History of Davenport and Scott County Iowa, Volume I, Part 73

Author: Downer, Harry E
Publication date: 1910
Publisher: Chicago : S. J. Clarke
Number of Pages: 1042

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The line-at least to the writer-began just outside the city limits of the time. Within it were the homes of the Davenports, the Glaspells and the Mc- Manuses; but it was without that the real Rockingham road ran along the foot of the hills. Farthest from the town were two estates laid out with such liberal taste and skill that they are still stately country seats. "Fairview," the farther

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to the west, was the property of Colonel William Allen, associated with his brother, Thomas Allen, of St. Louis, in the earliest control of the Iron Moun- tain railway; the other, "The Elms," was built by his partner, Colonel Mande- ville. Here was a union of the north and the south, Colonel Mandeville being a southerner and Colonel Allen descended from an illustrious New England family and having won his title in the Federal army during the Civil war. Yet in this case, curiously enough, it was the northerner who was frankly genial with a finished courtesy of manner; it was the southerner who was gravely polite, silent, reserved, yet capable of deep and strong attachment to a few. Both were alike in their stainless honor, their generous hospitality; both were good citizens in every sense of the word. Too recently have we lost the genial mis- tresses of the household to need to recall their delicate and gracious charm. They who were as differently moulded as were their husbands in most respects were alike in this as they were in their sympathy gift of diffusing pleasure.

Nearer the town was the picturesque Stuyvesant bungalow (the name was not then arrived, but the wide, low, roomy veranda, winged story-and-a-half cottage was surely the forerunner of the bungalow) where a retired naval offi- cer and his wife had brought the spoils of many cruises in strange lands. Cap- tain Stuyvesant, in the southern phrase, was kin to most of old New York, his wife (born a Crowninshield) to most of old Massachusetts. They had not so wide a circle of friends as the other Rockingham road gentry; but within their circle they showed the same generous hospitality. Often kindred or friends from the great world came to them, some of them most interesting, all with the same air of simple and quiet distinction which was our first impression of their hosts.

A goodly space of leafy country highway ran townward between the Stuy- vesant bungalow and the three beautiful homes on the crest of the hills where the road rises. Nearest town was "Leafland," so modestly yet affectionately described by Judge Dillon in his memoir of his wife. There the great jurist spent some happy years. The charming house was planned by Mrs. Dillon and "planned for comfort." At this time Mrs. Dillon was in the flower of her compelling fascination and beauty, a devoted wife and mother, a most tender and loyal friend; a woman of power and charm who loved the country beauty with almost a human passion and had with all her vivid traits a very keen and sane sense of humor. It was here the Dillons celebrated their silver wedding after twenty-five happy years together; and here the three cities welcomed the bride of their eldest son, Hiram. But "Leafland" was the scene of innumerable other gatherings, large and small, for the daughters of the house were then bril- liant and beautiful young girls, and all the Dillons loved to gather their friends about them.

In no greater measure, however, than did their nearest neighbors of "Wood- lawn," the Putnams. The charming English cottage, long since ashes, was then overflowing with young life. We all remember vividly the noble and beautiful mother of that large family who yet found time out of her devotion to her children and her abounding hospitality to magnetize a careless western com- munity and inspire them to rear an institution devoted to pure science. She

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began the work for the sake of her son. Young as he was, Duncan Putnam had done work of recognized value the world over; and he did the best of it con- scious of his sentence of death, but working doggedly with his last strength. To comfort him his mother threw all her splendid vitality and energy into his plans. But when he died she did not abandon her work; rather more lavishly she poured her time, her means and herself into it; and before she died had the happiness of knowing that her academy was in its own home, with as- sured foundations. But while one cause was dearest to her, every good work and deed found her willing support. "Woodlawn" was the scene of some of our most notable fetes for charity, indeed, the most notable of all. The stranger never found a more open-handed welcome than within its gates; and we all know how that high tradition has descended to her daughter and her sons.

The next place on the road, like "Leafland" and "Woodlawn." nestled among rich shade on the crest of the hills, is the sumptuous park that will always keep green the love of our city for the name which it bears. The last of that name, the daughter of the Hungarian gentleman whose home it was, and who had, himself, given the city much, gave the spacious Hungarian man- sion and the fields and orchards and glowing hillsides to our city. Now it is the most beautiful of our parks; but for many years it was the most beautiful of homes. Years before a noble Hungarian exile had come with his wife and his two children, a boy and a girl, and had builded him a miniature Hungarian castle, the doors of which ever stood wide, not only to his kindred and country- men from over the sea, but to all his friends. There never was a stauncher friend of America than this guest whom the dissensions of his own country drove in despair to us. Our city never had a better citizen. Yet none of the family whom we loved so well, and of whose old-world distinction and inex- tinguishable elegance we were always proud, ever lost a whit of its loyal de- votion to Hungary. The pictures of the rooms, the papers and magazines, the very cookery of the kitchen, bore evidence to the exile's love of home. But how gracious, how exquisitely courteous and forbearing, how void of compari- son and offense, was this ardent Magyar patriotism! We only loved them the more for it. At the time of which I write, Mr. Fejervary, his wife and his daughter, were the family; the son, a youth of extraordinary promise, died years before. To how many of our people does that time come with a rush of memo- ries! How much pleasure, how much happiness did they convey to everyone who came near them! Nicholas Fejervary's character, his chivalric courtesy, his generous bounty, his scrupulous conscience in small matters as well as great, illumined the Hungarian nature to us. Mrs. Fejervary's virtues made one worldly soul exclaim with a touch of reverence. "She ought to have been St. Francis' sister!" Mother and daughter we loved as much as we admired. When the father and mother died, and the daughter went back to her country and her kindred, a romantic and alien charm left our hills, but not our hearts.

They are all gone now; all those pleasant places that delighted our youth are in stranger hands. Of the old owners, some have been claimed by the great world out of which they came to us for a season, the descendants of others are still in our city, worthy bearers of their honored names, but though their homes

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are more luxurious, they are no more on the old dear spots; and of all those fair and gracious women, the mistresses of the old-time mansions of the road, not one is living; but "their very memory is sweet and bright and our sad thoughts doth cheer."

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OLD TURNER HALL, NORTHWEST. DAVENPORT

TURNER HALL, DAVENPORT

CHAPTER XXIX.

THE GERMAN IMPRESS.

THE INFLUENCE OF GERMAN IMMIGRANTS UPON THE SOCIAL, FINANCIAL, PATRI- OTIC, COMMERCIAL AND ARTISTIC LIFE OF THE UNITED STATES-FROM THE GENERAL TO THE PARTICULAR-WHAT GERMAN-AMERICANS HAVE DONE FOR THE PROSPERITY, MATERIAL AND SPIRITUAL, OF DAVENPORT AND SCOTT COUNTY -A TRIP CROSS-COUNTRY AND WHAT IT SHOWS-GERMAN ORGANIZATIONS.

A Brief Foreword.

After the invitation had been given me several times to prepare for the forth- coming history of Davenport and Scott county, an article setting forth the in- fluence of the staunch German population of city and county, an invitation which it was each time necessary to decline through lack of time, I was finally per- suaded to write the following chapter through the urgent request of one whom it is always a pleasure to oblige, Principal Harry E. Downer, in editorial charge of the work, who urged me in these words: "There must be in this history a chapter in which the recognition due our sturdy citizens of German birth and de- scent is made; in which justice is done to these sterling emigrants from the Fatherland and their direct descendants for the part they have taken in the pa- triotic, social, intellectual, musical and financial life of this community. This article is especially needed at the present time, for recently many, unacquainted with the admirable character of our German inhabitants, have disparaged them, belittled their accomplishments, and spoken of them in terms of general con- demnation. You must write the truth about the part the Germans have played in the development of Scott county and Davenport, making the story as brief as you please or as long as the importance of the topic warrants. In any event, we are counting upon you for this chapter which shall in its truthful narration be a vindication of German character as we have known it here."

Through this friendly pressure I acceded, and pledged myself to the under- taking.

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From the beginning it was evident that in an article prepared in a compara- tively short time, even if it was of considerable length, completeness could not be attained, nevertheless, I have hoped to note a number of the many impor- tant points which would somewhat demonstrate the value and admirable quality of the German spirit. There will be an attempt to note briefly how the earliest German immigrants proved their patriotism in the war of the revolution under Washington, as later arrivals from over-seas did in the dreadful conflict for the freedom of the slave in the '6os of the last century, in devotion to their adopted fatherland, also how the German-Americans have contributed to advancement in all branches of culture, and have attained eminence in the fine arts as well as contributing their full share to the substantial prosperity of America.

THE GERMAN SPIRIT IN THE UNITED STATES IN GENERAL.

The date when Germans first came to America cannot be determined with certainty. Rumor tells us that even on the Viking ship of the danger-loving Norseman, Leif Erickson, who was the first to land on the shores of our country, to which he gave the name Vinland, almost 500 years before Columbus' dis- covery, there was a German. When Columbus in 1492 had rediscovered America the love of wandering instinctive in the German race soon made itself manifest. This wander instinct was encouraged in the adventure-loving German by the descriptions of travel, partly imaginative, published by Amerigo Vespucius, and he reached this golden wonderland in ships of Spaniard and Portuguese.

It was the German professor, Martin Waldseemueller, who in a Latin book printed in 1507 suggested the recognition of the over-estimated services of Ves- pucius, by naming the new land America, which name it has retained, although Columbia would perhaps have been a juster recognition. When a full 150 years later upon the soil now the United States in the neighborhood of the English colonies the Swedes founded New Sweden and the Dutch New Netherlands, an important part was taken in the latter colony by the German Jacob Leisler, defending in 1691 as representative of the Dutch government of New Amster- dam the settlement against the encroachment of English tyranny. Even earlier than this a German, Peter Minnewit, had been governor of this struggling Dutch colony.

It was impossible for Germany in its dismembered condition to plant colonies, yet the despotism of German princes and religious persecution easily explains emigration to the land of promise, America. Through an invitation extended by William Penn directly to the eminent German lawyer, Franz Daniel Pastorius, Germans united in settling the colony to which Penn's name had been given. October 16, 1683, the ship Concord brought the first organized company of Ger- man emigrants to this country. There were thirteen families from Krefeld, thirty-three people who arrived and were welcomed by Pastorius and Penn. The heads of these families, who were for the most part weavers, founded the set- tlement called Germantown near Philadelphia which was given the title of city in 1691. German day, which is observed in many places on October 16th of each year commemorates the day in 1683 when these first German emigrants

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in larger numbers landed on American soil and founded a successful American colony.

It would take too long to write a general history of the Germans in America. It is perhaps generally known that the Germans in Pennsylvania developed such strength that the matter of making German the official language of the colony was considered. When the question came up for decision in the council it was defeated by a single vote and that one was cast by a German who argued that a single language would promote the unity of the colonies and induce their pros- perity. It should be noted that the Germans of Germantown under the leader- ship of Pastorius in 1688 made the first protest against slavery which was at that time tolerated by Puritan and Quaker alike. The original of that memorable document is still to be seen at the present time in Philadelphia. It should also be mentioned that it was in the printing establishment of Christopher Sauer of Germantown that the first German Bible was printed in this country.

In the war of the Revolution the noble Washington habitually chose German soldiers for his bodyguard. Among the heroes in that war whose names are infrequently given due honor in school books and so-called historical works may be named Generals Nicholas Herchheimer (Herkimer), Peter Muehlenberg, Johann von Kalb (de Kalb), Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben, the last being appointed drill master of the army by Washington and the Continental congress. We must also not omit to mention that the first treasurer of the united colonies was the German, Michael Hillegas. The historical figure of the battle of Monmouth, the heroine Mollie Pitcher, was a German and her real name Maria Heis. Prus- sia's heroic king, Frederick the Great, was the first monarch to recognize the young republic, the United States of America.

When the republic had been established by the conflict which followed the glorious Declaration of Independence and England's despotism had been ended, the immigrant stream from Germany became uninterrupted. The German im- migrant was numbered among the best of those who settled the western country. Where there were no railroads the wagon drawn by oxen served. The Ger- mans with other immigrants and American pioneers followed the course of the larger streams coming up the Mississippi from New Orleans to St. Louis and even to the smaller villages beyond-Burlington, Davenport, Dubuque, etc.

The reaction following the revolution in Germany in 1848-49 brought in the next ten years and in the early '60s, 1,500,000 of the flower of the German popu- lation to America. Among these were such men as Carl Schurz, Franz Sigel, Friedrich Hecker, G. T. Kellner, Herman Raster, etc. To Davenport came many liberty-loving Schleswig-Holsteiners, such as Bleik Peters, Hans Reimer Claussen, Ernst Claussen, Emil Geisler, G. P. Ankerson, Theodor Guelich, Jens Peter Stibolt, etc.

Then came the secession of the states and civil war lasting from 1861 to 1865. In this desperate struggle, which ended with the refounding of a single large North American republic and the freedom of the slaves through the procla- mation of Abraham Lincoln, 200,000 Germans swore allegiance to the flag of the union and through their aid this country was saved dismemberment. Here may be mentioned some of the most noted German commanders in the Union army :

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Generals Osterhaus, Ludwig Blenker, Rosecrans, August Willich, Friedrich Hecker, Carl Schurz, etc. The number of German officers in the Union army in a class with our Captain Robert Henne were numbered by the hundreds, which is not an occasion for wonder, as many German immigrants were skilled in military tactics through service in the fatherland and had an understanding of military discipline which native recruits had yet to acquire. The members of the German turner societies of this country were among the first to decide with enthusiasm to uphold the Union. By the thousand the turners rallied to the standard. Turner halls were in many cities depopulated during the war, for instance in Cincinnati, where the first turning society in the United States was established. This was November 21, 1848, and on the instigation of that champion of freedom, Friedrich Hecker, who came from Baden. In the Daven- port Turner hall a company was organized that with three exceptions consisted of Germans, and whose officers were Davenport turners; to make especial mention : August Wentz, Theodor Guelich, Johann Ahlefeldt, Ernst Claussen, Louis Schoen, Fr. Dittmann, Charles Stuehmer, etc.

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Carl Schurz, who may be called with justice the most distinguished German- American, having filled the highest position accorded those not native born, while secretary of the interior, was the first to call attention to the inevitable and irreparable results following the destruction of the forests and earnestly recommended the introduction of German methods of forest conservation. The well-known German-American poet, Konrad Nies, voiced this protest in poetic language in his noted poem, "The Revenge of the Woods." Bernhard E. Fernono, one of the founders of the National Forest association and editor of the publication, "The Forester" was principally instrumental some ten years ago in launching the movement for forest conservation, which cannot fail to bring blessings to the land.

To the development of American industries the German-American has con- tributed in generous measure. Much of the groundwork of these enterprises is the result of German thoroughness and German perseverance, as for instance the piano factory of Steinway & Sons, in New York; the steel cable establish- ment of John A. Roebling's Sons, in Trenton, N. J. The deceased John A. Roeb- ling was the builder of the famous Brooklyn bridge, the first bridge over East river, at New York. There may be also cited the leather works of R. H. Foer- derer, in Philadelphia, the immense breweries in St. Louis, Milwaukee and elsewhere, that of Anheuser-Busch at St. Louis being the largest in the world. In the central states, success due to German diligence is manifested in number- less instances in American industries. Here in Davenport are conspicuous ex- amples of this success, an instance being the large manufacturing plant of the Bettendorf Axle Company, in a suburb of Davenport, at whose head are Wil- liam P. and Joseph Bettendorf and in connection with which is their father, M. Bettendorf, a man who holds the German liberal thought in highest esteem. In this great factory where among other things steel railroad cars are made the business transacted approaches a million each month. This factory promises to be one of the greatest in this part of the country. The president of the fac-

MUSIC PAVILION IN SCHUETZEN PARK

SCHUETZEN PARK CLUB HOUSE

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tory, William P. Bettendorf, has proven himself a genius in invention, and his valuable patents are now bringing him a rich return.

Not all German-American inventors have been so fortunate. It is only necessary to remember Ottomar Mergenthaler who designed the linotype, that machine now indispensable in the printing establishments of the country, the most magnificent machine the mind of man has ever devised. Mergenthaler died in poverty in Baltimore in the year 1899, after long illness. The Mergen- thaler Linotype Company has since that time amassed many million dollars in the manufacture of the improved machine.

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The German press of the country has steadily gained in influence and im- portance and has probably not yet reached its zenith. The oldest German news- paper, still published in Reading, Penn., is the Reading Adler, founded in the year 1796. The German newspapers now number in the hundreds. Among the daily publications of the first rank are the New Yorker Staats-Zeitung, the Westliche-Post in St. Louis, the Illinois Staats-Zeitung of Chicago, and others. In Davenport appears as a daily newspaper Der Demokrat, a German paper which was founded by Theodor Guelich in 1851. Its proprietor, from 1856 to 1903, was Henry Lischer and it is now published by the H. Lischer Printing Company, whose members are the sons of Henry Lischer. Another Davenport newspaper is the Semi-weekly Iowa Reform which was founded by the writer of this article in 1884 and who has continued its publication from that year with the assistance of his brother Gerhard Petersen, with good success. Last year, to celebrate the 25th anniversary, a jubilee edition was issued, a piece of journalistic achievement rarely equalled in the German-American field. Concerning the German-American press the distinguished historian Rudolph Cronau says in his latest work, "Three Centuries of German Life in America," from which work many of the dates above given are taken: "The tone of the German-American press is genuinely American. It is everywhere the constant defender of the best elements in our political system, sharp in its criticism of political mistakes, and an untiring champion of the general welfare, of order and of personal liberty. To the praise of the German-American newspapers it may be further said that with few exceptions they are free from the disgusting sensationalism through which many American newspapers endeavor to enlarge their circle of readers."

Brief mention has already been made of what the German turning societies did in the time of the country's greatest need. Hastily will be sketched what the German immigrants have accomplished in the realm of music in this mighty land. To them thanks are due for the development of orchestral music and much that is admirable in vocal music. The names of the following pioneer conductors : Leopold Damrosch, Theodore Thomas, Carl Zerrahn, Christoph Bach and Fried- rich Stock are household words. In Davenport Jacob Strasser was the founder and pioneer of good orchestral music. In the realm of grand opera may be written the noted Wagner directors and singers: Anton Seidl, Walter Damrosch, Alfred Hertz, Andreas Dippel and others and the equally noted song-birds, Ritter-Goetze, Marcella Sembrich, Schumann-Heink and others. On occasions of great saengerfests the four-part choruses for male voices have been given with

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immense effect, a recent example being the male choruses at the saengerfest of the Northwestern association in July, 1898, in Davenport.

The German theater in the United States has contributed much to the ele- vation of public taste, although in many cities where it formerly flourished it is now struggling for existence. In New York, St. Louis and Milwaukee the German theater still prospers. In Davenport where for more than fifty years the "Deutches Stadttheater" was able to exist, giving pleasure at all times and instruction on many occasions not only to the Germans but also to the English speaking population, there is now being given at the Grand Opera House a series of plays by a dramatic organization of St. Louis. The present director of the German theater in Davenport is the excellent character-actor, G. C. Ackermann. Formerly for many years John Hill was the manager of the local theater. Fritz Singer also rendered valuable service in this line, as before him did Berthold Kraus. The most famous of those who have appeared upon the local stage as artistic managers are Gustav Donald, Hans Ravené, H. Neeb, G. C. Ackermann and Hans Wengefeld. The qualities which made the German immigrant suc- cessful in this country and caused him to be recognized among the most sub- stantial of American citizens found their finest expression in the exhibits of Germany at the World's Fair in Chicago in 1893 and at St. Louis in 1904, where she was the equal of all exhibiting nations and surpassed most. But greater than this excellence in material benefit is the gift to Americans and the foreign born citizens of this land other than the Germans of those influences toward the higher life, and in this consists their greater debt to the German-Americans, which is most manifest in its influence upon the younger generation. We brought America not only German industry which helped to change the bare prairie into laughing, fruitful fields, we also brought it the systematic physical training now taught in many schools of this country, according to German methods, the fostering of the best in vocal and instrumental music, true love of liberty, and the Christmas tree with its many sparkling lights, which is now to be found in nearly every American home.

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History of Davenport and Scott County Iowa, Volume I, Part 73

Author: Downer, Harry E Publication date: 1910 Publisher: Chicago : S. J. Clarke Number of Pages: 1042

Author: Downer, Harry E
Publication date: 1910
Publisher: Chicago : S. J. Clarke
Number of Pages: 1042