A JOURNAL OF
GERMAN-AMERICAN HISTORY Cover: A family arriving at Ellis Island. Courtesy The National Park Service: Statue of Liberty National Monument
VOLUME XLII 1993
A JOURNAL OF GERMAN-AMERICAN HISTORY PUBLISHED BY THE SOCIETY FOR THE HISTORY OF THE GERMANS IN MARYLAND
RANDALL DONALDSON EDITOR
BALTIMORE, MARYLAND COPYRIGHT 1993 THE SOCIETY FOR THE HISTORY OF THE GERMANS IN MARYLAND P.O. Box 22585 BALTIMORE, MARYLAND 21203 ISSN: 0148-7787
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA TABLE OF CONTENTS
PAGE
EDITORIAL STATEMENT ...... 4
MEMBERS AND OFFICERS ...... 5
OFFICERS OF THE SOCIETY, 1886-1992 ...... 8
INVITATION ...... 10
FROM THE EDITOR ...... 11
A TRIBUTE TO CARRIE-MAY K. ZINTL ...... 12
A SALUTE TO THE GERMAN-AMERICAN BUSINESS ENTERPRISES OF BALTIMORE, PART II By WILLIAM H. MCCLAIN ...... 15
A SALUTE TO THE GERMAN-AMERICAN SOCIAL ORGANIZATIONS OF BALTIMORE, PART I By RANDALL DONALDSON ...... 23
THE SAVANNAH RIVER INTELLIGENTSIA: 1734-1780 By GEORGE F. JONES ...... 30
HUGO BROICH. PORTRAIT ARTIST AND PHOTOGRAPHER IN EARLY MILWAUKEE By PETER C. MERRILL ...... 39
IMPERIAL GERMAN SOCIALISM IN THE LIFE AND WORK OF UAW PRESIDENT WALTER PHILIP REUTHER By LA VERN J. RIPPLEY ...... 43 FRANKLIN DELANO ROOSEVELT AND THE GERMAN ANTI-NAZI RESISTANCE
By ARMIN MRUCK ...... 59 SAMUEL SAUR 1767-1820
GERMAN-AMERICAN PRINTER AND TYPEFOUNDER 65 By DONALD F. DURNBAUGH ......
JOHANN THOMAS SCHLEY (1712-1790): SCHOOLMASTER, MUSICIAN, AND FRAKTUR
ARTIST OF FREDERICK, MARYLAND. By KLAUS WUST ...... 81
BOOK REVIEW ...... 90 NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS ...... 92
-3- EDITORIAL BOARD
RANDALL P. DONALDSON LEROY T. HOPKINS G. KENNETH HORVATH GEORGE FENWICK JONES PETER F. JORDON LIESELOTTE E. KURTH WILLIAM H. MCCLAIN ARMIN MRUCK FREDERICK S. WEISER DANIEL F. WHITEFORD ROSEMARY WITTSTADT KLAUS WUST Editorial Policy: The Society for the History of the Germans in Maryland is dedicated to the preservation and dissemination of materials pertaining to the history of the Germans in North America, particularly the state of Maryland and the mid-Atlantic region. The Report provides a forum for the discussion of scholarly issues which are central to the Society's purpose and invites articles which deal with any aspect of the history and culture of the German element in North America, from materials which support genealogical research (the Society itself does not under- take such research) to studies which examine the sociological, historical, or literary aspects of the German-American experience. Articles which focus on the Germans in Maryland are especially welcome. Manuscripts are accepted at any time and should be directed to the editor at the address listed below. All submissions should be made in triplicate and should contain no information which identifies the author or would otherwise prevent an anonymous review of the manuscript by members of the editorial board. Authors should include a single separate sheet identifying themselves and providing other relevant information. All submissions will be read by at least two members of the editorial board. Authors will normally receive notice of the outcome of the review process within six weeks of receipt. Accepted articles will be published in the next issue, and authors can expect to see their work in print within eighteen months of the original submission. Manuscripts should be in English and follow the form suggested by the Modern Language Association. Non-English quotations should be accompanied by an English translation.
Manuscripts should be directed to:
Randall Donaldson, Editor The Report Modern Languages and Literatures Loyola College in Maryland Baltimore, MD 21210-2699
-4- MEMBERS AND OFFICERS OF THE SOCIETY FOR THE HISTORY OF THE GERMANS IN MARYLAND 1990-1992
CHARLES T. ALBERT RAYMOND A. EHRLE ALBERT M. AMMANN BARBARA EISEMAN RICHARD G. ANDERSON CLEMENT D. ERHARDT.JR. SAMUEL M. ANDRUSKO LILA M. ERHARDT JOHN J. APPEL, JR. JOHN C. EXTER, JR. MERL E. ARP DORIS L. EXTER JANE K AWALT JOHN F. FADER II ROBERT F. AWALT KATHRYN K. FADER BETTY BÄNDEL ELSA FELLNER ROBERT BAUMANN JOSEPH M. FELLNER C. RICHARD BEAM BRIGITTE V. FESSENDEN GEORGE J. BEICHL NICHOLAS B. FESSENDEN ISABEL M. BEICHL DELORIS M. FISCHER URSULA BEITTER ERNEST J. FISCHER DAVID BENSELER JOHN FLAHERTY REGINALD L. BERLIN RITA FLAHERTY BARBARA M. BEYER WILLIAM A. FOGLE, JR. O. JOHN BEYER ALLEN E. FORD LIESELOTTE H. BIEBER M. IRENE FORD RUDOLPH W. BIRNBACH ELFRIEDE G. FOWLER CHARLES BIRNSTIEL RICHARD N. FOWLER GARY BLOUGH LOUIS A. FRANZ LAURA J. BRICKER HENRY C. FREIMUTH WILLIAM T. S. BRICKER WILLY W FRÜH MARY LOUISE BROADBECK DOROTHY GALWAY LORRAINE J. BROCKMEYER JAMES A. GEDE R. ROLAND BROCKMEYER HANNA GELDRICH-LEFFMAN BRIAN W. BROOKE GERMAN GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY OF D. WILLIAM BROOKE AMERICA DANDRIDGE BROOKE ROBERT J. GERSTUNG ISOLDE BROOKE MARGOTC. GIUFFRE CHARLES E. BROOKS K. PETER GLAUBER LLOYD R. BRUCK KENNETH RALPH GLAUBER SALINA D. BRUCK MARILYN R. GLAUBER RAYMOND N. CALVERT GERTRUDE K. GOEDEKE JANICE M. CARPER M. THOMAS K. GOEDEKE WILLIAM F. CASEY CONCETTA C. GOETZINGER ROBERT E. CAZDEN RICHARD N. GOETZINGER JANE ADAMS CLARKE JOSEF GOHRING SHEILA D. COLE FRANZ X. GROLL DWIGHT COLLMUS BETTY J. GRUEL SERENE Q. COLLMUS HARRY D. GRUEL JEROME FRANCIS CONNELL, LAUS AIN SR. K H STHER AM EDWARD F. COOLEY E M. H ARVIN AM ALBERT J. CRAEMER M W. H M. A. HARPOLD DAVID A. DENISCH MARGERY W. HARRISS HARLEY D. DESHLER ILSE MOELLER HARROP C. LYNN DEWITT CHARLOTTE R. HARTMEYER EMILY NORDHOFF DICICCO CHARLOTTE F. HASSLINGER ROBERT A. DICICCO HARRY E. HASSLINGER CLAYTON A. DIETRICH ELWOOD DOUGLAS HEISLER MARGARET A. DIETRICH JOHN CHARLES HEISLER DIANA L. DODSON MAUREEN M. HELINSKI RANDALL P. DONALDSON WILLIAM M. HESSON, JR. MARTIN W. DONNER ROBERT HEYSSEL GEORGE W DRESS, JR. ORMOND D. HIGGINS DONALD F. DURNBAUGH
-5- DAVID P. HIVELY ANNE F. MOELLER PAUL F. HLUBB, JR. KARL E. MOELLER KENNETH H. HOMER, JR CHARLOTTE M. MONAGHAN LEROYT. HOPKINS RUTH B. MONTAGUE G. KENNETH HORVATH CATHERINE G. MOTZ MICHAEL R. HUBER JOHN E. MOTZ M. LOIS HUFFINES ARMIN MRUCK C. A. MUELLER THOMAS B. INSLEY, SR. THOMAS J. MURPHY III KAREN M. JOHNSON-WIENER GARY E. MYER GEORGE FENWICK JONES MARLENE E. NAEGELE PETER F. JORDAN NAOMI D. NAPER DONALD G. KAMMERER LARRY M. NEFF JANICE A. KAMMERER BETTY NIEMANN OTTO H. KAPPUS BRUNO NIEMANN DIMITRI KATSAREAS ALFRED E. OBERNBERGER BARBARA W KINGSTON DOROTHY E. OTTER WILLIAM JAMES KINGSTON HERBERT G. OTTER, SR. ELIZABETH D. KINSLEY H. J. SIEGFRIED OTTO REUBEN CLARK KINSLEY BARBEL OTTO HARRY W KLASMEIER FREDERICK P. KLAUS LAWRENCE J. PAZOVREK SUE ANN NORDHOFF KLAUS GERD H. PETRICH THOMAS E. KLUG JOHN W. PFEIFER CALVIN KERN KOBSA WALTRAUD S. PFEIFER NICHOLAS J. KOHLERMAN PHILIP E. PFEIFFER.JR. JUNE KOHLMAN JOHN POTTHAST LOUIS H. KOHLMAN CONSTANCE F. POTTHAST KATHRYN E. KOLB THEODORE J. POTTHAST.JR. STANLEY DENMEAD KOLB THEODORE J. POTTHAST, SR DAVID Koss JAMES W. POULTNEY HERTHA KROTKOFF CHERYL POWELL LIESELOTTE E. KURTH HERMINE E. PRAHL MICHAEL J. KURTZ FRANCIS W. PRAMSCHUFER M. ELLEN PRAMSCHUFER LANCASTER Co. HISTORICAL SOCIETY LIBRARY DAVID J. PRELLER, JR. DENNIS C. LANDIS DAVID J. PRELLER, SR. JOSEPH LANG NORMAN W. LAUENSTEIN HELEN L. RANGEL PETER H. LEFFMAN THOMAS REIMER RICHARD LINDENBERG GUENTER E. REINSBERG HAROLD S. LINK MARION L. REINSBERG MARYJO A. LINK WALTER A. REITER, JR. ROBERT J. LITTLE WILLIAM F. RENNER E. ELIZABETH LITZINGER VERBRAUNIA RHODES ALBERTJ. LONG LAVERN J. RIPPLEY PAUL A. LUDTKE JOHN A, ROBINSON HENRY T. ROEHL ROY MAACK NORMA ROEHL ANGELA D. MAENNER LEWIS B. ROHRBACH C. PAUL MAENNER MAY ROSWELL PAUL R. MAENNER DUTCH RUPPERSBERGER IRVINJ. MARLEY C. A. III ROBERT RUPPRECHT ARTHUR R. MASON H. MARY G. MASON GEORGE F. SANDER, JR. ANN HARDIGG MATHEWS BEATRICE E. SARLOS L. BRENT MATHEWS WILLIAM DONALD SCHAEFER WILLIAM H. MCCLAIN PAUL SCHAFER ELLEN C. MERRILL-CALVERT DIETRICH SCHAUPP ELFRIEDE M. METZLER VERNON L. SCHEFFEL MARTIN W. MILLER,JR. MARIE A. SCHEFFEL RANDALL M. MILLER LEO SCHELBERT
-6- REGINA M. SCHEYDT CHARLES L. WAECHTER AUSTIN F. SCHILDWACHTER PHILLIP WALLECH VOLKER K. SCHMEISSNER RANDALL WARD ERNESTINE SCHMIDT JOANNE G. WASSON C. EUGENE SCHMIDT ADAM WEBER JOHN GORDON SCHMIDT GLORIA WEBER Louis E. SCHMIDT FREDERICK S. WEISER WILLIAM D. SCHMIDT, SR. BOWEN P. WEISHEIT ROSE C. SCHOENEMANN MARIE E. WELLER WILLIAM M. SCHOENEMANN RALPH L. WELLER, JR. DORIS B. SCHOLTHOLT EDWIN O. WENCK WILLIAM T. SCHOLTHOLT PATRICK K. WENCK ADOLF E. SCHROEDER JOHN R. WESKE M. EVE SCHULTHEISS PAUL WEYKAMP ELSBETH M. SEEWALD CHRISTINE H. WHITE LESTER W. J. SEIFERT WILLIAM N. WHITE DOROTHEA SELETZKY DANIEL F. WHITEFORD MARGARET D. SHERMAN DOROTHY K. WHITEFORD A. RUSSELL SLAGLE LINGARD I. WHITEFORD ROBERT LEE SLINGLUFF MARGARET WIEGAND J. ELIZABETH SMITH SHIRLEY J. WIESAND WILLIAM A. SMITH, III VERNON H. WIESAND ALFRED SOHNIUS ROBERT LEE WILHELM BLANCHE M. SOHNIUS RENATE WILSON ANN F. STEIN PETER A. WINKEL CHARLES F. STEIN, HI CARL H. WINKLER JEAN R. STEIN GERARD WM. WITTSTADT GORDON STICK, IV ROSEMARY H. WITTSTADT CLAIRE V. M. STIEFF GLENN L. WITTSTADT, JR. GABRIELE STRAUCH LYNNE M. WITTSTADT JOSEPH G. STREAMER GLENN L. WITTSTADT, SR. JUNE A. STREAMER KLAUS WITTSTADT KATHERINE S. SYMINGTON MARK H. WITTSTADT EMILY WITTSTADT LOWELL S. THOMPSON I. T. GEORGE WITTSTADT DONALD E. TILLMANN HERBERT E. WITZ IRMA G. TILLMAN KLAUS WUST DON HEINRICH TOLZMANN GEORGE E. TROUT JOHN E. YOUNG, SR RUTH TROUT JOSEPH ZEBLEY JOHN N. TRUDELL CARRIE-MAY K. ZINTL H. EDWARD VINCENT WILLIAM A. VOGEL SONJA O. VOGEL ANNA K. VON SCHWERDTNER EDITH VON ZEMENSZKY GEORGE H. VON PARIS, SR. MARY M. VON PARIS
-7- OFFICERS HON. GERARD WM. WITTSTADT ...... President DR. HANNA GELDRICH-LEFFMAN ...... First Vice-President MR. CLEMENT D. ERHARDT, JR ...... Second Vice-President Miss ANNA K. von SCHWERDTNER ...... Secretary DR. RANDALL P. DONALDSON ...... Treasurer
EDITORIAL BOARD
RANDALL P. DONALDSON LEROYT. HOPKINS G. KENNETH HORVATH GEORGE FENWICKJONES PETER F.JORDON LIESELOTTE E. KURTH WILLIAM H. MCCLAIN ARMIN MRUCK FREDERICKS. WEISER DANIELE WHITEFORD ROSEMARY WITTSTADT KLAUS WUST OFFICERS OF THE SOCIETY FOR THE HISTORY OF THE GERMANS IN MARYLAND, 1886-1990 PRESIDENTS
REV. JOHN GOTTLIEB MORRIS ...... 1886-1895 PROF. E. O. von SCHWERDTNER ...... 1958-1962 REV. BENJAMIN SADTLER ...... 1896-1900 PROF. A. J. PRAHL ...... 1962-1967 LOUIS P. HENNIGHAUSEN ...... 1901-1906 PROF. HAROLD JANTZ ...... 1967-1975 DR. ERNESTJ. BECKER ...... 1907-1911 A. RUSSELLSLAGLE ...... 1975-1983 VERNONWlESAND ...... Louis P. HENNIGHAUSEN ...... 1912-1917 1983-1987 PROF. HANNA GELDRICH-LEFFMAN ...... 1987- GEORGE PRECHTEL ...... 1918-1929 THOMAS FoLEYHiSKY ...... 1930-1936 PROF. WILLIAM KURRELMEYER ...... 1937-1951 ROBERT LEE SLINGLUFF,JR ...... 1951-1956 SECOND VICE-PRESIDENTS PROF. A. E. ZUCKER ...... 1956-1962 CHARLES WEBER.JR...... 1886-1887 OTTO H. FRANKE ...... 1962-1967 PHILIP AUGUST ALBRECHT ...... 1888-1889 PROF. A. J. PRAHL ...... 1967-1970 CHARLES F. STEIN.JR...... 1971-1975 PROF. OTTO FUCHS ...... 1889-1890 PROF. HAROLDJANTZ ...... 1975-1978 REV. HENRYSCHEIB ...... 1891-1895 PROF. CARRIE-MAY KURRELMEYER ZINTL. . 1978-1987 Louis P. HENNIGHAUSEN ...... 1896-1897 VERNONWlESAND ...... 1987-1988 EDWARD F. LEYH ...... 1897-1901 HON. GERARD WM. WITTSTADT ...... 1988- PROF. OTTO FUCHS ...... 1902-1905 PROF. HENRY WOOD ..... 1906-1907 REV. FR. PH. HENNIGHAUSEN ...... 1907-1911 GEORGE PRECHTEL ...... 1912-1917 FIRST VICE-PRESIDENTS LOUIS C. SCHNEIDEREITH ...... 1918-1922 LOUIS P. HENNIGHAUSEN ...... 1886-1895 C. OTTO SCHOENRICH .. 1923-1929 REV. HENRY SCHEIB ...... 1896-1897 THEODORE G. KRUG ...... 1930-1937 Louis P. HENNIGHAUSEN ...... 1897-1900 LEWIS KURTZ ...... 1938-1951 GEORGE W. GAIL ...... 1901-1905 PROF. ARNO C. SCHIROKAUER ...... 1951-1954 PROF. OTTO FUCHS ...... 1906-1907 REV FRITZ EVERS PROF. HENRY WOOD ...... 1907-1918 . O...... 1955-1959 GEORGE PRECHTEL ...... 1912-1917 REV. EDWARD F. ENGELBERT ...... 1959-1965 PROF. HAROLDJANTZ ...... DR. ERNESTJ. BECKER ...... 1911-1917 1965-1967 CHARLES F. STEIN.JR...... HENRYG. HILKEN ...... 1918-1937 1967-1971 RUSSELLSLAGLE J. GEORGE MOHLENRICH ...... 1938-1940 A...... 1971-1975 PROF. A. E. ZUCKER ...... 1940-1956 VERNON H. WIESAND ...... 1976-1983 DR ERNEST G. SCHWIEBERT ...... 1956-1958 PROF. WILLIAM H. MCCLAIN ...... 1983-1987 CLEMENT D. ERHARDT.JR ...... 1987-
-8- TREASURERS EDWARD NIEMANN ...... 1886-1888 J. GEORGE MOHLHENRICH ...... 1926-1938 ROBERT M. ROTHER ...... 1889-1929 LEWISKURTZ ...... 1926-1938 CONRAD C. RABBE ...... 1930-1937 DR. HANS FROELICHER ...... 1929-1930 CHARLES F. STEIN, JR...... 1938-1967 CHARLESF. STEIN.JR...... 1936-1938 DR.MORGANH. PRITCHETT ...... 1967-1971 PROF. JOHN C. HEMMETER ...... 1930-1931 GORDON M. F. STICK, SR...... 1971-1978 CARL.W. PRIOR ...... 1937-1939 DANDRIDGE BROOKE ...... 1978-1983 REV.JOHNG. HACKER, S.J ...... 1938-1946 ELIZABETH LITZINGER ...... 1983-1987 DR ERNESTJ. BECKER ...... 1939-1949 PROF. RANDALL P. DONALDSON ...... 1987- R. LEESLINGLUFF.JR ...... 1939-1951 REV. FRITZ O. EVANS ...... 1942-1955 WALTERE. HEUCHELT ...... 1944-1951 SECRETARIES HERBERT W. SCHAEFER ...... 1949-1951 REV. FR. PH. HENNIGHAUSEN ...... 1886-1905 REV. EDWARD F. ENGELBERT ...... 1949-1953 J. LEONARD HOFFMAN ...... 1905-1911 PROF.AUGUSTUSJ. PRAHL ...... 1951-1956 J. CONRAD UHLIG ...... 1911-1913 WILLIAM T. SNYDER.JR ...... 1951-1981 DR.JOHANNES MATTERN ...... 1913-1917 HERBERT F. KUENNE ...... 1953-1958 ANDREW H. METTEE ...... 1918-1933 PROF. WILLIAM H. McCLAIN ...... 1955-1987 CHARLES H. MIEGEL ...... 1934-1944 KARLF. STEINMANN ...... 1956-1958 PROF. DIETER CUNZ ...... 1944-1956 PROF. O. E. VON SCHWERDTNER ...... 1956-1957 PROF. AUGUSTUSJ. PRAHL ...... 1956-1962 KARLW. SCHLITZ ...... 1957-1958 DR. MORGAN H. PRITCHETT ...... 1962-1983 PROF. HAROLD JANTZ ...... 1958-1987 DR. WILLIAM DURDEN ...... 1983-1988 A. RUSSELLSLAGLE ...... 1958-1971 ANNA K. VON SCHWERDTNER ...... 1988- KLAUS G. WUST ...... 1958- ALBERT P. BACKHAUS ...... 1962-1975 PROF. CHRISTOPH A. HERING ...... CHAIRMEN OF THE EXECUTIVE 1962-1967 HENRYK. HERGENROEDER ...... 1965-1970 COMMITTEE OTTO H. FRANKE ...... 1967-1977 DR. LEWIS H. STEINER ...... 1886-1891 PROF. WALTER KNOCHE ...... 1970-1975 EDWARD F. LEYH ...... 1892-1893 WALTER G. LOHR.SR...... 1970-1982 CHARLES F. RADDATZ ...... 1893-1901 DANDRIDGE BROOKE ...... 1975-1978 REV. EDWARD HUBER ...... 1901-1906 VERNON H. WIESAND...... 1975-1987 LOUIS P. HENNIGHAUSEN .... 1907-1911 DR. KENNETH G. HORVATH ...... 1976- KARLA. M. SCHOLTZ ...... 1912-1941 PROF. CARRIE-MAY KURRELMEYER ZINTL. . .1977-1992 CARLL. NITZE ...... 1942-1949 FREDERICK WEHRENBERG ...... 1980-1987 R LEE SLINGLUFF.JR...... 1949-1951 DR. WILLIAM DURDEN ...... 1981-1988 LEWISKURTZ ...... 1951-1954 GARYE. MYER ...... 1981- OTTO H. FRANKE ...... 1954-1962 PROF. GEORGE F. JONES ...... 1981- PROF. HAROLDJANTZ ...... 1962-1965 REV. FREDERICKS. WEISER ...... 1981- WILLIAMT. SNYDER.JR...... 1965-1981 DR.HOLGERK. HOMANN ...... 1982-1985 PROF. CARRIE-MAY KURRELMEYER ZINTI. . 1981-1988 PROF. HANNA GELDRICH-LEFFMAN ...... 1982- HON. GERARD WM.WITTSTADT ...... 1988- THEODORE POTTHAST.JR...... 1983- ELIZABETH LITZINGER ...... 1983-1987 DR. ELKE BURDEN ...... MEMBERS OF THE EXECUTIVE 1985-1988 DR. PETERJORDAN ...... COMMITTEE 1925-1990 1986-1992 PROF. RANDALL P. DONALDSON ...... 1987- C. WILLIAM SCHNEIDEREITH ...... 1925-1926 REV.H.J. SIEGFRIED OTTO ...... 1987- PROF. WILLIAM KURRELMEYER ...... 1926-1937 MR. WILLIAM N. WHITE ...... 1992- ANDREW H. METTEE ...... 1926-1929 HON. GERARD WM.WITTSTADT ...... 1988- MR. CHARLES F. STEIN, III...... 1989-
-9- AN INVITATION
What we are today, we owe in part to our ancestors. Pride of ancestry is commendable in people wherever found. It is this feeling of pride that holds people together, that causes them to cherish and record the deeds of valor and the achievements of their kin. Indeed, it was a desire to share the glory and the past greatness of one's own people which led to the formation of The Society for the History of Germans in Maryland in 1886, a society which has distinguished itself in becoming the only group of its kind to reach the hundred-year milestone. The Society's purpose is to collect and preserve material which documents the history of the influence of the German element in the growth and development of the United States of America, with particular reference to the State of Maryland. In pursuance of these purposes, the Society has published, over the years, forty-two (42) volumes of its journal entitled, The Report: A Journal of German-American History. Plans now call for the regular publication of the Society's journal. In the belief that those who receive and read this volume are interested in preserving and perpetuating the knowledge of the meritorious role that those of German heritage have played in the making of our nation and of the State of Maryland, we take the liberty of inviting your cooperation by becoming a member of the Society and/or by making a contribution to it. Once a year, the members of the Society gather for a dinner meeting. At this meeting, various activities of the Society are reported, and an outstanding historian presents a lecture on an aspect of the history of German-Americans. The annual dues are a modest fifteen ($15.00) dollars per year (for either an individual or a couple) which entitles each member to a copy of the journal when it is published (a single issue is mailed to each address). The Society is exempt from both federal and state taxes because of its purposes, and contributions made to the Society are tax deductible. So please remember the Society in your will. The following bequest form is suggested: "I bequest to The Society of the History of the Germans in Maryland, the sum of ______dollars ($ ) to be used by said corporation for the purpose for which it is incorporated." Trusting that we may have the pleasure of a favorable response to our invitation, we are,
Very respectfully,
The Executive Committee
-10- From the Editor
In 1986, the Society for the History of the Ger- all, however, this edition of the Report com- mans in Maryland marked its centennial with memorates an individual who represented the publication of Report No. 40, an issue the best of the traditions of the Society: which celebrated the long tradition of the Carrie-May K. Zintl. Many months before Society and its journal. Four years later, in anyone could have guessed that Carrie-May 1990, Report No. 41 followed with a new editor was terminally ill, Judge Wittstadt proposed to and a new look for the second century. The the Editorial Board that the next issue of the current Report, the forty-second of its kind, Report be dedicated to Dr. Zintl. The Board combines both the old and the new. The guid- agreed readily, and Dr. William McCain, ing spirit here is dynamic and contemporary. Chairman of the Editorial Board, volunteered Once again, an attempt has been made to to write the tribute. Plans were well underway make the articles more visually attractive, and when Carrie-May succumbed to cancer early hence more readable, through a revised last spring. Now its remains for us to dedicate layout and the increased use of graphic the current volume to the memory of Carrie- images. The volume itself is printed on May Kurrelmeyer Zintl (1904-1992). May the recycled paper, and each contribution went to following pages be as original, charming and the printer in electronic form. Even the arti- stimulating as the lady herself. cles themselves show a greater variety of con- cerns — from Thomas Schley, Johann Bolt- zius, and Samuel Saur to Hugo Broich, Walter Reuther and F.D.R. — than one might be Baltimore, November 1,1992 accustomed to seeing in these pages. Above Rpd
-11- A TRIBUTE TO PAST-PRESIDENT CARRIE-MAY ZINTL he members of the Editorial Board were convivial as well as stimulating occasions. Tdelighted when our President, Judge Witt- When Carrie-May became President of the stadt, proposed that the Society for the History Society in 1978 she was following in the foot- of the Germans in Maryland dedicate The steps of her father, Professor William Kurrel- Report 42 to Past-President Carrie-May Zintl. meyer, who served as President of the Society One can think of many reasons why this from 1937 to 1951. We remember him as the honor is appropriate. Carrie-May was unique President during whose tenure the Society not among us as the first female elected to mem- only resumed publication of The Report, after bership in the Society, the first female to be a hiatus of ten years, but also sponsored Pro- elected to membership on the Executive fessor Dieter Cunz's carefully researched and Committee, and also the Society's first female elegantly written History of the Germans in President. The main reason for honoring her, Maryland. however, is her unstinting service to the While Professor Kurrelmeyer was serving Society over the years. Many of us remember as Chairman of the Hopkins Department of the meetings she chaired during her tenure as German and as Editor of Modern Language President, especially our festive centennial Notes, Carrie-May came to know many celebration in 1986. Thanks to her admirable members of the Hopkins faculty and most of organizational abilities, her unfailing sense the prominent members of the German- of humor, and her special warmth, the meet- American community. Among the frequent ings she planned and organized were always visitors to the Kurrelmeyer home on Linden
Carrie-May with Hopkins Presedent William C. Richardson as she received the President's Medal, May 2, 1991 Courtesy Jay van Rennselear The Johns Hopkins University
-12- Avenue were Pastor and Mrs. Julius Hofmann education in Baltimore schools and her B.A. and their children, Mr. and Mrs. Gustav from Goucher College. After having received Strube and their two daughters, and the Hop- her bachelor's degree she obtained an M.A. kins Assyriologist Paul Haupt. When the degree in Latin American history at the Uni- Modern Language Association was meeting versity of Pennsylvania and continued her in Washington, Philadelphia or New York, graduate studies at the University of London. colleagues en route to and from the meetings While studying in England she met and later regularly stopped off in Baltimore to visit the married John James Pearce. She still resides Kurrelmeyers. Some were house guests. in England. Deborah, the elder of her two Carrie-May accordingly had many warm daughters, made Carrie-May three times a memories of dinner parties in the house on great-grandmother, and she was very proud Linden Avenue, of musicales with her mother of her handsome little great-grandsons. at the piano, and also of early meetings of the Carrie-May began her teaching career as Maryland Goethe Society which were held in Assistant Professor of Classics and German at the Kurrelmeyer home. Wilson College in Chambersburg, Pennsyl- Carrie-May was graduated from Western vania. Her second post was as Professor of High School on May 31, 1920, at age fifteen. In German and Classical Mythology at Mount those days a high school diploma entitled one Saint Agnes College. When Mount Saint to teach as a substitute in the Baltimore City Agnes united with Loyola College in 1971 schools. Carrie-May was thus able to begin Carrie-May became a member of the Loyola her teaching career three days after her grad- faculty and taught classical mythology there uation by working as a substitute. Throughout for two years. After her retirement from Loy- her four years at Goucher she continued to ola she joined the faculty of Johns Hopkins offer her services as a substitute whenever her University as a lecturer in Greek and Roman academic schedule allowed. In the fall of 1924 mythology and taught there until 1987. she began graduate work in Classics at Hop- Over the years Carrie-May devoted a great kins. The following year she took a leave of deal of time to community service. While absence to study abroad, spending the spring Erika was attending Public School No. 14 semester of 1925 at the University of Munich, Carrie-May was President of the P.T.A. During the winter semester 1925-26 at the University World War II she was a Block Captain for of Vienna, and the spring semester of 1926 at Civilian Mobilization and also served as Rat the University of Leipzig. She passed her Warden. A lighter moment in those days was board oral examination and received her doc- an episode which occurred one day when her torate in Classics in the spring of 1929. father was alone in the Linden Avenue house. 1929 was also the year of Carrie-May's mar- Hearing the doorbell, Professor Kurrelmeyer riage. In the spring of that year her fiancé, went to the door, and when he opened it he Ernst Zintl of Marienbad, had also completed saw a child standing on the steps. The child his work for the doctorate in biochemistry at informed him that he had come to report on the University of Prague. In December the two rats in the apartment building in which he were married in Baltimore. After the wedding lived. It just about broke up her father, Carrie- they left for Marienbad, where, as Carrie-May May said, when the child asked, "Does the rat used to put it, she was "to live and to be the lady live here?" junge Frau in Haus Paracelsus," the Zintl For many years Carrie-May gave gener- family residence. ously of her time to the German-American On July 16, 1931, Erika Margarete Zintl was organizations of Baltimore. She was Treas- born. Joy over the new arrival was soon fol- urer, Secretary, and finally President of the lowed by grief, for Ernst Zintl died shortly American Goethe Society of Maryland. As the after his daughter's birth. In September, 1932, successor of Dr. Otto Ortmann she also pre- the young widow returned to Baltimore with sided for several years over the annual meet- her parents and Erika. Like her mother, Erika ings of the Julius Hofmann Memorial Fund, Zintl received her elementary and secondary which had been established to encourage the
-13- study of German in the schools and colleges It is little wonder, therefore, that you came of Baltimore City and the State of Maryland. to Johns Hopkins for your own Ph.D. in the Until shortly before her death, she also classics following your undergraduate studies at Goucher. You spent a year teaching at Wil- chaired the annual sessions of the Scholar- son College in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, ship Committee of the German Society of before returning to Baltimore, where you Maryland which distributes to worthy Mary- taught at Goucher and then at Mount Saint land college students of German-American Agnes College. When Mount Saint Agnes ancestry the funds which the German Society closed in 1971 and many of its faculty were integrated into Loyola College, you assumed a provides for scholarship aid. In 1971, the dual role, teaching both at Loyola and at German Society expressed its gratitude for Johns Hopkins. Carrie-May's work by awarding her its medal Your service at Hopkins continued until for distinguished service. She was at the time your retirement in 1988. Your well regulated the only living female member of the society seminars in classical mythologies and your to have received this honor. end-of-the-term parties are now a part of the rich traditions and history of this university. Carrie-May was honored three times by Dr. Carrie-May Zintl, in recognition of your Johns Hopkins. A framed citation of appreci- many distinctive contributions to this institu- ation from the Hopkins Alumni Association tion, and in celebration of your full and hung in her living room in the Carrollton. On exemplary life in scholarship and teaching, her mother's Steinway stood a silver bowl the Johns Hopkins University is proud to award you the President's Medal. which the Hopkins Administration presented William C. Richardson to her on the occasion of her retirement from President the university in 1988. On May 2, 1991, she was honored for the third time when the Presi- Toward the close of her acceptance speech dent of the University, Dr. William C. Richard- Carrie-May said that she could not help son, awarded her the President's Medal at a wondering what the deceased members of luncheon in Nichols House. After the investi- her once extensive family might say, if they ture Dr. Richardson read the following cita- could see her standing there in Nichols tion which beautifully summarizes Carrie- House after having just received one of Hop- May's long academic career: kins' highest honors. President Richardson expressed the feelings of all present when he Classical scholar, faithful teacher, and lover of answered, quite simply, "They would say they books, you have been a lifelong friend and loyal supporter of the Johns Hopkins were very proud." All of us who knew and University. worked with Carrie-May were also proud. We You learned your devotion to Johns Hop- are happy, too, that by dedicating to her The kins from your father, Dr. William Kurrel- Report 42 we can also express our esteem and meyer, an eminent Germanist who received our warm gratitude for her service to our his B.A. and Ph.D. degrees from this university Society. and served on the faculty until his retirement as professor emeritus in 1944. William H. McClain Chairman of the Editorial Board
-14- SALUTE TO THE GERMAN-AMERICAN ENTERPRISES AND INSTITUTIONS OF BALTIMORE: PART II by William H. McClain n this issue of the Report the Society for the Francis to establish in the City of Baltimore a I History of the Germans in Maryland hospital "for the reception and medical salutes Von Paris Moving and Storage, a treatment of the sick, distressed, and feeble." prominent Maryland business with German Reverend Joseph Clauß, one of the three pri- roots, and two of Baltimore's Catholic institu- ests on the Board of Directors,2 persuaded his tions, Saint Joseph Hospital and the College fellow board members to name the new hos- of Notre Dame of Maryland, both of which pital after his patron saint, Saint Joseph. The owe their beginnings to the vision, dedica- Board also decided that since the sisters who tion, and tireless efforts of small groups of would manage the new hospital and provide German nuns. We thank both institutions and all nursing care were German nuns who said the Von Paris family for sharing with us the their prayers in German it was appropriate archival materials on their German origins. that it be called Saint Joseph German Hospital. ST. JOSEPH'S HOSPITAL The first patients were admitted to Saint The institution that later became Saint Joseph German Hospital in 1872, and soon it Joseph Hospital came into being in Novem- had become one of the city's busiest health ber, 1864, when a civic-minded Baltimorean care providers.3 The work load was further named Catherine Eberhard donated to increased when, in 1891, the United States Mother Mary Agnes of the newly established Government designated Saint Joseph Ger- Third Order of the Sisters of Saint Francis of man Hospital as the center for the care of all 1 Philadelphia three two-story houses in the sick or wounded sailors entering the port of 100 block of North Caroline Street for use as a Baltimore. The hospital continued to serve in hospital. By working diligently, Mother Mary this latter capacity until the Marine Hospital Agnes and the two members of her congrega- opened its doors in 1887. tion who had accompanied her to Baltimore Until the turn of the century the Sisters of were able to receive their first patients early in Saint Francis administered Saint Joseph 1865. Since the three houses were located in a German Hospital and provided all nursing section of Baltimore where many German- care. From 1901 on, welcome assistance Americans resided, the new hospital filled became available from the members of the important needs in the German community Women's Auxiliary, but the shortage of nurses as well as in the city as a whole and soon had was ultimately relieved only when the school more patients than it could handle in the of nursing established in 1901 began turning cramped space in which the sisters had to out nurses. The first graduation exercises work. In 1867, the Board of Trustees, consist- were held, according to the records of Sister ing of six lay members and three priests, drew Mary Zita, Treasurer of the Hospital, in the up plans for a larger and better equipped new hall on Oliver Street on December 6, facility. Land was acquired on Hoffmann and 1904. The five diplomas awarded at the Caroline and Spring and Oliver Streets from ceremony were presented by Cardinal Noah Walker in 1869, according to the hospi- Gibbon. tal's archives, and ground was broken soon Saint Joseph Hospital kept its German after that. The corner stone was laid in 1871 by identity until the United States declared war the Very Reverend A. B. Coskey, Vicar on Germany in 1917. Anti-German attitudes General of the Archdiocese of Baltimore. The propagated at that time by radical patriotic year before, an act of incorporation had been groups finally convinced the Board of Direc- drawn up authorizing the Sisters of Saint
-15- tors of the hospital that as a matter of expe- also one of the most progressive of America's diency the word "German" should be Catholic liberal arts colleges for women. It dropped from the hospital's name. This was can also boast of having been the first done on February 22, 1918.4 Catholic college to offer, from 1895 on, a four- During the post-war years and on into the year program of liberal arts studies designed 1950's Saint Joseph Hospital continued to to prepare Catholic young women for gradu- provide excellent medical care. By 1950, how- ate study. Today, it is difficult to believe that ever, it had become evident that the plant was this thriving institution was born, as the Rever- antiquated. A crisis arose in 1955 when the end Charles A. Hart recalls in his address on hospital was denied a license because certain the occasion of the college's golden jubilee in parts of the Caroline Street building failed to 1945, "of the boundless energy of a small satisfy current Fire Department regulations.5 band of immigrant religious teachers who To deal with the emergency a special lay never faltered in their desire to bring to their board was appointed. Thanks to the board's students the highest and the best that Catholic 7 efforts the fire hazard was eliminated and institutions could offer." other improvements were also made. It was The immigrant teachers to whom Father apparent, however, that the real need was for Hart refers were German nuns who belonged a new building. A search committee was given to a religious community originally founded the task of finding a suitable site and eventu- in 1598 in Mattaincourt, France, by Father ally recommended the present site in Balti- Pierre Fourier, who was later canonized. more County. Ground was broken on March Father Fourier's hope in instituting the com- 18, 1963,6 and soon the new Saint Joseph Hos- munity was that the new order, by making pital was ready to admit patients and also to available to young women of all social classes provide a wide range of medical services the kind of education that would prepare which had been impossible in the old plant. them for their later role as spiritual guides in The centennial of the hospital was celebrated their respective families, might be able to help in the new building in 1971. counteract the wave of heresy then sweeping Over the years the physicians of Saint over France. The congregation, which be- Joseph have pioneered many programs in came known as the Poor Sisters of Notre various medical fields. Among the most Dame because the sisters so rigidly observed recent is an innovative three-dimensional the vow of poverty, spread during the two straightening process which helps to give centuries following its foundation to various both greater mobility and a more normal parts of France and also into Germany. One appearance to individuals afflicted with scoli- of the German convents was situated in the osis. This straightening process represents City of Stadtamhof on the Danube River in only a part of the comprehensive orthopedic the diocese of the Bishop of Regensburg. In program at Saint Joseph Hospital, which the school in Stadtamhof which the Sisters of includes the world-renowned treatments Notre Dame administered one of the pupils developed at the Center for skeletal Dysplasia was a young girl named Karolina Gerhardin- for patients suffering from dwarfism. Such ger, the only daughter of Willibald Gerhar- programs amply demonstrate the progressive dinger, a shipmaster on the Danube and a and scientific expertise of the medical staff. prominent member of the shipmasters' guild. They also offer proof, however, that the Karolina was bright and liked going to school strong sense of social service and the special and was keenly disappointed when the decree concern for the disadvantaged which inspired ordering the closing of all religious schools in the first nursing staff of German nuns to Bavaria ended her school-days in 1809. This devote their lives to caring for the sick and the decree, which implemented in Bavaria the distressed are still very much alive there. policy of secularizing ecclesiastical property initiated in France during the Revolution and The College of Notre Dame of Maryland extended to German states by the Treaty of The College of Notre Dame of Maryland Lunéville, resulted in almost total suppression enjoys the distinction of being the oldest, and
-16- of Catholic educational institutions at all lev- For a number of reasons, not least of which els and accordingly caused great hardships. was the difficulty of attracting there the kind Father Michael Wittmann, who supervised of recruits the congregation needed, Neun- Catholic education in the diocese of Regens- burg vorm Wald proved to have been an burg, was disconsolate when the Sisters of unfortunate choice for the first motherhouse. Notre Dame were obliged to close their It accordingly seemed almost an act of Provi- schools and at once began to consider possi- dence when the Archbishop of Munich ble ways of reopening the schools so that the invited her to bring her community to the girls in his diocese could continue to receive Bavarian capital. She at once accepted the the kind of liberal education which would invitation and was delighted by the generous prepare them for their future role as manag- offer of King Ludwig I. to finance the remod- ers of Catholic households. The solution he eling of the convent which the Archbishop finally hit upon was a rather daring one: he had offered to Sister Theresa. proposed to Karolina and two of her able In Munich the community flourished, for young friends to allow themselves to be the sisters' services were much needed there. trained by a master teacher so that they might Soon the sisters were active in many areas of learn the pedagogical skills which would ena- educational endeavor and were also render- ble them to take over the teaching duties for- ing social services of various kinds, such as merly fulfilled by the departed sisters. The operating day-care centers, looking after girls willingly accepted the challenge and set children in orphanages, assisting in the reha- to work. At age fifteen Karolina had attained a bilitation of wayward youngsters, and even sufficient level of pedagogical skill to qualify running technical and vocational schools. for a government certificate authorizing her Always alert to new educational trends, the to teach. Not long after that she decided to sisters tested all new ideas, adopting what become a nun. Father Wittmann, who in the seemed useful and fruitful. interim had become Bishop of Regensburg, Word of the School Sisters' work in Munich told Karolina at that point about his idea of spread rapidly. Soon calls were coming in reconstituting the Order of the School Sisters from other cities. Twenty years after the estab- of Notre Dame as the kind of community lishment of the first convent in Neunburg envisioned two centuries earlier by Pierre vorm Wald the community had fifty-two Fourier: a congregation of teaching sisters houses in Bavaria, and communities had also who would not be confined to a convent, but been established in Württemberg, Westphalia, would go out into the world, thus making Silesia, Bohemia, and Austria. Young women education available even to those living in were continually joining the community, but remote rural areas. When the Bavarian gov- Sister Theresa soon found it impossible even ernment permitted the reopening of convents so to fill the many requests for sisters. In 1841 run by nursing or teaching sisters, Bishop she wrote, "More than forty school districts Wittmann at once took steps to realize his have recently asked for sisters, and we have to plan and enlisted the aid of Karolina, who put them off indefinitely." had taken the name Theresa of Jesus at the In spite of the continual calls for sisters in time of professing her final vows. Sister Germany and Austria, Sister Theresa was will- Theresa later became the head of the first ing to help when a call came from the community of School Sisters, which was estab- Redemptorist Fathers in New York. In 1847, lished in 1833 in Neunburg vorm Wald, a accompanied by five members of her congre- small city about forty-five kilometers north- gation, she set sail for the United States, again east of Regensburg. The educational director with the financial support of King Ludwig I., of the new convent was Reverend Matthias who even had his personal physician prepare Siegert, whom Bishop Wittmann had com- a medical kit for use during the voyage. missioned to study the pedagogical ideas Disappointment was in store for the sisters of the Swiss educator, Johann Heinrich when they arrived in New York. For after hav- Pestalozzi. ing sent for them, the Redemptorist Fathers
-17- had realized that the community to which When Sister Theresa had finished the task they had planned to send the sisters, the of staffing and organizing the three German remote German settlement of St. Marys in the parish schools she hoped that before her forests of western Pennsylvania, was not a return to Munich she would have an oppor- suitable place to start a motherhouse and a tunity to see other parts of this vast mission school. A letter explaining the decision to country. She was accordingly only too happy abandon the St. Marys project had been sent to accept Father Neumann's invitation to to Munich, but Sister Theresa had not accompany him on a visitation tour of some of received it. Having no mission for the sisters, the northern and western states to which he the Fathers suggested that they return to hoped to extend the Redemptorists' mission- Germany. Sister Theresa, however, convinced ary work. Thanks to this tour, which took five that God had called her to the New World to weeks and in the course of which Father do important work, decided instead to set out Neumann and his party covered five hundred on her own for St. Marys. During the long miles by ox-cart, steamboat, and various journey by ox-cart one of the sisters died, but horse-drawn vehicles, Sister Theresa ac- with the others Sister Theresa finally arrived quired first-hand experience of some of at her destination. The little German com- America's remoter areas which enabled her munity gave the sisters a warm welcome, put a to map out several future projects for her log-house at their disposal for use as a con- sisters. vent, and had soon erected for them a one- Because of the turbulent political situation room school next to the convent. Shortly after in Europe sister Theresa received urgent their arrival the sisters were thus able to begin messages to return to Munich in early 1848. teaching. She finally departed in July, but not before Since St. Marys was in the diocese of Pitts- she had set up an orphanage for abandoned burgh, Sister Theresa decided to pay the German children in Baltimore which was Bishop a visit. The Bishop received her coolly later known as St. Anthony's Orphanage. To because she had come into the diocese with- the sister who had accompanied her on the out an official invitation and with not letter of visitation tour with Father Neumann, Sister reference from the Archbishop of Munich. Karoline Friess, one of her original compan- He nevertheless permitted the sisters to con- ions from Munich, she entrusted the respon- tinue their missionary work in St. Marys, but sibility of supervising the three German par- with evident reluctance. ish schools and also of directing all future A way out of this strained situation educational enterprises of the School Sisters presented itself opportunely when the Arch- of Notre Dame on the North American bishop of Baltimore, at the suggestion for continent. Father Neumann, then Provincial of the The schools which Sister Theresa had so Redemptorists in America, invited Sister ably organized and staffed continued to flour- Theresa to come to Baltimore to take charge ish after her departure, and soon pupils of instruction in the German schools run by began to come to the sisters in their convent three churches, St. Michael's, St. James's, and on Aisquith Street. The school which they St. Alphonsus, all three of which were staffed established there later became the Institute of by Redemptorist priests. Father Neumann Notre Dame when the new building was com- also offered Sister Theresa the opportunity to pleted in 1863. In the early records of the acquire for use as a motherhouse the Institute one reads that "the happy years Redemptorist novitiate house adjacent to St. quickly passed, bringing prosperity to the James Church. Sister Theresa wrote at once to school, until every attic room had its occu- Munich to request funds for the purchase of pant." Soon the sisters realized that in order the novitiate house and to ask for additional to be able to accommodate their numerous missionaries to assist with instruction in the pupils they would have to have additional three German schools. Both requests were space. Attempts were made to purchase granted. neighboring property, but land values had by
-18- then become so high that the idea of adding number more than seven thousand sisters on the Aisquith Street school had to be who live and work in twenty-one provinces in abandoned. Europe and North and South America. In the spring of 1871 the sisters acquired a Although the community is now world-wide, property on North Charles Street and con- the spirit of oneness, which has from the tracted to have a building erected on that site. beginning united its members, is still strong, The new building, called The Collegiate Insti- thanks to the work of the Generalate in Rome. tute, opened in 1873 with Mother Mary Bar- The sisters' sense of oneness enabled the bara Weinzierl, one of the original group of community to survive the Kulturkampf in the sisters from Munich, and Sister Ildephonsa as 1880's and also the two great international spiritual and educational directors. Mother conflicts of our century. One of the most mov- Theophila Bauer, the second Provincial of ing examples of the spirit of unity which has the School Sisters, established the mother- always united the sisters is without doubt the house on the campus of the Collegiate Insti- telegram from the Commissary General in tute in a small building called Montrose. The Milwaukee to the Superior General in third Provincial, however, Mother Clara Munich at the end of World War II, transmit- Heuck, protesting that North Charles Street ting the simple, but infinitely reassuring mes- was "too far away from the city," moved the sage: "Wir bleiben treu. Fidelis." motherhouse back to the Institute on Aisquith VON PARIS MOVING AND STORAGE Street. To help Catholic young women prepare for The founder of the B. von Paris Moving the new role that women were beginning to and Storage Company, one of Baltimore's play in American life during the waning years oldest and most successful German-American of the nineteenth century, the School Sisters business enterprises, was Eligius von Paris, a of Notre Dame established on the Charles young Hessian who had emigrated from Street campus in the last decade of the century Germany to the United States in 1875. Like a four-year liberal arts college for Catholic many of his recently arrived compatriots, he women which was the first of its kind in the settled in East Baltimore, where he soon United States. The new institution was char- found work in one of the breweries that supp- tered in 1895 as the College of Notre Dame of lied beer to amusement parks and picnic Maryland and held its first commencement grounds in those days. A leader rather than a exercises in 1899. follower, he was busy before long as an organ- For the next six decades elementary and izer of the Brewery Workers Guild, of which secondary school pupils as well as college he later became president. Eager to have a students came daily to the Charles Street business of his own and quick to size up busi- campus. In 1959, however, the School Sisters ness opportunities, he saw early on that he decided that a new school should be built on could establish a profitable business by pro- another site for the elementary and second- viding moving and hauling services to brewer ary school pupils. The institution which came families and other families moving from one into existence as a result of this plan was residence to another and by offering a carting Notre Dame Preparatory School on Hampton service to contractors in need of help in get- Lane. ting their materials to building sites. Early in The year 1959 was also marked by another 1892 he decided to take the plunge. With his event of moment for the college and prepara- wife's approval he gave up his job at the brew- tory school. On January 31 of that year the ery and with his savings bought a team of validity of the process of beautification of the horses, two dump-carts, and a double team foundress, who not long after her return to wagon and started a moving and hauling bus- Munich had finally been accorded the title iness in his residence at 3325 Foster Avenue. "Mother," was proclaimed in Rome. Income from moving household goods was Today, the members of the congregation at first sporadic, but cart-contracting proved which Mother Theresa helped to establish profitable. For a time, von Paris's main work
-19- was hauling clay for brick-yards and building found a larger property in the 400 block of materials for contractors, and, in winter, First Street, later known as Highland Avenue, transporting ice from ponds and streams to which seemed suitable and which with the brewery cellars for year-round refrigeration. help of a small loan from his father he was In 1894, von Paris's eldest son, Bonaventure, able to acquire. Until his marriage in 1909 he left school at age twelve to help his father, continued to operate the business out of the making the business a family enterprize. Foster Avenue location; but when he and his Movement of household goods gradually wife Theresa went to housekeeping, B. E. von displaced cart-contracting over the next Paris, Jr. writes in the family chronicle which decade and finally became the chief activity. he prepared in 1982 to commemorate the Bonaventure von Paris, who had meanwhile firm's ninetieth anniversary, Bonaventure become practically a partner and who like his "transferred the hauling shingle" to the First father was forward-looking, decided that the Street property. family business, while progressing nicely, The main building on the First Street prop- could be made much more profitable, if he erty had three stories, one of which had been and his father could learn the latest methods occupied by a bar. By converting this area into and techniques of moving and hauling. To a warehouse Bonaventure von Paris was in a familiarize himself with these, Bonaventure position to offer his clients storage facilities. set out for New York in 1905, with his father's The firm thus became at this point a moving blessing and took a job there with one of the and storage business. Both the business and more up-to-date moving and storage firms, Bonaventure's family flourished in the new learning while he worked the various ways in location. "All told," B. E. von Paris reports in which the firm had increased the efficiency of his chronicle, "nine sons and daughters, its moving and storage operations. Fortified many of whom were still owners and opera- with his new knowledge, he returned to Bal- tors of the family business in 1982, came into timore to apply to the family business the the world in the Highland Avenue house." methods and techniques he had been able to The firm's steady growth in terms of busi- observe in New York. ness volume between 1912 and 1914 eventually An important test of the von Paris Com- obliged Bonaventure von Paris to build a new pany's strength and resourcefulness was a warehouse, purchase additional horses, and contract-offer in 1907 for a long-distance put another wagon into service. In 1915 the move from Baltimore to the District of firm acquired its first motor van, which Balti- Columbia. The successful execution of this moreans called "the house on wheels," and move, which involved two wagon loads with which was one of the most popular exhibits at double teams and required two full days, con- the 1915 Automobile Show. The acquisition of vinced father and son that the firm had this vehicle marked the beginning of the reached the point of being able to compete motorization of the von Paris company. By successfully in the new and challenging field the end of 1919 the firm had disposed of all of of long-distance hauling. its horses and wagons. Eligius von Paris's health having begun to Between 1915 and 1919 the von Paris Com- fail at this point, Bonaventure von Paris was pany pioneered long-distance moving in the obliged to assume an ever larger share of the Middle Atlantic States, a venture which posed responsibility for managing and operating a formidable challenge even to a firm with the business. With his greater responsibilities, up-to-date equipment, for, as B. E. von Paris of course, came also the chance to test out recalls in his chronicle, "Route 1 was bad, the some of his own ideas concerning the future Philadelphia Road was a gravel and mud course of a firm such as theirs. Steady growth heap, and Route 40 had not even been in volume had already made it clear that thought of at that time." In spite of handicaps expansion beyond the limited Foster Avenue such as frequently being stuck in the mud, space was essential. After having explored the however, the von Paris vans managed to get to various possibilities, Bonaventure von Paris their destinations, completing deliveries at
-20- times even in places where roads were practi- the Interstate Commerce Commission in 1951 cally non-existent. for an extension of authority which would Investment losses, coupled with the hope of enable the firm to expand its services into the establishing a profitable real-estate enter- Midwest. Again moving with the trends of the prize near the farm which the family had times, the Company developed in the 1950's meanwhile acquired as a summer home, facilities for large office moving and was soon almost persuaded Bonaventure von Paris to in the forefront of firms specializing in this abandon the moving and storage business in kind of service. Also with an eye to the future the early 1920's. After three unsuccessful the firm applied in 1956 to the Civil Aeronau- attempts to divest himself of the moving and tics Board for a Certificate of Public Conven- storage operation, however, he decided to ience and Necessity as a forwarder of air- keep the business. He also decided against freight. When this certificate was awarded the further expansion at that point so that he company was able to offer speedy service to could continue to offer his clients the kind of any point in the world capable of handling personalized service in which he so strongly air-freight. believed and also have more time to be with In those years of dynamic development his family. another milestone was the acquisition of an During the late 1920's and early 1930's four important competitive enterprize which for of Bonaventure von Paris's five sons and four several years had been an agency of North of his daughters entered the business, his American Van Lines. The merger was thus sons starting out by working in the ware- not only a major expansion, but also made house, then helping with the vans, and finally possible a new role for the von Paris Com- becoming drivers, while his four daughters pany as an agency of North American Van assisted in various ways with the office work. Lines. To lighten the burden of additional The depression of 1929 "struck the business responsibilities entailed by the merger and and family with all the force of a typhoon," the affiliation with North American Van Lines B. E. von Paris recalls in his chronicle, and the Board of Directors decided to divide all everyone had to work long hours and accept operational responsibilities among the four privations in order to keep the business from von Paris brothers on the Board. Each, going under. Conditions improved during the accordingly, assumed the presidency of one middle and late 1930's, and the four sons who of the four corporate entities into which the had entered the firm — Bonaventure, Jr., company had earlier been divided, with William, Joseph, and George — decided, at George H. von Paris serving as President of different times, to make a career of the busi- the parent company. ness and eventually became involved in the Until the mid-1960's the von Paris company management of its various operations. operated out of four different locations — on During World War II Bonaventure, Jr. and Highland Avenue, Erdman Avenue, Haven William served in North Africa and Italy; Street, and Parole outside of Annapolis. By Joseph saw action in New Guinea and the that time, all warehouses were at nearly 100% South Pacific; while George did his tour of of capacity. To provide the sorely needed duty on Attu in the Aleutians. Fortunately all additional storage space the company leased came back. In 1947 the firm was incorporated early in 1965 a 16,000 square foot warehouse as the B. von Paris and Sons Moving and at 1920 York Road in Timonium. All went well Storage Company with Bonaventure, Sr. as for a while. Then, in the spring of 1968, came Chairman of the Board, Bonaventure, Jr. as the announcement that North American Van President and General Manager, William G. Lines had been acquired by Pepsico. For the and Joseph as Vice-Presidents, and George H. von Paris Company the merger marked the as Secretary of the Board. beginning of a long period of frustrations and Growing demand for long-distance and problems resulting in the main from the fre- worldwide moving services after World War II quent turnovers in executives and manage- prompted the von Paris Company to apply to ment personnel at Pepsico's Fort Wayne
-21- headquarters and from what B. E. von Paris von Paris, Jr., points out in his chronicle, characterizes in his chronicle as "the philos- "brought the company successfully out of the ophy of operating a van line like a food and Gay Nineties through many eras into the beverage business." The problems with Pep- Space Age," the principles of service, courtesy, sico were not finally resolved until the mid- and customer satisfaction. 1970's when Pepsico at long last appointed to the presidency of North American Van Lines NOTES an executive experienced in running a 1The Third Order of he Sisters of Saint Francis was household goods moving operation and capa- founded in 1855 in Philadelphia at the instigation of the ble of empathizing with the agents and their Venerable John Nepomucene Neumann, then Bishop of problems. Philadelphia. The first Superior General was Reverend Mother Mary Francis Bachmann, a native of Bavaria, In the fall of 1970 the von Paris Company whose maiden name was Anna Boll. At twenty-two Anna transferred all of its East Baltimore opera- Boll married Anton Bachmann and subsequently emi- tions to the spacious new quarters on York grated with him from Germany to the United States. The Road in Timonium. Consolidation and the couple settled in Philadelphia and were members there attendant restructuring helped to sharpen the of St. Peter's Catholic Church, which at that time had a predominantly German-speaking congregation. The firm's competitive edge, as did the leadership, Bachmanns had four children, three of whom later took creativity, wisdom, and productivity of the holy orders. After the death of her husband, Anna family members and the other able individu- Bachmann became a nun. als who became members of the Board of 2Reverend Clauß was Rector of St. Michael's Church. Directors at various times during the 1970's. The other two priests on the Board of Directors were the Reverend Kleineidam, Rector of St. Alphonsus Church, A unique opportunity for further expan- and a priest from St. James Church. All three priests were sion arose in 1975 when North American Van members of the Redemptorist Congregation (CSSR), Lines publicized its decision to divest itself of founded in 1732 in Naples by Alfonso de'Liguori, who its company stores. Among these was its was later canonized as St. Alphonsus of Liguori. The profitable Potomac service and warehouse Redemptorists were active in the field of education and also provided social services, even ministering to prison- facility for which it was willing to offer the von ers. The Redemptorists of German origin in the United Paris Company first acquisition rights. The States supervised instruction in German parish schools in price was high, but the acquisition of an outlet addition to ministering spiritually to their German- in the busy Washington metropolitan area American parishioners. enabled the company to realize what B. E. von 3Sister M. Pierre, O.S.F., offers an account of the hospi- Paris describes in his chronicle as "the great- tal's first one hundred years in an article entitled "History of Saint Joseph's Hospital," Maryland State Medical Jour- est growth in our history." nal, Vol. 6 (July 1957), pp. 333-336. From B. E. von Paris, Jr.'s chronicle of the 4Dieter Cunz reviews major problems confronted by family history it is clear that the von Paris German-Americans and German-American institutions Company owes its continuing success in the and organization from 1917 on in The Maryland Germans main to the ability of its managerial staff to (Princeton, N. J.: Princeton University Press, 1948), pp. 395 ff. couple innovativeness with reliability. Never 5Sister M. Pierre discusses the crisis and its eventual content to rest on its laurels, the company has resolution in "Saint Joseph's Hospital Looks Ahead," always striven to offer top quality service, and Maryland Medical Journal, Vol. 9 (April 1960), pp. 178-179. it has been able to do so because its managers 6As reported in the Baltimore Sun, March 19, 1963. 7 have always known that perfection requires Charles A. Hart, "The Concept of a Catholic Liberal attention to detail. They have also known that Arts College," in Fifty Golden Years: A Series of Lectures on the Liberal Arts College, commemorating the Golden Jubilee caring about customers also means caring of the College of Notre Dame of Maryland (Baltimore: about your employees. Their concern has led The College of Notre Dame of Maryland, 1946), p. 22. to a dedicated work force that is anxious to give its best. In 1992 the company will cele- brate its centennial. Doubtless at that time the Board of Directors will once again rededicate themselves, as they did on past anniversary celebrations, to the principles which, as B. E.
-22- GERMAN-AMERICAN SOCIAL ORGANIZATIONS IN BALTIMORE PARTI by Randall Donaldson n 1986, Carrie-May Kurrelmeyer Zintl, who Beginning in 1755, regular services were I was then president of the Society, collected held, conducted by the first resident pas- material for a volume on German-American tor, John George Bager, who together with families and businesses in Maryland. The Mortiz Wörschler, the German teacher, response to Dr. Zintl's request for informa- and Dr. Charles F. Wiesenthal organized the tion was so overwhelming that the Executive congregation. Committee decided to make a column on From this early period, it is clear that the German-American enterprise a standard part union of Reformed and Lutheran Christians of each Report. Starting with Report 41, Bill was a short episode brought about by neces- McClain, long-time member of the Society and sity. The unity of language could not bridge chairman of the Editorial Board, graciously the theological differences. volunteered to write that column, the second Local initiative on the part of the lay people installment of which appears in these pages. was instrumental in the formation of the con- The next few pages mark yet another innova- gregation which adopted as its first name, tion which will continue as a standing feature "High-German Evangelical Lutheran Con- of these Reports. There follows here a brief gregation of Baltimore Town." review of the many German-American social Congregational incentive was the principle organizations which have prospered in the in the formation of Zion Lutheran Church Baltimore area over the years. In future issues and yet it is ironic that once established, this this section, too, will try to preserve and assess church became a Pastorenkirche in which the record of the German-American institu- pastoral leadership remained the pervasive tions in Maryland. As before, thanks are due spiritual force. to the many individuals who answered the The theological orientation of the pastor original call for information. rather than the influence of the Lutheran Die Zionskirche (founded 1755) confessions determined congregational life and activity, and each new pastorate brought It would be presumptuous to attempt to crises and upheavals for the congregation. compress 231 years of a congregation's his- Only the extraordinarily long pastorate of tory into a short article. In 1955, Klaus G. Wust some pastors, especially and foremost that of published a 150-page book entitled "Zion in Pastor Heinrich Scheib (1835-1897), could Baltimore" which contains an extensive his- diminish the effects of this phenomenon. tory of the congregation. Some of the minis- Now Zion is the last partially ethnic rem- ters had previously published small historical nant of forty-seven German-speaking con- accounts as well. gregations which once existed in Baltimore. Early in-the 18th century, German Protes- The church is now a link between continents tants were among the first settlers in Balti- and cultures, a conglomerate of diverse theo- more. They worshipped in their homes. After logical roots, and a vibrant, exciting challenge. 1750, Lutherans and Reformed Germans were permitted to worship in St. Paul's Old Otterbein Church (founded 1771) Anglican Church, the parish to which they This venerable congregation, now United legally belonged and for whose upkeep the Methodist, began its existence as the German law of the land held them financially respon- Evangelical Reformed Church of Baltimore sible. These services were infrequent, de- on the same location in 1771. It maintained pending upon the arrival of an itinerant German language preaching until 1917, hav- German preacher, sometimes of doubtful ing, meanwhile, in 1800 become the mother qualifications. -23- church of the United Brethren in Christ. For language of preaching, the church retains a generations the arrival of German immigrant pride in its origin and guides share the herit- ships in the Inner Harbor was heralded by age with thousands of visitors each year. A ringing of the church bells which were hung small, devoted, but growing, congregation in the present (second) church in 1789, fol- carefully cares for the properties which lowing their arrival as a donation from Chris- include the parsonage (1811), now under res- tians in Bremen, Germany, where the bells toration begun in 1983, and the Nelker Sun- were cast. day School Building or Parish House (1872). Philip William Otterbein, for whom the The German Society of Maryland church and neighborhood are now named, (founded 1783) was the pastor from 1774 until his death in 1813. Previously a German Reformed mis- The German Society of Maryland was sionary in America from 1752, the native of created to aid German and Swiss immigrants Billenburg in Nassau, Germany, had erected a in their search for a better life as they church at Frederick, Maryland during his pas- struggled to establish themselves in their new torate there. When he reluctantly accepted a homeland. The Society provided financial aid call to the new Baltimore congregation, partly whenever necessary and directed the efforts at the urging of Methodist missionary Francis to draft and pass into law legislation which Asbury, he arrived well trained, experienced would put an end to the blatant exploitation and spiritually prepared to organize the con- of immigrants through indentured service. In gregation, initiate class meetings, Bible study 1818, The Maryland General Assembly and minister to the temporal needs of persons granted a charter incorporating the Society in the community as well as immigrants. His and soon thereafter passed a law regulating energies and spiritual zeal led him to minister the redemptionist system. to Germans elsewhere in Maryland, at Antie- In later years the Society has redirected its tam, "Pipe Creek" and Hagerstown and often mission as the need for direct aid to new to venture into the Shenandoah Valley to immigrants has ebbed. The most significant preach. He gathered like-minded clerics into activity of the Society is currently the adminis- Pipe Creek conferences 1774-76 and in 1789 tration of the Julius Hofmann Memorial the group began what in 1800 was named the Fund, through which the Society awards Church of the United Brethren in Christ with thousands of dollars of scholarship aid to Otterbein and Martin Boehm of Strasburg, young men and women of German descent Pennsylvania, as bishops. who attend Maryland colleges and universi- In 1785, Rev. Otterbein led the congrega- ties. The Society also sponsors an annual tion in erecting the present church edifice Dinner Dance at which it recognizes an out- with Jacob Small as the builder and the mate- standing Marylander of German descent. rials ballast brick from England carefully sal- Salem Evangelical Lutheran Church vaged from the nearby harbor. It was alto- (founded 1849) gether fitting that a later generation should According to local tradition, a visit to the give it his name who lies buried on the Catonsville area by Father Heyer, the first grounds. Lutheran missionary to India, gave impetus to Otterbein Church established daughter the idea for a separate church for the German congregations including Fulton Ave., Dor- residents of the area. On September 30,1849, guth on Scott St., Otterbein in West Virginia Gustav Lurmann, a local resident and Balti- and a church in York, Pennsylvania. more merchant, called a meeting to organize Now on the National Register and a United officially as a congregation and adopt a con- Methodist National Shrine, the "oldest stitution. Among Catonsville's German Prot- church in Baltimore" is a centerpiece of estants Lutherans apparently predominated urban renewal and "homesteading" efforts and were joined in the new congregation by which have accompanied the revitalization of some Reformers; the German-speaking Cath- Baltimore. While German is no longer the
-24- olics of the area eventually united with as well as the German language and tradition. English-speaking Catholics to organize St. Assistance with the language is offered, if Agnes Roman Catholic Church. Early records needed. Repertoire consists of, but is not included the rather lengthy name of the strictly limited to, German classical song and new church organized at the 1849 meeting: traditional German folk songs, sung in the German Evangelical Lutheran Salem German. Congregation. Die Vereinigten Sänger von Baltimore Even in the early days of the Salem congre- (founded 1885) gation there were those who agitated to drop German as the primary language of the con- Die Vereinigten Sänger von Baltimore were gregation. With the death of the second pas- in founded in 1885 to foster song by perform- tor, George W. Ebeling, in 1901, all German ing at charitable affairs. The group was incor- services at Salem ceased. "Old Salem" as it was porated as the "United Singers of Baltimore" known to many slowly passed into memory, on April 13,1893. It was made up at that time and the Salem Congregation moved to grow of 275 singers from various local musical and develop as it continued to serve the needs societies with a Germanic heritage: "Arion," of many residents of the rapidly increasing "Harmonie," "Germania Männerchor," Catonsville community. "Frohsinn," and the "Arbeiter Männerchor." The "Liederkranz" joined the United Singers Arion Männerchor (founded 1850) a little later the same year, and in March, 1895, The Arion Männerchor, founded on the "Thalia Männerchor," "Arbeiter Lieder- October 21, 1850, began as a group of tafel," "Sängerrunde," "Eintracht," and "Sch- German-American immigrants who estab- wäbische Sängerbund" contributed to the lished a Männerchor and gave it the name growth and development of the group. Sub- "Arion" after the greek poet and musician sequently, the "Mozart Männerchor," the who is considered the mythical founder of "Eichenkranz Society," the "Edelweiss," and choral singing. From the very beginning, this the "Germania Quartette Club" became group, has been interested in promoting the members of the organization. As happens cultivation of German song and music with the passing of time, nearly all of the through conceits, song festivals and Liedera- above-mentioned singing societies have dis- bende. In 1863, the Arion had the honor of banded. Presently, only three groups remain singing for President Abraham Lincoln at as members of the United Singers of Balti- Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, in a memorial ser- more, namely: "Arion Männerchor," "Eichen- vice for the dedication of the National kranz Society," and "Deutscher Damenchor." Cemetery. The United Singers continue their tradition The Arion Männerchor of Baltimore is one of fostering German heritage through song of the oldest singing societies in the United by performing at concerts, at Sängerfeste, and States. Since the time of its founding the cho- at Liederabende. They also sing for various rus has been continuously active. In addition charity organizations, retirement and conva- to performing at the Annual German Festivals lescent homes, at civic affairs, and patriotic and participating in the National Song Festi- gatherings. vals which are held triennially in various National Sängerfeste are held by the North- cities, the Arion presents several concerts eastern Sängerbund, which consists of singing annually in the Baltimore/Washington Met- societies from the Washington, D.C. area up ropolitan area. As an educational, non-profit, through New York State. Singers from the singing society, the Arion depends solely entire East Coast converge on the host city for upon these concert performances, and the three days of concerts and festivities. One of faithful support and the voluntary contribu- the most memorable of these song festivals tions of its listeners. was the Thirtieth Sängerfest held at Baltimore The Arion always welcomes new members in 1938. Prize singing has been one of the and requests that one have a love for singing
-25- main features of these song festivals, as a man Day was held at Fells Point. In 1978, the result of which the United Singers have won Association was invited by the City of Balti- two prizes: a large bust of Richard Wagner more to join with other ethnic groups to par- located in Druid Hill Park and a bust of the ticipate in the "Showcase of Nations" project, composer Konrading Kreutzer in Patterson in which an ethnic group was allotted time on Park. a week-end between June and October to Recently, the United Singers and the Balti- sponsor a festival at either Hopkins Plaza, more Kickers, Inc. established the "Dr. Charles Center, or Rash Field in the Inner Johann H. Eitermann Music Library" on the Harbor. second floor of the Baltimore Kickers' The Annual German Festival is now held Clubhouse. three days in August and is one of the Associa- tion's largest activities and is one of the prin- The Arion Ladies Society (founded 1891) cipal means by which the members of the The Arion Ladies Society was founded a Association promote their various endeavors, little over 100 years ago. In the beginning e.g. native dance and costume, interests, there were thirty members. They met at the men's and women's singing societies, crafts, home of a member, later at the Club House of language and sports displays and exhibits. the Arion Men's Singing Society. The Arion The German Festival is the oldest celebration Ladies used to help with luncheons and of ethnic pride in the State, having been held dinners at the Arion Club House. At present continuously since 1900. membership is fifteen ladies, who meet once As an umbrella organization the Bürgerve- a month at the Beechfield Methodist Church rein strives for a closer union of the German on Beechfield Ave. clubs and organizations in the State of Mary- Der deutschamerikanische Bürgerverein land. The Association represents the German von Maryland, Inc. (founded 1900) ethnic community and is the spokesman of it and its members on a city, state and national The Deutschamerikanischer Bürgerverein level. The Bürgerverein serves as a coordinat- von Maryland, Inc. was founded May 9,1900, ing and facilitating body for its membership by representatives of more than fifty German and the community as a whole by providing a clubs and organizations in Baltimore. It was forum for matters of concern and the settle- originally conceived as an association of ment of any grievances or disputes at its regu- organizations to represent the large number larly scheduled monthly meetings. The Bür- of German-Americans living in the State of gerverein maintains a community calendar of Maryland. John G. Tjarks (1865-1943), the events to prevent date and activity conflicts Association's first President provided firm among its member organizations, while leadership for thirty years. On April 8,1904, planning and promoting all major cultural he was able to have the Association incorpo- activities, thereby maintaining and enhanc- rated. During his presidency, he helped to ing German customs, traditions and culture define the objectives and goals of the Bürger- within its own community while maintaining verein (Citizens' Association). In the begin- relations with the German Embassy and ning, the Association attempted to cultivate groups abroad and at home. closer relationships between America and Though the specific activities of the Bür- Germany, provide assistance to newly arrived gerverein may vary from year to year, the German immigrants, advance the principles Association generally serves as the agent for of good government and hold an annual the weekly German-language newspaper arti- German Day. The first German Day celebra- cles about events in which the German tion was held on September 12, 1901, at Dar- member organizations are involved. The ley's Park with an estimated 25,000 people in Association actively supports two German- attendance. German Day became an annual language radio programs, participates in the affair to be held in August of each year at Sister Cities program and the International either the old Riverview or Gwynn Oak Park Week program, both of which are sponsored and, later, at Max Blob's Park. In 1977, Ger-
-26- by the City of Baltimore. Baltimore Kickers, Inc. (founded 1953) The Bürgerverein has hosted visiting crews The Baltimore Kickers, Inc. was founded from German naval ships as well as other September 23, 1953, through the efforts of international guests, has sponsored visiting Eddie Thau and Werner Juergensen, who musical and dance groups from Germany and were joined by many others from the German elsewhere. The Association observed the Community in creating a Soccer team to par- three-hundredth Anniversary of German ticipate in the Baltimore Unlimited Soccer Immigration to the United States by partici- League. Despite many losses in the begin- pating in a multitude of activities held in con- ning, a high spirit of competition and a desire junction with various local cultural organiza- to achieve prevailed within the group. By Jan- tions and the Presidential Commission of the uary, 1955, the first permanent slate of officers German American Tricentennial. In 1984, the was elected and installed, and by April, 1955, Bürgerverein sponsored the production of a "The Baltimore Kickers" was incorporated as half-hour videotape program entitled, Mary- a Club whose aims were, and still are, to pro- land German Heritage, which was produced by mote soccer and fellowship through social the staff of the University of Maryland, Balti- events. Over the years, the Kickers Club has more County (UMBC) for viewing on Public supported three soccer teams; the first team Television. plays in the Maryland major Soccer League; Deutscher Damenchor von Baltimore the second team is the "Old Timers" (for (founded 1933) those over thirty years of age); and the third team is a junior team for twelve-year-olds. The Deutscher Damenchor von Baltimore Between the years 1955 and 1976, the Bal- was founded on October 24, 1933, with the timore Kickers enjoyed many achievements, specific purpose of preserving the German both on the soccer field and in the German language and maintaining German sociabil- Community. Aside from the many outstand- ity through the study and practice of choral ing successes on the soccer field, the Balti- music. Since its founding, the Deutscher more Kickers helped to organize the first big Damenchor has completed almost sixty years Oktoberfest held at the Fifth Regiment of pleasant and distinguished activity. In addi- Armory in October, 1968. In the same period tion to the success which its own annual con- of time the Baltimore Kickers won the Stewart ceits have always enjoyed, its reputation as a and Rowland Cups in the 1968-69 season and participant in musical events and celebrations then became champions of the Maryland of kindred organizations through out the area Major Soccer League in 1968-69. The Junior have made it a familiar and welcome addition Team also won the championship in the same to many programs. years. In the years between its first concert on A little over a year after the Twenty-Second April 11,1934, and the present the Deutscher Anniversary Dance was held in 1975, the Bal- Damenchor has also contributed to the musi- timore Kickers took ownership of the club- cal and financial success of such affairs as house at 26 S. Broadway. Through the com- Lieder singing at Christmas Bazaars for the bined efforts of Club President Alfred benefit of the Deutsches Haus (for many Baumann many members, it was possible to years the home of many of our German socie- redecorate and furnish the inside of the ties). Over the years the Damenchor has per- Clubhouse for the grand opening on formed at various garden conceits at the November 21,1976. A little over a year later, a Deutsches Haus and given conceits for beautiful library for the membership, and an friends and residents of many convalescent archival record center were established. and nursing homes. There is also a room containing soccer More recently, the Deutscher Damenchor memorabilia, and a music library for the Uni- has actively participated in annual concerts by ted Singers of Baltimore, which is dedicated to the "United Singers," at the annual German Dr. Johann H. Eitermann. On September 24, Festival in Baltimore, and in the National 1978, the membership participated in the Sängerfeste of the Northeastern Sängerbund.
-27- ceremony of burning the mortgage. bright spots on the German-American social The soccer teams of the Baltimore Kickers calendar in the Baltimore area. The Annual continue to demonstrate their prowess and Meeting in January, the picnic in summer and love of soccer in exhibition games and tour- the Christmas party in December are antici- naments, both in and outside of Maryland, pated with pleasure by all Club Fidelitas thereby winning trophies and honors. members. Although the Baltimore Kickers is primarily Club Fidelitas is a sponsor of, and partici- a soccer and social club, the membership pant in, both the Annual German Festival avails itself of opportunities to share with oth- held each summer and the Maryland Okto- ers all aspects of German culture and tradi- berfest held each October. tions. During the year, the Baltimore Kickers The Edelweiss Club, Inc. (founded 1966) sponsor and entertain visiting soccer teams as well as music groups and other visitors Edelweiss means noble-precious white. It is from Germany. Free instruction in the Ger- a simple and beautiful flower growing in the man language are offered weekly at the high ranges of the Alps. Symbolically it Clubhouse. embodies purity and beauty. The Clubhouse is available to other clubs Some twenty years after the end of World and organizations, and is open most Saturday War II, the moment was right to meet the and Sunday evenings for members and their desire of Germans living in the State of Mary- guests. All Club events are announced over land and the Washington, D.C. area to share the German Radio Hour and are published in publicly their cultural traditions and customs. the Washington Journal. Since 1961, the Bal- Paul Ludtke and some of his friends, William timore Kickers has also been sending out a Obermueller and Karl Dziggel attempted to Newsletter which provides a source of infor- address that need in 1966 by founding the mation about club events. Edelweiss Pleasure Club. On October 11,1967, the Club was incorporated; on June 5, 1982, Club Fidelitas, Inc. (founded 1955) the name of the Club was amended to the Club Fidelitas was organized in 1955 by a current Edelweiss Club, Inc. group of business and professional men of The purpose of the Club is to promote, German descent who were seeking to develop foster and encourage interest in German- a social organization to promote friendship, American tradition and culture in a non- fellowship and Gemütlichkeit in the German political and a non-sectarian manner as well tradition. as to support and participate in a German The Latin word Fidelitas was chosen as the music and news broadcasting program. For organization's name because it implies happi- many, tuning in to Paul Ludtke, the "Edel- ness and joy; the expression in German is weiss Hour" on Sunday is a regular occasion Frohsinn. which keeps members and friends informed In the beginning, membership was limited of the Club's activities. to a total of twenty-five and was restricted to As the membership of the Edelweiss Club, men who were either professionals, execu- Inc. has grown, the Club has been to establish tives or business proprietors. With the passage itself financially. The Club now sponsors of time, the original exclusion of women was flights to Germany, cruises to the Bahamas rescinded, the membership limit increased to and the Caribbean, and bus trips to Canada, a total of seventy and membership extended Williamsburg and the Dutch Country. There to those of German ancestry whose qualifica- are as well Christmas dances, a children's tions meet the club's high standards. Christmas party, picnics, Bull Roasts, the Club Fidelitas is fortunate in that its officers annual German Festival, Oktoberfest and have consistently maintained the high stand- Fasching. The various social activities of the ards for which its social affairs have become Club provide fun and Gemütlichkeit for a vast renowned. Its Spring Dance in May, and its number of members and friends. Besides par- End-of-the-Year Dance in December are two ties and dinner-dances social events also
-28- include entertaining visiting German naval For twenty-four years this family-oriented vessels and singing societies. In fulfilling its Autumn Fest has brought "A Bit of Bavaria" to by-laws, the Club also sponsors German lan- the burghers of Maryland. Always held in the guage classes and has been generous in mak- Fifth Regiment Armory, it has become the ing annual awards to high-school, college and area's prime showcase for Bavarian enter- university students who are in need and have tainment, culture and Gemütlichkeit. distinguished themselves in German studies. The German Heritage Society of Greater Contributions have also been made to the Washington, D.C. (founded 1983) Salem Children's Home, St. Agnes Hospital, Anne Arundel Hospices and other charitable The year 1983 was designated by Congress institutions. The Club contributes a substan- and proclaimed by the President as the year tial amount to the Edelweiss Radio Hour as Americans would celebrate three hundred well. years of German immigration. During that year, the Society, under the name "Greater Maryland Oktoberfest (founded 1968) Washington, D.C. German Heritage Society, Oktoberfest in Munich was an idea con- and ad hoc Committee" promoted general ceived in the centuries-old autumnal celebra- awareness of the part German-Americans tions of Bavarian huntsmen and farmers at played in the history of Washington, D.C. The which gratitude was rendered to the Almighty Society also helped to publicize the Tricen- for bountiful harvests from forest and field. tennial events of German-American organi- The event was given new birth in 1810 with the zations in the area, such as the "Arminius enormous wedding celebration for King Social Club," the "Schuhplattler," and the Ludwig I of Bavaria and his new bride, Prin- "Washington Sängerbund," as well as a lec- cess Theresia. Since that time the Oktoberfest ture and art exhibition in which local German- in Munich has been a well-known and popu- American artists figured prominently. Mem- lar event for the people of Munich and vis- bers of the Society conducted a German Sites itors from around the world. Tour of the City. The idea for a Maryland Oktoberfest was The Society has continued its efforts to launched at the old Deutsches Haus in 1968, promote public awareness of the German- when representatives of several local German- American contribution to the community American organizations formed a committee since the tricentennial. The group is now to organize, promote and produce a Baltimore incorporated in the District of Columbia version of Munich's famous celebration. Pre- under the title, The German Heritage Society ceded by a parade through downtown Balti- of Greater Washington, D.C. more, this first Maryland Oktoberfest as held in the Fifth Regiment Armory on Howard Street on October 4th and 5th, 1969, and was so successful that a cry was soon raised to make the celebration an annual event. Realizing that a broad-based committee was not a suitable apparatus for preparing and achieving such long-range plans as were then being contemplated, plans were set in motion to organize in a more permanent form and, soon thereafter, "Maryland Okto- berfest Incorporated," a stock-issuing corpo- ration, was chartered by the State of Maryland.
-29- THE SAVANNAH RIVER INTELLIGENTSIA: 1734-1780 This article was first titled "The 'Dutch' ships exacerbated by removal of the settle- Intelligentsia of the Savannah River," ment, Boltzius was forced to take on so many meaning the "German-speaking Intelligent- secular duties that he became a reluctant sia," but the title appeared redundant after it Renaissance Man.5 First, as ruler of his little was observed that only German-speaking theocracy, he had to learn the English law of inhabitants of Georgia actually fulfilled Web- the land, which he appears to have done ster's definition of the intelligentsia as "intel- quickly and thoroughly. Next he had to read lectuals considered as a group or class, espe- technical manuals, mostly in English, on cially, as a cultural, social, or political élite."1 agriculture, silk raising, mill building, medical There were, of course, some quite intelli- practice, and other skills in order to transmit gent men in Savannah, such as Col. William this knowledge to his parishioners.6 Stephens, the secretary of the Trustees of the In addition to keeping a very informative colony of Georgia, and James Habersham, journal throughout most of his thirty-year schoolmaster turned merchant turned Presi- ministry, Boltzius also maintained an active dent of the Council. These men, however, correspondence with his German and Eng- were pragmatic empire builders who wrote lish benefactors, which revealed good insights clearly and effectively without flights of fancy into the social and economic situation in his or classical allusions, and neither appeared new home.7Johann Tobler, of whom we shall interested in knowledge for knowledge's hear more, wrote of Boltzius: 2 sake. Oglethorpe, who had enjoyed a good I have carried on for some years an edifying corres- 3 classical education, was merely a visitor to pondence with this gentleman, in which I have Georgia, not an inhabitant.4 One might wish encountered only that which is necessary for to add John Wesley and George Whitefield to Christianity. He is a man who is very useful to this country, the list of Savanah-River intellectuals because and, although he makes no distant journeys into it, of their voluminous publications, but neither he nevertheless, from time to time sends out edify- man settled in Georgia and the writings of ing books, which are very helpful to one's growth in both were mostly functional, being theologi- humanity.8 cal, inspirational, and promotional. Boltzius had an unusual ability to organize Perhaps the six leading members of the his thoughts, as can be seen in his brilliant Savannah River intelligentsia, in order of letter to George Whitefield arguing against their arrival, were: Johann Martin Boltzius the importation of slaves.9 (1734), Christian Gottlieb Prieber (1735), As an accomplished musician who could Johann Tobler (1737), Johann Joachim Züb- write notes and had founded a Collegium lin, later Zubly (1744), Johann Wilhelm Ger- Musicum (music club) at Halle,10 Boltzius hard de Brahm (1751), and Johann Christoph worked hard to improve his parishioners' Bornemann (1752). choral singing. He was aided in this task when BOLTZIUS the new physician, Ernst Thilo, arrived with his good voice and thorough mastery of poly- Johann Martin Boltzius, a teacher at the phonic singing. Boltzius keenly wished to Orphanage School at Halle, was chosen have an organ, as Tobler did up the river at along with his colleague Christian Israel New Windsor,11 but this wish was never ful- Gronau to minister to a group of Protestant filled. When Captain Krauss, an artilleryman exiles from Salzburg who settled in Georgia in who had brought the third Swabian transport 1734. After two years in an unfavorable loca- to Georgia in 1752, was about to return to tion, the Salzburgers moved their town of Europe, some Salzburgers collected money Ebenezer to the Red Bluff on the Savannah for him to buy an organ there, but nothing River just above Purysburg, the new Swiss set- came of this; and Boltzius was left with only tlement in South Caroina. Because of hard-
-30- his choir. While visiting Ebenezer in 1774, the secret journal, on the other hand, was kept in Lutheran patriarch Heinrich Melchior French. Prieber petitioned the Trustees to Mühlenberg greatly admired the skill of the send him to Georgia in 1735 and they choir, which he attributed to Boltzius.12 agreed;19 but, instead of waiting, he made his This music was, of course, not made for way to South Carolina as a British officer. aesthetic or secular pleasure, but only for After taking out a grant for land in Purysburg, glorifying God in heaven: one contrite which he never developed, he sold his woman confessed to having used her God- belongings and set out in Indian costume for given voice to sing worldly songs. Little boys the Cherokee country in order to organize the who wished tojoin the choir had to promise to Noble Savages into a commonwealth, to be bring not only their mouth but also a devout called the Kingdom of Paradise, a communis- heart.13 (Imagine the amazement I felt when, tic state which would resist the British by play- while driving near Metter, Georgia, some sixty ing the Spanish and French against them. miles from Ebenezer in October 1990 and Hearing of Prieber's seditious actions, the listening to a radio concert by a children's authorities in South Carolina sent an envoy to gospel choir, I heard the director remind the ask the Cherokees to extradite him, but his children that they should sing not only with hosts would not surrender their honored their mouths but also with their hearts! Could guest and tribal member. Foiled in this this precept have been handed down so attempt, the British bribed some Creek Indi- long?) When Habersham offered Boltzius ans to capture him on one of his diplomatic twenty-four arias by Handel, he accepted missions to the French and Spaniards, which them even though they were secular, aware they did. Prieber was incarcerated in thejail at that he could convert them to religious Paro- Frederica, where visitors were astounded by dien, by which he meant contrafacts.14 his education and mastery of languages. Even Boltzius appears to have had little regard Oglethorpe was impressed by his involuntary for the visual arts, which were scarcely better guest, being surprised to find a man "who in than graven images in his eyes. He made his dress a perfect Indian, a man of politeness exception, however, for religious art; and he and gentility, who spoke Latin, French, Span- distributed to the children little scenes of the ish, and German fluently, and English brok- life of Jesus that had been engraved and enly."20 The French soldier Antoine Bonne- donated by Martin Engelbrecht of Augs- foy, who had been a prisoner of Prieber's burg.15 Behind the Communion table he Indian hosts, also attested that Prieber's mounted a large picture of the Last Supper French was fluent.21 donated by the court chaplain Friedrich Being polylingual, Prieber soon mastered Michael Ziegenhagen.16 Cherokee, and it was surely he who translated the Lord's Prayer into that language for PRIEBER Ulrich Driessler, the Lutheran minister at By slightly stretching the meaning of Frederica. Ludowick Grant, an Indian trader, "Savannah River" in our tide, we can include said of Prieber: the Saxon visionary, Christian Gottlieb Being a great Scholar he soon made himself master Prieber (also written Priber and Pryber), who of their Tongue, and by his insinuating manner came to America in 1735 to save the Red Man Indeavoured to gain their hearts, he trimmed his from European encroachment." Because he hair in the Indian manner & painted as they did, dwelled seven years among the Cherokees, he going generally naked except for a shirt and a 22 must have spent some of his time on the Flap." headwaters of the Savannah River, and thus It is regrettable that Prieber's book did not he belongs on our list. survive, for it may well have been a trail Like the other germanophone intellectuals blazer. To judge by what Bonnefoy, Ogle- of Georgia, Prieber, a doctor of laws, had thorpe, and others said of this backwoods enjoyed a good Latin training, his doctoral philosopher, he may well have preceded thesis having been in that language.18 His Rousseau, his junior by some years, with his
-31- ideas on the Noble Savage, the natural rights subjects such as agriculture, commerce, for- of man, the inequality of men, and the social eign news and the public's craving for moral- contract. Verner W. Crane recognizes him as izing and edifying reading matter. Because of "a spiritual descendant of Plato of the Repub- his first success, Tobler also published an lic, of Sir Thomas More, of Campanella, and a almanac in Philadelphia, which gave him a precursor of Rousseau."23 The similarity far larger market.28 Because his calculations between Prieber's and Rousseau's ideas can were fixed to the year 1800, almanacs using be explained by the fact that they were follow- his calculations continued to be published, ing a common sociophilosophical tradition.24 often under his name, in various colonies Prieber, a contemporary of Montesquieu, long after his death in 1765.29 reached America before Rousseau wrote any Of interest to South Carolina historians is a of his socio-philosophical works. description of South Carolina that Tobler During Prieber's trial, Oglethorpe sent a published in a Swiss almanac in 1753.30 long letter, dated April 22,1743, to the Duke of Although he was obviously writing to encour- Newcastle, Secretary of State, summarizing age immigration to South Carolina, he the proceedings.25 Most of the letter consists avoided the exaggerations perpetrated by of a paraphrase of Prieber's journal, written in Jean-Pierre Puny and other promoters. He French. Oglethorpe found the journal "a little did, however, tend to overlook some of the difficult to understand, the whole being writ- hardships of frontier life, such as the danger ten like dark hints for his Memory only." of the Indians, who were soon to scalp and kill Prieber proved himself to be not only a one of his sons. philosophe, but also a true philosopher, when Besides his mathematical interests, Tobler a magazine next to his cell exploded and loved music and owned what seems to have hurled bombs and shells into the air. While been the only organ in the Savannah River 31 others fled in panic, Prieber remained calm valley. Tobler must have had an open mind, and composed despite the explosives raining or else he was a very good diplomat, for, des- down around him. Soon after this Prieber pite his firm Calvinistic faith, he let Boltzius died, thus freeing the British of the need to persuade him to question the absolutum convict him. decretum (predestination), which Boltzius was able to do by lending him a book contra- TOBLER dicting this serious error.32 Johann Tobler, a Landeshauptmann or governor of the half-canton Appenzell- De BRAHM Ausser Rhoden in Switzerland, contracted the Johann Gerhard Wilhelm von Brahm, orig- rabies Carolinae (the Carolina madness) inally from Koblenz or its surroundings, had after losing his office.26 Finding himself an been in Imperial service before coming to exile in 1737, he led a large party of Swiss Georgia with the second Swabian transport of emigrants to South Carolina and founded 1751.33 Von Brahm was from the bourgeoisie New Windsor on the Savannah River, more or and had earned his nobility through his mil- less across from Augusta, Georgia. There he itary service, which justified his signing his established a plantation, built a fort, opened a first American map with the words "William store, served as justice of the peace, and Noble of Brahm." While some noblemen to became relatively prosperous.27 the manor born may have looked down on In addition to these mundane pursuits, the Verdienst Adel (merit nobility), the self- Tobler continued his hobbies of mathemat- made aristocrats were generally socially ics, astronomy, and almanac writing. His first accepted;34 and it is significant that von almanac was the South Carolina and Georgia Brahm was married to a woman of inherited Almanack, published for many years by James nobility. It is uncertain whether he left Impe- Johnston in Savannah. To compile such a rial service because he inclined toward Pro- work, one had to understand not only testantism or whether he exchanged religions mathematics and astronomy but also other in order to enter British service. The former
-32- seems probable because of his inquisitive neer work in charting the Gulf Stream.42 He religious mind, which eventually caused him was also credited with writing the "first his- to be considered a Quaker and to write tory of Georgia."43 mystico-theological treatises. As a surveyor and cartographer, de Brahm Upon reaching Georgia, von Brahm set out deserved all the praise heaped upon him. The to find a suitable place for his Swabian extensive maps he produced in a few short settlers. After examining locations on the years were so accurate that they remained Ogeechee and Altamaha rivers, he finally standard for half a century. Unfortunately, de placed his party on the Blue Bluff just five Brahm often followed accurate and objective miles above Ebenezer, where he founded the observations with garrulous and, for a mod- settlement Bethany. ern natural scientist, rather meaningless Because of de Brahm's industry and careful explanations, in which he seemed to exult in surveying, Habersham, a good judge of men, his own verbosity. After describing the grape stated that "The Trustees... are not mistaken culture at New Bordeaux, for example, he in Mr. von Brahm's abilities: He has been at a gives the precise measurements of a building, great deal of Pains to view the country to fix which, he states categorically, the vintners on a settlement and has taken plans of all the must have in order to "govern the outward Places he has visited, and I look upon him to Phlogistic motion through the Bung."44 Then be one of the most intelligent men I ever met follow thirty lines of pedantic and wordy with, and will I doubt not make a very useful explanation that could make sense, if at all, colonist."35 Gov. John Reynolds called von only to one who believes in the unfailing Brahm a "very able Engineer" and a "Gen- power of phlogiston. Similarly, his prolix tleman of great Honour and Ingenuity."36 A medical diagnoses and remedies reveal more modern historian, Charles L. Mowat, has des- enthusiasm than critical judgment45 cribed him well in calling him "a man whose Perhaps de Brahm's greatest weakness was versatility of genius went beyond even that of being a perfectionist in an imperfect world, the typical eighteenth-century dilettante: a an idealist and dreamer; he often insisted on surveyor, engineer, botanist, astronomer, undertaking what was theoretically best, even meteorologist, student of ocean currents, if entirely unfeasible. Asked by Gov. Glen to alchemist, sociologist, historian and mystical prepare plans for the fortification of Charles- philosopher."37 Thus we see that almost38 ton, he produced grandiose schemes for forts everyone praised this talented man, despite that would have done honor to any nation in his sometimes obstinate and overbearing Europe, but at an expense far beyond the behavior. means of the financially strapped colony of In addition to founding Bethany, von South Carolina. The same occurred when he Brahm, or de Brahm as he soon began calling was commissioned to design a fort to block himself,39 amassed much land in Georgia and traffic on the Little Tennessee River. There served Gov. Glen of South Carolina as a mil- he dreamed of a bastion ä la Vaubon, one itary engineer. Preserving all the "plans" and able to repel a Grand Armada. Since only detailed descriptions of the areas he had sur- canoes plied the river, a simple stockade veyed, de Brahm compiled a General Descrip- would have sufficed. tion of the Province of Georgia, which followed De Brahm also tended to exaggerate his an earlier General Description of South Caro- services to the crown. He claims, for example, lina.40 Both of these were included in his to have brought 160 immigrants to Georgia "Report of the General Survey in the South- and to have "joined through his means 160 ern District of North America," submitted to more."46 Actually, the immigrants had been the King in 1773. Like Prieber, de Brahm also recruited by Samuel Urlsperger, the Senior of compiled a Cherokee-English and English- the Augsburg ministry and "Reverend Father" Cherokee dictionary.41 Subsequently he pub- of the Salzburgers; de Brahm had only con- lished navigational aids and performed pio- ducted the one transport of 1751. When he
-33- described the back settlers of South Carolina natural sciences as assiduously as he should as "chiefly consisting of German Protest- have, and he confesses that Boltzius has ants,"47 he must have been exaggerating, already described most of the important crea- unless the large influx of Scotch Irish tures. Bornemann's descriptions are, how- occurred after his observation. ever, sometimes better. Boltzius describes the skunk as a kind of BORNEMANN black wildcat that sprays water when a person A year after de Brahm's arrival, Georgia or a dog comes too close. He then describes received still another intellectual. Johann the nasty stench that penetrates clothing and Christoph Bornemann was a man of scientific lasts a long time.51 Bornemann describes the interests and an acquaintance of scholars like same animal as being "about as large as a fox, the physicist Samuel Christian Hollmann of black in color, the tips of the ears and tail are the University of Göttingen and the scientist- white, otherwise its fur seems to be very pre- poet Albrecht von Haller. With the support of cious." In order to investigate the source of these two gentlemen, Bornemann took his the stench, which he compared to a mixture wife, two children, his parents-in-law, and a of scorched corn and garlic, he shot one to maid to Georgia, where he established a plan- dissect it, but the unbearable stench pre- tation that he named New Goettingen in 48 vented him from doing so and the area stank honor of his home town. On his way from for ten days. Bornemann was more successful Göttingen to London and from London to in investigating the jaws of an alligator and Georgia, Bornemann kept a most informative the fangs of a rattlesnake. journal. Unfortunately this journal, which so Boltzius had made many references to the well describes the landscape and agriculture cattle disease that afflicted the herds of the of North Germany, stops when the ship Germans around Savannah, but only Borne- reaches Savannah. All that is stated here mann, who had also lost some cattle to it, about Bornemann and his family is based on performed a post mortem on a bovine victim the autobiographical preface to this journal to study its affected organs. He also per- and the comments added by his widow after 49 formed autopsies on apparently healthy hogs his death. and found their kidneys full of tape worms. Bornemann's training had been in surgery, Like de Brahm, Bornemann was not satisfied a profession he practiced in the service of with just knowing what but also wished to Frederick the Great during the First Silesian know how and why. It is surprising, therefore, War. Honorably discharged, he returned to that he states that honey and wax are softer in Göttingen. There he was appointed surgeon Georgia than in Germany, without recogniz- to the university, at which he studied under ing Georgia's warmer temperature as the Hollmann and von Haller. The avowed pur- cause. pose of his removal to Georgia was to collect pharmaceutical plants for study at the univer- ZUBLY sity. Of his letters back home, only four are Upon finishing his schooling at the lycée in known, all written to his benefactor, von St. Gall, Johann Joachim Züblin (later Haller, then an Ammann, or magistrate, in Zubly)52 went to London to petition the Trus- Bern. These letters, now housed in the Bür- tees for a ministerial post in Georgia. His gerbibliothek in Bern, describe the flora and request was denied because of his youth and fauna of his new home and also describe a the high salary he demanded. Despite this chest of specimens and curiosities he sent to setback, Zubly had himself ordained there in his European patrons.50 the German Reformed Church and then pro- One of Bornemann's letters to von Haller, ceeded on his own to Purysburg, the Swiss that of January 7,1755, is a veritable area study settlement on the Savannah River, where his of Georgia's coastal plain in which he des- "wealthy"53 father David lived.54 Although cribes the terrain, climate, flora, and fauna. unauthorized, Zubly began preaching to his He apologizes that he had not studied the countrymen in and around Savannah, partic-
- 34- ularly in Acton and Vernonburg, two new exiled with half of his fortune confiscated; he German-Swiss settlements just south of the was unable to return to his church and con- city. There he was greatly admired, as William gregation until 1779, after the British had cap- Stephens noted, for his "Volubility of tured the city. Speech."55 Zubly's fame was due to a series of sermons The Anglican minister in Savannah, Bar- on freedom, which the more down-to-earth tholomäus Zouberbühler,56 was a Swiss from Habersham declared to be "mere Sophistry, St. Gall and could therefore preach to his and ajingle of Words without meaning, unless compatriots in their own tongue, but they to puzzle and blind the Minds of the People, would have none of him because he had who are not capable of Judging the Subject."61 deserted their "Calvinistical Principles" by These pamphlet-sermons were "The Stamp taking Anglican orders. Consequently, they Act Repealed," "An Humble Enquiry, Calm wrote a strong petition in favor of Zubly,57 but and Respectful Thoughts," and "The Law of the Trustees would only agree that Zouber- Liberty."62 This last was written in 1775 and bühler should give him £10 per annum from was no doubt a major reason that Zubly was his own salary, which was deemed unsatisfac- sent to the Second Continental Congress of tory to both of the divines.58 Zubly then that year. preached in several parishes in South Carol- ina, during which time he married Tobler's LIBRARIES daughter Anna. In praising Georgia, de Brahm claimed that In 1760 Zubly received a call to the Inde- within thirty years there were: pendent Presbyterian Church in Savannah, three fine Libraries in the City of Savannah; the fourth where he attracted the largest congregation in at Ebenezer, and a fifth 96% miles from the sea upon the colony. On the edge of the city he estab- the Stream of Savannah. In these Libraries could be lished a plantation, which he named St. Gall had books wrote in the Caldaic, Hebrew, Arabic, Siriac, Coptic, Malabar, Greek, Latin, French, German, in honor of his native city. He also amassed a Dutch, Spanish, besides the English, vide, in thirteen relatively large fortune and operated a ferry Languages.63 across the river in the area of Ebenezer. Hav- The library at Ebenezer belonged to the ing mastered the English language, Zubly Salzburgers, the one up the river was owned entered politics and championed the Dissen- by Tobler. Concerning the latter, Henry Mel- ters against the Anglicans, whose church had chior Muhlenberg, the Lutheran patriarch, become the established church when the who was not given to exaggeration, said: Trustees surrendered the colony to the crown. In defense of the Dissenters' rights, Zubly Dr. Zubly has a fine collection of old and new books, the like of which I have seldom seen in America. wrote a scathing rebuke to Samuel Frink, the The external appearance of his library and study is rector of the Anglican church, titled Letters to hardly inferior to that of the most famous in the Reverend Samuel Frink.59 Europe.64 Being a dissenter from the established Of the two remaining libraries in Savan- church, Zubly also championed the rights of nah, one surely belonged to Zouberbühler, the colonies against the arbitrary rule of Par- who had both the means and the need to liament. This champion of the American collect books. In any case, it would appear that cause was appointed to the Second Continen- the majority of Georgia's libraries were Ger- tal Congress at Philadelphia, where he man, even though, as de Brahm claimed, they impressed all the dignitaries and consorted contained volumes in Caldaic, Arabic, Siriac, with such men as Benjamin Rush and John Coptic, and Malabar.65 The only luggage Adams, the latter of whom called him a "warm Prieber carried with him was a chest of books, 60 and zealous spirit." However, since Zubly and we may rest assured that they were pro- refused to favor a complete break with Great found and mostly in French. Britain, he was accused of treason. Upon While the extensive library at Ebenezer returning to Savannah, he found himself consisted primarily of theological works of
-35- Pietist persuasion, it also included technical COLLEGIALITY books such as a treatise on mill-building. As Because they read the same or similar Tobler attested, the Ebenezer collection books, often in foreign languages, intellectu- served as a lending library for all the Savan- als tend to be members of an international nah valley, and Boltzius and his successors fraternity who appreciate a foreign savant sent books as far as Charleston, Orangeburg, 66 more than a domestic businessman. This was and Saxe Gotha. certainly true of the Georgia intelligentsia; LANGUAGE and their learned correspondence, much of it Most of the Georgia intelligentsia had with European intellectuals, somewhat com- studied some Greek, and all them had learned pensated for their life in what Randall M. Miller so rightly calls "the barren intellectual much Latin, in which they wrote their disser- 70 tations.67 Like many other Germans of his desert of Georgia." It is understandable that, time, including Leibnitz and Frederick the after years among the savages and the uncul- Great, Prieber preferred French to German as tivated traders, Prieber seemed to flourish the language of philosophy. It has been noted when he received intellectual visitors like that Prieber, de Brahm, and Zubly impressed Oglethorpe in his cell at Frederica. people with the many languages they spoke Except for a feud between Boltzius and de Brahm, Georgia's intelligentsia enjoyed cor- and that Prieber and de Brahm were the only 71 intellectuals in Georgia to master an Indian dial relations. Johann Tobler, who gave his language. To judge by the English written by daughter Anna to Joachim Zubly, was also an most of the traders, we may be sure that, even admirer of Boltzius. Of the two ministers then if they had a functional use of the Indian at Ebenezer, he wrote: languages, they had no understanding of One of them, who is my esteemed friend, is named their grammar and nuances. Because the Martin Boltzius. He spares no pains to make the German intellectuals could speak English, people there happy both in this world and in the next. There are, to be sure, people who claim that he they were never referred to as "Dutch," except 68 meddles too much in secular matters, but who can in the case of de Brahm among the Indians. please everybody?72 INTELLECTUAL CURIOSITY Bornemann also praised Boltzius and gave All the Georgia intelligentsia thought crea- him credit for Ebenezer's useful institutions tively, and an author in the South Carolina such as the mills, silk filatures, and mulberry Gazette did well in mentioning Prieber's groves. 69 "Flights full of Invention." Boltzius con- CONCLUSION stantly performed agricultural experiments In conclusion we see that the German- and theorized wisely on the economics of a speaking inhabitants of Georgia were not all colonial economy. All of our subjects showed dirt farmers or indentured servants: some few exceptional intellectual curiosity. They were were better educated, more scholarly, and not satisfied with just observing phenomena more intellectually curious than the leaders of but wished to discover why they were the way the English-speaking element; and it is regret- they were. Bornemann could have had prac- table that we do not know more about them. tical reasons for investigating the diseases afflicting his cattle and hogs, but it was intel- —George F.Jones lectual curiosity that made him describe and University of Maryland, College Park theorize about the arrowheads and shards of Indian pottery he plowed up. We have seen that only the unbearable stench of a skunk prevented Bornemann from dissecting it to see how it produced its overwhelming excretion.
-36- NOTES Abbreviations CGHS = The Collections of the Georgia Historical Society. CRG - The Colonial Records of the State of Georgia, ed. Allen D. Candler. Atlanta, 1904 ff. DR = Detailed Reports on the SalzburgerEmigrants..., ed. George F.Jones. Athens, GA., 1968 ff. GHQ = Georgia Historical Quarterly SCHM = South (Mrolina Historical Magazine
1Although the word intelligentsia first appeared in 8Walter L. Robbins, "John Tobler's Description of nineteenth-century Russia, it is the best word for describ- South Carolina," SCHM, 71 (1970), 141-161. ing a class of educated people with philosophical, literary, 9CRG, 24:434-444. He wrote a similar refutation to scientific, or artistic interests enjoyed for their own sake. Urlsperger (Ausführliche Nachrichten, 3:30-46). 2Stephens' witty and informative journal was edited 10For examples of notation, see DR, 5:310, DR, 11:150. and published by E. Merton Coulter in his The Journal of For Collegium Musicum, see Hermann Winde, "Die William Stephens, 1741-1745 (Athens, GA., 1958-59), and by Frühgeschichte der Lutherischen Kirche in Georgia," Allen D. Candler as supplement to Vol. IV of his CRG. unpublished dissertation, Martin-Luther University, Hal- Some of Habersham's many letters are published in le/Wittenberg, 1960, p.159. CGHQ, Vol. VI, and many of his and of Stephens' appear 11DR, 7:44. throughout the CRG. Habersham's views are well 12Theodore G. Tappert and John W. Doberstein, expressed by the disgust he felt that at the College of New eds., Jersey (Princeton) his son Joseph had stuffed his head The Journals of Henry Melchior Mühlenberg (Philadelphia with "useless Criticisms on Phrases and Words in Latin 1942-48), Vol. II, p. 646. and Greek (CGHS, VI, 67)". 13DR, 6:309. 3See Oglethorpe's learned preface to his Some Account 14DR, 12:116 of the Design of the Trustees for Establishing Colonys in Amer- 15DR, 7:44. ica, ed. Rodney Baine and Phinizy Spaulding (Athens, 16DR, 14:192. GA., 1990), pp. 3-10. Oglethorpe had even composed a 17Verner W. Crane, "A Lost Utopia of the First Ameri- Latin panegyric as a youth (GHQ, 32 [1948], 29-31). He can Frontier," SewaneeReview, 27 (1919), 48-61; "Historical appears to have been quoting a Latin edition of Columel- Facts Delivered by Ludovick Grant...," SCHM, 10 (1909), la's Scriptures rei rusticae when he advised the Salzburgers pp. 58-61; Mellon Knox, Jr., "Christian Prieber's Chero- to plant their wheat in such a way to enjoy "duos soles" kee Kingdom of Paradise," GHQ, 57 (1973), 319-331. See (DR, 11:35). Richard C. Boys has shown that Oglethorpe also Mellon Knox, Jr., "Christian Priber and the Jesuit was a close friend of Boswell and consorted freely with Myth," SCGM, 61 (1960), 75-81; Newton Mereness, Travels thejohnson circle in London ("General Oglethorpe and in the American Colonies (New York, 1916), pp. 239-240, the Muses," GHQ, 31 [1927], 19-29). 246-250); and Samuel Williams, Early Travels in Tennessee 4Oglthorpe owned a barony near New Windsor, but (Johnson City, TN., 1928), 149-160. never resided there. 18Usu DoctrinaeJuris Romani de Ignorantia Juris in Foro 5Boltzius constantly complained that his secular duties Germaniae, Erfurt 1722. were distracting him from his more important ministerial 19CRG, 1:218. duties, yet he seems to show satisfaction with his secular 20Knox, "Chr. Prieber," p. 327. Mereness, p. 248 (see accomplishments. During the Middle Ages and into the note 17). eighteenth century the church offered almost the only 21Bonnefoy called him Pierre Albert (Mereness, p. 247, opportunity for poor boys to achieve an education, and see note 17). many took orders in order to satisfy their intellectual 22SCHM, 10 (1919), p. 59. rather than spiritual needs. 23Crane, p. 50 (see note 17). 6Jethro Tull, The Horse-Hoeing Husbandry (London 24Crane (p. 51) lists several enlightened French writers 1733); Thomas Boreman, Compendious Account of the Silk who were Prieber's spiritual kin (see note 17). Worm (London 1732); Leonhard Sturm, Vollständige 25British Public Record Office, Colonial Office Mühlen Baukunst— (Augsburg 1718). Papers, 7His journal and much of his correspondence were Class 5, 655 II 171-171 v. Published in GHQ, 44 (1940), published, badly bowdlerized, by Samuel Urlsperger, the 100-101, and reproduced in CR, 36:129-131 (unpublished). Senior of the Lutheran Ministry in Augsburg, in his Aus- Z6The following account is based mainly on Robbins führliche Nachrichten (Halle, 1735 ff.). The journal has (see note 8). been, and is being, translated in the DR. 27For a list of his properties, see Leo Scheiben, Einfüh- rung in die Schweizerische Auswanderungsgeschichte der Neuzeit, Zurich, 1976, pp. 332-335.
-37- 28The Pennsylvania Town and Country-Man's Almanack, 51DR, 10:107. published by Sower in Philadelphia. 52Boltzius rendered the name both as Zieblin and Züb- 29There are nine clusters of almanac titles under lin (DR, 4:60,213). Tobler's name in the bibliographical database RLIN. 53Boltzius complained that the wealthy David would 30This almanac, whose many-lined baroque tide begins not help his poor brothers Ambrosius and Johann Jacob Alterund verbesserterSchreib-Calendar, was published in St. (DR, 5:29, 6:174, 7:126). Gall by Hans Jacob Hochreutiner. For the full title, see 54Much of the following is indebted to Randall M. Robbins, p. 141 (see note 7). Miller, A Warm and Zealous Spirit, Macon, GA., 1982; see 31Mentioned by Boltzius, DR, 7:44. also Roger A. Martin, "Zubly comes to America." GHQ, 32DR, 12:5-6, also 32. This was Joachim Lange, Evange- 61 (1977), pp. 125-139; Lilla Hawes, ed. The Journal of the lische Lehre der allgemeinen Gnade or de Gratia universali Reverend John Joachim Zubly..., Savannah, GA., 1989. wider Electionem ex Absolute Decreto. Other works about Zubly are given in Miller (p. 7, see note 33For an excellent account of de Brahm, see Louis De 10) and Hawes (pp. 113-123). Vorsey, Jr., ed., De Brahm 's Report of the General Survey in the 55E. Merton Coulter, ed., The Journal of William Stephens Southern District of North America, Columbia, SC., 1967. 1743-1745, Athens, GA., 1959, Vol. II, pp. 199-200. See also 34Historians are wrong in sometimes referring to pp. 204, 214, 216, 222, 224, 237. Johann von Kalb as the "so-called baron" or the "self- 56His father in Purysburg spelled his name Zoberbüller styled baron." Friedrich von Porbeck, the Hessian com- or Zoberbiller (DR, 4:61, 69). mander in Savannah during the Revolution, was also a 57CR, 23:483-485; Coulter, Vol. II, pp. 199-200 (see note merit nobleman. 44). 35CR, 26:319. 58CR, 25:95,125; CR, 31:52-55, 75,89 (new ed. by Ken- 36CR, 27:103 (new ed by Kenneth Coleman, Athens neth Coleman, Athens, GA., 1986). GA., 1977). 59Published in Miller, pp. 83-94 (see note 54). 37Charles L. Mowat, "That 'Odd Being,' De Brahm", 60Cited from Miller, p. 21 (see note 54). The Florida Historical Quarterly, 20 (1942), p. 323. 61CGHS, 6:185. 38An exception was Boltzius, with whom he appears to 62Published in Miller, pp. 31-51, 95-121 (see note 54). have had a feud so bad that George Whitefield was called 63De Vorsey, p. 144. upon to reconcile them (Alan Gallay, The Formation of a 64Tappert 2:596 (see note 12). Planter Elite, Athens, GA., 1989, p. 40). Another exception 65The "Malabar" books may have been suggested by was Raymond Demere, the commander at Ft. Loudon, the East Indian reports sent back to Halle by the Luthe- with whom he clashed (De Vorsey, p. 20). ran ministers in Malabar, copies of which were found in 39The tide de, being French, was not only more elegant the Ebenezer library (Der königlichen Dänischen Mission- but also more intelligible, since the British were familiar arien aus Ost-Indien eingesandte ausführliche Berichte, with it through ancient Norman names. Halle 1735 ff. 40Both published in De Vorsey, pp. 3-114; 72-166. 66DR, 12:6. 41De Vorsey, pp. 115-131. 67Of our subjects, we know the tides of the dissertation 42Atlantic Pilot (London 1772). of Prieber (see note 18) and Zubly, who wrote an Exerdta- 43De Brahm's report on Georgia was published in 1849 tio Theologica deNubis Virginis (Charleston, SC., 1775). in forty-eight copies by George Wymberley-Jones at 68De Brahm relates that the Cherokees called him Wormsloe (Savannah) with the title History of Georgia. Shaeegunsta Dutchee (Samuel Cole Williams, ed., Early 44De Vorsey, p. 71. Phlogiston was the component of Travels in the Tennessee Country 1540-1800. Johnson City, flammable materials released by combustion. Conjec- TN., 1928, p. 193). tured mostly by German scholars, this substance enjoyed 69Crane, p. 48 (see note 17). almost universal credance until discredited by Lavoisier 70Miller, p. 9 (see note 54). some two decades after de Brahm wrote this passage. 71It is noticeable that Boltzius is the only one of de 45Typical of his style is the footnote in De Vorsey, p. 86. Brahm's acquaintances that did not lavish praise upon See also p. 143. him. Gallay (The Formation of a Planter Elite, Athens, GA., 46De Vorsey p. 141. 1989, p. 40), says that they feuded and that George White- 47De Vorsey, p. 70. field was asked to try to reconcile them. 48The major source of information about Bornemann 72Robbins, p. 148 (see note 8). and his family is an unpublished journal of his journey from Göttingen to London, and then on to Savannah. The manuscript is in the possession of a descendant, Andrew Burney of Brooklet, Georgia, who has promised to donate it to the Library of Congress. 49A xerox copy of this journal, together with a transla- tion by Gertha Reinert, is stored at the Georgia Historical Society in Savannah. 50These letters, housed in the Bürgerbibliothek in Bern, are forthcoming in the GHQ.
-38-
An advertisement from the 1895 edition ofWright's Milwaukee City Directory. Broich 's two-story photographic studio across from the Plankinton House was then a well-established firm employing several photographers and assistants. (Photo courtesy of Milwaukee County Historical Society).
-39- HUGO BROICH: PORTRAIT ARTIST AND PHOTOGRAPHER IN EARLY MILWAUKEE he career of Hugo Broich is interesting the ground floor as well as skylighted working T for several reasons. An immigrant from rooms on the second floor. The premises Germany, Broich settled in Milwaukee before continued to serve as Broich's place of busi- the Civil War and was for several years ness until 1897, by which time he was employ- involved in the lithography business. He is ing five photographers and several other mainly remembered as a portrait photo- assistants. grapher, though he later turned increasingly Among the photographers who were asso- to portrait painting. Through a network of ciated with Broich were Louis Hagendorf and professional and family des, Broich was Frederick A. Luettich. Hagendorf, born in brought into contact with the circle of Hamburg in 1848, came to the U.S. in 1869 German-American lithographers and art after learning the trade of photographer in printers in nineteenth-century Milwaukee. Europe. He worked for Broich until 1876 and Finally, his life appears to have been punctu- later established his own studio. Luettich, who ated by capricious turns of fate, so that his was born in Prussia around 1833, was both an name more than once found its way into the artist and photographer. He left Broich's local newspapers and his life story possesses a employ in 1874 to become associated with the certain intrinsic interest. photographer William H. Sherman and still Broich was born on April 9,1831 at Bergh- later formed a partnership with Edwin D. eim, a small community on the Erft River Bangs in the firm of Bangs and Luettich. One about fourteen miles west of Cologne. His full of the younger Photographers who served an name was Hugo Anton Hermann von Broich, apprenticeship at Broich's establishment was though he dropped the aristocratic von from Henry S. Klein, who was employed by Broich his name after immigrating to America. His in 1883 and later established the Klein Studio father, Hermann von Broich, was a tax collec- in the "Iron Block" neighborhood. tor. After receiving a classical education, The local press frequently reported on the Broich served for several years as an officer in changing exhibits at the picture gallery of the Prussian Army. Although interested in Broich's establishment. In 1873, for example, drawing and painting from an early age, there the Milwaukee Sentinel encouraged its read- is no evidence that he ever received formal ers to see an exhibit of autotypes of Paris.3 training as an artist. He left Germany in Landscape paintings by both German and October 1856, and by December had arrived American artists were also exhibited. in Wisconsin. After spending a year at Ripon, In 1872 the Milwaukee Sentinel reported Wisconsin, he settled in Milwaukee, where he that Broich was one of the principal asso- found employment as a photographic painter ciates of the American Oleographic Com- and learned the trade of photographer, pany, a lithographic publishing firm, and that though the 1861 city directory gives his occu- he had recently completed three chromoli- pation as artist.1 At that time he had a studio of thographs in collaboration with the Austrian- his own at 359 Third Avenue near the corner born lithographer Louis Kurz (1833-1921).4 of Third and Juneau. Later his business was The photographer John Kremer was also located at 365 West Water Street near the associated with this enterprise. Lithographs present corner of Plankinton and Juneau, but produced by the company were sometimes in 1869 he moved into a spacious and hand- exhibited at Broich's gallery and studio on somely furnished establishment at 116-118 Spring Street. In 1873 the Milwaukee Sentinel Spring Street (later Grand Avenue and now gave a full description of "The Wolf and the Wisconsin Avenue).2 Located in downtown Shepherd," a chromolithograph by the local Milwaukee across the street from the Plankin- artist Charles Stoecklein. The same year ton House Hotel, Broich's studio had a car- Broich and his associates produced a litho- peted reception room and picture gallery on graph entitled "Jolly Priests in Wine Cellars,"
-40- possibly adapted from a painting by the hundred dollars in cash. Other burglaries of Munich artist Edward Grtüzner (1846-1925).5 Broich's residence occurred in 1877 and 1880. The American Oleographic Company was Several hundred dollars worth of equipment still in existence in 1874, but by the following was stolen from Broich's studio in 1890, and year the business was known as Broich, Kurz in 1875 a horse and light wagon were stolen. and Company and operated out of Broich's The horse thief was apprehended three days Spring Street establishment. The name was later in Racine and the property was changed to Broich and Kremer when Kurz recovered.8 withdrew from the firm in 1876. Soon after- Broich's career was also enlivened by two wards the partnership of Broich and Kremer separate fires at his business premises. The became a photography business. By 1880 first of these occurred on the morning of Kremer had quit the partnership so that January 6,1864, when his studio at 365 Third Broich was once more at the head of his own Street was completely destroyed by a fire photographic studio. Kremer later had a suc- which had started in a nearby cigar store. In cessful career in the brewing business while 1887 a fire at Broich's studio on Grand Kurz had a notable career as a lithographer in Avenue caused damage to the extent of sev- Chicago. eral hundred dollars.9 In 1857 Broich had married Hedwig von Broich died at Lakeside Hospital in Mil- Cotzhausen (1834-1932), a member of a waukee on May 16,1905. The 71-year-old artist socially prominent Milwaukee family which, and photographer had been brought to the like Broich's own family, had aristocratic hospital three days earlier after having been antecedents.6 They subsequently had two struck by a streetcar at the corner of National sons and two daughters. Through his wife's and 21 Avenue. He was buried at Forest Home family Broich had additional contacts with Cemetery in Milwaukee. Obituaries in the the local lithography industry. Broich's wife local German-language press drew atten- was an aunt of Alfred E. von Cotzhausen tion to the fact that he had been involved in (1866-1941), a corporate officer in several Mil- various German-American activities such as waukee lithography firms, including the Beck the organization of a German Day celebration. and Pauli Company. Alfred E. von Cotzhaus- Broich's work as both a photographer and en's grandson, Alexander Mueller (1872- artist can be judged as competent but not 1935), began his career as a lithographer, but outstanding. It is probably fair to say that his later, after training in Europe, became an work in both areas possesses mainly an histor- important local artist and art teacher. In addi- ical rather than artistic interest. Broich's main tion to being involved with the lithography income presumably came from his photo- business, Broich was also one of the founders graphy business, though the city directories of the Standard Art Glass Manufacturing reported his occupation as artist rather than Company, a firm incorporated in 1885.7 This photographer during the last eight years of company was presumably in the business of his life. By this time he was financially well designing and manufacturing stained glass established and was certainly in a position to windows. delegate much of the work of his photography Broich was a prosperous local businessman business to others. Only a few examples of who could afford to maintain an impressive Broich's work as an artist are known to have household. His family mansion, now demol- survived. Of these, the best is a fine portrait at ished, had a staff which included a cook, the Milwaukee County Historical Society of laundress, housemaid, and even a full-time William Parks Merrill, a pioneer settler and a seamstress. There were horses and carriages successful land speculator. The historical and presumably a groom to take care of them. society also has a small charcoal portrait by Not surprisingly, such an establishment was Broich of an unidentified man. A number of more than once the target of burglars. In 1874 other works are in the possession of Broich's a burglar entered Broich's home through a descendants, including seven oil paintings, window and made off with more than a three watercolors, and two oleograph prints.
-41- The oil paintings include a large self-portrait NOTES in uniform, an oriental street scene, a harbor 1History of Milwaukee, Wisconsin (Chicago: The scene, and several landscapes. The water- Western Historical Company, 1881), 1543. Milwaukee colors include a portrait of Broich's daughter Herald, May 17 1905, p. 4. Naturalization documents also confirm that he arrived in the United States in late 1856. Eugenia, a landscape showing a lake at 2Milwaukee Sentinel, June 21, 1869, p. 1. sunset, and a picture of ships on a stormy sea. 3Milwaukee Sentinel, May 17, 1873, p. 8. None of these works is signed. One of the 4Milwaukee Sentinel, July 11, 1872, p. 4. oleographs, "Love Letters,'" shows two young 5Milwaukee Sentinel, May 18, 1873, p. 4 and August 8, ladies reading a letter. The other, entitled 1873, p. 8. 6I am indebted to the artist's granddaughter, Mrs. R.J. "The Man with the Meerschaum Pipe," shows Cory of Mequon, Wisconsin for much information about an old man with a brightly colored tasseled Broich's ancestry and relations. I am also indebted to cap and a parrot. He is also reported to have Udo Bungard of Hennef, Federal Republic of Germany, done a number of drawings and sketches.10 who shared with me extensive information about the Although Broich left only a few paintings and Broich and von Cotzhausen families. 7Milwaukee Sentinel, September 26, 1885, p. 8. only one drawing which are known to have 8Milwaukee Sentinel, August 31, 1874, p. 8; February 23, survived, he left a substantial legacy of photo- 1877, p. 8; January 8, 1880, p. 5; July 29,1890, p. 2; May 17, graphic work, for the most part competently 1875, p. 8 and May 18, 1875, p. 8. executed studio portraits. 9Milwaukee Sentinel, January 7, 1864, p. 1 and January 12, 1887, p. 3. —Peter C. Merrill 10Milwaukee Herold, May 17, 1905, p. 4. Florida Atlantic University
-42- IMPERIAL GERMAN SOCIALISM IN THE LIFE AND WORK OF UAW PRESIDENT WALTER PHILIP REUTHER
n the minds of many Americans socialism appeared in 1861 under the title Das System der I and communism are doubtless almost syn- erworbenen Rechte in which he proposed a onymous, and for not a few Americans both "scientific legal system for revolution and were long associated with what used to be socialism." In various drafts he also aligned called the "Red Scare."1 To Germans, on the himself with the proponents of a national other hand, socialism has been a clearly iden- state without Austria in the ongoing "Groß- tifiable mode of thought which has seldom deutsch-Kleindeutsch" debate. been confused with communism and Marx- In 1848/49 Lassalle joined the circles of ism. Most Germans are aware that Marx and Marx and Engels with their rallying organ, the Engels, by applying to practical social prob- Neue Rheinische Zeitung. For a time not only did lems the Hegelian idea of dialectics, arrived at he recommend with them the foundation of a a concept of economic socialism which advo- political party of socialists but he also con- cated the destruction of capitalism and the doned overthrowing the state, although only take-over of production by the proletariat. through the peaceful means of granting suf- According to Marx, class struggle was inevita- frage to the working classes. Strange as it may ble. The proletariat had acquired an aware- seem in the light of later developments, the ness that the bourgeoisie together with the goals of Lassalle and Marx were at the time state had to be eliminated so that a "dictator- not greatly divergent. Nor were the two men ship of the proletariat" could advance class- ever at odds about their Utopian goals. The less communism in which the exploitation of means, of course, were very different! Instead man would cease. Although many Americans of violence, Lassalle proposed a method of would not be, most Germans are also aware state supports and credits to establish produc- that it was this brand of socialism which Ger- tion associations which the workers would man governments vigorously, and at times eventually own as their share of the process. violently opposed from the time of Kaiser Lassalle's ideas later became the theoretical Wilhelm I through the period of National basis for the American cooperative move- Socialism and still reject today. ment, which was in part derived from late 19th As H. Grebling observes, the German labor century immigrants to the United States, prin- movement in the second half of the nine- cipally those from the Scandinavian coun- teenth century was divided between two tries.4 Lasalle rejected class struggle and sim- streams of thought: "Lassalle's ideas of social- ilar ideologies as devices concocted by the democratic reforms advocating the nation- workers merely to help themselves. With faith state, and the international revolutionary in what was to become unionism, Lassalle socialism of Marx and Engels."2 Like Marx founded the Allgemeiner deutscher Arbeiterverein and Engels, Ferdinand Lassalle, born in Bres- and became its first president in May, 1863. lau on April 11,1825, had also been a student Through his writings, he supplied the theoret- of Hegel, from whose teachings he had dis- ical basis which ever since has served as the tilled his notion of the state, as a "unity of the foundation on which German state social individuals committed to a moral objective."3 politics has been grounded. He further defined his purpose as the educa- The first paragraph of the new workers' tion and development of mankind for a life of union reads: "...the undersigned establish a freedom. Lassalle's primary published work union which, based on the conviction that
-43- only a universal, equal, and direct franchise tinued to give credit for democratic socialism can secure adequate representation of the to the Lassallean Imperial German model. social interests of the German working class For example, G. A. Kleene writing in 1901 in and genuine abolition of class differences in the Annals of the American Academy of Political society, aims at effecting, by peaceful and law- and Social Science said: ful means... the establishment of a universal, In the same decade, Liebknecht and his young 5 equal, and direct franchise." Because Las- disciple, Bebel, began to preach to the German salle opposed liberalism per se but supported laborer the ideas of Karl Marx, ideas differing in suffrage for all people, he was invited as early important respects from those of Lassalle. The lat- as 1863 for talks with Bismarck, who had been ter's aims were idealistic, national and state socialis- tic; the socialism of Karl Marx was based on mate- Prime Minister of Prussia since 1862. At this rialism, was international or cosmopolitan, and time, Bismarck was in a position to prevent hostile to the existing state and to state socialism. In the abdication of the Prussian king and to the seventies, followers of Marx and Lassalle united obstruct the constitution, even to govern to form the "Sozialistische Arbeiterpartei" as the against it and the diet of Prussia, whenever he German Social Democratic Party was then called, and the first platform of the party, the so-called chose. Although the visits between Lassalle Gotha program, which contains indications of a and Bismarck remained indecisive as far as compromise between the two groups. As time the history of state-directed socialism is con- passed, the doctrine of Marx became predominant.7 cerned, there is little doubt that Lassalle's Because Bismarck and Kaiser Wilhelm I ideas eventually exerted strong influence on falsely concluded that an assassination at- the social legislation which Bismarck initiated tempt on the 81-year-old emperor had been in the early 1880's. perpetrated by members of the Social Demo- At the inauguration of the German Reichs- cratic Party, the SPD was outlawed by the tag in 1881, Kaiser Wilhelm I instructed Bis- Reichstag in October, 1878, and remained marck to read an imperial proclamation set- under interdiction for twelve years until 1890. ting forth the principles of future German Partly because of the martyr image this action social legislation: "To find the proper ways inspired for the delegates remaining in the and means for this welfare is a difficult but a Reichstag and partly because Bismarck was leading task for any community that is based driven by the ideology of Lassalle as un- on the moral foundations of Christian exist- tainted by Marx, Bebel and Liebknecht, in ence. We hope that closer conjunction with 1883 Imperial Germany passed the program the real forces inherent in this social life and for national health insurance. In 1884 acci- their combination in the form of cooperatives dent insurance, and in 1889 invalid and old under state protection and state assistance age insurance also became law. Thereafter will also make it possible to solve tasks which the German Imperial package became the the state would be unable to accomplish to the model for the progressive nations of the same extent by itself. It will not, however, be world. possible to attain this objective without sub- Lassallean socialism arrived in the United stantial expenditure."6 States in various stages and forms and at dif- Drawing upon the legacy of Lassalle, who ferent times. Sometimes it came with the had died in 1864, the Kaiser proposed almost heavy overtones of Marx, especially as verbatim the kind of socialism that would couched in the doctrines of Lassalle's two result in the world's first social security system. pupils, August Bebel and Wilhelm Liebknecht. It was, thus, Lassalle's version of socialism In this intellectual climate on both sides of that would influence the policies and actions the Atlantic lived the extended family of Wal- of the German immigrant worker groups in ter Philip Reuther. Born on September 1,1907, the United States, from New York to Chicago in Wheeling, West Virginia, on the eve of with its Haymarket Riots, and to Detroit with Labor Day, Walter was raised in a plain-living its immense number of German industrial but high-minded German-American family.8 workers. Until the outbreak of World War I, Walter was the second of four sons and a many theoretical writers on socialism con-
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A group ofReuther relatives in Ruit or Schamhausen, 1933. Courtesy The Archives of Labor and Urban Affairs, Wayne State University considerably younger daughter of Valentine Stocker, a German wagon maker who had left Reuther, who had come to the United States Germany. In a grimy, soot-laden section of as an eleven-year-old boy with his father, Wheeling which was sandwiched between the Jacob Reuther, and his mother, Christine Baltimore and Ohio Railroad tracks on one Fuchs Reuther, in 1892. The family first side, and factories intermingled with dirty settled in the small village of Effingham, coal mines on the other, Walter, like his Illinois. siblings Theodore (1905), Walter (1907), Roy Jacob Reuther was always non-conformist. (1909), Victor (1912), and finally Christine He stood against the local Lutheran church (1923),9 was born. and against Prussian militarism. But Jacob In addition to the hardships typical of the was also very Christian — the Reuthers were times for an immigrant family, the Reuther Christian Socialists by their own designation. family has been characterized by biographer Rather than attending church, Jacob usually Victor as one in which "the Old World per- conducted services at home every Sunday sisted... prayer before every meal; music that morning. Later Lutheran pastors in Illinois goes wherever Germans go. Mother loved to tried to recruitjacob's son Valentine (Walter's sing Swabian folk songs and my father father) for the ministry because he was well enjoyed both his Rhineland songs and the versed in the Bible and Christian ethics, but classical music he had learned in the formal without success. Instead, caught in a seeming male chorus of the Beethoven Gesangverein. dead-end job working on the farm in Illinois, ...According to my mother, some of their Valentine joined his older brother, Jacob, most pleasant hours in those early days were who had already gone to live in Wheeling, spent sitting on the stoop, making music while West Virginia, where steel industries were the neighbors either joined in or expressed mushrooming in the Ohio Valley. their appreciation" (16). Victor also recounts In Wheeling, Valentine met and eventually the outings with the Turnverein in Mozart married Anna Stocker, the daughter of Jacob Park.
-45- The Reuther family was especially taken of other union representatives. Weak in lan- with Philip Reuther, whom Valentine had guage skills, be it English or German, Val helped bring over from Germany and who immediately afterwards (in 1909) enrolled in "introduced my father to the Socialist move- correspondence courses to expand his speak- ment" (17). Although Valentine had been ing and writing skills in both languages. He active in the steel mill union, he had not also read extensively the works of Goethe, formally known Socialist literature and it was Schiller and other classicists and in time Philip who brought it with him from Imperial became an expert union organizer who was Germany. Valentine had formed his ideas by called to all parts of the state to assist the reading avidly the materials he got from the fledgling movement. Eugene Debs organization and from the Kan- When Eugene V. Debs became a candidate sas Socialist publishing houses.10 for the presidency, Val often travelled with In the process the Reuthers became avid him on the famous "Red Special," going to unionists. Valentine already had established a workers' rallies and to meetings of ethnic chapter of the International Brewery Workers Germans to make speeches and elicit their Federation, though subsequently he ran into support for Debs as President on the Socialist conflict with the International Brotherhood ticket. Three times he campaigned all over of Teamsters because the latter claimed juris- West Virginia for Debs, in 1904, 1908, and diction for the drivers of beer wagons. Valen- 1912.11 So vigorous was the elder Reuther's tine fought against separating skilled from support for Debs, the Socialist candidate, that menial laborers. When the Schmulbach when Debs was imprisoned during World War brewery later organized, Val Reuther was I for violation of the Espionage Act, Val elected the union's delegate to the Ohio Val- Reuther visited him often in the Moundsville ley Assembly where he soon learned the ideas penitentiary south of Wheeling. Walter and
A home in the village ofRuit or Schamhausen, 1933. Courtesy The Archives of Labor and Urban Affairs, Wayne State University
-46- Victor accompanied their father on one such schools, closed down the Beethoven Gesang- visit in 1919, just before Debs was transferred verein along with other German organiza- to Atlanta penitentiary, and prior to his run tions, and heaped opprobrium on the Ger- for the presidency from prison in 1920. Victor man newspapers published in the area.14 Reuther describes the encounter in his Meanwhile far out west in Detroit, Henry biography: Ford had since 1908 been building his famous "Tin Lizzie" Model T, a horseless carriage When the heavy iron gate slammed shut with a clang, I saw tears running down my father's cheeks. that almost any American could afford. I had never seen him weep before. On the way back Before the T, an automobile had been a rich to Wheeling there was no conversation, until my man's toy, prompting Woodrow Wilson to father broke the silence, shaking his head and say- remark ironically that it was the most impor- ing over and over again, "How can they imprison so tant single thing that was turning the resentful kind and gentle a man!"12 common people to Socialism.15 Until the More than from any other direct source, it 1920s, when competitors began gaining on was from his father that Walter Reuther was him, Henry Ford was synonymous with car- conditioned to be a mediator of Imperial making. As a result of the competition, Ford German Socialism to the American labor reluctantly decided, in 1927, to stop producing movement. Summarizing the career of Valen- the Model T, still virtually unchanged from tine Reuther, Evelyn Harris and Frank J. the 1908 model, and to bring out a new series, Krebs in their history of the West Virginia the Model A. The Ford Motor Company had State Federation of Labor, From Humble been shut down for months for retooling, Beginnings, write: when in February, 1927 Walter Reuther Valentine Reuther, whose son Walter P. arrived in Detroit to find work.16 Reuther became president of the United To everyone's surprise given his youthful Automobile Workers and vice-president of the AFL-CIO, was a leader of the labor movement age, Walter was quickly hired at the Briggs in Wheeling__ Val Reuther lived in the days Manufacturing Company, a major supplier of when it took courage to act publicly as a labor bodies to Ford. Briggs was, however, the leader. It took double courage in Valentine's industry's worst employer. Long hours and case because in politics he was linked with the rapid pace of machines left workers Debs and the Socialists. Val Reuther had run unsuccessfully for the State Legislature, from exhausted and suffering from so many acci- the Wheeling district, on the Socialist ticket. dents that the factory had become known as "Socialism in American politics has been most "the butcher shop." Dissatisfied with the thoroughly under German influence," ac- working conditions, Reuther quit and after a cording to one writer. Wheeling had a strong short time succeeded in persuading a fore- German element. This German influence reached back to the founding of the state of man at Ford to hire him as a skilled tool and West Virginia.... Sixteen delegates at the 1912 tie maker for $1.05 an hour in an industry State Federation had German names, includ- where the average was 50 cents. ing the three delegates Reuther, Reiber and During those early years in Detroit, Walter Seidler, who introduced the "unity of pursued a course of self-improvement. He workers" resolution." was now past his twenty-first birthday and had During World War I, there was no question not yet finished high school.17 When joining whatever about the loyalty of the Reuther the YMCA he had filled out a questionnaire family to the United States, but whether for about his career ambitions stating that he unjustified suspicions .or for his pro-Socialist wanted to be either a labor organizer or a stance, Val Reuther suffered many personal chicken farmer. (Many years later automobile and political attacks. At one point vigilantes industry negotiators told him he would have painted the front door of the family home made an excellent chicken farmer.)18 He also yellow. Others sent anonymous diatribes enrolled in Fordson High School where he through the mail. Following the example of could attend classes because his daytime shift the rest of the country, the citizens of Wheel- at Ford did not begin until late in the ing discontinued teaching German in the afternoon.
-47- After earning his diploma at age 22, Walter and newspapers for beds. The garbage itself enrolled in Detroit's municipal university — was their only food. The Reuthers com- now Wayne State University — where he mented further about the barracks furnished helped organize the Social Problems Club, workers in the American mines of West then affiliated with the League for Industrial Virginia: Democracy. This organization included char- The American coal fields have been the scene ter members like Upton Sinclair, Clarence of capitalism's most vicious exploitation. The Darrow, Jack London, Walter Lippmann and coal barons own the shacks the miners live in. Ralph Bunche.19 In reality, the Social Club The barons own the schools their children was little more than a campus front for the attend. They own the church they worship in, the store they must buy from, the roads and Socialist Party which previously had been railroads over which they must travel. The known as the Intercollegiate Socialist League barons own the judge, the sheriff and the and which in the 1960s would spawn the Stu- courtroom where the miners seek justice, and dents for a Democratic Society. As a true acti- last of all the coal barons own the miners vist in the Social Problems Club, Walter organ- because they own the only jobs upon which the miners depend for their existence. The ized a protest over the exclusion of Negro miners and their families are forged to these students from a local hotel swimming pool hovels and the exploitation they symbolize. and led the fight to remove ROTC from the They cannot leave because the company pays University. With other members, he also them in scrip. That is only good at the com- plunged into the 1932 presidential campaign, pany store and the company always sees to it that the grocery bill and the rent are higher not in support of Franklin D. Roosevelt to be than the paycheck....21 sure, but of Norman Thomas, the new candi- All of this activity on the part of Reuther date on the Socialist Party ticket. In spite of all took place in the name of the Socialist Prob- their efforts, including the support generated lems Club which attracted ever larger public by the depression then raging in American audiences. Soon Walter built the rumble-seat cities, Thomas polled fewer than 40,000 votes section of his Model A into a platform that from Michigan. could be unfolded for speech making. During During the same period Walter and Victor this period, too, there were Soviet technicians also exhibited skills as photographers by jux- at the Ford River Rouge plant learning how to taposing pictures of homes in impoverished transfer Ford's technology to the Gorky plant Hooverville with mansions of corporation in Russia where Walter and Victor would members and auto industry executives in eventually work. It puzzled these Soviets Grosse Pointe. They took their text for a bro- when, periodically, workers would fire rocks chure from Lincoln's Gettysburg address: through the windows. Wary of all union Fourscore and seven years ago our forefath- organizers during the 1932 campaign, the ers brought forth on this continent a new Detroit police watched for their chance to rid economic system, conceived in the policies of "laissez faire" and dedicated to the proposi- the city of both the Soviets and the Reuthers, tion that private profit is the sole incentive to but without success. progress. Now we are engaged in a great eco- As the 1932 electioneering came to a close, nomic struggle testing whether this nation or the tired boys on the campaign trail received any nation so deceived and so dedicated to the following letter from their father: rugged individualism can long endure.20 Next to the pictures were equally clever Your decision to join and work for the estab- lishment of the socialist society does not sur- captions "Where wealth accumulates and prise me. On the contrary, unless all of you men decay" for the Grosse Pointe houses; and boys would at least by the time you reach for the Hooverville hovels "Homes that a maturity recognize the existence of a class dying social order is providing for its unem- struggle and take your place on the side of ployed workers." At the time Detroit's unem- labor politically, I should be keenly disap- pointed. To me socialism is the star of hope ployed were living in dugouts in the city dump that lights the way, leading the workers from where they were using discarded dump truck wage slavery to social justice and to know that bodies for shelter, lard cans for stoves, rags you boys have joined the movement and are
-48- doing all in your power to spread a doctrine of that during these years of European, espe- equal opportunities for all mankind, only cially German, crisis, the leadership, whether 22 tends to increase my love.... moderate or extreme, was dominated entirely Socialism was the Reuther ideal, an alterna- by the socialist party.24 tive to a government dominated by large The socialist party in the United States was financial interests. Communism, though still a German movement too. It was launched masked during the 1930s, was never touted by exclusively by and for German immigrants in the Reuther family. They understood clearly the 1870s and was essentially a foreign lan- the devastating difference between Marxism guage organization.25 One need only think of and Socialism as few living Americans did, Viktor Berger in Wisconsin and many others then or now. Of course the Reuthers in the German-American labor movement.26 rethought their attitude towards Franklin During the early years of the twentieth cen- Roosevelt when, as president, he pushed tury the socialist movement in the United through the very reforms that Norman Tho- States was gradually Americanized but it flour- mas had stood for —Social Security, child ished only in those areas where densely eth- labor laws and unemployment compensation nic German enclaves persisted, such as Mil- among them. This teamwork between govern- waukee, Detroit and Cincinnati. Until the First ment and capitalism along the model imple- World War, the American socialist movement mented by Economics Minister Ludwig was authentically German and a pheno- Erhard in the Federal Republic Germany menon with which the German-American beginning in 1948 was conceived already in worker was extremely comfortable. Rather the Bismarckian era and was proposed by than posing some kind of threat to democracy 23 Walter Reuther in his 1941 "Reuther Plan." in the United States, the Second International Most scholars acknowledge that, up to the was but a loose organization of socialist par- October Revolution in 1917, international ties of the world whose members met dutifully socialism was decidedly a German movement. for May Day parades, picnics with beer, Wurst The German Social Democratic Party was the and potato salad, all accompanied by some largest in the world. By the time of the First labor hymns and perhaps a few theoretical World War, however, the ideas of Karl Marx political resolutions.27 and Friedrich Engels predominated, and Rather than promoting open rebellion and their successors had largely assumed control struggle between the bourgeois and the pro- of the entire movement, especially following letariat, the socialist movement before World the success of Bismarck in incorporating Las- War I had in fact rejected war and militarism, sallean tenets into his 1880s legislation. Wil- as articulated by the resolutions passed at the helm Liebknecht, Paul Singer, August Bebel, socialist international meeting in Stuttgart in and later Wilhelm Liebknecht's son Karl, 1907. In the view of German socialists, wars along with Rosa Luxemburg, Karl Kautsky, were brought on by the rivalries of capitalists Eduard Bernstein and others were among the for markets and raw materials as well as the Germans promoting Soviet-style revolution investment opportunities they presented. The and the socialism it promised. In the early proletariat had neither fatherland nor busi- Weimar period from 1919 to about 1925, there ness, and therefore no need for wars to gain were various factions of the Socialist party in or protect their property and interests. If war Germany, the "Mehrheits Sozialistische Par- broke out, then it was the duty of all socialists tei Deutschlands" which was home to the likes to withhold support of the war and to counter of Philip Scheidemann and Friedrich Ebert. the efforts of the countries engaging in war. In the critical early years of the Weimar This approach was followed deliberately by Republic, the Socialist Party of Germany was German-American socialists even though the opposed by the "Unabhängige Sozialistische United States decided to remain neutral when Partei Deutschlands," the faction supported the First World War broke out. Within two by those of the Liebknecht and Luxemburg weeks after the August 1914 outbreak, the variety. The important point to remember is socialists had already organized their Inter-
-49- national Anti-War and Peace Demonstration connections with a Communist Party member in America. Two days following the American and fellow automobile worker in Detroit, declaration of war against Germany in April John Rushton, to get a job promise in the 1917, the German-American socialists once Soviet Union at the new Molotov Automobile more took up the cudgel, this time more Works in Gorki, which Henry Ford had deliberately, with their militant anti-war helped establish through a Russian trading statement, which pledged "continuous action company called Amtorg. On February 16,1933 and public opposition to the war through the boys set sail on a German ship from New demonstrations, mass petitions and all other York to Hamburg and arrived in Berlin in means within our power." It was written at the time to tour the smoldering ruins of the St. Louis convention and remained the offi- Reichstag. Here they found out that Amtorg cial position of the American socialists was delaying them because construction of its throughout the war.28 So essentially German barracks to house foreign workers had been and Bismarckian was the notion of the Social- hopelessly retarded. For nearly a year, there- ist movement that Samuel Gompers, the prac- fore, the boys travelled about Germany, visit- tical leader of the American Federation of ing their cousins and becoming especially Labor, claimed during the First World War impressed by their uncles, Ernst in Ruit and that the whole international socialist move- Adolph in Scharnhausen near Stuttgart. Inci- ment had been invented by Chancellor Bis- dents provoked by brown shirts happened marck of Imperial Germany as a device for with some frequency to the brothers' uncle softening up the world for German conquest.29 Peter, who on several occasions was nearly Following the October Revolution, it was arrested for his socialist stance on local the Bolsheviks, that is, the Communists of politics. Soviet Russia, rather than the German Social Having given their uncle Ernst the head- Democratic Party which provided leadership quarters of the Social Democratic Party as for the world socialist movement. Following their forwarding address in Vienna, the boys World War I, the Soviet Communist party was experienced first hand the sense of high emo- in charge rather than the ideologues of Ger- tion in Austria when the brown shirts paraded many. When Walter Reuther was developing and bullied outside the entrance.31 Here as his leadership skills in the 1930s, as a matter of well as in Germany the boys were impressed fact, the Communists referred to his brand of with the pluralities the socialists could acquire socialism as "Social Fascism," led by men who in elections, around the 70% mark, which they had betrayed the workers. There is little evi- found logical given the fact that costs for dence, however, that Walter was ever really cooperative housing programs, health cen- called upon to defend his socialist tradition ters, libraries, laundries, kindergartens, day either from the Communists or the Fascists. care facilities and other services were all Rather, Reuther was a product of the Uni- scaled to a worker's wage. If only they could ted States Depression, and more specifically duplicate something similar for the United of the year 1933. In that year Paul von Hin- States! In England later that year they met denburg appointed Hitler Chancellor. On Oswald Moseley, the black-shirt fascist leader March 4 of this same year, Franklin D. Roose- of the Nazi party in England. velt took the oath of office. And in the Soviet Finally in December, 1933, they returned to Union during that year, Joseph Stalin fin- Berlin where they were able to get their visas ished consolidating his power over arch for their trip east to the city of Gorki, Nizi- rivals, completed his first Five Year Plan, and Novgorod. Here they resided in a two-story launched a second. Finally, in January, 1933, army-style building named Commune Ruth- Walter Reuther at the age of 25 was fired form enberg after an early leader of the American his job at the Ford Motor Company.30 Communist Party, which was unofficially Almost immediately Walter and Victor known as "the American village" because of decided that this presented the opportunity of the many workers from the United States who their lifetimes. They therefore used their were housed there. Both young men received
-50-
Victor Reuther (back, second from left) and Walter Reuther (front, second from right) with relatives in Ruit or Schamhausen, Germany, 1933. Courtesy The Archives of Labor and Urban Affairs, Wayne State University
regular awards for their efficiency and pro- Soviet Union at this time too, some 6,000 Aus- ductivity because they repeatedly surpassed trian socialist workers at the Gorki plant the standards established in the first Five alone. Year Plan, not always an easy feat in a plant When Walter learned about an English that was completely unheated, even in language newspaper being printed in Mos- temperatures of minus twenty-five Celsius. cow, he began contributing articles, in one of Most Americans enjoyed respect in the which he criticized the inefficiency of man- Soviet Union at that time, not because they agement in the Molotov works at Gorki. For were thought to be sympathetic to socialism or this he and his foreman were sternly repri- Soviet Communism, but because of their skills manded. The boys also met Russian girls, and and capabilities as industrial workers. The 150 Walter for a time was serious about a girl or so Soviet technicians, who had been named Lucy.33 He did not, however, end up trained at the River Rouge plan in Detroit to marrying her. Before leaving home the boys produce the equivalent of the Model A during had made a mutual promise that they would the time when Walter was working there, were not become emotionally entangled and marry so enamored of American mass-production abroad! Filled with idealism, they were antici- techniques that at the time in the Soviet pating a tough struggle within the labor union Union Henry Ford was regarded perhaps movement they intended to lead upon their more highly than Marx or Lenin.32 To be sure return. Nevertheless stir was created in 1959 the Ford company was not the sole American when Nikita Khrushchev, visiting the United enterprise in the Soviet Union. By the end of States met Walter Reuther at a dinner party 1930 the Radio Corporation of America, and charged the labor leader with bigamy DuPont, Bethlehem Steel, General Electric, involving a woman known in the Russian Westinghouse and many other large corpora- press as "N". Of course Walter denied it. tions operated factories there. Germans and However, Lucy, the young woman, had con- Austrians (with their factories) were in the fided to the Soviet Trade Union newspaper
-51- Trud that she and Walter had been married. porated in the National Industrial Recovery But after Walter's departure, she never heard Act (NIRA), of which Section A reads: from him again, typical of the Social Demo- Employees shall have the right to organize crats, she said, all of whom were unreliable. and bargain collectively, through representa- During the 1959 Khrushchev visit, even the tives of their own choosing, and shall be free Detroit News (not exactly a Reuther enthusi- from the interference, restraint or coercion of ast) came to his defense.34 employers of labor, or their agents, in the designation of such representatives or in self- During his contract work-year in Gorki, organization or in other concerted activities.36 Walter had also written a fateful letter to his Even though the NIRA was struck down by friend Merlin Bishop in Detroit. Later the the Supreme Court in 1935, John L. Lewis had letter went through various versions as detrac- already begun his massive organizational tors published differing versions inside and drive for the United Mine Workers under the outside the United Automobile Workers hyperbolic slogan, "The President wants you Union. Allegedly the letter ends with a salute, to join the Union." More importantly, Senator "Carry on the fight for a Soviet America. Vic Robert Wagner of New York, another and Wal." Walter never quite shook the scan- German-born American in the Bismarckian dal as the opprobrious letter, from 1937 on- socialist tradition, chose to rescue the ward, kept sweeping the country during sit- Supreme Court defeat by introducing a bill down strikes, then appeared in the records of calling for a National Labor Relations Act, the National Labor Relations Board hearings, commonly called the Wagner Act, to prohibit and in 1941 in the Detroit Press, the Saturday "unfair labor practices."37 This new law Evening Post, and in reports of the Committee expressly forbade the use of retaliatory mea- on Un-American Activities under Martin Dies. sures against employees and provided for a During the McCarthy era of the 1950s, of national committee, the National Labor Rela- course, the phrase "a Soviet America" was tions Board, to arbitrate disputes. Although politically extremely dangerous, but from the most industries believed the Supreme Court perspective of the 1930s, such words from an would once again strike down such a law, in ecumenical socialist visiting and working in 1937 the court supported it, causing opposi- the land of radical socialism, even if true, tion in Congress to collapse. seem less than shocking. Robert Ferdinand Wagner was born in After having left the Soviet Union, the boys Hessian Nastätten in 1877. In 1886, as the travelled eastward across the Soviet Union to youngest of seven children, he immigrated Japan. Here they boarded as deck hands the with his parents to America and grew up in S.S. Hoover for Los Angeles where they New York City. Disappointed with the citadel arrived late in 1935, almost three years after of capitalism as they had experienced it, his their departure. Back in Detroit in 1936 and parents in 1896 returned to Germany but without work, they attended a socialist party Robert stayed to study law, and at the age of 23 meeting in Flint where Walter met a physical was admitted to the bar. Four years later his education teacher named May Wolf. She had gift of rhetoric led to a seat in the state legisla- been an organizer for the American Federa- ture. Ten years thereafter he became a judge tion of Teachers and was active in the Prole- of the Supreme Court of New York and after tarian Party of Michigan. The daughter of seven years on the bench was elected to the Jewish immigrants from Russia, the red- United States Senate, where he served for the haired May had many suitors, and therefore next 21 years as a Democrat. baffled her parents when, after a brief court- In his own words, Wagner claimed his ship, she chose to marry the penniless Walter 35 career was "fulfilling our social obligations" in a civil ceremony on March 13, 1936. in the German tradition. Probably due to his During this time in particular, Walter efforts, the state of New York well before Reuther was anathema in Detroit automobile World War I had the best laws in the nation circles. Yet he was now better armed because for the protection of the working people. In of new Roosevelt legislation which was incor- the U. S. Senate, Wagner year after year
-52-
Walter Reuther (center, front) and Victor Reuther (standing, far right) with other workers at the automobile factory at Gorky in the Soviet Union, 1934. Courtesy The Archives of Labor and Urban Affairs, Wayne State University offered legislative proposals for security in tory. Flushed with triumph, the United Auto the job place, unemployment compensation, Workers took on Ford in the same year. How- and social security for the aged along the ever, suspecting the worst, Ford had hired German Imperial model. Already in 1932 he Harry Bennett, a former boxer, to head up his was instrumental in passing the Relief Con- Ford Service Bureau, a private army com- struction Act. Frequently Roosevelt referred posed of some 3,000 armed security guards, to Wagner as his legislative captain of the New spies, undercover agents and strikebreakers.39 Deal. In 1939 Wagner offered the nation's first Within the feudal organization that was the solid proposal for a national health care plan, Ford Motor Company, only Henry Ford him- which, however, did not pass and in fact is still self could question actions taken by Bennett being debated. Most of the social laws dealing and his thugs. with child labor, the Social Security Act, and Reuther was catapulted to fame therefore, laws establishing standards for fair perfor- not from his General Motors victory but from mance — all derive from the initiatives of the so-called "Battle of the Overpass" at Ford. Robert Wagner, of whom President Roosevelt The UAW wanted to hand out leaflets at the said in 1944, "Your name is indelibly asso- River Rouge plant and to do so stationed sixty ciated with America's second Bill of Rights."38 UAW organizers, forty of them women auxil- Not able to assume direct leadership in the iaries, on the pedestrian overpass that led 1937 Flint sit-in strike at General Motors from the parking lot to the gates of the huge because he was not officially employed in the plant. Most of the women were wives whose automobile industry, Reuther and his broth- husbands were sympathetic to the union but ers nevertheless did provide the primary initi- were too afraid to be publicly identified for ative during that encounter which led to vic- fear of losing their jobs. Refusing to be intim-
-53- idated because he held a permit to distribute me up and began to kick me down the total leaflets from the Dearborn City Council, Wal- flight of steps... ter Reuther and Richard Frankensteen led There were about 150 men standing the contingent of petitioners to the bridge. around—They started to hit me again at the Almost immediately, the Ford Service Bureau bottom of the stairs, slugging me, driving me before them, never letting me get away. led by Bennett turned Reuther's efforts into a ...While I was being driven down I had bloody rout. Both men and women suffered glimpses of women being kicked and other bruised heads, broken bones and mangled men being kicked and when I got to the end of bodies. Luckily for them and the labor move- the fence, I found Dick ment, cameramen and reporters, in spite of In the meantime some newspaper photo- graphers came along and they picked us up belligerent warnings from Ford, did come out and we managed to get away from the thugs by to cover the melee. Even though many came- getting into the car—It is the only way we ras were smashed, notes seized and the truth could have escaped. Bob Kanter was also with badly tarnished, Time and newspapers across us. And all the time I had the permit to distrib- the country managed to publish the appalling ute the leaflets in my pocket, but no one would look at that. I might add, the police standing pictures. Outraged at Henry Luce's UAW- around did nothing to prevent the slugging.42 favorable editorial, Henry Ford withheld advertisements from Time, Life and Fortune Even before the brutality had stopped, 40 Harry Bennett had issued a press release for the next seventy weeks. claiming innocence of any involvement, The walkway was at Gate 4 through which though at the hearing of the National Labor most of the workers entered River Rouge but Relations Board, Reverend Raymond San- the bridge over Miller Road enabled not just workers coming in by street cars to cross the ford, chairman of the Committee for Church highway, but also provided other pedestrians and Industry of the Chicago Church Federa- a viaduct over the highway even if they had no tion, an observer of the affair, told board members that he saw Walter Reuther connection with Ford. It is true that Ford had "crouched down with arms shielding his face. built the walkway but then had leased it to the His face was bleached__ Blood was trickling Detroit Railway Commission for public use. About this violent incident of May 26, 1937 all over his face— Eventually he was thrown down three flights of stairs with men attacking Walter has written: him from all sides." Walter Reuther also testi- I got out of the car on the public highway, fied at the hearings of the NLRB. After it Miller Road, near Gate 4. Dick Frankensteen and I walked together over to the stairs. I got concluded, Ford was officially accused of up the stairs and walked over near the center unfair labor practices under terms of the of the bridge. I was there a couple of minutes Wagner Act. At the hearings Ford's lawyer, and then all of a sudden about 35 or 40 men Louis J. Colombo, cross-examined Walter surrounded us and started to beat us up. I using the "Vic and Wal" letter to suggest that didn't fight back. I merely tried to guard my Walter was an un-American revolutionary. face. The men...picked me up about eight different times and threw me down on my Among the 3,000 pages of testimony is the back on the concrete and while I was on the following exchange: ground, they kicked me in the face, head and Q. One of the purposes of going there [to other parts of my body. After they kicked me a while, one fellow would yell "All right, let him Russia] was to study the Soviet system of go now." Then they would raise me up, hold government? my arms behind me and begin to hit me some A. We went to Russia to study conditions more. They picked my feet up and my there the same as we did in Germany. shoulders and slammed me down on the con- Q. What conditions: political conditions crete and while I was on the ground, they kicked me again in the face, head and other and economic conditions? parts of my body.... Finally they got me next to A. Social and economic conditions. Dick who was lying on the bridge and with After hours of time-killing cross-examina- both of us together they kicked me again and tion, the NLRB found the Ford Motor Com- then picked me up and threw me down the first flight of stairs. I lay there and they picked pany at fault. Three months later the UAW
-54- was once again ready to resume its attack. no-strike policy for the duration of the war.45 Reuther found himself in the middle of a Eleanor Roosevelt incorporated his proposal factional fight in the UAW. Charges that var- in her column "My Day."46 Reuther is also ious genuine Communists were vying for con- credited for having persuaded Harry S. Tru- trol of the union movement at that time were man to abandon the Henry Morgenthau Plan legitimate but Walter was never one of them.41 for the agriculturalization of Germany after There were over 1,000 arrests for violations of the Second World War. Past UAW president various kinds. Intimidation by the automobile Thomas had agreed with the policy of indus- industry also continued unabated for months trial demontage in Germany. On May 10, and years until finally in 1940 the tide gradu- 1948, Walter sent the following letter to Presi- ally began to turn. The Supreme Court helped dent Harry S. Truman spelling out how Ger- by refusing to hear the NLRB's 1937 rebuff of man industry should be rehabilitated: Ford. Dear. Mr. President: Though not automatic, victory was eventu- I am writing you in hopes that through use ally achieved when UAW campaigners openly of the great prestige and authority of your proselytized at the gates of Ford. As a result, office and of the United States Government you will be able to avert the senseless destruc- on April 10,1941, Henry Ford finally approved tion of industrial capacity in Germany. an election allowing union representation at I am writing specifically with regard to six the bargaining table. The next month — five steel and three chemical plants found by the years after GM and Chrysler had been union- ECA to be necessary for European recovery. I ized — some 85,000 Ford workers in three hope, however, that the proposal which I shall outline in relation to these plants can be Detroit plants voted by secret ballot: less than extended to cover all the non-munitions 3% wanted no union, 25% wanted the AFL plants now scheduled to be destroyed under and more than 70% voted for the UAW. Within the reparations program. the next year the UAW negotiated a $52 mil- The six steel and three chemical plants lion contract in additional wages for its referred to were recommended for retention workers. by Mr. Paul Hoffman _ Despite that recom- mendation, the Three Power agreement In 1946 Walter Reuther rose to the presid- recently concluded in Washington earmarked ency of the United Automobile Workers. A those plants for reparations. In the normal mere two years later he was severely wounded course this would mean dismantlement. The by an unknown assailant (as was his brother nature of these plants, however, makes dis- Victor in 1949). In 1952, Walter was elected mantlement equivalent to destruction__ The destruction of these plants would, in my opin- president of the CIO following which he ion, be in direct conflict with the domestic and merged his organization into the AFL-CIO foreign objectives of your administration. (American Federation of Labor and the Con- You have called for expansion of steel gress of Industrial Organizations).42 Because capacity in the United States to relieve a short- Reuther often clashed with the more conser- age that is world-wide in scope. Dismantle- ment of German steel mills would intensify vative George Meany, he took the UAW out of 43 that shortage. . . . and deprive American the federation in 1968. workers in the automobile and other steel- Walter has been credited for his important consuming industries of opportunities for full political advice to Democratic presidential and regular employment.... Destruction of candidates since 1937, including especially German plants able to supply these needs thrusts an unnecessary additional burden on Roosevelt, Harry Truman and John F. the American taxpayer and diminishes the Kennedy. Shortly after the fall of France in effectiveness of the funds which we are spend- 1940, for instance, Reuther advised Roosevelt ing in Europe's behalf. about the standardization of tank production A major goal of your foreign policy is to that could be implemented in the automobile prevent the spread of Communist totalitarian- 44 ism and to preserve and strengthen democ- factories. To avoid excess profits, Reuther racy throughout the world. Establishment of a also successfully persuaded Roosevelt to vital democracy in Western Germany is crucial implement a policy that no individual in the to that goal. Needless dismantlement of Ger- automobile industry could be paid more than man plants will deprive German workers of $25,000 per year in exchange for a union employment and will drive them, out of des- peration, into the arms of the Communists.... -55-
A photograph of Hubert Humphrey and Walter Reuther inscribed by Senator Humphrey, c.1965. Courtesy The Archives of Labor and Urban Affairs, Wayne State University
-56- We must recognize, of course, that fears still exist many following World War II, and which was with respect to restoring German industrial power implemented in the new Federal Republic of because of its military potential. But the security Germany under the leadership of Ludwig which Germany's neighbors desire can be assured Erhard and others. Clearly, this concept of by controls which will promote the purposes of the European Recovery Program rather than by des- labor and industry teaming up with the silent truction of Germany's productive capacity.... but interested referee-partner of government I suggest, in brief, that the plants in question be to enact principles, e.g. of co-determination, left intact at their present locations, operated has generated the Social Market Economy under the Law 75 trusteeship of the Western which in West Germany, and now in the Uni- occupying nations; and that nations entitled to reparations be assigned the output of these plants ted Germany, has become the envy of the up to the value which they would have received world. By his letter to President Truman, through dismantling....47 Reuther in a significant way aided in giving In his 1946 "un-mailed" letter to Walter P. the socialist market economy a chance to Reuther, J. B. S. Hardman congratulates operate in West Germany beginning in 1948. Reuther for coming to the head of the UAW. Walter Reuther also played a major role in Given the misunderstanding of socialist bringing a slice of that Lassallean socialist ideology vs. the then threatening communist approach to the economy into the United ideology, Hardman asserts "your socialist, or States tradition. 'socialistic', or whatever else one may call your —La Vern J. general philosophy has nothing to do with it. Rippley ...As I see it, in you emerges the social- St. Olaf College engineering type of leader, whereas the established group represents the bargaining and political types.... Labor is divided into two rival, contending national centers. Can statesmanship bring about unity?...Can we Notes perhaps develop something comparable to a 1Marvin Wachmann, History of the Social-Democratic United Nations, if not 'world government' for Party of Milwaukee 1897-1910 (Urbana: University of Illi- common action?...Government is in collec- nois Press, 1945), Errol W. Stevens, "Heartland Socialism: The Socialist Party of America in Four Midwestern Com- tive bargaining to stay. That 'Reuther Plan' of munities unpublished," Ph.D. diss., 1978, Indiana Univer- yours — you remember? — suggesting and sity, esp. Chapter 2, pp. 26-59. telling how to bring about a rapid conversion 2Bertold Spangenberg, German Cultural History from of the auto industry to mass-production of 1860 to the Present Day (Munich: Nymphenburger Verlag, war-essential aircraft, shocked a good many 1983), p. 13. 3Meyers Konversationslexikon "Lassalle," pp. 362-3. people back in 1941 but moved to action See also Hermann Oncken, Lassalle. Zwischen Marx und neither auto industrialists nor politicians, nor Bismarck (Stuttgart: Kohlhammer, 1966). fellow-laborites... .The 'Reuther Plan' was to 4Stuart Dean Brandes, "Nils Haugen and the Wiscon- me 'engineering' leadership and not because sin Progressive Movement." M.A. Thesis, University of it dealt with an engineering problem but Wisconsin, 1965. 5Spangenberg, German Cultural History, p. 39. because it constructively emphasized and 6Wolfgang Bethge, Berlins Geschichte im Überblick (Ber- dramatized the link between labor's concern lin: Gebrüder Holzapfel, 1987), p. 66.- but not the quote. ...and the broad, national issues of defense 7Vol. 18 (November, 1901), p. 391. and production."48 8Among several good sources about the early life of Although it would take another paper of Walter Reuther is the book by Victor G. Reuther, The this length to present the arguments convinc- Brothers Reuther and the Story of the UAW: A Memoir (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1979), in German, Die Brüder Reuther, ingly, the case should be made here that the eine Autobiographie sowie die Geschichte der amerikanischen Imperial German socialist ideas that Walter Automobilarbeitergewerkschaft UAW (Cologne: Bund, 1989). Reuther and his father brought to America Also useful are R. L. Tyler, Walter Reuther (Grand Rapid, were quite parallel to the ideology about the MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1973), and John Barnard, Walter government-labor-industrial cooperation that Reuther and the Rise of the Auto Workers (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1983). See also in general Lynn A. emerged from the Freiburg School in Ger- Bonfield, "Archival Collections for California Labor His- tory," California History, 66 (1987) 286-299.
-57- 9Victor Reuther, p. 16. 27Tyler, p. 15. See also David A. Shannon, The Socialist 10Sidney Lens, The Crisis of American Labor (New York: Party of America. A History (New York: MacMillan, 1955, Barnes and Co., A Perpetual Book, 1961), pp. 158 ff. deals Quadrangle paperbacks, 1967), esp. pp. 2,21 ff., 109 and, with this period in Walter Reuther's biography. in general, Irving Howe, Socialism and America (New York: 11Victor Reuther, p. 20. Harcourt Brace Javanovich, 1985). Concerning socialism 12Victor Reuther, p. 21. See also the biographical sum- and social reformers in a specific community see Stanley mary of Walter Reuther by Sidney Kelman, "Reuther. 'A Nadel, Little Germany. Ethnicity, Religion, and Class in New Called' Labor Leader," Michigan History, 73 (1989), 12-19. York City, 1845-80 (Urbana and Chicago: University of 13Quoted in Victor Reuther, p. 22. Illinois Press, 1990), pp. 121 ff. 14Victor Reuther, p. 23. 28See Rippley, Immigrant Wisconsin, p. 100 and Robert C. 1SR. L. Tyler, Reuther, p. 11. Reinders, "Daniel W. Hoan and the Milwaukee Socialist 16For a historical sketch of the Detroit in which Reuther Party during the First World War," Wisconsin Magazine of found himself during this period, see Irving Howe and B. History, 36 (Autumn 1952), 48-55. J. Widick, The UAWand WalterReuther (New York: Random 29Tyler, p. 14. House, 1949). 30Tyler, p. 19 17In her small book, A Political Biography of Walter 31Victor Reuther, p. 77. Reuther; the Record of an Opportunist (New York: Merit 32Victor Reuther, p. 91. Publishers, 1969), Beatrice Hansen attempts to present a 33Victor Reuther, p. 107; 113, ff. negative biography of Reuther by asserting his socialism 34Tyler, p. 24. which she says he denied. While he was careful about his 35Victor Reuther, p. 127. Socialist Party affiliations during the McCarthyite 1950s, 36Tyler p. 26. Walter, and especially Victor in his memoir, proudly 37Tyler, p. 27. admit to the beliefs Hansen accuses Walter of. Walter 38Fritz Kurrek, Die Geschichte der Deutschen in Michigan remained a member of the Socialist Party until at least (Detroit: Schenk Printing, 1981), p. 151. Robert F. Wagner 1940. died in 1953. His son, Robert F. Wagner Jr. served as 18Tyler, p. 13. Mayor of New York in the 1960s. 19Victor Reuther, p. 59. 39For a picture of the Harry Bennett psychology, see 20Victor Reuther, p. 62. Irving Howe and B.J. Widick, UAWand Reuther, pp. 91 ff. 21Victor Reuther, pp. 62-63. 40Tyler, pp. 39-40, Victor Reuther, pp. 200 ff. See also, in 22Victor Reuther, p. 64. John Barnard, Walter Reuther general, Seymour Martin Lipset, Political Man. The Social and the Rise of the Auto Workers p. 9. Bases of Politics (Garden City: Anchor Doubleday, 1963), 23J. B. S. Hardman outlines this broad definition of esp. pp. 418 ff. socialistic, rather than communistic, leadership for the 41See in general Sidney Lens, The Crisis of American union movement in the United States in "Dear Walter: An Labor, pp. 160 ff. Un-Mailed Letter to Walter P. Reuther," Labor and Nation. 42Sympathetic throughout his lifetime with the socialist Independent National Labor Magazine, 1, No. 5 (April-May, movement, Walter Reuther often backed third-party can- 1946), 5-8. Two key figures in the development and didates beginning, with Norman Thomas. He supported implementation of this concept of socialism in the post- the Farmer-Labor Party in 1936, and ran unsuccessfully war Federal Republic of Germany were Joseph Alois on the Unity faction for the Detroit Common Council in Schumpeter and Alfred Müller-Armack, e. g. in the latter's 1937. See the study by Marvin Persky, "Walter Reuther, the book Studien zur sozialen Marktwirtschaft (1960). UAW-CIO, and Third Party Politics," unpublished Ph.D. 24Wolfgang Bethge, Berlins Geschichte im Überblick (Ber- diss. Michigan State University, 1974. lin: Gebrüder Holzapfel, 1987) pp. 90-112. 43See Cathy L. Hennen, "Campaigning Against Com- 25See Dirk Hoerder, ed., Struggle a Hard Battle: Essays on munism: The Rhetoric of Walter P. Reuther 1946-1948," Working-Class Immigrants (DeKalb, IL: Northern Illinois unpublished Ph.D. diss. University of Pittsburgh, 1986. University Press, 1986), especially Hanmut Keil, "German 44C. Wright Mills, with Helen Schneider, TheNewMen of Working-Class Radicalism in the United States from the Power. America's Labor Leaders (NewYork: Harcourt, Brace 1870s to World War I." See also German Workers in Chicago. and Co., 1948), pp. 107 ff. 208 ff. A Documentary History of Working-Class Culture from 1850 to 45Irving Howe and Burdick, pp. 107 ff. World War I, ed., Hartmut Keil and John B. Jentz, (Chi- 46Tyler, p. 62. cago: University of Illinois Press 1988). 47Quoted in Victor Reuther, pp. 341-2. 26Sally M. Miller, Victor Berger and the Promise of Construc- 48Hardman, pp. 5, 7. tive Socialism, 1910-1920 (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1973), about the German press in the labor movement See also La Vern J. Rippley, The Immigrant Experience in Wisconsin (Boston: Twayne, 1985), pp. 101 ff., and Bayrd Still, Milwaukee: The History of a City (Madison: State His- torical Society of Wisconsin, 1948), pp. 289-295, 303.
-58- FRANKLIN DELANO ROOSEVELT AND THE GERMAN ANTI-NAZI RESISTANCE n July 20,1944, a bomb exploded in Adolf among them the problem of the generally OHitler's Führerhauptquartier near Ras- non-productive relationship betwen members tenburg, East Prussia. Under the leadership of of the Resistance and representatives of the Count Claus Schenck von Stauffenberg a con- Roosevelt Administration and the White spiracy to overthrow the Nazi government House itself. The major source for investigat- had come close to fruition. The conspirators ing this problem are the documents which are wanted to create a decent Germany which collectively referred to as the "Breaker would fulfill its proper role among the nations Reports," which are deposited in the National of the world. Yet the plot failed. Many of the Archives in Washington D.C. This article is conspirators were tried and executed through largely based on those documents. the Nazi People's Court. The activities of the Contacts between members of the anti- anti-Nazi Resistance reach back to the early Hitler Resistance and members of the Roose- years of the Hitler regime. As early as the velt Administration existed from the early Sudetenland crisis of 1938, highly placed years of the Hitler regime until after the July members of the Army began to play a signifi- 20, 1944, assassination attempt on the dicta- cant role in the Resistance. Their goal of over- tor's life. During the late summer and early throwing the Nazi regime became increas- fall of 1937, Dr. Carl Gordeler, the former ingly urgent as they realized that Hitler Lord Mayor of Leipzig and the later "motor of spelled disaster for Germany. the Resistance," visited with the endorsement In the immediate post-World War II years of the Hitler government Canada and the little was publicized about the story of the United States. The official purpose of Gordel- German Resistance. The Cold War and the er's journey was to gather facts about these birth of the Federal Republic of Germany in countries and to report his findings to Berlin. 1949 witnessed a growing flow of publications In the States Gordeler met Secretary of State dealing with this topic. Today there is an Cordell Hull, Secretary of War Henry L. Stim- abundance of Resistance literature. Hans son, Secretary of the Treasury Henry Morgen- Rothfels German Opposition to Hitler (1948) and thau, George Messersmith of the Department Gerhard Ritter's Carl Goerdeler and the German of State and former President Hoover. Goer- Resistance (1956) belong to the early major deler had two goals, he wanted to strengthen works. Today Peter Hoffman's The History of the "Peace Party" in Hitler's circle by emphas- the German Resistance (1969) and Der Widerstand izing the strength of the Western democra- gegen den National Sozialismus (1985), edited by cies. He also wanted to establish a personal Jürgen Schmäedecke and Peter Steinbach, relationship with influential personalities of must be considered the leading reference the Administration so that a basis of opera- works in the field. They include all aspects of tion and perhaps mutual trust could be Resistance history. Karl Dietrich Bracher's created for the establishment of good rela- essay "Zur Widerstands-Problematik in tions between a new German government 'Rechtsdiktaturen' die deutsche Erfahrung" and the American government should the in Deutschland zwischen Krieg und Frieden: Hitler government be replaced. Festschrift für Hans-Adolf Jacobsen (1991) is likely In October, 1939, a few weeks after Ger- the most recent contribution by the noted many's invasion of Poland, Adam von Trott zu Bonn scholar to the field of Resistance Solz, Rhodes Scholar and employee of the history. It presents a concise summary of German Foreign Office, arrived in America to Bracher's comprehensive knowledge of the participate in a convention of the Institute of history and the problems of Resistance, which Pacific Relations. Trott travelled with the addresses many of the questions pertaining to approval of Foreign Minister von Ribbentrop. the story of the Resistance. Yet some issues In his request for approval of the journey he continue to demand the historian's attention, stated that through the convention he would
-59- obtain valuable insights into power-politics in and that it declare its war-aims openly. The the Pacific area as well as the political and war, von Trott insisted, should be ended economic involvement of Great Britain and quickly. An organization for European coop- the U.S.A. He emphasized how much Great eration should be created. In England, von Britain relied on American support. Trott Trott maintained, there was an influential wrote that he would be able to use his many group which should not be trusted. This contacts, among them Secretary of War Henry group might be willing to conclude a peace L. Stimson, Colonel William Donovan and with Germany under non-acceptable terms.2 President Roosevelt's friend Harry Hopkins Trott's ideas expressed in the memorandum "in the service of Germany." State Secretary came to the attention of Secretary of State Weizsäcker supported Trott's request to keep Cordell Hull, Under-Secretary Sumner Welles, the United States from entering the war. Secretary of the Treasury Morgenthau,Justice During his approximately three-month stay Frankfurter and President Roosevelt. Trott's in the States, Adam von Trott zu Solz met and immediate contact person in the Roosevelt interacted with private and public personali- Administration was Under-Secretary of State ties, among them Hamilton Fisk Strong, edi- George Messersmith. Trott sought in vain to tor of the journal Foreign Affairs, Robert Bald- confer with the President himself. win of the American Civil Liberties Union, Historian Margaret Boveri holds Felix Felix Morley, editor of the Washington Post, Frankfurter responsible for preventing Trott's and Supreme Court justice Felix Frankfurter, meeting the President, an allegation that a personal friend of President Roosevelt. Frankfurter denied.3 Moreover, Boveri asserts President Roosevelt and F.B.I. Chief Edgar that "Roosevelt's temporary attention changed Hoover must have considered von Trott an to mistrust and rejection. From this time on he important enough person to have him sha- was convinced that Germany must be pun- dowed by agents of the Bureau throughout ished and rendered innocuous."4 his stay in the United States. According to The State Department file on Trott's activi- F.B.I, reports, Trott was "soliciting the assist- ties carries the heading "Espionage Activi- ance of prominent individuals in the U.S.A. to ties."5 In a later memorandum to Alexander support a movement involving the overthrow 1 Kirk, U.S. Charge d'Affaires in Berlin, Mes- of the present regime in Germany." Hoover sersmith advised caution in future dealings also pointed out that von Trott believed that with Trott because of the latter's contacts with the socialist circles in Germany and the Soviet persons who were working for the Hitler Union would have to cooperate, that the government, although, so he says "this maybe future Germany would have to consist of a the price that Trott has to pay to enjoy his socialist life-style in a peaceful Europe, and freedom of movement."6 that ultimately the world would be socialist. According to Hans Rothfels' pioneering German victory, Trott said, was not obvious. chapter on Friedensfühler (peace probings) with The allied powers would have to give a new the Allied powers, Trott's message was relayed Germany "a chance" if the resistance effort to F.D.R. directly through the former German were able to set aside Hitler, "but if these Chancellor Heinrich Burning, who supposedly powers deny us this chance (then) we will not visited the White House in December, 1939. continue to seek their aid but we must con- Initially, President Roosevelt seems to have sider them our enemies." In a memorandum been interested in supporting the German for the Department of State, Trott suggests Resistance, but "soon thereafter and because that the Allies afford the German anti-Hitler of the influence of persons in F.D.R.'s closer Resistance freedom of action and asks that environment, he declared further contacts to they not take advantage of the moment of be uncalled for."7 military weakness which would necessarily In March 1940, Under-Secretary Sumner follow from Hitler's overthrow. He further Welles visited Berlin on a peace mission. Dur- asks that the American government not sub- ing his stay he met Adolf Hitler and the scribe to the war-guilt thesis of World War I
-60- former Reichminister Hjalmar Schacht. Sch- cions the American entrepreneur succeeded acht informed Sumner Welles that there were in meeting representatives of the anti-Hitler generals in Germany who were willing to group, including high-ranking military lead- overthrow the Hitler regime, if they received ers and Ulrich von Hassell. To them Stallforth Allied guarantees that Germany would obtain suggested the creation of a constitutional a fitting position among the nations of the monarchy and the overthrow of the Hitler- world and that it would not be treated as it had Göring regime. This would please the British been in 1918. Essentially Schacht made the and it would make peace with Great Britian same request in Berlin that Trott had made in possible.11 the States. In October, 1941, Stallforth had reported to German military victories did not deter Roosevelt about his contact with the Resist- representatives of the Resistance from ance and its plans. F.D.R. was elated over searching for opportunities to remain in con- these revelations.12 But a few weeks later Stal- tact with the Roosevelt Administration or at lforth was declared persona non grata at the least with U.S. citizens who, through their White House.13 Stallforth thought that F.D.R. position, would possibly have access to the had changed his mind about dealing with the White House. One such opportunity seemed German anti-Hitler Resistance for political to offer itself through the American entre- reasons. In order to be re-elected, so Roose- preneur Federico Stallforth. Stallforth had velt thought, he needed to enter the war on been involved in business deals between the the side of Great Britain. An incident which U.S. and the Weimar Republic. He had per- sheds light on President Roosevelt's reaction sonal contacts with political leaders such as to the Resistance and its attempts to obtain Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, Pope Pius XII, American support is his refusal to receive the Kennedys and Dwight D. Eisenhower. Louis P. Lochner of the Berlin Office of the During late June and early July, 1940, Stall- Associated Press. Lochner had met represen- forth had seen Hermann Goring, who tatives of the anti-Hitler group on several supposedly submitted a peace plan to him for occasions, especially in November, 1941, in the settlement of European issues, which was the home of Dr. Joseph Winner, former then turned down by Churchill and President Reichstag representative for the Catholic Roosevelt. Stallforth travelled at this time with Center Party. Lochner was asked to inform 8 the official approval of the Nazi-Government . the American President of the existence and For some time in 1941, Stallforth enjoyed the the activities of the Resistance. The President support of S.S. Obergruppenführer Heydrich, was to let them know his preference for a who was reacting positively to the American future German government. A secret code entrepreneur's plan to influence American was to facilitate direct radio contact between public opinion in favor of Germany and the Resistance and the White House.14 against Great Britain. Stallforth suggested that The entry of the United States into World he might be able to delay or perhaps even War II with the Japanese attack on Pearl Har- prevent America's anticipated entry into bor and Hitler's subsequent declaration of World War II. The Auswärtige Amt discovered war against the United States increased Amer- early in April, 1941, that Stallforth was not to ica's interest in the internal affairs of Nazi- be trusted, that he served his own personal Germany and the German Resistance. To and financial interests only. Hjalmar Schacht have a regular channel to the highest level of had called Stallforth "a dubious person who the German government providing useful 9 was not always reliable." Ilse von Hassell, information offered an opportunity not to be wife of the former German ambassador in missed. Thus, in November, 1942, Colonel Rome and prominent member of the Resist- William J. Donovan, head of the Office of ance, wrote that her husband "never totally Strategic Services, appointed Alan Welsh lost his reservations in regard to the legiti- Dulles Legal Assistant to the American minis- 10 macy of Stallforth." In spite of these suspi- ter in Bern, Switzerland. Through Dulles and
-61- Donovan, the German Resistance had a line what offers, if any, we could give to any resist- of communication to the White House. The ance movement."16 A detailed message which German Resistance's messenger was Hans Dulles forwarded to Washington notes that Bernd Gisevius, officially German Vice Con- labor leaders of the Resistance urge F.D.R. sul in Switzerland. Gisevius enjoyed the pro- and Churchill to reveal practical goals for the tection of the Abwehr, the German equivalent future of Central Europe. Military victory will of the Office of Strategic Services. Another mean little, the note insisted, if the uncer- go-between for Dulles and Gisevius was Mary tainty of the situation were not clarified in the Bancroft, who had become a friend of both. near future; "peace will be quickly lost and Messages about the anti-Hitler group were new dictatorships may take the place of the sent with increasing frequency, especially as one in Central Europe." The labor leaders of the summer of 1944 approached and plans to the German Opposition also raised the spec- assassinate Adolf Hitler and topple the Nazi- ter of a Central Europe in despair which regime were maturing. Especially important would be a fertile field for the growth of messages from Dulles/Donovan were accom- communism. Bombs and air leaflets should panied by a brief cover-note from William, not be dropped at the same time.17 "Wild Bill" Donovan to Roosevelt's personal Five days before the assassination attempt secretary Grace Tulley. These cover-notes on July 20, 1944, O.S.S. Bern suggested to read, "Dear Grace: Would you please make Washington that F.D.R. issue a declaration in sure that the President sees this." Miss Tulley which he should state that the Allies do not assured me in a personal interview that she intend the destruction of Germany. The dec- did make sure that F.D.R. saw those messages. laration should also encourage anti-Nazi for- Thus we know that President Roosevelt was ces.18 O.S.S. Chief Donovan did not react well informed about the German Resistance. favorably. He wired back to Bern that "your Eleanor Roosevelt wrote a brief letter to this jobs have all involved merely the passive author stating that her husband knew about acceptance of intelligence regarding the the Resistance, "but it was little."15 desire of the Breakers to find some way out. While the flow of information from Berlin You have done no bargaining of any kind."19 to Bern and from Bern to Washington, includ- One concern was the Soviet Union, which ing the White House, was steady, the response apparently had no knowledge of the O.S.S.'s in the opposite direction was thin. The Resist- dealings with the anti-Hitler Opposition. ance desired an endorsement and recogni- General Watts and Ambassador Winant in tion of their existence and support of their London agreed to inform the Soviets,20 but proposed action to overthrow the Hitler Bern opposed the London position and at the regime. They desired an Allied declaration same time wired to London that the Breakers that they — the Allies —would recognize the were entirely on their own and had received new Germany and that they would favor a just neither encouragement nor political news.21 and fair peace. The unconditional surrender The decision to release or not release infor- formula of early 1943 was the opposite of what mation to Moscow was left with Washington. the anti-Nazi Resistance had asked for. A description of contacts between the Understandably, the opposition in Ger- Roosevelt Administration or self-appointed many was frustrated, but so was the O.S.S.'s representatives of the United States and spokesman in Bern, Alan Welsh Dulles. In a members of the anti-Hitler Opposition and message of January, 1944, Dulles wrote, "I an evaluation of the reception of these "con- would appreciate hearing of any indication tacts" leaves one major question unanswered: with which you would supply me regarding why did the Resistance receive neither sup- what you would be interested in achieving via port nor even encouragement from the F.D.R. the Breakers (code-name for the Resistance). Administration? The answer can only be spe- I do not understand what our policy is and culative. It was not President Roosevelt's prac-
-62- tice to make marginal comments on messages tional surrender appeared to create a that came to his desk. Nor are we privy to the more solid basis of bringing about deliberations in the White House Map Room, peace in Europe. Roosevelt was the pol- which was the place where important discus- itician who preferred to deal with pol- sions took place. No minutes were kept. No itical/military realities rather than with tapes were produced. Yet, some tentative indefinite and insecure potentialities. answers are possible: Often, when F.D.R. was asked what his (1) Roosevelt and his administration did ideas were for peace, he answered "let not entirely trust the representatives of us win the war first", and so it was with the Resistance. Their credentials led to Germany and its anti-Hitler Resistance. the fear of duplicity. Leaders of the In retrospect it is possible to appreciate the Resistance were often identical with the Roosevelt Administration's non-supportive conservative Prussian Junker class. behavior. It makes the efforts of the Resist- (2) There was concern about the Soviet ance shine the brighter. They can claim that Union. One did not want to give Stalin their ultimate motivation to overthrow the more reason to suspect the loyalty and Nazi regime was ethical, that they acted in reliability of his partners in the West. spite of only slim chances of success. They The interests of the Western Allies acted because their conscience ordered them would not be served by another Soviet- to do so. German rapprochement. Allied-Soviet —Armin Mruck cooperation was considered essential Towson State University to achieve victory and had to be safeguarded. NOTES (3) There was no assurance that the 1Hoover to General Watson, Secretary to the President, Resistance would be successful in rid- White House,January 16, 1940). ding Germany of the Nazi regime. What 2Department of State, MS 862.20211. would be the consequence of a civil war 3Der Verrat im zwanzigsten Jahrhundert (Hamburg in Germany? Would such a conflict pos- 1956),72-73. 4Boveri, 72-73. sibly see the Western powers and the 5 Soviet Union on opposite sides? State Department #862.20211. 6Messersmith to Kirk, December 8, 1939, Memorandum (4) If the anti-Hitler Opposition were to for the File, Department of State, Assistant Secretary, succeed, how would one deal with the #862.20211. new government of the "other, the 7Rothfels, Die deutsche Opposition gegen Hitler, Fischer Bücherei 1958,145. decent Germany"? Again, there would 8 be at least the potential for a West-East Auswärtiges Amt, Inland II G, 517, 217293, 217290, 217292. split which may have been an intention 9Hjalmar Schacht to author, January 6,1958; February of the Resistance. 9, 1957. (5) President Roosevelt did not relish the 10Ilse von Hassell to author, June 11, 1957. 11 thought of a possible repetition of Whitney/Stallforth-Donovan Memorandum. 12Stallforth, in an interview with author. 1918/1919, when a new German 13 Stallforth, in an interview with author; cf. Georg government had to be dealt with. It was Schöllen, U. v. Hassell, 1881-1944 Ein Konservativer in der inside the Weimar Republic that the Opposition (1990), 25 ff.. "stab-in-the-back legend,"; which 14Rothfels, Verrat, 146. 15Mrs. Roosevelt to the author, personal letter. helped the Nazis come to power, had 16 grown. O.S.S., Official Dispatch from Bern, 27January, 1944. 17Dulles from Bern, 27 Jan. 1944. (6) By July, 1944, weeks after the successful 18O.S.S. Bern, 15 July 1944, Breakers, #4111-12. invasion, victory, so one thought, was 19O.S.S. director to Bern, 26 July, 1944. close at hand. A complete victory over 20Ustravic, London-Bern, Breakers #62869, 24 July, Germany, accompanied by an uncondi- 1944. 21O.S.S. Bern to London, July 26, 1944, #855-7.
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Immigrant children waiting for processing at Ellis Island. Courtesy National Park Service: Statue of Liberty National Monument.
-64- SAMUEL SAUR (1767-1820) GERMAN-AMERICAN PRINTER AND TYPEFOUNDER A third-generation member of the famed 1776; the first edition was published by the Sauer dynasty of German-American print- grandfather and the second and third by ters, Samuel Saur (1767-1820)1 made his own Sauer II, Samuel's father.3 significant contribution to the publishing his- Samuel was ten years old when his pros- tory of North America. He was a printer and perous father worked out the elaborate terms publisher in Chestnut Hill and Philadelphia, of his will as he prepared to retire from his Pennsylvania, and in Baltimore, Maryland. In publishing enterprise during the turmoil of Baltimore he branched out into typefound- the Revolutionary War: Samuel was to receive ing, achieving fame as the first American substantial real estate in Germantown and founder of the exquisitely-small diamond participate equally, with other siblings, in the type; according to the pioneer printing histo- proceeds from the sale of the printing opera- rian Isaiah Thomas (1749-1831), he was the tion in Germantown, given over, by the first ever to succeed in the feat of casting the bequest of the father, to the older sons Chris- diamond type in italics.2 topher (1754-1799), the third to bear that Although the subject of several articles and name, and Peter (1759-1783). He was also, mentioned with respect in histories of print- according to the terms of the will, to profit ing, Samuel Saur has not received full biogra- from the sale of the large number of printed phical treatment. The present study surveys books on hand, with exact directions pro- his life and work, using dependable previous vided for their safekeeping in good condition.4 research. It further draws on family corres- This promising future for Samuel Saur, pondence and records, known only incom- however, was blasted by the War of Inde- pletely by earlier writers, to add informative pendence, which saw the Sauer estate confis- details. It concludes with a listing of Samuel cated and auctioned off (in depreciated Con- Saur imprints, intended to be comprehensive; tinental currency) for the benefit of the because it is a pioneer effort, it may miss that revolutionary American government. Chris- mark. Despite possible shortcomings, the list topher Sauer II, on the basis of strained evi- demonstrates the wide range and diversity of dence, and his son Christopher III, on the Saur's publishing efforts. Clearly, his contri- basis of accurate evidence, had been butions as printer and typefounder merit solemnly declared Tory traitors in May, 1777, renewed attention; his efforts place him by the Supreme Executive Council of Penn- within the ranks of outstanding German- sylvania, and their substantial property sub- Americans in the early National Period. sequently seized. Despite laws protecting minors in such proceedings, the Sauer chil- Early Life dren never recovered their rightful inherit- The tenth and youngest child of Christoph ance, given the turbulence of the times and Sauer II (1721-1784) and Catherine Sharpnack the presence of opportunistic patriots who Sauer (d. 1778), he was the second to bear the knew well how to fish in troubled waters. name Samuel, a predecessor dying soon after Isaiah Thomas estimated that the senior birth. According to family records, Samuel Sauer lost $90,000 by this confiscation. In was born in Germantown, north of Philadel- 1792 the Pennsylvania Legislature passed a phia, at 3:30 AM on March 20, 1767. By that law granting to his heirs any residue of the time, his father had taken over the flourishing confiscated estate that remained unsold; this printing business of the grandfather, Johann produced little relief.5 Christoph Sauer I (1695-1758), who had In 1784 Samuel Saur wrote to his older initiated the press in 1738. The most famous brother Christopher (then in London seeking products of the press were the three editions compensation as a Loyalist from the Commis- of the German bible, issued in 1743,1763, and
-65- sioners of American Claims) to tell of the famous almanac; Saur was to publish this with death of their father, which occurred on considerable success each year (although in August 26 of that year. Their mother had died three different locations) through 1807. The some six years previously. These deaths in the cover page for the 1792 almanac showed the immediate family were not to be the only ones interior of a printing shop, with a press, com- suffered by young Sauer. Four years later positor's table, and three printers at work. A Samuel married Sarah Landes, the first of flying figure of Mercury bore a sheet of paper three wives; she died already in February, with the inscription: "Was ich jetzt nicht 1791. His second marriage, to Hannah offenbar, bring ich dir das nächste Jahr.9 Schlosser, was also of short duration, again Saur issued at least sixteen other imprints at terminated by death. His third wife, Elizabeth his Chestnut Hill shop from 1790 through La Motte (Lamotte), was the daughter of a 1794. Included, among other items, were an Baltimore businessman, a trustee of the ABC book, a Lutheran catechism, a compila- Dunker congregation there at Paca and Lom- tion of folk medicine, accounts of supernatu- bard Streets. She bore him his only child, a ral appearances, pietistic essays, and Matthew dearly-beloved daughter Maria (1796-1875). Carey's account of the yellow fever epidemic This third wife outlived him by more than that struck Philadelphia in 1793. He con- forty years, dying in March, 1862.6 tinued the tradition of his grandfather and father by printing hymnals for the Brethren Chestnut Hill and other sectarians, with the sixth edition of As a young man Samuel Saur became a Das Kleine Davidische Psalterspiel (1791) and the carpenter ("housewright") and then an small but influential first edition of Die Kleine apothecary; finally in 1790, at the age of Harfe (1792), which contained original hymns twenty-three, he saw his way clear to take up of the Brethren.10 the family trade of printing. In that year he Likely a best seller was the useful pocket received a small inheritance through trustee book of calculations by Daniel Fenning, Der Justus Fuchs or Fox (1736-1805), a typefounder Geschwinde Rechner, Oder: des Händlers Nützlicher who had worked with his father. In the same Gehülfe (1793), the only book he also pub- year he borrowed $267 from his brother lished in the English language, using the title Daniel (1755-1818). Evidently he used these The Federal, or New Ready Reckoner. Following a funds to set up a printshop in Chestnut Hill, a typical pattern for newspaper publishers, Saur village just north of Germantown. It was also carried on a bookselling business. An located "near the tenth milestone, where the issue of his newspaper for March 20, 1792, Reading and North Wales roads meet;" this offers nearly 200 titles of literature for sale. was identified by local historians as the Barge During this Chestnut Hill period, Samuel car- house at 8502 Germantown Avenue, earlier ried on business as well with his older brother used as a printshop by printer Nicholas Has- Daniel, according to records in the latter's 7 selbach after 1764. daybook.11 Samuel Saur issued a prospectus for a weekly newspaper, Die Chestnuthiller Woch- Philadelphia enschrift, on October 8,1790, to cost five shil- In 1794 he moved from Germantown lings per annum.8 This is thought to have Avenue in Chestnut Hill to 71 Race Street, begun publication in December, 1790, and Philadelphia, between Second and Third continued into 1794. It contained many arti- Streets. This location was next door to that of cles favoring a nonresistant or pacifist posi- his brother David (1764-1835), who had main- tion, reflecting Saur's Dunker training and tained a business as a wholesale and retail harsh wartime experiences. One of Saur's grocer at 73 Race Street. David Sauer had first publications was the traditional cash cow fallen ill during the yellow fever incident; his for printers, an almanac for 1791. The title was long illness and generally poor economic Der Neue Hoch Deutsche Americanische Calender, conditions forced him to liquidate his stock picking up the title of his grandfather's and settle all his debts and liabilities, includ-
-66- ing many notes he had co-signed. After 1794 exact title is unknown. Only one issue of he began a book and stationery business Saur's paper has been preserved, but it has nearby with a partner, William Jones. It is not been calculated that the first to leave the press known why Samuel Saur's stay in Philadel- was probably dated March 25,1795. The peri- phia was so brief. Perhaps the relationship odical continued until ca. 1798.15 with his brother did not develop as planned; Saur may have contemplated the move to perhaps also, the lively publishing activity of Baltimore and his issuance of a newspaper other German-American printers, such as two years before. According to Klaus Wust, Peter Leibert and Michael Billmeyer in Ger- printer Matthias Bartgis began a German- mantown or Carl Cist and Melchior Steiner in language newspaper in Frederick, Bartgis's Philadelphia made for too much competition. General Staatsbothe, early in 1793 because At any rate, by early 1795 he had moved to "Samuel Saur was about to move to Baltimore Baltimore, where there was no one currently and was trying to solicit one thousand sub- printing both in German and in English.12 scribers before starting a German news- In the brief months in Philadelphia, paper." Wust's interpretation is that Bartgis's Samuel Sauer was not idle: he continued the initiative succeeded in delaying Saur's enter- 16 almanac, began another weekly (Das Phila- prise but not in totally discouraging him. delphier Wochenblatt), and printed and pub- Saur's first Baltimore imprints revealed that lished at least four books. These included he was still printing for his brother David in ABC books for Reformed and Lutheran chil- Philadelphia, and that he had established dren, a sermon on James 1:25, and prophetical early business connections with the Balti- reflections about the French Revolution.13 more firms of Samuel Keating, bookseller, and of Thomas [Ebeneezer T.] Andrews, and Baltimore [John West] Butler.17 By 1797 at the latest (and On March 27 Saur announced in the Fed- probably sooner) he was also in the book- eral Intelligencer that he intended to begin a binding business; by 1799 he had moved his newspaper from his office on the "south-west establishment to 190 Baltimore Street. corner of Howard and Fayette streets" of Bal- From the beginning of his Baltimore stay in timore; he was already selling copies of the 1795 he launched an ambitious printing and Ready Reckoner, likely brought with him from publishing program, about evenly divided Philadelphia: between the German and English languages, Samuel Sower, printer, lately of Philadelphia, but also in French. A bibliographical checklist respectfully informs the public, that he has of Saur imprints numbers some eighty differ- established a German and English printing ent entries for the period from 1795 through office, at the south-west corner of Howard and 1807, counting newspapers only once per year Fayette Streets, Baltimore, and that he has (see appendix). Many of his books were reli- commenced the publication of a German weekly paper at 10s. per annum: those gen- gious in content. He printed doctrinal works, tlemen who may please to favor him with hymnals, catechisms, prayer books, psalters, advertisements, it is presumed, will receive an minutes, and sermons for the Roman Catho- ample benefit from a general advertiser. lics, Episcopalians, Lutherans, Reformed, Handbills, &c. in German and English, will be Friends, Brethren, and Swedenborgians, as executed with punctuality and dispatch, at the above-mentioned office.14 well as general pietistic and theological essays. The announced newspaper had the title Der Neue Unpartheyische Baltimore Bote und An ambitious work was for the Brethren, Märyländer Staats-Register, possibly implying the group with which he was loosely affiliated. that he was continuing one or more pre- This was Jeremias Felbinger's Christliches viously published papers. One earlier Ger- Handbüchlein, bound with Alexander Mack's man language periodical has been recorded two foundational works Rechten und Ordnun- gen des Hauses Gottes and Grundforschende Fra- for Baltimore, issued by Henry Dulheuer in 18 1786, although no copies are extant and the gen... nebst Antworten (1799). One of the
-67- intriguing publications was his reprint in 1798 the printing trade independently with modest of the autobiography of Dr. George de Ben- success. His mother and siblings arrived in neville (1703-1793), the English physician of Baltimore in 1801, where Samuel Saur saw to Huguenot parentage, who was an early leader their care.22 of Universalism in Pennsylvania.19 One of the reasons Saur reached out to a In addition, he published gothic novels, relative was his growing wish to withdraw poetry, farriers' handbooks, anatomical works, from the active trade of printing, the better to songsters, young people's literature, conver- concentrate on a related field of endeavor, sation cards, booksellers' catalogues, and that of typefounding. An advertisement other secular pieces. He printed for the Free appeared in the Baltimore Telegraphe on Masons and the Baltimore General Dispen- October 30, 1799, offering to sell a German sary. In short, his publication program gives and English printing office, almost certainly evidence that he lived up to his claim, in a that of Samuel Saur. The description provides printer's card issued about 1797, that "printing insight into the equipment required by an and binding [was] done with neatness and active printer at that time: 20 dispatch, by Samuel Sower, Fayette-Street." To printers. A person wishing to decline the The summary judgment by Dieter Cunz, printing business, offers for sale a German although overly harsh, does describe the mis- and English printing office. Consisting of two cellaneous nature of Saur's publications: complete mahogany presses, one standing "They certainly had no literary value, for they press, about 30 fonts of letter, 62 pair of letter cases, and three pair of font ditto, twelve were schoolbooks and account books, or stands, thirty-two chases, 2 imposing stones, 7 books with moral, religious or patriotic con- composing sticks, eight double and single tent." Cunz qualified his critique by adding: copperbottomed galleys, and many other arti- 23 "However, Samuel Sower's modest attempt to cles in his line of profession. turn the attention of his fellow citizens to At any rate, in 1800 Saur entered into a things beyond their daily lives must not be partnership with William Gwynn, a Baltimore underestimated." He seems to have gone businessmen and later editor/owner of the beyond simple job printing by seeking out Federal Gazette, who invested several thousand material to publish on his own or with other dollars in the typefounding business as a entrepreneurs.21 silent partner. It was to this enterprise that In 1799 he made plans to include his older Samuel Saur was to devote most of his brother Christopher in his operation; the lat- undoubted skills and energies for the future, ter had successfully prosecuted his Loyalist while still continuing a modest business in claims in London in 1784 and had received an printing and publishing. He continued for a appointment as king's printer and postmaster time to produce fewer than ten imprints from at St. John, New Brunswick. His involvement his press each year, with the number sinking there in local politics had not been happy, so to three for 1804 and 1805, and to one (the he decided to move to Baltimore tojoin in his almanac) in 1806 and 1807, after which that youngest brother's business; wartime pas- too was given up. The almanac under the sions had cooled, so that a return to the Uni- original title was continued until 1812 by the ted States seemed feasible. Thus, with his old- printer Christian Cleim.24 est son, Brooks Watson Sower (1783-1861), he In 1800 Samuel Saur published by subscrip- left New Brunswick in late March, 1799, tion a successful book, Washingtonia, capitaliz- intending to bring the rest of his family after ing on the idolization of the young nation's them once settled in Baltimore. However, first chief executive. In its more than 300 Christopher Sower became ill and died "of an pages it contained a biography of George apoleptic fit" on July 19,1799. The fifteen-year Washington, a copy of his will, a listing of his old son stayed in Baltimore, working with his property, details of his funeral procession, uncle Samuel; he was particularly noted for and other pertinent material. By 1800 Saur his accuracy in composition of type, scarcely had also, after a lapse of time, relaunched a needing a proofreader. He later also pursued German-language newspaper, this one called
-68- the Baltimore Post (or Baltimore Postbote). This remain idle if I went away from home, for my partner will not bother himself with the busi- was published in two formats, three times a ness. As he has already invested between week on a large half-folio page, or twice a seven and eight thousand dollars in buildings, week; he charged two and one-half dollars for etc., you will very readily realize under what the first option per year, and twelve shillings obligations I am to him.27 and six pence for the second option. He was Saur confided that he had undertaken to hoping to be able to put it out as a weekly in cast the "smallest type that has yet been used large folio page size by February 1, 1800, if in the world;" this diamond type was so fine 25 enough persons subscribed. that it would take "four to five thousand spa- At about this same time he branched out in ces to weigh a pound." They had an order an auction and lottery business with Samuel from New York to produce enough characters Cole, which business continued until it was of this font to enable the printing of a bible. dissolved in 1806. He also developed a book- Concurrently, they were preparing a ship- store with Cole. The two partners advertised ment of note type for Albany, New York, tobe in 1804 that they carried a large assortment of used in printing a hymnal. Altogether, at that English books and continually imported time they had about 5,000 pounds of type on books from Germany. One year later they order. If enough antimony were found, they announced the sale of several thousand could produce much more. The typefoundry volumes that had belonged to the late book- had prepared a catalogue of their type, which seller John Rice. Saur was also associated with was being circulated. Saur believed that no J. W. Butler, and again with Andrews, Thomas, one had ever seen a "neater specimen of and Butler in publishing ventures. type." Shortly before the war cut off supplies Typefounding from France, Sower announced in 1812 that he had secured a large supply of antimony, As mentioned previously, Saur became enabling him to accept orders for a variety of active in the typefounding business during fonts, including diamond, French canon, the first decade of the century, assisted by a music, script, and German.28 generous silent partner. When he heard of Isaiah Thomas reported in 1815 that Saur's the death in Germantown of the typefounder small type was used in printing a "small and designer Justus Fuchs (Fox) in 1805, Saur pocket Bible which was lately printed in that began an intensive correspondence with the city," meaning Baltimore. This was the bible heir, Emanuel Fox. The negotiations resulted published by John Hagerty and printed by in the purchase in 1806 of Justus Fuchs' type- Brook Watson Sower in 1812. The title page foundry. Inasmuch as the gifted artisan had states that this was the first edition in America secured much of this from the forced Sauer to use the diamond type. The printer, Brook auction of 1777, by this transaction, Samuel, Watson Sower, it will be remembered, was the youngest son, was able to retrieve some of Samuel Saur's nephew and former employee.29 his late father's original equipment. It is said The economic success of the typefoundry that some other of this foundry gear had been had its price. In the same letter (December 7, preserved by his brother Daniel on his farm 1808) Samuel Saur complained that his eyes near Phoenixville and that this, too, came to 26 were beginning to grow dim from the strain of Samuel in Baltimore. crafting matrices, and that his fingers were A letter of December 7, 1808, to his sister covered with blisters and blood from his long Catherine Harley in Pennsylvania reveals the hours, day and night, at his demanding tasks. extent of the business: In a summary at the end of the letter, Saur Whether I like it or not, I find myself chained related that he had eleven apprentices and six down now more than ever— I am employing journeymen at work, and expected to need to the two Kämpfers, a journeyman and a young hire yet another journeyman to take care of learner [Joseph Kämpfer and Jacob Kämpfer], besides the stamp cutter and six to seven the blossoming enterprise. He felt fortunate apprentices, and expect to employ one or two in the trust extended to him by his silent more journeymen. All these would have to partner.
-69- Latter Years Matters were not quite as happy in his typefoundry; at that point he employed only domestic situation. His daughter Maria had one caster, one of the Kämpfers. He com- decided to marry a Richard B. Spalding of the plained that there was little market for his Roman Catholic faith; he was thought to be backstock, which was worth nearly $6000. Yet, related to the well-known archbishop, Martin despite his troubles, he was able to take a John Spalding (1810-1872). Samuel Saur, philosophical attitude, consonant with his raised in the Dunker tradition, was not pietistic faith: pleased by this potential mixed marriage, I don't wish to interfere with others myself although he had nothing but praise for the —Jesus and my small chamber are a world for character of his prospective son-in-law, a me; and my neighbors are all good friends. I merchant who had read law. Saur was not a am not molested by seals, laws, etc. etc. And though I am very feeble and suffer much from strict member of the Brethren faith, enjoying pains and colic, still my night's rest is seldom for example his attendance at Methodist class disturbed. I am indifferent to most things. The meetings and worship services; nevertheless, Lord has helped me along so far and I have the projected union caused him serious con- given assistance whenever I could, without asking any in return. I have always had food scientious concern. Despite his hesitation, he 31 did not forbid the marriage, which took place and clothing and with them I am satisfied. in 1813. He could not resist recording in a later On October 12,1820, Samuel Saur died. His letter to a relative his sentiment that the funeral services were held at the home of tragedy of the stillbirth of the marriage's first John H. Ewaldt on the Reister Town Road, offspring might have been caused by the Baltimore, probably the family with whom he questionable nature of the pairing.30 had been living during his last years. His son- The year 1814 brought high excitement to in-law, Richard Spalding, took over the firm, Baltimore, when the British shelled the town then known as the Baltimore Type Foundry; in September during the War of 1812. This this continued to maintain its reputation for reminded him of his experience as a lad dur- quality, under a variety of owners, until it became part of the American Type Founders ing the battle of Germantown, on October 4, 32 1777, which raged right in front of the Sauer Company in 1892. dwelling. He commented some weeks after- Conclusion ward: "We who have gone through the years The progenitor of the Sauer printing dyn- of the Revolution ought not to become so asty, Johann Christoph Sauer I (1695-1758), easily frightened. We ought to leave that to supposedly expressed a deathbed wish that those who have since been born and find his printing business might be perpetuated these things strange and awful." Fearing inva- indefinitely by his descendants and never sion or bombardment, Saur had taken the leave the hands of the family. Although the precaution of burying much of his typefound- disruption of the Revolutionary period put ing equipment in the yard of his shop and paid to that pious desire, it was in fact the case moving other parts to the country. This pro- that a large number of his descendants did tected his valuable equipment but also meant continue the printing tradition. A notable that he was not in a position to earn money chapter in that story was written by his grand- during the crisis. He was also burdened with son, Samuel Saur, printer, publisher, and the care of the Kämpfer family. typefounder, who in the third generation Four years later found the aging Saur still made his own distinctive contribution.33 complaining of poor health and of eyetrou- ble; evidently casting the minute diamond —Donald F. Durnbaugh type had caused lasting damage to his eye- Elizabethtown College sight. His family situation was not the best; although he praised the affection that his daughter showed for him, he lived apart from his family. He was gradually closing down his
-70- NOTES ily: An American Printing Dynasty," Yearbook of German- American Studies, 23 (1988), 31-40, with bibliographical 1As with other members of the family, the question of references to many of the important sources. 4 the spelling of the printer's surname is problematic. The The text of the will has been published three times: German versions "Sauer" and "Saur" are the most com- Dieter Cunz, ed., "Two Christopher Sower Documents," mon, along with the English version "Sower." Samuel Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, 69 (1945), used the spellings "Saur" and "Sower" interchangeably. 60-70; [Klaus Wust, ed.], "The Last Will of Germantown We will use the German spelling "Saur," the form used by Printer Christopher Sower of March 23, 1777," Report, the latest bibliography of German-American imprints, Society for the History of the Germans in Maryland, 32 (1966), recognizing that "Sower" might just as well be chosen; see 61-64; and Donald F. Durnbaugh, ed., The Brethren in Karl J. R. Arndt and Reimer C. Eck, eds., The First Century Colonial America (Elgin, IL: Brethren Press, 1967), pp. of German Language Printing in the United States: Volume 1 389-395. 5 (1728-1807); Volume 2 (1808-1830), comps., Gerd-J. Bötte The story is told in Thomas, History, pp. 410-414; and Werner Tannhof (Göttingen: Niedersächsische Brumbaugh, History, pp. 414-422; Hocker, Printing House, Staats-und Universitätsbibliothek Göttingen, 1989), pp. pp. 90-106; and Durnbaugh, Brethren, pp. 399-405, and 308ff. most recently in Stephen Longenecker, The Christopher 2Most studies of printing in the United States, of the Sauers: Courageous Printers Who Defended Religious Freedom Sauer family, and of German-Americans in Maryland in Early America (Elgin, IL: Brethren Press, 1981). 6 contain passages on Samuel Saur, usually repeating the Christopher Sower to Samuel Sower, London, January same material. Some of the most important include, in 2, 1785; MS 91, Special Collections, Juniata College chronological order: Isaiah Thomas, The History of Print- Library, Huntingdon, PA. The letter is published in ing in America, ed. Marcus A. McCorison from the second Brumbaugh, History, pp. 426-429; Durnbaugh, Brethren, edition (New York: Weathervane Books, 1970), pp. 421- pp. 421-423; and Cunz, "Sower Documents," pp. 60-70. 422, originally printed in 1810; Martin G. Brumbaugh, A Data on Samuel Saur's marriages are found in Sower, History of the German Baptist Brethren in Europe and America Genealogical Chart and Henry, "Pathfinders," (Aug. 18, (Elgin, IL: Brethren Publishing House, 1899), pp. 432- 1934), 8. 433; William McCulloch, "Additions to Thomas's History 7For the Chestnut Hill period, see, besides previously- of Printing," American Antiquarian Society Proceedings, New cited works the following: Samuel Fitch Hotchkin, Ancient Series 31 (1921), 89-171; James O. Knauss, "Social Condi- and Modern Germantown, Mount Airy, and Chestnut Hill tions Among the Pennsylvania Germans in the Eight- (Philadelphia: P. W. Ziegler, 1889), pp. 418-422, based on eenth Century, as Revealed in German Newspapers material sent the author by Prof. Oswald Seidensticker Published in America," Pennsylvania German Society, Pro- and Charles G. Sower; John J. MacFarlane, "History of ceedings. 29 (1922); Douglas C. McMurtire, A History of Early Chestnut Hill," Philadelphia History. Volume III (Phil- Printing in the United States: Volume II, Middle & South adelphia: City Historical Society of Philadelphia, 1927), Atlantic States (New York: Burt Franklin, 1969), pp. 68-86, pp. 115-117; Edward W. Hocker, Germantown, 1683-1933 originally published in 1932; Joseph T. Wheeler, The (Germantown: author, 1933), p. 124. The receipt of inher- Maryland Press, 1777-1790... (Baltimore: Maryland Histor- ited money is found in MS 102, Special Collections.Juni- ical Society, 1938), pp. 57ff.; Edward W. Hocker, "The ata College Library, Huntingdon, PA; the reference to the Sower Printing House of Colonial Times," Pennsylvania borrowed money is in Daniel Sower's Daybook, Special German Society, Proceedings, 53 (1948), 120-123; Dieter Cunz, Collections, University of Pennsylvania Library. The Maryland Germans: A History (Princeton, NJ: Prince- 8References to this and and other imprints of the ton University Press, 1948), pp. 168-170; Rollo G. Silver, Samuel Saur press are found in the previously cited Typefounding in America, 1787-1825 (Charlottesville: Uni- sources, as well as in the following bibliographical works: versity Press of Virginia, 1965), pp. 41-46. Few articles have Arndt/Eck, eds., First Century, pp. 308ff. [this supplants been devoted solely to the Pennsylvania and Maryland the earlier listing by Oswald Seidensticker, ed., The First printer. These include: [Oswald Seidensticker], "Synop- Century of German Printing in America, 1728-1830 (Philadel- sis of Prof. O. Seidensticker's Address [on Samuel phia: German Pionier-Verein, 1893) and its supple- Sower]," Report, Society for the History of the Germans in ments]; Thomas R. E. idle and Claude W Unger, "Folk Maryland, 3 (1888-1889), 9-17; J. M. Henry, "Pathfinders in Medicine of the Pennsylvania Germans: The Non-Occult Maryland, 14/15: Samuel Sower," Gospel Messenger (Aug. Cures," Pennsylvania German Society, Proceedings, 45 (1935), 18,1934), 7-8 and (Aug. 25,1934), 20-21; Siegfried Taubert, 230-231, 268; Karl J. R. Arndt and May E. Olson, eds., "Zur Geschichte des deutschen und deutschsprachigen German-American Newspapers and Periodicals, 1732-1955 Buchdrucks und Buchhandels im Ausland: Samuel (Heidelberg: Quelle & Meyer Publishers, 1961), p. 514; Sower, Baltimore, Maryland," Börsenblatt für den deutschen Milton Drake, ed., Almanacs of the United States (New York: Buchhandel, 9 (December 4,1953). Scarecrow Press, 1962), pp. 985-986. 3A comprehensive genealogical record (though con- 9Samuel Saur's work with illustrations is included in the taining some inaccuracies) is Charles G. Sower, Genealogi- comprehensive survey, Elizabeth Carroll Reilly, A Dic- cal Chart of the Descendants of Christopher Sower, Printer, of tionary of Colonial American Printers' Ornaments and Illustra- Germantown, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (Philadelphia: C. tions (Worcester, MA: American Antiquarian Society, G. Sower, 1887). The most recent summary of the Sauer 1975). printing story is Donald F. Durnbaugh, "The Sauer Fam- 10For detailed information on the Brethren hymnals,
-71- see Hedwig T. Durnbaugh, The German Hymnody of the 16Klaus Wust, "The English and German Printing Brethren, 1720-1903 (Philadelphia: Brethren Encyclope- Office: Bilingual Printers in Maryland and Virginia," dia, Inc., 1986), pp. 41 ff. Report, Society for the History of the Germans in Maryland, 32 11On January 19, 1791, Daniel Sower noted: "Mr. (1966), 24-37, esp. p. 28, citing the Staatsbothe (March 2, Youngman Dbt. to Daniel Sower on New Account To 2 1793). Dozen of Almanacs = 0/12/0;" [Jan. 20,1791] "Send Cash The recent German-American bibliography by Arndt by Wm. Colman — to Samuel Sower for Almanacks = and Eck lists a Saur imprint in Baltimore in the year 1794, 12/0/0;" [January 12, 1792] "Settled with Mr. Youngman that is in the year prior to his move from Philadelphia. & Received Cash for Br. Samuel Sower for 26 Doxen of This has previously been assigned to 1795. It is not clear almanac's for the year 1791 & 1792 — after deducting how this anomaly can be explained. See Arndt/Eck, eds., commission 10% Cent, viz. 15/7 - 7/0/5;" [Dec. 23,1792] First Century, p. 370, and Reichmann, "German Printing," "Received of Samuel Sower by the stage 145 Almanacs in no. 31. sheets paid Cash to Colman for the same — 10d" (Daniel 17See Arndt/Eck, eds., First Century, pp. 388ff. Detailed Sower Daybook, Special Collections, University of information on Saur imprints after 1800 are found in Pennsylvania). Roger P. Bristol, Maryland Imprints, 1801-1810 (Charlottes- The relationship between printers and bookselling is ville: University of Virginia Press, 1953), pp. 6ff. described in great detail in Robert E. Cazden, A Social 18For information on Felbinger, see J. William Miller, History of the German Book Trade in America to the Civil War "Felbinger, Jeremias," in The Brethren Encyclopedia, ed. D. (Columbia, SC: Camden House, 1984). F. Durnbaugh (Oak Brook, IL, and Philadelphia: 12On David Sower, see M. Auge, Lives of the Eminent Brethren Encyclopedia, Inc., 1983-1984), p. 482. American Dead and Biographical Notices ofPromiment Living Citizens of editions of the Felbinger treatise are listed in Donald F. Montgomery Country, Pa. (Norristown: author, 1879), pp. Durnbaugh and Lawrence W. Shultz, "A Brethren Bibli- 388-401. ography, 1713-1963. Two Hundred Fifty Years of Brethren 13See Arndt/Eck, First Century, pp. 382ff.; Literature," Brethren Life and Thought, 9 (1964), pp. 21,25. Arndt/Olson, There is a recent English edition.J. William Miller, trans., Newspapers, pp. 577-578. Christian Handbook and Rights and Ordinances (Berne, IN: 14The notice is printed in a basic source for Samuel Economy Printing Concern, 1975). Saur's work in Baltimore: A. Rachel Minick, A History of 19For information on De Benneville, see D. F. Durn- Printing in Maryland, 1791-1800 (Baltimore: Enoch Pratt baugh, "Benneville, George de," in The Brethren Encyc- Free Library, 1949), p. 101; her essay on Saur is on pages lopedia, p. 117. 99-109, with detailed entries on the Saur imprints in the 20Quoted in Minick, History, p. 105. bibliographical appendix of the monograph. See also 21Cunz, Maryland Germans, pp. 169-170. Felix Reichmann, "German Printing in Maryland. A 22For information on Christopher Sauer III, see James Check List, 1768-1950," Report, Society for the History of the O. Knauss, "Christopher Saur the Third," American Anti- Germans in Maryland, 27 (1950), 9-70. quarian Society Proceedings, New Series 41, part 1 (1931); J. 15Information on Dulheuer (also Dulhire) is found in Russell Harper, "Christopher Sower: King's Printer and Cunz, Maryland Germans, p. 167, and Minick, History, p. Loyalist," Collections of the New Brunswick Historical Society, 100. This shadowy figure was involved in various promo- 14 (1955), 67-109; and Durnbaugh, Brethren, pp. 386-423. tional activities in the late eighteenth century; the most 23Quoted in Minick, History, p. 105. curious was a grand scheme to resettle large numbers of 24Silver, Typefounding, pp. 41-46; Drake, Almanacs, pp. German Mennonites on the Ohio frontier; he forwarded 220ff. a petition to Congress to this effect, but it failed to take 25Keidel, German Newspapers, pp. 8-9, quoting from action. See Donald F. Durnbaugh, "Religion and Revolu- Saur's almanac for 1800, printed in 1799: "Der Heraus- tion: Options in 1776," Pennsylvania Mennonite Heritage, 1 geber dieses Calendars bedienet sich gleichfalls dieser (June, 1978), 8-9, and James O. Lehman, "A Grand Migra- Gelegenheit, dem geehrten Publikum kund zu thun, dass tion Scheme," Mennonite Quarterly Review, 59 (1985), er wieder seith geräumer Zeit eine deutsche Zeitung 383-397. herausgiebt...." The quotation was reprinted in Minick, Information on the Saur newspaper is based on the History, 102-103. Both Keidel and Minick incorrectly essay by George C. Keidel, The Earliest German Newspapers assumed that this referred to the earlier paper. of Baltimore: I. The Eighteenth Century (Baltimore: author, 26Samuel Sower to Emmanuel Fox, Baltimore, March 1927). Keidel cites the work by Eduard F. Leyh, Baltimore: 17, 1804; Samuel Sower to E. Fox, Baltimore, July 6, 1805; Seine Vergangenheit und Gegenwart, mit Besonderer Berück- Samuel Sower to Emanuel Fox, October 9,1805; Samuel sichtigung des Deutschen Elements (Baltimore: C. C. Bartgis Sower to Emanuel Fox, October 17,1805. The correspon- & Bro., 1887), pp. 298-299, which reports on a 1799 issue of dence is found in MS 102, Special Collections, Juniata a second Saur newspaper, the Baltimore Post, Cunz cor- College Library, Huntingdon, PA. The reference to mate- rectly points out that Keidel was mistaken in hinting that rial from Daniel Sower is in Hocker, "Printing House," p. the Post may have begun publication in 1780 but mistak- 115. enly doubts that Saur was connected with such a news- "Samuel Sower to Catherine [Sower] Harley, Balti- paper at any point — Maryland Germans, p. 167, fn. 28. more, December 7, 1808; MS 102, Special Collections, Keidel also supplied information on the early Dulheuer Juniata College Library, Huntingdon, PA newspaper, pp. 5-7.
-72- 28Silver, Typefounding, p. 44. 29Thomas, History, p. 422. Minick = A. Rachel Minick, A History 30Samuel Sower to Catherine Harley, Baltimore, of Printing in Maryland, November 10,1813, with additional notes from January 12, 1790-1800 (1949) 1814, and February 25,1814; MS 102, Special Collections, MacFarlane = John J. Macfarlane, History Juniata College Library, Huntingdon, PA. It seems of Early Chestnut Hill (1927) unlikely, as several authorities claim, that Sower was ever Reichmann = Felix Reichmann, "German called to the Brethren ministry. The claim seems to be Printing in Maryland: A based on a misunderstanding of a passage in Sower's Check List, 1768-1950" letter of November 10,1813, in which he reported that he (1950) had been urged while on a visit in Germantown to take up Seidensticker = [O. Seidensticker], "Syn- preaching, wh ich he declined. 31 opsis of Prof. O. Seiden- Samuel Sower to Catherine Harley, Baltimore, Janu- sticker's Address" (1888- ary 7, 1815: MS 102, Special Collections, Juniata College 1889) Library, Huntingdon, PA. 32Silver, Typefounding, pp. 45-46. 33A summary of the Sauer descendants who were Chestnut Hill related to printing and publishing is given in Durnbaugh, Die Chestnuthiller Wochenschrift. Chestnut Hill: "Sauer Family." More detailed information is found in Sower, Genealogical Chart, and Hocker, "Printing House." Samuel Saur, 1790. [Weekly; December 15, 1790-1794] Arndt/Olson, 514; MacFarlane 114, 116; PUBLICATIONS OF SAMUEL SAUR/SOWER Hotchkin 418. [prospect issued October 8, (1767-1820) FROM 1790 TO 1807 1790, for "5 Schilling des Jahrs"] References: Der Neue Hoch Deutsche Americanische Calender, Arndt/Eck = K J. R. Arndt/Reimer C. Eck, First Century of German Auf das Jahr Christi 1791 __ Zum Erstenmal Language Printing in the herausgegeben. Ches[t]nut Hill: Gedruckt United States of America und zu finden bey Samuel Saur, [1790]. (1989) [40]p. Arndt/Olson = K. J. R. Arndt/May E. Arndt/Eck/749; Arndt/Olson, 195; Drake, Olson, The German Lan- guage Press of the Americas 10285; Hinks, 587. (1973) Die Chestnuthiller Wochenschrift. Chestnut Hill: Bristol = Roger P. Bristol, Maryland Samuel Saur, 1791. Imprints, 1801-1810 (1953) Arndt/Olson, 514. Brendle/Unger = Thomas R. Brendle/ Claude W. Unger, Folk Med- Brodbeck, Christian. Geistliches Wetter-Glöck- icine of the Pennsylvania lein, Oder Christliche Donner- und Wetter Germans: The Non-Occult Gebäter Auf allerley Fall.... Chestnut Hill: Cures (1935) Gedruckt und zu finden bey Samuel Saur, Drake = Milton Drake, Almanacs of the United States (1962) 1791. 49p. Enoch Pratt = Enoch Pratt Free Library, Arndt/Eck, 790. Collection, Baltimore Ein ganz neu Eingerichtetes Lutherisches A.B.C. Hinks = Unreserved Public Auction of Buchstabier- und Namenbuch zum nützlichen the Important Private Collec- tion of 18th, 19th, & Early Gebrauch deutscher Schulen. Chestnut Hill: 20th Century American Ger- Samuel Saur, 1791. Hotchkin, 537. man Language Imprints of Der Neue Hoch Deutsche Americanische Calender, Donald R. Hinks of Gettys- burg, Pennsylvania (Session Auf das Jahr Christi, 1792 __ Zum Zweyten- I), comp. Clarence E. Spohn mal herausgegeben. Ches[t]nut Hill: Ged- ([Ephrata, PA]: 1991) ruckt und zu finden bey Samuel Saur, Hotchkin = Samuel F. Hotchkin, Ancient [1791]. [40]p. and Modern Germantown Arndt/Eck, 793; Hotchkin, 420; Drake, 10307; (1889) Hinks, 589. Keidel = G. C. Keidel, Earliest Ger- man Newspaper of Baltimore Das Kleine Davidische Psalterspiel der Kinder (1927) Zions, Von Alten und Neuen auserlesenen Geistes-Gesängen;... Sechste Auflage. Chest-
-73- nut Hill: Gedruckt bey Samuel Saur, 1791. Arndt/Eck, 836; Hotchkin, 537. 594p. Die Chestnuthiller Wochenschrift. Chestnut Hill: Arndt/Eck, 792; Hotchkin, 420; Hinks, 588. Samuel Saur, 1793. [bound with] Arndt/Olson, 514. Die Kleine Harfe, Gestimmet von unterschiedlichen [Fenning, Daniel]. Der Geschwinde Rechner, Lieblichen Liedern oder Lob-Gesängen __ Zum Oder: des Händlers Nützlicher Gehülfe.... ersten mal ans Licht gegeben. Chestnut Chestnut Hill: Samuel Saur, 1793. Hill: Gedruckt bey Samuel Saur, 1792. 55p. Arndt/Eck, 877; Hinks, 592. Arndt/Eck, /83l; Hotchkin, 537. [Fenning, Daniel]. Federal, or New Ready Reck- Die Chestnuthiller Wochenschrift. Chestnut Hill: oner. Chestnut Hill: Samuel Sower, 1793. Samuel Saur, 1792. Hotchkin, 420; MacFarlane, 117; Hinks, 593. Arndt/Olson, 514. Gabriel, Peter (fl. 1640-1669). Kurzer Bericht Von Crisp, Stephen (1628-1692). Eine kurtze Besch- der Pest, Dessen Ursprung, Zachen und Eigen- reibung einer Langen Reise aus Babylon nach schaft.... Chestnut Hill: Gedruckt bey Bethel.... Chestnut Hill: Samuel Saur, 1792]. Samuel Saur, 1793. [6], 56, [10]p. Arndt/Eck, 828. Arndt/Eck, 878; Hotchkin, 537; Brendle/ Der Durch Europa und America Aufmerksame Rei- Unger, G9. sende.... [Chestnut Hill]: Und nun zum Der Neue Hoch Deutsche Americanische Calender, Zweytemal Gedruckt...bey Samuel Saur, 1792. 20p. Auf das Jahr Christi, 1794.... Zum Vierten- Arndt/Eck, 829. mal herausgegeben. Chesft]nut Hill: Ged- ruckt und zu finden bey Samuel Saur, Hirte, Tobias. Ein Neues, auserlesenes, gemein- [1793]. [44]p. nütziges Hand-Büchlein. Chestnut Hill: Ged- Arndt/Eck, 879; Drake, 10355. ruckt bey Samuel Saur, 1792. [10], 96p. Arndt/Eck, 830; Hotchkin, 537; Brendle/ Carey, Matthew (1760-1839). Eine Kurze Nach- Unger, G6. richt von dem bösartigen Fieber, welches kürzlich in Philadelphia grassiret,... Nach der vierten Luther, Martin (1483-1545). Der Kleine Cate- Verbesserten Auflage aus dem Englischen chismus des. sel. D. Martin Luthers _ Chest- übersetzt von Carl Erdmann. Chestnut nut Hill: Gedruckt bey Samuel Saur, 1792. Hill: Gedruckt für den Verfasser, bey 130p. Samuel Saur, 1794. 129, [7], 121-159p. Arndt/Eck, 832; Hinks, 590. Arndt/Eck, 918. Mack, Johann Valentin (1701-1755). Ein Gesp- Carey, Matthew (1760-1839). [another version] räch zwischen einem Pilger und Bürger auf Chestnut Hill: Samuel Saur, 1794. 176p. ihrere Reise nach und in der Ewigkeit. Chestnut Arndt/Eck, 919. Hill: Und nun auf das Dritte mal Gedruckt ...bey Samuel Saur, 1792. 24p. Die Chestnuthiller Wochenschrift. Chestnut Hill: Arndt/Eck, 833; Hotchkin, 537. Samuel Saur, 1794. Arndt/Olson, 514. Der Neue Hoch Deutsche Americanische Calender, Auf das Jahr Christi, 1793— Zum Dritten Schnering, Henrich Rupert. Gott schützet, mal herausgegeben. Ches[t]nut Hill: Ged- stärket und erhält uns in Gefahren __Dank- ruckt und zu finden bey Samuel Saur, Predigt....Baltimore: Gedruckt für den Ver- [1792]. [46]p. fasser, bey Samuel Saur, 1794. 16p. Arndt/Eck, 834; Drake, 10333; Hinks, 591. Arndt/Eck, 917; Reichmann, 31 (gives 1795 as printing date); Minick, 261 (gives 1795 as Verschiedene alte und neure Geschichten von printing date). Erscheinungen der Geister __Chestnut Hill: Gedruckt bey Samuel Saur, 1792. 168p. Arndt/Eck, 835; Hotchkin, 537. Die Wege und Werke Gottes in der Seele _ Chest- nut Hill: Gedruckt bey Samuel Saur, 1792. 59p. -74- Philadelphia Arndt/Eck, 964; Enoch Pratt,; Reichmann, 25; Ein ganz neu eingerichtetes Deutsches Lutherisches Hinks, 595. ABC Buchstabier- und Namenbuch. Zum nütz- [Catholic Church]: A Short Abridgement of lichem Gebrauch deutscher Schulen. Philadel- Christian Doctrine, newly revised for the use of phia: Gedruckt für David Saur, in der Rees- the Catholic Church in the United States of Amer- [Race]strasse, No. 73, bey Samuel Saur, ica— Baltimore: Printed by Samuel Sower, 1794. 94p. 1795. Arndt/Eck, 950; Hinks, 594. Minick, 224. Ein ganz neu eingerichtetes Deutsches Reformirtes Catholisches Gebät-Buch. Baltimore: Gedruckt ABC Buchstabier- und Namenbuch, Zum nütz- bey Samuel Saur, 1795. 269p. lichen Gebrauch Deutscher Schulen. Philadel- Arndt/Eck, 965; Hinks, 596. phia: Gedruckt für David Saur, in der Rees- Count Roderick's Castle: Or, Gothic Times, a Tale. [Race]strasse, No. 73, bey Samuel Saur, 2 vols in 1. Baltimore: Printed by Sam. 1794. 86p. Sower for S. Keating[e]'s Bookstore, 1795. Arndt/Eck, 951. 200p. Der Neue Hoch Deutsche Americanische Calender, Hotchkin, 420; Seidensticker, 15; Minick, 227. Auf das Jahr Christi, 1795— Philadelphia: Hoch-Deutsches Lutherisches ABC und Namen- Gedruckt und zu finden bey Samuel Saur, Buch, für Kinder, welche anfangen zu lernen. [1794]. [36]p. Baltimore: Gedruckt bey Samuel Saur, for Arndt/Eck, 952; Drake, 10379; [variant title: Thomas, Andrew's und Butler, 1795. 32p. Drake, 10380]. Arndt/Eck, 966; Reichmann, 26; Minick, 234. Eine Predigt über die Worte Jacobus in ersten [Copyright held by David Saur] Kapitel seines Briefes im 25sten Vers.... Phila- Hoch-Deutsches Reformirtes ABC und Namen- delphia: Gedruckt bey Samuel Saur, No. 71 Buch, für Kinder welche anfangen zu lernen. in der Rees[Race]strasse, 1794. Zum besten Baltimore: Gedruckt bey Samuel Saur für der Amerikanischen Gefangen in Algier. Clarke und Reddie, 1795. [32]p. 39p. Arndt/Eck, 967; Reichmann, 27; Minick, 235. Arndt/Eck, 953. Lassenius, Johann (1636-1692). Des Johann Das Philadelphia Wochenblatt. Philadelphia: Lassenius Politische Geheimnisz Vieler Hin und Samuel Saur, 1794-?. wieder heutiges Tages einreisenden unartigen Arndt/Olson, 577-578; Seidensticker, 15; Atheisten. . . . Baltimore: Gedruckt bey MacFarlane, 115. Samuel Saur, für [David] Saur und [Wil- [Hirte, Tobias; Geisler, Adam Friedrich]. Pro- liam] Jones, No. 66, in der Dritten Strasse zu phetische Muthmaszungen über die Franzö- Philadelphia [North Third St.], [1795]. [12], sische Staatsveränderung und andere neuere in 195p. kurzem zu erwartende Begebenheiten— Nebst Arndt/Eck, 968; Hotchkin, 420; Reichmann, lehrreichen Erzählungen von Handlungen 28; Minick, 239. Joseph des Zweyten— Philadelphia: Ged- Eine Neue Charte und sinnliche Abbildung von der ruckt bey Samuel Säur, 1794. 90p. engen Pforte and dem schmalen Wege der zum Arndt/Eck, 954; Hotchkin, 420. ewigen Leben führet— Baltimore: Gedruckt und zu haben bey Samuel Saur, 1795. Baltimore [moved from Philadelphia to Minick, 251; Reichmann, 29. [Also included in Baltimore, March, 1795] the almanac]) A.B. C. Buchstabir und Namenbuch— Balti- Der Neue Hoch Deutsche Americanische Calender, more: S. Saur, 1795. Auf das Jahr Christi, 1796.... Zum Sech- Reichmann, 24. stenmal herausgegeben. Baltimore: Ged- Bunyan.John (1628-1688). Der Heilige Krieg, wie ruckt und zu finden bey Samuel Saur, derselbe geführet wird von Christo Jesus— Bal- [1795]. [32]p. timore: Gedruckt und zu haben, bey Arndt/Eck, 969; Reichmann, 30; Minick, 253; Samuel Saur, 1795. [8], 304p. Drake, 2244.
-75- Der Neue Unpartheyische Baltimore Bote und Der Psalter des Königs und Propheten Davids, Märyländer Stoats-Register. Baltimore: Samuel verdeutscht von D. Martin Luther.... Balti- Saur, 1795. [Weekly; issue 59 published May more: Gedruckt bey Samuel Saur, 1796. 4, 1796 = first issue, March 25, 1795; later 280p. issued tri-weekly; issued un til 1798. Arndt/Eck, 1006; Hotchkin, 420; Seiden- Arndt/Olson, 195; Reichmann, 26; Minick, sticker, 15; Reichmann, 35; Minick, 286; 254. Hinks, 597. O'Kely, Francis. The Disjointed Watch, or Truth Das Kleine Davidische Psalterspiel der Kinder Rent Asunder and Divided; A Similitude — Zions, von Alten und Neuen auserlesenen geistes Attempted in Metre. Baltimore: Samuel Gesängen.... Zweyte verbesserte Auflage. Sower, Printer, in Fayette Street, near How- Baltimore: Gedruckt bey Samuel Saur, 1797. ard Street, 1796. 8p. 572p. Keidel, 9; Minick, 255. Arndt/Eck, 1058; Hotchkin, 420; Enoch Pratt; Trimmer, Sarah Kirby (1741-1810). Fabulous Reichmann, 42; Minick, 366; Hinks, 598. Histories. Designed for the amusement and [bound with the following] instruction of young persons. Baltimore: Print- Die Kleine Harfe, Gestimmet von unterschiedlichen ing for Keating[e]'s Bookstore [by Samuel lieblichen Liedern oder Lob-Gesängen, Welche Sower?], 1795. 214p. gehöret werden von den Enden der Erden, zu Minick, 263. Ehren dem Gerechten.... Zweyte Auflage. Bal- ABC Buchstabir- und Namenbuch. Baltimore: timore: Gedruckt bey Samuel Saur, 1797. Samuel Saur, 1796. 55p. Not in FC; Seidensticker, 15; Reichmann, 29. Arndt/Eck, 1059; Enoch Pratt; Reichmann, 43; Minick, 367. [This edition added names of [Catholic Church]. Catechisme, ou abrege de la Brethren hymnwriters]. foi Catholique _ Baltimore: de l'imprimerie de S. Sower, Rue de Fayette, pas loin de la Markham, J(G)ervase (1568P-1637); Jefferies, rue de Hauard, 1796. 114p. G.; and "Discreet Indians." The Citizen and Minick, 277. Countryman 's Experienced Farrier.... Balti- more: Printed by Samuel Sower, 1797. [Ear- [Gessner, Salomon (1730-1788)]. Dem Andenken lier published: London: n.d.; Wilmington: Deutscher Dichter und Philosphen, gewidmet James Adams, 1764] 364p. von Deutschen in Amerika. Baltimore: [printed Enoch Pratt; Minick, 370. by Samuel Sower for S. Keating], 1796. Seidensticker, 15; Reichmann, 34; Minick, 286. Der Neue Hoch Deutsche Americanische Calender, Auf das Jahr Christi, 1798.... Zum Achten- Melsheimer, Friedrich Valetin (1749-1814). mal herausgegeben. Baltimore: Gedruckt Brief eines Priesters der Römischen Kirche und und zu finden bey Samuel Saur, [1797]. die darauf ertheilte Antwort von einem Prediger [40]p. der Protestantischen Kirche in York-Caunty. Arndt/Eck, 1060; Reichmann, 44; Minick, Baltimore: Gedruckt bey Samuel Saur, 1796. 384; Drake, 2259. 44p. Arndt/Eck, 1007; Reichmann, 36; Minick, 304. Der Neue Unpartheyische Baltimorebote und Mary- länder Staatsregister. Baltimore: Samuel Der Neue Hoch Deutsche Americanische Calender, Saur, 1797. Auf das Jahr Christi, 1797. ...Zum Sieben- Minick, 386. tenmal heraus gegeben. Baltimore: Ged- ruckt und zu finden bey Samuel Saur, Reuter, Friedrich Caesar [Catholic priest in [1796]. 40p. Baltimore]. Katechetischer Unterricht für die Arndt/Eck, 1008; Reichmann, 37; Minick, Christi. Katholische Jugend. [Baltimore]: 309; Drake, 2250. Gedruckt bey Samuel Saur, 1797. 112p. Arndt/Eck, 1061; Reichmann, 45. Der Neue Unpartheyische Baltimorebote und Maryländer Staatsregister. Baltimore: Samuel [Sower, Samuel]. Printing and Binding done Saur, 1796. with neatness and dispatch, by Samuel Sower, Minick, 311.
-76- Fayette-Street. [Baltimore: Printed by Samuel Ludwig Grubers] Grundforschende Fra- Sower, 1797?]. gen, Welche denen Neuen Täufern im Wit- Minick, 395. tgensteinischen zu beantworten vorgelegt [Benneville, George de (1703-1793)]. Der wurden, nebst beygefügten Antworten auf Merkwürdige Lebens-Lauf, die Sonderbare dieselben, von Alexander Mack. Dritte Bekehrung und Entzückengen des _ verstor- Auflage. Baltimore: Gedruckt bey Samuel benen Dr. George De Benneville.... Baltimore: Saur, 1799. 3 vols. in 1. Gedruckt und zu haben bey Samuel Saur, Arndt/Eck, 1155; Enoch Pratt; Reichmann, 1798. 54p. 53-55; Minick, 489; Hinks, 600. Arndt/Eck, 1103; Reichmann, 49; Minick, 415. The Citizen's and Countryman's Experienced Far- Der Neue Hoch Deutsche Americanische Calender, rier. Baltimore: Samuel Sower, 1799. Auf das Jahr Christi, 1799. ...Zum Neuen- Seidensticker, 15. tenmal heraus gegeben. Baltimore: Ged- Der Hundertjährigen Calender, auf das gegenwär- ruckt bey Samuel Saur, [1798]. [40]p. tige Jahrhundert nach Christi Geburt, von 1799 Arndt/Eck, 1104; Reichmann, 50; Minick, 445; bis 1899.... Erste Americanische Auflage. Drake, 2267. Baltimore: Gedruckt und zu haben bey Samuel Saur, 1799. 80p. illus. Der Neue Unpartheyische Baltimore Bote und Arndt/Eck, 1156; Reichmann, 77; Hinks, 601. Maryländer Staatsregister. Baltimore: Samuel Cf. Zweyte Amerikanische Auflage: Johann T. Saur, 1798. Hanzsche, 1799. Minick, 447. Arndt/Olson, 191; Drake, 2314 (gives 1803); [Protestant Episcopal Church in the USA, Bristol, 190 (gives 1803). Maryland Diocese].Journal of the.... Annual Der Neue Hoch Deutsche Americanische Calender, Convention. Baltimore: Samuel Sower, 1798. Auf das Jahr Christi, 1800.... Zum Zehnten- Enoch Pratt; Minick, 455. mal heraus gegeben. Baltimore: Gedruckt [Swedenborg Church]. A Compendious View und zu haben bey Samuel Saur, 1799. [40]p. and Brief Defence of the Peculiar and Leading Arndt/Eck, 1157; Reichmann, 56; Minick, 526; Doctrines of the New Jerusalem Church. Balti- Drake, 2276. more: Printed by Samuel Sower, in Fayette Der Neue Unpartheyische Baltimore Postbote und Street, 1798. Maryländer Staatsregister. Baltimore: Samuel Minick. 423. Saur, 1799. Baltimore Post [or Postbote]. Baltimore: Samuel Minick, 528. Saur, 1799. (copy seen by Eduard F. Leyh, [Swedenborgian Church]. An Investigation of 1887). the Doctrine of Baron Swedenborg, or of the No known copy; Arndt/Olson, 195 (incorrect Church called New Jerusalem.... Baltimore: data); Keidel, 4; Reichmann, 27. Printed by Samuel Sower, 1799. 46p. Brevitt,[ Joseph]. The History of Anatomy, from Minick, 500. Hippocrates Who Lived Four Hundred Years before Christ, Together with the Discoveries and Das Glücksrad in Frag und Antwort. Baltimore: Gedruckt und zu haben bey Samuel Saur, Improvements of Succeeding Anatomists, in the 1800 [?] Regular Succession of Times in which They Minick, 581. Lived and Flourished to the Present Period. Bal- timore: Samuel Sower, 1799. 29p. Der Hundertjährige Calender, auf das gegenwär- Enoch Pratt; Minick, 478. tige Jahr-hundert nach Christi Geburt, von Felbinger, Jeremias (1616-ca.l690). Christliches 1800 Handbüchlein— Alexander Mack, Sr., 1679- bis 1900.... Zweyte verbesserte Auflage. Bal- 1735] [Kurze und einfältige Vorstellung der timore: Gedruckt und zu haben bey Samuel äussern, aber doch heiligen] Rechten und Saur, [1800]. 96p. Ordnungen des Hauses Gottes, in Frag und Arndt/Eck, 1204; Arndt/Olson, 191; Enoch Antwort. [Alexander Mack, Sr.] [Eberhard Pratt; Reichmann, 62; Minick, 499; Drake, 2274.
-77- Der Neue Hoch Deutsche Americanische Calender, No. 190, Market-Street, 1801. 20p. Auf das Jahr Christi, 1801.... Zum Elftenmal Bristol, 23. heraus gegeben. Baltimore: Gedruckt bey [Friends, Society of]. The Epistle from the Yearly Samuel Saur, Nro. 190 Marktstrasse, [1800]. Meeting held in London, By Adjournments, [42]p. from the 20th of the Fifth Month, to the 2d of the Arndt/Eck, 1205; Reichmann, 63; Minick, 614; Sixth Month, inclusive— Baltimore: Printed Drake, 2290; Bristol, 6; Hinks, 602. by Samuel Sower, [1801], 3p. Der Neue Unpartheyische Baltimore Bote und Bristol, 27. Maryländer Staatsregister. Baltimore: Samuel Ireland, William Henry (1777-1835). The Saur, 1800. Abbess: A Romance __Baltimore: Printed by Minick, 616. [Probably never published.] S[amuel]. Sower and J. W. Butler, 1801. [Sower, Samuel]. Conversation Cards. Balti- Enoch Pratt Free Library; more: Printed by Samuel Sower, 1800. Bristol, 35. Minck, 571. Kurzgefasztes Weiber-Büchlein. Enthält Aristoteli Walpern, Eberhart. Das Glücks-Rad, Durch und A. Magni Hebammen-Kunst mit den welches man nach Astrologischer Art auf unter- darzu gehörigen Recepten. [Baltimore]: schiedliche Fragen.. .eine Antwort finden kan. Gedruckt [bey Samuel Saur], 1801. 66p. ... Baltimore: Gedruckt in diesem Jahr [bey Arndt/Eck, 1251. Samuel Saur], [1800]. 44p. Der Neue Hoch Deutsche Americanische Calender, Arndt/Eck, 1206; Reichmann, 61. Auf das Jahr Christi, 1802— Zum Zwölften- [Washington, George]. The Washingtoniana: mal heraus gegeben. Baltimore: Gedruckt bey Containing a Biographical Sketch of the late Samuel Saur, Nro. 190, Marktstrasse, [1801]. Gen. George Washington, with Various Outlines [42]p. of His Character From the pens of different emi- Arndt/Eck, 1252; Reichmann, 69; Drake, 2304. nent writers, both in Europe and America— Bloomfield, Robert. Rural Tales, &c. — &c. Baltimore: Printed and sold by Samuel ... Baltimore: Printed by and for Samuel Sower, 190 Market-Street, 1800. 298, [6]p. Sower, and Thomas, Andrews and [J. W.] Enoch Pratt; Hotchkin, 420; Minick, 633; Butler, 1802. Hinks, 603. Bristol, 90. The Compting-House Calendar for 1801. Balti- [Friends, Society of]. The Epistle from the Yearly more: Samuel Sower; Thomas, Andrews, & Meeting, held in London, By Adjournments, Butler; Bonsai & Niles. Advertised in the from the 19th to the 28th of the Fifth Month, Baltimore American, Feb. 11, 1801. 1802, inclusive.... Baltimore: Samuel Sower, Drake, 2287; Bristol, 934. Printer and Book-Seller, No. 190 Market- [Fenning, Daniel]. Der Geschwinde Rechner, Street, [1802]. Bristol, 108. oder Nützlicher Gehülfe im Handel— Erste Hymns and Spiritual Songs, for the Use of Chris- Auflage. Baltimore: Gedruckt bey Samuel tians: including a Number never before pub- Saur, 1801. [120]p. lished. Baltimore: Printed by Samuel Sower, Arndt/Eck, 1250; Hotchkin, 420; Enoch Pratt; for Bonsai and Niles; Warner and Hanna; Reichmann, 68; Bristol, 20; Hinks, 604. and Thomas, Andrews and Butler, 1802. [Fenning, Daniel]. The Ready Reckoner, or 244, [7]p. Trader's Useful Assistant, in buying or selling Bristol, 111. all sorts of Commodities— Baltimore: Printed Ireland, William Henry (1777-1835). The by Samuel Sower, 1801. [120]p. Abbess: A Romance....In three Volumes. 2nd Bristol, 21. ed. Baltimore: Printed by S[amuel]. Sower [Freemasons, Baltimore]. Bye Laws of the Con- and J. W. Butler, 1802. cordia Lodge, No. 13 held in the City of Balti- Enoch Pratt; Bristol, 113. more, by Charter from the Grand Lodge of Mary- Der Neue Hoch Deutsche Americanische Calender, land. Baltimore: Printed by Samuel Sower, Auf das Jahr Christi, 1803.... Zum Dreyzehn-
-78- tenmal heraus gegeben. Baltimore: Gedruckt Markham, Gervase. The Citizen & Countryman 's bey Samuel Saur, Nro. 190, Marktstrasse, experienced Farrier.... By J. Markham, G. [1802]. [42]p. Jef- Arndt/Eck, 1287; Reichmann, 74; Bristol, 74; feries, and experienced Indians. Balti- Drake, 2317; Hinks, 605. more: Printed and Sold by Samuel Sower, Röche, Regina Maria [Dalton]. The Vicar of No. 190, Market-Street, 1803. 349 [348]p. Landsdowne; or Country Quarters. In two Bristol, 202. Volumes.... First American Edition. Balti- Der Neue Hoch Deutsche Americanische Calender, more: Printed for Thomas, Andrews & Auf dasjahr Christi, 1804 _ Zum Erstenmal Butler, W. Pechin, and S. Sower, 1802.2 vols. [Vierzehntenmal] heraus gegeben. Balti- in 1. more: Gedruckt bey Samuel Saur, Nro. 190, Bristol, 140. Marktstrasse, [1803]. [42]p. Roche, Regina Maria [Dalton]. The Vicar of Arndt/Eck, 1330; Reichmann, 78; Drake, Lansdowne; or Country Quarters __ Balti- 2327; Bristol, 157. more: Printed by W. Pechin and S. Sower, [Protestant Episcopal Church of the USA]. 1802. Journal of a Convention of the Protestant Epis- Bristol, 140. copal Church in the State of Maryland; held in [Taylor, John, 1580-1653]. The Holy Bible in the City of Baltimore, from June 1st. to June 3d. Miniature. Baltimore: Printed by Samuel Baltimore: Printed by [Samuel] Sower & Sower, 1802. 283, [l]p. [Samuel] Cole, No. 190, Market-Street, 1803. Bristol, 146. 20p. [Wolcot, John (1738-1819)]. Tears and Smiles: A Bristol, 215. miscellaneous Collection of Poems. By Peter Wilmer, James Jones. Man as he is, and the Pindar, Esq. [pseud.] The Ladies' Edition. World as it goes. Baltimore: Printed by ... Baltimore: Printed by S. Sower for Thom- [Samuel] Sower & [Samuel] Cole, 1803.69p. as, Andrews, and Butler, 1802. 172p. Bristol, 226. Enoch Pratt; Bristol, 152. The Baltimore Musical Miscellany, or Columbian [Baltimore General Dispensary]. Rules and By- Songster, containing a Collection of Approved Laws of the Baltimore General Dispensary: with Songs, set to Music. In two Volumes. Balti- other Matter, relative to the Institution. Balti- more: Printed and Sold by [Samuel] Sower more: Printed by Sower and Cole, No. 190, and [Samuel] Cole, and Samuel Butler, Market-Street, 1803. 16p. 1804. 198, [6]p. Bristol, 166. Bristol, 245 Gardiner, W. C. An Extract (No. l) from the Works [Cole, John, 1774-1855]. The Beauties of Psal- of a True Believer submitted to the World as a mody. Containing a Selection of Sacred Music in Testimony of the Truth of Prophecy; as a Warn- three and four Parts; adapted to Dr. Watt 's ing to the Impious; and as a Comfort to Those Psalms and Hymns. Baltimore: Printed and Who Are Making their Calling and Election Sold by [Samuel] Sower and [Samuel] Cole, Sure. Baltimore: Printed by [Samuel] Sower No. 190, Market-Street, 1804. 63, [l]p. and [Samuel] Cole, 1803. 16p. Bristol, 254. Enoch Pratt [handwritten note: Coventry par- Der Neue Hoch Deutsche Americanische Calender, ish, Somerset Co., Md.]; Bristol, 185. Auf das Jahr Christi, 1805 __Zum Fünfzehn- Kemp, James. A Sermon on the Nature and Object tenmal heraus gegeben. Baltimore: Ged- of a Gospel Ministry. Preached before the ruckt bey Samuel Säur, [1804]. [42]p. Convention of the Protestant Episcopal Arndt/Eck, 11368; Reichmann, 82; Drake, Church of Maryland, in the City of Balti- 2341; Bristol, 235. more, on the 2nd day of June, 1803. Balti- more: Printed by [Samuel] Sower and [Samuel] Cole, [1803]. 30p. Bristol, 193.
-79- [Samuel Sower & Samuel Cole, auctioneers]. [Catalogue of an extensive collection of books, consisting of several thousand volumes, being the whole stock in trade of Mr. John Rice, late Book-seller of this city. Baltimore: 1805]. Bristol, 393. [Samuel Sower & Samuel Cole, auctioneers]. [Catalogue of books at their first sale. Bal- timore: 1805]. Bristol, 394. Der Neue Hoch Deutsche Americanische Calender, Auf das Jahr Christi, 1806.... Zum Sechs- zehntenmal heraus gegeben. Baltimore: Gedruckt bey Samuel Saur, Nro. 3, Light- strasse, beim Kaffeehaus, [1805]. [42]p. Arndt/Eck, 1420; Reichmann, 85; Drake, 2351; Bristol, 322. Der Neue Hoch Deutsche Americanische Calender, Auf das Jahr Christi, 1807.... Zum Sieben- zehntenmal heraus gegeben. Baltimore: Gedruckt bey Samuel Säur, Lexington- strasse, beim Neuen Markt, [1806]. [42]p. Arndt/Eck, 1477; Reichmann, 91; Drake, 2363; Bristol, 403. Der Neue Hoch Deutsche Americanische Calender, Auf das Jahr Christi, 1808... .Zum Achtzehn- tenmal heraus gegeben. Baltimore: Ged- ruckt bey Samuel Saur, [1807]. Reichmann, 98; Drake, 2377; Bristol, 501.
-80- JOHANN THOMAS SCHLEY (1712-1790) SCHOOLMASTER, MUSICIAN AND FRAKTUR ARTIST OF FREDERICK, MARYLAND
n trying to piece together the life story and was the business agent of the Appenhofer Iachievement of German colonial immi- colonies. Since no interesting fact about grants most researchers are confronted with Schley's parents could be located, there was at two problems. One is the dearth of contem- least the often-repeated story that his wife was porary material in German. Older records in a daughter of General Wintz who died during German were often discarded by a posterity the battle of Parma in Italy in 1714.3 that could no longer read German or as was Unfortunately there are letters extant the case in World War I did not want to be which Thomas Schley wrote to his father-in- identified with an enemy people. The other law, Georg Wintz. Sr., in 1752 and 1761. An difficulty is the ready availability of fabricated entry in the Billigheim Reformed Church reg- "source" material. The true importance of the ister in 1743 clearly shows that Schley was lives of certain German immigrants of the then still Schuldiener (the common word in eighteenth century has been obscured by the the Palatinate for parochial school teachers) exaggerated accounts of proud, but overly in the small village of Appenhofen. The first zealous descendants. One of the most com- documented record of Schley in Maryland mon ambitions of the chronicler of a family concerns the baptism of one of his daughters history was (and is) to establish the ancestor in October, 1746, in the Lutheran Church as the very first settler in a given area. Next record of the Frederick congregation. Furth- comes the desire to trace him to a prominent ermore, in his letter of March, 1761, Thomas family in Europe and make him the leader Schley complains to his brother-in-law that he and organizer of a group of persecuted emi- had not received a letter from him in all the 16 grants. Schley family historians felt obliged to years that he has been in Maryland. From add such unnecessary glitter to their common these scattered sources it may be safely ancestor's life story because several of his assumed that the emigration took place in descendants had become prominent during 1744/45. In the absence of ship arrival the nineteenth century. Two of his grandsons records for Annapolis, a lengthy search who moved south did quite well in Georgia. through contemporary sources was necessary William Schley was elected to Congress and in order to locate the ship on which immi- for a brief time (1835-37) served as governor of grants came directly to Maryland. Georgia. One of the smallest counties was Among the papers of Charles Calvert II, given his name. His brother was a justice on Fifth Lord Baltimore, in the Maryland the supreme bench of the state. A great- Archives are two letters translated from the grandson, Winfield Scott Schley (1839-1909), "Dutch Language" which were transmitted to was a successful naval officer. He achieved him by Daniel Dulany, a prominent merchant fame because of his participation in a very and lawyer in Annapolis. Both were obviously dangerous rescue operation in the arctic in written by Germans upon Dulany's urging. 1884 and his victory in the battle of Santiago They were designed to entice other Germans during the Spanish-American War.1 to come to Maryland. The first letter was com- The resulting story of Johann Thomas posed by settlers who had come "some Years Schley always begins as follows: "Thomas since" from Pennsylvania. It is full of praise Schley landed in America in 1735 with about for the fertile land and the "full Liberty of one hundred Palatine families."2 In several Conscience." The second letter is of particu- accounts it is asserted that these people all lar interest because it informs us of the unex- came from the Landau area, preferably from pected arrival of Germans in Annapolis, Appenhofen. This led to the claim that Schley where those who could not pay for their pas-
-81- sage were redeemed by Daniel Dulany. They several others who still had sufficient means were settled by him on his lands along the to pay the captain, continued the trip on their Monocacy which he had acquired from Ben- own to their original destination, the Tulpe- jamin Tasker in 1744. When he inspected the hocken settlement in Pennsylvania.6 considerable acreage known as "Tasker's Christopher Sauer's newspaper in German- Chance" in the same year, he was impressed town reported in the February 16, 1744/45 by the progress German farmers in the issue that a ship with Germans, chartered by neighborhood had made in an area that had Captain Stedman for Philadelphia, had been a wilderness fifteen years before. already entered the Delaware but went back Dulany, by the way, had had earlier dealings to sea and "entered the Susquehanna and so with the Germans on the Monocacy when he reached Maryland."7 John Stedman, the Rot- sold them supplies in 1739. Now that he terdam shipper, had indeed chartered an owned land in the back parts and was con- additional ship for the Philadelphia run in vinced of the usefulness of German settlers, May 1744. It was the Rupert under Captain the unanticipated arrival of a shipload of Richard Parker to which Stedman assigned emigrants from the Rhinelands found him 150 "Palatine" passengers in Rotterdam.8 The willing to pay out £245 sterling to obtain the voyage of the Rupert was unduly long because service and good will of more than 40 "full she did not arrive at Annapolis until early freights" among them.4 January 1744/45. A look at the entire Palatine These new arrivals provided Dulany with fleet of 1744 helps to explain her erratic the second letter meant to be circulated in the course. Of the nine vessels loaded with Ger- home villages of the emigrants. It began by man and Swiss emigrants in Rotterdam, only telling how they had not arrived at their origi- one reached Philadelphia in early October nal destination, Philadelphia: after a relatively uneventful passage. The very We take this Opportunity to Acquaint you that successful operations of Spanish and French the Ship in wch we agreed to go Pennsylvania warships and privateers threw the routine is not Arrived but in the province of Maryland, North Atlantic run into complete disarray. where we found many of our Countrymen Two vessels with Germans were captured. that have Estates & Live very Comfortably, th Others were chased by privateers and, in try- they received us w great Kindness.... ing to outsail enemy ships, were forced off- Citing Dulany's payment "to free us from course even after reaching the mouth of the the Captain's power," they added: "we are Delaware. Only four more emigrant ships perswaded that this Gentleman will be Serv- made it to Philadelphia after ten, even thir- iceable to Aid and Assist all Germans that teen weeks at sea. will settle in this Province."5 The story told here by some of the Joh. Thomas Schley-School Teacher at passengers can be verified from other sour- Appenhofen ces. A court case in 1766 in Augusta County, Due to the loss of many records in the Virginia, concerning a dispute over an inher- Landau area during repeated warfare in the itance, reveals the experience of several emi- early part of the eighteenth century, virtually grants from Hallau in Canto Schaffhausen. nothing is known about Schley's family. In According to the testimony of Hans Fotsch, a recent years a rather substantial house in group left their home village in the spring of Mörzheim (now incorporated into Landau) 1744. They boarded a Philadelphia-bound has been identified as the Schley home and a vessel in Holland together with other pas- black marble tablet was put up in his memory sengers, mainly from the Palatinate. During in 1962. The name Schley appears rather fre- and after the required customs stopover in quently in the council protocols of Landau Plymouth, the Hallau people suffered some during the seventeenth century. loss of lives. The voyage was lengthy and peri- Johannes Thomas Schley was born on lous. Instead of landing in Philadelphia, the August 31,1712, in Mörzheim, the son of Nico- ship carried them to Maryland. Fotsch and laus and Eva Brigitta Schley. He must have
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The stone house which was the first home of the Schley family in 1746. Above a scene from the old country, evoking the skyline ofSpeyer. (Photo by Allen Smith, Jr. for the Historical Society of Frederick County)
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The schoolhouse of the Reformed congregation — one of the watercolor minatures in Thomas Schley's hymnal. (Photo by Allen Smith, Jr. for the Historical Society of Frederick County) received a solid education to judge from his cabin just south of Jimtown, about four miles later activities. During his young adult life, from the Monocacy, which served as their according to a letter of 1761, he accumulated common meeting place. The coming of an some savings "which I earned the hard way experienced school teacher was a boon to the long ago." The meager salary of a village frontier community. In September, 1745, school teacher in the Palatinate at that time Dulany had a town laid out in the southern barely provided enough for the upkeep of a part of Tasker's Chance. The new place was family. But all we know of Schley prior to his given the name Fredericktown. He set aside coming to America is the fact that he served as lots for the Anglican, Reformed and Lutheran Schuldiener in the small village of Appen- congregations. Since both the German hofen. There he married Maria Margaretha Reformed and the Lutherans had now suffi- in 1735. She was the daughter of Georg Wintz cient numbers to begin separate organiza- of Appenhofen. They had five children tions, they also held their worship in the new before they emigrated in 1744.9 town as soon as buildings were erected. Under Schley's leadership, the Reformed Schoolmaster in the New Town of Frederick congregation built a schoolhouse which also When the redeemed passengers of the served as a meeting place for Sunday serv- Rupert arrived on Daniel Dulany's land on the ices.10 By 1746, the Schleys had their sixth child, Monocacy, they found numerous settlers a daughter born in Frederick. She was the first there who had come from the Palatinate and child in the new settlement of which there is Switzerland by way of Pennsylvania. Luther- any record. When the Swedish Lutheran ans and Reformed had already organized a clergyman Gabriel Naesman visited the area union church and in 1743 built a large log on October 31, 1746, he baptized her.11
-84- From the outset Thomas Schley did not Lancaster in the autumn of 1752, the minutes limit his work to teaching school. The full recorded that Frankenfeld "praises his school scope of his activities was best described by teacher" and asked that he may not be forgot- the leader of the German Reformed Church, ten when new funds were received from the the Rev. Michael Schlatter, who visited the churches in Holland. Indeed, Thomas Schley new town of Frederick twice, in May 1747 and received £6 in 1753.15 again a year later: "It is a great advantage to Although the church had regular pastors this congregation that they have the best most of the time, there were still frequent schoolmaster that I have met in America. He occasions when Schley conducted the serv- spares neither labor nor pains in instructing ices because most of the Frederick pastors the young and edifying the congregation also tended to other Reformed churches in according to his ability, by means of singing, Maryland and nearby Virginia. The congre- and reading the word of God and printed gation and with it the number of pupils grew sermons on every Lord's day." On May 7th, steadily. In 1756, when a church ordinance 1747, S c h l a t t e r h a d h e l d a s e r v i c e i n t h e was introduced, eighty-nine heads of families schoolhouse. He was full of praise for the put their signature under it. There were quite congregation."... it appears to me to be one of a few members from Schley's home area in the purest in the whole country,... one that is the Palatinate apart from his own relatives, free from the sects, of which, in other places, e.g. Valentin Schwartz from Mörzheim, Peter the country is filled."12 The last remark was Hauck from Klingen, Andreas Eberhardt somewhat premature because on March 1, from Rohrbach and Johannes Lingenfelder 1748, Thomas Schley wrote a letter to Schlat- from Steinweiler.16 ter in Philadelphia, informing him that the In November 1763 Thomas Schley was Dunker sect in the vicinity had diverted two of heading the building committee for a new the Reformed members from the church and church. By the end of 1764 the new house of was very active in trying to convert others. The worship was used for the first time. The old letter was also signed by the five elders of the church building was dismantled and some of congregation. They asked not only for advice the materials were sold to the schoolmaster but also urged Schlatter to return for another for a consideration of £10.17 visit to Frederick.13 The Reformed leader came back in May. Work on the new church Master of Calligraphy and Song had proceeded well enough that the com- For a long time it was only the Rev. munion service could be held in the yet unfin- Schlatter's remark about Schley leading the ished building. It was a highly emotional congregation in hymn singing that pointed to occasion on which Schlatter wrote in his another gift of the schoolmaster. Only after diary: "After the sermon, I administered the German folk art of the eighteenth and early Holy Supper to ninety-seven members, bap- nineteenth century became popular in recent tized several adult persons and children, mar- decades, did some of the remarkable crea- ried three betrothed couples, and installed tions of Thomas Schley come to light. Beauti- new elders and deacons." Thomas Schley was fully decorated sheets and entire books of one of the latter, an office that he held until hand-written church music were preserved by his death.14 some of his descendants and a few collectors For four years more, Schley conducted the of local lore. Sunday services and read the scriptures and The Historical Society of Frederick County printed sermons until Schlatter found a has in its collections the most striking of young minister to assume the Frederick Schley's works that has come down to us. It is a charge. The Rev. Theodor Frankenfeld was leather-bound volume of 282 pages, measur- installed by Schlatter in May 1753 after having ing 11 by 20 cm. It contains the tunes and texts served in Frederick and at the rural Monocacy of 154 church hymns. While the staff lines and congregation for several months on trial. the lettering alone are testimony to masterful When he attended the Reformed Coetus in work, there are numerous illustrations and
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Vorschrift of various fraktur styles by Thomas Schley. This example of his work was featured in the New York exhibition "American Fraktur: Graphic Folk Art 1745-1855" at Pratt Graphics Center in 1976/77. (Photo: Manuscript Division, Maryland Historical Society) colorful decorations in the tradition of Pala- A special page of dedication was glued into tine folk art. Most of the hymns, as Schley the front cover of the volume. Later on, the indicates, are from the Lutheran Hallesche obituary note that appeared in a Baltimore Gesangbuch (Halle Hymnal) and the Pfälzische newspaper after Schley's death was copied by Gesangbuch (the Palatine Hymnal) of the hand onto the back cover. Reformed Church. But a closer look also Thomas Schley also produced other Frak- reveals that Schley himself wrote hymns as his tur pieces such as certificates of merit for his added words indicate: "Musicalische Melodey pupils. Outstanding is the Vorschrift, a sam- — meine Eigene" (Musical melody — my ple of various types of Gothic writing and own). Besides the flowers, cherubs and other regular German and Latin script, which has folk motifs, we find buildings on some pages been preserved by the Maryland Historical that resemble the first stone church of the Society in Baltimore. He signed it: "Johannes Reformed congregation or the family home Thomas Schley Reformed Schoolmaster in in Frederick. Above the latter is a skyline that Frederick Town, the 30th of September anno looks like the spires and towers of the Imper- 1773, 61 years and 26 days old." ial City of Speyer on the Rhine. The title page At about the same time as the Vorschrift, in beautiful, decorative calligraphy reads: one of Schley's dreams came true. His church "Singet dem Herrn in euren Herzen" (sing ordered a pipe organ from David Tannen- praise to the Lord in your hearts). It may be berger in Lititz, Pennsylvania after a success- assumed that Thomas Schley later gave this ful fund-raising collection to purchase an music book to his grandson, Johannes Schley. organ and install two bells in the new church
-86- spire. Now Thomas Schley also became the by the same name, Schley advises them to organist of the Frederick Reformed Church.18 come over, if possible bringing his own "poor old father" along. In such case, Thomas Some Personal Notes of Schley's Life in Schley writes, "sell my property as well as Frederick yours and give my father as much as he needs In the absence of any personal diaries or for the trip." Turning to his brother-in-law, notes it is very difficult to describe in any Georg Wintz, Jr., he tells him not to come to fashion the life of the Schley family during Maryland if his own father does "not wish to the 45 years in which Thomas Schley was, as move away with you." But in the next para- J. Thomas Scharf, the historian of Western graph he assures him that "here you would be Maryland, characterizes him, "the mainstay much better off than over there." of the church," as the historian of western As to a home visit, he says how much he Maryland characterized Thomas Schley. In would like to do it "but my situation will hardly view of the extremely modest remuneration allow me to undertake such a costly trip, and it parochial schoolmasters received in most would be difficult to leave my large family." congregations in the Palatinate as well as in Only his brother-in-law Jacob Baltzel heeded America, it is surprising that Schley could buy the appeal to come over as the membership four lots in the new town on May 10th, 1746. lists of the Frederick church reveal.21 Later we also find a "Thomas Sligh" as owner Thomas and Margaretha Schley had nine of a strip of land in the heart of present-day children during the first twelve years of their Baltimore. It is known that he carried on "a marriage. Five were born in Germany: great variety of business" during his life in Frederick.19 Georg Jacob (1735) Maria Anna (1741) A chance discovery in the Speyer archives Johann Georg (1737) Maria Margaretha Georg Thomas (1738) (1743) of two letters written by him to the relatives back home proves that he had remained in The next four children were born in touch with those he and his wife had left Frederick: behind. Both letters found their way into the Maria Barbara (1746) Johann Jacob (1751) official files only because they dealt with fam- Eva Catharina (1749) Sibilla (1754) ily finances and were most likely submitted by It is well known that the German popula- the Wintz family in connection with legacy tion of Frederick was very much in favor of problems.20 The only relatives living in Fred- the separation from British rule. It was also erick County were his wife's sister Sibilla and fortunate for Thomas Schley that his church her husband, Georg Stoeckle. In his letter of had a pastor from 1770 until 1784 with whom October 14,1752, which was addressed to both he could work together in full harmony. The his brother-in-law Jacob Baltzel and his father- preceding five years had placed a heavy in-law Georg Wintz, Sr., Schley expressed his burden on Schley's shoulders. There were sorrow that the latter "in his old age,...has long intervals without a pastor. The young such a hard time making ends meet, while he minister, Friedrich Ludwig Henop, came has been fairly well off in my time." Thomas from Kaiserslautern in the Palatinate. When Schley does not want him to suffer and he assumed his pastorate in 1770 there were encourages him "to take what he needs from 192 families listed as communicants in Fred- my wife's inheritance, not lightly, though." erick and two nearby rural congregations. By There must have been a substantial legacy 1776 this number had increased to 231. The from his mother-in-law because he also writes parochial school had 160 pupils in 1776. Many that he will settle with Georg Stoeckle "matters members of the Reformed church were with respect to his wife's maternal inherit- involved in political activities when the Amer- ance, which I bought from her, as you proba- ican Revolution began. As early as January, bly know." 1775, a Committee of Observation was formed In the other letter, written on March 5, 1761, for which Thomas Schley served as collector.22 partly to Georg Wintz, Sr. and partly to his son After the war, the congregation had
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Dedication to Schley's grandson Johannes which was glued inside the front cover of the hand-written and decorated hymnal. (Photo by Allen Smith, Jr. for the Historical Society of Frederick County) another pastor who was the first one to have (an. 1735), which latter died in June last. They been trained in America, John William Run- lived in wedlock nearly 55 years, had nine kel. There is a record of a congregational children, of whom 8 are still living. He had been suffering for some time with asthma, but meeting one day after the new minister had was confined to bed for one day only. He died assumed his duties. On November 29, 1784, yesterday morning, 10 o'clock, aged 78 years, 2 the members voted to elect a new schoolmas- months and 23 days. ter. Thomas Schley, who was seventy-two The prominence of this parochial school- years old, was evidently determined to hold master is also attested by a notice in the Mary- on to his position. It is not known who the land Journal and Baltimore Advertiser on other candidate was but he was defeated and December 7th, 1790. More than seven years "such a scene of confusion followed" that later Schley was remembered in the local Reverend Runkel "wept for sorrow over the newspaper The Key in a "Sketch of Frederick weaknesses of the people."23 In 1785 a large County," which appeared in the issue of Jan- German-English dictionary was acquired uary 27,1798: which bears the inscription: "Johann Thom- The first house was built by Mr. Thomas as Schley, Reform. Schulmeister in Fried- Schley, in 1746. This gentleman died in 1790, richstadt, 1785," a sure indication that he aged 78, after having had the satisfaction of prevailed during the voting.24 seeing a dreary wood, late the habitation of Pastor Runkel made the following entry in bears, wolves, deer, and c. and the occasional hunting ground of the gloomy savage, con- the death of his church on November 1790: verted into a flourishing town, surrounded by THOMAS SCHLEY, first teacher in this con- fertile country, smiling with yellow harvests, gregation, born August 31, 1712 at Mörzheim and comfortable farm-houses, interspersed in Germany, was married to Margaret Wintz with handsome seats, the happy reward of enterprising, persevering industry. —Klaus Wust -88- New York City NOTES 19J. Thomas Scharf, History of Western Maryland (Phila- 1 delphia, 1882) I, 485, 509. For Thomas Schley's prominent descendants see 20 Albert Bernhardt Faust, The German Element in the United The two Thomas Schley letters were found in the States (Boston, 1909) II, 175, 570-1. Landesarchiv Speyer in 1957 by Dr. Fritz Braun. Photo- 2Dieter Cunz, The Maryland Germans (Princeton, NJ, stats and transcripts of both are in the collection of the 1948), 68-9. Frederick County Historical Society. Excerpts were pub- 3Several papers contributed by Schley family historians lished in the Report, 30 (1959), 112-4. In the Landesarchiv were consulted in the collections of the Institut für Pfal- Speyer (Bestand F 11: Ausfautei Billigheim) is further zische Geschichte und Volkskunde in Kaiserslautern. An material concerning the emigrated members of the Wintz updated file on Thomas Schley is in the Auswanderer- family. File No. 65 contains listings of the debts of Mar- Kartei of the institute. See also Landauer Monatshefte, July- garetha Wintz Schley and Sibylla Wintz Stoeckle in 1759. August 1976, 160-1. Other financial data about the two emigrated sisters for 4Calvert Papers, No. 295½ pp. 115-6. Maryland 1752-58 are in File No. 66 (Appenhofen Ausfauteiakten). 21Ranck, 192. Archives, Annapolis. Printed version in Maryland 22 Archives, Vol. 44, 697. For Daniel Dulany, see Aubrey C. See Karl Scherer, "Friedrich Ludwig Henop and Land, The Dulanys of Maryland (Baltimore, 1968). Johann Thomas Schley — Two Patriots from the Palati- 5Maryland Archives, Vol. 44, 697. The complete text of nate in Frederick, Maryland," in Roland Paul (ed.), 300 Years Palatines in America (Landau, 1983), 144-54. the letter appears also in the Report, 37 (1978), 21. 23 6 Ranck, 54. Case of Carpenter (Zimmermann) et al. vs. Fotch, 24 November 1766, Augusta County Judgements, Book A. This dictionary is in the Historical Society of Freder- Abstracted in Lyman Chalkley, Records of Augusta County, ick County. 1745-1800 (Rosslyn, VA, 1912) I, 342, 495-6. 7Hoch-Deutsch Pennsylvanische Bericht, Feb. 16, 1744/5. 8ONA, B. van Pause 2740, 154-8, Rotterdam City Archives. The Rupert had to be prepared for the pas- sengers and ready for loading by June 9, 1744. The con- tract also called for "breaking down the Bulk heads of the Cabin in order to make it clear and even with between decks to Lodge the said Pallentines." Captain Parker also agreed to "Build as many bedplaces throughout the ship" as needed for 150 people, "and two necessary houses, on each side of the Ship one." 9Auswanderer-Kartei, IPGV, Kaiserslautern. Entries about Thomas Schley in Appenhofen appear in the regis- ter of the Reformed Church in Billigheim, 1737-43. 10James B. Ranck, Dorothy S. Ranck et al., A History of the Evangelican Reformed Church, Frederick, Maryland (Freder- ick, MD, 1964) 7-11. 11The baptism of Maria Barbara Schley is the earliest one recorded in the register of the Evangelical Lutheran Church as having taken place in the new town of Frederick. 12Michael Schlatter's Wahrhafte Erzehlung von dem wahren Zustand der meist Hirtenlosen Gemeinden... (Frank- furt, 1752) was translated and appended to Henry Har- baugh, The Life of the Rev. Michael Schlatter (Philadelphia, 1857), 87-234. The remarks by Schlatter cited here are on pages 177 and 154. 13 Schley to Schlatter, March 1st, 1748. A copy of the original in the Archives of the Netherland Reformed Church in The Hague is in Historical Society of the Evangelical and Reformed Church in Lancaster, PA. 14Harbaugh, Schlatter, 176-7. 15William J. Hinke (ed), Minutes and Letters of the Coetus of the German Reformed Congregations in Pennsylvania, 174 7- 1792 (Philadelphia, 1903), 74. 16Ranck, Reformed Church Frederick, 29, 190. 17Ranck, 39. 18Ranck, 51.
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Karl J. R. Arndt and Reimer C. Eck, eds. Oda published a number of bibliographical The First Century of German Language Printing articles in the Pennsylvania Dutchman in the in the United States of America. Volume 1 (1728- 1950's, as part of his revised and enlarged 1807); Volume 2 (1808-1830), comps. Gerd-J. edition of Seidensticker's early compilation. Bötte and Werner Tannhof, with Annelies Professor Arndt of Clark University, well- Müller. Göttingen: Niederäschsische Staats- known in the field for his massive annotated und Universitäts-bibliothek Göttingen, 1989. listing of German-American newspapers Pp. xxx, 1-594; [iv], 595-1245. $100. (with May E. Olson), sought funding in the Issued as Volumes XXI-XXII (1987-88) of United States and the Federal Republic of the Publications of the Pennsylvania German Germany to continue the Oda initiative, cut Society, the present reference work is the short by the latter's death. A German grant long-awaited updating of the classic bibliog- allowed Annelies Müller to pursue the project, raphy of German-American imprints by Prof. but she soon discovered that a more broadly- Oswald Seidensticker (1825-1894), published based and better-funded effort was needed to in 1893 as The First Century of German Printing do justice to the task. This came with a sizable in America. The completion of this task by grant from the Deutsche Forschungsgemein- librarian-scholars associated with the Univer- schaft through the Göttingen library. A sity of Göttingen represents a satisfying com- trained librarian, Werner Tannhof, assisted pletion of the circle. That university has been by his wife Monika, spent two years in the a leader in American studies beginning with United States (1983-1985), visiting more than the work of Prof. A. W. Schlözer in the late one hundred public and private collections to 18th century. Its library collection of North gather data. To ensure accuracy, the Tann- American imprints is outstanding in Ger- hofs made extensive copies of titlepages and many. And finally, Göttingen was the birth- other significant material. Back in Germany, place of Oswald Seidensticker. Werner Tannhof worked on the collected It does not take away from Seidensticker's data, using computers and internationally pioneering achievement that soon after its accepted cataloging rules; when he took appearance others published notices of items another position, Gerd-J. Bötte completed the Seidensticker had missed (Whether intended task. or not, one of the results of efforts to compile The result of these many years of labor is complete bibliographies is to bring to light impressive. The number of German-American obscure and hidden copies of rare imprints imprints through 1830 has been more than previously unseen by scholars). Among the doubled (3151 entries). Full titles and meticu- most active was Ammon R. Stapleton writing lous collation (including signatures) allow in The Pennsylvania German (1904-1905). much more precise identification of variant Gerhard Griedrich added further titles in issues. A large number of locations are given Pennsylvania History (1940), based on his (ordinarily ten is the limit), using the code- cataloging project in the Abraham Harley system established by the Library of Con- Cassel Collection at Juniata College. In addi- gress; specific library designations (or note of tion to such specific updatings of Seiden- presence in private collections) are provided sticker, a large number of regional and for those copies used for the main entries. national bibliographies turned up additional Rather inclusive references to other biblio- items. Examples of the latter are A. Rachel graphical listings are appended for each Minick, A History of Printing in Maryland, 1791- entry. There are a generous number of illus- 1800 (1949) and Roger P. Bristol, Maryland trations of titlepages, often supplied from the Imprints, 1801-1810 (1953). Then Wilbur H. holdings of the library at Göttingen.
-90- The unprecedented compilation in one are reported. This absolutely necessary task place of this data bank and intensive labor should be given a high priority; it would be an with it often allowed the compilers to identify useful and worthy project for a foundation places of printing and names of printers, grant. where these were lacking on imprints. Dis- The volumes are attractively designed, with tinctive typefonts and printers' ornamenta- the typefont well-chosen to allow concen- tions usually provided the distinguishing trated text without losing legibility. The bind- clues. The rationale is provided by the com- ing follows the pattern of the Pennsylvania pilers: "Since no individual researcher in any German Society. Despite the complex process collection may ever have the opportunity to of compilation/editing and the detailed text, compare as many individual imprints at any typographical and other errors have been one time, we felt obliged to try to assign as held to an acceptable minimum. That there many items as possible to individual printing are some is revealed, for example, on the page offices" (xii). The same process allowed the of acknowledgments, where "truely" is found identification of several "ghosts" (previously instead of "truly" and, more seriously, cited titles which never existed). They "Hover" is listed instead of "Hoover." acknowledge that these procedures are not There is a mistaken attribution for a Lan- without risk and welcome corrections. caster imprint of 1788, Der Besiegte Wiedertäufer In deference to the Seidensticker model, (#707). Following Clifford K. Shipton and imprints are listed year by year from 1728 James E. Mooney, National Index of American through 1830, and alphabetically within each Imprints Through 1800 (1969), the compilers year by place of publication and printer. Also assign the authorship to a Peter Bläser. It following the early pattern, sizes of imprints should instead be Dr. John Christopher are given in the older manner (e.g., folio, 4vo, Kunze (1744-1807), a recognized Lutheran 8vo etc.). Judgements may vary as to the wis- divine in Philadelphia and New York. It was a dom of these decisions. A number of indexes rebuttal of the Apologie (#696) by Alexander at the end of Volume 2 compensate for the Mack, Jr. (1712-1803); Mack responded to the limitations of this order; they provide a main refutation in another small book, Anhang zum index (including names of authors, editors, Widerlegten Wiedertäufer (#695). translators, engravers, booksellers, and com- As monumental as is The First Century in this posers, as well as titles), an index of printers, form, and as helpful as it will be to many publishers and stereotypes, an index of places researchers from a wide variety of disciplines, of printing and publications, and an index of it will not be a final word. Recent auction genre types (derived from a thesaurus for rare catalogs from the extensive collection of books). Some considerable use suggests that German-American imprints by Donald R. the indexes are complete and accurate. It was Hinks have several references to relevant not possible for lack of time (and likely of items not included. Because the Hinks collec- space) to provide a subject index based on tion was used in the present work and loca- Library of Congress headings. tions to it were noted, its ongoing dispersal By policy decision, the two volumes do not will make such references out-of-date. Never- present a total picture of German-American theless, all those connected with the project printing. They omit newspapers (recently deserve much credit for the devoted labors, listed in Arndt/Olson); they also do not great care, and exemplary scholarship mani- include broadsides, although information on fested in it. It is a very significant achievement. some 1200 of these usually rare items were All academic libraries and many individual collected in the course of the project. A third researchers will need to acquire it. It will be volume devoted to these rare imprints will be indispensable for many years. necessary, although no specific plans for this Donald F. Durnbaugh Elizabethtown College
-91- Contributors
Randall P. Donaldson (Ph.D., The Johns Peter C.Merrill (Ph.D., Columbia University) Hopkins University) is Assistant Professor of is Associate Professor of Languages and Lin- German at Loyola College in Maryland. He guistics at Florida Atlantic University, Boca has done extensive work on Robert Reitzel, Raton, Florida. He has published previously the radical editor of the German-American on folk customs among the Pennsylvania periodical, Der arme Teufel. Germans. Donald F. Durnbaugh (Ph.D., University of Armin Mruck (D.Phil., Göttingen) is Professor Pennsylvania) is Carl W. Ziegler Professor of of History at Towson State University. Dr. History and Religion at Elizabethtown Col- Mruck's area of special concern is twentieth- lege. He has published several books and century German political history. monographs on religious history, particularly LaVern J. Rippley (Ph.D., Ohio State) is Pro- the Brethren. fessor of German at St. Olaf College in North- George F.Jones (Ph.D., Columbia University) field, Minnesota. Dr. Rippley is well known in is Professor Emeritus of German at the Uni- the field of German-American Studies for his versity of Maryland, College Park. He is the many fine contributions on numerous aspects author of several books and devoted himself of German immigrant to the United States, for many years to research on German- including The German-Americans (1976) and Americans, particularly the Georgia Salz- The Immigrant Experience in Wisconsin (1985). burgers. His latest publication is The Georgia Klaus Wust is an independent researcher and Dutch (Athens, GA: University of Georgia consultant in cultural and immigration his- Press, 1992). tory. He is well known to members of the William H. McClain (Ph.D., Harvard Univer- Society as the long-time editor of the Report sity) is Professor Emeritus of German at the and to many in the field of German-American Johns Hopkins University. His long list of studies as a renowned expert on German publications gives evidence to his abiding immigration to America and the author of The interest in the German literature of the nine- Virginia Germans (Charlottesville, VA: Univer- teenth century. His monograph on German sity Press of Virginia, 1969). Realism, Between Real and Ideal: the course of Otto Ludwig's development as a narrative writer, is one of the standards in the field.
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