website watertownhistory.org
ebook History of Watertown, Wisconsin
David Blumenfeld
1828 - 1905
Watertown
Historical Society Collection
1879“The History of Jefferson County, Wisconsin”, published: Chicago: Western Historical Company, 1879.
David Blumenfeld
was born in the ancient city of Creglingen, Kingdom
of Wurtemberg, Feb. 13, 1828; received a
common-school education and in 1841, entered a printing office at Stuttgart,
the capital city of Wurtemberg; left that city in
February, 1848, and worked at the case as a journeyman type-setter, in the
cities of Neuwied, Dusseldorf and Schwerin.
Emigrated
to America in June, 1850, via Hamburg, and landed in New York Aug. 15, 1850;
stayed there and in Philadelphia a few weeks and came to Wisconsin in the month
of September of that year; entered, a few days after his arrival in this State,
the service of Messrs. Kohlmann Bros, who intended to publish a German paper in
Racine, and in October, set the first stickful of German type that ever was set
in that place. (See Racine
History.) The Messrs. Kohlmann are now
citizens of Oshkosh and publish a well-known German paper there – the Telegraph.
In
April, 1851, he left Racine and accepted a position as foreman in the office of
the Daily Banner and Volksfreund, at
Milwaukee, published by Morritz Schoeffler,
who was well known among all the printers in Germany, having been, for a number
of years, first foreman and manager of the world-renowned printing
establishment of Baron von Cotta, in Stuttgart.
Watertown
Anzeiger - August
27, 1853
In
September, 1852, went to New York to get married to Nancy Lewensen,
of Schwerin, Germany, and in August, the following year, removed from Milwaukee
to Watertown, in company with John Kopp, from Augsburg, a pressman who worked
in the same office with him in Schwerin, and afterward in Milwaukee. They commenced the publication of a
Democratic German weekly paper, called the Watertown
Anzeiger, and issued their first number August 27, 1853.
Weltburger
D. Blumenfeld
has since that time continued in the printing business, since 1859, as sole
proprietor of the Watertown Weltburger.
His
family consists of his wife (with whom he celebrated his silver wedding on
Sept. 11, 1877) and seven children, of whom two are married; has been a member
of the School Board and Common Council from 1868 to 1872.
1857
In the fall of 1857, Emil Rothe commenced the
publication of another German paper called the “Weltburger,” which still remains
under the editorial supervision of its original founder, but is now owned and
published by D. Blumenfeld.
1864
06 09 Die Westliche
Monats-Schrift [Monatsschrift]
This is the title of a German monthly
magazine which Mr. D. Blumenfeld has recently started in this city, the first
publication of the kind ever attempted here.
It is neatly printed on fine paper, contains 80 pages and is an
interesting and well conducted periodical.
Those of our American citizens who wish to become familiar with the
German language should take it. Its
contents are such as will attract them to its pages and form an inducement to
become acquainted with the best productions of the German mind and
literature. The price is $3 a year. We hope the publisher will be eminently
successful in this new enterprise. [Die Westliche Monatsschrift was a literary edition of the Watertown Weltburger
and was published for one year]. WD
c.1875 M/M DAVID BLUMENFELD
1891
05 15 TO VISIT ENGLAND AND GERMANY
It is getting to be quite fashionable for
Watertown people to take a trip to Europe.
There are now several of our city's representatives abroad, and the
fever has even struck the editorial fraternity, D. Blumenfeld, of The Weltburger, and wife, having decided to visit England
and Germany sometime next month. We
understand that Chas. E. Parks and wife will also cross the big pond in July. WG
1903
08 21 FIFTY YEARS OLD
Last Saturday, August
15, 1903, David Blumenfeld celebrated his 50th year as editor in
Watertown. Fifty years ago on that day
he and John Koop published the first German paper in Watertown, The Watertown Anzeiger, which one year later was
changed to The Watertown Weltbuerger.
Some few years later Mr. Kopp
sold out his interest to Mr. Blumenfeld, but remained as foreman on the paper
until his death. In 1886 his son, Moritz
Blumenfeld, was taken into partnership, and in June last they incorporated as
The Weltbuerger Publishing Co., D. Blumenfeld
remaining as editor. The Weltbuerger is
one of the oldest German paper in Wisconsin, and has always been well edited
and enjoyed a large patronage. It has
had many able editorial writers, among them being the Hon.
Carl Schurz and Emil Rothe, the latter becoming
editor in later years of The Cincinnati Volksblatt. Bernard
Cramer, editor of The Peoria, Ills., Democrat,
and Carl Maag, editor of The Youngstown, Ohio, Ruendcshau, both
learned their profession in The Weltbuerger office.
Mr. Blumenfeld's son, Ralph, learned the rudiments of the profession in
his father's office and he is now managing editor of The Daily Express, London, England.
The Weltbuerger
still enjoys a large patronage and is edited in its usual able manner. The Gazette
wishes it continued prosperity. WG
1905
09 13 FIFTY-THIRD
WEDDING ANNIVERSARY
Monday
was the fifty-third anniversary of the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. D. Blumenfeld
and during the day many friends called to congratulate them upon the event and
wish them many returns of the day. Mr.
B. has for many years been the editor and publisher of the Weltbuerger and has been closely
identified with the growth and prosperity of the city. Of late he has been in poor health, but if
the wishes of his friends avail, he will soon be restored to health and again
be at his office. WR
09 29 DEATH
OF DAVID BLUMENFELD
Monday
morning the older residents of this city were pained to learn that David
Blumenfeld, editor of the Weltbuerger, had passed away as the previous night and
although the end was not unexpected, his old friends and associates for half a
century, felt keenly the separation that his departure occasioned.
The
deceased was born in Creglinger, Germany, Feb. 19,
1828. After learning the printer's trade
in his native town he emigrated to America, landing at Racine, Wis., where he
set up the first German type composed in the state.
The
following year he went to Milwaukee where he was employed as foreman on the
Daily Banner. In 1853 he went to New
York, where he was married to Nancy Lewensen and the
couple removed to Watertown, Wis., where in company with a Mr. John he
established a German newspaper, The
Anzeiger, in 1853. The paper was
later changed to the Weltbuerger
and he had been its editor since that time and sole owner since 1853.
In
politics he was a democrat . . . He was a close friend of Carl Schurz in the
early days when Mr. Schurz was a resident of Watertown. WDT
Cross-References:
Father
of Ralph Blumenfeld
Father
of Moritz Blumenfeld
Buried in Oak Hill Cemetery
FRANKLIN PIERCE BLUMENFELD
History of Milwaukee,
City and County, Volume 2,
William George Bruce, S. J. Clarke Publishing Co, Chicago, 1922.
The history of commercial activity and advancement in Milwaukee would
be incomplete and unsatisfactory were there failure to make prominent reference
to Franklin P Blumenfeld, the president of the Blumenfeld Locher
Company, manufacturers and wholesalers of millinery. He is also identified with other corporate
interests and is recognized as a man of sound business judgment discriminating
readily between the essential and the non essential in all business affairs.
Mr. Blumenfeld is a native son of Milwaukee born June 16, 1853, his
parents being David and Nannie Blumenfeld who were married in New York in
1852. The father was a pioneer German newspaper
publisher in the middle west. He left
his home in southern Germany when a young boy and after connections with
several leading newspaper establishments of Germany sought the liberty and
freedom of the new world during the Revolution of 1850. He made his way first to Philadelphia and
thence removed to Milwaukee establishing his home in Watertown that state in
1853. There he continued to reside for
many years passing away at that place in 1906 at the advanced age of seventy
eight. His wife, who was a very talented
writer, died in Watertown in 1916 at the advanced age of eighty four years
Franklin P. Blumenfeld although born in Milwaukee spent his youthful
days in Watertown where he acquired a public school education after which he
became a student in the Spencerian Business College at Milwaukee, being
graduated therefrom in 1869. He learned
the printing business in the office of his father who was the publisher of the Weltburger, a newspaper of Watertown, and after
receiving training in all departments of the newspaper and job printing
business he made his way to Chicago in 1870 and there worked on the Volksblatt, then a prominent newspaper printed in
the German language. After the great
Chicago fire of October, 1871, he accepted a position with a new recently
organized wholesale millinery concern and in 1874 he came to Milwaukee in the
same line. For forty seven years
therefore he has been identified with the wholesale millinery trade of the city
and is now at the head of the Blumenfeld Locher
Company, manufacturers and wholesalers of millinery. Their business has become one of substantial
and gratifying proportions and back of their success is the unfaltering
enterprise, keen sagacity and thoroughly reliable methods of the president and
his associate. Mr. Blumenfeld is also
the president of the Standard Crucible Steel Casting Company and is one of the
directors of the National Bank of Commerce.
In Ripon Wisconsin on the 26th of July 1876 Mr. Blumenfeld was married
to Miss Bertha Faustman a daughter of Charles and
Mary Faustman.
Her father was a pioneer fish merchant on Washington Island in Lake
Michigan buying his supplies from the fisher folks from 1858 until 1863 and
then packing and shipping from the island to eastern markets. In the latter year he removed to Ripon
Wisconsin and in 1870 became a resident of California. Later he returned to Ripon where he passed
away in 1895, his widow surviving him for a decade, her death there occurring
in 1905.
To Mr. and Mrs. Blumenfeld were born two daughters, Clara the wife of
Paul M. Pamperin of La Crosse, Wisconsin, who is a
prominent manufacturer of tobacco and cigars in that city, and Nannie, who is
the wife of Dr. William H Zwickey of Superior,
Wisconsin, the county physician of Douglas County. Mr. and Mrs. Pamperin
have two children, Irene and Franklin John aged respectively eighteen and
seventeen years.
Mr. Blumenfeld gave his political allegiance for many years to the
Democratic Party and since 1916 has voted independently or with the Republican
Party. He is a member of Kilbourn Lodge
AF & AM and belongs to the Milwaukee Athletic Club of which he has served
as a director and was a member of the building committee at the time of the
erection of its club house. He also
belongs to the Wisconsin Club and the Elks Lodge. He is interested in organized efforts for the
benefit of the trade development of the city, being president of the Merchants
and Manufacturers Association in 1913 and a director of the Association of
Commerce since that time. He stands for
all those forces which make for advancement in behalf of the general public and
his attitude on all vital questions of civic improvement is one of progress.
WDTimes column of 01 19 2013 on David Blumenfeld 
History of Watertown,
Wisconsin