Winter 20 11 The Vol. 19 • No. 4 NEWSLETTER OF THE GENEALOGY CLUB CPassaic Caounty Hsistortical Sl ocieety, LambGert Castle, Peatersonn, New iJersey Brief History of the Swiss Turnverein of Paterson, New Jersey (Extracted from the Swiss Turnverein’s 50th Anniversary Journal published in 1940.) The Turnverein movement was started by Friedrich Ludwig When the government placed restrictions on the Turnvereins Jahn (Aug. 11, 1778 – Oct. 15, 1852), a German gymnas tics around the middle of the nineteenth century, some followers educa tor and nationalist. He is commonly known as Turnvater immigrated to the United States. These refugees started the Jahn, roughly meaning “father of gymnastics.” Brooding upon American Turnverein movement and eventually, clubs were what he saw as the humiliation of his native land by Napoleo n, established in many American cities. The American Turnerbund Jahn conceived the idea of restoring the spirits of his countrymen (gymnastic league), later called American Turners, was formed by the development of their physical and moral powers through in 1850. This federation espoused a variety of controversial gymnastics. The first Turnplatz, or open-air gymnasi um, was causes such as abolition and socialism until 1880, when they opened by Jahn in Berlin in 1811. He crafted early mod els of the made introducing physical training in all American schools their balance beam, horizontal bar, the parallel bars, and the vault - primary goal. In addition to promoting gymnastics and calis - ing horse. thenics, Turners contributed to the standardization and popu - At times Friedrich Jahn was seen by both his supporters and larization of bowling nationwide. opponents as a liberal figure. As a German nationalist, Jahn advocated maintaining German language and culture against In 1888, when the first voices were raised for the found - foreign influence. Rugged, eccentric and outspoken, Jahn often ing of a Swiss Gymnastic Society, there were about 2,000 collided with authorities; however, in 1840 he was decorated by Swiss among the 75,000 inhabitants [in Paterson]. the Prussian government with the Iron Cross for bravery in the On March 23rd, 1890 the following ten Swiss gymnasts wars against Napoleon. In the spring of 1848 he was elected to signed for the founding of Swiss Turnverein of Paterson. the German National Parliament. William Blumer Emil Schlageter August Blumer Dr. Streiff Fritz Wirz Ed Weinecker Henry Bastady Henry Sprich Fritz Wisner Karl Grieder cont. on page 2 The Castle Genie Winter 2011 Club News Swiss Turnverein cont. from page 1 The Passaic County Historical Society Genealogy Club March 28, 1890, was the date set for the constituting holds meetings 10:00 a.m. at Lambert Castle Museum on meeting, which was held in Helvetia Hall. The first offi - the second Saturday of the month from September cers were: President, William Blumer; Instructor, Karl through May (unless otherwise specified). Grieder; Treasurer Henry Sprich; Secretary, Emil Schlageter; Member of Board, Dr. Streiff. Meeting dates for the 2012 year are as follows: The first by-laws were submitted to the meeting of April Saturday, January 14, 2012 6, 1890, accepted with minor changes, written into the Members Information Exchange minutes book and signed in that book by the following: William Blumer, Karl Grieder, Emil Schlageter , Dr. Jakob Saturday, February 11, 2012 Streiff, August Blumer, Oscar S. Bieri, Fritz Wiesner, F ritz To be Announced Wirz, Ernest Rickenbach , John Friedlin, Henry Bastady, Emil Grieder, Arnold Kaegi, Jean Finkbohner, Fred Saturday, March 10, 2012 Meyerhofer, and Hans Kern. At the same meeting the date Don’t Forget the Ladies - Finding and for the first gym hour was set for Friday, April 12th in Identifying Women in Your Past” Helvetia Hall. Presented by Carol Sheaffer & Nancy Wilson Subscriptions and dues from members solved the appara - Saturday, April 14, 2012 tus question in surprising ly short time. A family picnic in 20th Century WWI & WWII Military Records July of that year which netted the turners the total of Presented by Toni McKeen $2474 helped swell the treasury. Thus was launched the Swiss Turnverein, of Paterson, N. J. Saturday, May 12, 2012 The three day celebration held in New York in August Silent Cities, Graveyards, Churchyards 1891, commemorating the 600th anniversary of the found - and Cemeteries ing of Switzerland, was the greatest Swiss affair held in that Presented by Peter Osborne city. Twenty gymnasts from Paterson competed in individ - ual gymnastic contests held as part of the Festival. For more information about any of these events, please The need for inter club competition soon was felt. contact the PCHS office at 973-247-0085 extension 200. Accordingly, the Swiss Gymnasts of Paterson, New York, Newark, Philadelphia and Hoboken met in Paterson on March 13, 1892, to organize the Swiss American Gymnastic Passaic County Historical Society Association, and to set the date for the first turnfest (gym - Genealogy Club nastic festival) of the Association to be held in Paterson. Lambert Castle, Valley Road, Paterson, New Jersey 07503 The Swiss Gymnasts of Cleveland, Ohio, had joined the (973) 247-0085 • FAX (973) 881-9434 Association in time for the Turnfest in Paterson which was held on July 3rd and 4th, 1893. The turners had a grand OFFICERS time at Schuetzen Park in Haledon, where they were hon - President .............................. Annita Zalenski ored to have Mr. A. De Claparede, Swiss minister to the Vice President ...................... Judi Bonzkowski U. S. as guest of honor, who watched the schwingers Recording Secretary ............ Pat Van Steyn (wrestlers) in his shirt sleeves and shared the contents of Treasurer ............................ Marie Mahler wine bottles with the judges. Under the leadership of Corresponding Secretary .... John Koontz Instructor Karl Grieder, Paterson gained first place in team All Members are invited and encouraged to submit material for competitions. publication in The Castle Genie . We will try to publish at With the inauguration of the Swiss American least a portion of everything we receive. Information is pub - Gymnastic Association just before the turn of the century, lished as submitted and has not been verified. Material will be printed as space permits. When information is extracted from The Paterson Swiss Turnverein enjoyed its most suc cessful another publication, please give proper credit. years competitive ly and financially. However, the years fol - lowing down to 1920 saw a grad ual decline in the club’s Send materia l to: Passaic County Historical Society Genealogy Club Lambert Castle, 3 Valley Road, Paterson, New Jersey 07503 fortunes. An almost complete stop in immigration from Switzerland and use of the German language in gymnastic For Membership information , please contact the PCHS office at 973-247-0085. instruction, which deterred non-German speaking youths cont. on page 3 2 The Castle Genie Winter 2011 Genealogy Club Releases New Book In 2010, the Passaic County Historical Society Genealogy When the Genealogy Club received monetary donations Club made a decision to publish a book in memory of E. Ruth in memory of Ruth, it was decided that compiling an eccle - Shew Bauer. Ruth had been a member of the Genealogy Club siastical history of Paterson would be the most fitting way for many years and was a dedicated library volunteer. She to use these funds. Every effort has been made to include helped many researchers find their family “roots” in Bergen brief accurate historical sketches of the approximately 200 and Passaic Counties. churches, synagogues and missions that were established in Ruth was especially knowledgeable about Paterson, N.J. Paterson during the years 1792 through 1942. It was chal - She always had a soft spot in her heart for the City where lenging to trace the history of some organizations, and we she spent her childhood. Ruth’s memory was fantastic. She often had to rely on the Paterson City Directories for the could always be relied upon to know the original names of names of clergy and their approximate dates of service. For churches and city streets, and was well-versed in local his tory. organizations for which there was little or no information, Ruth’s ethnic background was Dutch and her first inter est we used the year they were first listed in the City Directory was in the many Dutch churches that were in Paterson. as “founding” date. She compiled a large scrapbook of photographs and articles When we undertook this project, little did we realize pertaining to these churches. Her book was such a valuable how fascinated and humbled we would become as we resource to library visitors, that Ruth was encouraged to explored the history of the religious institutions and their expand her collection to include other denominations. founders. Countless hours flew by as we researched the She was in the process of doing this when she died very Society’s collection, newspapers, maps and the internet. unex pectedly. Her death left a huge void in the lives of her It’s been a fascinating journey. We hope you will fam ily as well as in her PCHS “family.” be encour aged to learn more about Paterson’s rich ecclesiastical history. Ecclesiastical History of Paterson, NJ A History of Paterson’s Churches, Synagogues and Missions • 1792 ~ 1942 Annita Zalenski and Robert J. Hazekamp Jr. Passaic County Historical Society Genealogy Club A 262 page softcover book comprising of brief historical sketches of the approximately 200 churches,