CHAPTER XIX.
THE GERMAN ELEMENT IN CINCINNATI.
THE omission of some notice of this, one of the most marked characteristics of the Queen City
during large part of its wonderful history, would be unpardonable in a work of this class.
Fortunately, the historian is spared the necessity of making the elaborate and painful research and
personal inquiry necessary to present even an outline sketch of the inception and growth of the
Teutonic element here, by the well-directed labors of Governor Koerner, of Illinois, and his
collaborators in the preparation of his valuable work, The German Element in the United States.
It is published in the language of the Fatherland, from which the following pages have been
neatly translated for these columns by Miss Maria A. Roelker, assistant in the Cincinnati public
library.
THE PIONEER GERMAN.
In Cincinnati, the principal business city of the O18,200lley, th65,500uence of the German
element made itself felt quite early. Already, in the first years of the legal existence of the village,
two Germans were elected for the chief municipal office-David Ziegler, from Heidelberg, 1802
and 1803; and Martin Baum, fromWAR 1800 1810 1820 1830 184012. Zeigler was the first
president of the then rather insignificant village.
MARTIN BAUM.
But it 11th especially Baum (born at Hagenau, July 15, 1761; died in Cincinnati December 14,
1831), who did so much for the rise of the German element in Cincinnati and the Ohio valley.
Through his great wealth, which he had won through many different business enterprises and
used again, he helped a great deal to raise the west. Already, in the year 1803, it was principally
Baum who called to life the first bank in the west, the "Miami Exp11,496 company," whose
president he remained for many years. Through this company, which carried on at the same time
a great transportation business, Baum became one of the most important promoters and
improvers of the navigation of the rivers of the west. He called to life the first sugar refinery, the
first iron foundry, the first woollen factory, the first steam flouring mill, and other industrial
establishments of that kind. A great number of persons found work and profit in his different
factories ; and, since he could not find enough good and skillful workmen in the backwoods, he
would enlist in Baltimore and Philadelphia newly arrived immigrants; and in this way led the
first current of emigration towards the west. Moreover, the first ornamental garden, as well as the
first vineyard, which Baum laid out at Deer creek, at present within the city boundaries, marks
him as one of the most assiduous men of the west.
Not only did Baum help more than anybody else towards the progress of business life, but his
taste for art, science, and literature, attracted the more cultivated men who settled here, where
nature had done so much to beautify their colony. The foundation of the Lancasterian school
(1813), out of which arose the Cincinnati college (1818), was, besides Judge Burnet's, principally
Baum's work. He was also many years an active member of the board of the college, and its first
vice-president. Baum was also one of the original stimulators and founders of the first public
library of the west (February, 1802); of the Western museum (1817); of the literary society
(1818); of the society for the promotion of agriculture in the west (1819); and of the Apollonian
society (1823). In the year 1812 he was nominated for Congress, but refused to be a candidate,
because he could not
128 - HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
spare the time he would be compelled to be absent from his extended business.
If we consider that he was in those days the wealthiest and most respected citizen of the town;
that he was also president of the Cincinnati branch of the bank of the United States; and that he
stood in connection with the most important men of the land, it is clear that Baum was to the
German element in the first period a powerful support. His house, the most elegant in the town,
was open to all intellectually great men who visited Cincinnati, and German literary men were
especially welcome. Julius Ferdinand von Salis, cousin of the well known German lyric poet,
Count Johann Gaudenz von Salis, lived with him about the year 1817. He had travelled through
the Orient as a natural philosopher, "and wrote here," says Klauprecht, "in the retirement of this
western market town, his experiences and impressions of the cradle of mankind for a German
publisher, when in the year 1819 death took the pen out of his hand."
BURKHALTER.
At the same time lived also at Baum's country seat in the Deer creek valley, an anchorite,
Christian Burkhalter, formerly secretary to Prince Blucher. He was born in Neu-Wied, and,
driven by religious fanaticism, emigrated to America in 1816. He afterwards joined the Shakers
who founded Union village in Warren county, Ohio, in 1820, where the Duke of Weimar met
him in 1826. Burkhalter left the Shaker community again later, and founded in Cincinnati (1837)
the German Whig newspaper, Westlicher Merkur, whose conductor and editor he remained till
1841. In that year the name of the paper was changed into Der Deutsche im Westen, and was
edited by Burkhalter and Hofle. But, as also here the result was not equal to the expended work,
the paper passed in the same year over into the hands of Rudolph von Maltiz, and was named the
Ohio Volksfreund. Burkhalter retired now from taking active part in a German newspaper, and
became a silent partner in the Cincinnati Chronicle, edited by Pugh, Hefley (Hofle), and Hubbell.
Already, in the year 1836, Burkhalter had taken part, with the well-known Abolitionist, James G.
Birney, in the publication of the Philanthropist, one of the first Abolition papers in the land,
which appeared in Lebanon, Warren county, Ohio, after the printing rooms in Cincinnati of
Achilles Pugh, editor of the same, were demolished by a mob in the summer of 1836.
ALBERT VON STEIN.
In the year 1817 Albert von Stein came also to Cincinnati. He had gained already in the United
States quite a name as an able engineer. He was the promoter and builder of the Cincinnati
water-works, the first waterworks of the country which were worked by pumps. Afterwards Stein
was for a while engaged in Philadelphia as draughtsman for Wilson's Illustrated Ornithology.
Since then he has built the water-works at Richmond and Lynchburgh, Virginia, the Appomatox
canal, near Petersburgh, Virginia, and the water-works of New Orleans, Nashville, and Mobile.
Of the last-named works Stein was the owner till his death (1876). He was at the
time eighty-four years old. His family has still possession of the works.
REV. DR. FRIEDRICH REESE.
At this time (1817), and soon after, Catholic and Protestant communities formed themselves, not
only in Cincinnati, but also at other places in Ohio. Dr. Friedrich Reese, a very learned, active,
and popular man, afterwards Bishop of Detroit, was the first German Catholic priest in
Cincinnati (1825). He was born at Vianenburgh, near Hildesheim, and had, like Pio Nono, first
served in the cavalry, and then studied theology. He died at Hildesheim December 27, 1871, after
having been called to Rome and given up his episcopate in 1841. In Cincinnati Reese was the
founder of the scientific school, the Athenaeum, which passed afterwards into the hands of the
Jesuits, and was changed by them into the present St. Xavier college.
On a visit to Germany, (1828-29), through Reese's influence the Leopoldinen institution in
Vienna was called to life, and is still in existence, for the aid of poor Catholic missionaries.
Reese wrote a History of the Bishopric of Cincinnati, which was published in 1829 at Vienna,
and was otherwise busy in literary pursuits. Joseph Mslein, Jakob Gfilich, and Ludwig Heinrich
Meyer, were the first German Protestant pastors in Cincinnati.
GERMAN CHURCHES.
It is not our plan to follow the development of the different religious societies; but it can be
stated that, particularly in Cincinnati, as well the Catholic as the Protestant churches of the
Germans soon flourished; and the first named especially possess considerable real estate. The
Catholics published, in 1837, the Wahrheits Freund, the first Catholic periodical of the country,
at first superintended by the present Archbishop of Milwaukee, J. M. Henni, which soon found a
wide circulation through the whole west.. On the Protestant side appeared for a while Der
Protestant, under the superintendence of Georg Walker; and afterwards (1838) Der Christliche
Apologete, a Methodist paper, conducted by Wilhelm Nast, which found also in their circles a
great number of readers.
WILHELM NAST,
born July 18, 18o7, studied theology, and especially philosophy, at the same time with David
Strauss, in the celebrated Tubingen institute. He emigrated to the United States in 1828;
accepted, at first, a position as tutor in a private family in New York; then became teacher of the
German language at the military school at West Point (1831-2); went over to the Methodist
church, and became professor of the classic languages at different colleges; organized German
Methodism in Ohio; founded the Christliche Apologete, whose permanent editor he remained,
and later the Sonntagschul Glocke, a juvenile paper, both the principal organs of German
Methodism, of which he is the acknowledged father. His original theological works and
translations are very numerous. In 1844 he went as missionary of the Methodist church to
Germany, and labored there with some good results for this form of Christianity. He visited also
the Evan-
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO - 129
gelical Alliance convention at Berlin in 1857, trying to win a field for Methodism there.
Dr. Nast is a learned theologian and philologist. He has gained a high position in the religious
circles of this country, and has done a great deal for the preservation of the German element, and
especially the German language. If he had not founded the German Methodist papers, which
gained such wide circulation, the Germans who went over to the Methodist church would have
become quite alienated from their language and German thinking by other religious papers, to
them the most favored and often their only reading. And there is no question, as orthodox as the
father of German Methodism may be, his thorough education at a German university, under the
direction of a man like F. C. Baur, has given him a scientific and intellectual turn of mind which
must have saved him, in comparison with his many American fellow-workers, from a too
extreme tendency. He has preserved, at least as a spiritual discipline, a great attachment for his
Fatherland, and persuaded many of his young friends to visit German universities, although he
must have been aware that they would change their narrow religious views for wider and riper
ones. He is called everywhere a man of high character, who has gained in every relation of life
the esteem of his fellow men.
GERMAN JOURNALISM.
Cincinnati was especially a good soil for political newspapers. Already, in the year 1826,
appeared there Die Ohio Chronik, a weekly paper; but it did not live long. In the year 1832 Karl
von Bonge, Albert Lange (later a resident of Terre Haute), and Heinrich Brachrnann published
for election purposes a so-called campaign paper, for the interest of the Whig party. On the
seventh of October, 1834, appeared the Weltburger, edited by Hartmann, whose energies were
first directed against the Democrats; but it changed in a short time its tendency and name, when it
went into the hands of Benjamin Boffinger, who called it Der Deutsche Franklin, and worked for
the interest of the Democratic Presidential candidate, Mr. Vhan Buren. But the Whig party
succeeded before the election (1836) in regaining the Franklin.
The Democrats founded now the Volksblatt, directed and edited by Heinrich Rodter, with the
help of several of the most esteemed Germans, as Rumelin, Rehfuss, August Renz, and others.
HEINRICH RODTER,
born March 10, 1805, at Neustadt, on the Hardt, had already in his youth been engaged in his
father's paper-factory. Overflowing with animal spirits, his youthful years had been rather stormy.
Serving a short time in a Bavarian light cavalry regiment at Augsburg, helped a good deal to
make a Philistine out of him. Returning home, he began to study law; but the political excitement
which spread after the July revolution, especially along the Rhine provinces, also took hold of
him. He became acquainted with the journalists, Dr. Wirth and Siebenpfeiffer, and other leaders
of the agitation, as Schiller, Savoye, Geib, and Pistorius. He was especially active at the
Hambacker fete; and to escape the judicial trial threatening him, he left his well beloved Pfalz in
the summer of 1832, and came to Cincinnati, but went soon after to Columbus, where he became
the director of a German Democratic paper. He returned after a short time' to Cincinnati, where
he directed the newly-founded Democratic paper, the Volksblatt, from the year 1836 to 1840.
While many German newspapers, especially in small towns, had been so far only shallow party
papers, true imitations of similar American press-products, Rodter succeeded in bringing a higher
active tendency into his Volksblatt, and smoothed the way to a better, more worthy development
of the German press in his State. The opposition paper, formerly Der Deutsche Franklin, then
called Westlicher llferkur, did not fight with the same weapons, and so gave rise to many bitter
attacks in Rodter's paper, though he did not on his side violate decency conspicuously. The
example of the German press in other States prevented that.
The Alte and Neue Welt, and several other papers in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, especially the
New Yorker Staats-Zeitung and the Anzeiger des Westens in St. Louis, had appeared already
several years before, and won a great number of readers by their pointed, intelligent and
well-written articles.
GERMAN SOCIETIES.
It became a necessity very much felt, to establish a German society, like others already existing
in different parts of the country, to ward off ruptures and discords, which had become in our old
Fatherland the source of all troubles, and the cause of political weakness and want of freedom of
the people. At a meeting held by more than two hundred of the most esteemed German citizens,
at the city hall, July 31, 1834, it was resolved that the founding of such a society was a necessity;
"that as citizens of the United States we can take that part in the people's government which our
duty and right commands, and that through reciprocal aid we may mutually assure ourselves of a
better future, to assist those in need, and to secure generally those charitable aims which are
impossible to the single individual." The principal workers at this meeting were Heinrich Rodter,
Johann Meyer, Karl Libeau, Ludwig Rehfuss, Salomon Menken (father of the formerly
celebrated actress, Adah Isaaks Menken), Daniel and Karl Wolff, Raymund Wetschger, and
others. Karl Rumelin, Dr. Sebastian Huber, J. D. Felsenbeck, Karl and Johann Belser, and many
others, joined the meetings for organization on the fourteenth and eighteenth of August. Heinrich
Rodter was the first president of the society, which is still in existence, although only as a small
mutual aid association of its members. The mania for organizing military companies had by this
time (1836) also reached Cincinnati from the cities of the east. Through Rodter's influence the
German Lafayette Guard was founded, whose first captain he became.
RODTER AGAIN.
Upon the whole, the endeavor to secure the rights of the German element made itself particularly
felt in Cin-
130 - HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
cinnati. Rodter was also elected a member of the city council, and enjoyed generally at the time a
great popularity among his fellow-citizens. In the year 1840 he sold the Volksblatt to Stephen
Molitor, and removed to Columbus, where he devoted himself again to the fabrication of paper,
which he had been taught in youth. But he did not feel happy in Columbus. Returning to
Cincinnati he studied law again, and in 1847--8 was elected a member of the legislature of Ohio.
The law which secures workingmen a lien on houses built by them, as also the law which
reduced the naturalization expenses for foreigners, were both proposed by him, and were passed
through his exertions. Although he belonged, up to the time of his death, to the Democratic party,
he voted for the abolition of all those oppressive laws which existed in most of the free States, as
well against the free negroes as the slaves. He gave also his voice for S. P. Chase as senator of
the United States, although he was well acquainted with his opinions against slavery and
everything connected with it. For a few years he became the partner of the eminent lawyer J. B.
Stallo, but returned to journalism again in 1850, and bought the Ohio Staats Zeitung, which he
conducted under the name of Demokratisches Tageblatt till the year 1854. In the year 1856 he
was elected justice of the peace by a large majority, but died the following year.
KARL GUSTAV RUMELIN*
comes from an old and worthy family of Wurtemberg, which had given to the country during the
last century very able officials., His father devoted himself to commerce and manufactures, and
liv6c1 at Heilbronn, where Rumelin was born, March 19, 18r4. After attending the scientific
schools of his native town till the year 1829, he exchanged the college for his father's
counting-room. In a few years he obtained a position as clerk in a business house at Wimpfen. He
had felt for some time a great inclination to emigrate to America. This was increased when, in the
year 1832, a great emigration from Wurtemberg and Hessen took place, which received an
overwhelming impetus through Duden's letters. His father gave him, against his expectation,
permission to carry out his plans. Our young traveller arrived in Philadelphia August 27, 1832,
after a journey of eighty-seven days. As he did not succeed in finding at once a suitable position,
he took hold with good courage of any opportunity of work offered to him, hard though it might
be, holding every kind of work honorable. After some time he obtained a position in. a store
belonging to an Irishman, who had many Irish customers. This gave him an opportunity to make
closer acquaintance with this class of people.
His attachment to the Democratic party, which he has preserved through his whole life, had taken
hold of him already in Philadelphia, where he arrived just at the time of a presidential election.
Jackson was for him a hero of the first magnitude. His studies and experience at home had
already given him an enthusiasm for free trade and a prejudice against paper money and a bank-
*This name is now spelt " Reemelin."
ing system. Besides, he thought he recognized among the partisans of Clay, or in the Whig party,
an inclination towards Puritanism which was naturally repugnant to his genuine German nature.
However, taking his youth into consideration, and his short experience on American soil, one
may doubt whether his decided party spirit was founded from the very beginning on personal
conviction and a critical examination of the pending party questions. He followed perhaps more
an undefined feeling, as almost all Germans did at the time. The name Democracy had already a
certain charm for them. It was natural to compare and identify the wealthy merchants, the great
church lights, and the owners of factories, who belonged mostly to the Whig party, with the
European aristocracy. The philosophical appreciation of both parties, no doubt, occurred to
Rumelin, as with many others, somewhat later.
After a year's stay he felt a longing to go further west. After a wretched and dangerous journey
(on the boat which brought him from Pittsburgh to Cincinnati, the cholera had broken out,
claiming many victims), he arrived at the last-named town, to be attacked himself by this terrible
disease. He then found a situation in a store, and again began to interest himself in politics and
public life. He was one of the founders of the German society, which was called to life in 1834,
and remained a member for forty years, when he removed his homestead several miles outside of
the city. In the year 1836, during the Presidential campaign, the formerly Democratic German
weekly paper, Der Deutsche Franklin, the only German paper, went over into the hands of the
other party. Rumelin belonged to those who felt very much annoyed about it. He took part in
founding a new Democratic journal, the Volksblatt, whose manager Rodter became. The means
which the Germans had were but small, but their zeal was great. The printing-room was moved
to the building where Rumelin was in business, free of rent. He learned himself the secret of the
black art, set the types and printed the sheets, and in case of necessity even became paper carrier
himself. The regular carrier was a baker, who had to carry around his "bretzels" at the same time,
which, as Rumelin said himself, went off faster than the papers. He wrote also many articles for
the paper, and proposed repeatedly the founding of a German university. Sickness prevented him
from taking part in the first Pittsburgh convention. But Rumelin, as well as Rodter and Rehfuss,
went stump-speaking during the campaign of 1836, and, as it seemed, with success; for Hamilton
county, in which Cincinnati is located, and which had given in 1834 a majority for the Whigs,
gave from 1836 to 1840 a majority to the Democrats.*
Rodter became the owner of the Volksblatt, which went afterwards into Molitor's hands. It
remained Democratic till the year 1856, when the German Democracy of the north went over in
great numbers to the Republican party.
*Among the men to whom this change is to be especially attributed ought to be mentioned C.
Backhaus, Dr. Roelker, who has worked beneficially for the city in every direction, and Bishop
Henni, who worked quietly, but effectively.
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO - 131
In the year 1836 Rumelin became partner of his former employer and did a good business,
especially by having always a good assortment of imported German groceries in stock. A part of
his earnings he invested in real estate. He wrote also now for American journals. He speaks of
this in his written communications to the present editor as follows:
I represented by it the German affairs, for it seemed to me absurd that we Germans should talk
about these matters only among ourselves, exciting mutually our zeal. I thought the Americans
ought to be won for them too, if our steps were to have lasting results.
In the year 1837 he married a Swiss lady, born in Cincinnati. She had lived several years in
Switzerland, but had been educated in New England. She combined the American and German
nature in a pleasant blending, and has been to him 'a true companion through his life.
In the spring of 1843 Rumelin sold his business to retire to the country, but undertook first a trip
to his- old home. After his return he was elected from Hamilton county to the house of
representatives of Ohio for the years 1844 and 1845, and in 1846 for two years to the Senate. In
the house of representatives he brought it about that the message of the governor, as well as the
reports of the officials, should be printed in the German language. The minority report in favor of
the annexation of Texas, not on account of, but in spite of slavery, excited great attention, and
was reprinted in many Democratic papers. His speeches, by which he criticised very sharply the
then defective method of taxation, showed a thorough study of political economy.
In the years 1846. 1847, 1848 Rümelin studied law in the office of Judge Van Hamm, passed his
examination, and was admitted to the bar. He continued the study scientifically, but felt no
inclination to make a profession of it. In the year 1849 he made a second visit to the Fatherland,
and wrote travelling correspondence for the New York Evening Post, one of the first papers of
the Union, superintended by William Cullen Bryant and John Bigelow. These letters were
reprinted by several other papers. They contained many new ideas which were here but partly
appreciated. Though Rümelin had the welfare of his newly adopted country very much at heart,
he was not an absolute admirer of all our institutions, and was not altogether blind towards our
weaknesses. What he thought he would always speak out candidly. While in Germany he was
elected a member of the convention which was to draw up a new constitution for Ohio. He
received the news of his election when the pilot brought the latest papers on board the steamer
entering the New York harbor, on which he had returned fro,m Germany, in April, 185o.
In this convention (1850-51) Rümelin was one of the most prominent and active members. It is
to his especial credit that the article of the constitution which prevents the legislature from
making arbitrary divisions in the electoral districts, is due to his exertions. Both parties had made
the greatest abuse of this right of dividing districts, so that very often, by arranging the counties
ingeniously into electoral districts, the minority of the people managed to get the majority in the
legislature. According to the present constitution of Ohio the division is made every ten years,
and is regulated according to the number of inhabitants by constitutional provision. Rümelin has
lived to see several other States adopt the same measures to prevent corruption. He opposed with
all his energy the secret ring of the Democratic party called the "Miami Tribe," which had formed
itself for personal purposes, with intention to control the whole party; made many enemies by it
in his own party, and lost his chance as candidate for Congress, but he had the satisfaction of
seeing the ring broken through his active co-operation. During the celebrated election campaign
between Fremont and Buchanan, he declared himself for Fremont, as many Democrats had done,
simply because Fremont belonged himself to the Democratic party. He did not want to join the
Republican party. A trip to Germany prevented him from taking personal part in this campaign.
This journey was partly occasioned by family matters, partly by business matters, which he had
to settle as president of a railroad in Europe, and partly, also, to visit European reform schools
and learn about their management, having been appointed commissioner for reform schools in
Ohio, by Governor Chase. After having visited these institutions to his satisfaction in England,
where he made the acquaintance of Earl Derby, grandfather of the present Lord Derby, who was
especially interested in the improvement of these schools, he went with him to France on a
similar tour of inspection. The reform schools of Belgium, Holland, Switzerland, and Germany,
were also visited by him. Those in France he found to be model institutions, especially the one in
Mettray, near Tours. His report, signed by all the members of the commission, was laid before
the legislature; a law for the erection of a reform school for juvenile delinquents was made, and
Governor Chase appointed Rümelin one of the superintendents, but he resigned the position in
1859. During the years 1854-9 Rümelin was also a member of the permanent State commission
of the banks, as also of a special commission to examine frauds of the treasury. A very extensive
and interesting report of nearly two thousand pages, mostly written by Rümelin, was the result of
this examination.
Although Rümelin had already, for some time before the year 1860, cast off party fetters, and had
often voted and worked for men of the opposite party, if he thought them more worthy for the
office, he could not, during the Presidential campaign of Lincoln, Douglas, Bell and
Breckinridge, make up his mind to vote for any one of the first-named. He belonged to those few
Germans who felt that they had to give Breckinridge the preference over Lincoln as a statesman;
Rümelin was personally acquainted with Breckinridge, and respected him highly. However, he
was getting tired of politics. He was of the opinion that nothing but a misunderstanding of the
real opinions existing north and south, and the ambition of the leaders on both sides, had caused
the war. He retired to country life. He had owned for several years a beautiful country place near
Cincinnati, and had planted an orchard and a vineyard, having sent for the best sorts of
132 - HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
trees and slips to Europe. He said this love for farming had been in the family for several
generations. He was not a book-farmer only, but took hold of the plough, the spade and the axe
with his own hands most heartily.
During the years 1865 and 1866 we find him again in Germany, where he took his oldest son to a
university. He visited at the same time Italy, Hungary, Servia and Bosnia. His reports concerning
these travels appeared in the New York Commercial Bulletin. In 1871 to 187 2 he was manager
of the magazine, the Deutscher Pionier, in Cincinnati, and made in 1872 his sixth journey to
Europe, to take two of his sons to a university and his daughters to a young ladies' institute. In
Strasburg and Wurzburg he attended, in his fiftieth year, lectures upon his favorite studies,
political economy and the science of government. In the year 1876.he was elected by popular
vote for two years to the honorary office of a member of the board of control for Hamilton
county. That he voted for Tilden in 1876, as many thousands of Germans have done, who
otherwise belonged to the Republican party, is easily understood. The Democratic party
nominated him as their candidate for the important and responsible office of Auditor of State,
although Rümelin's opinions about financial questions differed from theirs. But all Democratic
candidates were beaten by a considerable majority during that election (October 15, 1879).
At present Rümelin is engaged in writing a book; a critique upon American politics, which will
be, no doubt, of great interest. We have spoken already about his many letters of correspondence
for newspapers, and his activity in the State Legislature. He has written also many articles for
agricultural journals. A long article of his about the climate of Ohio has been published in the
reports of the agricultural bureau of the State. In the year 1859 he published a Vine-dresser's
Manual, and in 1868 The Wine-maker's Manual. His most important work up to this time is his
Treatise on Politics as a Science, published by Robert Clarke & Company in Cincinnati in 1875.
EMIL KLAUPRECHT.
The first belles-lettres journal in the country appeared during the year 1843, under the
management of Emil Klauprecht. Born at Mainz in 1815, he came during the year 1832 to the
United States, and went at first to Paducah, Kentucky, on the Ohio. In 1837 he chose Cincinnati
for his home, and carried on a lithographic business very successfully, but turned soon to
journalism. In 1843 he published the first belles lettres periodical, the Fiegende Blatter, with
lithographic illustrations, the first German illustrated paper of the United States. Soon after he
became editor of a Whig paper, the Republikaner, which he made for ten years the principal
organ of this party in the Western States. He wrote also a number of novels, and an historical
work, the Deutsche Chronik in der Geschichte des Ohio Thales (German Chronicle in the History
of the Ohio Valley). This work goes back to the beginning of the history of the Territories and
States of the west, contains a great deal of interesting material, and must have required a studious
research among historical sources, but, as regards a clear, easily surveyed, and chronologically
arranged representation, it is not a success. During the years 1856 to 1864 he was engaged on the
Cincinnati Volksblatt, and was then appointed consul of the United States for Stuttgart, which
position he filled till 1869, when an inscrutable whim of the Grant administration appointed a
colored gentleman in his place, a Mr. Salamis, from Pensacola, formerly a barber by pr6fession,
who, it was said, could neither read nor write. Since that time Klauprecht devotes himself at
Stuttgart to literary work. He writes for the Augsburger Allgemeine Zeitung, and sends also from
time to time articles for the Westlichen Blatter, the Sunday number of the Cincinnati Volksblatt.
Klauprecht is a very talented man, and added in Cincinnati a great deal as well to the public as to
social life. By nature he was inclined to irony and sarcasm, was of a very lively nature, as almost
all the children of the golden city Mainz are, and entered journalism at a very unfortunate time,
when both parties entertained mutually very hostile feelings. He had chosen the unpopular side,
that of the Whigs; and had therefore the wind and the sun against him. As well in the English as
the German papers, at this time in Cincinnati a rude tone had taken possession of the press,
which seemed to take a delight in personal rancor. Klauprecht knew how to return these attacks
with usury, and there is no question that he, spirited as he was, on this field had the better of his
opponents. He accustomed himself to repay the abuse of others in a similar manner, but when a
German editor attacked the honor of his family, he allowed himself to be carried away to revenge
his right by a pistol-shot, which wounded his adversary dangerously. Tried before a court, he was
sentenced to a year's imprisonment, to the great surprise of the people, as such offences are
usually not only excused but often even approved. He was, however, pardoned by the governor,
to the general satisfaction, before the time set for his imprisonment. Klauprecht certainly, for
more than ten years, exerted a decided influence as an able journalist and a leader of his party, in
the city and the State. As consul he filled his office most excellently.
HEINRICH VON MARTELS.
Another editor of the Volksblatt at that time, and afterwards of the Volksfreund, was Heinrich
von Martels, whose life was a very eventful one. He was born in 1803, at the Castle Dankern, in
the dukedom of Arenberg-Meppen, attended the college at Osnabruck, entered the cavalry of
Hanover as cadet, and was, in 1822, second lieutenant of the Cuirassiers. As captain of the Sixth
infantry regiment he took his leave of absence, and traveled in 1832, accompanied by his father
and his brothers, to the United States, following Duden's tempting call, and settled in Missouri, in
the neighborhood of Duden's farm. He himself returned, however, again in 1833, as lie had left
his heart with a lady of high station in Osnabruck; for, as he tells us in his book, published in
1834 at Osnabruck, Der Westliche Theil der Vereinigten Staaten von Nordamerika, (The
Western Part of the United States of North America), this city of the peace of Westphalia had
robbed him of his-heart's peace.
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO - 133
Fiction and truth are intermingled in this book in the strangest manner; but one can not take it ill
towards the author, as it betrays at any rate a very amiable character. His loyalty for England's
great king (the sailor-king, William IV,) is rather extravagant, but, as another king has remarked,
"loyalty is, even in exaggeration, beautiful." However, the author talks with a similar enthusiasm
about Washington and the free institutions of the country, and his youthful fanaticisms have
given place to a healthy republican feeling. A light and graceful style marks this/a/a morgana.
In the year 1839 he took his leave of military service, and devoted himself to philosophical
studies; returned to America in 1845, went to Texas, bought a large estate in Colorado, but soon
afterwards lost all his wealth, which was considerable, and his land. In the year 185o he came to
Cincinnati, and found for several years employment upon the Volksfreund. He interrupted this
literary work for a short time to work on his farm, which he had bought in Clermont county, but
returned in i86o to journalism. He has a knov^lt dge of the classical languages, and talks most of
the model n ones fluently, which enables him to fulfil his office as interpreter in court with great
ability. Literary work, prose as well as poetry, is still his favorite occupation, and brightens the
days of his old age.
JOSEPH H. PULTE.
Another prolific writer in the scientific field is the doctor of medicine, Joseph Hypolit Pulte. He
was born at Meschede, Westphalia. After finishing his medical studies, he went in 1834 to the
United States, following his brother, who was already a well-known physician in St. Louis. Here
he took hold with enthusiasm of hornceopathy, which had been but a short time before brought to
America by Dr. Constantin Hering. After laboring for several years in the Homoeopathic college
in Allentown, he settled in Cincinnati as a practicing physician about the year 1840. In the year
185o he published the work, Hansliche Praxis der Homoopathischen Hilkunde, (Domestic
Practice of Homceopathy), which appeared also in London in English and in Havana in Spanish.
He followed this by several other medical writings during the following years. He also conducted
for several years the American Magazine of Homceopathy and Hydropathy. In 1852 he became
professor of clinical practice and obstetrics in the Homceopathic college at Cleveland, and
founded in Cincinnati, from his own means, the Pulte Homceopathic medical college, which was
opened September 27, 1872. Besides his poetical writings we ought also to make mention of his
philosophical work, with which he has enriched the literature of the country, under the title
Organon in der Weltgeschichte, which was published in Cincinnati in 1846. It is an attempt to
bring revealed religion into harmony with philosophy. For an analysis of this work we must refer
to a lecture delivered by Mr. H. A. Ratterman, December 26, 1877 (Deutscher Pionier, volume
ten, page 317).
HEINRICH A. RATTERMANN
has been for several years the editor of the Pionier, and fills a high position among the literary
men of Cincinnati. He was born October 14, 1832, at Ankum, district of Osnabruck. He
emigrated with his family to the United States in 1846, where his father continued in Cincinnati
his former trade as a carpenter. Circumstances compelled also Heinrich to take hold of hard work
very soon, but he made use at once of his leisure moments in studying the English language.
After the early death of his father (January, 185o), the care of the family fell upon his shoulders;
and, although he worked at his business, he continued his studies during his vacant hours. A
protracted suspension of work having compelled him to give up his trade, he used his savings to
attend a commercial college, becoming then book-keeper for one of his relations, a partner in the
lumber business; and went into other business connections when this partnership had dissolved.
Through his influence and continued efforts the German Mutual Insurance Company (fire
insurance) was founded in the spring of 1858, and became soon after one of the most successful
institutions of this kind in the United States. He has been for more than twenty years the secretary
and business manager of it. But the intense activity with which he has devoted himself to this
institution has not been able to check his inner impulse for literary work and music. He has
written poetry in the German and the English language, sunder the pseudonym "Hugo
Reimmund," and has worked with especial industry in the field of historical investigations,
particularly in the history of civilization. Above all, he has taken it upon himself to vindicate a
just estimate of the German immigration. He traces up, with a peculiar zeal and genuine
enthusiasm, the generations of the German immigrants into the most remote period, and his
investigations into this and kindred topics are not only deeply prosecuted, but betray a sharp and
critical judgment. There is hardly a book or pamphlet which can give him in any way material for
his historical work that is not known to him; and the public archives of Washington and other
cities have been well searched by him. Being engaged for a number of years with such historical
work, he has superintended, since 1874, the monthly periodical, Deutscher Pionier, which aims
to give in an entertaining style a view of the past and present of German life in America in every
respect. This journal has already accumulated an immense treasure of material since its first
foundation in 1869, which certainly nobody better than Rattermann himself will be able to utilize
for a comprehensive work on immigration. He published also an historical sketch of the city of
Cincinnati, several novels, and a Geschichte des Grossen Amerikanischen Westens (History of
the Great American West), published in two parts, in Cincinnati, 1876 and 1877. He is also very
fond of music, and is himself a good musician; he was one of the founders and a member of the
Saengerbund (185o), the Mmnnerchor (1857), and the Orpheus (1858). He is a member and one
of the trustees of the Historical and Philosophical society of Ohio, a member of the Cincinnati
Literary club, a corresponding member of the New York Historical society, and one of the most
active founders of the German Literary club of Cincinnati. He owns a large and valuable library,
which facili-
134 - HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
tates his praiseworthy labors. In the interest of the insurance company he has also studied law,
especially the branches which relate to insurance. A man of such an active and widely gifted
nature could of course not remain :indifferent towards polities. In former times he belonged to
the Democratic party, and worked for it prominently by speech and writing. After the war, at the
time when so many were dissatisfied with both of the great parties, he labored for an Independent
Reform party, and we find him a delegate of the same at the convention in Cincinnati in 1872, on
the same day of the convention of the Liberal Republicans. The Reform party, to which belonged
several of the most prominent men, especially of Ohio, adopted an excellent platform, which
differed from that of the Liberal Republicans essentially but in one point—they did not approve
of Greeley's nominatioh as candidate for the Presidency, chiefly because he had been all his life a
warm adherent to the tariff, which measure the Reform party had opposed decidedly.
Rattermann's political activity seemed now, for a time at least, paralyzed; but it showed itself
again in full force during the political campaign of 1876, when he worked most energetically for
Tilden, who, when Governor of New York, had fought against corruption, and on account of his
successful attempts at reform seemed not only to the Democrats, but also to some Republicans,
the most desirable candidate for the Presidency.
GERMAN IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS.
The result which the Germans had gained by their powerful aid to the Democratic party during
the election of 1836, moved them to ask for themselves a service in return from that party. They
insisted especially upon having the German language introduced into the public schools as a
branch of study. Already, in the year 1836, a German school had been opened under the influence
of Lane Seminary, an institution under the control of the Presbyterians. This German school,
called the Emigrants' school, was maintained by the Emigrants' Friend Society. The chief leaders
of this institution were Bellamy Storer as president, Johann Meyer as vice-president, and Jakob
Gulich as chairman of the executive committee. A German Pole, Johann Joseph Lehmanowsky,
acted as general agent for the society, and F. C. F. Salomon, from Erfurt, was the principal of the
school. Lehmanowsky founded, besides the school in Cincinnati, others in Dayton, Ohio,
Louisville, Kentucky, and New Albany, Indiana. The teachers of the Cincinnati Emigrants' school
were, besides Salomon, a poetically minded, jolly German by the name of Julius Weyse and
Julius Schwafz, of rather eccentric character, who was a son of Professor Schwarz, of
Heidelberg. As the Emigrant school, however, soon fell under suspicion of making proselytes to
Presbyterianism, and the Catholics had already founded a German school of their own under the
care of the Rev. J. M. Henni (now Archbishop), the teachers of which were men like Dr. Roelker
and Messrs. Moormann and Dengler (afterward lawyers), all thorough instructors, it was now
decided, after many disputes, to insist upon having the German also taught in the public
schools, which are maintained by general taxation. At first the Board of Education was applied
to; but they considered the request inconsistent with their duties, as only the Legislature could
furnish the remedy for the Germans. This question was now laid before that body, which passed a
law in 1838, by which the trustees of the public schools might introduce the German language as
a branch of study into districts where a sufficient number of persons should petition for it,
provided there were enough scholars to justify it. With this law they went back to the trustees,
who, however, availing themselves of the little word "might," again refused to grant the petition.
The pressure was continued, and during the election of 1839 the candidates for the legislature
were made to promise to exert themselves to make the law effective, by substituting the word
"shall" for "might," thus changing the permission into a command. The Germans, having
evidently the majority at the elections, and taking unanimously this position, the Democrats were
induced to consent to the measure, and the law was changed according to their wishes, March 19,
1840.
During the summer of this year, the first German-English public school was established. The
principal of this school was Joseph A. Hemann; and Heinrich Poppelmann, Georg La Barre and
Emilie Frankenstein were the teachers. But the problem of a German-English school was not yet
at an end. Encouraged by the election of 184o, the majority of the Whig party, which always had
been opposed to German study in the public schools, thought to cripple it entirely by establishing
purely German instead of German-English schools, and, strange to say, with English principals;
and the German principal was dismissed. The Germans would not submit to this, and were now
holding a number of largely attended meetings, in which they put forth their rights most forcibly,
by speeches and resolutions. The first one of these meetings took place July 16, 1841, with Karl
Belser in the chair. Edward Muhl delivered an excellent speech in favor of preserving the rights
of the Germans in this country, especially in regard to the education of the children in their own
mother-tongue. They did not rest by simply protesting, but elected a standing committee to attend
to the interests of the Germans in the schools; and, not receiving the consideration they had
expected from the Board of Education, they established schools of their own, according to their
plans, till they obtained their rights from the school board. The principal workers in this matter
were August Renz, Stephan Molitor, Heinrich Rodter, Ludwig Rehfuss, Pastor Seib, Emil
Klauprecht, Edward Muhl, Niklaus Hoffer, and others. Final success crowned their efforts, and
the German-English system of the public schools in Cincinnati, which now extends to all the
classes of the different schools, working more effectively than in any other city of America, is the
living fruit of that energetic agitation.
To secure the privileges gained at last after so much difficulty, they endeavored to secure a
representation in the school board. That was, however, a difficult matter, because in the Fifth
ward, in which, at the time, the Ger-
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO - 535
mans were well represented, the Whig party had still the majority. They thought of Dr. Roelker
as the best man they could present as their candidate; as he, standing sufficiently in connection
with the Americans, might have possibly a chance of being elected. And he was elected in the
spring of 1843, as the first German member of the board of education of Cincinnati, and was
reelected during the two following years.
DR. FRIEDRICH ROELKER
was horn in the city of Osnabruck, in the year 1809. He graduated at the College Karolinum at
Osnabruck, and entered after that the seminary at Munster. After having finished his studies, he
taught for a short time in Osnabruck, and emigrated in 1835 to America, where he staid for two
years in New York as a teacher. In 1837 he went to Cincinnati, where he became an English
teacher, holding this position for two years, when, through Henni's influence, he was appointed
principal of the Catholic Dreifaltigkeits-schule (Trinity school). He re signed this position after
one year, to study medicine at the Ohio Medical college, where, at the time, the very able
German professors, Dr. S. D. Gross and Dr. Johann Eberle, delivered lectures under the
rectorship of the eminent scholar, Dr. Daniel Drake. Having graduated at this college, he devoted
himself to the practice of medicine in Cincinnati. His position as English teacher in the public
schools had brought him into association as well with the most prominent men of the city as with
the most influential members of the board of education; and when the Germans of the Fifth ward
nominated him as a candidate for the school board in 1843, he was elected, although the
Democratic party, to which he belonged, was greatly in the minority in that ward. He was at last
appointed chairman of the committee on instruction in German, and succeeded in mollifying the
hostile feeling which formerly existed in the board against instruction in German, by his
moderate and thoughtful, but earnest efforts. The German-English schools, which so far had
shown very little life, rallied and flourished soon under his untiring care, so that they showed,
even in English, better results than the purely English schools at the next half-yearly
examinations in winter. That was a triumph for the Germans which filled everybody with
gladness, and a meeting of German citizens was called to give Roelker publicly their thanks for
his activity. The German school was insured. He possessed in the highest degree all the qualities
necessary for such a position, as was truly said in a communication through the Volksblatt, by
somebody in favor of his re-election in the spring of 1844. His re-election was not difficult; and
even in the year 1845, when the German division of the ward was separated, to form a separate
ward of its own, and the Whigs of this ward, who numbered by far the majority, put up General
Findlay for Roelker's position, while the Democrats telt too weak to dare to renominate Dr.
Roelker; he was again re-elected by the citizens, to the great astonishment of all, without having
worked for that result personally.
But Roelker understood clearly that the preservation of the German language did not depend on
school instruction alone; but that continued effort afterwards would be necessary to ripen the
seed planted at the school. For this purpose he proposed the founding of a library company,
which was brought about in the autumn of 1844. The success in founding this society, called
Deutscher Lese-und-Bildungsverein (Cerman Reading and Educational Society), was due
principally to Dr. Roelker, Messrs. Rehfuss, Rodter, Molitor, Dr. Tellkampf (who, however, soon
after left Cincinnati), Dr. Emmert, Backhaus, Klauprecht, La Barre (afterwards for many years
the librarian of the society), and many others. Roelker was made the first President of the society,
which then continued to grow and prosper, until the pressure of the civil war caused its
dissolution. The four thousand volumes owned by the library were presented to the Mwnnerchor
singing society, where they still form a free library for its members, though the large public
library, now containing over one hundred thousand volumes, has made it altogether superfluous,
and its usefulness of but little importance.
The Reading and Educational society was to be elevated, under Dr. Roelker's and later under
Stallo's presidency, to a more important use than merely the reading of books could accomplish.
Scientific lectures were delivered by learned men—among others by Stallo and Georg Fein, from
Braunschweig, besides Franz Loher, who delivered five lectures, which appeared afterwards in
print: Des deutschen Volkes Bedentung in der Weltgeschichte (the Importance of the German
People in the History of the World).
When Dr. Roelker resigned his position as a member of the school board in 1846, he was elected
to the important position of school examiner, in which office he served till 1849, when he went
to Europe. He is still living in Cincinnati.
There is hardly another man in the city to whom as much credit for the successful introduction of
German instruction in the public schools is due, as to Dr. Roelker. His genuinely scientific
education, his practical experience in teaching, and his clear, thoughtful mind, helped him to
accomplish successfully what others had commenced with eagerness, but could not carry
through. Roelker's successors in the school board of Cincinnati, before the year 185o, were
Messrs. Heinrich Rodter, Stephan Molitor, F. H. Rowekamp, Johann Schiff, and Dr. S. Unzicker.
AUGUST RENZ,
who, as all reports say, gave the first decisive word in favor of the introduction of German into
the public schools, was a native of Wurtemberg. He was born in 1803, studied law at the
university of Tubingen, and practiced it in his native town. He came to Cincinnati in 1836, and
established himself as a notary public. His defective pronunciation of the English language, his
want of talent as a speaker, and his dread of pleading, kept him, probably, from becoming a
barrister. He was, however, very successful as a notary public. He took also an active part in
political journalism, and edited, in company with George Walker, the_weekly paper Der Deutsch
136 - HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
Amerikaner (1839), and afterwards the second Democratic newspaper of Cincinnati, Die
Volksbuhne (1841-45). Renz's active interest in all public movements of the Germans has always
been guided by an unselfish principle.
JOSEPH ANTON HEMANN,
the first German principal of the German-English schools in Cincinnati, was born in 1816 at
Oesede, near Osnabruck. He attended the college of Osnabruck, and emigrated to America in
1837. In 1838 he became a teacher in Canton, Ohio, and in 1839 filled the same position at the
parochial school of St. Mary's parish, in Cincinnati. After the law was passed which allowed the
German language to be taught in the public schools, he passed his examination at the same time
with the well-known German writer of travels, Friedrich Gerstacker, who was then staying in
Cincinnati, and was appointed to the position of principal at the German school, which he filled
for a year. When in 1841 the schvol board tried to suppress the German instruction, and the
Germans, as has been said already, founded a temporary shool by voluntary contributions,
Hemann became principal of that school, but in the following year he resigned the position and
returned as principal to St. Mary's school. Later, in 1850, he founded the Cincinnati Volksfreund,
the still-existing Democratic newspaper, which he conducted till 1863, in in which year he retired
from journalism. Hemann has earned especial merit by being one of the workers for the founding
of the German historical periodical, the Deutscher Pionier. He lives at present in Canton, Ohio,
and conducts the Ohio Volkszeitung published there.
GERMAN LIBRARY.
The German Catholics founded also in 1845 a German library, which was conducted by the
German Catholic school and reading society. It contained also four thousand volumes, when it
was afterwards incorporated with the Catholic Institute.
STEPHAN MOLITOR.
We have mentioned occasionally before the gentlemen Molitor and Walker; and both deserve an
honorable place in the history of the German press. Stephan Molitor was born January 5, 18o6, at
Cheslitz, Oberfranken. In November, 1823, he went to Wurzburg, and studied philosophy and
jurisprudence. His lively and independent student-life did not interfere with his studies, and he
received, soon after having finished his studies, a position as reporter in police matters at
Munchen. The motives of his emigration are not known. He came to the United States in 183o.
In the year 1835 he conducted the New I'orker Staatszeitung, which had been founded but a short
time before. But soon after we meet him in Buffalo, where he conducted the Weltburger, till he
made in 1837 Cincinnati his second home. He worked there for a while in partnership with
Heinrich Rodter upon the Volksblatt, and made this paper his own within a year, conducting it
with great ability and good success to the year 1863. His legal education and experience in
government service gave him an important advantage over most of his journalistic rivals, He
made himself very soon acquainted with American history and politics, and was able to talk
about the recurring questions in national economy and politics with a knowledge which is even
now wanting in several otherwise talented editors of popular German-American papers. In the
year 1863 he sold his paper, retired from public life to his country place, and died July 25, 1873,
in Cincinnati.
During the long period from 1837 to 1863, he labored through his journals for the spiritual
elevation of his countrymen and for everything which he considered best for the people. In his
obituary, which appeared in the Pionier (fifth volume, page Ica), we read:
Only this need he said here, that he exercised the greatest influence as well in State as in local
matters, that he Worked indefatigably for the forming of our German-American public schools,
and never shrank from breaking a lance, be it for the public welfare or for individual right.
His friend Rumelin is of the opinion that Molitor exercised, by his efficiency as an editor, an
important influence upon the general politics of the Union. He also points out his business
capacity, which secured him his , position; and, although it did not bring him in great riches, it
enabled him to keep always his independence as owner of a press. "It was well known,"
continues Rumelin, "that he loved money-making, but also that he pursued it with moderation
and within limits. He never was an office-hunter. His ambition for fame and honor was well
known, brit also that he kept it within the bounds of a man of the people, as is due to the head of
a Republican newspaper.
GEORGE WALKER
was born in Urach, near Rentlingen, Wurtemberg, about the year 1808. He was one of those men
who have missed their vocation. Having received a thoroughly theological education at the
Tubingen Stift, he became sufficiently imbued with the ideas of Hegel and Strauss to deviate
from orthodoxy. Like many others, he might, had he staid at home, have gradually accustomed
himself to his position, making a sort of compromise with his belief. But the Lutheran Synod of
Baltimore had requested the theological faculty of Tubingen to send over some young and able
theologians to serve in the theological seminary at Gettysburg, or as pastors. Walker was one of
the young men who were sent. Arriving in the year 1833 or 1834, he found very soon that what
was called orthodoxy in Germany was here looked upon almost as heresy; and as, besides this, he
was fond of presenting himself in the free-and-easy dress and manners of the German student, it
is natural that he failed to give satisfaction. As soon as possible he was therefore sent to
Tuscarawas county, Ohio, where some Wurtembergians formed a small congregation. But even
there he came in collision with the Lutheran Synod at Columbus; and when he turned his
thoughts to politics and became a decided Democrat of the Jackson school, he left his
congregation and went to Germantown, near Dayton, in 1838. There he founded, in company
with Dr. Christian Espich, the Protestant, and undertook also the printing of the statute laws of
Ohio in German. He removed the Protestant soon after to Cincinnati, and became, at
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO - 137
the same time, one of the conductors of the Volksblatt, then in the hands of Rodter. The
Protestant, however, breathed its last after a short time. He undertook in the same year the
superintendence of a newly-founded political paper, the Deutsch-Arnerikaner, which also expired
soon, after a short and favorable beginning. Walker now shook the dust of Cincinnati off his feet,
went to Louisville, and superintended there soon after (184o) a newly-founded paper, Die
Volksbuhne, which, however, conld not celebrate its first anniversary, at least not in Louisville.,
for very soon after we find the same Volksbuhne in Cincinnati, again under Walker's
superintendence. How long he performed on the "buhne" (stage) has not been ascertained; but he
must have come finally to the conviction that politics was really not his field. He founded
therefore a religio-political paper, the Hochwackier (1845-49) which answered better to his
inclinations. Assisted by his friends, he kept this up until his death. He died from cholera in the
year 1849.
The knowledge and uncommon intellectual gifts possessed by Walker would have enabled him to
work more effectively, had it been possible for him to develop himself further, acquaint himself
with the history, politics, and laws of his adopted Fatherland. But he belonged to the large
number of immigrating Germans, who, although endowed with good talents and comprehensive
knowledge, exclude themselves from all but their own countrymen; and the American world does
not exist for them at all. Taking part in German enterprises and societies, which have charities for
their object or are devoted to sociability and education, they exercise, to be sure, a useful effect;
but to the building up of our American nationality, they help but indirectly.
LUDWIG REHFUSS
took hold of public life with more energy. He was Walker's friend, and also a Suabian child, for
he was born at Ebingen, January 26, 1806. Having received a thorough education as chemist,
pharmacist, and botanist, at the university of his country, he filled the position of a "provisor" for
several of the best apothecaries of the most important cities in his Suabian fatherland. He took, at
the same time, a lively interest in the liberal political agitations and movements which arose in
Germany after the July revolution. In the year 1833 he left Germany, probably because he
despaired of political reform. He settled in Cincinnati and established a drugstore which gained
very soon a good reputation. He became one of the active founders of the German society, took
part in founding in 1836 the Volksblatt, and became a zealous Democrat. He was one of those
who, during the conflict over the German schools, urged his party to declare themselves firmly in
favor of maintaining the German schools, under penalty of losing the German votes at the next
election. Rehfuss also took part in the establishment of the Lafayette guard, in the year 1836, and
became their captain. In the year 1843 he was one of the founders of the Lese and Bildungverein
(Reading and. Educational society), and added in general through his social talents, as also
through his extensive hospitality, which his means permitted, a great deal to the elevation and
animation of the social life of Cincinnati. He continued to carry on his vocation with great zeal,
and published the results of his investigations and experience in several pamphlets, and wrote
also about the cultivation of the vine and botany. He became a member of the Association of
Natural Sciences of the United States, and during a convention of the most eminent physicists of
America, which was held in Cincinnati, his country mansion stood hospitably open to its
members. Agassiz and Professor Henry were his guests. The revolution of 1848 could not but fill
a man like Rehfuss with enthusiasm. He gave to it his warmest sympathy, and was especially one
of the most active speakers in favor of the subscription started by Gottfried Kinkel, in aid of fresh
revolutions in Germany. In politics he maintained always a certain independence. He died July
31, 1855, not yet fifty years old.
The Lafayette guard, which was mentioned before, was the cause of the formation of other
German town militia companies. Soon after were formed a chasseur company and a turner
company, as also companies of Steuben, Kosziusko, and Jackson guards. A few years later
several of these companies formed themselves into a battalion, under Lieutenant-Colonel August
Moor.
AUGUST MOOR
was born March 28, 2814, in Leipzig. He became a pupil of the Koniglich-sachsische
Forstakademie, which was conducted on military principles; and probably there his military
inclinations were awakened. By some means or other he became involved in the September
troubles of 1830, in Leipzig or Dresden, was arrested, and sentenced to an imprisonment for
eight months. The only thing for him to do, after his discharge, seemed to be to try his luck in the
free States of America. He landed in Baltimore in November, 1833, found occupation in
Philadelphia, became a lieutenant of the Washington Guard of that city, under Captain Koseritz,
and during the Seminole war in 1836 he enlisted in a volunteer dragoon company, in which he
became lieutenant colonel. After the expiration of the appointed time of service of that company
it was dissolved, and we find Moor in the year 1838 at Cincinnati, where he conducted a bakery
successfully for several years. The Mexican war of 1846 exercised naturally a great attraction
upon him. He became captain of one of the companies of an Ohio volunteer infantry regiment,
and distinguished himself in several battles and skirmishes by his prudence and valor, so that he
soon advanced to the positions of major, lieutenant colonel, and colonel of the regiment. A few
years after his return he became major general of the First division of Ohio militia, but resigned
this position after a few years, as the militia organization was very imperfect; it consisted more of
staff officers than of soldiers. At the breaking out of the War of Secession Moor was one of the
first who enlisted under the flag of the Union. He became colonel of the Twenty-eighth Ohio
volunteer regiment (the Second German regiment). Incorporated with General Rosecrans' army,
he distinguished himself glorious-
18
138 - HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
ly in West Virginia—fought under Hunter in the Valley of the Shenandoah, and was considered
one of the best and bravest officers of the army. He led a brigade during the whole of his three
years' service, but was not until his discharge appointed Brevet Brigadier General. His open and
honest character, his rebellion against all favoritisms, which, unfortunately, were very prevalent
in the army during the civil war, his want of submissiveness, and the jealousy which existed in
the higher military circles against foreigners, though the President hitnself was free from such
prejudices, caused probably the hinderance to his advancement. Soon after the first evidences of
his military qualifications he ought have been made brigadier general, and later he ought have
been advanced to the position of major general. He was highly appreciated by the generals above
him, as Rosecrans, Averill, Burnside, and Hunter; and by them his advancement was several
times proposed. In the paper Sonst and Jetzt, edited by Armin Tenner, Cincinnati, in 1878, we
read of General Moor:
Being modest, as all those are who are aware of their inner worth and their true merit, he did not
seek the capricious favoritism of the people nor the approbation of the multitude; his name takes
in the annals of the Union a well-deserved rank. His earnest military character, which also in
private life he can shake off, is often taken for pride and haughtiness; but his numerous friends
know how to value him, and to acknowledge the noble kernel hidden by a rough outside shell,
and know how to distinguish a dignified manner from vulgar haughtiness.
GENERAL AUGUST V. KAUTZ
is another distinguished military character; he is at present brigadier-general of the United States
army. He was born at Pforzheim, Baden, in the year 1828, and came with his parents to the
United States when yet very young. They settled in Ripley, Brown county, Ohio, where they still
lived in 1846, the year of the breaking out of the war with Mexico. Kautz, then eighteen years
old, enlisted as private in the First volunteer regiment of Ohio. He fought in the battle of
Monterey and in several skirmishes, and became soon after the war a lieutenant in the regular
army of the United States. At the outbreak of the war of secession he was captain in the cavalry,
but comm'anded his regiment in those notable days before Richmond in 1862 under McClellan.
He proved himself there an exceptionally fine horseman and officer, and was made soon after
colonel of the Second Ohio cavalry regiment, and later commanding general of the cavalry of the
Twenty-third corps of the army. His bold riding excited general surprise. He became brevet
major-general as well in the volunteer as in the regular army. After the close of the war he
returned to the regular army as lieutenant-colonel of the Fifteenth infantry regiment. He is the
author of several small military treatises, which have especial reference to the service.
GENERAL WEITZEL.
With him we may worthily rank General Gottfried Weitzel, who, though he is claimed by the
Americans as one of them, was born in Germany, but came to America in his early youth. He was
born November r, 1835, at Winzlen, Rheinpfalz. His parents settled in Cincinnati. In his
seventeenth year he was sent as a cadet to West Point, and left this institution in 1855, after
having passed an excellent examination, when he was made second lieutenant of the engineer
corps, which position is only given to the best graduates. At the outbreak of the war he was
already a captain, and became attached to General Butler's staff when that general besieged New
Orleans, and after his promotion received the command of a brigade in the army corps of General
Banks, when that general undertook his unfortunate expedition up the Red river. Assigned to the
Potomac army, under General Grant, he received the command of a division, and distinguished
himself, especially in the operations against Petersburgh, the taking of which led to the fall of
Rich mond. He was the first one who, at the head of his command, entered the city of Richmond
at the side of President Lincoln. Strange coincidence! The German General Schimmelpfenning
was the first who led his brigade into Charleston, and another German general was the first who
carried the flag of the Union into the long-besieged, strongest fort of the confederates. Weitzel is
at present major in the engineer corps of the United States army, with the brevet rank of a major
general. That Weitzel is a German by birth is proved by the fact that he is a member of the
German Pioneer society of Cincinnati, to which only German natives are admitted.
THE GERMAN IN POLITICS.
By our short description of the press in Cincinnati, one can already draw some conclusion as to
the interest with which the Germans have taken hold of politics. But it was not till 184o that the
German vote became of great importance. It had grown immensely since 1836. By far the larger
number of Germans here then belonged, as in most of the older States (especially the western), to
the Democratic party. It was hardly possible for this to be otherwise. Already before the Native
movement had lifted its threatening head in 1836, the National Democratic party had secured the
adherence of the immigration. The liberal naturalization laws were already due to them, under the
presidency of Jefferson. About the year 1820 the Democrats had succeeded in Congress in
lowering the price of public land and in having the lands sold in smaller lots (forty acres) to real
settlers. About the year 1830, after long and vehement contests, very liberal pre-emption laws
were adopted, which enabled the settler to pay for his land with the receipts of a moderate
harvest. All these laws were passed after very obstinate contests with the Congressmen from the
east, who had principally belonged to the former party of Federalists, and later to the Whig party.
Especially Henry Clay, the most important leader of the Whigs, spoke very zealously against
allowing the right of pre-emption to those settlers who were not yet citizens; that is, who had not
yet lived five years in the United States.
It has often been said that the Germans and the immigrants of other nations had been enticed into
the Democratic party simply by the charm of the word " Democracy," and general phrases about
liberty and equality, much in the mouth of Democrats. Grant that
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO - 139
a great many allowed themselves to be won over by glittering phrases, yet it is certain that the
general mass of the Germans and the Irish knew how to appreciate the real advantages of the
Democratic measures. They would not have been able to buy large tracts of land from the
Government with their usually scant means, but would have fallen into the hands of land
speculators. Now they could, without any means, settle down and begin to cultivate their land,
because they enjoyed as settlers the pre-emption right. Neither could the tariff, intro' duced and
favored by the Whig party for the benefit of a few manufacturers in the east, be approved by the
new immigrants to the west.
The most ardent speeches of the Democratic politicians could not have held the Germans for
thirty years to their party, if their material interests had not led them the same way. The
obnoxious native movement, so profoundly mortifying to man's pride, which showed itself first
during the years 1835-37, and then renewed its attacks in 1842-44, by slaughter and
incendiarism, and which seemed to be rather favored here and there by the Whig party, while the
Democrats opposed it decidedly in all its public demonstrations and promised to guard the rights
of the foreigners energetically, was sufficient to drive all the Germans, who were still undecided,
by necessity into the arms of Democracy.
As in other large communities, the Germans of Ohio organized themselves also into a compact
party, and in 1843 the association called Deutscher demokratischer Verein of Hamilton county,
was founded in Cincinnati. The society issued a manifesto, by which it retained its independence
even towards its own party, in declaring that the Germans would abandon the Democratic party
as soon as it was seen that the liberal principles avowed by that party were not sincerely held.
And if the mania for office and the odious prejudices towards the foreigners should also show
themselves in the Democracy, the Germans were to take up the fight against such unworthy
members of their party. In this programme the association declares itself for the maintenance of
the first principle of Democracy: "The same rights and entire justice for all men, without
distinction of their religious or political belief;" and opposes the spirit of the native movement
with the utmost severity.
The directorship of the association was given to thirty members, and we find among the officers
the names of Stephan Molitor, Nikolaus Hofer and Heinrich Rodter. The society was active in
many directions. It obtained for the Germans general recognition, assured them a full
representation at the party conventions, and protected in the public schools the German
instruction, so often threatened. But it was especially efficacious during the Presidential election
in 1844, when the Democrats elected their candidate, Mr. Polk. German electoral assemblies
were held; political clubs and singing societies were founded; and from this time on, the German
vote in Ohio fell very heavily into the scale.
The news of the victory won by the Native party in the city of New York, in April, 1844, and of
the incendiary actions of a mob of the Native Americans, who burned Roman Catholic churches
in Philadelphia, was received by the Germans of Cincinnati with deep solicitude. The executive
committee of the German Democratic association called at once a meeting for April z9th, in the
hall of Landfried's Napoleon tavern, in which the position of the immigrant citizens of the
country was taken into very serious consideration. The speeches which were delivered against the
revolting actions of the Natives in the eastern cities displayed a spirit of determination which
always goes hand and hand with the side of right. The Germans were recommended to hold
together for united action, and were called upon to meet the dark Native movements with
boldness. A committee, with George Walker at its head, handed in resolutions which
recommended the appointment of a committee, who were to inquire from the different candidates
for President, Vice President, governor, and other public offices, if they approved of the
principles and measures of the so-called American Republicans (Natives), or if they, under all
conditions and in all cases, would oppose them through official and private influence; the
appointment of a committee to prepare an address to the Germans of the Union and one to the
American people, to be delivered at a public convention, which was to be combined, on the first
day of the May following, with a spring festival; and the question of holding a general
convention of the Germans of Ohio on the Fourth of July, 1844, was to be laid before this
convention for decision. Moreover, the quarrels and contentions which prevailed among the
German newspapers at the time were taken by this meeting into consideration. The resolution in
reference to them reads:
Resolved, That we, the Germans of Cincinnati, have watched for some time with great
displeasure the personal quarrels of the German papers of this city, and that we hereby declare
positively that we shall in future look upon every editor of a paper, who shall again excite such
personal quarrel, as a common enemy of the immigrants; for, to be able to conquer the common
enemy, we need more than ever to be united.
The chairman of the meeting was Molitor, the editor of the Volksblatt ; Dr. C. F. Schmidt, the
editor of the Republikaner, and Walker, editor of the Volksbuhne, were secretaries.
Other resolutions referred to the taking part of the German military companies in the
festival—including invitations to such organizations in Louisville and Columbus—and to other
arrangements for the festival.
The details of this May festival, which is described as one of the most imposing public
demonstrations ever held in Cincinnati, do not belong within our province. Pastor August Kroll
delivered the oration, which is said to have been a masterpiece of eloquence. The committee, to
which the composition of the addresses before mentioned had been assigned, delivered their
report. It was, however, resolved to postpone the same until the next public meeting May 11th, so
as not to disturb the festive joy of the day by the sad reminiscences of the cruelties suffered by
our countrymen in the east.
The address, "To the Germans of the Union," calls attention in the commencement of the
political crisis, so dangerous to the country and its freedom, through the
140 - HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
rise of a party founded on Native principles or national distinction, and upon religious and
political fanaticism; represents it to be the duty of every well-meaning citizen of the country to
meet these disturbances earnestly, but with dignity; reminds the Germans not to allow their own
national feeling, but the preservation of the free institutions of their adopted country, to be their
guiding star, so as to win the respect of the well-meaning Americans, and with that the assurance
of success. It asks further of them to join the. Democratic party, which already, forty years ago,
without expecting at the time any advantages, had carried the 'repeal of the laws against
foreigners, had adhered to those principles faithfully ever since, and had taken the immigrants
and their rights always under their protective shield. It points out that there are among the
German countrymen also members of the Whig party, and recommends these to consult with
their conscience and their patriotism, if party motives ought to be stronger with them than the
welfare and claims of the coming generation of Americans. "Let them remain with their party,"
continues the address, "if they can do so; but we retain the pleasant hope that these our
countrymen will very soon acknowledge that the love for their new fatherland is greater than the
love for Caesar."
If we consider that Molitor was the author of the other address, "To the People of Ohio," we need
not be astonished that, besides the most convincing thoroughness with which the address treats
the questions from the standpoint of natural and legal rights, it represents also a thorough
knowledge of the political history of America, and is controlled by a spirit of thoughtfulness and
moderation which characterized Molitor in all his actions. The address closes with the words:
We shall watch quietly and without passion the direction this movement is taking, and, as before,
so shall also be in future, the welfare cf our adopted Fatherland, and the preservation of its free
and glorious institutions, our first and only aim.
To give the German element a representation in the legislature, it was resolved in the meeting of
the Democratic Association of the twentieth of July, 1844, to propose Karl Rümelin at the next
Democratic convention as a candidate for the House of Representatives of Ohio. The convention
agreed to the proposition, and Rümelin was elected in the fall by a considerable majority of
votes. The Association made also the request, somewhat similar to the demand made before in
Pennsylvania, to have all the public documents which are printed by the State for the use of the
citizens, also printed in the German language; which request has ever since been heeded by the
authorities of the State. Furthermore, the candidates for the legislature of the State of Ohio and
for Congress were questioned as to whether they were. in favor of or against the interference of
the legislature in the matter of the temperance movements, and if they would, when elected,
oppose the aims and intrigues of the Native American party in their political and religious
tendencies.
HOFER.
We have mentioned several times the name of Nikolaus Hofer as one of the most prominent
leaders of the Germans of Ohio. He was born at Rulzheim, Rheinpfalz, in the year 181o, and
came to Cincinnati in 1832, and carried on gardening principally. He became finally a real estate
agent and administrator of General Findlay's extensive lands. He took an active part in all mutual
efforts of the Germans, filled the office of a city commissioner, and worked earnestly for the
founding of German schools. He was the first vice-president of the Democratic Association,
repeatedly a delegate in the State and local conventions of that party, and exercised a great
influence, as well upon the Germans as upon the Americans. The genial and zealous Rodter used
to say that Nikolaus Hofer was his right hand in all political affairs. He died in January, 1875,
and the conjoint press of the city published extensive and honorable obituary notices of him. Mr.
H. A. Rattermann says in his sketch of Hofer's life (Deutscher Pioneer, volume six, page four
hundred and nineteen):
Among the old pioneers who have been active in our city on the field of German-American
efforts at civilization, he stands out prominently like a large oak tree among its surrounding
underbrush, by virtue of his clear insight into the social and political situations of life. Although
he has not enjoyed the highest school education, he was, on account of his sound judgment in
political matters, for a number of years looked upon as a leader of the Germans in the upper part
of the city, and to a certain extent in the whole city. If Hofer had enjoyed a fine education in
addition to his natural talents, he would have been one of the most prominent leaders of the
American-German population.
PASTOR KROLL.
When speaking before about the May festival, we mentioned that Pastor August Kroll delivered
the oration. Born at Rohrback, in the Grand Dukedom of Hessen, July 22, 1806, he was destined
by his parents for the clerical profession. He attended the gymnasium at Budingen, studied
afterwards theology at the university of Giessen, and became then assistant parson in the parish at
Eckardtshausen. On the one hand his poorly paid vicarship and on the other the extravagant
statements of Duden about the American wonderland, which appeared at that time in print in
Germany, induced Kroll to join the Follenius Emigration society in the spring of 1833, with
which he emigrated to America in the following year. In company with Dr. Bruhl, who was the
physician of the society, Kroll went to Cape Girardeau county, Missouri, where they jointly
rented some land and cultivated it. In the year 1838, however, Kroll obeyed a call as pastor of a
German Evangelical church at Louisville, which position he exchanged in 1841 for the parsonage
of the Protestant Johannis church, the oldest German parish of Cincinnati. He worked in this
parish with great success up to the time of his death, which accurred November 25, 1874.
Besides fulfilling his clerical duties, Kroll was also, together with the pastor Friedrich Botticher
(born at Mackerock, Preussen, in 1800, died at Newport, Kentucky, in 1849), the principal
founder of the Protestandsche Zeitblatter, a periodical which represented liberal Protestantism in
the United States.
BOTTICHER,
educated at the university of Halle for a theologian, afterwards a teacher in the gymnasium at
Nordhausen, and
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO - 141
later a pastor in Habernegen, had come already in 1832 to America. He may be considered here
the founder of rational Christianity, which was represented by him, and with him, and after his
death especially, by Kroll. Kroll conducted the Protestantische Zeitblatter until his death, with
great ability and great zeal.
THE TUTOR OF POWERS.
In the history of American art the name of Hiram Powers, the sculptor of the Greek slave and of
Eve at the fountain, fills one of the most prominent places. But it is hardly known to many that
this son of a Connecticut farmer was the apprentice of a watchmaker, and that his artistic career
is due to a German sculptor, whose pupil he was. Friedrich Eckstein, born at Berlin about the
year 1787, attended the Academy of Arts of his native town, and studied art under Johann
Gottfried Schadow, the founder of the academy. He came to Cincinnati in the year 1825 or 1826,
and founded during the last named year an Academy of Fine Arts, of which he remained the
director until his early death in 1832. He died here of cholera; and with him died also the
flourishing academy. But few of his own works are known, besides the busts of Governor
Morrow and President William H. Harrison. These are, however, of great artistic value; the first
named is at present to be found in the State library at Columbus, and the other is in the
possession of General Harrison's descendants. His great reputation has, however, now another
representative in his before named pupil, who, without doubt, holds the precedence among
American sculptors.
THE FRANKENSTEINS.
About the same time the two brothers, Johann Peter and Gottfried N. Frankenstein, made their
appearance as painters, of whom especially the last named made a great reputation. His large
landscape painting of Niagara falls has been multiplied by engravers and lithographers, and a
bust of the Hon. John McLean, judge of the United States supreme court, executed by him in
marble, adorns the Federal court-room in Cincinnati.
Mr. Rattermann says about him, in a lecture upon Art and Artists in Cincinnati, delivered before
the Cincinnati Literary club: "His paintings show individuality in their conception, combined
with a bright coloring, which later has been surpassed only by his genial pupil Wilhelm
Sonntag."
In the year 1838 Gottfried Frankenstein succeeded in bringing to life again in Cincinnati the
Academy of Fine Arts, and became its first president. It was, however, of but short duration.
Another artist, Friedrich Franks, was in 1828 the founder of a gallery of fine arts in Cincinnati,
and afterwards the owner of the Western museum.
THE ART SCHOOLS.
It is worthy of notice that the various endeavors to found academies of art in Cincinnati have
always proceeded from Germans; for Franks also was commonly taken for a German.
About the efficiency of these artists' schools it need only be said that some of the most prominent
American artists have come forth from them; as Miner K. Kellogg, William H. Powell, the
brothers Beard, the American artist and poet, Thomas Buchanan Read, and others. Mr.
Rattermann thus speaks of their artistic worth in his lecture:
The artists of this first period of art in Cincinnati were principally the pupils of nature, and only
reached in their studies the point where greater justice is done to the real than to the ideal. They
belonged, therefore, more to the realistic school, if I may express it in that way. Only Eckstein,
who was a pupil of the celebrated Schadow, and who has been honored by the title of professor,
was an idealist. His pupil Powers, however, in spite of all his efforts at idealism, had a natural
tendency to realism, as is observable in all his productions. His aspirations after ideal beauty give
to his works more the appearance of bare coldness than the warmth of feeling which shines
through the higher light. His figures are pure as snow and smooth as ice, but also cold as ice and
snow.
THE GERMANS AND MUSIC.
That music has been introduced by the Germans, and has been especially fostered by them in
Cincinnati, as as well as throughout America, is self-evident. Already, in the year 1823, there
existed here a musical society, the Apollonische Gesellschaft; and in 1839 another singing
society was founded, from which originated in 1844 the Deutsche Liedertafel. Ever since 1846
the three German singing societies, which existed at that time in Cincinnati, have celebrated
every year a musical festival, and in 1849 the first great German musical festival of the United
States was held in this city. On this occasion the first German Smngerbund of North America
was founded, whose musical festivals have now gained a worldwide reputation, and have
prepared the way for the foundation of the grand Music hall and the Cincinnati College of Music,
for a while under the direction of Theodore Thomas.
THE GERMAN IN MANUFACTURES.
In the year 1831 an organ factory was established in Cincinnati by Mathias Schwab, from which
have gone forth great numbers of excellent instruments, which proclaim in all parts of the
country the praise of German superiority. This factory, the oldest of its kind in this country, is
still in existence, under the management of the experienced workmen, Johann H. Kohnken and
Gallus Grimm, both having worked for thirty years under Mr. Schwab's direction.
At that time (1836) was also made the first attempt to use machinery extensively in the
fabrication of furniture. The invention of Woodworth's planing machine induced
Friederich Rammelsberg, a Hanoverian, who was the foreman in Johann Geyer's furniture
factory, to make all sorts of experiments in this department. Some years later Robert Mitchell,
who had served his apprenticeship under Rammelsberg's guidance, began also some experiments,
but without gaining any practical results. After inheriting a little property, he associated himself
with Rammelsberg in 1846. The practical knowledge of Rammelsberg, thus united to a moderate
capital, and not any longer restrained, as formerly, by his over-prudent principal, now began to
realize important results. Not only does the gigantic building, which is still in existence under the
name of Mitchell and Rammelsberg's furniture factory, employing more than one thousand five
hun-
142 - HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
dred workmen (the largest furniture factory in the world), owe its existence to him, but the
general successful rise of the furniture trade in Cincinnati and in the west is due to him.
Rammelsberg died in 1863.
S. N. PIKE.
We now come to a man whose name—at least the name by which he is known—announces him
to be either an Englishman or an American. It was known only to a few of his nearest neighbors
that Samuel N. Bike, the builder of the beautiful opera houses in Cincinnati and in New York,
was a German. He was the son of Jewish parents by the name of Hecht, and was born in the year
1822, at Schwetzingen, near Heidelberg. He came in the year 1827 to America with his parents,
who at first staid in New York, and then settled in Stamford, Connecticut. In Stamford young
Pike (his father had changed the name; Hetch means Pike in English) received a good school
education; went, in 1839, to St. Joseph, Florida, where he opened a store, which he kept for about
a year, and then went to Richmond, Virginia, where he carried on business as an importer of
wines. From Richmond he removed to Baltimore, then to St. Louis, and finally, in 1844, to
Cincinnati. At all three of these places he tried to build up a dry-goods business. He married in
Cincinnati the youngest daughter of Judge Miller, and then began a liquor business, by which he
soon gained enormous wealth. When Jenny Lind, the Swedish Nightingale, travelled through
America, Pike was one of the most zealous attendants at her concerts and admirers "of her divine
voice," as he used to express himself, and resolved, if he should ever acquire sufficient wealth, to
build for the Muse of Song a temple which should do honor to Cincinnati. When in the year 1856
the foundation of this magnificent palace was being erected, but very few anticipated the
purposes of this colossal building. Interrupted by the crisis in business in the autumn of that year,
the building was discontinued till the fall of the next year, and was completed in the winter of
1858-59. On the 22d of February, 1859, the opera house, at that time the largest and most
beautiful in America, and one of the largest in the world, was opened with due solemnity. It was
an epoch in the musical and dramatic history of the city ; and when Pike's wealth rapidly
increased he began to build in 1866 also a grand dramatic palace in the city of New York, the
Grand opera house, which he afterwards sold to James Fisk, jr., for eight hundred and fifty
thousand dollars. But he had hardly begun with the building of the New York opera house when
the magnificent opera house in Cincinnati became, in the spring of 1866, a prey to the flames.
The structure was afterwards rebuilt, and is still one of the principal ornaments of the city. A
gigantic speculation in land in the neighborhood of Hoboken, New York, brought Mr. Pike an
immense profit; so that, at his death in 1875, his fortune was valued at several millions of dollars.
Pike was not an uneducated man. He was a great lover of music, and played himself on several
instruments. He was also well versed in literature, and wrote some English poems, which
appeared in print anonymously. They show, however, more depth of feeling than technical
construction. His slight intercourse with Germans and his imperfect knowledge of the German
language contributed, perhaps, to his being taken by almost everybody for an American. "In a
small company," observes somebody who was more intimately acquainted with Pike, "he
confessed one day that he was a German by birth; and he has continued since then to converse
often in his mother-tongue with this company." In politics he belonged to the Democratic party,
but could not be persuaded in 1867 to accept the nomination as candidate for the office of mayor
of Cincinnati.
GERMAN INSTITUTIONS.
In 1841 we find in Cincinnati a German society, for intellectual entertainment, called Harmonie,
and several years later the association, Freunde der gesellschaftlichen Reform. A German theater
was founded in 1845.
FATHERLAND CELEBRATIONS.
The zeal with which Germans participated in American politics did not interfere at all with their
interest in the events of their old Fatherland. Several of their national memorable days were
celebrated, as for instance the birthday of Jean Paul and of Goethe. As in other places, so also in
Cincinnati, was founded an institution for the aid of liberty movements in Germany, and large
sums of money were sent by the Germans for the relief of the much-oppressed patriots, Wirth,
Seidensticker, Jordan, and the children of the martyr Weidig. And at a public meeting of that
time, participated in by the Germans of all classes, without regard to their religion or their
politics, eight thousand dollars were collected for the benefit of the poor sufferers in Germany.*
The first Turner society of Cincinnati was founded in 1848. The revolutionary agitations of
Europe, and especially those of Germany in 1848, found naturally the greatest sympathy among
the population of Cincinnati. The friends of liberty were encouraged and helped by them by all
possible means. The arrival of Hecker and his friends in the autumn of 1848 was an occasion for
a great ovation, in which the American population participated with active interest. Hon. J. B.
Stallo welcomed the new-corners by an address, which was a masterpiece in form and tenor.
More associations were founded for financial aid in the revolutionary agitations, and large sums
of money were procured, which soon afterwards, when the change of affairs in Germany had
come, were used mostly for the assistance of political fugitives.
GERMANS IN OFFICE.
It is a matter of course that, through the growing influence which the Germans exercised, their
right to the holding of public offices became more readily acknowledged. About the year 1840
we find Germans as well in the legislature as in the offices of the city departments; and their
number would have been there still greater if the language had not stood in their way, and if the
em-
* Klauprecht's Deutsche Chronik, p. 179.
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO - 143
igrating Germans, who had to work hard in the begin ning to earn an honest living, had been
more ambitious to hold public office. It has taken a longer sojourn in America to arouse also in
them this usually fruitless ambition.
THE STALLOS.
We have had occasion several times before to mention the name of Stallo. There is no man of
whom Cincinnati, the State of Ohio, and all the Germans of the United States, should be more
proud, than of Johann Bernhard Stallo. His life is not remarkable on account of strange events; he
has never inhaled the air of prisons, has not escaped by a bold flight the persecuting powers, like
Follen, Lieber, and many other Germans before and after him. His new home gave him a most
friendly reception, and he was spared the hard struggles for subsistence which so many, even the
best of the newcomers, have to experience at first. He has spent the greater part of his life here, in
a happy family circle, but little shaken by the storms to which men of his prominent importance
are usually exposed.
It will not take many lines to describe Stallo's career. When asked how he had been able to
acquire his thorough knowledge of the classic languages, and especially his knowledge in
mathematics, at so early an age, having emigrated to America in his seventeenth year, and having
commenced teaching at once, he answered: "There are no riddles in my life; at least none which
cannot be easily solved. All my ancestors, as well on my father's as on my mother's side, were, as
far as I can trace back our family genealogy, village schoolmasters. My grandfather, after whom I
was named, was my first teacher. He was an honorable old Frisian (Stallo is not an Italian name,
but a real Frisian name, meaning forester), and wore up to the time of his death a three-cornered
hat, knee-breeches, and buckled shoes. He reserved my education to himself, notwithstanding his
seventy years, and was made very happy when I could read, and solve all sorts of arithmetical
problems, before my fourth year."
Stallo's own father had a great predilection for mathematics, and instructed him in this science; as
he also took care that his son should study, not only the ancient languages thoroughly, but also
should make the French language his own, behind his grandfather's back, who hated everything
French. In his fifteenth year (Stallo was born the sixteenth of March, 1823, at Sierhausen, near
Dam-me, Grand Dukedom of Oldenburg), he was sent to Vechta to attend the teachers' seminary.
He had at the same time the advantage of being able to avail himself of the teachings of the
professors at the excellent gymnasium which was there. His knowledge in language and
mathematics advanced so rapidly that in a short time he became ripe for the university. His
father's means, however, would not allow him to enter a university. He says himself: "The only
choice left to me was either to lengthen the chain of schoolmasters in our family by another link,
or go to America. The idea of emigrating was brought near to me through my father's brother,
Franz Joseph Stallo, who, about the year 1830, had led the line of emigrants from the Oldenburg
country."
This uncle had been also one of Stallo's educators, having instructed him especially in physics.
He was a very eccentric man, who, although he carried on a successful business as printer and
bookbinder, could not resist an inborn inclination for physics and mechanics. He made several
useful inventions. To him is attributed the burning of the moorland and the introduction of
buckwheat in his neighboring country, as well as the irrigation of barren tracts and the sowing of
them with pine seed, "by which lands, on which not even heath would grow, were transformed
into pine forests."* But, as is so often the case with such self-taught men, he lost himself often in
the fantastic and unattainable. His business was neglected, and, on account of his liberal political
and religious opinions, and especially his activity in inciting the oppressed to refuse paying taxes
and to emigrate, and his distributing inflammatory writings, he came in conflict with the
Government. The agitator was arrested, and for several months imprisoned and his printing
establishment confiscated; so emigration seemed to be the only thing left for him.
Having arrived in Cincinnati in the year 1831, he worked at first at his former trade. But he
continued the agitation in his old home more than ever by numerous letters; and really a very
great emigration followed in the year 1832 from Damme, Vechta, Hunteburg, Osnabruck, and the
surrounding country. Franz Stallo's thought was now upon a German settlement. An association
was formed, land was chosen in Auglaize county, and the little town which was to be built was to
be called (against Stallo's wish) Stallotown. Like Rome, which_ was in the beginning but a space
of land, with a ditch for a boundary, so was also Stallotown at first only recognizable by a
wooden board, on which stood the word "Stallotown," which was nailed to a large oak tree.
Stallo made himself useful in the new settlement as surveyor, and, on the whole, the little colony
grew very soon, in spite of the rather unfavorable situation, which was improved afterwards by
drainage. In the summer of 1833 they counted as many as a hundred souls. The cholera, however,
which was raging during this year in Cincinnati, reached Stallotown, and called proportionately
for a greater number of victims there than in larger towns. Franz Joseph Stallo was also among
the number who fell. 'The little town, which counts at present about two thousand inhabitants,
has exchanged the name of its founder for that of Minster.
Johann Bernhard Stallo emigrated to America in the year 1839. Provided with letters of
introduction from his father and grandfather to several ministers and teachers in Cincinnati, he
found at once a position in a private school. There he compiled his first literary work, a German
A-B-C spelling and reading book, which was published without the name of its author. He
showed already by this first book his deep insight into a child's faculties of conception and
understanding. There had been a great want of just such a book in the lower classes of the
schools, so the work became soon very popular,
* Deutscher Pionier, volume VII, page 5.
144 - HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
and has appeared in many stereotype editions. At that time the directors of the newly-founded
Catholic St. Xavier's college, in Cincinnati, were in search of teachers; and their attention having
been called to Stallo by this very work, and hearing also about his superior knowledge, especially
in mathematics, they offered him a position as teacher of the German language at this college.
That was, however, only a nominal title, for in fact a class was assigned to him from the very first
for instruction in the ancient languages and in mathematics; and he advanced with this class for
the next three years in the several grades of the course of studies. Together with one of his
associate teachers, who devoted himself with great zeal to the studies of physics and chemistry,
and assisted by the rich library of the institution, Stallo expended now almost every leisure hour
in the study of these sciences. He devoted himself to the study of physics and chemistry for three
years, from 1841 to 1843, with all the zeal of learning within him, and with a certain passion; and
he has gained from it great satisfaction. In the autumn of 1843 he received a call as teacher of
mathematics, physics, and chemistry at St. John's college, in the city of New York, which
position he filled till the end of the year 1847. The study of the higher mathematics led him to
German philosophy, and in 1848 appeared the fruit of his studies, a philosophical work—General
Principles of the Philosophy of Nature—published in Boston, by Crosby & Nichols.
Although the profession which Stallo chose afterwards may have withdrawn him somewhat from
his investigations in the province of philosophic science, he has always remained true to
philosophy. A number of his philosophical essays have been published in the most prominent
American scientific journals, especially in the Popular Science Monthly. A valuable
philosophical library, the like of which is hardly owned by any other private gentleman, gives
evidence of the wide field of his investigations. After having returned to Cincinnati, he resolved
to devote himself to the study of law. To so ripe a mind as his it was easy to become soon
acquainted with all the principles of law in their widest meaning, including the laws of
government and national economy. Having been admitted to the bar in the year 1849, he
distinguished himself soon in his new calling in such a way that in the year 1853 he was
appointed by the governor of Ohio as judge of the court of common pleas of Hamilton county, to
fill a vacancy. The people elected him the same year for the regular term of that office. As
honorable and estimable as the office of judge may be in the United States, it is not, or at least
was not, sufficiently remunerative for men who had the prospect of a large practice. Stallo, who
had married happily in the meantime, resigned therefore his office as judge in the year 1855,
which he had filled to the highest satisfaction of the bar and the people, and returned to the
practice of law, in which he has labored ever since with the greatest success.
If "posterity winds no wreaths for the mimic," we can say the same as well of those who have
won a high reputation among their contemporaries on the field of juristic activity. The decisions
of the judges of the _ supreme court are kept alive, to be sure, by the regularly published reports;
but the words of the most eloquent lawyer, no matter how important a result they may decide for
the moment, are blown away like autumn leaves. It was, however, reserved to Stallo to gain, by
an argument made before the supreme court of Ohio, a brilliant reputation. This was in a case
which excited not only general attention in his own State, but also in several others.
The school board of Cincinnati had resolved to forbid the reading of religious writings, including
the Bible, in public schools, as also to repeal the rule for reading every day at the opening of the
school a chapter of the Bible, and for singing appropriate religious songs, this being, as was held,
contrary to the spirit of a free school, for the children of parents of all religious sects and beliefs.
This action of the school , board had called forth great indignation among the different Protestant
sects ; the religious papers imagined their Zion in danger, and that atheism and Catholicism were
on the point of taking possession of our Christian country. A judicial procedure was commenced
against the school board to prevent the carrying out of this resolve. Stallo, called upon to defend
the measures of the board, did this with wonderful eloquence. Sustained by the spirit and the
literal meaning of the constitution of Ohio, by leading decisions of judges, but especially by
reasons of morality and of justice for all, this argument, lasting several hours, could not but
convince all unprejudiced listeners. The greater number of the judges were, however, not
convinced. Being probably themselves members of a Protestant church, and trammeled by the
whole ecclesiastical influence in Cincinnati, they were not able, with the best of intentions, to
remain impartial.
In this argument Stallo attacked the claim, made before by some teacher of jurisprudence, and
made probably without reflecting upon the consequences, that Christianity is part of the law of
the State. He fought against this opinion, as implying that our entire present civilization is
founded only on Christianity. He claimed a strict separation of the church from the State, as
being in unison with our constitution and the spirit of the times. He reminded the court that the
fathers of the church had continued to build on the old, celebrated heathen philosophers, that the
age of the reformation had been also the age of the Humanists and of the revival of the arts and
sciences of the classic ages; that our declaration of independence and constitution had their origin
during the skeptic, philosophic epoch which preceded the French revolution; that Thomas
Jefferson, who was in the eyes of the orthodox an infidel, had conceived the first, and the "pious
old heathen" Franklin had, with others of the same mind, helped to make the latter, and that the
fathers of our republic had read the "Rights of Man" of infidel Thomas Paine.
"I deny," proclaimed Stallo, "not only that Christianity is the law of the State, and that the
freedom of our institutions is grounded in Christian civilization; but I deny, also, that our modern
European and American civilization can in any just sense be called Christian. By
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO - 145
the term civilization we designate the materials and forces of the physical, intellectual and moral
culture of a people. Now, in the first place, the intellectual possessions which make up the stock
of our culture, and their corresponding material possessions, are not only not the gains and
emoluments of Christianity, but have been acquired in spite of its resistance and recalcitration. It
is not Christianity which has expanded our mental and physical horizon to co-extension with
spatial infinity, which has revealed to us the laws according to which the stellar, planetary and
satellitic orbs form or develop themselves in the ethereal expanse, and in obedience to which
they rotate and revolve, under the invisible guidance of immutable attraction, in their perennial
courses; it is not Christianity which has unveiled the mysteries of our planetary history, or armed
us with the power by the aid of which we subject the elements to our dominion. Copernicus
dedicated his immortal book to a Pope; but a Pope sealed it to the eyes of all faithful believers,
and his inquisitors interposed the walls of a prison between the heavens and Galileo, because he
had dared to look into their depths through a telescope, and to open his mind to the truth of the
heliocentric theory. Nor was it the Pope or the Catholic church alone who sought to extinguish
the dawning light of the new era or to obstruct the vision of awakening humanity. Luther and
Melancthon denounced the Copernican system as fiercely as the inquisitors of Rome; and John
Kepler, the discoverer of the laws of which Newton's Principia are but the mathematical
verification, had to turn his back upon a Protestant university—his alma mater—because of his
heliocentric belief, and to seek employment as a tutor in a Catholic Austrian college. There is
hardly one of the eminent investigators to whose labors we owe the sciences of astronomy,
physics, chemistry, geology, physiology, etc., who has not been under the ban of the churches
and proscribed by the monopolists of salvation. When, in the lapse of ages, after the first
centuries of the Christian era, has Christianity baptized or stood sponsor to any of the new truths
which were born into the world to redeem it from a part of its miseries and woes, or when has it
welcomed them with a benediction ? Whenever, of late, as of yore, the precursory glimmer of an
unwonted light has brightened the skies, the surest and readiest way to discover its source has
been to look in the direction in which the Pope and his church have driven their latest anathema,
or a Protestant ecclesiastic has sent his loudest curse. At this very moment Europe is in a roar
from the discharge of ecclesiastical artillery at the zoologists and physiologists who seek to refer
the evolution of organic beings to the same immutable laws which preside over the genesis of all
the phenomena of this universe."
At this point one of the judges, Storer, interrupted the speaker with the words:
"Do you allude to the man who thinks that our ancestry runs into the animal creation?”
Upon which Judge Stallo answered:
"I allude to the followers of Charles Darwin, who has formulated (and, I think, imperfectly
formulated) the doctrine that man, too, was not placed miraculously on the highest round in the
ladder of organic progression, but in some way had to scale that ladder, step by step."
It is impossible to give a perfect conception of the striking logic, the wealth of philosophical truth
and historical illustration of this speech, by short extracts. The fine style is in accordance with the
fine tenor of the address. Stallo and the whole liberally thinking population of the country had the
satisfaction of seeing that the Supreme Court of Ohio, to which an appeal was taken from the
Cincinnati court, reversed the decree of the latter.
Stallo was for seventeen years one of the examiners of the candidates for the position of teacher
in the public schools, and afterward one of the trustees of the University of Cincinnati. He has,
on the whole, always shown an active interest in the education of the people.
That a man like Stallo could not remain indifferent to politics; is self-evident. We mean politics
in the higher sense. What here usually is called politics had no attraction for him. Principles were
only taken into consideration by him. Persons were only of. interest to him when they agreed
with or opposed his views. The party machinery, the organization of the party, in which so many
public characters seek their especial vocation; the weaving of intrigues, the artificial
arrangements of primary meetings and other electoral assemblies, were always to him objects of
decided repugnance. But once he has accepted a political honorary office; namely, when he was
chosen Elector for the Republican Presidential candidate, Fremont, in the year 1856. He has
never aspired to any political office for himself. Ambition is alien to him. As the tangent only
touches the circle in one place, so has politics, so to speak, only touched him from the outside;
but in great vital questions he has worked indefatigably with voice and pen. He joined with great
enthusiasm the Liberal Reform movements in the year 1872, but withdrew when the Liberal
Convention nominated Mr. Greeley, whom he did not acknowledge as a representative of his
principles, especially on the question of free trade. In the year -876, however, he approved and
advocated the election of Tilden, and labored for it with the most brilliant and efficient activity.
Shortly before the election he wrote a number of letters for the Staatszeitung, of New York,
which contain a real treasure of healthy views on political questions. As well by their tenor as by
their fine style, they excited general attention, and were reprinted in many journals.
Stallo has often been reproached with being too much of an idealist in politics, who did not take
the existing situations into consideration, and was therefore unfit for a political leader. Stallo has
never aspired to the character of such a leader. He is not a leader, he is rather a teacher for the
parties. We have enough of the realistic politicians, who, for any price, seek the power and the
booty which proceed from that only. Men who sacrifice their principles for persons, or profess
some principles simply to aid some persons, so-called practical statesmen, we need not seek for
with a lantern. The more satisfactory is it to meet from time to time some characters who do not
appeal to the prejudices, the passions,
146 - HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
and the self-interest of the multitude, but to its reason and its conscience, who urge upon it that
the moral principles of the States do,not differ from those of the individual citizen, who call
incessantly to memory the great principles of truth, upon which free States must be founded, who
propose to themselves and others a high aim, to the attainment of which we ought at least to
aspire, so as to save public life from sinking down into the slime of vulgarity.
Stallo, being master of both languages, English as well as German, in the court-room, on the
rostrum, and in the school-room, has the same power of conversation in social circles—a rare
gift, especially among the Germans. And this man of the exact sciences and the science of
government has, at the same time, a very cultivated taste for the fine arts, especially for music,
which has always been truly cherished at his home. His attractive exterior appearance bespeaks at
the first glance the rare richness of his intellectual gifts.
Without wishing to please or offend anybody, we dare to say that no German in America,
publicly known, combines, like Stallo, a comprehensive knowledge with an acute judgment, deep
thought with a delicate sense for the arts, incessant diligence with amiable sociality, and accurate
understanding of the questions of the times with the talent of giving a clear and beautiful
expression to his understanding, by writing and speech. But what is the most pleasing feature in
this man's appearance, and gives to his actions the true consecration, is that nobody has ever
doubted the purity of his motives, that nobody has ever believed that his active interest in the
politics of this country had sprung from self-interested motives or from the gratification of his
own personal ambition.
CHAPTER XX.
RELIGION IN CINCINNATI.
THE total history of the rise and progress of religion in the Queen City, with adequate sketches
of the two hundred and ten churches, more or less, now existing within its limits, would occupy
at least the entire space of the two volumes devoted to this work. It is the purpose of the
following chapter merely to detail the beginnings of church organization in Cincinnati, supply an
outline historical notice to each of the churches which have pioneered several of the leading
religious denominations here, and give some facts concerning the present state of religion and the
churches in the city, and a few notes of auxiliary societies, for co-operative work.
Among the founders of Losantiville seem to have been a goodly number of God-fearing
men—the majority of them Presbyterians, if one may infer from the type of the first religious
society planted here. In the plan and survey of the village, provision was made for the dedication
of an entire half square, now among the most valuable properties in the city, to the purposes of
religion, education, and burials. It included lots numbered one hundred, one hundred and fifteen,
one hundrt d and thirty-nine, and one hundred and forty, being the south half of the block
bounded by Fourth, Fifth, Walnut and Main—the same which has been continuously occupied, in
part by the First Presbyterian society, the church of the pioneers, as representing the religious
interest, and in part almost continuously by the educational interest, now and for many years
embodied in the Cincinnati college.
The ground was not long suffered to remain unoccupied. As soon as the little band of
Presbyterians had been somewhat reinforced and was ready for organization, an informal society
was constituted and began to worship upon and near this spot. In the fall of 1790 it was visited by
Mr. James Kemper, a partial licentiate of the Presbytery of Transylvania and a ruling elder of the
church at the forks of Dick's river, where he lived, near Danville, Kentucky. Mr. Kemper was a
native of Fauquier county, Virginia, born November 23, 1753; married Judith Hathaway when
little more than eighteen years old, July 16, 1772; removed to Tennessee as a surveyor in 1783,
and was sent for in 1785 by friends in Kentucky, who dispatched a small brigade of pack-horses
for him one hundred and eighty miles through the wilderness, that he might come to the dark and
bloody ground to prepare for ministerial work. He was therefore, upon his first visit to
Cincinnati, although in his thirty-eighth year, not yet a full-fledged preacher, but only allowed to
preach on trial, "under the direction of Mr. Rice, while he continues in the study of divinity." He
was fully examined and licensed by the Presbytery April 27, 1791, and appointed at once "to
supply in the settlements of the Miami at discretion." This was the first appointment of the kind
fpr any place north of the Ohio, and Mr. Kern-per was the first regular preacher of any kind in
Cincinnati. He promptly began service with the embryo Presbyterian church here, to which he
had been cordially invited, and returned in October to his Kentucky home, to bring away his
family. At the same time a man named Daniel Doty, of Columbia, and another named French,
were engaged to go through the deep woods and bring Mr. Kemper and family from their home
near Danville to Cincinnati. His family was large, consisting of eight or nine children, besides the
parents. The two men set out and followed the trace along Dry Ridge, in Kentucky, for sixty or
more miles, reaching Georgetown the second night out. Two men had been killed by the Indians
on this bridle-path only the week before, and the wayfarers kept their rifles constantly ready to
meet any attack. Mr. Doty seems to have been sadly impressed, when they arrived at
Georgetown, with the fiddling and dancing going on in almost every cabin, as though, he said,
"they neither feared God nor regarded Indians." Perhaps the character of his mission, to escort the
first settled preacher of Christ into the Miami country, had also some influence upon his feelings.
They proceeded to Lexington, obtained horses from an army contractor there, went on to Mr.
Kemper's residence, transported the family and their goods over the wagon road to Lime-
HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO - 147
stone, where they put family, horses, and all on board a flat-boat and took them down to
Cincinnati. The horses were here turned over to the contractor, and the men returned to
Columbia.
Previous to the settlement of Mr. Kemper, the Rev. John Smith, of Columbia, though a Baptist,
had, it is said, occasionally preached to the people here. He was the same reverend gentleman
who was afterward senator of the United States, and was virtually, forced to resign, under
suspicion of complicity in the conspiracy of Aaron Burr. The earlier meetings were held upon the
church lot in the open air when the weather permitted, the congregation sitting upon the trunks of
the fallen forest monarchs thereon, while the preacher or reader, very likely, used the upright
remnant of a tree for his "stump" oratory. Sometimes the assemblies were in a rude horse-mill,
used for grinding corn, which stood on Vine street, below Third, at the foot of the "hill;" and
sometimes in private houses.
Then, and for several years, even after the meetinghouse was erected, the law of the territory, as
well as the law of common prudence, required every man who attended the service to go with a
loaded fire-arm, that he might be ready to repel savage attack. At least one case is on
record—that of Colonel John S. Wallace—of the imposition of a fine of seventy-five cents for
failure to obey the law in this regard. It is prettw well known, we believe, that the custom of
seating the men at the outer end of pews originated in the necessity of their ready and prompt
movement therefrom, with arms in hand, in case of alarm during the fearful Indian period.
Mr. Kemper arrived in Cincinnati with his family October 17, 1791. The presbyterial records say
at this time that he "is appointed a supply at the Miamis until the next stated session." When that
occurred, April 2, 1792, it was ordered "that Mr. Kemper supply one Sabbath at the North Bend
of the Miami, and that he supply the rest of his time at Columbia, Cincinnati, and Round Bottom.
That Mr. Rice supply at the Miami settlements two Sabbaths." Mr. Kemper was as yet only a
licentiate, and an ordained minister, like the Rev. David Rice, above mentioned, was necessary to
organize a church, ordain ruling elders, or administer the sacraments—hence this appointment.
October 2, 1792, a formal call was extended to Mr. Kemper from the united congregations of
Cincinnati and Columbia, and accepted. He was ordained at a meeting of presbytery in Cincinnati
on the twenty-third of the same month, and constituted pastor "of Cincinnati and Columbia
churches." Here he labored until October 7, 1796, when he resigned. He afterwards served the
Duck creek and other Presbyterian churches in the Miami country most of the time until his
death, August zo, 1834, in his eighty-first year.
The church here was not yet formally organized, when Mr. Kemper was ordained and installed as
pastor. He says it was "still unorganized, because they thought the number of male members too
small to select a promising session." In a letter to a friend, he writes that he had formed "an
unorganized church composed of six males and two females, in Columbia and Cincinnati. The
church was one for the two places." A document found long after among the Kemper papers
makes probable the date of this informal organization as August zo, 1791: but some authorities
say the original arrangements for a church were made October 16, 179o, upon the occasion of a
visit from the Rev. David Rice, after Mr. Kemper's first visit. Eight persons, as Mr. Kemper had
it, formed the nucleus of the society. They were: Joseph Reeder, Annie Reeder, Jacob Reeder,
Samuel Sering, Sarah Sering, David Kitchell, Jonathan Ticknor, Isaac Morris.
The little church seems to have been incapable, by its very paucity of numbers, of organizing
more thoroughly , until September 5, 1793, when, there being as many as nineteen adult male,
members, it was practicable to select five ruling elders and two deacons, which was accordingly
done. The Cincinnati and Columbia societies were virtually one until Mr. Kemper's resignation
in 1796, when the Columbia wing was itself split into two churches—the ,Duck Creek (now
Pleasant Ridge) and the Round Bottom—and is thenceforth heard of no more. When Mr.
Kemper's successor, the Rev. Peter Wilson, was settled in 1798, he was pastor of the Cincinnati
church alone.
In October, 1791, after the arrival and settlement of Mr. Kemper, it was agreed by the
organization that an effort should be made to raise seven hundred dollars, with which, and from
the timber growing upon the donated tract, which had been partially felled upon the lot at the
corner of Main and Fourth streets, a sufficient meeting-house could be erected. A subscription
was accordingly started January 16, 1792; the paper reading as follows:
We, the subscribers, for the purpose of erecting a house of public worship in the village of
Cincinnati, to the use of the Presbyterian denomination, do severally bind ourselves and
executors firmly, and by these presents, the several sums of money and commutations in labor
respectively annexed to our names, to be paid to John Ludlow, Jacob Reeder, James Lyon, Moses
Miller, John Thorpe, and William M'Millan, or either of them, their heirs or administrators,
Trustees appointed for the business of superintending the building aforesaid, payments to be
made as follows: One-third part of our several subscriptions to be paid so soon as the timbers
requisite for the aforesaid building may be collected on the ground where the said house is to be
built. Another third when the said house is framed, and raised. And the other third part when the
aforesaid house may be under cover and weather-boarded. In witness whereof we nave hereunto
subscribed our names, on the day affixed to our names.
The list of subscribers is wellyvorth repetition here, as probably exhibiting the names of nearly
every male resident of the place and a number of officers of the garrison.
John Ludlow,
Benjamin Valentine,
Jacob Reeder,
Asa Peck,
James Lyon,
Robert Hurd,
Moses Miller,
Samuel Dick,
John Thorpe,
Robert Benham,
William M'Millan,
Joseph Shaw,
John P. Smith,
Isaac Felty,
David E. Wade,
James Wallace,
James Brady,
Robert Caldwell,
Joel Williams,
Jonathan Davies,
Levi Woodward,
Thomas Ellis,
William Woodward,
Daniel Shoemaker,
Jeremiah Ludlow,
John Blanchard,
James Demint,
Benjamin Jennings,
Richard Benham,
John Gaston,
John Cutter,
Jonas Seaman,
148 - HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.
Joseph Lloyd,
Nehemiah Hunt,
Cornelius Miller,
Abr. Boston,
Gabriel Cox,
Samuel Pierson,
Daniel Bates,
Benjamin Fitzgerald,
James Kemper,
Isaac Bates,
John Adams,
William Miner,
James Miller,
Seth Cutter,
S. Miller,
John Lyon,
James M'Kane,
Ensign William H. Harrison,
Margaret Rusk,
Samuel Martin,
Moses Jones,
J. Gilbreath,
Winthrop Sargent.
Captain Mahlon Ford,
M. M'Donogh,
Matthias Burns,
Jabez Wilson,
James Lowry,
Alexander M'Coy,
David Hole,
James Cunningham,
Major Joseph Shaylor,
Captain William Peters,
H. Marks,
Ezekiel Sayre,
W. Elwes,
Daniel Hole,
Reuben Roe,
John Cummins,
Elliot & Williams,
Thomas M'Grath,
James Bury,
Thomas Gibson.
Henry Taylor,
Elias Wallen,
Thomas Cochran,
James Richards,
John Bartle,
J. Mercer,
H. Wilson,
William Miller,
James Reynolds,
Thomas Brown,
Matthew Deasy,
James McKnight,
John Darragh,
Daniel C. Cooper,
Francis Kennedy,
General James Wilkinson,
Dr. Richard Allison,
Ensign John Wade,
Samuel Kitchell,
Samuel Williams,
David Logan,
David Long,
Joseph Spencer,
James Blackburn,
J. Mentzies,
James Kremer,
W. M. Mills,
Matthew Winton,
Samuel Gilman,
John Dixon
The limit of subscription for most of these was two or three dollars; nobody gave more than eight
dollars. Seven shillings and sixpence was not an uncommon subscription. Many who could not
give money, or who could contribute something else to equal advantage, pledged useful
materials, as planks or nails, and others gave the work of a day or more to the building. It was put
up--one account says for four hundred dollars—on the corner lot already designated as partly
cleared, one hundred feet north of Fourth street and facing Main, and so, of course, not precisely
upon the spot now occupied by the First Presbyterian church. It was an utterly plain and bare
frame building, about thirty feet front by forty depth, one story and one room, small square
windows and battened doors, and no ornament whatever except a little semi-circle in the front
gable above the door. It was roofed and weather-boarded with clapboards, but not lathed and
plastered or ceiled for some time. When first occupied, probably in October, there was no floor
but the earth and no seats but boards, "whip-sawed" for the purpose, with their ends resting upon
logs placed at suitable distances apart. Indeed, one story goes that the logs themselves had for a
time to serve the purposes of seats, the upper surfaces being hewed to reasonable flatness. One
account says that the logs were split and smoothed, and set upon pins thrust into the ground.
Another version, derived from Judge Burnet, will be found in the statement of Rev. J. B. Finley,
in his Sketches of Western Methodism. He says the original proprietors of the town were
Presbyterians, and that "in laying out the town they appropriated the south half of the square
bounded by Main and Walnut, Fourth and Fifth streets, for the use of said society." He says
further:
In the autumn of 1793 the Rev. James Kemper [David Rice] organized a Presbyterian society,
and the congregations met regularly every Sabbath on this square, under the shade of the trees
with which it was covered, to listen to the word of God. After a few years on this spot the society
erected a stout frame building, forty feet by thirty in dimensions. It was inclosed with clapboards,
but neither lathed, plastered, nor ceiled. The floor was made of boat-plank, laid loosely on
sleepers. The seats were constructed of the same material, supported by blocks of wood. They
were, of course, without backs; and here our fore-father pioneers worshipped, with their trusty
rifles between their knees. On one side of the house a breastwork of unplaned cherry boards was
constructed, which was styled the pulpit, behind which the preacher stood on a piece of
boat-plank, supported by two blocks of wood.
The courts for the county began to be held in this building while it was still unfinished, as early
as October, 1792, in which month James Mays was tried therein for the murder of Matt Sullivan
and sentenced to be hanged. In this house, undoubtedly, also occurred the installation of Rev. Mr.
Kemper as pastor on the twenty-third of the same month. At the same time the Presbytery of
Transylvania held its annual meeting in Cincinnati, and very likely in this edifice—the first
ecclesiastical body that ever met in the place.
June 11, 1794, the country having been quieted from further fear of Indian outbreaks by Wayne's
victory, and an era of prosperity beginning to set in, it was resolved by the trustees to raise
another subscription, "to finish the meeting-house, to pale the door-yard and fence in the
burying-ground." The list made in pursuance of this resolve is still among the archives of the
society; and, as it exhibits some additional names of early Cincinnatians and gives the amounts
generally subscribed, it also seems to demand reproduction in these Dazes: