THE GERMAN PIONEERS.
ADDRESS BY BERNARD PETERS, OF BROOKLYN, N. Y.
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN: By the
committee who have
had the arrangements for these
centennial exercises in
charge, I have been requested to speak
on this occasion of
the German pioneers who settled in this
county during the
first half of the present century. The
Governor of Ohio,
who has just introduced me as a native
of this city, must
stand corrected in this particular. I
am not a native of
this city, nor of this State, but a
native of Germany. I
was brought here by my parents, into
this county and city,
at so early an age that, living among
the New England
settlers of Marietta from youth to
manhood, they made
me over into quite as much of a Yankee
as though I had
been born on the soil of Massachusetts.
According to my understanding of the
matter, the first
German settlers of Washington County
came from the
Rhine Palatinate. They came to the
United States in the
summer of 1833, from the vicinity of
Durkheim, a little
city of some 6,000 inhabitants, located
in the gap of the
Valley of the Isenach, a small stream
flowing through the
Hardt Mountains, and distant, due west,
from Heidelberg
about twenty miles. This is indeed an
interesting region.
Lord Thomas Babington Macaulay, years
ago, while stand-
ing on the Geisberg eminence-a spur of
the Black Forest
just south of Heidelberg-and from which
vantage he
surveyed this beautiful and interesting
landscape, pro-
nounced it "the garden of
Europe."
The pioneers to whom this address will
be chiefly de-
voted were two brothers, sons of John
Peters and his wife
Barbara (nee Wagner), who had
reared a family of seven
sons, and whose ancestors, from time
immemorial, had
lived and died in this section of Germany.
The names of
the pioneers were Jacob and Charles
Frederick. I ought,
55
56
Ohio Archaeological and Historical Quarterly.
perhaps, to explain that Peters is an
Anglicised form of
the name. In German it is Peter. In
this country, as in
England, the name invariably takes on
the letter s. My
father's name was John Philip Peters,
and he was the
youngest of the seven brothers. He
followed the pioneer
brothers to this country in 1834.
The emigration of the Peters brothers
to the United
States was brought about in this wise.
In 1832 there arose
in the Palatinate and through the
southern section of Ger-
many a somewhat famous commotion among
the peasantry,
by which a demand was made of the then
ruling authori-
ties for a larger measure of liberty
for the people. It was
doubtless a preliminary symptom of the
greater commotion
that took place sixteen years later, in
1848, and which led
to an actual and somewhat remarkable
outbreak, but which
was crushed with a relentless hand by
Emperor William,
recently deceased, who as Crown Prince
made himself
famous as a soldier by the energy and
skill with which he
made an end of the movement of '48.
That insurrection
furnished the inspiring cause for
emigration to the United
States to Carl Schurz and General Franz
Sigel-the latter
of whom subsequently distinguished
himself in our civil
war in the military service of this
country, while the former
became famous, somewhat in the war, but
more particu-
larly in the civil service of the
country-first, in the United
States Senate, afterwards as a Cabinet
officer during the
administration of President Hayes.
The revolt of '32, if it can be
dignified by that name,
was led by two professors and many of
the students of
Heidelberg, and for a short time it is
said to have had an
immense popular following. The
professors in question
were Wirt and Siebenpfieffer. The denouement
took place
some time in the summer of '32, and came
to a culmina-
tion at a popular gathering assembled
at Homburg auf
der Hohe, since then a noted watering place. At this
gathering Wirt, the more popular and
more eloquent of
the two professors, made a speech in
favor of popular
The German Pioneers. 57
rights, in which, in scathing and
fitting terms of rebuke,
he denounced the tyranny of the
government. At the
conclusion of his speech, by a committee
either of the
students or of the citizens present, he
was presented with
a magnificent sword. This was ominous,
and its signifi-
cance could not be mistaken, and, as the
result, either at
once or soon thereafter, the offending
professors were ap-
prehended and thrown into prison, and
the threatened revolt
was thus summarily and promptly nipped
in the bud. The
imprisonment was of short duration. The
professors were
never brought to trial, as they soon
escaped from prison.
The popular impression was that the
escape was connived at
by the authorities in order to get rid
of two popular prisoners,
and to avoid the onus of their
conviction and the sympathy
which their execution would surely have
evoked for them and
their cause from one end of Germany to
the other. The
Peters brothers, who subsequently became
the pioneers of
Washington county, were constituent
parts of that great
Homburg Assembly. They fully sympathized
with the spirit
of the occasion, and being animated by
the desire for larger
liberty, which actuated the German
masses at that time, and
which the gathering in question
represented, they were over-
whelmed with chagrin and disappointment
when the leaders
of this movement were apprehended and
imprisoned, and
when the hopes that inspired their
countrymen were thus
promptly suppressed. As the quite
natural result they, as
did thousands of others of their
countrymen, lost hope of
ever seeing a better day for Germany.
Naturally, and as has been the case in
every kindred
event in Europe from that day to this,
they instinctively
turned their thoughts toward the New
World and to the
then recently established Republic of
America, where, nearly
a half century before, the people had
secured their inde-
pendence and had succeeded in forming
and placing on a
firm foundation one of the most
beneficent governments
hitherto known in the history of the
world. The younger of
58
Ohio Archeaological and Historical Quarterly.
the Peters pioneers, Charles Frederick,
left his native land
in the spring of '33, a year after the
gathering at Homburg.
His brother, Jacob, followed a few weeks
later. The third
brother, John Philip, followed in the
summer of '34. All
the brothers, and the families who
accompanied them, took
shipping at Havre de Grace, in France,
at that time the
important port of embarkation for all
South German emi-
grants. The first brothers, Charles and
Jacob, shipped
in vessels that sailed for
Baltimore. From Baltimore,
Charles Frederick, with his family, made
an overland journey
through the Cumberland Valley and on the
National Pike
to Wheeling, Va. This national highway,
constructed chiefly
through the influence of Henry Clay, was
then in its
glory, and was to that age quite as
great a boon and
quite as marvelous a wonder as were at a
later period
the transcontinental railways that now
link the Atlantic
coast to the Golden Gate. Charles Frederick left his
family for a time at Wheeling, and
proceeded down the
Ohio River as far as Cincinnati on a
prospecting tour. The
present Queen City of the West was then
little more than a
good-sized village.
During the summer of '32 sickness had
extensively pre-
vailed throughout the Ohio Valley.
Especially was this
true of Cincinnati. The effects of the ravages of the
cholera of 1832 were everywhere visible,
and the inhabit-
ants all more or less betrayed the signs
of the work of this
fell destroyer. In fact, the summer of
1833, when this
visit took place, was not yet free from
the seeds of the con-
tagion that prevailed the year
before. In addition to
this, the heat of '33 is said to have
been almost unen-
durable. Under these cirsumstances the
visit to Cincin-
nati was discouraging, and Charles
Peters soon returned to
his family at Wheeling, where he found
his brother Jacob
and one or two other families who had
crossed the ocean
with Jacob, and who had followed Charles
to Wheeling.
Among those in this company, my
impression is, were
Theobald Seyler and Daniel Zimmer, with
their families.
The German Pioneers.
59
The Peters brothers now resolved to
start on a new
prospecting tour to find a place for
settlement. They
left their families at Wheeling with the
new comers and
started on foot down the Ohio River.
They proceeded on the
Virginia side as far as Benwood. There
they crossed the
river to what is now Bellaire, and
proceeded down on the
Ohio side, continuing, probably a five
or six days' journey,
to Marietta. During this journey they
found not a single
family, not a single person, if I am
correctly informed,
that could speak a word of German.
Luckily the elder of
the two brothers, Jacob, had, in early
years, spent some
time in England, and had acquired some
little knowledge
of the English language, and he was thus
able, in a limited
way, to make their wants known.
When they reached Marietta they put up
at the John
Brophy hostelry, the famous hotel of the
early days of
Marietta. The wife of Brophy was a
French woman,
born on the borders of Germany, and
therefore spoke
fluently not only the French and
English, but the German
as well. Mrs. Brophy was a shrewd and
thrifty business
woman of that period, and it was she
that persuaded the
brothers to locate in this county. Charles
proceeded to
Salem
township, and purchased a farm on Duck Creek,
in the neighborhood of the Lancasters.
This some years
later he sold to Jacob Lauer, and
removed to Marietta.
He resided here until 1839. He then sold
what possessions
he had and removed to West Point, Iowa,
where he lived
until he reached the advanced age of 86.
His brother
Jacob, went out some six miles to
Fearing township and
purchased a farm on the hills about a
mile from Duck
Creek, where he resided for some years.
He subsequently
sold this place and removed to Watertown
township, be-
coming the first German settler in the
Deming-Wolcott
settlement. There he resided until he reached the ad-
vanced age of eighty-eight, when he was
gathered to his
fathers. His son, Charles Frederick, now
in his seventy-
first year, and who is present in this
assembly, still lives
60
Ohio Archaeological and Historical Quarterly.
upon this old homestead. He was sixteen
years of age when
his father moved into Washington county,
and it is to him I
am chiefly indebted for those facts that
are beyond my
personal knowledge.
In June of 1834, Conrad Bohl, of
Wachenheim, also in
the Rhine Palatinate, came into this
county. For a time
he owned a farm near Bonn, but a few
years thereafter
sold his interest and followed Jacob
Peters to Watertown,
where, some years later, his brother
Nicholas came. These
were the German pioneers in that section
of the county.
Still later these were followed to
Watertown by Louis
Cutter, the father of Judge F. J.
Cutter, now a resident of
Marietta, and by Carl Wagner, an uncle
on the mother's
bide of the Cutter family.
John Philip Peters, Conrad Bissanz
(Anglicised, at least
in pronunciation, as Bissant), and
Bernard Wagner came
in 1834. Bernard Wagner bought a farm
seven miles from
here, on Duck Creek. He lived but a few
months. Con-
tracting a fever, he died suddenly in
the winter of '35.
The widow, left in a helpless condition,
with two children,
and no one to care for the farm, had the
sympathy of the
vicinage, and some months later married
Christian Schim-
mel, a most conscientious and industrious
man, who lived
on the farm for a generation or more, in
fact, till his death,
leaving the wife a widow for the second
time, but this time
with children of advanced years, and in
circumstances that
enable her in old age to live in peace
and comfort. She
is living in this city with one of her
sons, patiently await-
ing her release from earthly bonds and
trials. Conrad Bissanz
bought a homestead a mile nearer
Marietta in Fearing town-
ship, in the Chapman neighborhood, just
beyond Stanleyville,
where he lived and prospered for a full
generation. He sub-
sequently sold and removed to Marietta,
where he died at an
advanced age.
At an early period Valentine and Jacob
Spies, two
brothers, came into this county and
settled on adjoining
farms, on the banks of the Muskingum,
just below Lowell
The German Pioneers. 61
For some years the home of one of the
Spies brothers was
quite a center for social and festive
gatherings of the Ger-
mans then residing in the county. The
occasions are
memorable because they were the first
festive gatherings
among the Germans in this county of
which I have any
recollection. After the Peters brothers
had bought their
farms and had their deeds on record
they left for Wheeling
to bring their families to their new
homes. While absent
on this trip Rev. Theodore Schriener
and one or two other
German families came to Marietta.
Schriener married a
daughter of 'Squire Joel Tuttle, and
organized the first
German church in this county, of which
he remained
pastor for nearly a score of years. He
was a very affable
man, and made himself exceedingly
useful to the early
German settlers. Of the first settlers
in Fearing township
the following names have been furnished
to me by Mr.
Christian Best: Theobald Seyler,
Christian Scherber, John
Schneider, John H. Best, G. C. Best,
and Christian New-
schafer. The date of their arrival here
is fixed as 1833.
To these I may add the following names:
John and
Henry Smith. The first was the founder
of the hardware
store of Rodick Brothers. The other was
a carriage
builder, who is yet living. There were
also Jacob and
Michael Giddle. The first was
wharfmaster for the Halls,
Willis and Ely, for years, when
steamboating on the Ohio
river meant something. I may also
mention Jacob Thies,
the shoemaker; John and Louis
Leonhardt; the Cislers,
who have grown to be an important and
prosperous family
among you. I might here refer also to
the able, eloquent
and eccentric Dr. Ceolena, who was the
first pastor of the
First German Church in Marietta, and
who, to the work
of preaching, joined the business of
practicing medicine,
and who for a year or two made a great
sensation and
gained the good will of some of our
best citizens, among
them the family of the historian, Dr.
S. P. Hildreth, a
man of mark in those days. There were
two others who
deserve mention in this connection.
These were Oliver
62 Ohio
Archaeological and Historical Quarterly.
Nelson and Henry Hartwig. They spoke the
German,
one of them (Nelson) quite fluently, but
they were Danes
and not Germans. Hartwig was a
blacksmith; Nelson
was a carriage builder. Nelson married
the eldest daugh-
ter of Conrad Bohl, of Watertown. The
Hartwig family,
after residing here for many years,
removed elsewhere.
It is also claimed, on what authority I
cannot say, that
one Casper Schmitz and another German,
Casper Schaecht-
elein by name, came into this county in
1817. As far as
my knowledge goes they left no
descendants, and per-
chance may have made this county only a
temporary
home, removing subsequently into some
other locality. I
am sure that very early there were
Germans in this county
who came from Pennsylvania, but were
natives of that
State, speaking the Pennsylvania Dutch,
and were not,
therefore, German settlers directly from
the Fatherland.
Others, perhaps, deserve to be mentioned
in this con-
nection; but as I have resided away from
Marietta and
have only paid an occasional visit here
for the period of
more than a generation, I think this
will have to suffice.
In conclusion, pardon me for saying
this, for truth and
justice demand it: The Germans who came
here early
were men of thrift. They have shorn your
hilltops of
their wild native forests; they have
converted your country
into a land of plenty. They have
materially helped to
advance among you the march of
civilization, and by their
ready assimilation with those who
preceded them to this
Northwest Territory from New England
they have helped
to build up a State that ranks first
among the honored
States of this Union. I think I may
safely and properly
add that these Germans as a class have
always appreciated
the blessings of this free government,
and have in a prac-
tical way demonstrated the fact that
they have understood
the importance of having all safe and
good government
founded on law and order, on religion
and education.
These Germans - these early Germans -
knew nothing
of what is now disturbing this and other
governments,
The German Pioneers. 63
under the form of socialism and anarchy.
They did not
forget the lessons of duty and
obligation that bound them
to employers, and clamor for rights
without qualification.
They were indeed grateful to those who
gave them a
chance to earn an honest living, and
they were ready early
and late to do an honest day's work for
an honest day's
pay. The liberty they came to find, and
finding which
they were happy and content, was the
liberty that is con-
ditioned on law, on order, on good
government--in a
word, the liberty that gave them a fair
and an equal chance
in the race of life. Thousands of them,
under these inspi-
rations, have became men of property,
have honored every
calling and every walk in lite, and have
made their mark
in Church and State - thus becoming
worthy co-workers
with that patriotic and sturdy Christian
stock that came
here from New England, and that planted
an infant colony
on this spot one hundred years ago this
day, and here
illustrated the wisdom of founding the
State on the church
and the school-house, and thus giving to
their descendants
a true and an abiding Christian
civilization.