2026-10-02T00:41:34+00:00 Zend_Feed_Writer https://elsberryhistorical.org/ Elsberry Historical https://elsberryhistorical.org 2018-01-22T22:50:59+00:00 2018-02-17T00:37:04+00:00 https://elsberryhistorical.org/items/show/154 Juan Valencia In 1914, war erupted in Europe; dividing the European nations into allied factions. Great Britain and Germany would play a major role in leading rival allies against each other. War was expanding, the death toll was increasing, and food rations were decreasing. It would take three years for the U.S. to finally take official action in the Great War and ally forces with Great Britain. Once it did, however, anti-German sentiment infected the nation, affecting not only German immigrants but also German-Americans. German descendants were automatically seen as enemies (Wüstenbecker). According to Digital History, “approximately one-third of the nation (32 million people) were either foreign-born or the children of immigrants, and more than 10 million Americans were derived from the nations of the Central powers”; therefore America’s involvement in the Great War resulted in personal conflicts at home. Because of Ellis Island, New York became the hub for immigrants arriving from Europe. Germans had a significant impact on the culture of New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Milwaukee, St Louis, and Cincinnati; soon known as the “German triangle” (Wüstenbecker). Amongst many of the German immigrants, William Hauser and Frances Hauser migrated to Rochester, New York. Years later, Mrs. Hauser gave birth to her daughter Josephine in 1889 (Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007). Meanwhile, in the same city, English immigrants John D Wilson and Johanna Wilson came to the U.S. In 1887, they had their son, John Aloysius Wilson (1920 Census Record). At age of 21, Josephine married 23 year-old John Wilson in January 15th, 1910 (New York, County Marriages, 1847-1849; 1907-1936). Four years later, war was raging in Europe. Germany, Austria-Hungary (now divided into Austria and Hungary), Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire (also known as Turkey) became the Central Powers; Great Britain, France, Russia, Italy, Romania, and Japan became the Allied Powers. Three years later, the U.S. would become a member of the Allied Powers (History.com). As soon as the U.S formed an alliance with the Allied Powers, anti-German sentiment started to spread throughout the country (Wüstenbecker). The German culture gained a negative aspect amongst Americans. The war did not only divide the people in Europe, but it also divided the people of this country. Anti-German sentiment was everywhere: Germans were called names, schools stopped teaching the German language, German newspapers were taken down, Lutheran churches refused to give services in German, musicians would not play Beethoven or Bach any more, and German dishes were renamed (Digital History). Even though it was a strenuous time for immigrant families, such as the Wilson family, it did not stop them from building a family. In 1913, Mrs. Josephine and Mr. John Wilson had their son Floyd Elwood Lewis Wilson (New York, County Marriages, 1847-1849; 1907-1936). Four years after the war started, in 1918, the war ended; slowly, anti-German sentiment started to secede. German families started to see an improved future for their family. This was true until twenty years later, when The Second World War took place. For more, view the original article. 2018-01-22T22:47:50+00:00 2018-02-17T00:44:55+00:00 https://elsberryhistorical.org/items/show/153 Kara Lovelace My Great Great Uncle Wade Lovelace, and his wife Iza Trail, were among the many who only knew their child for brief moments. My Great Great Uncle Leonard Worsham and his wife Sarah’s infant met the same fate. Sadly, many other parents endured the same pain. Both of these deaths occurred in the late 1800’s as did countless others. In the 1800’s the health conditions of our ancestors were such that 43% of the world’s newborns died before their 5th birthday (Child Mortality). When compared to modern statistics regarding world infant mortality, these seem exorbitant. Infant mortality rates fell more rapidly during the late nineteenth century and the early twentieth centuries than any other period in American History (Culter). These rates decreased in America as well as the rest of the world due to advancements in technology, medicinal developments, and better public health. There have been major advancements in medical technology. In his book “Trends in Mortality,” Lars Rydell, considers earlier treatment,s such as the use of leeches to purge discreased blood in hospital birth clinics, absurd (147). Now look at all of the technological advancements that have been made due to our understanding of diseases and ability to develop cures. For one, to say there was a medical revolution at some point during the 1900’s, would be an understatement. The discovery and use of antibiotics to treat diseases within this time period lessened the infant mortality rate drastically. One medicine in particular that was discovered in the 1940’s that influenced the medicinal world completely was penicillin. In fact, global child mortality was slightly above 36% in 1900, but after a continuous and steady decrease, by 1965 this rate was cut in half (Child Mortality). For the United States, research estimates that in 1900 there were 180 infant deaths per 1000 live births (Bryant, Peck). Fifty years later the rate had decreased to about 40 deaths per 1000 births (Bryant, Peck). From this evidence, it can be concluded throughout the 19th century medicines were developing at a great rate which was a partial contributory factor to the steady decrease in infant deaths. Evidence also points to this change being associated with improvements in public health. Clean water technology such as filtration and chlorination lead to better public health. This was especially true in larger and more densely populated areas. Research confirms this and Culter states, “We found that clean water was responsible for nearly half the total mortality reduction in major cities, three-quarters of the infant mortality reduction, and nearly two-thirds of the child mortality reduction.” (Culter 1-22) Obvious achievements in the United State’s public health were being made. Sewage was no longer disposed of in the middle of the streets. Safe drinking water became a priority. Milk was being pasteurized (Advancements in Public Health). All of the examples above contributed to improve the living conditions and quality of public health. Infant mortality, both globally and in the United States, was not a rate that immediately decreased, but rather one that consistently declined throughout the entire 19th century. This rate continues to lower as new medical discoveries are being made and public health is improving. For more, view the original article. 2018-01-08T22:51:15+00:00 2018-01-09T20:46:36+00:00 https://elsberryhistorical.org/items/show/151 Harmon Kreuger When researching the Donley family, and also through the stories my family has told, it has become apparent that the Donley/Royster family kept in close contact with their former African-American slaves long after the end of the Civil War. In the 1910 Census, there is a fifteen-year-old African-American boy, Owen Belle, listed as a servant (unpaid) who lived with the Donley family. Beatrice Donley’s son, William Royster, distinctly remembers African-American help living with the family during his youth. How prevalent were such situations in Missouri, and how prevalent were racist systems and tactics in general? Through additional research it became apparent that these arrangements were rare in Missouri, but very common and even expected in the Deep South. When partnered with the fact that the Donley/Royster family were Confederate Veterans in the Civil War, the mystery as to why they would follow such a predominately southern practice of retaining close master/owner relationships with their former slaves becomes much more illuminated. Early 1900’s Missouri was certainly not an ideal place for African-Americans, many in Missouri allied their sympathies to the Lost Cause of the Confederacy, and, though rare, forms of peonage and abusive tenant labor were seen throughout the state, especially in Little Dixie. The Missouri Historical Review, volume ninety-five states that Missouri also faced its share of blatantly racist newspaper publications that adamantly defended lynchings and white supremacy. However, besides these abhorrent systems put in place to stifle African-American freedom, African-Americans enjoyed relatively good access to the ballot box when compared to their southern counterparts. Volume ninety-five of the Missouri Historical Review goes on to state that Missouri, despite its flaws never faced the voter suppression that many southern states propagated, and links this to the fact that as a relatively young state Missouri never developed the oligarchical tone of southern politics. Peonage was also almost non-existent in the state of Missouri, with it being totally outlawed in 1867 and only one case every being brought to court. Why is it, with such as similar background, Missouri appears to have resisted much of the systematic state condoned racism that plagued its southern neighbors? Missouri appears to have been relatively unique when it comes to African-American rights, very progressive when compared to its southern counterparts but definitely not the relatively accepting and relatively racially equal areas of the far north. What made Missouri unique in this way? To understand this question, one must look into the very beginnings of Missouri’s history, and to those families who first settled in Missouri. According to On Slavery's Border: Missouri's Small Slaveholding Households, 1815-1865 by Dianne Burke, Missouri’s hills and thick forest did not attract the large southern plantation owners, but instead attracted individual families, usually in possession of small amounts of slaves which often meant a close bond between property and master. This bond was almost familial and resulted in much of Missouri willingly emancipating their slaves and lead to a much smoother transition into the reconstruction era. In the thesis of Jonathan Klusmeyer titled Slavery Continued: Peonage in Missouri, Klusmeyer chalks this uniqueness up to the fact that Missouri legislature shortly after the civil war was in the hands of radical Republicans, who went so far as to call a special election in 1864 to reorganize the Missouri government, according to Dorris Keeven-Franke of the St. Charles County History article Missouri’s Slaves Emancipated at last. Once the radical abolitionists achieved control in both houses and the governorship in November of 1864, they passed a flurry of laws giving blacks a legal advantage and ensuring for several generations to come that they would never suffer the plight of their southern brethren. Couple this with the fact that Missouri was much faster to industrialize than the generally poorer south, and we see both a lack of blacks able to be extorted, and a lack of whites searching to extort them. When it comes to the case of the Donley/Royster family, it appears that their particular situation of maintaining their African-American help well into the 20th century was nearly unheard of in Missouri. Because of the unique history and nearly coincidental political happenings of the state, Missouri managed to escape the harsh black suppression that gripped much of the antebellum South. The Donley/Royster maintenance of the Belle family was likely mutually agreed upon as Missouri had instituted laws making such arrangements illegal if they were non consensual, the law was very much on the side of the African-American in these situations. The mystery of the Donley help seems to be little more than an “old habits die hard” situation, African-Americans remained more likely to be uneducated, and poor white farmers who could not afford to industrialize still needed labor, and it only made sense for their relationship to remain much as it had so many years before. For more, view the original article. 2018-01-08T22:25:53+00:00 2018-01-09T00:39:33+00:00 https://elsberryhistorical.org/items/show/149 Clare Henry In 1845, the Irish Potato Famine, also known as the Great Hunger, struck Ireland. Over the next few years, the famine would kill a devastating amount of nearly 1 million people, which does not include the less fortunate passengers that passed away on their journey to a new life overseas (Mokyr). My family is just one example of how the Great Hunger affected millions of lives. My great-great-great grandfather, James Patrick Henry, was born in Cork, Ireland in 1805. Along with his father, and his grandfather, he was born into the farming industry (Missouri Death Certificates). Little did he know that years later he would experience the worst famine of the 19th century. When James was around 40 years old, a bacteria began spreading in farmers potato crops, destroying the leaves and roots of the potato plant, making them inedible. This disease was also known as blight. As a staple in the Irish diet, potatoes were consumed on a daily basis all across Ireland. Many people were dependent on potatoes to help feed their families. However, when the famine struck, many families, especially the lower class, were left to starve. Landlords soon ran out of money as a result of the lack of payments from the poor, leaving them no choice but to evict farmers and laborers (Mokyr). Not only was there an economic depression and starvation, there were diseases and infections spreading among the people of Ireland. According to Laurence Geary, “Epidemic Diseases of the Great Famine,” Irish faced typhus fever, smallpox, lice infestations, and dysentery. Whether my great-great-great grandfather left his homeland because his crops continued to fail, or because of starvation and disease, he left Ireland with his wife, Mary Smith, to make a new life for themselves in America (New York Passengers Lists). On April 3rd, 1855, they boarded the William Tapscott in Liverpool, England and arrived in New York on May 8th, 1855 (Swiggum). Some immigrants were less fortunate than my ancestors and passed away on their ship due to illness, starvation, etc. On many immigrant ships, some passengers got typhus fever, also known as “ship’s fever” (Geary). Symptoms of this infection include headache, nausea, joint and muscle pain, rashes, etc. Fifty to seventy percent of people who were infected by ships fever died. According to “The Ships List”, there were two deaths on the William Tapscott in 1855. Before the famine, Ireland had a population of approximately 8.6 million people (Geary). However after the famine, Ireland’s population decreased immensely. Between 1845 and 1855, more than 1.5 million men, women, and children left Ireland desperate to find refuge in America. The majority of the ones who made it to America settled in New York City, Boston, and Chicago (Mokyr). According to the 1870 United States Federal Census, my great-great-great grandparents had their first son, John Henry, in New York a few years after traveling to America (1870 US Federal Census). Sometime over the next two years, my ancestors made their way to Silex, Missouri (1870 US Federal Census). My ancestor’s story gives me a better understanding of their lives and the hardships that they encountered during that time period. Because the Irish were a majority of the immigrants that came to the U.S., Irish culture can still be found all around America to this day. Irish immigration over the last hundred years has contributed greatly to the cultural melting pot that America has today. For more, view the original article. 2018-01-05T23:31:36+00:00 2018-01-08T21:49:14+00:00 https://elsberryhistorical.org/items/show/148 Carolyn Wehmeyer August H. Wehmeyer and Caroline Rothert decided to emigrate from Germany to the United States in 1871. They traveled by steamship to Baltimore, Maryland and, in that same year, moved to Cincinnati, Ohio (Baltimore Passenger and Immigration Lists). What could have caused this couple to uproot from the place they had grown up in, and why choose Cincinnati? Many factors both pushed and pulled Germans to emigrate to the United States. They could be leaving their home country to be with other family members, escape war, find better job opportunities, or just establish a life under better circumstances for their children and generations to come. The Wehmeyers are only one family out of the tens of thousands like them, but their journey seems to be the story of many. Promotions and new career opportunities cause families to relocate all the time, and this was no different for the German immigrants settling in industrial hubs like Cincinnati, Dayton, and Columbus. These cities held a realm of possibilities for incoming settlers. If one could afford it, they could farm on quickly disappearing land, work in the booming coal industry, in a multitude of factories such as pork and tobacco plants or iron and steel manufacturing (“Early Industrialization”). August Wehmeyer worked as a carpenter, building in a time where more housing was necessary to accommodate the rising population, and his son, John E. Wehmeyer, would go on to become the foreman of a chemical factory. Neighbors of the Wehmeyers in 1880 had careers such as cabinet maker, engineer, laborer, and cigar maker, all of which are such varied trades that exemplify how many options immigrants had when looking for work (1880 and 1940 Census). Many of these neighbors have large families, extended sometimes included, which presents the next possible reason for immigrating to places like Cincinnati. German immigrants set up their lives in Ohio to rejoin their relatives or establish families of their own. When families traveled to America, they did so together, sometimes with many other families from the same area they had lived in. It was helpful to have familiar people that would help each other maintain, “a group that shared the same customs, traditions, and spoke the same dialect,” (Tolzmann 29). After settling in Ohio, the immigrants would then write to their remaining friends and family overseas about how wonderful life was in the United States, how many jobs there were, and who else was with them. After reading these letters the others would decide to move there, later writing letters of their own to bring over more immigrants; this cycle was called “chain migration” (Best 11). Chain migration spiked the German population in Ohio from 328,249 to 458,734 between 1860 and 1900, and most of the Germans in Cincinnati lived in the “Over-the-Rhine” area of the city where German culture was preserved among the immigrants living there (“German Ohioans”). While a great number of Germans left to be with their families, there were still many leaving their home country for less pleasant reasons. Famine, religious persecution, and political strife are just a few of the hardships which forced immigrants to abandon their home and start fresh in Ohio. Instead of waiting for a better harvest, for the famine to cease, and for the economy to start looking up, Germans chose to look overseas where there was a government that provided more aid than the one they currently lived under (“Irish and German Immigration”). Other families, such as the Wehmeyers, may have found more trouble with their beliefs than the economy. In the 1870’s, under the policy of prime minister Otto Von Bismarck, Catholics in Germany were sought out for persecution. Bismarck believed that the Pope would keep Catholic Germans from helping to make the country more progressive, so he arranged the arrests of churchgoers and clergy members (Best 8). The promise of religious freedom in the United States was enough for Germans to drop everything and seek sanctuary. Among them were those who sought sanctuary for more political reasons. Germany, before becoming unified, was unable to form a government that was either a republic or had a constitution of some kind. After German princes were placed back into power, Germans fled to a country with the constitution they so desired, free of an oppressive monarchy (Best 6). When faced with hardships, Germans had to make the decision to leave everything they had ever known and embark on a journey to the country and state where they could provide for their families and live their lives to the fullest. German immigrants made the choice of moving to cities like Cincinnati in order to find work, reunite with family members, and to be free of the turmoil in Germany. The "Land of the Free" was and remains appealing to all who seek a better life; it just so happens that many German immigrants chose Ohio to pursue the American Dream on their own terms. If the Wehmeyer family had not left Germany, they would not have been able to spread across the United States to continue into today’s generations. For more (including 2 images), view the original article.