USA > Maryland > Annual report of the Society for the History of the Germans in Maryland, 13th-14th, Vol. II > Part 3
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Dr. Charles Porterfield Krauth, 16") the most distinguished American advocate of the Lutheran faith, translated the " Augsburger Confession," and was the author of an impor- tant treatise contrasting the Romish and Evangelical Mass. He also wrote some religious articles in German.
Heinrich Boehm, in 1800, a journeying preacher of the Methodist Church, and previously a preacher of the " United Brethren in Christ," came to the Valley and preached the new dogma in German. His grandfather was a German- Swiss ; his father, Martin Boehm, who was Bishop of the United Brethren, travelled with him. They presented the remarkable aspect of advocates of two different creeds, and yet lived in perfect harmony. The Germans of the Valley were much attracted by both of them ; the United Brethren accepted much of the Methodist doctrine and may therefore properly be called "German Methodists." Church statistics of Virginia, 167) dated 1870, enumerate 38 organizations with 7450 United Brethren, and say: "The population is of German origin where the German Reformed, Lutheran and United Brethren are found."
It has been stated that the Germans in Virginia did not
166.) "Virginia," a History of the People, by John Esten Cook, p. 494. Boston, 1884. 167.) "Virginia, a Geographical and Political Summary," p. 197; by the Board of Immigration. Richmond, Va., 1876.
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take a very active part in State politics, and yet several Ger- man immigrants and descendants of same occupied very prom- inent positions in the Union, the State and the Army during the first decades of this century.
One of the most distinguished German-Virginians was B. William Wirth. His father immigrated from Switzerland to Maryland, and his mother was a native of Wuertemberg. He gained a high reputation as a lawyer and statesman, and in 1819 was appointed by President Monroe Attorney-General of the United States. He retained this important office for twelve - years, to the end of the presidential. term of John Quincy Adams.
Wirth had also a reputation as an author. In 1803 he wrote, " Letters of the British Spy " for the " Virginia Argus," published in Richmond. These letters created quite a sensa- tion, but the author remained unknown for a long time. He criticized, in a satirical manner, Virginian social life and the customs and eccentricities of the people. These letters fur- nished much to interest and amuse the public, and much en- larged the subscription lists of the "Argus;" but when the author became known, he earned the hatred of many of his neighbors. - Wirth's " Sketches of the Life of Patrick Henry," merit great credit as one of the most popular biographies in American literature. In the beginning of the fourth decade he published a series of letters of political and social character in the "Alte und neue Welt," printed at Philadelphia, under the pseudonym of "Kahldorf." These letters were dated from Florida, where Mr. Wirth organized a German colony that af- terwards declined. The following ludicrous anecdote is re- lated by Kennedy in his "Life of Wirth." It happened in 1803, when Mr. Wirth was awaiting Colonel Gamble's sanction to his marriage with Miss Gamble.
" Colonel Gamble had occasion on a summer morning to visit his future son-in-law's office. It unluckily happened that Wirth had the night before brought some young friends there, and they had had a merry time of it, which so beguiled the hours that even now, at sunrise, they had not separated. The
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Colonel opened the door, little expecting to find any company there at that hour. His eyes fell on the strangest group! There stood Wirth with the poker in his right hand, the sheet-iron blower on his left arm, which was thrust through the handle; on his head was a tin wash-basin, and as to the rest of his dress, -- it was hot weather and the hero of this grotesque scene had dispensed with as much of his trappings as comfort might re- quire, substituting for them a light wrapper, that greatly aided the theatrical effect. There he stood, in this whimsical capari- son, reciting with great gesticulation Falstaff's onset on the thieves, his back to the door. The opening of it attracted the attention of all. We may imagine the queer look of the anxious probationer as Colonel Gamble, with grave and mannerly si- lence, bowed and withdrew, closing the door behind him with- out the exchange of a word."
Another memorable personage was Albert Gallatin, who came to Virginia in 1779. 1Ie was born in Geneva, (Genf) Switzerland, and was a pupil of the celebrated Johannes von · Mueller. The Elector of Hessia, who was a schoolmate of Gal- latin, offered him a position in his cabinet, which he declined to accept. He came to Richmond, a young man, entrusted with the recovery of some claims, and although he could with diffi- culty express himself in English, his talents were very soon dis- covered by Patrick Henry and others. He boarded in the house of Mrs. Allegre, to whose daughter he became attached, and he asked the mother to sanction his addresses. The old Virginian lady was quite wroth at his presumption and, seizing a spit, threatened to transfix and baste him if he dare aspire to her daughter's hand. Finally she relented, the marriage took place and the old lady lived to see her son-in-law highly hon- ored. It is said that Mr. Gallatin consulted Mr. Marshall, af- terwards Chief-Justice, about studying law, but was advised to give his attention to statesmanship and finance. The result proved his correct estimate of Mr. Gallatin's talents. In 1780 he joined the Continental Army, and after the war he accepted the professorship of modern languages at Harvard University. In the year 1793 he was elected a member of the U. S. Senate ; appointed 1801, under Jefferson and Madison, U. S. Secretary of
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Treasury ; negotiated 1813 at Gent with Quincy Adams the peace with England; was ambassador to France and England from 1815 to 1823, and retired to private life in 1826. HIe pub- lished, "Memoir on the North-Eastern Boundary," New York, 1843, and "Synopsis of the Indian Tribes in North America." With Thomas Jefferson he vigorously opposed the "Federals," who aimed to give to the Republic a constitution after the British pattern and even inclined to change the confederacy of States to a constitutional .monarchy. In the critical period of 1812 he framed the laws of taxation. He died August 12th, 1849, at Astoria, N. Y.
The Counties Gallatin in Kentucky and Illinois commemo- rate his name, and various townships and cities in New York, Mississippi, Tennessee and Missouri are named after him.
In the presidential election of 1824 a caucus was held and Mr. Gallatin nominated for Vice-President of the United States, - an honor which never again has been bestowed on a foreign- born citizen. But Mr. Gallatin withdrew. 168)
During his stay at Richmond, Va., he occupied a residence on a square between Leigh and Clay, and Seventh and Eighth streets. Death ended his distinguished career in New York city.
It is fairly probable that Chief-Justice John Marshall was of German descent, and that his name was originally spelled with "sch" instead of simply "sh." The fact that Mr. Mar- shall was born in the German settlement of Germantown, in Fauquier county, on the 24th of September, 1755, and that Dr. Louis Marschall, 16?) the first physician of Frankfort, Ky., and father of Humphrey Marshall, who anglicized his German name, came from Germantown, Va., too, speaks in favor of this con- jecture. Ile was a general of the Colonial Army and the friend and biographer of George Washington. He married Miss Mary Willis Ambler, daughter of the Treasurer Jaquelin Ambler, in the year 1783, and he died in 1835. His residence
168.) "The North American Review," Vol. 131, No. 5, p. 406.
- 169.) "Compare Vol. I of this Illstory, p. 159.
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still stands in Richmond, on the street named in his honor, ' between Eighth and Ninth streets. Judge Marshall was a man of great merit, of unpretentious manner and true re- publican simplicity.
Daniel Sheffcy of Staunton, Augusta county, was the son of German parents. Ile represented Virginia in Congress from 1809-17. Other German-Virginian members of Congress were John Kerr of Richmond, 1813-17, and Isaac Leffler from the Shenandoah Valley from - 1827-29.170) The biography of Daniel Sheffey is given by Andreas Simon171) as follows:
" Daniel Sheffey was born in the year 1770, in Frederick, Md. His father, a German shoemaker, introduced his son into the secrets of his trade, but he did not care to give him a good school-education. Daniel However was desirous of learning and used his leisure time to study astronomy and mathematics, for which he possessed a particular fancy. When he was of age he wandered up the Valley to Augusta county, and from there to Ablesville, Wythe county, where he received employment as shoemaker. His originality and wittiness soon attracted general attention, and finally he quitted his trade and studied law with lawyer Alexander Smyth. When admitted to the bar, and having proved his talent in several complicated law suits, he removed to Staun- ton, Va. There he was very successful. Mr. John Randolph, the well known statesman, once opposed him before court, and satirically remarked: 'A shoemaker better remain at his bench,' whereupon Sheffey answered : 'Of course if you had been a shoemaker you would still be one.' Although Sheffey spoke the English language with a strikingly German accent, he was elected in 1805 to the Senate of Virginia, 1809 to Congress and again in 1823 to the Legislature of Virginia. IIe died at Staunton in 1830."
In 1812, during the second war of the Republic with Great Britain, Major George Armistaedt defended the harbor
170.) "Virginia and Virginians," by Dr. R. A. Brock, Richmond, Va., 1856.
171.) "Lord Fairfax in Virginien," yon A, Simon in "Der Westen," June 12th, 1892. Chicago, Ills.
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of Baltimore against the fleet under Admiral Cockburn. IIe was born April 10th, 1780, at New-Market, Va., where his ancestors had immigrated from Hessen-Darmstadt. Five of his brothers served In the army during the war of 1812, three with the regulars and two with the militia. In 1813 George Armistaedt was promoted to Major of the 3rd Artillery Reg- iment. Ile distinguished himself at the capture of Fort George at the mouth of the Niagara river, and after his brilliant defence of Fort Henry near Baltimore he was raised to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel.
Walter Keith Armistead, a brother of the aforenamed, was born in 1785 and died in 1845 at Upperville, Va. He, like his brother, was a brave soldier. From 1808-1811 he dis- tinguished himself as engineer and superintendent of the fortifications of Norfolk, Va., and was appointed Brigadier- General.
The Armistead family is held among the most prominent in the old mother State. The mother of President John Tyler belonged to it. She was a daughter of Robert Armi- stead, whose grandfather had immigrated from Hessen- Darmstadt. From a petition of Mrs. Letitia Tyler Semple, addressed to Hon. George G. West, U. S. Senator of Missouri, and dated Louisenheim, Washington, D. C., April 20th, 1897, we learn the interesting fact: that the Armstadt or Armi- stead were relatives of four Presidents of the United States. Mrs. Semple, the daughter of President Tyler and during his term "first lady of the land," writes: "James Monroe, William Henry Harrison, John Tyler and Benjamin Harri- son are cousins, being related with the Armisteade and Tylers of Virginia."
In 1794 Joseph Ruffner, a member of the before men- tioned Ruffner family and a Shenandoah farmer, bought the Dickinson survey of Kanawha. He made no haste to visit his purchase, relates Dr. W. H. Ruffner, 172) but the next year, riding among the mountains in search of iron-ore, he
172.) "Historical Papers," No. 5, 1895, pp. 17-21. Washington and Lee University, Lexington, Va.
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saw a salt spring. When he had considered the fatness of those river bottoms, along which he had ridden for thirty- six miles ; when he looked at that clear, placid "river of the woods," alive with red-horse, white perch, buffalo and blue cats, something whispered, " It is good to be here." Joseph Ruffner bought the salt spring and a large tract of bottom land including the site of the present city of Charleston. He used the old fort for a residence and dying in 1803 he left the Dickinson survey, as it is commonly called, to his sons David and Joseph, who soon went to drilling in the rock to get a larger supply of salt water. Joseph, Jr., became discouraged and sold out to his brother David, whilst he went down the Ohio and began to farm on land which, in time, he sold out in town lots to ac- commodate the incoming population of the town of Cin- cinnati. David remained on the Kanawha and went on dis- closing the vast treasures in coal and salt-or with his "churning in the ground," as his incredulous neighbors jeeringly called his operations. Meanwhile, however, he kept his farm a-going. He invented many devices for boring wells that continue to be approved. In November 1808 he struck a good supply of brine at forty-four feet from the surface, and erected a large furnace, by means of which he promptly reduced the price of salt from five dollars a bushel to two dollars. When David died, Rev. Stuart Rob- inson, his pastor, wrote: "Colonel Ruffner was one of our first settlers; and by general acknowledgment has been our most useful citizen." He represented Kanawha in the Vir- ginia Legislature in 1799, 1801 and 1802, 1804 and 1811. The Kanawha saltworks and the first coal mines, the chief industries of this district, were established by this energetic German-Virginian. Col. Ruffner died Feb. 1st, 1843.
Gen. Lewis Ruffner, the grandson of David Ruffner, occupied a high and enviable position as a business and public man. Ile was the first child born in what is now the capital of West Virginia, (Oct. 1st, 1797.) He received an excellent college education and then returned to Kanawha and taught school one year. In 1820 he commenced the manufacture of salt, built a furnace adapted to the use of
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coal for fuel, and in 1823 he took possession of the prop- erty and salt business of his father Henry Ruffner. In 1825 he was elected to the Legislature of Virginia, and was re-elected in 1826, and again in 1828, and during the same year he was appointed Justice of the Peace.
High praise is due to other German-Virginians for their meritorious labours in various directions. In 18091 73) a number of gentlemen, interested in Agriculture, residing in Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia, organ- ized the "Columbian Agricultural Society." As the germ of a national organization, embracing different States, and as the initiative of agricultural exhibitions, this society's operations are entitled to an honorable record, and were heartily endorsed by German farmers. At the second ex- hibition of the Society, held at Georgetown, eighteen pre- miums were offered for the best agricultural products and domestic manufactured goods, and to the German exhib- itors William Steinberger of Shenandoah county, Va., and George M. Couradt of Frederickstown, Maryland, five pre- miums were awarded. The cattle exhibited by Mr. Stein- berger attracted general notice, especially an extraordinary steer raised by him. This animal was believed to be the largest ever raised in Virginia. The steer was killed the next day at the slaughter-house of Mi. Krouse and weighed near two thousand pounds net beef.
In the year 1800 the population of Richmond was 5,300 white and colored inhabitants, and there were ten or twelve physicians. Dr. Leiper was esteemed as one of the favorite doctors. In his office W. II. Harrison, afterwards President of the United States, began the study of medicine. Contemporaries of Dr. Leiper were doctors Warner (Werner ?) and Wyman (Wiemann ? ) whose names indicate their Ger- man origin. W. F. Ast, a Prussian by birth, established the first mutual Assurance Company against fire in Vir- ginia ; but in succession very extensive fires occurred in Norfolk, Richmond, Petersburg and Fredericksburg and the
173.) From an editorial article in the "Agricultural Museum," 1809, and the "U. S. Agricultural Report" of 1866.
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first paid quota of premium was exhausted in a few years. When a second one was required, payment was refused in many cases and finally the company dissolved. Joseph Darmstadt, a Hessian, who came to this country as a sutler of the allied troops of Great Britain, established a business for country produce in Richmond. "He was a shrewd man," says the Chronicler, 174) "and as the Valley beyond the Blue Ridge was settled by Germans, his knowledge of the language enabled him to attract the custom of the farmers, who drove their wagons to Richmond, laden with the products of the dairy, the mill, forest and the chase. The social disposition of Mr. Darmstadt brought him into society, even the best. Ilis own entertainments were given daily. Almost all our citizens, in those days, went early to market to furnish their larders, and Mr. D. would have a large coffee pot before his fire-place, of the contents of which, prepared by himself, many of his friends, judges, lawyers, doctors and merchants, partook, whenever they were so inclined, particularly on wet and cold mornings; and here the chit-chat of the day was first heard and much news was . circulated from this social house."
Another enterprising merchant of that time was Joseph Marx. The tobacco and tanners' trades were mostly in German hands, and so were the comparatively small number of inns throughout the State. The Chronicler of Rich- mond175) describes the primitive mode of transporting tobacco to market at the end of the last and the beginning of this cen- tury as follows : " The cask containing it was actually rolled to market on its own periphery, through mud and stream. A long wooden spike, driven into the centre of each end, and pro- jecting a few inches beyond it, served for an axletree ; a split sapling was fitted to it for shafts and extended in rear of the cask ; they were there connected by a hickory withe ; a few slabs were nailed to these, in front of the cask, forming a sort of foot board, or box, in which were stowed a middling or two of bacon, a bag of meal, a frying pan, a hoe, an axe, and a blanket
174.) "Richmond in By-gone Days," pp. 110 and 111. Richmond, Va., 1856.
175.) "Richmond in By-gone Days," pp. 270-272. Richmond, Va., 1856,
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for the bipeds ; the whole covered to some height with fodder for the quadrupeds. If the distance to market was moderate, the hogshead was rolled on its hoops, which were stout and numerous ; but if fifty to a hundred miles or more were to be overcome, rough felloes were spiked on at each end, or quarter of the cask, and these rude tires served to protect it from being worn through. The tobacco roller, as the driver, (often the owner) was called, sought no roof for shelter during his jour- ney, sometimes of a week's duration and severe toil; but at nightfall he kindled a fire in the woods by the road side, baked a hoe cake, fried some bacon, fed his team, (I omitted to. men- tion the bag of corn,) rolled his blanket around him and slept by the fire under the lee of his cask. When he reached the warehouse, his tobacco was inspected, a note or receipt express- ing the weight, etc., was handed to him, and he then sallied forth into the streets in search of a purchaser; calling out as he entered a store, ' Mister, do you buy tobacco.' When he had found the right ' Mister,' and obtained his money and a few articles to carry to his 'old woman,' he strapped the blanket on one of his horses and rode home. These men generally trav- elled in small parties, and if the weather and roads were good, had a merry time of it; if bad, they assisted each other when obstacles occurred. The journey from beyond Roanoke, the only section of the State where German farmers cultivated tobacco, consumed ten days going and returning. Tobacco rollers are now an extinct species."
In the year 1788 " The Amicable Society" was formed in Richmond, with the benevolent object of relieving strangers and wayfarers in distress, for whom the law makes no provision. The list of members contains many German names, as: Wm. Schermer, J. Kemp, Joseph Darmstadt, J. Kerr, A. Leiper, Samuel Myers, Jos. Marx, S. Jacob, B. Brand, W. Bibber, G. H. Backus, W. W. Henning, J. Bosher and D. W. Walthall.
At the beginning of the century a place called the "Rock Landing," near the mouth of Shockoe creek at Richmond, was the resort for oyster boats and small crafts. On the occasion of a severe ice-freshet a great deposit of drift-wood, soil and sand
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formed a small island in James river. "A German176) named Widewilt procured a land warrant and located it on this new formed land, and to secure it against becoming a floating island, he drove stakes. all around his slippery domain and wattled them so that future freshets might add further de- posits ; and "thus 'Widewilt's Island' became a possession of some value as a fishery and sand-mart. The island remained above water longer than its owner did above ground; a similar accident to that which formed the island recurred and destroyed the work of its predecessor."- The courageous work of the German fisherman calls forth admiration and has surrounded his name with romance. 177)
In the year 1804 a German hunter Bernard Wier dis- covered in the magnesian limestone region of Augusta county, on the land of his countryman Aymand, 178) the beautiful cave known as "Wier's Cave."
Immigration. in the farming districts of the State had almost ceased, as has been mentioned, within the first decades of the nineteenth century. Only the country around. Alex- andria made an exception, as the farmers of that section found a ready sale for their farm products in the adjoining city of Washington. The farmers directed their attention mainly to fruit culture, market gardening and dairy farming. Dr. Julius Dienelt, of Alexandria, informed the author "that in the period of 1830-40 quite a number of Germans settled in the immediate vicinity of Alexandria, naming: Hartbauer, Hohenstein, Grillbortzer, Dietz, Petshold and others, and their descendants still own the land of their fathers, which has much increased in value."
The most convincing evidence of the importance, strength and propagation of the older German element in Virginia is furnished by the large number of German names in the lists of members of the "General Assembly of Virginia." From
176 ) "Richmond in By-gone Days," pp. 19 and 20. Richmond, Va., 1856.
177.) "Widewilt's versunkene Insel," Gedicht von H. Schuricht. "Der Süden," Vol. I, No. 10. Richmond, Va., 1891.
178.) "Virginia Almanac for 1816," Johnson & Warner. Richmond, Va.
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the "Journals of the House of Delegates and of the Senate " the author obtained the following German names, not taking into consideration many doubtful ones like : Adam, Arnold, Baker, Christian, Cook, Fox, Friend, Hunter, Marshall, Martin, New, Thomas, Smith, Young, etc. *
1777-1780: Starke, A. Ilite, (Hampshire) ; W. Fleming, S. Hart, (Rockingham) ; Isaac Zane, (Shenandoah) ; S. Helm, George Skillering, (Botetourt); W. Drinkard, Th. Ilite, (Berkeley).
1/81-1783: Rucker, John Skinker, (King George): II. Fry, (Culpepper); Ch. Simms, (Fairfax); Thomas IIelm, Francis Worman, Ebenezer Zane, (Ohio) ; J. Marks, J. Fry, (Albe- marle) ; Th. Coleman, (Halifax).
1784-1786: W. Armistead, (New Kent) ; J. Reed (Pendle- ton); William Gerrard, (Stafford) ; J. Cropper, Wm. Gerrard, (Fayette) ; A. Hines, A. Stephan, (Berkeley) ; G. Stubblefield, (Spotsylvania) ; John Marr, R. Gregory, Gustavus Brown.
1787-1788: J. Turner, John Stringer, D. Fisher, B. Tem- ple, (King William) ; John Broadhead, Joseph Swearinger, J. Trotter, Th. Kemp, (Princess Ann).
1790-1794: A. Waggoner, (Berkeley); Th. Edgar, Isaac Parsons, G. Stump, W. Nilms, A. D. Orr, Richard Hickman, (Clarke) ; Jacob Froman, (Mercer).
1795-1798 : George Buckner, (Caroline) ; Th. Starke, (Han- over) ; Wm. Buckner, (Mathe) ; John Koontz, (Rockingham).
1805-1816: Daniel Sheffey, (Augusta) ; Noah Zane, (Ohio) ; Gorman Baker, (Cumberland); Wm. Starke, (Hanover) ; T. W. Swearinger, (Jefferson) ; Dr. Jos. De Graffenriedt, (Lunenburg).
1823-1828: L. T. Date, (Orange); George May, (Bath) ; F. G. L. Buhring, (Cabell); Jos. Holleman, (Isle of Wight); George Rust, (Loudoun) ; James Fisher, (Lunenburg) ; R. P. Fletcher, (Rockingham) ; Col. John Thom, (Fauquier) ; John Perringer, (Alleghany) ; Samuel IIerdman, (Brooke); George Stillman, (Fluvanna) ; Ed. Sangeter, (Fairfax) ; Wm. Finks, (Madison) ; Dr. John Stanger, (White) ; John F. May, (Peters- burg).
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CHAPTER XII.
REVIVAL OF GERMAN IMMIGRATION AND LIFE TO 1860.
N the fourth decade of the nineteenth century the German element of Virginia, particularly of Richmond, several country towns and the present State of West Virginia, received large additions of German immigrants. They came by way of New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore and New Orleans. Representing nearly all of the German States, yet they principally came from Hessia and Saxony-particularly from the city of Marburg in Hessia. Mr. Nolting, a merchant whose descendants still live in Richmond, imported by sailing vessel direct from Bremen to Rockets, now Fulton, Va., a large num- ber of German laborers and artisans, who were employed in building the James river or Kanawha canal. Numerous Ger- man Hebrews settled in the various county seats of Virginia, where they established stores. Mr. Julius Straus, the present president of the Beth Ahaba congregation, reported on Nov. 6, 1898, in a brief sketch of the Jews of Richmond : 1 79)
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