website watertownhistory.org
ebook History of Watertown,
Wisconsin
Sesquicentennial Celebration
Forty-Eighters
leave their mark on Watertown
An
influx of settlers came distinctively from German heritage and Kiessling states, “In Watertown they outnumbered all other
nationalities and were more influential than the others in determining the
character of the town.” This “peaceful
penetration” slowly crowded many Irish, Yankee, and French farmers out of
Watertown to make room. Of course, it
must be noted that the Germans were much more successful farmers because of
their ability to bring over-cropped land back to fertility with
fertilizers. After fleeing from the
revolutions of Europe, many of these “forty-eighters” were university men who were forced to take
on common jobs as store owners and druggists when they arrived here. [Source]
Contributed by
Charles Wallman
This
was a two-part series about Watertown's earliest settlers that appeared in the
Watertown Daily Times on
Some
years after the murder of a French fur trader at Ka-Ka-Ree
on the banks of Sin-Sip-Pa, Timothy Johnson settled permanently along the banks
of the Rock River in 1836. His wife and seven children joined him on Dec. 12
that same year.
The
following year, 1837, found other Yankees locating at Johnson's Rapids as the
settlement became quickly known.
There
was one foreigner among them, a German by the name of Jacob Wiedemann.
Five
more Germans came to the fledgling community in 1843. It was from this nucleus
that the German element rapidly grew.
As the
tiny settlement of Watertown (formerly Johnson's Rapids) expanded, unrest was
sweeping across Europe, especially in the 35 or so German-speaking states.
There were many causes for dissatisfaction among the populace. Perhaps the
greatest single factor was the huge crop failures of 1846 - the potato famines
- and the resulting drop in industrial output and economic depression.
Craftsmen
and their apprentices were anxious to get rid of the restrictions of the guilds
on their professional freedom. Peasants wanted to be freed of their obligations
under the old feudal system. There were intellectuals, lawyers, professors,
students, who wanted freedom of speech, trial by jury, representative
government, a German national state.
And
there was almost total discontent among the enlisted men in the military,
primarily at the elitist officer corps.
Among this
wide-ranging discontent, it was inevitable that people would want to leave a
situation they felt was intolerable. Many chose to follow that path. Some
relocated elsewhere in Europe. Carl Schurz, for example, went to England. Some
went to the New World, either Canada or the United States.
It is
unknown how many of these unhappy individuals came directly to Watertown.
Surely there were some. But it is known that a total of at least 62 Forty-Eighters did come to Watertown. The very first to arrive
was a former student at Heidelberg, Schumann by name. Other than his name and
university, nothing else could be determined about him.
The
first cluster came over a three-year period, from 1848 through 1850. Christian
Fischer attended the University of Gottingen; he used his medical training here
as a physician. Henry Mulberger had a wide background
in manufacturing and locally was a grocer who became a lawyer. Mulberger's family had a long tradition of service back in
Speyer. He and three of his sons were each elected as mayor of Watertown.
Louis Ranis came from a well-to-do family and worked as an
archeologist in Watertown. He was a professor at Northwestern College and he
farmed. He died in the poor-house in La Crosse. William Wiggenhorn
had been both a businessman and a postmaster. He came to the city with his wife
and eight children. His role in Watertown was as the owner of the Buena Vista
hotel.
Frederick
Hermann was a former student who had also worked in a tannery. He was the first
Forty-Eighter to be elected to public office in
Watertown; he was chosen as an alderman. Later he served as city treasurer. He
also had a saloon and beer garden. Jacob Karst had an
unclear background in Europe, but operated a very popular local saloon in the
city. It functioned also as a trading site for real estate deals and the like.
Arriving
in 1849 were four more dissidents. Louis Bahr, once an economics student, had
managed an estate back home. In Watertown he farmed, and later operated a
saloon. Charles Grote also had a university education. He first had a
distillery here, but later moved north where he had a grocery store and
subsequently became a judge.
Daniel
Kusel had been a tin smith and a manufacturer. He
followed those callings in Watertown as well as having a hardware business.
Joseph Stoppenbach had been a lawyer and notary; he
farmed here, had a distillery, later founded a title
and abstract business. He also became the register of deeds.
Theodore Bernhard
·
Prior
to arrival in 1850, Theodore Bernhard had been a
student and private tutor; here he first made cigars, then became an educator
and conducted a private school.
Back
in Bohemia Wenzel Quis was a railroad construction
supervisor and a soldier. In Watertown he operated a saloon and a grocery
store. He and his wife ultimately celebrated their 75th wedding anniversary.
Ernst Off served in the French army for several
years. So it was not surprising that he rode with the union army's cavalry
during the Civil War. After the war he resumed his work as city marshal in
Watertown. He later became sheriff of Jefferson County.
During
the next several years a small scattering of Forty-Eighters
drifted into the community. They cannot be ignored. Emil Rothe
came in 1851, a former University student who made cigars when he first came to
town. He later became a highly successful lawyer and newspaperman. After
living in Watertown for 17 years, he went to Cincinnati where he gained wide
acclaim as editor of the local German paper, Volksfreund.
·
Henry Bieber [probably should be William
Bieber], an 1852 arrival, was once a university student
of theology; here operated a saloon and served long as Watertown's city
clerk. He was the most involved in local politics of any of the Forty-Eighters.
Leopold
Kadish, another 1852 arrival, had once been a
soldier. He turned into a local merchant and lumber dealer. He originated
Watertown's Fair Day in 1860. It continues as a street market in the city
today.
The
next three years brought a surge of Forty-Eighters to
the community.
David Blumenfeld had been both a soldier and printer back home.
After his arrival in 1853, he was first a printer, later a highly regarded
newspaperman who founded the local German press. Another 1853 arrival was Hugo
von Bredow who had been a baron and cavalry officer.
Here he was first a farmer, then later a hotel proprietor. The cockfights he
had on Sunday afternoons were quite popular. Also a newcomer that year was
Ernst Grossmann, a former medical student and postmaster. His calling here was
first as a cigar manufacturer, later a land agent.
Joseph Salick
Rounding
out the newcomers list that year was Joseph Salick,
once a soldier, in Watertown a watchmaker and jeweler. When he retired at age
85 he was the oldest active jeweler in the state. He had been a co-founder of
St. Henry Catholic Church.
Five more of the former dissidents came in 1854. Frederick Brandt
had been the "mechanical director" for composer Richard Wagner.
Brandt gained a strong reputation in the city as a grocer and later a general
store owner (which had a saloon in its basement). Frederick Hoeper had served as the business manager to Dutch
nobility, but after his arrival in Watertown he farmed and functioned as a
music teacher and director. He later was a bookkeeper in a brewery.
Charles Palmer's European background is unknown, but locally he was a lawyer and
newspaperman. He left Watertown to edit a Milwaukee newspaper and later
operated a government paper factory in Massachusetts. For Henry Steger
there was little transition needed in America. He had been a construction
engineer and a soldier, and in Watertown he was a civil engineer and surveyor
and county surveyor. Henry Bassinger was a
mason in Prussia; locally he was still a mason as well as a soldier during the
Civil War. After seeing dead mules in a stream during the war, he vowed never
to drink water again. He kept that promise.
There were
Back in Holstein Peter Bodien had been
a lawyer; here he became a newspaperman and a grocer. Charles Jacobi,
once a law student and government official became a farmer, a grocer, then a
liquor wholesaler and a bedstead manufacturer. He also was the president of the
local gas company.
Henry Peters continued as a tailor in America, just as he had worked previously. He was
a co-founder of St. Paul's Lutheran Church, Oconomowoc. Phillip Schmidt,
once an analytical chemist, switched careers and did fresco painting and
manufactured soap. Most prominent among those Forty-Eighters
who came to the city was Carl Schurz. He had been a university student.
In the United States he was basically a politician, served as alderman of
Watertown's Fifth Ward, was a U.S. Senator, Secretary of the Interior of the
nation, minister to Spain, newspaperman, His wife, Margarethe,
founded the first kindergarten in the United States in Watertown.
Johann Strauss had once been a soldier and shoemaker; in Watertown, he was a farmer
and continued as a cobbler. William D. Sproesser
had been a watchmaker in Wurttemberg; he continued that calling here and was a
jeweler as well.
Clemens Eger had attended several universities and had been a physician in Europe;
he continued as one locally. He came in 1856. The following year was marked by
two more arrivals. Hermann (von) Lindermann
had been actively involved in the revolution and was condemned to death. He had
been a newspaperman and soldier. His Watertown career was as a newspaperman, he
followed that same career in St. Louis. Adolf Strodtmann
was a former university student. In America he worked as author and translator
and lived with Carl Schurz and his parents in Watertown.
Carl Feld Sr. came in 1858.
The former soldier became a pharmacist and came to America before the
revolution. He returned to Europe and studied medicine, then came to Watertown
and practiced as a physician. John Kube, once a judge in Poland, had a very strong legal background; in
Watertown, he functioned as a justice of the peace and deputy sheriff. He had
frequently brushed with the law, primarily because of erratic behavior.
Emil Gaebler
·
During 1859 Emil Gaebler, formerly a student, came into the community. He became a highly
regarded organ manufacturer and music director. His wife was the former
Baroness Charlotte von Beust, one of the few members
of nobility to come to the city during these heady years.
An 1862 newcomer was Fr. Max deBeck, a
Hungarian-born priest who had been a military chaplain. In Watertown he was the
pastor of the German-Catholic Church, St. Henry's.
Henry Pritzlaff came
to the growing community in 1864. He had been a soldier but in Watertown he
became a hardware merchant, operated a flour mill, and was a grain and produce
dealer.
Henry Colonius
participated in the revolution at the age of 17. He served as the editor of the
Staatzeitung in Wheeling, Va. (now West Virginia),
eventually came to Watertown in 1865, after a brief return to Germany on family
business. He farmed for several years near Richwood then came to the city where
he and brother Carl conducted a commission
business. He later became a judge of Jefferson County for 17 years. Two more
Forty-Eighters came in 1867. lgnatz Jahna
arrived from Austria after service as a soldier. He settled near
Richwood where he farmed the rest of his life. George Hugo Licht came from a very wealthy family and had studied
law. He was an art and music teacher who came to the city because of his uncle,
Emil Rothe. He dissipated his wealth and was
widely recognized for his eccentric behavior.
There were a large number of other Forty-Eighters
who came to Watertown at times that could not be determined. One was Adolph Beurhaus who was both a hotel keeper and saloon owner.
He died an unfortunate death when cleaning his pistol which accidentally
discharged and put a shot through his heart. William Biebermann
had been a university classics student. When in our city he thrived as a
shoemaker. Also arriving in the community was a virtual unknown, a former
artillery officer named Boenig. What work he pursued
here could not be learned. Once a professor of chemistry, Paul Creydt became one of the community's "Latin
farmers," and remained in that work the rest of his life.
Cross
Reference: Brilliant
bakers at Watertown: a Watertown native recalls the sudden influx of German
intellectuals following the German revolution of 1848: “. . . it was no
uncommon thing to hear on Main Street a tavern-keeper, a grocer or a cobbler
disputing vigorously on certain dissertations of ancient men of different
schools of philosophy. It was a strange and fascinating mixture of the sublime
and the ridiculous.” (from the Appleton PostCrescent,
August 02, 192
Charles "Squire" Ducasse came
from France and had been a civil engineer. Locally he first became a farmer,
then later a hotel owner and did surveying. In the latter work, he also was
Watertown's City Surveyor. Joseph Engelmann had been a theologian and
may have been a clergyman but in Watertown he was associated for a time as a
newspaper editor of the Anzeiger. Franz Graefe was another of those who had been a university
student. With a brother and two others, he operated a distillery near the Rough
and Ready dam. He later returned to Germany. Louis Hillmantel
had been a schoolteacher, back in the old country. In Watertown, he
tuned pianos, later was the calliope player for a
circus that came to town. When he died, he was a high school principal in
Milwaukee.
Locally it was believed that Emil Honerjaeger
had been a professor back in the old country. But he made his livelihood here as
a tinsmith who also sold ovens in his store. Otto Linde
pursued life in Europe as a poet and sculpture. Once he arrived in the city, he
opened a bakery and a confectionery shop that were very popular; he often
delivered well-accepted orations at the funerals of other Forty-Eighters. M. D. Marx had once been a Catholic
priest, but was defrocked. He married, had several children. He farmed for a
time, was a saloon operator, later taught school elsewhere, and was Assistant
Register of Deeds for Dodge County. Bernard
"Gentleman" Miller operated
an elegant local saloon, was once a cigar wholesaler and had a flouring
mill. He had been a student prior to the revolution. His nickname came from his
elaborate manners and elegant dress. Charles Paraski
dropped the "von" portion of his family name when he got to America.
His European background is unknown. In Watertown he functioned as an
insurance agent, travel agent, money exchange specialist.
Franz G. L. Struve farmed south of Watertown. He
was also the Jefferson County Register of Deeds for a time, later a member of
the State Assembly. He was also Consul General for the United States in Quebec,
Canada, where he died.
Another of the many university students was Henry Tigler.
He was the co-owner of a distillery in Watertown with other Forty-Eighters, but returned to Germany where he became the owner
of a large brewery. Although he lived in nearby Waterloo, L. H. Trayser seemed to have identified with the Watertown
community. He had been a cabinetmaker in Hesse and
continued that calling here in America. He was also a furniture dealer. Hermann
H. Winter had been a university student who was also a philologist and
theologian. He farmed south of Watertown and became a member of the State
Assembly. On occasion he was a temporary "leader" of the local Freie Gemeinde, a
"free" congregation.
Watertown's Forty-Eighters were freedom lovers
by their very nature. They had involvement in various ways in the great
revolutions which so dramatically affected Europe. They had come to our city to
start new lives. They contributed in a wide range of social, political and
personal ways. But perhaps the greatest end product of each Forty-Eighters new life in Watertown was the personal
freedom he was able to find and the satisfaction that came with finding it.
Well,
done Forty-Eighters !!!
