History of Cincinnati and Hamilton County, Ohio; their past and present, Part 42

Author: Nelson, S.B., Cincinnati
Publication date: 1894
Publisher: Cincinnati : S. B. Nelson
Number of Pages: 1592

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LITERARY AND PROFESSIONAL MEN.

In noting the literary and professional lights the name of Dr. Joseph H. Pulte should not be omitted. He was a native of Westphalia. After finishing his medical studies, he emigrated to the United States in 1834, following a brother who was a well-known physician in St. Louis. Settling in Allentown, he devoted his atten- tion to the practice of homeopathy, then but recently introduced in this country. After laboring there for several years in the Homeopathic College of that place, he came to Cincinnati in 1840 and settled. In 1850 he published a work entitled " The Domestic Practice of Homeopathy," which appeared also in London, in English; and in Havana, in Spanish. He followed this by several other medical works from time to time. He also conducted for several years the " American Maga- zine of Homeopathy and Hydropathy." In 1852 he became professor of clinical

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HISTORY OF CINCINNATI AND HAMILTON COUNTY.

practice and obstetrics in the Homeopathic College at Cleveland, and founded in Cincinnati, from his own means, the Pulte Homeopathic Medical College, which was opened September 27, 1872. Besides his poetical writings mention should be made of his philosophical work, with which he enriched the literature of the country. It is an attempt to bring revealed religion into harmony with philosophy. Dr. Pulte did much to advance and elevate his school of medicine, and his name stands high among those who have followed in his footsteps. He died about 1883.

Another eminent physician, Dr. Friedrich Roelker, is eminently deserving of notice in this connection. He was born in Germany in 1809, and educated in that country. After finishing his studies he taught for a short time in Osnabruck, whence he came to this country in 1835. In 1837 he located in Cincinnati and became an English teacher. He held this position two years, when he was made principal of the Catholic Trinity School. At the end of a year he resigned to study medicine at the Ohio Medical College. Having graduated he devoted himself to the practice of medicine in Cincinnati. His position as English teacher in the pub- lic 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 nominated him as a candidate for the school board in 1843 he was elected. He was appointed chairman of the committee on instruction in Ger- man, 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 under his untiring care. 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 zeal, activity and success. His re-election in 1844 was easy. He understood clearly that the preservation of the German lan- guage did not depend on school instruction alone, but that continued effort after- ward 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. It was called the " German Reading and Educational Society," and in its foundation Roelker was largely aided by a number of eminent and well- known German citizens. He was made the first president of the society, and it. continued to grow and prosper until the Civil war caused its dissolution. The four thousand volumes owned by the library were presented to the Mannerchor singing society for the free use of its members. Dr. Roelker resigned his position as a member of the school board in 1846, and in 1849 he made a visit to Europe. There. has not been a man in Cincinnati who is entitled to more credit for the successful introduction of German instruction in the public schools than Dr. Roelker, nor one whose name is more honored on this account. He died at Providence, R. I., about 1883.

MILITARY HEROES.

In the military line the name of August Moor is worthy of mention. He was born in Leipzig March 28, 1814, became a pupil in a military school, and there developed a decided taste for the military profession. He came to the United States in 1833, and found occupation in Philadelphia. There he became a lieutenant in the Washington Guard of that city, and during the Seminole war of 1836 he enlisted in a volunteer dragoon company, in which he became lieutenant-colonel. When his term of service expired he came to Cincinnati and engaged in business. On the breaking out of the Mexican war in 1846. he became captain of a company of Ohio Volunteers, and so distinguished himself in several battles that he was soon advanced to major, then lieutenant-colonel, and finally colonel of the regiment. A few years after his return he was made major-general of the First Division of the Ohio Militia, but resigned in a few years. On the breaking out of the Civil war he was

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one of the first to enlist under the flag of the Union, and was made colonel of the Twenty-eighth Ohio Volunteers-the second German regiment-which was attached to Gen. Rosecrans' army. He distinguished himself in West Virginia-fought under Hunter in the Shenandoah Valley and was considered one of the best and brav- est officers of the army. He led a brigade during the whole of his three years' service, but was not until his discharge made a brevet brigadier-general. He was highly appreciated by Rosecrans, Averill, Burnside and Hunter, and by them his advancement was urged, but owing to the jealousies which prevailed among officers he did not receive the recognition to which he was entitled until he was out of ser- vice. He died about 1883.

Gen. Gottfried Weitzel, another adopted Cincinnatian, was born in Germany November 1, 1835, but came to this country in early youth. His parents settled in Cincinnati, and in his seventeenth year he was sent to West Point, whence he was graduated in 1855, after having passed an excellent examination, when he was made second lieutenant in the Engineer Corps. When the war broke out he was already a captain, became attached to Gen. Butler's staff, and accompanied him to New Orleans. Having reached the rank of brigadier-general he was assigned to the command of a brigade in the corps of Gen. Banks, when that officer undertook his unfortunate expedition up Red river. Afterward he was assigned to the army of the Potomac, under Gen. Grant, and was given the command of a brigade. It is well-known that he took an active part in the operations against Richmond, and he was the first general officer, who, at the head of his command, entered the city of Richmond by the side of President Lincoln. Strange coincidence! The German Gen. 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 abandoned capital of the Confederacy. Gen. Weitzel was an officer in the United States Engineer Corps with the brevet rank of a major-general. That he was a German by birth is proved by the fact that he was a member of the German Pio- neer Society of Cincinnati, to which only German natives are admitted. He died many years ago.

ART AND MUSIC.

The tutor of Hiram Powers was a German named Friedrich Eckstein. He was born at Berlin about the year 1787, studied art, and came to Cincinnati in 1825 or 1826, and founded an Academy of Fine Arts, of which he remained a director until his death in 1832, which was caused by cholera. It was in his school and under his direction that Powers took his first lessons in sculpture, and from him he drew the inspiration which made him famous. Aside from the busts of Governor Morrow and President William H. Harrison, but few of Eckstein's works are known to be in existence. These busts, however, are of great artistic value. The first is in the State Library at Columbus, and the second is in the possession of Gen. Harrison's descendants. After the death of Eckstein his art school was discontinued, but his eminent pupil achieved high distinction in after years, and always bore in kind remembrance the name of his German tutor.

About the time of Eckstein came the two brothers, Johann Peter and Gott- fried N. Frankenstein, as painters. The latter made a great reputation. His large landscape painting of the Niagara Falls has been multiplied by engravers and litho- graphers, and a bust of Hon. John McLean, executed by him in marble, was much admired. Mr. Ratterman says of him in one of his lectures: "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 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 short duration. Another artist, Friedrich Franks, was in 1828 the founder of a gallery of fine arts in Cin- cinnati, and afterward the owner of the Western Museum.

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ACADEMIES OF ART.

It is worthy of notice that the various endeavors to found academies of art in Cincinnati have always proceeded from Germans. About the efficiency of these artist schools it need only be said that some of the most prominent American artists have come forth from them, as for instance Miner K. Kellogg, William H. Powell, the brothers Read, the American artist and poet, T. Buchanan Read, and others. Mr. Ratterman thus speaks of their artistic worth: "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 the ideal. They be- longed, therefore, more to the realistic school. 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."

That music has been introduced by the Germans, and has been especially fost- ered by them in Cincinnati, as well as throughout America, is well known. As early as 1823 there existed here a musical society, 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 musi- cal festival of the United States was held in this city. On this occasion the first Ger- man Sængerbund of North America was founded, whose musical festivals have now gained a world-wide reputation, and prepared the way for the foundation of the magnificent Music Hall and the Cincinnati College of Music. The idea for the erection of the great Music Hall was conceived soon after the festival of 1875. It was carried out by public-spirited citizens, who raised $302,000 for the purpose, and in November, 1875, the Cincinnati Music Hall Association was incorporated. Mr. Reuben Springer and Mr. John Shillito were the moving spirits in this great enter- prise, and contributed the bulk of the money for the building. The association entered into an agreement with the City Council, by which the perpetual control of the lot was vested in the association, tax free, on a covenant that it would build the hall, keep it in repair, and as nearly free from cost to the public as might be con- sistent with the expense of repairs and insurance, neither stockholders nor trustees to receive any dividend or compensation in any form therefrom. The building is immense in size, and contains a hall with a seating capacity of 4,428. The organ cost $26,000, not including the case or screen.

The College of Music has rooms for study and practice in the great Music Hall building, also in the Odeon adjoining, with seating capacity of 1,200, also in the Lyceum, with seating capacity of 400. The aim of the college is to impart instruc- tion theoretically in all branches of musical education. Competent professors are employed and special instruction is given in German, Italian and English elocution, as well as the theory of music and its practice, both vocal and instrumental.

The Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, a leading private school for musical edu- cation, is well conducted and liberally patronized. In a word Cincinnati abounds with public and private musical societies, orchestras and bands. In the German portion of the city, or "Over the Rhine," there are at least fifty musical and sing- ing societies.

PIKE'S OPERA HOUSE.

Very few are aware that S. N. Pike, the founder of the great opera house which bears his name, was a Jew. He was the son of parents by the name of Hecht, and was born near Heidelberg in 1822, and came to this country in 1827. His father changed his name from Hecht to Pike, because that is the English meaning of the word. After receiving a good education he traveled about the country considerably, when he finally settled in Cincinnati in 1844 and engaged in business. He married,

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in Cincinnati, the youngest daughter of Judge Miller. Having engaged in the liquor business, he soon acquired great wealth. When Jenny Lind visited the city he became greatly interested in her singing, and resolved that he would build an opera house specially adapted for such concerts, and which should be a credit to Cin- cinnati. The foundation was laid in 1856, but, owing to the financial panic which then prevailed, the magnificent building was not completed until the winter of 1858. On the 22nd of February, 1859, the Opera house, at that time the largest, finest and most beautiful in this country, was opened with due solemnity. It marked the be- ginning of an epoch in the musical and dramatic history of the city. Not contented with this splendid building, he commenced, in 1866, the erection of a dramatic pal- ace in New York called the Grand Opera House, which he sold to James Fisk, then in the zenith of his career, for $850,000. But he had not more than got his New York building fairly under way, than his Cincinnati Opera house was destroyed by fire in the spring of 1866. It was rebuilt, and is still one of the principal ornaments of the city. Pike was afterward successful in a land speculation near New York City which brought him great profit, and at the time of his death, in 1872, his fortune amounted to several millions of dollars.

AN EMINENT SCHOLAR.

One of the most eminent of German scholars, teachers and authors, was Johann Bernard Stallo, born in 1823 in the Grand Duchy of Oldenberg. He received a good education and adopted teaching as a profession. In 1839 he came to Cincin- nati. Being provided with letters of introduction from his father and grandfather, he at once found a position in a private school. There he compiled his first book on the rudiments of spelling and reading, which immediately became very popular, and many editions were called for. Soon afterward he was engaged as a teacher of the German language in the newly founded St. Xavier College, where he remained three years. His tastes ran to mathematics and physics, and in these studies he excelled.

The study of the higher mathematics led him to German philosophy. He was called to New York in 1843, and made teacher of mathematics, physics and chemis- try at St. John's College, which position he filled until the end of the year 1847. Returning to Cincinnati, he took up the study of the law, passed a brilliant examina- tion, and was admitted to the Bar in 1849. He soon distinguished himself in his new calling in such a way that in 1853 the governor appointed him judge of the Court of Common Pleas of Hamilton county, to fill a vacancy. The people elected him the same year for the regular terin of that office, but he resigned in 1855 on account of the inadequate salary, and returned to the practice of the law. His career as a law- yer, politician and author has been brilliant in the extreme.

AS MANUFACTURERS.

The Germans of Cincinnati early became identified with the manufactures, and down to the present time they have ranked among the highest engaged in fostering the great industries of the city. In the chapter on manufactures it is shown that their investments in the production of beer alone amount to many millions of dollars, and that some of their manufacturing plants rank among the largest and most costly in the United States. They are also engaged in other large industries, notably the manufacture of organs, pianos and other musical instruments. The manufacture of organs was commenced as early as 1831, when a factory was established by Mathias Schwab, from which have gone forth great numbers of excellent instruments. This plant is the oldest of its kind in this country, and it is still in existence.

About 1836 the first attempt to use machinery extensively in the fabrication of furniture was made by Friedrich Rammelsberg, a Hanoverian, by the introduction of Woodworth's planing machines. Some years later others became interested with Rammelsberg. His practical knowledge thus united to a moderate capital soon

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began to realize important results. Not only does the gigantic building which is still in existence under the name of the Mitchell Furniture Factory, employing more than 1,500 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. This active, progressive, and pioneer manufacturer died in 1863. The history of Mr. Mitchell will be found in the biographical depart- ment.

WONDERFUL ATTAINMENTS.

The wonderful success attained by Germans in the brewing business, together with the millions of dollars they have invested in this productive industry, will be found very fully described in the chapter on manufactures. In the founding of this line of business their achievements have been greater, almost, than those of their countrymen in any other American city, and when the amount of money invested and the products are considered, one is amazed at what has been accomplished. No class of people have contributed more in brains, sinews, labor and money, toward build- ing up Cincinnati, and making it what it is to-day, than the Germans. And no class is entitled to greater credit. They are modest and retiring in their disposition, not given to brag or bluster, and make no boisterous claims of what they have accom- plished, but are content to plod along in the paths of industry, and let their work tell the stranger what they have accomplished. To write the history of this German element of fully one hundred thousand people, from the beginning of Cincinnati up to the present time, would require a book as large as this volume. All we can do, therefore, is to point to a few of the early settlers, as has been done, and call atten- tion to the fact that the illustrious example which they have set is worthy of emu- lation by the coming generations, because it demonstrates the fact that the humblest, most obscure and helpless, if they cultivate industry and economy, find it possible to rise to eminence and wealth, obtain political preference, and command the respect of their fellow men.

CHAPTER XVII.

RIVER TRANSPORTATION AND TRADE.

FROM THE CANOE TO THE STEAMBOAT-HOW EARLY EMIGRANTS DESCENDED THE RIVER-THE FLAT AND KEEL BOATS-CURRENCY IN USE AMONG THE FIRST SETTLERS-THE MAIL CAR- RIED BY CANOE-FIRST LINE OF PACKETS-APPEARANCE OF THE STEAMBOAT- ITS RISE AND DECLINE-SEAGOING VESSELS-VAST COMMERCE BY RIVER.

T HE steady and substantial growth of Cincinnati may be largely attributed to its transportation business by river and railroad. The former medium of trade had its beginning more than a hundred years ago, and for over half a century the canoe, the flat, keel, and steamboat flourished. When the vast volume of the trans- portation business of to-day is considered, it is interesting to inquire into its origin and history, and contrast the past with the present.

Probably the first Englishman * to descend the Ohio with any force at his com- mand was George Croghan. On the 15th of May, 1765, he started from what is now Pittsburgh, on a visit to Vincennes and Detroit, on a commission from Sir Wil- liam Johnson, then serving as the English Indian Commissioner. Croghan had two batteaux and a number of white men and Indians under his direction. In his

* It is claimed by a French writer that LaSalle descended the Ohio river in 1670-71, but the claim lacks con- firmation. But that he discovered it in 1677 is pretty well authenticated. He himself says so in a memorial addressed to Count Frontenac in that year .- [" Iliinois and Louisiana Under French Rule," p. 77.]

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journal he says that on the 29th of May they came to the mouth of the Little Miami, and on the 30th they passed the Great Miami. Three days afterward he was cap- tured by the Indians and carried a prisoner to Vincennes.

Long after this came military expeditions against the Indians, in which batteaux and flatboats were used to transport thie forces and stores. Early emigrants in search of homes in the wilderness also used the same means of transportation, but very likely the canoe predominated.

When the first emigrants settled at Columbia, Cincinnati and North Bend, the only means of transportation they had was by the canoe and flatboat, because the country was a wilderness, and the only roads were narrow Indian paths. The river therefore had to be depended on as the quickest and surest channel of communica- tion, and all supplies were drawn from Old Redstone Fort on the Monongahela and Pittsburgh.

EARLY CURRENCY.

One of the first drawbacks in the beginning of trade with the early settlers was the lack of a circulating medium. John G. Olden, in his reminiscences, says that the skins of wild animals were first used as currency. A deer skin was valued at a dollar, a fox skin one-third of a dollar, and a raccoon skin one-fourth of a dollar. These were passed almost as readily as silver coin at these valuations. This method lasted but a short time. The establishment of the garrison at Fort Washington, and the campaigns against the Indians, brought a fair supply of specie into the country. This being principally either gold, or Spanish silver dollars, did not relieve the natural difficulty of making change in the same currency. In this perplexity the early settlers coined "cut money "-that is to say, the dollar was cut into four equal parts, each piece worth 25 cents, and again divided for 123 cents. This was soon superseded by a new and more profitable emission from the same mint, * which formed an additional quarter, or two additional eighths, to pay the expense of coin- age. This last description of change, which was named "sharp shins," from its wedge shape, became speedily as redundant as were the dimes of 1841, when they ceased to pass eight and nine for a dollar. Later a great proportion of the circu- lation was in bills of $3. The soldiers of Fort Washington were paid in these bills of the old United States Bank. They were called "oblongs." and three dollars was the monthly pay of a soldier. In 1794 a Cincinnati merchant, named Bartle, imported a barrel of copper pennies to inflate the currency, but his fellow merchants were so exasperated at his action that they almost mobbed him.

EARLY CRAFTS.

The early crafts used in river navigation were crude and clumsy in their con- struction, and would excite almost as much curiosity as the unique caravels used by Columbus to discover America, when compared with the magnificent boats now plying on our streams. They first consisted of flat-bottomed boats, keelboats and barges. One of the early river traders was Col. James Ferguson. In a record which has been preserved he informs us that he was trading on the Ohio river in 1790, and made several trips between Cincinnati and Pittsburgh during that year. From 1791 to 1794 he made two trips each year, being at the latter periods " keep- ing store" at Cincinnati. Produce was brought down the river from Red Stone and Pittsburgh in Kentucky boats. They were small keelboats, constructed with sharp roof covers over the principal part, leaving a small section of the boat uncov- ered for oars, which were used as in a skiff below, the steepness of the roof not permitting the use of oars above. But more generally the transportation was in flatboats. He ascended the river in a canoe, poling when the water was shallow

* Cist, 1859, p. 154.

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History of Cincinnati and Hamilton County, Ohio; their past and present, Part 42

Author: Nelson, S.B., Cincinnati Publication date: 1894 Publisher: Cincinnati : S. B. Nelson Number of Pages: 1592

Author: Nelson, S.B., Cincinnati
Publication date: 1894
Publisher: Cincinnati : S. B. Nelson
Number of Pages: 1592