Biography of FRANZ ZAUMEYER FRANZ ZAUMEYER Updated: March 2020 BORN NOV 1838 DIED 7 DEC 1930 An emigrant from Bohemia who was both an Emigrated From Bohemia in accomplished Milwaukee tailor and a man with a 1865: First Zaumeyer in America mysterious past LIFE SKETCH IMMIGRANTS FROM BOHEMIA Franz was a married father of two when he emigrated alone to the United States. His wife and two boys joined him about 2 years later, settling in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The family would eventually consist of six sons and two daughters. Continued on Page 2 Franz Zaumeyer and Magdelena Grünes Zaumeyer, undated MYSTERIOUS PAST Franz was from Bohemia (present-day Czech Republic). The big mystery of his life was his ancestry. He was elusive about his family origins while alive, claiming to have been raised by his uncle, the archbishop of Prague. Further investigation shows that he was simply the illegitimate son of a young Prague woman. Franz about 1916 Franz in 1920 Continued on Page 8 Franz was trained as a VITAL STATISTICS & SOURCES tailor while growing up Key dates, locations and other facts of Franz’s in Bohemia. He ran a life are listed here, including sources, where successful tailoring shop known. in Milwaukee for 30 Continued on Page 18 years. By Brad Goodwin, [email protected]. For more about this family, please visit http://goodwincentral.org/Milwaukee-Engelhardts FRANZFRANZ ZAUMEYERZAUMEYER PAGE PAGE 2 2 A Bohemian Couple Emigrates to the New World In 1864 a young couple in the little think of a backwards, Bohemian town of Falkenau an der Eger mostly agrarian country stepped into St. James parish church at one punctuated by drab, Cold end of the town square. There they said War-era cement buildings. their vows. But in the 1860s Bohemia The groom was 26 year old Franz was at the height of its Zaumeyer. He had been raised in Prague, gilded-age glory. Its capital but now had a tailoring business in city, Prague, was a cultural Falkenau just off the main square on and architectural center. Butterscheibe Street. They lived and worked The bride, five months pregnant with in the little town of their first child, was 23 year old Magdelena Falkenau an der Eger Grünes. She came from a prosperous (often abbreviated as family that lived just 6 miles out of town. Falkenau a.d. Eger). She had been living in the nearby town of Falkenau is the German Carlsbad, Bohemia. word for “falcon,” and the town was Franz and Magdelena Grünes situated on the Eger River. Falkenau was Zaumeyer, photo undated WHERE IS BOHEMIA? part of the northwest, ethnically German Franz and Magdelena were Bohemians. Below is the old town square in part of the country, sometimes referred to Falkenau a.d. Eger today. St. Bohemia is modern-day Czechia. When as the Sudetenland. To the east were the James parish church visible at we picture the Czechia these days we often ethnic Czechs. the far end of the square By Brad Goodwin, [email protected]. For more about this family, please visit http://goodwincentral.org/Milwaukee-Engelhardts FRANZ FRANZ ZAUMEYER ZAUMEYER PAGE PAGE 3 3 If you are looking for Falkenau a.d. Unfortunately Magdelena became Falkenau a.d. Eger, a small Eger today you must look for it by the new pregnant with their second child, and it was town in the ethnically name it was given in 1918. At the end of decided that it would be unwise for her to German northwest corner WWI the borders of the Austro-Hungarian travel in her condition. So Franz left for of Bohemia, was the empire were redrawn, giving birth to, among America alone, with the plan to send for source of many Milwaukee other countries, Czechoslovakia, in which Magdelena and the children once he had emigrants, including Franz Zaumeyer. Falkenau was situated. So it was renamed established himself. It was probably also from a German name to a Czech name. On reassuring that pregnant Magdelena’s family modern maps it is called Sokolov, which is lived close by. They had a large manor Czech for “falcon.” It is about 90 miles west house and vast estate (referred to as “Schloss of Prague. Grünes” by Lawrence Zaumeyer when he visited them in 1945). Perhaps she and FRANZ LEAVES BOHEMIA Anton moved in with her parents until it was sHamburg Life was good for the Zaumeyers. time to emigrate to the United States. Bohemia had enjoyed peace for the 15 years Under cover of darkness, and with the since the end of the 1848 Revolution. Their help of one of Magdelena’s brothers, Franz first child, Anton, was born in late October, slipped across the Eger River and escaped to 1864. Hamburg on horseback, eventually making But in 1866 came the Austro-Prussian his way to America. war. Bohemia sat right in between Austria When their second son was born in Falkenau s and Prussia. Bohemian men, as part of the Falkenau in early 1867, under Grünes family Austrian empire, were conscripted for 3 pressure he was baptized with the name years of mandatory military service. Neither Matthaeus, but his name was soon changed Franz, nor his uncle who had raised him, to Maximilian, in honor of the Austria-born nor apparently, Magdelena, wanted Franz to Emperor of Mexico, and he was known as fight in this war, so the decision was made to Max for the remainder of his life. leave the old world and to start a new life in America. By Brad Goodwin, [email protected]. For more about this family, please visit http://goodwincentral.org/Milwaukee-Engelhardts FRANZ FRANZ ZAUMEYER ZAUMEYER PAGE PAGE 4 1866 map of Milwaukee ARRIVAL IN AMERICA The Zaumeyer children were all baptized shows the location of Franz arrived in the United States via ship at St. Joseph’s. Unfortunately the church no the Zaumeyer’s first home in America from Germany in 1866. When he arrived in longer stands; its location is now under a Wisconsin, he headed for Milwaukee’s thriving section of Interstate 43, the north/south community of expatriate Bohemians, Ward 9 freeway artery that runs through Milwaukee. of the city, on the west side of the Milwaukee Franz began referring to himself as River. “Frank” soon after arrival in America. I will The Falkenau area was the source of many continue to refer to him as Franz in this of Milwaukee’s emigrants in the latter half of document to avoid confusion with his son, the 19th century. One researcher found that in Frank, Jr. 1850 about 10% of the family names found in Falkenau could be found in Milwaukee city OCCUPATION directories. By 1856 the number had risen to Franz had been trained as a tailor in his youth and had been a successful tailor in Milwaukee’s historic 23%, and by 1885, 56% of the surnames found Boston store, built on in Falkenau could be found in the Milwaukee Bohemia, so it was only natural that he work as the property where city directory. Clearly Milwaukee was a a tailor in Milwaukee. Franz Zaumeyer’s popular place for Bohemians fleeing Falkenau. He was one of Milwaukee’s first tailors. By tailoring shop had been Magdelena and the two boys crossed the 1872 he had set up his own shop at the corner located Atlantic by steamship and arrived in Milwaukee of Fourth St. and Wisconsin at the end of September, 1867. Ave. He ran the business for The Zaumeyer family moved into a house over 30 years at the same on Cherry Street, around the corner from St. location, retiring in about Joseph’s German-Catholic Church. The 1905. The building no longer church was located on Cherry Street between stands as it was razed to make 11th and 12th. Most of the German-Bohemian way for the Boston Store, surnames appearing in the city directories of which is still in operation at that period were attached to homes within that site. walking distance of the church. By Brad Goodwin, [email protected]. For more about this family, please visit http://goodwincentral.org/Milwaukee-Engelhardts FRANZ FRANZ ZAUMEYER ZAUMEYER PAGE 5 GROWING FAMILY wife and two sons. He retired to Neenah, The Zaumeyer sons, about 1912. Left to right: No sooner had Magdelena joined Franz in Wisconsin. John, Louis, Anton, Milwaukee than the family began to grow Max worked at a malting company, Charles, Max, Frank, Jr. with the addition of 4 more sons and two eventually marrying and raising a family of daughters. 3 children. Charles, a clerk and grain buyer, Below is a picture raised a family of four children with his Anton 29 Oct 1864 believed to be of Hedwig wife in Milwaukee. about 1897 Maximilian 5 Feb 1867 Frank Jr., born and raised in Milwaukee, was in the clothing Charles 2 Nov 1869 business downtown. He spent 4 years in San Antonio with his wife Frank Jr. 3 Jan 1872 Christine and two small children, but Hedwig 3 Sep 1874 returned to Milwaukee. Hedwig, known as Hattie, John A. 27 Jul 1879 married Peter J. Berger, a machinist at a motorcycle company, and had Louis F. 19 Nov 1881 three children with him in Milwaukee. Magdelena 3 May 1885 John worked at a knitting works, married in his late twenties The Zaumeyer children by and large stayed and had a son at age 43. in Wisconsin. Sometime between the ages of 40 Anton was a book keeper at Pabst and 50 the family moved to Los Brewing Company for many years, with a Angeles and he worked at a chicken ranch By Brad Goodwin, [email protected].