History of Cincinnati, Ohio, with illustrations and biographical sketches, Part 36

Author: Ford, Henry A., comp; Ford, Kate B., joint comp
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Cleveland, O., L.A. Williams & co.
Number of Pages: 666

USA > Ohio > Hamilton County > Cincinnati > History of Cincinnati, Ohio, with illustrations and biographical sketches > Part 36

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

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 com- pelled also Heinrich to take hold of hard work very soon, but he made' use at once of his leisure moments in study- ing the English language. After the early death of his father (January, 1850), 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 com- mercial 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 be- came 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 writ- ten poetry in the German and the English language, sun- der the pseudonym "Hugo Reimmund," and has worked with especial industry in the field of historical investiga- tions, particularly in the history of civilization. Above all, he has taken it upon himself to vindicate a just esti- mate 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 Sænger- bund (1850), the Mænnerchor (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 Cincin- nati. He owns a large and valuable library, which facili-

I34

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 es- sentially but in one point-they did not approve of Gree- ley's nomination 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 de- cidedly. 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 Gov- ernor 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 Emi- grants' school, was maintained by the Emigrants' Friend Society. The chief leaders of this institution were Bella- my Storer as president, Johann Meyer as vice-president, and Jakob Gulich as chairman of the executive commit- tee. A German Pole, Johann Joseph Lehmanowsky, acted as general agent for the society, and F. C. F. Salo- mon, from Erfurt, was the principal of the school. Leh- manowsky founded, besides the school in Cincinnati, others in Dayton, Ohio, Louisville, Kentucky, and New Albany, Indiana. The teachers of the Cincinnati Emi- grants' school were, besides Salomon, a poetically minded, jolly German by the name of Julius Weyse and Julius Schwarz, 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 al- ready 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 pe- tition. The pressure was continued, and during the elec- tion 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 chang- ing 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 ac- cording 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 Pop- pelmann, 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 elec- tion of 1840, the majority of the Whig party, which al- ways 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 sub- mit 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 excel- lent speech in favor of preserving the rights of the Ger- mans in this country, especially in regard to the educa- tion 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 estab- lished 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-

I35

HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.

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 mem- ber of the board of education of Cincinnati, and was re- elected during the two following years.

DR. FRIEDRICH ROELKER

was born 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 Osna- bruck, 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 feel- ing 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 Ger- man 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 in- struction 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 pre- sented to the Mannerchor singing society, where they still form a free library for its members, though the large public library, now containing over one hundred thou- sand volumes, has made it altogether superfluous, and its usefulness of but little importance.

The Reading and Educational society was to be eleva- ted, under Dr. Roelker's and later under Stallo's presi- dency, to a more important use than merely the reading of books could accomplish. Scientific lectures were de- livered 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 Weltges- chichte (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 im- portant 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 experi- ence in teaching, and his clear, thoughtful mind, helped him to accomplish successfully what others had com- menced with eagerness, but could not carry through. Roelker's successors in the school board of Cincinnati, before the year 1850, 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, how- ever, very successful as a notary public. He took also an active part in political journalism, and edited, in com- pany 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 prin- ciple.

JOSEPH ANTON HEMANN,

the first German principal of the German-English schools in Cincinnati, was born in 1816 at Oesede, near Osna- bruck. He attended the college of Osnabruck, and emi- grated 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 lan- guage to be taught in the public schools, he passed his examination at the same time with the well-known Ger- man 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 school board tried to suppress the German instruction, and the Germans, as has been said already, founded a temporary shool by voluntary con- tributions, Hemann became principal of that school, but in the following year he resigned the position and re- turned 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 thou- sand 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 Mol- itor was born January 5, 1806, at Cheslitz, Oberfranken. In November, 1823, he went to Wurzburg, and studied philosophy and jurisprudence. His lively and independ- ent 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 1830.

In the year 1835 he conducted the New Yorker Staats- zeitung, which had been founded but a short time before. But soon after we meet him in Buffalo, where he con- ducted the Weltburger, till he made in 1837 Cincinnati his second home. He worked there for a while in partner- ship 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 ed- ucation 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 coun- trymen and for everything which he considered best for the people. In his obituary, which appeared in the Pio- nier (fifth volume, page 191), we read:

Only this need be 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 ex- ercised, by his efficiency as an editor, an important influ- ence 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, but also that he kept it within the bounds of a man of the people, as is due to the head of a Re- publican 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 him- self 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 al- most as heresy ; and as, besides this, he was fond of pre- senting 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 Wurtemberg- ians 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

137

HISTORY OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.

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-Amerikaner, which also ex- pired 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 (1840) 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 Volks- buhne in Cincinnati, again under Walker's superintend- ence. 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 Hoch- wachter (1845-49) which answered better to his inclina- tions. 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 pos- sessed by Walker would have enabled him to work more effectively, had it been possible for him to develop him- self further, acquaint himself with the history, politics, and laws of his adopted Fatherland. But he belonged to the large number of immigrating Germans, who, al- though 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 so- cieties, which have charities for their object or are de- voted to sociability and education, they exercise, to be sure, a useful effect; but to the building up of our Amer- ican 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 Ger- many after the July revolution. In the year 1833 he left Germany, probably because he despaired of political re- form. He settled in Cincinnati and established a drug- store 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 main- taining 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 und Bildung- verein (Reading and Educational society), and added in general through his social talents, as also through his ex-

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

History of Cincinnati, Ohio, with illustrations and biographical sketches, Part 36

Author: Ford, Henry A., comp; Ford, Kate B., joint comp Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Cleveland, O., L.A. Williams & co. Number of Pages: 666

Author: Ford, Henry A., comp; Ford, Kate B., joint comp
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Cleveland, O., L.A. Williams & co.
Number of Pages: 666