Wedding Anniversary of Ernst August Brueggemann and Emma Long

Ernst August Brueggemann (age 24) married Emma Louise Frieda Lisette Long (age 21) in 1888.     They were married in Springfield, Illinois at her home church.  We are lucky to have a wedding picture and the article from the newspaper describing the wedding.

Today is the Anniversary of the Birth of Ernst August Brueggemann

My Great Grand Father, Ernst August Brueggemann was born on this day in 1864.  He was born in Cleveland Ohio.  His parents were Clamor and Marie.

Family Picture Friday: Zanesville 1911 with Uncle Martin

This picture was taken 100 years ago.  It was taken in Zanesville outside of their home when Rev. Martin Brueggeman was visiting.  Martin had already moved to Memphis and must have been back in Ohio to visit his brother, Ernst and family.


Selma was really selective when she labeled her pictures.  Sometimes not all the siblings are identified.  In this case, the young lady on the lower right wasn't identified.  In my opinion, she looked a lot Louise but I am not sure.

Sunday Special: EA Brueggeman's First Church: Brandywine, WV

After graduating from Concordia Seminary, EA Brueggeman's first call was in Brandywine, West Virginia at  Propst Lutheran Church.  The building was constructed around 1887 and was in fairly regular use until its abandonment in 1920.  It was the first Lutheran Church in West Virginia and the oldest church  in Pendleton County, WV.  It is now on the National Register of Historic Places.

Here are details from the application:

The congregation that was t o be known as the Propst Lutheran Church was in

existence by 1760. Although this congregation held church services at this time,

it is not known if a church building actually existed or when the firs t one was

constructed. It i s known that the first building was located a bit to the southeast of

the present church on the perpetually deeded 34 acre lot . Constructed

of round logs with clay chinking, it had a wooden chimney with a clay lining to

prevent the logs from catching fire .

The second church building was of hewn-log construction . This church was

located in what is today a corner of the old cemetery. This building served

the community as a place of worship until about 1885, when it was dismantled,

transported and reassembled on a new site and used as a dwelling for many years

before being converted to a barn.

The third ( present) building was constructed around 1887 and was in fairly

regular use until its abandonment in 1920. The church stood vacant and deteriorated 

greatly until 1968 when restoration work was begun. By 1974 the church and

adjoining land (the 3% acres of the original grant)  had been improved, and the

site was once again of service t o the community as a park or community center .

As with the exterior, the interior of the church i s very pla i n and simple.

A raised , goblet-shaped pulpit is attached to the  front wall, access to which is

by way of five steps leading up it side. A small, plain  stands takes  the place

of an altar and is located in front of the pulpit . The pews are original and

were handmade. In one corner near the pulpit is located the first organ used in

the church.

EAB must have arrived as the new church building was completed.  My records show he was installed on September 4, 1887.  Notice the two doors in the picture, one for men and one for women, how times have changed.  We have letters from EAB to his bride-to-be while he was in West Virginia.  I'll be sharing these on the blog soon.

Family Picture Friday: EA Brueggemann and Charlie Long

In Selma's pictures, there was this picture of her Dad with her Uncle Charlie Long.  He was the youngest brother of her mother, Emma.  I don't know much about him and it's on my things-to-do list.

Akron Germania Newspaper

Ernst August Brueggemann left Zanesville in the fall of 1917 to work at the Germania Newspaper.  I am currently reseaching the paper and found the following information on another blog: 


At the age of 16, Paul E. Werner immigrated to America in 1867. He worked as a clerk and bookkeeper at several Akron stores. In 1873, Paul became an editorial writer for the Akron Germania newspaper. It was a popular German-language publication. He enjoyed it so much that he bought the newspaper a year later and became publisher. In the 1870s, Paul founded the Sunday Gazette and the Akron Tribune. He also began a commercial printing enterprize. In 1884, Paul quit the newspaper business and began making high-quality books. He built a printing plant in 1886 and built his sales offices all over the USA. Soon, he would have branches in 20-countries. Among the gold-leafed titles that the Werner Co. published in Akron were Webster's Dictionary, Encyclopaedia Britannica, Encyclopaedia Americana, the Waldorf Cook Book, the White House Cook Book and World's Best Literature. In the 1890s, the factory was producing 10,000 volumes a day. They would fill six train cars. Paul became friends with President William McKinley, Buffalo Bill Cody, French painter James Tissot, German Count Ferdinand Zeppelin and Queen Victoria. At the turn of the 20th century, Paul was hosting lavish gatherings at his Akron mansion. He was a multimillionaire. In 1904 he built Akron's German-American Music Hall. However, in 1908, Paul's fortune came to an end. Britannica filed suit alleging trademark violations. He was sued in all 20-countries where he did business. Paul hired a "dream team" of high profile lawyers and claimed victory in every suit. But the litigation cost him a fortune. In 1910, Paul's business collapsed. He filed bankruptcy and had to sell his 11-building Akron complex. Paul left Akron in 1915 to open a rubber company in Kansas City. But he lost his backing. That company folded in 1925. In 1927, next to broke, Paul returned to Akron and got a hero's welcome. Franklin A. Seiberling held a party for him at Stan Hywet Hall, Frank's Akron estate. Seiberling had bought the old Germania newspaper and gave it back to Paul. Paul Werner died of Bright's disease at the age of 80. Akron's elite packed the funeral.

EAB worked for the paper when Mr. Werner wasn't involved with the paper.  I am working on finding out about the paper during his tenure, I don't think the paper was active during World War I due to anti-German sentiment.

Two Sisters - Two Clergymen

Emma Louise Frieda Lisette Long (born 1867) and her sister, Anna F. Long (born 1871) both married Lutheran Pastors.

Emma married Ernst August Brueggemann in 1888.  He had recently graduated from Concordia Theological Seminary.  He came to Springfield from Cleveland, Ohio.  He had several churches during his career but more about that later. 

Carl Daniel Griese seems to have had a less direct route to the Church.  He and Anna married in 1889 in Springfield.  They were still in Springfield on the 1900 Census.  He was 34 and his occupation was listed as Grocer (maybe working for her father???).  By 1905 they were in Wisconsin (Wisconsin Census 1905) and his occupation is listed as Clergyman.  Did he graduate from Seminary many years earlier and stayed in Springfield to work for her father?  Did he have a calling later in life?

Rev. Ernst August Brueggemann

Rev. Carl Daniel Griese

 

Did the Brueggemann's face Discrimination during WWI?

WWI brought out anti-German sentiment 

By Feb. 4, 1918, all German males 14 and older in the United States who were not naturalized were required to register as alien enemies with local authorities. President Woodrow Wilson issued the proclamation in November 1917 as the United States entered World War I against Germany and its allies.

The German Alien Registration Act required that each "alien enemy" be issued a registration card, which was to be carried at all times. At their registration, they were photographed, fingerprinted and questioned about their personal habits. The government ordered them to get permission to travel or change residences.

Ohio later passed a law prohibiting teaching the German language in public schools. In Cincinnati, where 58 percent of residents were of German heritage, an ordinance was passed changing German street names. German-language books were removed from library shelves, one-third of the city's German-language newspapers folded and German teachers were fired.

- Rebecca Goodman

From Syllabus for German Immigration 

 Dr. Peter C Merrill,, Department of Languages and Linguistics, Florida, Atlantic University

On the eve of World War I, German-Americans were divided in the way they viewed the Kaiser. The majority were probably carried along by the wave of German nationalism, but the Kaiser also had his critics. Foremost among these were the Socialists, who were opposed on principle to militarism and who had been the target of oppressive anti-Socialist laws in Germany in the 1880s. German-American Catholics, like Catholics in Germany, could not forget the "Kulturkampf," the struggle between Bismarck and the Catholic Church. Missouri Synod Lutherans were also inclined to mistrust the imperial German government, which they vaguely associated with the liberal theology of Adolf von Harnack. To the pacifist American Mennonites there was nothing at all to be admired in the militaristic spirit that pervaded modern Germany. After all, the Mennonites, like the other Anabaptist sects, were strictly opposed to bearing arms and, having been persecuted for their faith, had few feelings of cultural attachment to Germany

It is my guess that it was a tough time for all Brueggemanns.  I think it was particularly hard for Rev. Ernst August Brueggemann.  At this time, he was a publisher of a German Language newspaper.  From what I've been told, the paper folded and he was unemployed.  I think it was at this time that he dropped the final "n" from Brueggemann.  I know there was also some discord in the family about serving in the Army but I will cover this in another post.  The war time must have been hard for all Americans but it must have been particularly hard for our German American ancestors.

Rev. Ernst August Brueggemann

Rev. Ernst A. Brueggemann had his thesis published in 1904.   Academic standards sure have changed since then as there are no footnotes or references,  We have always wondered about about the size of the press run for this book as we have found or know of many copies.  

The book in its entirety is available on Google Books if you would like to see it.  It's amazing to me that a book published in 1904 by one of our relatives was scanned is now available to anyone who wants it.