they
indicate why the metropolis towers above all
other American cities." On February 15, 1905,
Mr. Juhring received a unique compliment.
The Ezvning Mail, in a department called
"Men of Affairs," published a picture showing
Mr. Juhring standing in front of Francis H.
Leggett & Co.'s establishment, welcoming out-
of-town merchants and introducing them to
Father Knickerbocker. Under Mr. Juhring's
portrait the words were printed: "The Pro
moter of Gotham's Advantages." The incident
thus graphically described consisted in Mr.
Juhring's success to induce, through his un
tiring efforts during the buying season, two
thousand merchants from San Francisco, Phil
adelphia, St. Louis, Chicago, Washington and
many other cities to visit New York as the
guests of Francis H. Leggett & Co. They
were royally entertained during their stay,
first at a luncheon given in the King Street
manufacturing plant of the firm, and afterward

on the deck of a large steam yacht from where
they had an opportunity to view the wharves,
warehouses and skyscrapers. Many of these
merchants had not been in New York in many
years, but the impression made upon them
was so profound that they became convinced
that their interests would best be served by
buying their supplies in this city, where every
thing is found in greater variety and at more
advantageous terms than anywhere else. Mr.
Juhring's efforts were, therefore, crowned with
success, and the whole city benefited by them.
One of the leading newspapers said of him:
"If all Gothamites had Mr. Juhring's public
spirit and marked energy New York would be
the best-advertised city in the world." It is
but natural that Mr. Juhring's executive abil
ity and general business qualifications led to
his selection for many positions of trust. He
is a director of the Coal & Iron National Bank
of New York City and a member of the ex
ecutive board; a trustee of the Citizens' Sav
ings Bank, besides being connected with other
large interests. In politics, he is a Repub
lican, but of independent views. He is a mem
ber of the Merchants' Club, enjoys a game of
golf, and is fond of horseback riding and other
outdoor recreations. Mr. Juhring was married
on October 19, 1901, at the Hotel Majestic in
New York City, to Miss Frances Bryant
Fisher. They have one son, John C., 3d, now
in his seventh year. The following words,
quoted by one who knows him intimately, will
best describe Mr. Juhring: "He possesses a
pleasing personality and a wonderful capacity
for detail. He combines perseverance with
persistency and great tenacity of purpose to
accomplish results. His motto is: 'Keep on
keeping on.' He is self-contained, courteous
in his manner, somewhat reserved, but
straightforward, and well liked for his fair
dealing." He resides at No. 311 West Eighty-
sixth Street, New York City.

WILLIAM MERTENS, retired banker, re
siding at No. 112 South Mountain Avenue,
Montclair, N.J., was born at Bremen, Germany,
July 13, 1833. His was a high school education,
received at his native city. At the age of seven
teen he graduated and apprenticed himself to a
wholesale drug firm, where he remained for
four years. When twenty years of age he came
to America and entered the banking firm of
Louis von Hoffman & Co., established in 1850
and then located in the old Post Building, New
York City. His position was that of a clerk.
At that time there were forty employees ahead

284 SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS

of him in line for promotion. Through the ill
ness of some and the departure to Europe of
others, he was quickly advanced, filling various
positions of importance, studying all the while
the systems of banking, with but one purpose in
view, that of becoming a partner in the firm. In
1857 Mr. Mertens was given power of attorney
by the firm, and during the year 1859 the first
realization of his ambition was achieved when
he was made a partner through the retirement
of Alfonze, Oscar, and Richard von Hoffman.
Later, Mr. Mertens became a partner of Baron
L. A. von Hoffmann, being admitted free, with
others, to the Exchange Board, and given full
membership upon payment of one thousand dol
lars. In 1888 Mr. Mertens took in as a partner
F. M. Thierot, taking in others at a later date.
He is now chief partner of the firm, although not
active, he having rounded out a successful career
in banking up to the time of his practical re
tirement in 1904. His firm ranks with the largest
banking houses of the country, and does a large
correspondence business throughout the world.
The London representatives are R. Raphael &
Sons. During the Civil War his firm was one
of the largest dealers in bonds and securities of
all kinds in the country. It is worthy of mention
here that he detected the Gold Certificate for
geries of Mr. Ketchum, saving losses to his firm,
to his friends, Messrs. Eugene Ballin & Co.,
Marcus and Balfour and others. Ketchum was
in Sing Sing for ten years. At one time
Mr. Mertens was a resident of Staten Island, but
remained there for only a brief period. He re
moved to Brooklyn in 1854. He has resided at
Montclair, N.J., for five years, where he has a
fine estate of over ten acres. Here he has sur
rounded himself with all the luxuries of refined
home life, and possesses a wealth of art treasures
as well as other collections from all over the
world. During the past twenty-five years he
has found the time to take an annual trip to
Europe, not only for pleasure, but to keep in close
touch with market conditions. Mr. Martens is
an ex-member of the German Liederkranz and
Arion Societies ; of the New York Athletic Club ;
an ex-member of the German Club ; also a mem
ber of the Downtown Club. He worships at
the Dutch Reformed Church. In politics he has
always been identified with the Republican party,
but never active, nor has he ever sought public
office.

JOHANN ANDREAS DIPPEL. singer, was
born at Cassel, Germany, November 30, 1866, the
son of Friedrich and Marie (Espe) Dippel. His
father was a manufacturer. Andreas Dippel was

educated in the high school of his native town,
where he was graduated in 1882. Entering the
employ of the banking house of Mauer & Plaut
at Cassel in 1882, he continued in that occupa
tion for five years, acquiring the rudiments of a
sound business and financial education. In the
meanwhile he began the study of the voice under
Mme. Zottmayr, a famous singer of the Royal
Court Theater at Cassel. Having decided to
enter upon a musical career he left his home in
1887, going to Berlin, Milan and Vienna, where
he continued his studies with such masters as
Professor Julius Hey, Alberto Leoni and Johann
Ress. This extensive musical training, added to
his proficiency in four different languages, en
abled him to sing all the leading tenor parts in
Italian, French and German operas with equal
success. In 1887 he secured an engagement at
the Stadt-Theater in Bremen, and made his debut
in September of the same year as the Steersman
in "The Flying Dutchman." While his engage
ment at this theater lasted until 1892, he was
granted leave of absence during the season of
1890-91, to sing at the Metropolitan Opera House
in New York. His American debut was made
on November 26, 1900, in Franchetti's "Asrael,"
under the conductorship of Anton Seidl. Upon
the termination of his Bremen engagement he
visited the United States for a concert tour, dur
ing which he sang under the eminent conductors,
Anton Seidl, Arthur Nikisch and Theodore
Thomas. Returning to Germany he sang at the
Stadt-Theater in Breslau during the season of
1892-93, and from 1893 to 1898 he was a member
of the Imperial court opera in Vienna. In 1898
Mr. Dippel returned to New York, where he
resumed his connection with the Metropolitan
Opera Co., then under the management of Mau
rice Grau, of which he has been a permanent
member to the present time. As such he has
taken part in all the transcontinental tours of
the company, and these, together with his own
concert tours, have procured him an enviable
reputation throughout the United States. Dur
ing four seasons Mr. Dippel has filled engage
ments at the Royal Opera, Covent Garden, Lon
don; at the Imperial Opera, St. Petersburg; at
the Royal Opera, Munich, and at the Bayreuth
Festivals, his unequivocally favorable reception
at all of these places serving to make his fame
international. Mr. Dippel possesses a resonant
tenor voice of excellent timbre, large compass
and of a quality that at once appeals to the
most intimate feelings. His intonation and enun
ciation are singularly perfect, and his brilliant
training and finished art enable him to interpret
with equal felicity works of a widely diversified

JOHANN ANDREAS DIPPEL

HENRY SCHREITER

RUDOLPH HERING

286

CARL KLUPFEL

(Deceased)

SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS 287

character. To his superb vocal equipment Mr.
Dippel adds an admirable stage presence, splendid
dramatic power and a fine imagination, all com
bining to give his personation an artistic finish
rarely found upon the operatic stage. Not the
least important feature of Mr: Dippel's work
is his great versatility. His operatic repertoire
comprises nearly 150 different parts in works of
the German school from Mozart to Wagner : the
Italian, from Donizetti to Puccini, as well as
the works of the great masters of France. In
addition to this he has a repertoire of over sixty
oratorios. Perhaps the most distinctive work of
Mr. Dippel has been done as a singer of Wag-
nerian roles. His impersonation of all of the
great master's heroes are familiar and favorite
figures to the American public, and particularly
his Siegfried both in "Siegfried" and "Gotter-
dammerung" has aroused the enthusiastic com
ment of the press of two continents. In Feb
ruary, 1908, the board of directors of the Metro
politan Opera Company, in recognition of his
wide knowledge of operatic affairs both here and
abroad, and of his keen business ability, ap
pointed Mr. Dippel to the important post of ad
ministrative manager at the Metropolitan Opera
House. In this capacity the destinies of the
greatest institution of its kind in America are
largely confided to his hands and many impor
tant reforms have resulted from his initiative.
Mr. Dippel was married at Norderney, Germany,
August 23, 1890, to Anita Lenau.

HENRY SCHREITER comes from the old
German family, whose ancient title, Reichs-
ritter von Schwarzenfeld, originated in the
"Holy Schwabenland." He was born at Frei-
waldau, Austrian Silesia, August 12, 1856. At
first educated by private tutors, he later entered
the Military Preparatory School and the
Academy of Wiener Neustadt, from which he
graduated as lieutenant in the corps of engi
neers. He subsequently took special courses
in mechanical engineering in the Polytechnicum
and in law at the Vienna University. After
seven years of active military service, Mr.
Schreiter concluded that civil life offered more
substantial rewards, and came to the United
States in the spring of 1881 in the service of
some European investors in connection with
irrigation projects for the reclaiming of arid
plains in the West, particularly in Wyoming
and Idaho. This work occupied him until
March, 1883. After investing the proceeds of
his share in the undertaking in a section of the
land in Wyoming, Mr. Schreiter found employ
ment in western Pennsylvania designing and

superintending the erection of cupola and coke
ovens, and from there he came, in the fall of
1885, after a few months' sojourn in Washing
ton, D.C., to New York City. Here he worked
as draughtsman and writer on technical sub
jects, while studying English law and political
institutions in the School of Political Science
and the Law School of the then "Columbia
College," now Columbia University of New
York, preparing himself for admission to the
Bar. He became a citizen of the United States
October 12, 1886, and a year later was admitted
to the Bar in the Federal Courts and in the
United States Patent Office at Washington,
D.C. He planned to settle in Philadelphia or
Pittsburg, where he had then many friends,
but important business considerations decided
him for starting in the city of New York,
where he began the general practice of law,
for his .own account, in November, 1889. In
this Mr. Schreiter devoted his attention main
ly to patent and trade-mark cases, wherein
he was able to utilize his knowledge of tech
nical subjects. By his diligence and faithful
attention to the best interests of his clients,
Mr. Schreiter became one of the "successful"
lawyers of our community. He is now the
senior member of the firm of Schreiter &
Mathews, attorneys and counsellors-at-law,
located at 20 Nassau Street, New York City,
and also president of the New York Asbestos
Manufacturing Company, No. 80 John Street,
New York City; president and treasurer of the
Ravenswood Paper Mill Company, Ravens-
wood, Borough of Queens, and president of
the Queens Borough Board of Trade. His
connection with the New York Asbestos Man
ufacturing Co. dates from 1893, in which year
he was appointed secretary of the board of
directors, having for some time previously
acted as attorney and counsel for the company.
Later Mr. Schreiter was elected a director, and
in 1902 president of the company. He partici
pated in the organization of the Ravenswood
Paper Mill Co.. and in 1905 was elected its
president and treasurer. As both mills are
located in the Queens Borough, Mr. Schreiter
was invited to join the Queens Borough Board
of Trade, and in the fall of 1907 was elected
president of the board. Though through these
connections he was drawn more into public
and political affairs, Mr. Schreiter does not
aspire to hold any political office. He consid
ers it a bounden duty to his clients and to the
stockholders of the corporations to devote all
his time and energies to his own law practice
and to the management of the affairs of the

288 SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS

corporations wherein he is interested. Mr.
Schreiter resides in the Park section on the
West Side of Manhattan, going for the summer
season to his seashore home in Avon-by-the-
Sea, NJ. Mr. Schreiter is of the home-staying
class of men, and only the Metropolitan Opera
House and the Carnegie Hall draw him regu
larly from his own fireside for one or two
nights during the week. He was married Sep
tember 14, 1894, to Miss Harriet A. Baker of
Fulton, N.Y. Two children, Ruth Harriett,
born November 25, 1895, and Elsa Adele, Feb
ruary 18, 1901, both living, are as fond of
aquatic sports and the sea as their father, and
equally earnest and diligent in work.

RUDOLPH HERING, hydraulic and sani
tary engineer, was born in Philadelphia, Pa.,
February 26, 1847, being a son of Dr. Constan-
tin and Theresa (Buchheim) Hering. He re
ceived a thorough education at the public
schools of Philadelphia, and later entered the
Royal Polytechnic College in Dresden, Ger
many, graduating therefrom in 1867, receiving
the degree of C.E. From 1872 to 1880 Mr.
Hering was assistant City Engineer of Phila
delphia. In 1881 he was commissioned by the
United States National Board of Health to
report on the sewerage works of Europe; was
afterward constructing and consulting engineer
for water supply and sewerage works in the
United States, Canada and South America, in
cluding Boston, New York City, Philadelphia,
Baltimore, Washington, Chicago, San Fran
cisco, Buffalo, Cleveland, Columbus, Indianap
olis, Atlanta, Montgomery, New Orleans, Los
Angeles, Tacoma, Victoria, Ottawa, Toronto,
and many other smaller cities. Since 1891 Mr.
Hering has been a member of the firm of
Hering & Fuller, consulting engineers and san
itary experts. In 1906 he received the honor
ary degree of Doctor of Science from the Uni
versity of Pennsylvania. He is a member and
was vice-president of the American Society of
Civil Engineers; a member of the Canadian
Society of Civil Engineers, Institution of Civil
Engineers of Great Britain, Boston Society of
Civil Engineers, Franklin Institute of Phila
delphia, Western Society of Civil Engineers,
American Water Works Association, American
Public Health Association, Verein Deutscher
Ingenieure of Berlin, and of the Century Club,
New York City, an honorary member of New
England Water Works Association, and fel
low of the American Academy of Sciences.
Mr. Hering was president of the Philadelphia
Engineers' Club. He has been married twice;

his first marriage, to Miss Fannie Field Greg
ory, occurred in 1873; two children were the
issue of this union, Oswald C., born in 1874,
and Ardo, born in 1880. His second marriage,
to Miss Hermine Buchheim, occurred in 1894;
the children of this union are: Dorothea, born
in 1895; Paul E., born in 1898; and Margaret,
born in 1902. Mr. Hering resides at No. 40
Lloyd Place, Montclair, NJ. The offices of
his firm are at No. 170 Broadway, New York
City.

THOMAS EDDY HARDENBERGH, mer
chant, was born of German parents on May
17, 1844, at New Brunswick, N.J., and educated
in public and private schools. At the age of
fifteen he began his business career with the
dry goods firm of J. W. Page & Co., of New
York City, and remained with them until 1861,
when he secured a position with a banking and
brokerage house in Wall Street. Later on, he
was for a time in the leather business and in
the South American trade, until he entered
the employ of the Singer Sewing Machine Co.
Here he rose rapidly, mastering the vast busi
ness of this great corporation so thoroughly,
and gaining the confidence of the directors to
such an extent, that a little more than ten
years ago he was elected secretary, and has
served in that capacity ever since. Mr. Har-
denbergh is so thoroughly devoted to his du
ties, and the interests he has in charge are so
extensive, that the time he can use for recrea
tion is naturally limited. He is, however, fond
of yachting, being a member of the New York
Yacht Club and the Larchmont Yacht Club.
He attends the Dutch Reformed Church. In
politics, Mr. Hardenbergh is an independent,
following his own judgment, and not bound
by party ties. He was married, on April 15,
1879, to Miss Louise Finch, and has two sons,
Ambrose and Thomas E., Jr., and one daugh
ter, Hildegarde.

BERNARD G. AMEND, wholesale drug mer
chant, was born in Hessen-Darmstadt, Germany,
in 1821, and after receiving his preliminary edu
cation in the schools of his native country,
studied chemistry at the Polytechnic School. He
graduated after passing through the prescribed
courses, laying the foundation for the thorough
mastery of this branch of human knowledge
that has distinguished him during his whole
career. After leaving school he held several
positions with prominent drug houses in Ger
many, but decided to emigrate to America in
order to find a larger field for the knowledge he

THOMAS EDDY HARDENBERGH

289

BERNARD G. AMEND

OTTO P. AMEND

290

SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS 291

had acquired and the ability he possessed. He
arrived in New York City on July 10, 1848, after
a passage of fifty-three days in a sailing vessel,
and settled immediately in the same district that
has remained his home for sixty years. He
found employment with Dr. William H. Milnor.
who had established a pharmacy at the corner
of Eighteenth Street and Third Avenue, in order
to supply his patients with pure drugs. Mr.
Amend took charge of the store, while Dr.
Milnor devoted his time to the practice of medi
cine. In 1851 Mr. Amend, together with Mr.
Louis Gail, purchased the business, and it was
conducted under the firm name of Gail & Amend
until 1856, when Mr. Gail withdrew in order to
engage in the manufacture of chemicals. At
the invitation of Mr. Amend, a former school
mate of his, Charles Eirner, now joined him and
the firm of Eimer & Amend was formed. The
firm name was retained, even after Mr. Eimer
had retired in 1883 and the concern had been
incorporated with Bernard G. Amend as presi
dent, and his sons, Otto P., Robert F. and
Charles A. L., as well as his nephew, Edward
B. Amend, as directors. Later Mr. August
Eimer, a nephew of Mr. Amend's old partner,
became a director, and the present officers are :
Bernard G. Amend, president ; August Eimer,
vice-president ; Robert F. Amend, treasurer, and
Otto P. Amend, secretary. The partnership con
tract with Mr. Eimer had been a verbal one,
based entirely upon mutual confidence, and no
written document was ever necessary between
the two men, who worked in harmony for the
advancement of their business. This grew stead
ily, not only in volume, but also by the addition
of new lines. The retail store slowly developed
into a small jobbing concern; then drugs were
imported, and a wholesale branch established.
The firm was among the first to import crude
drugs and specialties from Germany, high grade
chemicals and Norwegian cod-liver oil. Follow
ing a suggestion from members of the old Acad
emy of Science, Eimer & Amend began to im
port laboratory glassware and other chemical
and physical apparatus and supplies. This branch
grew so rapidly that the two adjoining buildings
on Third Avenue were added to find room for
it, and the firm was soon known as the most
important in this line. In 1886 the old buildings
were torn down and a seven-story fireproof
structure erected in their place, with a frontage
of seventy-four feet on Third Avenue and eighty
feet on Eighteenth Street. Even this building
proved insufficient, and an extension of twenty
feet was added in 1896, another with a frontage
of twenty-three feet in 1899, and later on an

other annex ten stories in height. The concern
has now a floor space of one hundred thousand
square feet. It is known all over the world,
and the trade is everywhere aware of the fact
that all the rarer drugs which are not frequently
called for and, therefore, not kept in stock by
many concerns, can always be procured from
Eimer & Amend. Mr. Bernard G. Amend has
been a prominent figure in the city of New York
for sixty years, and is known throughout the
country for his knowledge, enterprise and many
other qualities. A Republican in politics, but he
has never aspired to public office. He is a
member of the Lutheran Church, the Chemical
Society of New York, the American Museum of
Natural History, the Bronx Botanical Gardens,
the New York Academy of Sciences (for forty
years), and many other scientific, benevolent and
social organizations. He was married in 1855
to Miss Bertha Schenck, who died in 1903, and
who bore him four children : Otto P., Robert F.,
Maria, now Mrs. August Eimer, and Lincoln,
who is dead.

OTTO P. AMEND, manufacturing chemist,
was born on February 3, 1858, in New York
City, in a house which stood on the site where
his business is still carried on, at 205 Third
Avenue. He received his education in a private
school and the public schools, attended the School
of Mines, Columbia College, class of 79, and
studied chemistry at Wuerzburg and Zuerich, where
he graduated in 1882. Returning to New York,
he entered the firm of Eimer & Amend which
his father had founded in 1851, under the firm
name of Gail & Amend, and which had been
changed later to Eimer & Amend. Since 1897
it has been a corporation and known all over the
world, with connections wherever the white man
has penetrated. It buys as well as sells in al
most every known country on the face of the
globe, and deals not only with individuals, but
with governments and officials, boards of health,
and others. When joining the firm, Mr. Otto
P. Amend had to start at the lowest rung of
the ladder, and was not advanced until he could
show to the satisfaction of his father and uncle
that he had learned all that was to be known.
In this way he acquired a complete mastery of
all the details connected with a business concern
of such magnitude and world-wide ramifications,
and became finally fully prepared to take his
place in the management. Mr. Amend has been
a resident of New York City all his life. He
is an independent in politics, but has never as
pired to public office or taken an active part in
party politics. He is a member of the Arion

292 SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS

Society, the Chemists' Club and the Chemical
Society. Mr. Amend married Miss Elinor
Ramsperger, and has three children : one son,
Carl G., who studied chemistry at Columbia,
taking the post-graduate course, and being grad
uated in 1908, and two daughters, Ottilie and
Frieda.

AUGUST EIMER, pharmacist and manu
facturing chemist, was born at Darmstadt,
Germany, on November 10, 1853, and received
his first education in a private school. He
then attended the government school at his
birthplace, and finally studied pharmacy and
chemistry at the Polytechnic School at Zurich,
Switzerland, graduating at the age of nine
teen. While studying he served as an ap
prentice in a pharmacy for three years, in
order to master thoroughly the practical side
of his profession. In 1873 Mr. Eimer came
to the United States and joined the firm of
Eimer & Amend, Mr. C. Eimer being his
uncle. .Here he started from the bottom,
familiarizing himself with every detail of the
business which had sprung from a small be
ginning to such large dimensions. He estab
lished the department for the sale of chemical
apparatus, which grew so rapidly that shortly
after its inauguration a whole building had to
be devoted to this branch of the business
alone. It became quickly known that any and
every kind of chemical apparatus, in fact, any
thing needed in the laboratory, could be pro
cured from Eimer & Amend; the firm either
manufactures or keeps in stock whatever is
known in this line. Together with Geo. F.
Seward, James Turner Morehead and A.
Neresheimer, Mr. Eimer formed, in 1898, a
company with the object of making rare met
als by electricity, furnishing, for instance,
chromium metal to the Carnegie, the Bethle
hem, and the Midvale Steel companies for the
manufacture of material for steel armor for
the new Navy. The advantage by this process
has brought the cost of chromium down to
twenty-five cents per pound — formerly several
hundred dollars per pound. This company
had two plants and sold out after a success
ful career extending over ten years. Mr.-
Eimer was one of the pioneers in electro
metallurgy, and blazed the way which since
then many have followed. Mr. Eimer is fond
of healthful amusements and recreation. He
is a member of the Lutheran Church, and a
Republican in politics; also a member of the
Arion Society and the German Liederkranz,
as well as of the Chemists' Club. He was

married, on September 19, 1877, to Miss Mary
S. Amend, and has four children : A. O., who
is with the National City Bank; Walter R.
and Carl, students at Columbia University,
and Miss Elsa Eimer. Ever since coming to
New York, Mr. Eimer has lived in the imme
diate vicinity of his business, and resides at
present at 30 Irving Place.

WALTHER LUTTGEN, banker, was born
at Solingen, Rhenish Prussia, Germany, on
January 7, 1839, and received his education in
public and private schools, partly in Europe and
partly in America. He came to the United
States in September, 1854, and almost imme
diately after leaving school entered the bank
ing house of August Belmont & Co. as junior
clerk. This was in November, 1859, and how
thoroughly he gained the good-will of his em
ployers by his devotion to the interests he was
intrusted with, showing at the same time that
he deserved unlimited confidence, is best
proven by the fact that four years later, at the
age of twenty-four, Mr. Liittgen was appoint
ed one of the procurationists, giving him the
right to sign the firm's name. He continued
to rise steadily, and greater responsibility was
placed upon his shoulders, but he always re
sponded cheerfully. Having such a complete
mastership of the large interests and opera
tions of the firm, in 1880 he was admitted to
partnership with the elder August Belmont,
the founder of the house, and after his death
with his son, August Belmont, the two con
stituting the firm of August Belmont & Co.
Mr. Liittgen is a Democrat in politics, but has
never held or sought public office, with the ex
ception of small local offices in the rural com
munities in which he lived, and where a highly
developed sense of civic duty prompted him
to devote himself to the betterment of public
affairs. He has taken much interest in yacht
ing, and is a member of the New York Yacht
Club, Seawanhaka, Atlantic, and Columbia
Yacht clubs, also of the Deutsche Verein,
Lawyers' Club, Downtown Club, Railway Club,
and formerly of the Arion Society, besides
many other social and charitable organizations.
As a director of the Illinois Central Railroad,
he has taken an active part in the management
of that corporation. Mr. Liittgen was mar
ried, on May 23, 1866, to Miss Amelia Victoria
Bremcyer, and has one daughter, Florence
Amelia, while another, Gertrude Marion, is
dead. He is without question one of those
German-Americans who are held in universal
esteem, and whose success has been the result

AUGUST EIMER

HON. WILLIAM SULZKR

293

WALTHER LUTTGEN

294

SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS 295

of their own sterling qualities; for this reason
he is acknowledged by all as the natural out
come of a most fortunate combination of su
perior gifts and an exceptionally fine char
acter.

AUGUST HEIDRITTER (deceased), lumber
merchant, and founder of the largest lumber es
tablishment at Elizabeth, N. J., was a son of
Deidrich Heidritter, who for many years was a
member of the Hamburg Senate. The Heidrit-
ters trace their ancestry back to an early period,
and the branch that settled at Hamburg was
only a part of a family whose standing was the
best among the old German houses in that sec
tion of the country. There the subject of this
sketch was born February 3, 1820, and no ex
pense was spared by his father to equip him
with an education such as all Germans possess
when properly educated. He attended private
schools, graduating at the age of seventeen, a pro
ficient scholar in every way ; he spoke French
fluenty. His father being a cabinet maker and
lumber merchant, decided that his son should
take up that trade, and he was trained accord
ingly. After having spent three years in this
way, he planned a trip to Brazil, South America,
for business purposes ; on the way to that coun
try he stopped at New York. During his so
journ in that city his father died and his South
American trip was abandoned. Mr. Heidritter
then decided to remain in New York, but before
settling permanently he traveled through the
states studying conditions and mastering the
language. Upon his return to Xew York he
engaged in the cabinet making business. He was
only twenty-two years of age at that time ; owing
to the new conditions, under which he was seek
ing success, this first venture was a failure. He
then entered the employ of John J. Meeks, New
York City, as cabinet maker, and remained in
this position up to the age of thirty-five. Dur
ing that period he spent his time to good ad
vantage, saving money and looking about. His
•next venture was a general store at Elizabeth,
N.J. This marked the beginning of a most suc
cessful career. He continued his store business
until the founding of his lumber house in 1860.
He associated with him in business as a part
ner Jacobez B. Cooley, which was continued until
1867. Mr. Heidritter was constantly enlarging
his interests, and at the time of his death in 1893
his house had the distinction of being one of
the largest of its kind in the country. Through
his strict adherence to high business ideals all
his trade came unsolicited. The reputation he
had built up was synonymous to honor. In poli

tics, Mr. Heidritter was a Democrat. He was
a man of a retiring disposition and modest tastes.
He worshiped at the German Lutheran Church,
and was not affiliated with any clubs or societies.
He was united in marriage to Miss Hannah
Bertram, of Hanover, Germany. The following
children have blessed the union : Louisa, who be
came Mrs. Roth (deceased) ; Hannah (Mrs.
Walters), Mary A., (Mrs. Bickel) ; Isabella,
(Mrs. Poppengo) ; Frederick L., and August,
Jr. All reside at Elizabeth, N.J.

FREDERICK L. HEIDRITTER, lumber mer
chant, eldest son of the late August Heidritter,
Sr., was born January 25, 1851, at Elizabeth, N.J. ,
and it was there he attended the public schools
and Pingry Institute. He entered his father's
employ in 1867, and by close application mast
ered all the details pertaining to the lumber trade.
His business education was of a practical char
acter, and it was not long before he had reached
the top of the enterprise, which his father
founded in 1860. After the death of his father
the responsibilities connected with the business
were taken up by Mr. Frederick Heidritter and
a partnership between himself and his brother
August was consummated shortly thereafter. The
personalities of both men made such an impres
sion that their interests grew year by year. They
have found it necessary to curtail many of their
operations and confine themselves to their local
plant, where over one hundred and fifty men are
given employment. They own five four-masted
schooners, carrying from seven hundred, to fif
teen hundred tons each. The Heidritters at one
time operated seven saw mills and owned over
two hundred and twenty-five square miles of
timber lands at Quebec, Canada. They had mills
in Kentucky, Arkansas, Florida and Quebec.
However, all these interests have been elimin
ated and to-day the Heidritter Brothers' estab
lishment has reached the acme of success, after
having been founded by August Heidritter, Sr.,
along lines of principle that characterized the
men of olden days. The subject of this sketch
has always been a stanch Cleveland Democrat.
He always takes a keen interest in all matters
of a local character, and at one time he was
nominated for mayor of Elizabeth, the citi
zens realizing the character and worth of
the man. The opposing party, however, was
too strong. Mr. Heidritter is president of the
Elizabethport Banking Company; a director of
the National State Bank, and a director of the
Elizabethtown Water Company. He has been
a trustee for several years of the Pingry Schools ;
and is also one of the Elizabeth General Hos-

296 SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS

pital managers. On December 16, 1880, he mar
ried Miss Anna R. Stratemeyer.

AUGUST HEIDRITTER, JR., is a prominent
lumber merchant, residing at Elizabeth, N.J.,
where he was born March 23, 1856. He is the
second son of the late August Heidritter, who
for many years was one of the leading lumber
men of the country. The subject of this sketch
received part of his education in the public
schools of Elizabeth and graduated from the
Pingry School at the age of eighteen. His father
had built up a large and lucrative business by
that time, and it was under his careful train
ing that August was fitted for the responsibilities
that came later in life. Mr. Heidritter, Sr., was
a genuine type of the old school, and believed
that successful careers could only be rounded
out by close application and a thorough knowl
edge of a chosen vocation. It was under these
conditions that his sons were trained, and since
the time of his death, in 1893, the large inter
ests he had established during his life time have
been ably administrated by the two surviving
sons. At the age of 21 years Mr. Heidritter be
came a partner, and has continued as such up to
the present time. He has contributed greatly to
the success the firm is enjoying to-day. Mr.
Heidritter is not a club man, giving a greater
portion of his leisure moments to his business
interests. He is a member of the United States
Lumberman's Association; the Building Mater
ial Club of Newark, N.J., and a director of the
Elizabethport Bank ; on July 8, 1909, he was
elected vice-president of the last-named institu
tion. On May 28, 1879, Mr. Heidritter was
united in marriage to Miss Hannah Binger. One
daugher, now Mrs. Louisa Wolff, has blessed
the union.

HERMAN SIMON, silk manufacturer, with a
plant of great magnitude located at Union Hill,
N.J., and a larger one at Easton, Pa., was born
at Frankfort-on-Main, April 29, 1850. His early
education was received in his native city and
completed at Hassel's Institute ; he took an ex
tended course at the Royal Weaving School, lo
cated at Mulheim-on-Rhine. Here he received
the knowledge that so ably fitted him for his
subsequent career, that of a silk manufacturer.
He came to this country in 1868, and after sev
eral connections in his line of trade, engaged in
manufacturing on his own account with his
brother Robert. The two plants owned stand as
monuments to the energy that has always char
acterized him. Mr. Simon is a resident of Eas
ton, Pa., and is affiliated with the Republican

Party. He was one of the Presidential electors
during the election of 1908, representing the
Twenty-sixth Congressional District of Pennsyl
vania. Aside from his gigantic business inter
ests, Mr. Simon finds time to identify himself
with the Episcopal Church. He is a thirty-second
Degree Mason ; a member of the German Club
of Hoboken, the Deutcher Verein of New York,
Metropolitan Museum of Art, Arkwright Club,
and the Pomfret Club of Easton, Pa.

ROBERT SIMON, deceased, formerly a silk
manufacturer, was born at Frankfort-on-Main,
November 9, 1852. He received a careful edu
cation at Hassel's Institute, a celebrated schoo =
of his native city, and at the Royal School of
Weaving at Mulheim-on-Rhine. In 1870 Mr.
Simon came to America, where he continued to
reside up to the time of his death, in 1901.
He was for many years associated with his
brother, Herman Simon, engaged in the manu
facture of silk, with extensive plants located at
Union Hill, N.J., and Easton, Pa. During his
life time Mr. Simon was always affiliated with the
Republican Party. He was a member of the
German Reformed Church, but never took any
interest in club life. He contributed liberally to
all charitable causes, and was a man greatly be
loved by all who enjoyed his acquaintance.

ALPHONSE G. KOELBLE was born Au
gust 5, 1868, in the city of New York, of which
he has been a life-long resident. His father,
Joseph Koelble, was for many years the Ver-
trauensmarin in charge of Catholic Germans
arriving at Castle Garden. Mr. Koelble re
ceived his early education at the parochial
school of the Most Holy Redeemer, and in
1885 was graduated from Canisius College,
conducted at Buffalo, N.Y., by the Jesuit
Fathers, with the degree of A.B. He then
took up newspaper work, being employed as
a reporter and correspondent for various New
York dailies. While attached to an evening
newspaper he attended the evening class of the
New York Law School, from which he was
graduated in 1897 at the head of his class, and
with the degree of LL.B. Admitted to the Bar
' the same year, he has since been actively en
gaged in the practice of law, except for a
three months' service as a war correspondent
in Cuba during the Spanish-American War of
1898. In 1903 Mr. Koelble was appointed pri
vate secretary to Mr. Justice Amend of tho
Supreme Court. He has been very active in
organizations; among those to which he be
longs are the Catholic Club, Arion, New York-

AUGUST HEIDRITTER

(Deceased)

OF -.

297

FREDERICK L. HEIDRITTER

AUGUST HEIDRITTER, JR.

298

SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS 299

County Lawyers' Association, St. Francis
Xavier Alumni Sodality, Caecilien Gesang Ver-
ein, Fidelia Gesang Verein, Katholischer Saen-
gerbund, Catholic Benevolent Legion, Knights
of Columbus and St. Joseph's Society. In
1906 Mr. Koelble was elected first vice-presi
dent of the American Federation of Catholic
Societies, and in that year represented that
body and the German Catholic Central Verein
of North America, the national organization
of German-speaking Catholics, at the Katho-
liken Tag (or Congress of the Catholics of
Germany) at Essen, Germany. His father at
Bamberg in 1868 was the first American to
represent the Catholic Germans of this coun
try at a Katholiken Tag, and Mr. Koelble had
the distinction of representing all the Catholic
Americans at such a congress. In 1907 Mr.
Koelble took the initiative in organizing the
New York State Federation of Catholic So
cieties and was its first president. That same
year, as would be expected of one of his Ger
man origin, he represented the New York
County Federation of Catholic Societies be
fore the Board of Aldermen, and warmly ad
vocated the passage of the so-called Doull
ordinance which was designed to conform the
Sunday laws to the needs of a cosmopolitan
community like New York. In politics Mr.
Koelble is a Democrat, but he actively sup
ported Governor Hughes in his efforts to sup
press racetrack gambling, advocating the meas
ure incorporating the Republican Governor's
views before a joint committee of the Legis
lature in 1908, as the representative of both
the New York County Federation of Catholic
Societies and the Federation of Churches and
Christian Organizations in New York City,
being the first Catholic in the history of the
State to represent Protestant bodies in a pub
lic capacity. In 1"908 Mr. Koelble relinquished
active interest in all other organizations, to
devote his entire energy to the formation and
development of the German American Cit
izens' League of the State of New York. As
expressed by Mr. Koelble, who has been the
president of the League since its organization
in May, 1908, the League is timely and neces
sary, as it is the first organization of large
potentiality which is not limited in its mem
bership to German-speaking Americans of Ger
man origin, but which is designed to bring the
German-speaking and the non-German-speak
ing German-Americans together, and by their
united efforts in fields of activity, not confined
to such as affect German-Americans directly,
to widen the German-American influence. The

League expects particularly to attract such of
the younger German-Americans as no longer
speak the German language or so imperfectly
that they not only keep aloof from so-called
German organizations, but are fast losing, if
they have not already lost, their German-
American sympathies. Mr. Koelble has often
publicly declared that for such loss those of
the German-Americans who were so exclu
sively German as to repel rather than to con
ciliate the younger German-Americans, must
bear a large responsibility, and that another
cause of such defection was the failure of the

ALPHONSE G. KOELBLE

German-Americans, as a body, to achieve that
distinction or acquire that influence in the
community at large worthy of their character
and ability, and which would have aroused in
the younger German-American a sense of pride
in his German origin, and a willingness and
desire no less to have a part in German-Amer
ican activities than a share in the power and
prestige resulting therefrom. Accordingly,
while the German language is preferred as
the official language of the League, and its use
and cultivation is one of the cardinal purposes
of the organization, the English language is
otherwise of equal rank with the German.
This it is expected will clear the way for the
non-German-speaking German-Americans to
affiliate with an organization in which they
can take an active interest without possessing

300

SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS

great familiarity with the German language,
and through such affiliation, though the lan
guage of their fathers be lost to them, they
will still remain a part of the German-Amer
ican element and retain their sympathy with
German-American ideals and aspirations. The
founders of the League recognize that the
public activities of the German-Americans
were, in the past, circumscribed by their lack
of mastery of the language of the country,
but they believe now that this condition has
been largely remedied a proper appreciation
of the duties of good citizenship should arouse
in the German-Americans a greater interest in
public matters than they are credited with hav
ing displayed in years past. They believe that
the citizen of German origin is at least as well
qualified to discharge public responsibilities as
the native born or the citizen of any other
nationality and that the unwillingness or ap
parent inability of German-Americans to se
cure their just share of public honors tends
greatly to lessen their influence and their pres
tige. Hence the dominating paragraph of the
declaration of principles of the German-
American Citizens' League is the following:
"To stimulate citizens of German origin to en
large their activities in public affairs, and to
secure in the administration thereof a repre
sentation commensurate with their numbers,
character, and ability." Mr. Koelble on June
29, 1907, married Edna Mary O'Connor, the
daughter of William O'Connor, of Wellsboro,
Pa.

PHILIP DIEHL, mechanical and electrical
engineer, was born in January, 1847, at Dalsheim,
Rhine Hession, Germany. His preliminary edu
cation was begun at Dalsheim, and he was gradu
ated from the Technical School at Darmstadt.
In 1869 he came to America, and for the past
thirty-four years has resided at Elizabeth, N.J.
In politics he is a Republican, but has never
sought or held a public office. He is a charter
member of the Electrical Engineering and mem
ber of the New York Electrical societies. In
1873 Mr. Diehl married Miss Emilie Loos, to
whom one daughter, now Mrs. Clara Keppler,
was born.

EDWARD HORNBOSTEL, merchant and
banker, was born on July 1, 1841, in Lauen-
burg, the descendant of one of the oldest
families of that country, whose lineage can be
traced back for five hundred years. Mr. Horn-
bostel received his education at the gymna
sium, and graduated at the early age of six

teen. In 1857 he decided to emigrate to the
United States, and engaged in commercial
business, later on becoming connected with
the banking and brokerage business in the
Wall Street district, with which he was iden
tified until his death. Soon after his arrival
he took up his residence in Brooklyn, where
he had a large acquaintance, being a member
of the Lutheran Church, and finding social
diversion in the Germania Club. He was a
member of the New York Stock Exchange for
twenty-five years, and of the Consolidated
Stock Exchange from 1894. A Democrat in
politics, he never held or aspired for public
office, but limited himself to taking an inter
est in public affairs as a citizen who had the
welfare of his country at heart. Mr. Horn-
bostel was married, in September, 1866, to
Miss Johanna Cassebeer. His eldest son,
Henry F. Hornbostel, is one of the foremost
architects of New York City, with an office
in William Street, whose business activity ex
tends over a large part of the United States,
and who is connected with some of the largest
enterprises in his line. Another son, E. H.
Hornbostel, is connected with the Germania
Life Insurance Company, and the third is
serving with the United States Artillery in
the Philippine Islands. One daughter, Marie,
is living with her family.

PAUL C. SCHNITZLER, lawyer, was born
at Mannheim, in Baden, and received his edu
cation at the gymnasium at Karlsruhe. After
graduating he studied law at the universities
of Heidelberg and Leipsic, receiving the degree
of LL.D. from the faculty of the last-named
'institution. He was soon after admitted to the
Bar in Germany, and later appointed Amtsrich-
ter at Lahr in Baden. In 1893 Dr. Schnitzler
decided to emigrate to America, and settled
in New York City, where he was admitted to
the Bar of the State of New York as soon as
he had become an American citizen, in 189_8.
Since then he has been engaged in active prac
tice, and is known as an authority on German
law, international law, and especially on all
questions arising out of the difference between
the laws of the United States and the German
Empire. He has written a treatise on Ameri
can law in the German language, which was
published under the title: "Wegweiser fur den
Rechtsverkehr zwischen Deutschland und den
Vereinigten Staaten," by Otto Liebmann of
Berlin, and has reached a second edition. It
is considered a standard work on the subject.
In spite of his large practice and the heavy

PHILIP DIEHL

301

PAUL C. SCHNITZLER

302

ALFRED FREUNDLICH

SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS 305

demands made upon him by his activity in this
direction, and although a close student of
everything worthy of attention in the realm of
literature and art, Dr. Schnitzler finds time for
social diversion. He is a member of the New
York Bar Association, the German Club, Ger
man Liederkranz, New York Athletic Club,
and many other social and charitable organiza
tions, including the Deutsch-Amerikanische
Schulverein, of which he is treasurer.

WARREN T. DIEFENDORF. It is only
now and then that enough of unusual interest
and action can be found to make the life of any
one prominent above the restless surging of the
present age. But some there are who, catching
the first flood of the tide of our modern life,
have so well understood its direction and so in
dustriously and successfully kept abreast of it,
that they fairly epitomize the movement and
become it's exponents. To such a life the sub
ject of this sketch introduces us. For several
generations the ancestry of Warren T. Diefen-
dorf were inhabitants of Schoharie and Mont
gomery counties. He was born at Sharon
Springs, N.Y., March 8, 1860. His business
career began as clerk in a dry goods store at
Fort Plain, N.Y. By untiring industry and strict
attention to business, he soon became an equal
partner, the firm being then known as Cook &
Diefendorf. At the early age of twenty-three,
he organized the Garment Manufacturing Co.,
whose product was well known throughout the
United States. In 1887 he disposed of his varied
interests and entered, unreservedly and free, the
life insurance field, as a special representative of
the Mutual Life Insurance Company of New
York. In that capacity he traveled in several
states east of the Mississippi River, and since
1889 has been manager of the Brooklyn and
Long Island agency of this well-known company.
Mr. Diefendorf has long been a prominent mem
ber of the Methodist Episcopal Church, toward
the maintenance of which he has contributed
very liberally. He is at present a director of
the Borough Bank of Brooklyn, the Kings
County Mortgage Co., the Country Investing Co.
of New York, the Navahoe Realty Co. of New
York, and the Island Cities Real Estate Co., of
Brooklyn. He is a thirty-second degree Mason,
a Knight of Pythias, and a member of the
Brooklyn League. He is also a member of the
Riding and Driving, Brooklyn and Crescent Ath
letic clubs of Brooklyn, the Economic Club of
New York, and the Men's, Mt. Vernon, N.Y.
On January 25, 1887, he married Miss Louisa
Edwards Slocumb. They have three children

living, Mabel S. Diefendorf, Warren Edwin
Diefendorf, and Edith Louisa Diefendorf.

JOSEPH KUDER, piano manufacturer, was
born in Austria, April 26, 1831. His early edu
cation was obtained in the public schools and
the gymnasium. He was graduated from the
latter institution at the age of fourteen years.
After leaving school he apprenticed himself
to a manufacturer of pianos at Vienna. The
apprenticeship lasted for five years. From
1845 to 1850 his services were sought by sev
eral piano concerns of Vienna. During the
latter part of 1854 Mr. Kuder came to New
York City, where he obtained a position in
the house of Messrs. Steinway & Sons. After
filling several similar positions with other
piano manufacturers, in 1872 he entered into a
copartnership with Hugo Sohmer, Esq., with
whom pleasant business relations have ever
since existed. Mr. Kuder is a member of the
Arion Singing Society and several other social
organizations. He is independent in politics.
In June, 1866, he married a Miss Greigrich, a
native of Austria, to whom one daughter, now
Mrs. B. Ziegler, was born.

HON. WILLIAM SULZER, Congressman,
was born at Elizabeth, N.J., March 18, 1863.
Of German extraction, as his name indicates,
Mr. Sulzer is an American in every fiber, and
few men of his years and opportunities have
won their spurs more brilliantly than he. His
father, Thomas Sulzer, compelled to flee from
Germany for active participation in the Revo
lutionary struggles of 1848, landed in New York
three years later, married here, and William
was born March 18, 1863. He was educated
in the public schools and at Columbia College,
and was admitted to the bar as soon as he
attained his majority. He quickly achieved
distinction in his profession and as a. political
orator. He stumped the states of New York,
New Jersey and Connecticut for the Demo
cratic National Committee in 1884 and 1888.
In 1889 Mr. Sulzer was elected to the State
Legislature, where his force and merit speedily
found recognition. Not even the most impla
cable foe of Tammany Hall ever aspersed his
integrity, his generosity or his ability, and
when the Democrats captured a majority of the
Assembly in 1893, nobody was surprised to see
him installed by the unanimous vote of his
party colleagues in the Speaker's chair, the
youngest man to whom such an honor had
been accorded. That he was a conspicuous,
fair and competent presiding officer was con-

306 SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS

ceded by opponents as well as friends. He was
always courteous, impartial and courageous.
He has always been the champion of the
masses and a constant and consistent friend
of organized labor. To his clear vision and
energy the State of New York is indebted for
the passage of the laws providing for the state
care of the insane, the anti-Pinkerton police
bill, prohibiting net fishing in Jamaica Bay,
abolishing the sweating system in the manu
facture of clothing, establishing the women's
reformatory, ventilating and lighting the New
York Central Railroad tunnel in the city of
New York, codifying the quarantine statutes
and the military statutes, organizing free eve
ning lectures for workingmen and working-
women, wiping out the last vestige of imprison
ment for debt, guaranteeing freedom of wor
ship, providing for the Columbian celebration
in the City of New York, and providing for the
constitutional convention and many others
equally vital to the liberty and comfort of the
people, especially in the larger cities of. the
State of New York. As a straightforward,
conscientious champion of Jeffersonian De
mocracy, Mr. Sulzer was elected to the Fifty-
fourth Congress, in November, 1894, being one
of the decimated band of Democrats who sur
vived the tremendous tidal wave of that year.
As a Member of Congress he has met the ex
pectations of his friends, and made a splendid
record of usefulness and activity in the greater
arena of the National Legislature. He was a
warm friend of the Cuban insurgents and
championed their cause in several eloquent
speeches in the House. He has always been
found on the side of the people, and is an
ardent supporter of all measures for the ameli
oration and benefit of the wage earners of the
country. He stands for equal rights to all,
special privileges to none. He was a delegate
to the Democratic National Convention at
Chicago, and was a firm supporter of William
J. Bryan for the nomination, and his eloquent
advocate for President in the Presidential can
vass. In 1906 he came very near receiving the
nomination for Governor at the Buffalo State
Convention, and was the real choice of the
masses of the people for that office. He was
reelected to the Fifty-fifth Congress by three
times the majority he received in his previous
race, and has always run ahead of his ticket.
He is loyal, truthful, manly and honest, and
one of the most useful Members in Congress
from the great Empire State of New York.
Mr. Sulzer stands over six feet in height and
carries his weight of 185 pounds with the

graceful ease of a trained athlete. He is too
busy and too abstemious a man to accumulate
useless tissue. Enviably successful in his law
practice, he is irresistibly drawn to the arena
of politics, where giants are the contestants.
He is an effective and popular orator and one
of the most active Members of the House. He
is a prominent member of the New York Press
Club and several other social organizations in
the City of New York. During his terms in
Congress he has worked hard for all measures
in the interest of organized labor and the wage
earners all over the country know him to be
their friend, and are deeply grateful for what
he has accomplished for them. During the last
session of Congress Mr. Sulzer introduced the
measure in which the laboring men of this
country are so deeply interested, viz., the bill
creating a Department of Labor, with a Secre
tary of Labor having a seat in the Cabinet.
This bill makes the first scientific classification
of labor ever attempted in this country. He
also introduced a bill creating a Department
of Commerce. The secretary of this depart
ment, according to the terms of the measure,
will be given the power to regulate and control
the corporations and trusts of the country
doing an interstate and foreign commerce
business. Mr. Sulzer was the earliest and the
most earnest champion of "Cuba Libre." He
introduced the first resolution sympathizing
with the Cubans and the first granting bellig
erent rights to the Cubans, also the first favor
ing the independence of the Cubans, and the
first declaring war against Spain. In a similar
manner Mr. Sulzer was known and recognized
as the champion of the Boers in Congress. He
introduced a number of resolutions of sympa
thy with the Boers and denounced the conduct
of the war by the British. He is also known
as the author of the resolution providing for
an amendment of the Constitution of the
United States so that United States senators
must be elected by the people. Mr. Sulzer is
the ranking Democratic member of the Com
mittee on Military Affairs and Patents, and his
committee work has been so important that it
has attracted the attention of all the members
fff the House. He has been an earnest advo
cate of the measures favored by the letter
carriers, and has introduced into every Con
gress bills to increase and graduate their sal
aries. Among the measures introduced by Mr.
Sulzer may be mentioned that obliging the
Government to pay the prevailing rate of
wages and the bill making eight hours a legal
workday. He also introduced the measure

HERMAN SIMON

307

ROBERT SIMON

(Deceased)

308

SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS 311

known as the anti-injunction bill. Only re
cently a measure introduced by him providing
for an appropriation to light the Statue of
Liberty in New York Harbor was defeated by
the Republicans by a narrow majority, and
every Republican member of Congress who
voted in favor of extinguishing Liberty's light
is now regretting it in view of the day of
reckoning that is coming when they face the
people this fall. So great was the popular de
mand for the maintenance of this light that
President Roosevelt was obliged to take action
after the Sulzer measure had been defeated in
the House by Republican votes. Mr. Roose
velt ordered the Secretary of War to provide
the funds for the light from the monies of the
War Department. Some men are born great,
others have greatness thrust upon them, while
some attain greatness by their own indefatiga
ble efforts and their strict adherence to princi
ple. It is to the latter class that William
Sulzer belongs, whose loyalty to his friends,
and whose recognized honesty and ability as a
champion of the poor and oppressed has made
his name a household word in America. It
would take a small library to enumerate the
many bills offered by him to ameliorate the
conditions of labor, but suffice it to say that,
with no exception, there is not a Representa
tive in Congress who has fought so many
battles in the face of strong opposition for the
various bodies of organized labor as William
Sulzer. When we add to this enviable record
his manly fight for Liberty, for the Boers, for
Cuban freedom, his bitter denunciation of the
trusts, and his emphatic demand for the en
forcement of the laws to check their rapacity,
we but faintly outline the reasons why his
constituents are so proud of him, and why if
he is not selected for some higher position
within their gift, they will undoubtedly return
him to the one he so ably and eloquently fills,
with credit to himself, his party and his con
stituents. Mr. Sulzer is the friend of the plain
people, and every toiler in the land owes him
a debt of gratitude which never can be paid for
all that he has done to ameliorate their
condition.

WILLIAM B. A. JURGENS, merchant.
The name of Jurgens has become prominently
associated with the commercial interests of
Greater New York, where the subject of this
review has built up an extensive business
through the development of his opportunities
and straightforwardness in dealing. A native
of Germany, he was born in the village of

Ludingworth, in the province of Hanover, Au
gust 26, 1838, and is a son of John Christian
and Margarette (Wiebold) Jurgens, who had
three children that reached years of maturity.
This worthy couple were devout Christians of
the Lutheran faith, and were respected and
esteemed by all who knew them. In his early
manhood the father learned the shoemaker's
trade, which he mastered, becoming an expert
workman. He died at the age of sixty-five
years, and his wife departed this life in the
fifty-third year of her age. In the schools of
his native town, William B. A. Jurgens ac
quired his elementary education, and under
his father's direction he learned the shoe
maker's trade. When in his twenty-sixth year,
with laudable ambition and a desire to im
prove his opportunities in life, he decided to
seek his fortune in America, and accordingly
embarked from Bremen Haven, landing at
New York City on August 12, 1864, after a
long and tedious voyage of seventy-two days.
Having but limited capital, he at once sought
employment, procuring a position as clerk in
a grocery store in the Sixteenth Ward of
Brooklyn, at the corner of Johnson and Bush-
wick Avenues. With but twenty-five dollars
remaining upon his arrival in this country, it
behooved him to husband his income, and
after three years of industrious effort, supple
mented by economy, he was enabled to begin
business on his own account. He then pur
chased his employer's stock and fixtures at
Boerum and Humbolt Streets, giving a verbal
promise to pay for the same. By his perse
verance and thrift, he was soon enabled to
liquidate the obligation, and two years later
added to his store a wholesale department.
In this feature of the establishment he soon
met with a marked degree of success, and in
1873 purchased the building he then occupied.
His patronage rapidly increased in volume,
and it was soon found necessary to secure
larger facilities, so that he made additions
from time to time up to 1891, when the volume
of his trade necessitated more extensive quar
ters, and he removed his store to a spacious
building in the Wallabout Market, at the cor
ner of Flushing Avenue and Ryerson Street.
This building was destroyed by fire December
17, 1892, but Mr. Jurgens immediately after
ward erected the large and commodious build
ing which he now occupies, anad since that
time he has cared for a trade amounting an
nually to more than three million dollars. All
this is the result of unflagging industry, good
judgment and straightforward business meth-

312 SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS

ods, and his life record is a splendid proof of
what may be accomplished in this land where
effort and opportunities are open to all, and
where prosperity rewards earnest purpose and
indefatigable labor. Mr. Jurgens is a man of
domestic tastes, and finds his greatest happi
ness in his home, which is pleasantly located
at No. 924 Bushwick Avenue, Brooklyn, N.Y.
He was married October 12, 1867, to Miss
Christine Sophie Rhode, who was born August
4, 1846, and is a daughter of Peter H. and
Catherine Rebecca (Knopp) Rhode, both of
whom were born in the Province of Hanover,
Germany, in the village of Ahlienworth, where
also occurred the birth of Mrs. Jurgens.
Unto our subject and his wife were born ten
children, of whom the following reached years
of maturity: Herman P. C., who died Novem
ber 12, 1898, at the age of 17 years; Josephine
Auguste, who was married to Herbert Ricker
of Brooklyn, and died April 5, 1896, at the
age of 24 years, leaving one child, Gladys
Josephine; William H. C., who married Laura
C. Bogel, and died November 1, 1900, at the
age of 27 years, leaving a son, William B. A.,
named in honor of his grandfather; Sophie
M. R., the wife of Charles H. Bogel of Brook
lyn; and Maria R., now married to John S.
Bauer, M.D., 984 Bushwick Avenue. Mr. Jur
gens is a member of the Lutheran Church,
and has been a willing contributor to all char
itable enterprises in his neighborhood and to
all movements for the general good. His life
record is in every way commendable and
worthy of emulation.

CHARLES SCHNEIDER (expert investiga
tor). The law's delays, of which we hear so
much in these days, would be greater and more
aggravating were it not for the superb and spec
ialized' labors of the members of a profession
whose daily and marvelous achievements are
little known to the general public. The private
detective of high character, of ability and in
tegrity, is the power behind the legal throne. His
genius supplies the lawyer's eloquence ; his evi
dence reveals the truth to judge and jury; he is,
in brief, the right hand of justice. In the front
rank of those who have placed this profession
in the position to which it is rightfully entitled
is Mr. Charles Schneider, who, while to-day but
thirty-three years of age, has already achieved
a distinction second to none in the American
metropolis or in the famous detective forces of
London and Paris. Mr. Schneider was born at
No. 436 East Seventeenth Street, New York City,
on August 7, 1876, and his home life has ever

been associated with that section of the metro
polis having Stuyvesant Square as its heart. In
this historic and picturesque region of the great
city his ancestors for generations were merchants
and property owners. On both sides he is of
German descent, tracing his German ancestry
back to four generations. His parents (both
living), are Charles A., born at New York, Octo
ber 19, 1845, and Henrietta (Falkenmayer)
Schneider, born at New York, July 21, 1852.
His father was the inventor and manufacturer
of felt wick. The grandfather of the subject of
this sketch was of old German stock and was
known as "Traugott Lebreght Schneider" (Trust
worthy Livelong Schneider). He was born in
Saxony, Germany, October 4, 1809. When he
settled in New York City, he established the
largest hat manufacturing plant at that time, at
No. 436 East Seventeenth Street. During the
war he made military hats for the troops of New
York. Mr. Schneider was united in marriage to
Miss Henrietta Hartmann, who was born at
Kanton Bern, Switzerland, November 13, 1818
and died June 24, 1897. At the time of Mr.
Schneider's death, April 17, 1874, New York
City turned out in force to honor his memory.
He was affiliated with the Free Masons, No. 82
and the Odd Fellows. Both bodies were strongly
represented at this funeral, one of the largest ever
held in the city. On the maternal side, the
parents were of the same German stock of
good standing. The father, Ferdinand Falken
mayer, was born in 1816 at Langewinkel Duke
dom, Nassau, Germany, and for many years was
Director (Mayor) of Saline, Theodorsalle Kre-
winach, Germany, where he met and married
Nannette Egert, born at Saline, Germany, Octo
ber 18, 1822 and died September 30, 1889. When
Mr. Falkenmayer settled in New York he es
tablished a cabinet factory before the war at No.
175 Suffolk Street. At the conclusion of the
war, he opened a factory on Nineteenth Street,
between Avenue A and First Avenue. Through
out the campaign he served as first-sergeant,
41st Regiment, N.Y. Company K, and received
his discharge papers June 16, 1862. He died Au
gust 23, 1873, in his fifty-seventh year, in New
^York City. The educational training of the
subject of this review was received at Grammar
School No. 19, in East Fourteenth Street from
which he graduated at fourteen years of age,
later attending the Packard Business College.
He also attended the Thirtieth Street Evening
High School. While attending Public School,
he took a course at the German Turn Verein,
located in East Fourth Street and there he stud
ied the German language and other subjects. He

SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS 313

concluded his educational course by attending
the ornamental drawing class at Cooper Union.
He received a diploma from this institution and
honorable mention for the Advancement of
Science and Art in Ornamental Drawing, Term
of 1892, 1893, and 1894. His business career had
its conception in the employ of Tiffany and Com
pany, at that time located in Union Square,
where he received a weekly salary of one dollar
and fifty cents while learning the gold and sil
versmith's trade at the factory in Prince Street,
and in their various departments he obtained a
knowledge of men and of human nature that
was later of great value to him in his chosen
profession. He received a diploma from Tiffany
and Company as an apprentice for gold and sil
versmith work covering four years and six
months, dated August 8, 1896. In 1900 he as
sociated himself as an investigator with the late
Detective Sergeant Charles Heidelberg and short
ly thereafter he established himself independently,
founding the Commercial Detective Bureau at
No. 206 Broadway. The success of this insti
tution was immediate, its growth in scope and
importance rapid, and three years later it was
occupying its present admirable quarters in the
Lords Court Building at No. 27 William Street,
On the twenty-fifth of April. 1908, Mr. Schnei
der was married at St. George's Church, in
Stuyvesant Square, to Miss Adeline M. King,
who was born in Norwich, N.Y. Their home is
in the Gramercy Court Apartments at Xo. 152
East Twenty-second Street. He is a member
of St. George's Church and of the St. George's
Men's Club and was one of the charter members
of the Columbia Athletic Club. He is promi
nent in the councils of the Republican party, and
in 1905 was inspector of election for the Third
Election District of the Eighteenth Assembly
District, and this year was made a member of
the Twelfth Assembly District Committee. In
the business men's parade, previous to the last
National election, he was one of the personal
aids of Edward A. Drake, president of the Busi
ness Men's Republican Association, and as a
member of the Secret Service was also ap
pointed one of the guards to the present Vice-
President of the United States, and has received
letters from Vice-President Sherman thanking
him for his many courtesies extended upon that
occasion. Mr. Schneider is a hard working, ac
tive member of the executive committee of the
Business Men's Republican Association. Mr.
Schneider is the chief factor in the important
part now played by the detective in Wall Street
affairs. Of the life of that famous financial
region he has become a vital and a permanent

part. For this particular work Air. Schneider
has organized a special department and has as
signed to it his keenest and best trained men.
His "operatives" practically control the high
est grade work of the Wall Street district, in
cluding that of the great corporation lawyers.
He and his expert "shadows" have had their
genius, knowledge and experience drawn upon in-
connection with almost all the great corporate
creations, consolidations, railroad or industrial
mergers. The entrance of the detective into
present day financial affairs is a matter of com
paratively recent occurrence, but Mr. Schneider
has already firmly established himself as the
leader of this new feature in the business af
fairs of men who deal in millions as the aver
age mortal deals in modest dollars and cents.
He has surrounded himself by operatives to
whom he has imparted his own clearheadedness,
patience and persistence and these men he has
divided into groups, each of which has been de
veloped along special lines. But, of course, the
financial world is but one of many with which
Mr. Schneider is thoroughly in touch. Civil,
legal and commercial investigations are handled
in a masterly manner by his Bureau. It shadows
known criminals, it reveals the habits of those
suspected. The Commercial Protective Patrol,
which is a branch of the Bureau, safeguards
property by the service of private watchmen, and
it even supplies guides and companions for the
stranger in New York. Its value in the crush
at a public ceremony, a fashionable wedding or
the funeral of an eminent citizen is, perhaps,
little known, but it is inestimable, for its opera
tives know by sight every one of importance in
financial, business, professional and social circles
as well as all the dangerous elements in the un
der-world of a great city. Mr. Schneider is a
power in a profession that has become a neces
sity to modern life. He carries on his extensive
business by making the first appointment with
a client by letter only. This he has found more
satisfactory than the telephone or personal call.
Mr. Schneider's first dollar was earned selling
newspapers. Then he pumped the organ in St.
Mark's Church every Sunday for fifty cents,
and made a little extra money running errands
for the neighbors. He also assisted in his fa
ther's wick factory during the leisure moments
of his public school days.

FERDINAND THUN, manufacturer, was
born in Barmen, Rhenish Prussia, Germany, Feb
ruary 14, 1866. Here he received a good educa
tion at the Industrial High School and entered a
business career in 1883, devoting his time and

314 SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS

attention to the various lines of textile manu
facturing for which the city of Barmen is fam
ous. In September, 1886, he came to the United
States and located near Reading, Pa., working
for several years in the office of the Stony Creek
Woolen Mills, the senior partner of which, Mr.
Louis Kraemer, was a boyhood friend of his
father's in Germany. From 1888 to 1889 he spent
his time in his native city, in order to equip him
self more thoroughly in the practical knowledge
of the textile trade. Coming back to America,
he occupied a position as superintendent of one
of the leading braid manufacturing establish
ments in New York City, until, in 1892, he de
cided to engage in business for himself and to
locate in Reading. With Henry Janssen, who
was an expert machinist, also from Barmen, he
established the firm of Thun & Janssen and en
gaged in the manufacture of braiding machines.
This business was afterward incorporated as
the Textile Machine Works, and is now located
in Wyomissing, a suburb of Reading, and has
grown to be one of the important industries of
that community. Mr. Thun is also president of
the Berkshire Knitting Mills, which he was in
strumental in organizing, and treasurer of The
Narrow Fabric Company. All of these three
concerns are located in Wyomissing, and em
ploy together over 800 hands. Mr. Thun is a
member of the Reading Board of Trade, Ameri
can Manufacturers' Association, The Hosiery
Manufacturers' Association and the Braid Manu
facturers' Association. He is also a member of
The American Academy of Political and Social
Science, and is interested in all questions of
political and social economy. Formerly president
of the Reading branch of the German-Ameri
can Alliance, he was one of the charter mem
bers of this association and was one of the dele
gates at the organization meeting in Philadelphia.
In politics, he is a Republican and holds the of
fice of President of the Borough of Wyomissing.
He is a member of the German Lutheran Church.
On May 20, 1896, he married Miss Anna M.
Grebe. Six children have been born, viz., Anna,
Margaret, Wilma, Hildegarde, Ferdinand, Jr.,
and Louis R.

HENRY K. JANSSEN, manufacturer, presi
dent of the Textile Machinery Works, vice-presi
dent of Berkshire Knitting Mills and vice-presi
dent of Narrow Fabric Company, of Reading,
Pa., was born at Barmen, Rhine Province. Ger
many, February 8, 1866, where he was educated
in the public schools. Imbued with a desire to see
the world, he came to America, and in 1892 lo
cated at Reading, Pa., where, he, with Ferdinand

Thun, became engaged in the machine business
and later in various other lines of industries,
which to-day are among the most important in
the list of Reading manufacturing concerns, and
which furnish employment to an army of wage
earners. Mr. Janssen, like his associate in busi
ness, is a self-made man. He is a strong sup
porter of the principles as interpreted by the
Republican party, and is a member of the Board
of Councilmen of the Borough of Wyomissing,
Pa. He with his family worship at the Ger
man Lutheran Church. He was joined in wed
lock September 27, 1890, to Miss Minnie. Raeker.
Three children, Harry, Minnie and Helen were
born to the union.

MAX DAVID STEUER was born in Homono,
Austria, in September, 1871, and was brought bv
his parents to this city when not quite seven years
of age. Here he entered Grammar School No.
22, and upon the family's removal to another part
of the city he continued his studies at Grammar
School No. 15. From the latter he was gradu
ated in 1885. Immediately thereafter he matricu
lated at the College of the City of New York,
which has recently moved into its superb new
home, deserting the old-time building on Twenty -
third Street. During his sophomore year Mr.
Steuer's family met with reverses. Giving up his
scholastic career, he entered the general post-
office and for two years and two months was
connected with the foreign mail department. At
the end of that period he tendered his resigna
tion to the Hon. Cornelius Van Cott, the post
master, who in response, wrote him a letter ex
pressing regret at the severance of his association
with the service and the hope that he would have
a useful and successful life. That hope has been
amply fulfilled. On the day of his resignation
he entered the Columbia Law School and was
graduated therefrom in June, 1893, being one of
the prize men of his class. Upon his admission
to the bar he entered upon a legal career that has
been conspicuously brilliant in both honor and
financial returns. He has frequently been mentioned
for Judge of the Supreme Court and District
Attorney of New York County. His ambition,
however, is not in either direction. He is con
tent with his large practice and an ample compe
tence. Mr. Steuer is married. His bride was
Miss Bertha Popkin. They have three children,
A. Seth, Ethel and Constance. Their city resi
dence is at 55 West Eighty-eighth Street, and
they also have a country home on Read Lane at
Far Rockaway. Mr. Steuer is a member of the
noted Temple Emanu-El of New York and his
name is on the rosters of the Progress, Railroad

MAX DAVID STEUER

315

ISAAC FROMME

316

SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS 317

and Tamarora clubs. He is prominently asso
ciated as member, patron or dcnor with practically
every charity in the state. From the time of his
admission to the bar he has given his time almost
entirely to civil business and it is probable that
he has tried more jury cases than any other prac
titioner at the Bar. He has been associated with
a few criminal trials, the most recent being his
defence of Raymond Hitchcock. Mr. Steuer,
whose offices are at 115 Broadway, has been from
the time he reached legal age, an American citizen.
Here, throughout practically all his career, his
work has been mainly that of a counsel — the try
ing of cases for other law firms. The leaders
of these in Xew York and throughout the nation
he has represented, have given him a professional
standing second to none.

ISAAC FROMME was born in New York
City August 4, 1854, and after being graduated
from Grammar School No. 20 in Chrystie
Street, in 1869, entered the College of the
City of New York, whence he was graduated
in 1874, with the degree of A.B. Then deter
mining on adopting the legal profession, he
entered Columbia Law School, and at the
same time served in the office of a law firm
in the city, thus acquiring at once a knowl
edge of the theoretical and practical details of
his chosen profession. He completed his
studies at Columbia in May, 1876, with the
degree of LL.B., and at once entered his pro
fession, in which, from the first day, he has
been successful. He now, after thirty-three
years of active business, enjoys a large and
lucrative practice and numbers among his
clients the largest business and mercantile
houses in the city, including large real estate
interests. Mr. Fromme was elected Register
of the County of Xew York on November 6,
1897, and assumed the duties of his office on
January 1, 1898. His predecessor was ham
pered by the Reform Administration in the
discharge of the duties of his office. When
he went into office there were 6,000 unrecorded
deeds and mortgages and 3,500 satisfaction
pieces. Mr. Fromme at once set about having
these papers recorded in a very short time,
thus enabling him to keep up with the daily
work of the office, returning papers left for
record within twenty-four hours. Register
Fromme made the office adapt itself to the
convenience of the lawyers and real estate
men who do business with it. He adopted the
system of typewriting all papers left for re
cording. As a result of his labor, Mr. Fromme
daily received congratulatory letters from dis-

tinguished lawyers and others interested in
the affairs of the Register's Office. This was
effectively voiced in an editorial in The Record
and Guide of February 5, 1898, which said:
"Real estate men and lawyers are already com
menting with satisfaction upon the adminis
tration of the new Register, Mr. Isaac Fromme.
He has in great measure reorganized the de
partment, in addition to establishing a much
higher standard of requirement for his force
than hitherto prevailed. We are able to vouch
for the fact that now, for the first time within
our knowledge of thirty years, the work of the
office is completely finished every day so that
nothing is carried over. This is a great con
venience for lawyers and others. It proves
what was stated in these columns when Mr.
Fromme was nominated that the Register's
Office can only be conducted by some one
intimately acquainted, as Mr. Fromme is, with
the requirements of the legal and real estate
professions." Mr. Fromme is one of the good
results of the late election. He established a
system whereby anyone having business with
the office could examine the records at any
hour of the day or night, Sundays and holi
days included. Mr. Fromme is the son of
Louis and Ernestine (Freudenberger) Fromme.
His father was born in Lippe-Detmold, and his
mother in Auglethurm Nah Tauberbischofs-
heim, Baden. On May 11, 1879, he married
Sophie Abraham; to them were born the fol
lowing children: Miriam, born 1881 (died
1885); Murray B., born 1884; Estelle, born
1886; Walter, born 1890; Elsie, born 1892;
Warren V., born 1897. He organized the Con
sumers' Hygiene Ice Company, Koster & Bial's
Music Hall, New York Butchers' Dressed
Meat Company; is attorney for Hugh O'Neill,
Union Square Bank, William H. Lyon & Co.,
etc. Was director of the Real Estate and
Auction Room, Limited, and its secretary for
four terms, or until the corporation was dis
solved. Member executive committee of Tam
many Hall, 1898-1901. Represented Seventh
Congressional District as delegate to the Na
tional Convention of 1900; Master of Hope
Lodge No. 244, F. & A. M., 1888, and trustee
of same for over twenty years; District Dep
uty Grand Master 1897-1898, Grand Marshal
1898-1899; Commissioner of Appeals 1900-1903;
Grand Lodge State of Xew York; member of
the four Scottish Rite bodies and the Mystic
Shrine; member of Congregation Rodeph Sho-
lom; president of Zion Lodge Independent
Order B'nai Brith; member Independent Or
der Free Sons of Israel; governor Home for

318 SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS

Aged Hebrews, Yonkers, N.Y.; member New
York County Lawyers' Association, Alumni
College of the City of New York, represent
ing class 1874 City College Club; member
Progress National Democratic Club.

AARON BUCHSBAUM was born in Wyers,
Bavaria, June 1, 1854. He was the third son of
Marem B. and Bertha Goldstein Buchsbaum. He
acquired his education at the local public school,
and at the age of thirteen years was compelled to
start out to earn his own living. When sixteen
years old he took passage for the United States
on the steamer Limcric, of the Inman Line. He
left his native country in the regular way, having
obtained a passport for the United States. Mr.
Buchsbaum selected passage on the steamer
named because it was two dollars cheaper than
any steamer that left the old country at that time.
After a three weeks' passage he landed in New
York City, his intention being to go to Cincin
nati; but he was stranded here and obliged to
seek employment. Subsequently he obtained a
position on the country estate of a prominent
dry goods man. The duties of his new employ
ment entailed the care of the cattle, horses and
other live stock and general gardening, to all of
which Mr. Buchsbaum was accustomed in the
old country. While employed in this position
Mr. Buchsbaum acquired a knowledge of Eng
lish, studying at nights after his day's hard work.
The next job he obtained was in Elizabethtown,
N.J., in a meat market. All that was required
of him was to kill cattle, sheep and other live
stock, and after this work was finished to manu
facture sausage. His duties employed his time
from three o'clock in the morning until nine
o'clock at night, and he performed most severe
work. After a great struggle Mr. Buchsbaum
came to New York with the little money he had
saved and finally opened a small meat market on
Thirty-second Street, between Ninth and Tenth
Avenues. The neighborhood was one of the
worst in the city, being part of what was known
as Hell's Kitchen. On many occasions Mr.
Buchsbaum was obliged to defend himself from
the numerous attacks of the ruffians that infested
the neighborhood, and not until he established
his reputation as a man of courage and a fighter
did these ruffians cease molesting him. On Jan
uary 21, 1877, Mr. Buchsbaum married Karoline
Strauss, a young lady twenty-one years old, who
hailed from Rothenkirgen, Kurhessen, Germany,
near the place of his birth. The property on
which Mr. Buchsbaum carried on his first busi
ness venture has since been acquired by the
Pennsylvania Railroad terminus. In 1877 Mr.

Buchsbaum started another market on Ninth Ave
nue, between Twenty-ninth and Thirtieth Streets,
and in 1879 opened another market at the corner
of Thirty-ninth Street and Ninth Avenue. This
market would have been a failure but for the
hard work, industry and well-directed efforts of
Mr. Buchsbaum, who turned it into the largest
retail meat market in New York City, being
obliged to keep open day and night. This won
derful change was accomplished by the fair deal
ings, strict integrity and conscientiousness of Mr.
Buchsbaum ; his market is a feature of the West
Side. Mr. Buchsbaum in 1885 started another
market on Ninth Avenue, between Fiftieth and
Fifty-first Streets. In the course of a few years
the business became so extensive that (in 1890)
he bought still another building one block below.
This was the start of his largest place of busi
ness, and has since grown to such proportions
that he has been obliged to acquire more build
ings. Up to the present time it is considered one
of the largest meat markets in the city. In 1903
Mr. Buchsbaum erected a handsome market, with
all up-to-date improvements, on Amsterdam Ave
nue, between Sixty-seventh and Sixty-eighth
Streets, for the purpose of catering to the retail
trade exclusively. This establishment is a model
one, containing all modern sanitary improvements,
no expense being spared in equipping same so as
to make it the model retail market it is. In 1905
Mr. Buchsbaum incorporated his business under
the name of the Aaron Buchsbaum Company,
and associated with himself his two sons, Morris
A. Buchsbaum, who is vice-president and treas
urer, and Abraham Buchsbaum, who is secretary.
In 1902 Mr. Buchsbaum, after many years of
hard labor, became affiliated with some of the
most prominent retail and wholesale butchers in
the city, and incorporated the New York Butchers'
Dressed Meat Company. This concern was com
posed of retail and wholesale butchers not con
nected with the trust. Mr. Buchsbaum insisted
that the plant be constructed with the view of
having all up-to-date sanitary improvements, and
so well did he conduct the affairs that in the
attack made by the United States Government
against the unsanitary condition of the abattoirs
throughout the United States, the New York
Butchers' Dressed Meat Company stood out so
well that President Roosevelt, in a special mes
sage to Congress, held up the New York Butchers'
Dressed Meat Company as a model abattoir for
all packing houses in the United States. The
time and energy required by Mr. Buchsbaum was
so great that it interfered with his personal busi
ness, and ne was obliged, about a year ago, to
transfer his interests in the abattoir to other

AAROX BUSCHBAUM

319

SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS 321

hands. He was obliged to, and did chiefly, shoul
der the entire financial conduct of said abattoir,
and through his efforts he, with his associates,
retired from the business with great credit. It
can be said without gainsaying that he is the
most practical meat and cattle man in the United
States, having been engaged in every stage of
the meat business from his boyhood. Being an
indefatigable worker, a man of powerful frame,
and enjoying good health, he understands all the
different ramifications of the business. An un
tiring worker, honest in all his transactions, a
man of keen business sagacity, all of which
helped him to bring himself from the direst
poverty to a most comfortable competency. Mr.
Buchsbaum was the first man who ever handled
Western dressed beef in the city of Xew York.
He was also the first man in Xew York who
recognized the good qualities of Western dressed
beef, and being the first to champion the com
modity, met with a great deal of opposition and
prejudice, all of which, however, was overcome
by his steadfastness and the confidence that the
people in the neighborhood had in his business
dealings. Mr. Buchsbaum is one of the men
who believe in progress and keeping abreast with
the times and improvements. He was the inau-
gurator of the reinforced concrete vats for cur
ing meat. Mr. Buchsbaum also appreciates the
value of real estate on Manhattan Island, and
has made large sums of money dealing in New
York City property. He maintains the opinion
that real estate values in New York City will
never go lower than what they are to-day.
There may, he thinks, be a slight recession,
but temporary only, and thereafter property
will steadily advance. He is a great lover
of nature, kind and gentle in his disposition,
devoted to his family, and very charitable
besides, not letting, in his philanthropic work,
the right hand know what the left hand doeth.
He is also connected with the following institu
tions : German Hospital and Dispensary, Lebanon
Hospital, Yorkville Dispensary and Hospital,
Mt. Sinai Hospital, Hebrew Sheltering Guardian
Society of New York (life member), Home for
Aged and Infirm Hebrews, United Hebrew Char
ities, Montefiori Home, New York Association
for Improving the Condition of the Poor, New
York Kindergarten Association, Young Men's
Hebrew Association, Chananah Lodge, Naphtali
Lodge, Congregation Shaaray Tefila. Besides,
Mr. Buchsbaum is a member of numerous asso
ciations, among them the New York Produce
Exchange and Mt. Neboh Lodge, F. & A. M.
The family of Mr. and Mrs. Buchsbaum consists
of six children, three boys and three girls, as

follows, the date of birth, marriage and issues
being given: Morris Aaron Buchsbaum, born
December 6, 1877 ; Lillian Cans Buchsbaum, born
June 10, 1879, marriage October 2, 1901; issue,
Arnold Cans Buchsbaum, born July 22, 1905;
Hannah Buchsbaum Hydeman, born November

25, 1879, marriage February 21, 1901 ; Edwin
McMasters Hydeman, born January 7, 1870;
Bertha Buchsbaum Bandler, born March 25,
1883; Professor Samuel Willis Bandler, born
July 24, 1870. marriage December 20, 1904; issue,
David Buchsbaum Bandler, born January 26,
1906; Abraham Buchsbaum, born September 6,
1884; Gertrude Bertha Kaufherr, born Novem
ber 20, 1889, engaged; Lillian Buchsbaum Korn,
born October 29, 1888, marriage February 25,
1909; Walter Cowan Korn, born February 8,
1883 ; Lawrence Manning Buchsbaum, born June

26, 1897.

PETER BARBEY, deceased, was born at
Dierbach, Canton of Bergzabern, Bavaria, No
vember 6, 1825. During his life Mr. Barbey
was engaged in the brewing business, and founded
the firm which still bears his name. At the age
of fourteen years he entered his uncle's brewery
in his native place, and after working there for
three years made the usual tour of Germany to
enlarge his knowledge of the business. He thus
spent four years, extending his practical inves
tigations into France and Switzerland. At the
age of twenty-one he returned to his Bavarian
home, subsequently serving four years as a mem
ber of a cavalry regiment. Mr. Barbey then emi
grated to America, locating at Philadelphia,
where he followed his trade for two and a half
years. There he worked in the establishments of
Dittmer & Butz and Engel & Wolf; subsequently
he removed to Reading, Pa., entering the employ
of the late Frederick Lauer. In 1859 he formed
a partnership with Abraham Paeltzer/ the firm of
Barbey & Paeltzer conducting the business for
about two years. Mr. Barbey then became sole
proprietor of the plant, and thus conducted the
business until 1880, when he admitted his son as
a partner, the style of the firm' becoming soon
afterward Peter Barbey & Son. The present
plant, at the corner of West Elm and Gordon
Streets, was erected in 1869. The founder of the
business continued to be actively engaged in it
up to the time of his death, which occurred in
Reading, Pa., on February 15, 1897. His son,
John Barbey, is now the owner of the business.
In politics, Mr. Barbey was a Democrat. He
was a member of the Lutheran Church and a
prominent member of various financial institu
tions • also a past master of Teutonia Lodge,

322 SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICA ;S AND THEIR DESCENDANTS

No. 367, F. & A. M. He married Miss Rosina
Kunz, to whom two children were born, John
Barbey being the only survivor.

JOHN WEILER was born at Essingen,
Oberant, Aalen Wurttenberg, Germany, on
April 17, 1852. He was educated in the com
mon schools of that place, and afterward at
tended the high schools of Essingen and
Stuttgart. After graduating from the high
schools, Mr. Weiler was employed in the post-
office at Stuttgart, until he came to this coun
try, in 1872. It was at this time that Mr.
Weiler entered the employment of William
Rosenthal, who was at that time the editor

JOHN WEILER

and proprietor of the Reading Post, a daily
German newspaper published in the city of
Reading, Pa. He entered the employ of Mr.
Rosenthal as a collector. Then he became a
reporter, afterward editor, and finally, after
twenty-five years, in which time Mr. Weiler
made plain that he was not only a man of
high education, but also of ability and ambi
tion, he became the general manager, and had
general supervision over the entire establish
ment. In June, 1908, Mr. Weiler purchased
from William Rosenthal the entire Reading
Post Printing House, which consists of the
following : The Reading Post, one of the few
daily German newspapers of inland towns of
the country, which was established in 1868,
came into the hands of Mr. Weiler when he

made the purchase, and the following an
nouncement has appeared at the head of its
first column for many years : "The Reading
Post is the oldest German daily newspaper in
the State of Pennsylvania, outside of Philadel
phia and Pittsburg. Its circulation extends to
all classes of the German population, by whom
it is regarded as the acknowledged public
medium of communication." The Biene (The
Bee) is a German weekly paper, published by
the Reading Post Printing House for over
thirty years. The Bicne has been very busy
collecting entertaining and instructive reading
matter for the numerous subscribers, and for
the past five years the paper has been enlarged
to a sixteen-sheet publication. There is also
a large paper published in the interest of the
German Order of Harngari, entitled The
Deutsche Eiche, which has a very fair number
of subscribers. The paper is published weekly
by Mr. Weiler, and has been before the Order
of Harngari since 1870. There is, as well, a
job printing department connected with the
business, which does a considerable amount of
work. This department has had the honor and
distinction of holding the contract for the
printing of the City of Reading for a period of
over fifteen consecutive years. Mr. Weiler has
been a resident of the city of Reading for over
thirty-five years, and is a member of all the
German societies of this city, as well as a past
master of Teutonia Lodge, No. 367, F. & A. M. ;
also a member of St. John Lutheran Church.
On December 20, 1873, Mr. Weiler took for his
wife Louise Hansen, and this union was blessed
with eight children, of which three sons sur
vive. Mrs. Weiler died in November, 1907, and
left the following sons: Philip A. Weiler, who
is proprietor of the Keystone Electric Co.,
located in this city; George F., an electrical
engineer of high standing, and Harry H., who
is connected with his father in the field of
newspaperdom and will in future years, no
doubt, continue The Reading Post Printing
House. Mr. Weiler was also a member of the
Reading Press Club, and served several terms
as its president; also a member of the Inter
national League of Press Clubs.

ALFRED FREUNDLICH, physician, residing
at No. 120 East Seventeenth Street, New York
City, is the son of Joseph and Johanna Freund-
lich. On March 29, 1871, he was born at Gaen-
serndorf, Austria, where his preliminary edu
cation was obtained in the local public schools ;
he was graduated at the age of ten. He en
tered the Gymnasium and pursued an eight-

PETER BARBEY

323

EDWARD W. MORCH

(Deceased)

324 SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS

year course. At eighteen years of age he en
tered the Vienna University and completed a
five and a half year-course of study. He was
graduated from this latter institution at the age
of twenty-four with the degree of M.D. After
his graduation he served a half year in the
army, and a half year as a practicing physician.
He served as an interne at the Imperial and
Royal General Hospital in Vienna for four years.
Dr. Freundlich came to New York City in 1900,
locating at No. 197 Second Avenue. He re
turned to Austria in 1901 on account of his
wife being ill. He returned to New York City
during the latter part of that year and resumed
the practice of medicine. His has been a rapid
success owing to his thorough knowledge of
the profession. He has lectured extensively up
on diseases among workingmen and much good
has been derived from his lectures. Dr. Freund
lich became a citizen of the United States in
1906, and has since been affiliated with the Soc
ialist Party. He is a member of the Verein
Dutcher Alter, the East Side Physicians' As
sociation, the Socialist Party, and an ex-mem
ber of the Mount Sinai Hospital, New York
City. On May 20, 1897, he married Miss Ste-
fanie Geiringer of Bruenn, Austria. One child,
Pauline, has blessed the union.

WILLIAM BALSER, a retired physician, and
residing at 224 East Fifteenth Street, New York
City, was born at Deidesheim, Palatinate of Ba
varia, Germany, on November 21, 1837. When
he was very young his parents moved to Neu-
stadt, where he attended school until he came
with his parents to the United States, in 1847,
and settled at New York City. Here he attended
a public school (old No. 36 in East Ninth Street),
and then helped his father, who was a physician
and druggist, in his drug store ; when old enough,
he started to study medicine. A three year
course at the New York Medical College, from
which he received his degree of M.D., fitted him
thoroughly for that profession. In 1861, after
closing the drug store at the call for volunteers,
he joined the Twenty-ninth New York Volunteer
Regiment, and up to 1863 saw active service in
all the important engagements of the war. He
was taken prisoner on May 4, 1863. From 1863
to 1866 he was assistant-surgeon at Hilton Head
in the United States General Hospital. He saw
active service at Chancellorsville, and took part
in the two battles at Bull Run. Upon his retire
ment from the Army at the close of the war in
1866, he returned to New York City, where he
resumed the practice of medicine. His has been
an active career; during his long professional

services in New York his work, always of a most
conscientious nature, has left a lasting impression.
The friends he has made are legion in numbers
and to-day he is enjoying a quiet and peaceful
life with his wife and daughters. Dr. Balser has
given much of his time to many of the medical
societies throughout the city. To-day he is iden
tified with the German Medical Society, Academy
of Medicine, County Medical Society, and the
German Hospital. Mr. Balser has been a member
of Koltes Post No. 32 G.A.R. since 1867, as well
as Post Surgeon since that year. For twenty-one
years he was secretary of the Board of Phar-

WILLIAM BALSER

macy of New York City, and up to the time the
board was dissolved. He is a life member of the
College of Pharmacy and an honorary member
of the German Apothecaries' Society of New
York. He has been a member of the German
Hospital and Dispensary for over thirty-five
years ; is an honorary member of the Dispensary
now, and visiting physician. He was a member
of the board of trustees of that institution for
a^number of years, also secretary of that body.
Dr. Balser is a mason, being a member of Polar
Star Lodge No. 245. He is also a member of
the German Liederkranz, and a worshipper at
the German Lutheran Church. He is identified
with the Carl Schurz Memorial Society. On June
30, 1863, he was united in marriage to Miss
Louisa Klein. Two daughters blessed the union,
namely. Anna, who is unmarried, and Elise, now

JACOB KAUFMANN, M.D.

325

FREDERICK RKXKEX

326

OF

SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS 327

Mrs. Oscar Goldmann, of Xew York City. In
politics, Dr. Balser is a staunch Republican, both
local and national.

FREDERICK REXKEX, merchant, a son of
Wilhelm and Caroline Renken, was born at
Bremerhaven, Germany, April 4, 1857, being
descended from a family with old and honor
able traditions, some of whose members were
a minister, a physician and a land-owner. His
father, whose birthplace was Friesland, ab
solved with honors the Gymnasium at Aurich
and when a young man came to Bremerhaven,
soon after it had been founded. He grew up
with the city and in time became a well-to-do
merchant and ship owner, was also Director
of the Bremer Bank Verein of Bremen. His
knowledge of mercantile affairs was extraordi
nary, he also was quite a linguist and gen
erally a man of wide acnnaintance and much
influence. He died in 1894 at the advanced
age of eighty-two years. Frederick Renken,
the subject of this sketch, received a splen
did education, first at the high school, from
which he was graduated at the age of eighteen,
and subsequently he was placed under private tu
tors. He entered the service of a large forward
ing firm at Bremen, with whom he remained fully
three years, after which he absolved his year in
the army as volunteer, at the end of which term
he qualified for further promotion to the rank
of an officer of the reserve. At the age of twen
ty-two he came to America, well equipped with
funds and an excellent education ; he was imme
diately engaged by the well-known shipping firm
of Theodore Ruger & Co., at New York City,
with whom he remained for five years. After
spending one year at Philadelphia in the capacity
of agent and branch manager of this firm, Mr.
Renken took a well-earned vacation of four
months, visiting his old home in Germany. On
his return to America he was reengaged by his
firm with whom he remained for another year,
resigning to accept a more advantageous offer
from the great champagne and wine importing
house of Frederick de Bary & Co.. of Xo. 60
Warren Street, Xew York City. After a con
nection of five years he was given power of at
torney by the firm and later became the junior
partner. Since January 1, 1910, Mr. Renken is the
only resident partner, having exclusive control
of the business for the United States and Cana
da. The house is now one of the largest of its
kind and is known throughout the civilized world.
Mr. Renken is a man independent in politics ;
he has never sought or desired political office, his
entire time and interest being devoted to his busi

ness and its further development if such is pos
sible. He is a man of retiring disposition, a hard
worker as well as a typical German of fine man
ner and education; he has a legion of friends.
On April 17, 1894, he married Miss Lillie Ruger
of Brooklyn. They have two children, Hilda,
aged fifteen, and Carla, aged twelve years. Mr.
Renken resides at Xo. 307 Sterling Place, one of
the most exclusive sections of Brooklyn. He is
a member of the Montauk Club, Brooklyn Ger-
mania. Kings County Democratic Club, the
Brooklyn Democratic Club, also the Deutscher
Verein, Germanistic Society, Liederkranz Soci
ety, the German Society and the German Hos
pital of Xew York City.

JACOB KAUFMAXX, specialist, residing at
Xo. 52 East Fifty-eighth Street, Xew York City,
was born at Cologne, Germany, on May 30,
1860. The subject of this sketch received a care
ful education at the German primary schools and
at the Gymnasium in Cologne. In 1880 he en
tered the University of Bonn, where he began his
first studies in medicine, following higher courses
at the Universities of Wurtzburg and Strass
burg, and from the last-named University received
his degree of M.D. in 1885. After spending several
months as an assistant of Dr. Dettweiler in his
Tuberculosis Sanatorium at Falkenstein, he re
turned to Cologne for the summer to serve the
first portion of his military service. In the fall
of 1885 he entered the University Clinic of the
late Professor Adolph Kussmaul at Strassburg,
where he worked as an assistant and later as
first assistant from 1885 to 1888. He was also
during the same time assistant to Professor Kuhn
at the University Clinic for the diseases of the
ear. In April, 1888, Dr. Kaufmann reported at
Berlin for the second portion of his military
service. During this period he filled the position
of surgeon in the Second Artillery Regiment of
the Guard, three months of which time he was at
tached to the surgical wards of the Military Hos
pital. The following winter (1888-'89) was devo
ted to post-graduate courses in medicine at Berlin,
and after spending again six weeks' military service
at Strassburg, followed by promotion as military
surgeon, he then made his home at Berlin, where
he was engaged in private practise, being also con
nected with various dispensaries and laboratories
and at the same time chief of a dispensary for
gastro-intestinal diseases. Impressions gained on
visiting America in 1893 are the cause of his
decision to locate in X'ew York. Once more
returning to Strassburg, he passed three months
devoted to scientific work specializing on the
stomach in the laboratory of Professor Xaunyn,

328 SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS

and then sailed for New York City, arriving
there December 21, 1894. After passing the
state medical examinations the following Febru
ary, he began his practise in New York as inter
nist with special reference to diseases of nu
trition. From the beginning he has been con
nected with the German Hospital and Dispensary,
first as attending physician of the dispensary for
internal diseases, and later (1903) to the present
time, attending physician to the hospital. Dr.
Kaufmann is a recognized, high authority on
diseases of the digestive organs and on diseases
of nutrition in general. He has contributed to
medical literature a large number of important
papers, among which might be mentioned :

1885 — "Bosartige, Allgemeine, Neurotische Der
matitis."

1886 — "Ein Fall von gekreutzter centraler
Taubheit."

1888 — Ueber die Einwirkung Priessnitz' scher
Einwickelungen auf den Blutdruck bei crou-
poser Pneumonic und bei diffuser Nephritis."

1890 — "Zwei Falle geheilter pernicioser Anamie,
nebst Bemerkungen zur Diagnose und Therapie
dieser Krankheit."

1891 — "Die Behandlung der Tuberculose in-
nerer Organe nach Koch."

1895 — "Beitrag zur Bacteriologie der Magen-
gahrungen."

1895 — "Ueber den diagnostischen Werth der
Kothuntersuchung."

1896 — "Motor Disturbances of the Stomach."

1901 — "Zur Frage des Magensaftflusses und der
Krampfzustande bei chronischem Magengesch-
wiir."

1902— Adolph Kussmaul.

1903 — "Gallstones and Gastric Hyperacidity."

1903 — "Zur Frage der quantitative!! Pepsinbes-
timmung nach Mette."

1904 — "Remarks on Gastrosuccorrhea and Te
tanic Attacks occurring with Chronic Ulcer of the
Stomach." (Also published in German.)

1905 — "Case of Peptic Ulcer after Gastro-En-
terostomy Causing Gastrocolic and Jejune-colic
Fistulae, and of Spontaneous Closure of Gastro-
Enteroanastomosis." (Also published in the
German language.)

1905 — "The so-called Atypical Forms of Gastric
Ulcer."

1905 — "Diagnosis of Gall-Stones Diseases."

1907 — "Diagnose der Dickdarmcarcinome."

1907 — "Zur Diagnose der Basedowschen Krank
heit."

1907 — "Gastrointestinal Disturbances in Influen
za."

1908 — "Lack of Gastric Mucus (Amyxorrhoea

Gastrica) and its relation to Hyperacidity and
Gastric Ulcer." (Also published in German.)

1908 — "Wie lange kann bei Verdacht auf Ileus
mit der Operation gewartet werden ?"

1909 — "Diagnose des chronischen Magengesch-
wuers."

1909 — "Chronische Appendizitis."

1909 — "Zur Behandlung der Blutungen beim
Chronischen Magengeschwuer." (Also published
in English.)

1909 — "Gastro-intestinal Auto-intoxication."
Dr. Kaufmann is a member of the New York
State Medical Society; American Medical Asso
ciation, American Gastro-Enterological Associa
tion, the New York Academy of Medicine, the
Harvey Society, Greater New York Medical As
sociation, German Medical Society, Society of
German Physicians, Eastern Medical Society,
American Association for the Advancement of
Science. In July, 1909, he became associate in
Columbia University in Clinical Medicine, and on
November first of that year he was made pro
fessor of clinical medicine. In the social walks
of life Dr. Kaufmann's friends are legion in
numbers. There are few men in New York who
are more widely and favorably known. Clear
headed as a physician, he has the friendship of
the better members of his profession. He is a
member of the Liederkranz Singing Society and
of the German Society of New York. Dr.
Kaufmann is unmarried. He usually spends his
summer vacations in Europe.

CARL FRITZ H. F. STURHAHN, manager
and general attorney in the United States of
America for the Rossia Insurance Co., of St.
Petersburg, and the Prussian Life Insurance Co.,
of Berlin, Germany, with offices at No. 84 Will
iam Street, New York City, was born in Han
over, Germany, January 25, 1870, being the son
of Carl August and Cathinka (Giitersloh) Stur-
hahn of Hanovarian and Welf ancestry. The
family name in Hanover is Sturhahn von Baren-
kempen. The subject of this sketch received a
careful collegiate education in Germany. Im
mediately after his graduation he entered the in
surance business, which he made a practical study
of under the excellent supervision of his father,
who had mastered all the intricate details. After
having been connected with foreign insurance
companies at Berlin, Hamburg and London, Mr.
Sturhahn came to America, locating at New York
City, where he is now the head of the two com
panies mentioned in the foregoing of this sketch.
In the insurance world Mr. Sturhahn is regarded
as one of the highest authorities as well as one
who has mastered every detail connected there-

SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS 329

with either to a great or minor degree. He is a
member of the Lawyers' Club, the Deutscher
Verein, Liederkranz Society, the Downtown As
sociation, Wykagyl Country Club, Scarsdale Golf
Club, all of New York, and the Union League
Club of Chicago. Mr. Sturhahn's marriage to
Miss Maie Xunes Carvalho of New York City oc
curred in 1901 ; two sons have been born to the
union, Herbert Carl and Edward Marshall Stur-
hahn.

OTTO MAIER, Ph.G., M.D., was born on
November 3, 1865, at Boettingen, Kingdom of
Wurtemburg, Germany, being a son of Carl and
Henrietta (Wiedershaim) Maier, his father being
a clergyman of eminence. Otto Maier, the sub-

OTTO MAIER, PH.G., M.D.

ject of this sketch, received his primary educa
tion at a public school in his place of nativity,
and later he was placed under private tutorship
for the study of Latin. After completing his
course in the latter he came to America, locating
at New York City, where he has resided ever
since. After arriving in New York he took up
pharmaceutical studies, entering the New York
College of Pharmacy, from whence he was grad
uated in 1885 with the degree of Ph.G. For ten
years he was engaged in the drug business. Dur
ing this period he decided to become a physician.
In 1888 he entered Bellevue Hospital Medical
College (now a part of New York University)
and in 1891 he received his degree of M.D. The
following three years he was assistant attending

physician in the outdoor department of Bellevue
Hospital. He was for four years connected with
the New York Board of Health as medical sani
tary inspector. Since 1898 Dr. Maier has been
instructor in diseases of children at New York
Post Graduate Medical School and Hospital. He
is attending gynecologist to St. Mark's Hospital
and physician to Throat, Nose and Lung Hos
pital. He is a member of the American, New
York State and New York County Medical As
sociations : the German and New York County
Medical Societies; also a member of the Sanitary
and Moral Phrophylaxis Society, Eastern Medi
cal Society of Medical Jurisprudence and of the
Physicians' Mutual Aid Association of New York.
On October 26, 1898, Dr. Maier married Miss Di
ana Caille, to whom two children have been born,
Dorothy and Herbert. Dr. Maier resides at No.
104 West Eighty-sixth Street, one of the most
exclusive sections in New York City. He also
maintains an office at No. 212 East Eighteenth
Street. Dr. Maier is a man of conservative views
and one whose opinions are held in high repute
by his fellow practitioners.

CARL F. KREMER, physician, was born in
Westphalia, Germany, July 21, 1841, being a son
of Christian and Elizabeth (von Dersoh) Kremer.

CARL F. KREMER, M.D.

His father was a widely known economist, and a
musical director of note. The ancestors of his
family came from Hessen to Westphalia which
has been the family seat for the past century.

330 SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS

The subject of this sketch obtained his education
in the primary schools of his native place, after
which he entered the Gymnasium at Brilon and
Arnsberg. His final course was at the Univer
sity of Bonn and Greifswald from which he was
graduated with honors. After completing his
education, the first occupation he followed was
that of choleraarzt, in Pommern in 1866. In 1867
he came to America locating at New York City
where he ever since has been engaged in the
practice of medicine. Dr. Kremer has been visit
ing physician to the German Hospital since 1881.
He has for many years been a member of the
Liederkranz German Singing Society of New
York. Dr. Kremer has twice been married. His
first wife died in 1905. In 1907 he again mar
ried; he has no children. As a practitioner of
medicine, a promoter of charitable and benevo
lent causes. Dr. Kremer stands high in the es
teem of the people.

RUDOLF EICKEMEYER, inventor and manu
facturer, was born on October 18, 1831. at Alten-
bamberg in the Rhenish Palatinate. His father
was an official in the forestry department and the
son received his first education in the village school
of his birthplace. The boy's intelligent and active
mind induced the father to send him to the Real-
schule in Kaiserslautern, and later to the Poly-
technical Institute at Darmstadt. Here he devel
oped a decided inclination for the study of engi
neering and its branches and was counted among
the best students, but his school career was cut
short when the revolution broke out in 1848. To
gether with his school friend Georg Osterheld,
young Eickemeyer joined the revolutionists and
fought under General Franz Sigel and August
Willich in the Palatinate and Baden. The two
friends were finally captured but were pardoned
on account of their youth. They decided, how
ever, to leave the fatherland after their hopes for
its political regeneration had been shattered, and
to seek a home in the country where liberty was
no idle dream. Arriving in New York, young
Eickemeyer found work on the Erie Railroad,
then under construction. In 1851 he went to Buf
falo and secured employment with the Buffalo
Steam Engine Works, a concern which produced
the first mowing machines made in the state of
New York. These were really years of hard and
earnest study for Mr. Eickemeyer, who made
use of his time to acquire a knowledge of ma
chinery and American methods of making it. In
1854 he had saved sufficient money to establish,
together with his friend Osterheld, a repair shop
at Yonkers, N.Y., where they soon had a large
clientele among the many hat factories and other

manufacturing establishments. But promising as
this field was, it did not satisfy Mr. Eickemeyer's
ambition and genius. He soon began constructing
machines to replace hand labor, and succeeded.
His inventive genius revolutionized the whole hat
industry and made his firm famous throughout
the world. Their hat making machines were used
everywhere in America and even exported to Eu
rope, Australia and South America. Mr. Eicke
meyer's active mind was, however, always search
ing for new fields. He invented a driving mech
anism for mowing machines of such superiority
that thousands of these machines were sold all
over the world. When the first steps were taken
to use electricity as power, he studied the problem
and perfected a dynamo that was one of the first
to practically answer all requirements. In addi
tion, he constructed motors for elevators and
street cars which brought him deserved recogni
tion as one of the foremost of our country's elec
trical engineers, and abundant financial reward.
While busy with his inventions and the manage
ment of his constantly increasing business inter
ests, Mr. Eickemeyer devoted much time to pub
lic matters. For nearly thirty years he was a
member of the Board of Education of Yonkers,
and many improvements in the management of
the schools were due to his initiative. He also
served as a member and president of the Board
of Water Commissioners, and as a member of the
Board of Health. He was also a Director in the
First National Bank. He never lost interest in
the efforts of his countrymen who endeavored to
preserve German customs in their new country,
and was an active member of the Yonkers Teu-
tonia for many years. He married, in 1856, Miss
Mary T. Tarbell of Dover, Me. Six children,
were the result of the union. Mr. Eickemeyer died
on January 27, 1905, at Washington, D.C., while
on his way South to spend the winter. The many
testimonials from scientific, political and other
associations as well as by individuals prove the
high esteem in which he was held, and the promi
nent position he had attained in the land which he
entered with nothing but intelligence, sterling hon
esty, untiring industry and a determination to be
of value in the community in which he lived.

F. W. R. ESCHMANN, manufacturing chem
ist, son of F. W. and Marion Eschmann, was
born on May 27, 1854, at Buckeburg, Principality
of Schaumburg-Lippe, Germany. The family
originated in Switzerland, but emigrated to Ger
many many years ago, the father of the subject
now living a retired merchant in Hanover. In
his boyhood days the subject of this sketch at
tended the common schools of his native place

from the

. tra'.i ly Riuloif Eickcineyer, 7r,
RUDOLF EICKEMEYER

331

Photo, by Davis &• Eickemeyer, New Vo
F. W. R. ESCHMANX

332

EMIL LOEB

333

334

Of

SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AXD THEIR DESCENDANTS 335

until the age of fourteen. He then entered the
gymnasium and at the age of seventeen he was
graduated therefrom. Possessing unusual grit,
assurance and stamina for one of his years, he
alone, immediately emigrated to America with
only enough funds to carry him hence. He loca
ted at Washington, Mo., where he obtained a
position in a drug store. It was then he began
to map a course for his future ; his leisure mo
ments were devoted to close application and study
in mastering the details connected with that busi
ness. At the age of twenty, and after a service
of three years spent in the drug store at Wash
ington, he went to Louisville, Ky., whe.e he took
the state board pharmaceutical examinations,
which he successfully passed, receiving a very
high percentage. Obtaining a position as regis
tered pharmacist in a drug store at Louisville,
four months were spent when his first real op
portunity presented itself; he was offered a po
sition by the late Emil Scheffer ("a Forty-eight-
er"), who at that time was one of the leading
chemists of the country. Still in pursuit of
knowledge, Mr. Eschmann took up the study of
botany, which he added to his curriculum. So
quickly did he master this science, that on occa
sions when Dr. Scheffer visited Europe, he was
in position to take the latter's place, giving in
struction to classes devoted to that study. Mr.
Eschmann remained with Dr. Scheffer from
April 1, 1875, to November, 1879. During this
entire period, he took only one vacation, occa
sioned by taking a trip to Europe to visit his
parents, with whom he remained for five months.
In 1879 he severed his pleasant business relations
with his employer and friend to accept a position
at Xew York City with the New York Pharma-
cal Association, of which he is to-day the execu
tive head. During the past thirty years of his
connection with this company, Mr. Eschmann has
worked unceasingly to develop its growth. In
1896 he was elected treasurer. In 1890 helped
to organize the Arlington Chemical Co., and in
1895 the Palisade Manufacturing Co., both of
which he is also the president. The three con
cerns are under his immediate supervision at
Yonkers, where they have extensive laboratories
and where the products are manufactured for
the markets of the world; the most important
output being Phosphagon, Hemaboloids and Bo-
rolyptol, Mr. Eschmann's own compounds.
Owing to the constant drain upon his time in con
nection with his large business interests, Mr.
Eschmann has but little leisure to devote to social
matters and finds it impossible to keep up club
memberships, many of which he is an ex-member.
His favorite pastime and game is golf, in which

he enjoys the reputation of being somewhat of
an expert. He contributes liberally to charity
and hospital work and is chairman of the execu
tive committee of St. John's Riverside Hospital.
He is also chairman of the executive committee
and vice-president of the Tuberculosis Hospital
at Yonkers, of which he was one of the incor-
porators. He is chairman of the Sanitary League
of Yonkers; is one of the governors of the
Yonkers Choral Society ; a member and governor
of the Saegkill Golf Club; and of the First
Presbyterian Church of Yonkers. He is also
greatly interested in settlement work, as well as
that of botanical research, the latter he soon ex
pects to resume. On April 11, 1883, Mr. Esch
mann was joined in holy wedlock to Miss Beline
Engelhard of Kentucky ; two children have been
born to the union, a daughter, now Mrs. William
Cowley Russell, Jr., of Xew York City, and a
son, Edgar A., now a student at Hobart, who is
shaping his future course toward a journalistic
career. Mr. Eschmann has recently sold his pala
tial residence overlooking the Hudson at Yon
kers and is temporarily residing at Xew York
City. He anticipates in the near future to again
take up his permanent residence at Yonkers,
where his large interests are located.

FERDIXAXD S. M. BLUX, importer and ex
porter, son of Michael Moses Blun, was born at
Worms-en-Rhein, April 4, 1843, where the family
name figured prominently for many years. The
subject of this sketch received a good high
school education, graduating at the age of four
teen years. He began his business career in the
mercantile establishment owned and conducted
by his father and with whom he remained for
iix years. When twenty years of age, he came
to America and located in Xew York City, ob
taining a clerical position with a large commis
sion and manufacturing house just two days after
he had reached the American shore and after
eighteen months employment was admitted as a
partner of the firm. This was not due to fortuit
ous circumstances, but to his indomitable will,
perseverance and business sagacity. He is a man
of good judgment, rare executive ability and un
impeachable integrity. He is president and di
rector of the Ansonia Osborne & Cheexman Com
pany ; treasurer and director of Marble Hill Real
Estate Company; a director of R. A. Tuttle
Company ; president and director of St. Lawrence
Steel and Wire Company ; president and director
of Schnell Stay Works; treasurer and director of
the Union Fabric Company, and a director of the
Connecticut Clasp Company. The greater portion
of Mr. Blun's career has been almost entirely de-

336 SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS

voted to business and he has given little time to
outside matters that generally stimulate those of
lesser activities. He is affiliated with but one
social organization, the Freundschaft Society of
New York City. Now in his sixty-eighth year,
and in vigorous health, he is enjoying the quiet
of his home surroundings with his family. In
politics Mr. Blun is nationally a Republican but
locally, an Independent. He has never sought
any political office, having only exercised his
franchise right. On January 18, 1886, Mr. Blun
was united in marriage to Miss Rosa R. Rom-
berg, of New York City. Two children have
been born to the union, F. Melville, and Anita R.,
the former having recently graduated from
Princeton University and is now taking a textile
course in the Philadelphia Textile Art School.
His daughter is pursuing her studies under a
private tutor.

MOSES HENRY GROSSMAN, one of the
most energetic and successful practitioners at the
Bar, a marked representation of a thorough going
New Yorker, was born in New York City, Feb
ruary 18, 1873, and was educated at one of its
most famous Grammar Schools, No. 22, from
which he was graduated in 1887 as Valedictorian
of his class. When only eight years of age young
Grossman contributed, in both prose and poetry,
to Scholars' Companion and Treasure Trove, and
at the age of ten edited the only school paper
then published. He afterwards became a news
paper reporter and journalist, and engaged in
puzzleistic work, conceiving and solving puzzles,
which, at that time formed a prominent part of
newspaper work. At the age of seventeen, while
still an enthusiastic amateur journalist, he edited
a publication called The Arena before the maga
zine of that name was established ; and at that
time he was elected president of the Empire
State Amateur Press Association. At the age of
eighteen, Mr. Grossman passed examinations as
public school teacher, and taught in the Grammar
School from which he had been graduated four
years previously. In this pursuit he saved enough
money to take up the study of law, which he fol
lowed up at the University of the City of New
York, from which he was graduated in 1894,
again as Valedictorian of his class, delivering his
oration on "The Lawyer in a Republic" before
six thousand people at Carnegie Music Hall. At
this period he also joined the New York Press
Club, and later became a life member. Mr. Gross
man passed his Bar examinations before he was
graduated from the Law School, and when only
twenty-one years of age, having practised law for
but six months, was offered an appointment as

Assistant District Attorney by District Attorney
John R. Fellows, which he declined, preferring a
partnership with Honorable Frederick B. House
in the firm of House, Grossman & Vorhaus — a
law combination which was successful from the
start, and which has been engaged in many
famous cases, both civil and criminal. Although
a distinctively civil and commercial lawyer, Mr.
Grossman has tried a great many criminal cases,
and has the distinction of never having had a
conviction in any case he has ever tried alone or
as senior counsel. Mr. Grossman has been presi
dent of the A. M. Lee Literary Society; the
Whittier Debating Club ; the Addison Literary
Society ; and the Hawthorne Debating Club. He
was a member of the famous Cooper Union De
bating Club and Goldey Literary Society. He
organized the Literary League, the first congress
of literary societies. Mr. Grossman is a member
of many literary and journalistic, legal, political
and fraternal organizations, including the Na
tional Amateur Press Association ; the Empire
State Amateur Press Association ; the Amateur
Associated Press ; the Fossils ; the Eastern Puz
zlers' League ; Alumni of Grammar School No
22, New York City; Alumni of the University of
the City of New York ; the Dwight Alumni ; the
New York County Lawyers' Association ; the
American Single Tax League ; the Society of
Medical Jurisprudence ; the Seminole Club ; the
Harlem Democratic Club ; the National Democra
tic Club ; the Tammany Society ; the New York
Press Club ; the German Press Club ; the West
End Club ; the Columbia Club ; the Progress Club ;
the Freundschaft Verein (Friendship Club) ; the
Economic Club ; the Masonic Club ; the City
Athletic Club ; the Harmony Club ; the Sunrise
Club and the Lawyers' Club. Mr. Grossman is
a member of State's Rights Lodge (Indepen
dent Order of Odd Fellows) ; Justinian Lodge
(Knights of Pythias), of which he was Chancellor
Commander; Chancellor Kent Council (National
Union), of which he was Speaker; Centennial
Lodge (Free and Accepted Masons), of which
he was Master ; a thirty-second degree Mason, a
member of the Mystic Shrine (Meca Temple) ;
was formerly Past District Deputy Grand Chan
cellor and Representative to the Grand Lodge in
the Knights of Phythias, and a member of the
Uniform Rank; of Jessel Lodge (Order of B'nai
Brith) and a member of New York Lodge, Num
ber One of the Benevolent and Protective Order
of Elks. He is a director of the Yorkville Dis
pensary and Hospital, of the Young Men's
Hebrew Association, of the Kenmore Estate, and
of the First Mortgage Title and Insurance Com
pany of New Jersey. He is prominent in chari-

SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS 339

table and philanthropic organizations of every
creed and denomination, taking a particularly ac
tive interest as member or director in Mount
Sinai Hospital, Beth Israel Hospital, Yorkville
Dispensary and Hospital, Philanthropic Hospital,
Lawyers Auxiliary of Hospital Association, Mon-
tefiore Home, the Home for Aged and Infirm
Hebrews, the Hebrew Orphan Asylum, the He
brew Sheltering Guardian Society, the Young
Men's Hebrew Association, the United Hebrew
Charities, the Hebrew Technical School for Girls,
the Educational Alliance, the Jewish Protectory
Association, the Jewish Publication Society of
America, the Brightside Nursery, the Jacob Riis
Settlement, the People's University Extension So
ciety and the International Sunshine Society. Mr.
Grossman was married on June 28, 1900, to Miss
Lillian Viola Berliner, of New York City. They
have two children, Ethel B. and William B. Gross
man. Mr. Grossman is a man of great legal acu
men, which, combined with his remarkable ora
torical powers, makes him irresistible as an advo
cate before a jury. Quick in debate, ready at
reasoning, apt in expressing himself, possessed
of a pleasant voice, he is not only one of the very
ablest, but one of the most successful, general
practitioners in the country. He is a man of en
gaging personality, possessed of a fine presence,
and is a most eloquent and powerful orator. Mr.
Grossman combines strict accuracy, promptness,
thoroughness, executive ability, conservative judg
ment, mastery of details, commercial, financial
and legal erudition to a greater degree, probably,
than any other man living. He introduced a valu
able innovation in the law profession by depart
mentalizing every branch of law and installing
an elaborate system, so that no details — so vital
and important in law — are lost sight of. The
striking characteristics with which one is most
impressed in this gifted an accomplished lawyer
are those very qualities which are most valuable
to the successful lawyer — viz., his legal intuitive
powers by which he quickly and unerringly ana
lyzes the facts of a case, and as readily applies
the law thereto. His advice, is, therefore, often
sought by other lawyers in intricate cases. His
consultations with his clients are far superior to
the ordinary. He is radically opposed to litiga
tion, which is usually protracted and expensive,
and believes in settling, always considering his
clients' interests above his own and adjusting
cases which would be more remunerative to him
self, if they were allowed to go to trial. He di
rects perhaps, the largest legal staff in the coun
try — forty-two able men — guiding the administra
tive as well as the legal force. Each department
the Real Estate, Corporation, Surrogate's, Bank

ruptcy, Negligence, Insurance and Collections —
has its executive head, who is an expert in his
line, specializing in that particular department of
legal activity. Unlike the average lawyer, he is
a commercial as well as a legal genius, and would
probably have been successful in any other field,
if he had not chosen law. Mr. Grossman has al
ways shown great interest in young men, en
couraging them to enter the law and has often
helped the deserving to realize their ambitions in
law. He is deeply interested in all charities, re
gardless of race or creed, and patronizes nearly
every charitable institution in New York. He is
a polished gentleman of the highest culture and
refinement, courteous to all. The great reputa
tion he has made as a lawyer has been justly
earned.

ISAAC LEOPOLD RICE was born February
22, 1850, in the old German Town of Wachen-
heim, in the Rhenish Palatinate, Bavaria. His
father was Maier Rice, a native of Franconia;
his mother, Fanny Sohn, a native of Feuden-
heim in the Grand Duchy of Baden. His par
ents came to America when he was only six years
old, the father settling first in Boston, then in
Philadelphia, next in Milwaukee, and once again
in Philadelphia, where he established himself as
a teacher of languages. The subject of this
sketch was educated at the public schools, and
took a course of two years in the Central High
School of Philadelphia. When only sixteen years
old he started off to see the world, with his pas
sage paid and $40 in his pocket. He supported
himself in Europe for three years, teaching in
Paris and London. He returned to this country
in 1869, and then set about seriously to save
enough money to give himself a sufficient com
petency for the study of law and the time re
quired to obtain a practice. H made a study of
music, conceiving a new philosophy which was
published by the Appletons in 1874, under the
title of "What is Music ?" Six years later he
published another essay entitled "How the Geo
metrical Lines Had Their Counterpart in Music";
thus establishing his original theory, both essays
being republished by the Humboldt Library of
Science under the former title "What is Music?"
In 1880. after a two years' course, Mr. Rice grad
uated from the Law School of Columbia College
with distinguished honors. He carried off the
two public law prizes, for Constitutional Law
and International Law, and, in 1882, he was ap
pointed lecturer on the Bibliography of the Poli
tical Sciences at the School of Political Science
at Columbia. He resigned in 1883 to take up
the practice of the law, but in 1884 he returned

340 SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS

to his Alma Mater as instructor in the Law
School of Columbia University, where he gave a
course of lectures on the History of the Courts
of England and this country. His practice at
this time became so large that in 1886 he re
signed from the University and devoted himself
exclusively to railroad law. In 1883 he was elect
ed a member of the Association of the Bar of the
City of New York. Among Mr. Rice's early legal
triumphs is his fight for the bondholders of the
Brooklyn Elevated Railroad Company, at which
time he re-organized the corporation by means of
voluntary subscriptions, an assessment having
been previously levied so that it was impossible
to raise any further funds in that manner. He
pursued the same course in the case of the Texas
& St. Louis, now the St. Louis & Southwestern
Railway. He then became counsel of the Reor
ganization Committee of the Texas & Pacific Rail
road, counsel and director of the Richmond Ter
minal and Richmond & Danville & East Tennessee
systems and counsel of the Georgia Central Rail
way & Banking Company, properties which now
constitute the Southern Railroad. In the mean
time Mr. Rice contributed a number of articles on
social, logical and political subjects, principally
to the North American Review, The Century and
The Forum, the last named of which he founded
in 1885 and of which he continues to-day to be
president. In 1889 he retired for a time with the
intention of devoting himself entirely to the study
of Political Economy, but soon returned to ac
tive life as Chairman of the syndicate which con
trolled the shares of the Philadelphia & Reading
Railway Company. In 1892 he became the foreign
representative of that company in London, where
at the same time he advocated a change in the or
ganization of the company by means of the cre
ation of a new company, which he called The
Reading Company. It is under this company that
the Reading Railroad and Coal Companies were
.actually reorganized after their difficulties in 1893
and under which to-day they are enjoying great
prosperity. In 1893 he first interested himself in
electrical matters and established the electrical
storage battery industry as president of the Elec
tric Storage Battery Company. He was also the
father of the automobile industry in the United
States by founding the Electric Vehicle Company,
which first manufactured automobiles on a large
scale. In 1899 he founded the Electric Boat Com
pany, of which he is still president, and through
that company he became the father of the Sub
marine industry, which is now recognized among
all the nations of the world, but which at the time
that the Electric Boat Company was founded was
considered, in the language of a German paper,

a ''mere phantasmagoria." The traveling public
is also indebted to him, as he was founder of the
railway electric lighting industry, and particularly
that now universally recognized phase of it which
obtains the light through the motion of the wheels.
In the chemical field, Mr. Rice was also an in
novator by the organization of the Casein Com
pany of America, which first made it possible to
introduce new and important uses from the solids
of milk. Mr. Rice is connected with the follow
ing companies : President and director, Electric
Boat Company, Holland Torpedo Boat Company,
Electric Launch Company, Industrial Oxygen
Company, Car Lighting & Power Company, Rail
way & Stationary Refrigerating Company, Inter
national Trade Development Company, National
Torpedo Company, Forum Publishing Company,
Lindstrom Brake Company, Consolidated Railway
Electric Lighting & Equipment Company ; presi
dent, treasurer and director, Casein Company of
America, Casein Manufacturing Company, Na
tional Milk Sugar Company, Dry Milk Company,
Rosemary Creamery Company, The Water Paint
Company of America; director, Societe Fran-
qaise de Sousmarins of Paris, France, Buckeye
Rubber Company; chair, Board of Directors, Con
solidated Rubber Tire Company (Kelly- Spring
field Tire). In 1884 Mr. Rice married Julia Hyne-
man Barnett and he has a family of four daughters
and two sons. His wife is famous throughout the
world as organizer of the Society for the Suppres
sion of Unnecessary Noise, and is also the origina
tor of the Sane and Safe Fourth of July. He
belongs to the Lawyers, Automobile, Harmonic,
Lotos and City Lunch clubs ; the Association of
the Bar of the City of New York, the City Liberal
Club of London; The Japan Society; The Peace
Society ; Municipal Art Society ; St. George's
Chess Club of London; the Rice Chess Club and
the Manhattan Chess Club of New York, of
which he is ex-president; the Brooklyn Chess
Club and the Rice Chess Club of Newark, of
which latter clubs he is an honorary member. He
is ex-president of the New York State Chess As
sociation. He is an ardent lover of chess and
has invented an opening known as the Rice Gam
bit, which has made him known in chess circles
throughout the globe. He has given a number of
"trophies to the various chess clubs and leagues,
notable among which is a handsome silver trophy
for the International Universities Chess Match,
which is contested by cable annually, for England
on the part of Oxford and Cambridge, and for
America on the part of Columbia, Harvard, Yale,
Princeton, Cornell, Pennsylvania and Brown. Be
cause of his marked scientific and literary ability,

SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS 341

Mr. Rice received the degree of LL.D. in June,
1902, from Bates College.

THEODORE RICHARD HEIXRICHS. mine
owner and real estate operator, with offices at
No. 149 Broadway, New York City, was born at
Hastings-on-Hudson February 14, 1868. He is a
son of Theodore Christian Heinrichs who was

THEODORE RICHARD HEINRICHS

born February 17, 1843, in Prussia and came to
America in 1865 — settling at Hastings-on-Hudson,
and who was engaged in business at Yonkers
until 1894, at which time he retired. He is de
scended from an old family of high standing
which traces back to 1670. Theodore Richard
Heinrichs was educated at the public schools in
Yonkers, graduating therefrom in 1883; later he
took a course of studies under private tutors
and thereafter entered a business college. It
was his early intention of adapting the legal
profession. With that in view he entered the
law office of the late Allen Taylor with whom he
remained for four years. After three years
spent in the West traveling he returned to Yon-
yers where he established a general real estate
and insurance business, and later engaged in
large building operations in which he was unus
ually successful. In politics Mr. Heinrichs is a
Democrat, is a leading factor in Westchester
County political affairs, having been for seven
years, secretary and executive member of the
Democratic organization of Yonkers, and has
satisfactorily filled the position as chairman of
the Board of Assessors. He is president of

the Amsterdam Securities Company, Secretary
of the Guanajuato Mining and Milling Com
pany, Secretary of the Progress Association,
Secretary of the Yonkers Chamber of Com
merce, Secretary of the Board of Fire Under
writers of the City of Yonkers; a member of the
City Club ; Elks ; Eagles ; Royal Arcanum ; Mod
ern Woodmen of America ; member of the Or
der of Harugari ; Yonkers Turn Verein ; and
of the Yonkers Teutonia. He married Miss
Emma, daughter of John P. and Anna Eisen-
hut, of Yonkers, September 17, 1890. Eight
children have been born, all of whom are living,
namely, Lillian Irene; Edna Sophia; Wilbur
Carl; Hazel Marie; Inna Anna; Celeste Clara;
Martha Elizabeth ; and Ruth.

MAX LOEWEXTHAL, manufacturer and
merchant, was born March 28, 1862, at Schwerin,
in the Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin.

MAX LOEWENTHAL

Son of Joseph Loewenthal, grain merchant of
that place, and one of a family of nine children.
He obtained his business training in Hamburg,
from 1879 to 1884. In 1884 he came to America

342 SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS

and located in Chicago, where he remained till
1887. In that year he went to Amsterdam, Hol
land, and after a brief mercantile career in that
city, he came to the city of New York, where he
established himself in business and has since re
mained. He was a pioneer in the rubber reclaim
ing industry and the founder of the U.S. Rubber
Reclaiming Works, of which he is the president
and a director. This concern, under his guid
ance, has developed from a modest beginning to
be the largest producer of reclaimed rubber in
the world, having an annual output of fifteen
thousand tons. Its mill is at Buffalo, N.Y., with
offices in the city of New York He started on
his career without any resources other than his
energy and business capacity. He has contribu
ted, in no small degree, in making his compa
triots the predominant factors in American citi
zenship, and in building up the philanthropic, in
dustrial and commercial life of this country. Be
sides being a director of other industrial, and
commercial corporations, and of educational in
stitutions, he contributes generously of his efforts
and resources to charities, and is a director in
many organizations of that character. He is a
member of the Harmonic Club of the city of
New York. In 1893 he married Helen, daughter
of the late Doctor Alexander Kohut of the city
of New York, a noted preacher and orientalist
and scholar of international fame. Of this mar
riage he has two daughters.

EMIL LOEB was born in Rhenish Bavaria in
1863. After leaving school he started in business
at Mannheim, Germany, in which he continued
for two years. In 1881 he came to the United
States, locating at St. Louis, Mo., where he ob
tained a position with a lace and embroidery import
ing house; the following year Mr. Loeb removed
to New York City. In 1888, while on a visit to
Birmingham, Ala. (and after investigating the
natural resources of that district), he became
convinced of the fact that that city would become
one of the great steel and iron centers of the
United States ; he determined to settle there, and
on January 1, 1889, he founded the firm of Love-
man, Joseph & Loeb, which has since become the
largest mercantile firm in Alabama. In 1902 Mr.
Loeb became one of the incorporators of Blum
Brothers, Philadelphia, of which corporation he is
vice-president; he is vice-president and treasurer
of Loveman, Joseph & Loeb ; a director of Amer
ican Cities Railway and Light Co., which com
pany operates the street railways, gas and elec
tric light companies in Birmingham and other
large Southern cities. Mr. Loeb is a member of
the German Society and many charitable socie

ties in New York. In 1897 he married Miss
Blanche, daughter of M. H. Pulaski, a pioneer
embroidery importer and manufacturer. Two
children have been born to the union, a son,
Louis M., and a daughter, Madeleine H. Loeb.
Mr. Loeb has always been possessed of great
public spirit. He helped to raise funds to erect
the first cotton mill and the first steel plant in
the Birmingham, Ala., district.

SAMUEL H. KUNSTLICH, counselor at law,
was born in the province of Galicia, Austria,
October 18, 1878. He is the second son of Dr.
Alexander and Amelia (Spath) Kiinstlich, who

SAMUEL H. KUNSTLICH

came to America in 1884. settling at Newark,
N.J., where Samuel attended the public schools
and graduated from the High School. Having
decided upon the legal profession as a befit
ting calling for his future course of life, he en
tered the law department of the New York Uni
versity, and later graduated from the New York
Law School, in which latter institution he re
ceived his degree of LL.B. Believing in the
-.adage of the "survival of the fittest" and that
his opportunities would have a wider scope, he
removed his office to New York City, now being
located at No. 256 Broadway. This theory he
has proven, for to-day he ranks among the first
of the younger men in the legal profession of
the metropolis. In politics, Mr. Kiinstlich is a
Democrat, but not a partisan. In national and
state matters he adheres to the principles of his

GEORGE H. WEHREXBERG

GUSTAV VON GLAHN

343

WILLIAM ENGELMANN

344

SUCCESSFUL GERMAX-AMER1CAXS AND THEIR DESCEXDAXTS 345

party, but in local affairs he does not draw the
lines so closely. He resides with his wife and
family at No, 69 Sherman Avenue, Passaic, XJ.
In the social life of that city Mr. and Airs.
Ktinstlich have always been leading factors. His
father, Dr. Alexander Kiinstlich, who also re
sided at Passaic, was one of the leading medi
cal practitioners of that place. He is Past Dis
trict Deputy Grand Patriarch of the I.O.O.F.,
also member of Masonic Fraternity.

HEXRY P. C. von MINDEX was born Xo-
vember 4, 1856, at Ovelgone, Oldenburg, Ger
many, being a son of Burchard and Marie von

HEXRY P. C. VON MINDEN

Minden, the former having been an artist of
considerable merit and reputation. For some
generations back, the von Minden family have
come from Oldenburg. The subject of this
sketch was educated at Bremerhaven, Germany.
After leaving school he embarked for America,
locating at Galveston, Texas. After arriving in
Texas he began his new career as a farmer and
a cowboy, a vocation he continued at for some
time. He subsequently removed to Hoboken,
X.J., where he became a grocer's clerk. Through

out his life, Mr. von Minden has been a success
ful man. He is president of the United Wine &
Trading Co., located at Xos. 321 and 323 West
Thirteenth Street, Xew York, wholesale dealers
in wines and liquors, and is one of the largest
concerns of its kind in the country; he is also
the proprietor of the Patulla Restaurant at Xos.
125 and 127 Grand Street, Xew York, one of the
famous down-town resorts known to all of the
prominent business men. Mr. von Minden was
a member of the Board of Aldermen in 1888,
having been identified with the Xew York Coun
ty Democracy organization. He has for many
years been prominent in Masonic and other fra
ternal organizations. For three years he was
Master of his Lodge, and was Grand Represen
tative to the Grand Lodge at Xew Mexico (F.&A.
M.) ; he is a member of Beethoven Mannerchoir;
president and a member of Oldenburger Verein,
a position he has held for three terms ; a mem
ber of Knights Templars; Xorthern Jurisdiction
Scottish Rites; Shrine; Elks; Knights of Pythias;
and the Evangelical Lutheran Church. He has
been captain of the Xew York Schuetzen Corps;
was chairman of the German-American Schuetzen
Corps to Hamburg (Germany) in 1909 to 16th
Bundes Schiessen. Mr. von Minden organized the
United Wine & Trading Company, was vice-presi
dent of the United Xational Bank (now Hudson
Trust Co.). He has retired since then from the
active affairs of that institution. On Xovember
25, 1878 he married at X'ewark, X.J., Miss Era-
minda Kammel. Mr. von Minden is one of the
self-made type of Germans whose success is due
only to his hard work, indomitable will and per
severance coupled with that high sense of honor
and fair dealing toward his fellow men. He is
one of the best known Germans in Xew York
as well as one of the most respected. His friends
are legion in numbers.

PETER JOSEPH GROLL, one of the best-
known, as well as one of the most popular, men
of German extraction, was born at Xew York
City February 13, 1873, where he received a
thorough education in the public schools. Mr.
Groll has always resided in Xew York, and for
many years has been in business at Xo. 145-
147 East Fifty-third Street, where he conducts
a popular cafe, with which is connected one of
the finest bowling alleys to be found in Greater
Xew York. Other portions of his building are
devoted to public halls and lodge rooms where
over one hundred societies, etc., assemble. Aside
from his cafe business, Mr. Groll is an ex
tensive operator in real estate. In politics he
has always been a Democrat of the Jefferson-

346 SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS

ian type, and has on a number of occasions
been requested to accept a nomination for public
office which would have been equivalent to elec
tion. He has always steadfastly refused such
honors, but is an indefatigable worker in the
interests of his party. In social organizations
and benevolent orders he is a prominent figure
and a member of Tecumseh Lodge, No. 487,
F. & A. M., of which he is Worshipful Master;
Empire Chapter Xo. 170, R.A.M.; Columbian
Council, No. 1, R. & M. S. M. ; Ivanhoe Com-
mandery, No. 36, K.T., of which he is Emi
nent Commander ; the Templar Knights Com
manders ; New York Consistory, A.A.S.R., N.
M.J.; Mecca Temple, A.A.O.X.M.S. ; Azim Grot
to, No. 7, M.O.V.P.E.R.; The Masonic Club;
The Square Club; New York Maennerchor and
Eichenkranz Singing societies; Benevolent Or
ders of Buffaloes and Elks ; Tammany Club of
Sixteenth Assembly District; Mohican Club;
Wyandott Club ; Tough Club ; Germania Stamm
Lodge, O.R.M.; Holly Lodge, K. of P.; En
terprise Lodge, I.O.O.F. Mr. Groll has been
twice married, his first wife was Miss Agnes
Gunther, stepdaughter of P. Kohler, the well-
known New York brewer, whom he married
January 19, 1897, and who died in 1902. To
this union two children were born, Gladys and
Joseph. His present wife, whom he married in
1904, was Miss Lucy Gladding Decker, step
daughter of John Weber of Baumgarten & Co.
and niece of C. Bauer and Jacob Doll, the lat
ter a prominent piano manufacturer in the
Borough of the Bronx. Mr. Groll is a man
possessed of fine, sterling traits and one whose
friends number in the thousands. His success
in the business and social world is entirely due
to the high interpretation he holds for honor
able dealing and strict integrity. He belongs
to that class of high-minded men whose word is
always their bond.

SIEGFRIED LESCHZINER, real estate op
erator, with offices at No. 776 Broad Street,
Newark, N.J., was born on March 5, 1861, at
Beuthen, Salicia, Germany. He is the son of
Heyman and Thresa Leschziner, the former hav
ing been engaged in mercantile pursuits at Beu
then. The subject of this sketch attended the
common schools of his native place, from which
he was graduated at the age of twelve. Later
he entered a technical and trade school. After
leaving school, young Leschziner's career was of
a varied character. At the age of thirty-nine he
engaged in mercantile pursuits, and in 1880 came
to America and settled at Philadelphia, where
he entered the employ of John Wanamaker as

a window dresser and in which he had become
recognized as an expert. While thus engaged
he also found time enough to take up the study
of dentistry. Later on he decided to abandon
that line of work and gave up the thought of
leading a professional life. He went to New
York, where he followed his old avocation, and
in which he became famous in the metropolis.
From 1885 to 1894 he was associated with Lieb-
mann Brothers Dry Goods Company of Brook
lyn (now Frederick Loeser & Co.). In 1894 Mr.
Leschziner removed to Newark, N.J., where he
established a permanent home for himself. From
that year until 1900 he was associated with the
firm of L. T. Paut & Co. In the latter year
he resigned his position and engaged in real es
tate operations. For the past ten years he has
been regarded as the leading expert in all mat
ters relating to that intricate field. He has been
one of the largest developers of Newark realty
and has been associated with many of the larger
operations that has, and is, making that city one
of the leading ones of the country. Mr. Lesch
ziner has never taken much interest in politics
or social organizations; he is a Republican in
his affiliations. The only society with which
he is in any way identified is the Ethical Cul
ture Society of New York. On June 1, 1887,
he married Miss Frances Bodenwieser, daughter
of Mr. and Mrs. August Bodenwieser of West
Orange, N.J. Mr. Leschziner's charities are dis
tributed in his own way, thus avoiding publicity
which he so greatly dislikes. He prefers to give
without the world knowing of his acts. He is one
of Newark's first citizens and has always devoted
his efforts along lines that have had a tendency to
promote the progress and welfare of the whole
city. He represents that splendid type of men
which every locality feels honored to call its own.

WILLIAM FRANCIS SCHNEIDER, county /
clerk, New York County, a son of William
Francis and Margretha Schneider, was born in
New York City November 24, 1864. His father
was engaged in real estate operations until 1880,
at which time he entered political life, first as a
deputy sheriff, then for twenty years as an in
spector in the Finance Department of the city
of New York. He, his father and grandfather
were natives of Osthoven, Germany, where the
latter held a political position. The grandfather
on the mother's side of the subject of this
sketch was for many years the postmaster of
Waldmichelbach, Germany. William Francis
Schneider, the subject of this sketch, received his
education at the public schools and the College
of the City of New York. In 1881 he entered the

SIEGFRIED LKSCHZIXER

347

PETKR JOSEPH GROLL

348

SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS 349

employ of the H. B. Claflin Company, where he
gradually rose in position until 1896, at which
time he became assistant chief accountant in that
corporation, a position he held until he resigned
to form the co-partnership of M. M. Smith &
Co., in 1902, manufacturers of dresses, which

WILLIAM FRANCIS SCHNEIDER

firm has been singularly successful from the
beginning. Mr. Schneider's political life began
in 1897, when he was elected alderman of the
old Thirty-second Assembly District. He was re-
elected in 1899 as a member of Tammany Hall.
In 1901 he joined the anti-Tammany movement
and since then he has constantly opposed that
organization. He took a prominent part in the
Fusion movement in 1909, was nominated and
elected to the office of County Clerk of New
York County, receiving- thirty-four thousand plu
rality, which was a very strong endorsement as
to his fitness for the position, as well as a tes
timony to his popularity. Mr. Schneider is a
member of the Royal Arcanum, the Arion Singing
Society, and the Harlem Board of Commerce.
He is a trustee of the Commonwealth Savings
Bank of New York. Mr. Schneider was united

in marriage with Miss Anna, daughter of the
late Judge Bellesheim of Mount Vernon, N.Y.
Their children are: William Francis, Jr., Rus
sell Schneider, and a grandchild, William Fran
cis Schneider, 3d.

HUGO J. MISCHO, furrier, with offices at
No. 29 West Thirty-second Street, New York
City, a son of Joseph and Ottilie Mischo, was
born at Rogaiers, Province of Posen, Germany,
February 23, 1859. His father was for many
years a prosperous shoe merchant of that place
and was the descendant of a family whose an
cestors bore an old and honorable name. Hugo
was educated in the common schools of his na
tive place, from which he was graduated at the
age of fourteen. He then entered a trades school
where he acquired watchmaking, and where he
spent four years. At the age of eighteen, with
a full knowledge of his trade, with much self-
reliance and less money, he, alone, sailed for
America, going direct to Alabama, where he fol
lowed his calling for a period of two years. At
the age of twenty he removed to New York
City, where he accepted a clerkship in the fur

HUGO j. MISCHO

house of an uncle, Mr. Herman Mischo, located
at No. 438 Broome Street. He entered upon his
new duties with his usual determination to suc
ceed and on account of merit only, rapidly ad
vanced to the position of first clerk, book-keeper,
and, later, manager of the entire business. After

350 SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS

some years, his uncle decided to retire from busi
ness. Young Mischo decided to forge ahead.
He opened an establishment on his own account
in Bond Street, beginning in a small way. Later
he took in a partner, who died shortly after
ward leaving Mr. Mischo again alone to solve his
future. Another partnership was formed, but
lasted for only a short time before a dissolution
occurred. In 1893 he associated with him Mr.
Charles Miller as a partner. The relations have
successfully continued ever since. The concern
ranks among the most important of the fur in
dustry in New York, a reputation gained only
after the greatest efforts in the past of Mr.
Mischo. The patrons of the firm are among the
best houses in the country. They also do an ex
tensive importing business. Mr. Mischo con
ducts branches in Paris, London, and Leipzig.
His name is always synonymous to quality of
the first class. During the St. Louis Exposition in
1904 the firm was awarded a gold medal for art in
the manufacture of furs. In politics Mr. Mischo is
a Republican, but has newer aspired to hold office,
although the opportunities have been many. His
time has been entirely devoted to his extensive
business affairs. He is not a member of any club
or social organization other than the Roman Cath
olic Church. On May 29, 1881, he married Eliz
abeth, daughter of Mr. John and Mary Giefers
of New York City. Eight children, all of whom
are living, have been born to the union, viz : John
H., who is associated with his father in busi
ness ; Hugo J., Jr., engaged in the fur business
at Chicago as an expert cutter; Gertrude M.,
Walter Otto, Herbert A., Amanda M., Clara T.,
and Theodore Henry. One of the pleasant
memories in the life of Mr. Mischo and one
which he cherishes as a remembrance, is an
autograph letter he received from former Pres
ident Roosevelt with that of an engraving of
himself, shortly before the expiration of his
last official term of office. The letter was writ
ten by the former President upon his having re
ceived a photograph of Mr. Mischo's family
showing the entire group. The President's reply
congratulated him upon the number and fine ap
pearance of his interesting children. The career
of Mr. Mischo is a good illustration of what a
German youth can attain through perseverance,
pluck and energy. His home at No. 262 Bed
ford Park Boulevard, is one of the handsomest
in that section of New York City. He has re
sided in the Borough of the Bronx for more
than twenty years and is one of the most re
spected as well as one of the most substantial
citizens.

MOSES ZIMMERMANN, the subject of this
sketch, was born on the nineteenth day of April,
1848, in the town of Ober-Semen, Ober-Heseen,
Germany. He attended the rural school there
until he reached the age of eighteen, when he
decided to go to America and seek his fortune.
On his arrival at his destination, New York

MOSES ZIMMERMANN

City, he procured employment in a small butcher
shop at a salary of eight dollars per month, when
his energy and integrity soon made itself felt
and he rapidly mastered all the details of the
meat business. In 1871, by hard work and fru
gality, he had saved sufficient money to em
bark in business for himself, which he did in a
modest way at 318 East Houston Street, New
York, as a dealer in meats, sausages, etc. It
-was at this time that he started the manufactory
of the famous Vienna sausage, known the world
over. His energy and fair dealing with his
customers again asserted itself and gradually
his business increased until it reached the large
figures of $500,000 per annum. In the meantime
his quarters had become much too small and he
purchased the three adjoining lots on which he

SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS 351

erected one of the most up-to-date plants in the
United States. To this he has added a large
beef house and refrigerating plant, as well as an
ice and electric plant. By 1902 his business had
increased so rapidly that he formed the corpo
ration of M. Zimmermann Co. and the present
sales of this concern amount to about $3,000,000
per year. Their trade-mark is known from
Maine to California, and in many parts of
Europe. Branches have been established in East
Third Street, Xew York; Boston, Mass., and
Philadelphia, Pa. The company own a large
stable in East Third Street, fitted up in the most
modern manner, where are housed the horses,
trucks, automobiles, etc., used in their business.
Mr. Zimmermann is noted for his many chari
table acts and is a member of the Rudolph
Scholene Congregation, where he is a trustee,
and other prominent associations. He was mar
ried on December 31, 1871, to Miss Kate Daube,
a daughter of a well-known German Jewish
rabbi. Six children have been born to them,
three of whom are living, a daughter and two
sons, the latter are now passing through their
business education with him, preparatory to tak
ing an active and financial interest in the busi
ness. Mr. Zimmermann owns the real estate on
which the company's plant is located and other
valuable real estate, all of which he has ac
quired by his personal efforts and as the re
ward for his honesty and fair dealing with his
fellow man.

CHARLES F. XAHMMACHER, residing at
No. 257 South Xinth Street, Brooklyn, was born
at Mecklenburg, Germany, June 6, 1840, and came
to America as a sailor in 1856 in the German
Merchant Service and thereafter made many
ocean trips from Xew York until twenty-eight
years old. Mr. Xahmmacher received his edu
cation at the public schools and gymnasium, taking
a one year course in navigation for first officer
at the age of twenty-two. After abandoning the
sea, he resided in Pittsburg, Pa., for a period
of fifteen years, being in charge of a wholesale
liquor establishment owned by his sister. In
1884 he removed to Brooklyn, where he engaged
in manufacturing furs, etc., and in which he con
tinued until 1893, suffering several financial
losses. In politics Mr. Xahmmacher has always
been a stanch Democrat, but has always declined
offers to hold any public office. For the past
seventeen years he has been the agent and dis
tributer of Moerlein's Cincinnati beer throughout
Greater New York City, and enjoys the reputa
tion of being the largest, as well as one of the
most successful, representatives that well-known

concern has ever had business relations with.
Mr. Xahmmacher is a member of the German
Lutheran Church; Hanover Club; Arion Society;
Merchants' Club; Brooklyn Skat Eastern District
Turn Verein ; and has been a member of many
other clubs and societies. On October 19, 1877,
in Pittsburg, Pa., he married Miss Aliena Heeren.
They have two living children, Charles H., who

CHARLKS F. XAHMMACHER

is engaged in his father's office at Xo. 527 West
Twenty-ninth Street, Xew York City, and Alfred,
who conducts a decorating establishment. In
1850. when Carl Schurz made his escape from
Germany to Scotland, he sailed in a ship owned
by Ernest Brockelman, an uncle of Mr. Xahm
macher, and whose house in Germany Mr. Schurz
was concealed for several days. Mr. Xahm
macher is one of those splendid type of Ger
mans of the old school and who are fast disap
pearing. While always retaining an affection
for the Fatherland, he is one of those Germans
who feels his first duty is to the land of his
adoption and to which he has become loyally
allied.

WILLIAM RAPP, son of David and Anna
(Koenig) Rapp, was born at Wiiertemberg, Ger
many, in 1832. His father was an extensive
land-owner and employed about twenty hands to
operate his estate. His birthplace was Gamer-
ingen (Germany). During the Revolution in
1848 he was Mayor of Belsend. William Rapp,
the subject of this sketch, began his education

352 SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS

in a private school at Belsend, where he studied
French and Swiss. When he was fourteen
years of age he went to Basl-en-Rhine and de
voted himself to mission work for one year.
His first business position was that of a baker,
which he secured at Myon, Switzerland, and at
which he worked for a period of six years. He
then enlisted in the French army and was sent
to Algiers for duty. After serving for some time
he was honorably discharged from the service
on account of disability. He returned to his old
home, where he remained until 1871, at which
time he emigrated to America, locating at Xew
York City, where he immediately engaged in
the bakery business on Ninth Avenue between
Fifty-eighth and Fifty-ninth Street. After con
ducting this business for five years he sold out
and engaged in the constructing and building
line, a business he has followed ever since. Mr.
Rapp has never been actively engaged in politics.
He has been a citizen of four countries, Ger
many, France, Switzerland and America. By
close application to business, hard work and
honorable dealing, he has accumulated a com
fortable competency and is the owner of consid
erable real estate in Xew York. He has al
ways been interested in Free Masonry and is
a Thirty-third Degree Mason. Mr. Rapp has
twice been married; his first wife, whom he
married in Switzerland, was Miss Julia Goy.
Three children were born to the union, viz :
David, Anna and Felix. His present wife was
Miss Mary Most, to whom two children were
born, both of whom are now deceased. Mr.
Rapp, although past the three-score and ten
period, is still hale and hearty ; he is actively
engaged in business as a builder, real estate
operator and merchandise broker, with offices at
No. 230 East One Hundred and Tenth Street,
Xew York City.

EDWARD WALDSTEIX, son of Samuel and
Raechel Waldstein, was born in Bohemia, Austria,
in the year 1866. His father was engaged in the
wholesale leather, trade and was very successful
as a business man, having a high standing both
financially and socially. Before coming to Amer
ica fifteen years ago, Mr. Waldstein was en
gaged in business with his father. After arriv
ing in New York he engaged in the importing and
exporting of merchandise which he conducted
successfully, after which he retired for several
years. He is to soon again engage in a similar
business on Broadway in the dry goods section.
Mr. Waldstein married Miss Henrietta Gold-
berger of XTew York City in 1894. They have an
adopted son.

DAVID BLAXK, real estate operator, a son
of Ziegmann and Leah Blank, was born in
Kieshinef, Russia, in 1871. His father was a
merchant and removed to Berlin, Germany, when
David was one year of age. Mr. Blank began
his commercial life without much capital, but
being endowed with a great amount of grit and
perseverance, he soon pushed to the front and is
to-day counted as one of the substantial as well
as one of the most successful men in his line of
business. His standing for integrity, fair deal
ing and honesty is of the highest character and
he enjoys the confidence of all who know him.
He has never engaged in politics, nor has he ever
desired to hold any public office. In 1896 Mr.
Blank married Miss Rosa Rubenstein. They have
one child, named Louie. Mr. Blank's business
office is located at Xo. 130 Essex Street, Xew
York City, where he is to be usually found en
grossed in his large real estate operations. Al
though always a very busy man, he is courte
ous and considerate to all who make a demand
upon his time.

SAMUEL ROLLER, son of Wolf and Helen
Roller, was born April 5, 1859 at Leipsic, Ger
many. His father fought in the Franco-Prus
sian War and held the rank of Major of 29th
Regiment. He won the medal of the Iron Cross
for bravery. After serving his army course he
returned to civil life and engaged in the whole
sale fur business. Samuel, the subject of this
sketch, received his education at Leipsic. After
leaving school he engaged in the same business
his father had established. In 1879 he disposed
of his interests for two hundred and fifty thou
sand dollars, after which he came to America
and settled in XTew York City where he has ever
since remained. He has for some years lived in
retirement and at present resides in the Borough
of Brooklyn, Xew York City. Mr. Roller has
never had any political aspirations nor has he
ever sought or held any public office. In 1882
he married Miss Sarah Ballehaus of X'ew York
City. Mr. Koller is very fond of out-door life,
his principal sport being that of horseback rid
ing. His standing in both social and commercial
walks of life is of the highest character, and he
has a large circle of friends among all classes.

' ERXEST KREMER, son of Carl and Ida
Kremer, was born December 2, 1874, at Bar
men, Rhineland, Germany. His father was a
well-known wholesale produce dealer, his early
ancestors being silk weavers and came from a
village called Beyenburg. When a boy, Ernest
attended the local public school and later the

SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS 353

Catholic parochial school of his native place,
where he studied English and French, in addi
tion to that of his native language. When he
was eleven years old he came to the United
States, and located in Xew York, where he ob
tained a position in a grocery store in West
Forty-first Street, owned by an Englishman who
paid him four dollars a week besides boarding
him. The hours were long, but Ernest, being
of an ambitious turn of mind, did not object; he
was soon promoted, and through many subse
quent promotions became first clerk in the es
tablishment. After spending some years in the
grocery line, he decided to engage in the liquor
business. He obtained a position at Xo. 23 Will
iam Street as a bar boy ; he remained in this
position for five and one-half years. Later he
held responsible positions at the Hotel Metro-
pole, Holland House, Waldorf-Astoria, the Bel-
more and other prominent hotels. In 1907 Mr.
Kremer decided to engage in business for him
self. He purchased his present business at Xo.
233 East Thirty-eighth Street, which he has
successfully conducted ever since, with the ex
ception of a short space of time, which on ac
count of illness and too much prosperity, he was
compelled to give up his cafe, and for the time
entered the employ of an uncle as a machinist
in the shops of the Frederick Brust & Hedderick
Company, now retired. After regaining his
health, Mr. Kremer again resumed his old busi
ness, which to-day is in a most prosperous con
dition. He is a prominent member of Beethoven
Manner Choir; Badisher, V.F.V. ; Hourvisfisher,
V. Trunchels Rapp ; Columbian Pleasure Club,
and the Altenbrucher Verein. In Xovember,
1904, Mr. Kremer married Miss Elsie Groth to
whom one son has been born, Ernest, Jr. Mr.
Kremer is one of the best known German-
Americans on the upper east side and is a
typical self-made man. His establishment is the
meeting place of a number of social and frater
nal organizations, the building being splendidly
adapted for such purposes.

HEXRY SZUSSKY, builder and real estate
operator, son of Henry R., and Sarah (Edel-
stein) Szussky, was born in Bohemia, Austria,
where he worked with his father until 1898, at
which time he came to the United States and
located in Xew York City. Mr. Szussky organ
ized the Manhattan Trading Company, whose
business was that of exporting and importing
merchandise. The concern was recently burned
out, the company incurring a total loss, not hav
ing any insurance. After his loss he became iden
tified with the Suburban Construction Company

of Xo. 16 Court Street, Brooklyn, where he is
now located. On May 2, 1900, he married Miss
Rebecca Weiss, they have no children. Mr. and
Mrs. Szussky resides at Xo. 741 Tinton Avenue,
Bronx.

CHARLES O. LAXZER, builder, son of Will
iam and Priscilla Lanzer, was born at Denver,
Col., September 4, 1873. His father was a well-
known builder and contractor in that place and
was a very successful business man. Mr. Lan
zer, the subject of this sketch, came to Xew York
City in 1900 where he engaged in the moving
picture film business. After successfully conduct
ing it for seven years, in 1907 he disposed of his
interests and became interested in building and
the development of real estate. He is now inter
ested in the William J. Xixon Company of Xo.
481 Flatbush Avenue, Brooklyn. In May, 1902,
Mr. Lanzer married Miss Hattie F. Fisher of
Xew York City. They reside at Xo. 167 West
Thirty-fourth Street, Xew York City.

KARL VON BAUR-BREITEXFELD, noted
chemist, and a son of Julius von Baur-Breiten-
feld, whose family traces back for more than
three hundred years in Wiirttemberg and Bavaria,
was born in Tutzing, Bavaria, Germany, June
23, 1869. He began his preliminary education at
the public schools and later entered the Gymna
sium (high school) at Aschaffenburg anad Mu
nich ; he graduated in 1887 and entered the Uni
versity of Erlangen and Munich, studying chem
istry until 1892 where he graduated with high
honors with a degree of Doctor of Philosophy.
From 1892 to 1897 he filled the position of chem
ist and bacteriologist with Dr. Prior, on the
Vom Kgl. Bay. Staate subv. Versuchsstation fuer
Brauerei und Maelzerei at X'uremberg. Dr. von
Baur-Breitenfeld established in 1897 the Scien
tific Station for brewing and malting, and Brew
ers' Academy at Grimme, Saxonia, Germany,
which is still being conducted. In 1899, he ac
cepted the position as director of a brewery in
Radeberg, Saxonia, which he held until 1901,
at which time he became assistant manager and
instructor in the United States Brewers' Acad
emy, Xew York City. From 1904 to 1906 he
was director of the Scientific Station for Pure
Products, XTew York. During the same year he
established himself as consulting chemist, and in
October, 1909, he purchased the splendidly
equipped laboratory of the late Dr. Endemann,
then located at Xo. 116 Broad Street, but now
at 23 William Street, Xew York City. Dr. von
Baur-Breitenfeld has successfully edited several
publications, prominent among which were the

354 SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS

American B reiver; Pure Products, and a maga
zine published at Grimme, Germany. He is a
Mason, being a member of Zschokke Lodge No.
202 ; the Verein ehemaliger deutscher Studenten

KARL VON BAUR-BREITENFELD

of New York City, and the Chemical Society of
Germany. In January, 1895, he married Miss
Babette Trentz, to whom four children have
been born, viz. : Ludwig, Anna, Emmy and Jo
hanna. Dr. von Baur-Breitenfeld is a cultivated
gentleman of courteous manners, and ranks
among the most learned chemists of this country
and Europe.

GEORGE H. WEHRENBERG, liquor
dealer (retired), residing at No. 101 West
Eighty-ninth Street, New York City, and son
of John Henry and Margaret (Hagemann)
Wehrenberg, was born at Gehrde, Hanover,
Germany, September 20, 1847. His education
was received at the public schools and at the
age of fourteen he was graduated and worked
on his mother's farm until he was seventeen.
His parents were of good German stock.
Being determined to make a success of his

career, he emigrated to New York, coming
over on the old steamship Bremen in 1865.
He was then eighteen years of age, and landed
in this city. He lived with a friend at No. 27
Roosevelt Street, and obtained a position in a
local grocery store as a clerk, working con
scientiously for two years. He was engaged
in the liquor business at No. 72 Cliff Street for
three years and a half. In September, 1870, he
opened his first liquor establishment on Cath
erine Street, and sold same at a profit on April
26, 1883. Between 1870 and 1883 he operated a
liquor house, also a confectionery store, at No.
770 Third Avenue. On May 9, 1883, he went to
Germany for one year, and in the spring of
1884 he opened an establishment at the corner
of Murray and Greenwich streets. He con
ducted this place for eight years, and sold out
in 1894. On March 31, 1892, he bought a liquor
store at 406 West Street, New York City, and
conducted business here for nine years. Up
to this period his success was such that he
retired from active life in 1900 to enjoy
the fruits of his labors. During his early
business career he made many friends. Mr.
Wehrenberg has been a member of the Platt-
deutsche Volks Fest Verein since its organi
zation, and treasurer for six years. He was
one of the organizers of the Fritz Renter
Altenheim, Schutzen Park, Union Hill, N. J.,
and treasurer from its inception. His moral
and financial support have been solicited from
many sources. In 1871 he was a member of
the Eleventh Regiment, National Guard of New
York, and from the rank of private was pro
moted to first-lieutenant, serving his full term,
and being honorably discharged by Governor
Tilden in 1876. In politics he is a staunch
Democrat, but has never aspired to public
office. He was captain of New York Schutzen
Corps, and ably served as such for many years.
He is one of the original organizers of the
Gehrde Freundschaftbund, and has been its
treasurer for three years. He is a director of
the Consumers' Brewing Company of New
York City, and one of the five organizers. He
has been vice-president of this brewery for the
past ten years. Mr. Wehrenberg has been
married twice. He was married on September
25, 1872, to Miss Adelaid Vosbrinck. No chil
dren were born to the union. On April 26,
1892, he was united in marriage to Mrs. Eliza
beth (Landwehr) Bertram, who had one son by
her first marriage, H. H. Bertram. In 1890
Mr. Wehrenberg, as captain of the New York
Schutzen Corps, took the forty-seven members
of that bodv in full uniform to Berlin on

355

SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS 357

August twenty-sixth, where they visited the
Emperor. All were received with great honor.
Mr. Wehrenberg has been enjoying an annual
trip to Europe for the past ten years and takes
a keen interest in all matters pertaining to the
betterment of his adopted country.

GUSTAV vox GLAHN, wholesale and re
tail liquor dealer, located at Xo. 1 Columbus
Avenue, New York City, is the son of Her
man and Dorothy (Tietjen) von Glahn. He
was iborn at Wollingst, Germany, January 11,
1860, and educated at the public schools of his
native town, where he was graduated at the
age of fourteen years. He did the hardest
kind of work for three years on a farm not
far from his birthplace. At the age of seven
teen he came to America, after having saved
one hundred dollars, and settled at Xew York
City, where he obtained a position as a grocery
clerk. He could speak English fluently, as
his father, who was a school teacher, instructed
him in the language before he left school. He
remained in the capacity of grocery clerk for
four and a half years. At the age of twenty-
one he opened a grocery store on his own ac
count at Xo. 135 Elizabeth Street, and three
years later he turned the store into a liquor
establishment, which he sold in 1884. He then
purchased a store at the corner of Grand and
Crosby Street, and there operated a lucrative
business for three years. In 1887 he opened
other stores. In 1892 he opened his present
large quarters at Xo. 1 Columbus Avenue.
He also has a fine cafe at Xo. 110 Liberty
Street, Xew York City. To-day he is enjoy
ing the income from four successful establish
ments in this city, each one representing an
expenditure of energy and hard work. Mr.
von Glahn is a member of Herman Lodge
Xo. 268, F. & A. M.; a member of the Benev
olent Order of Elks Lodge, Xo. 1 ; treasurer
of the Liquor Dealers' Association; a Knight
of Honor, and an Odd Fellow. He is a direc
tor of the Consumers' Brewing Company of
X'ew York City; also a director of the Franco-
American Baking Company. On June 15,
1887, he was united in marriage to Miss Hen
rietta Schweckendick of XTew York City, who
died on September 29, 1902, greatly mourned
by her husband and a large circle of friends.
The three children, Lillian, Herman, and Mad-
aline, also died, thus leaving Mr. von Glahn
alone. He gives much of his leisure moments
to horseback riding. He is a man of many
friends, notwithstanding his retiring disposi
tion and modest tastes.

WILLIAM ENGELMANN. The subject of
this review, like many of his fellow-countrymen,
through adversity in early life have overcome
the obstacles of their environment and have
achieved success in various ways. So it was
with Mr. Engelmann, son of Henry and Char
lotte Engelmann, born November 9, 1852, at
Usseln, near Waldeck, Germany. He attended
the public free school there until his four
teenth year. This was the extent of his pre
liminary education, but his close association
with the outer world later on created a de
sire to broaden himself. After the toilsome
position of a shepherd boy, and later that of
a farm hand, he emigrated to America in 1869,
and settled in Xew York City. At the age of
seventeen he entered the grocery business and
remained in that line of work for three years.
He then entered the liquor business, and after
several years' experience he entered into part
nership with Henry Huscher. In 1885 Mr.
Huscher retired and Mr. Engelmann purchased
his interests. After several years of earnest
endeavor and accumulation of what money he
could lay aside, he opened an establishment, in
1893, at Xo. 110 Pearl Street, Xew York City.
He was now the possessor of two valuable
parcels of property (having purchased his for
mer store, Xo. 114 Pearl Street, which he con
tinued to operate up to 1893) ; the income from
same was judiciously invested to promote his
new enterprise, which promised much from
the beginning. No expense was spared to
make this store one of the show-places of
that section of the city, and owing to Mr.
Engelmann's method of conducting business
he has gathered a patronage worthy of his
perseverance. On March 26, 1882, he was
united in marriage to Miss Katherine Leeuw,
and to this union were born eight children,
four of whom are now living, namely: Wil-
helmina, Charlotte, Elsie, and William. Mr.
Engelmann, realizing his early struggles for
a liberal education, and having succeeded in
securing the footing he so long desired, gave
his children the best educational advantages
offered in this country, and all were carefully
trained. Being a home man in every sense,
Mr. Engelmann purchased a splendid resi
dence at Xo. 105 Prospect Park West, Brook
lyn, X.Y., for his interesting family, and here
he has resided for one year, surrounded by
all the comforts necessary for proper develop
ment. He is identified with the German
Lutheran Church, is a Mason, Herman Lodge
Xo. 268, and a member of the United Work
men. He is a director of The Consumers'

358 SUCCESSFUL GERMAN-AMERICANS AND THEIR DESCENDANTS

Brewing Company of Xew York City, and the
Consumers' Brewing Company of Brooklyn.
In politics, Mr. Engclmann is independent in
his views, and has never aspired to office.
Now having rounded out a career of activity
for over forty years, he has been rewarded
not only by material success, but the knowl
edge that he is esteemed by all who know him.
Being the possessor of a rare personality, his
generosity has left deep impressions in vari
ous ways.

GUSTAV OBERLAENDER, secretary and
treasurer of the Berkshire Knitting Mills, lo
cated at Wyomissing, a suburb of Reading,
Pennsylvania, is a native of Germany. He
came to New York in 1888, obtained employ
ment and worked until 1896, going then to
Indianapolis, Indiana, where he engaged in
business on his own account. After a series of
hard struggles and vicissitudes he succeeded
in his undertaking, and in 1906 he disposed of
his interests at Indianapolis. He then asso
ciated himself with Messrs. Ferdinand Thun
and Henry Janssen, friends of his boyhood
days, and established the Berkshire Knitting
Mills. The plant is one of the largest of its
kind in the state of Pennsylvania and furnishes
steady employment to more than three hun
dred hands. Originally the business was
launched on rather a small scale, and in the
short period of three years it has grown to its
present magnitude. In the near future the
company will greatly enlarge its plant, so that
eventually it will be necessary to employ from
six to seven hundred people. Mr. Oberlaender
is a self-made man in the fullest sense ; he
enjoys a wide acquaintance throughout the
country, and in his own locality is counted
among the leading citizens. He is an im
portant factor in all movements for the better
ment of local conditions.

ERXST AUGUST GEORGE IXTEMAXX,
merchant and seventh son of Claus Hinrich and
Anna Margaretha (nee Ficken) Intemann, was
born at Everson, Hanover, Germany, October 25,
1848, his father being a farm owner. Mr. In
temann received his preliminary education in the
schools of his native place, was an orphan at ten
years old and at the age of twelve years and six
months he came to America, where he attended
St. John's Evangelical Lutheran Church Parish
School until 1863, then under the direction of

Peter W. Moeller, then superintendent. After
completing his education he in the same year en
tered the confectionery trade as an apprentice
and in 1869 started in that business on his own
account. In 1886 he took charge of the United
Confectioners' Association, 43 Jay Street, now the
United Confectioners' Supply Company, located at
Xo. 561 Greenwich Street, Xew York City, of
which company he is now the president and gen
eral manager. In 1900 Mr. Intemann organized
the Confectioners' Manufacturing Company of
No. 112-118 Bank Street, manufacturers of Hy
gienic Ice, of which he is also the president. He
is closely identified with several benevolent or
ganizations, is of high standing with the Free
Masons, among which he has held high offices of
trust, which, in consequence of said services he
was elected to honorary membership to seven
lodges working in the German language in Man
hattan, Brooklyn and Richmond boroughs, New
York City. Mr. Intemann was for several years
president of the German Branch of the Y.M.C.A.,
formerly at Xos. 140 and 142 Second Avenue, but
now out of existence. He was for many years
engaged in the manufacturing and retail confec
tionery business at 51 and 53 Sixth Avenue, X'ew
York City, which he conducted up to the time of
his being made president of the corporations with
which he is now connected. Aside from his
manufacturing interests Mr. Intemann is chair
man of the Allied Underwriters at Xew York and
Chicago Lloyds. He has never held any political
office, but was instrumental in having laws en
acted for the benefit of the confectionery busi
ness as well as for the public in general. He is
a prominent member of St. John's Evangelical
Lutheran Church, president of the Board of Trus
tees ; United Brothers' Lodge Xo. 356 F. & A.M.;
General Society of Mechanics and Tradesmen ;
Confectioners' and Ice Cream Manufacturers'
Protective Association ; Orphan Asylum ; the
Home for the Aged and a number of other in
stitutions. On September 6, 1869, Mr. Intemann
was married to Miss Catharine Margaretha Lange
to whom eight children have been born, viz :
Mary Margaretha, Caroline Wilhelmina, Ernst A.
G. Jr., Charles Lewis Henry, Alfred Christopher,
Agnes Henrietta, Florence Dorothea and Fred
erick William. Mr. Intemann was elected honor
ary member of the following Masonic lodges :
German Union Xo. 54; Pythagoras Lodge XTo. 86;
Goethe Lodge, Xo. 629 ; Beethoven Lodge, Xo.
661 ; Allemania Lodge, No. 740 ; Klopstock Lodge,
Xo. 760 and Solon Lodge, Xo. 771.

INDEX

Portraits and Biographical Sketches

Portrait

on
page

Abbe, Max F ." —

Ackermann, C. F — -

Amend, Bernard G 290

Amend, Otto P 290

Ams, Max Ill

Anderson, Henry A. C 108

B

Bahrenburg, Henry VV —

Balser, William 324

Barbey, Peter 323

Baruch, Emanuel 120

Beck, Carl —

Berger, Carl 270

Blank, David —

Blun, Ferdinand S. M 334

Boldt, Hermann Johannes 107

Borkel, John 214

Brandner, Benjamin L

Brunn, Julius \V

Buchsbaum, Aaron 319

C

Clausen, Charles C.

Conreid, Heinrich 163

Cordts, Frank II 219

1)

Demuth, William 151

Dennig, Rudolph C. R 214

Diefendorf, Warren T 304

Diehl, Philip 301

Dippel, Johann Andreas 285

Dittenhoefer, Abram Jesse 79

Drakenfeld, Bernard Ferdinand 188

Dressel, George C 137

Eggers, Henry 156

Ehret, George 135

Eichler, John 175

Eickemeyer, Rudolph 331

Eidlitz, 'Marc 106

Eiiner, August 293

Endemann, Henry

Endemann, Samuel Theodor Hermann Karl

Engelhard, Charles 196

Engelmann, William 344

Engler, Adolph W

Eschmann, F. W. R 332

Ewald, Louis Anton 202

F

Feldmann. Henry

Finn. Richard A 143

Foelker, Otto G. —

Fornes, Charles Vincent ' ^

Frank, Albert 191

Freundlich, Alfred 302

Frey, Joseph 253

Froeb, Charles —

Fromme, Isaac 316

G

100

Gass, Frank

Gerdau. Otto

Gieeerich. Leonard A 14^

Gillig, George •

Gillig. John George :

Goepel," Carl Frederick 172

Goertz, August 2^

Goldmann. Isaac

Goldschmidt. Henry P

Greenhut, Cantain T. B

Grill. John George'

Groll, Peter Tosenh 348

Gross, Michael C Pn

Grossman, Moses Henry 33/

Biography
on
page

235
122 **
288
291
69
200

212
324

321

275
267
352
335
203
259
247
212
318

145
122
247

109
207
305
300
284
133
189
179

161
98
110
330
97
292
189
240
173
357
223
330
207

264
157
273
149
103
322
229
263
317

217
229
104
193
193
235
157
274

92
2^4
345
140
336

II

Portrait

on
page

Haffen, Louis F 185

Haffen (Died), Mathias 355

Haffen (Pres.), John 355

Haffen, Jr. (Treas.), Mathias 355

Ilaffen (Sec'y), John M. 355

Hardenbergh, Thomas Eddy 289

Haupt, Louis

Hauser, Gustav 231

Haussling, Hon. Jacob 222

Hegner, Hermann

Heide, Henry 83

Heidritter, August '•

Heidritter, August, Jr 298

Ileidritter, Frederick L 298

Heine, A. B 74

Heinrichs, Theodore Richard 341

Heintz, Louis J. 186

Heitemeyer, Theodore Clemens 102

Helwig, Rudolph

Hering, Rudolph 286

Herold, Herman Christian Henry ... 138

Heuman, George M

Hexamer, Philip 262

Hohner, Hans '•>

Ilohner, Matthius

Holm. Charles F 227

Hornbostel, Edward

Hornfeck, Hermann Heinrich

Hottenroth, Adolph C 1 65

Hraba. Louis W

Hupfi-1, Adolph G

Hupfel, John Christian Glaser 171

1

Iden, Henry

Intemann. Ernst August George

99
129

Janssen, Henry K 182

Joseph, Frederick 160

Joseph, Herman 1 77

tuhring, lohn C

Jurgens, William B. A 310

K

Kahn, Otto H 67

Karsch, Bernard 221

Kaufmann, M.D., Jacob 325

Kempner, Otto —

Keuffel, William 101

Kiliani, Otto George Theobald

Kleinert, Albert E 249

Knopf, Dr. S. Adolphus —

Koch. Hermann

Koeble. Alphonse G 299

Kolle, Frederick Strang

Koller. Samuel

Krause. Rudolph Oscar

Kremer, M.D., Carl F 329

Kremer, Ernest

Knur, Florian

Kuder. Joseph

Kud'ich, Dr. Hans 44

Kiinstlich, Samuel II J4-

L

Laneeloth, Jacob '\

Lankering, Adolph

Lanzer, Charles O ~

Lauterbach, Edward

Lentz. Carl '«2

Leschziner, Siegfried 347

Lewinson. Benno

Lichtenstein, Paul

Loeb. E-nil 333

Loewenthal, Max -541

T.-ist^arten. Sternum! ~

Liittgen. Wralther ^94

Biography
on
page

150

288
204
251
239
229
86
295
296
295
139
341
115
146
208
288
204
244
223
161
162
236
300
189
194
243
US
115

76
358

314
179
194
280
311

75
260
327
247
149
203
208
276
248
296
211
352
267
329
352
204
305

54
342

243
184
353
128
154
346
244
211
342
341
207
292

359

360

INDEX

M

Portrait

on
page

Biography
on
page

Mack, Jacob Wolfgang 213 168

Maier, Ph.G., M.D., Otto 329 329

Mayer, David 159 116

Mennen, Gerhard II 271

Mertens, William 282 283

Metz, Herman A 88 109

Meyer, Willy 277 275

Mietz, August 136 140

Miller, August G. 220 243

Mischo, Hugo J 349 349

Mohr, Justin Fred'k William 93 82

Moser, John — 255

Nahmmacker, Charles F 351 351

Nissen, Ludwig 118 85

Nordeman M. D., Felix 278 276

O

Oberlaender, Gustav 257 358

Obermayer, Charles J 245 211

Oelkers, John B. . .". 126 158

Ordemann, Carl 232 268

Otto, John Martin 112 168

Peter, William 170 121

Peters, Carl Otto 214 207

Pfizer, Charles 73 139

Prieth, Benedict 125 158

R

Rapp, William — 351

Rappenhagen, Peter H 213 21 8

Reichhelm, Edward Paul 201 167

Reisenweber, John 228 264

Reisinger, Hugo 147 104

Renken, Frederick 326 327

Rice, Isaac Leopold 339

Riefe, John 225 235

Rinckhoff, William P 226 236

Ringe, Herman — 268

Ritterbusch, Hugo H 266 229

Rothbarth, Adolph 96 211

Ruppert, Jacob 176 121

Schaefer, John Louis 152 140

Schaefer, Rudolph J 78 127

Sehieren, Hon. Charles Adolph 59 65

Schiff, Jacob Henry 51 58

Schirmer, Charles F 200

Schmidt, Henry L 222 251

Schmidt, Philip J 242 260

Schneider, Charles 258 312

Schneider, William Francis 349 346

Schnitzler, Paul C 302 300

Schreiter, Henry 285 287

Schurz, Carl 2 A3-

Schwab. Gustav H 47 57

Seitz, Carl Emil 265 230

Seligman, Isaac N 56 62

Seligman, Joseph 55 61

Portrait

on
page

Siegel, Henry 105

Simon, Herman 307

Simon, Robert 308

Sohmer, Hugo 164

Sohmer, William 241

Speyer, James 63

Stadler, Charles A 206

Steenken, lohn Godfrey 195

Steil, George H 222

Steneck, John 261

Stern, Leopold 90

Steuer, Max David 315

Strasbourger, Samuel —

Strauss, Julius 246

Stuhr, William Sebastian 72

Sturhahn, Carl Fritz H. F —

Sulzberger, Ferdinand 197

Sulzer, Hon. William 293

Sutro, Theodore 192-213

Szussky, Henry —

Thalman, Ernst 87

Thun, Ferdinand

Timken, Herman L 254

V

Yolk, Anthony J. 216

Vom Cleff, Robert —

Von Baur-Breitenfeld, Karl 3^4

Yon Der Bruck, Charles —

Yon Glahn, Gustav 343

Yon Minden, Henry P. C 34.1

w

210

Wagner, August P

Wagner, Robert F

Wahle, Hon. Charles G. F 209

Waldenberger, Emil Y 238

Waldstein, Edward —

Walther, Carl 68

Walther, Waldemar A —

Weber, Adam \\'

Wehrenberg, George H 343

Wehrum. Charles Christian 205

Weidemann, Jacob J-4

Weil, Jonas f«

Weil, "Samuel 132

Weiler, Tohn A^-'

Welte, Emil 21 3

Wesendonck, Hutro ^

Wessell, Arthur L 234

Wessell, Fernando A 237

Wessell, Otto 233

Wicke. William ''

Windmuller, Louis ~~

Windolph. John P ] 8/

Wischmann. Hermann —

Wissner, Otto !£9

Wolfsohn, Henry

Z

Zimmermann, Moses 350

Biography
on
page

81
296
296

127
146
70
134
183
263
259
168
314
223
218
267
328
190
305
153
353

313
199

244
184
353
208
357
345

255
268
239
218
352
273
273

86
354
162
150
271
255
322
174

75
255
255
252

66

82
224
180
128
275

350

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