1854, 1881, 1891 and 1893
From Germany to St. Louie, MO
Johann Franz Maurer
came to St. Louis in 1891
from Stockheim, Rheinprovinz; Königreich Preußen
Ursula Esswein
came to  St. Louis in 1891
from Buehlertal, Mittlerer Oberrhein; Großherzogtum Baden
The German Revolutions
of 1848
Europe endured hard times during much of the 1840s. A series of bad harvests culminating in the potato blight of
1845-46 brought widespread misery and some starvation. An economic depression added to the hardship,
spreading discontent among the poor and the middle class alike. A popular uprising in Paris in February 1848
turned into a revolution, forcing the French King Louis Philippe to flee to Britain.

The success of the revolution sparked revolts elsewhere in Europe. Numerous German cities were shaken by
uprisings in which crowds consisting mainly of the urban poor, but also of students and members of the liberal
middle class, stormed their rulers' palaces and demanded fundamental reform. Berlin and Vienna were especially
hard hit by what came to be called the revolutions of 1848. The rulers of both cities, like rulers elsewhere, quickly
acceded to the demands of their rebellious subjects and promised constitutions and representative government.
Conservative governments fell, and Metternich fled to Britain. Liberals called for a national convention to draft a
constitution for all of Germany. The National Assembly, consisting of about 800 delegates from throughout
Germany, met in a church in Frankfurt, the Paulskirche, from May 1848 to March 1849 for this purpose.

The Prussian king, Friedrich Wilhelm IV (r. 1840-58), was elected united Germany's first emperor (Kaiser). He
refused the crown, stating that he could be elected only by other kings. At that point, the assembly disbanded. A few
subsequent rebellions by democratic liberals drew some popular support in 1849, but they were easily crushed
and their leaders executed or imprisoned. Some of these ardent democrats fled to the United States. Among them
was Carl Schurz, who later fought at the Battle of Gettysburg as a Union officer, served one term as a United States
senator from Missouri, and was appointed Secretary of the Interior by United States president Rutherford B. Hayes.

The German Confederation was reestablished, and conservatives held the reins of power even more tightly than
before. The failure of the 1848 revolutions also meant that Germany was not united as many had hoped. However,
some of the liberals' more practical proposals came to fruition later in the 1850s and 1860s when it was realized
that they were essential to economic efficiency. Many commercial restrictions were abolished. The guilds, with their
desire to turn back the clock and restore preindustrial conditions, were defeated, and impediments to the free use
of capital were reduced. The "hungry forties" gave way to the prosperity of the 1850s as the German economy
modernized and laid the foundations for spectacular growth later in the century.

The new Grandduchy of Baden (after 1806) received a new government and administrative organization and in
1810, land reform after the French model. The constitution of 1818 and elective legislature were models for early
German constitutionalism. The lower chamber was virtually a school for the Liberal-Nationalist movement. In April
and September of 1848 it came to rebellion under the leadership of the Left (F. Hecker, G. Struve) and in May of
1849, with the installation of a republican regime, it came to revolution, which Prussian troops had to put down.

In 1816 Württemberg became a member of the Deutschen Bund and a member of the Deutschen Zollverein since
1834. The attempt of King Wilhelm I, who reigned from 1816 to 1864, to give Württemberg a modern constitution
failed initially, due to the resistance of the estates, but succeeded in 1819. After the suppression, in 1849, of the
March Revolution of 1848, the royal government returned to a system of reaction. Württemberg formed a loose
coalition with Habsburg against Prussia but became then a member of the Deutschen Reich in 1871.

The last two decades of the 19th century were distinguished by increasing disputes between the newly formed
Centre and Social Democratic parties and the question of the right to vote and a reform of the parliament.

Bismarck used a diplomatic dispute to provoke Austria to declare war on Prussia in 1866. Against expectations,
Prussia quickly won the Seven Weeks' War (also known as the Austro-Prussian War) against Austria and its south
German allies. He dealt harshly with the other German states that had resisted Prussia and expanded Prussian
territory by annexing Hanover, Schleswig-Holstein, some smaller states, and the city of Frankfurt. The German
Confederation was replaced by the North German Confederation and was furnished with both a constitution and a
parliament. Austria was excluded from Germany. South German states outside the confederation--Baden,
Wuerttemberg, and Bavaria--were tied to Prussia by military alliances.

In 1870 Bismarck engineered another war, this time against France. The conflict would become known to history
as the Franco-Prussian War. Nationalistic fervor was ignited by the promised annexation of Lorraine and Alsace,
which had belonged to the Holy Roman Empire and had been seized by France in the seventeenth century. With
this goal in sight, the south German states eagerly joined in the war against the country that had come to be seen
as Germany's traditional enemy. Bismarck's major war aim--the voluntary entry of the south German states into a
constitutional German nation-state--occurred during the patriotic frenzy generated by stunning military victories
against French forces in the fall of 1870. Months before a peace treaty was signed with France in May 1871, a
united Germany was established as the German Empire, and the Prussian king, Wilhelm I, was crowned its
emperor (Kaiser) in the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles.

Imperial Germany

The German Empire--often called the Second Reich to distinguish it from the First Reich, established by
Charlemagne in 800--was based on two compromises. The first was between the king of Prussia and the rulers of
the other German states, who agreed to accept him as the Kaiser (emperor) of a united Germany, provided they
could continue to rule their states largely as they had in the past. The second was the agreement among many
segments of German society to accept a unified Germany based on a constitution that combined a powerful
authoritarian monarchy with a weak representative body, the Reichstag, elected by universal male suffrage. No one
was completely satisfied with the bargain. The Kaiser had to contend with a parliament elected by the people in a
secret vote. The people were represented in a parliament having limited control over the Kaiser.

Germany experienced an economic boom immediately after unification. For the first time, the country was a single
economic entity, and old impediments to internal trade were lifted. The federal chancellery published a new
commercial code and established a uniform currency. The indemnity that France had to pay Germany after losing
the 1870-71 war provided capital for railroad construction and building projects. A speculative boom resulted,
characterized by large-scale formation of joint-stock companies and unscrupulous investment practices. This
period of intense financial speculation and construction, called by Germans the Gruenderzeit (founders' time),
ended with the stock market crash of 1873.

Germany's population also expanded rapidly, growing from 41.0 million in 1871 to 49.7 million in 1891 and 65.3
million in 1911. The expanding and industrializing economy changed the way this rapidly expanding population
earned its livelihood. In 1871 about 49 percent of the workforce was engaged in agriculture; by 1907 only 35
percent was. In the same period, industry's share of the rapidly growing workforce rose from 31 percent to 40
percent. Urban birth rates were often the country's highest, but there was much migration from rural areas to urban
areas, where most industry was located. Berlin, by far the country's largest city and a major industrial center, grew
from almost 1 million inhabitants in 1875 to 2 million in 1910. Many smaller cities, especially those in areas with
much industry--such as the Ruhr region, the upper Rhine Valley, the Neckar Valley, and Saxony--tripled or
quadrupled in size during this period.

Many Germans were fed up with the lack of opportunity and the denial of political and civil rights in some
German states, particularly after the failure of the revolutions of 1848. During the peak period from roughly
1860-90, there were only three years in which Germans were not the largest nationality among new arrivals in
America. All told, five million Germans came to the United States in the 19th century, and today more
Americans consider themselves of German ancestry than any other group.
St. Louis, Missouri in early 1800's circa time Morgan's moved to Avia, Illinois.
These two major rivers and two minor rivers
defined the geography of my family life.
Jersey, Madison, Jackson and St. Clair Counties in Illinois were major areas for the Morgan and Ferenbach families.

St. Louis City, St. Louis County, St. Charles County in Missouri and Monroe County in Illinois were major areas for the Maurer and Schilly families.

But all four families merged in the city of St. Louis with the marriage of my parents in June 1952.
Aerial view of downtown St. Louis I have seen many times since leaving for the military
and then college in December 1971.
I was born in St. Louis in 1953, and my family moved to
Oakville, Missouri in 1959.  My parents still live there.
In 1763, Pierre Laclède, his 13-year-old "stepson" Auguste Chouteau, and a small band of men traveled up
the Mississippi from New Orleans. In November, they landed a few miles downstream of the river's
confluence with the Missouri River at a site where wooded limestone bluffs rose 40 feet above the river. The
men returned to Fort de Chartres for the winter, but in February, Laclede sent Chouteau and 30 men to
begin construction. The settlement was established on February 15, 1764.

From 1766 to 1768, St. Louis was governed by the French lieutenant governor, Louis Saint Ange de
Bellerive, who was not appointed by French or Spanish authorities, but by the leading residents of St. Louis.
After 1768, St. Louis was governed by a series of governors appointed by Spanish authorities, whose
administration continued even after Louisiana was secretly returned to France in 1800 by the Treaty of San
Ildefonso.

St. Louis was acquired from France by the United States under President Thomas Jefferson in 1803, as
part of the Louisiana Purchase. The transfer of power from Spain was made official in a ceremony called
"Three Flags Day." On March 8, 1804, the Spanish flag was lowered and the French one raised. On March
10, the French flag was replaced by the United States flag. French continued, along with English, to be one
of the major spoken and written languages in St. Louis until the 1820s.

St. Louis first became legally incorporated as a town on November 9, 1809, though it elected its first
municipal legislators (called trustees) in 1808.

Originally part of the Louisiana Purchase, Missouri was admitted as a state in 1821 as part of the Missouri
Compromise. It earned the nickname "Gateway to the West" because it served as a departure point for
settlers heading to the west. It was the starting point and the return destination of the Lewis and Clark
Expedition.

St. Louis: Becoming A City
1850-1900

St. Louis entered the Victorian Age with style and a massive growth of industry and commerce. Resources
of iron, the era of the steamboat and railroad, and the age of invention molded the city into a thriving
metropolis. St. Louis was also home to diverse customs and a tapestry of cultures.

The iron resource some sixty miles south of St. Louis led to a booming factory and foundry industry. Iron
pipes, plows, stoves, and tools were produced of pig iron. Decorations on grand homes and elaborate
pointed fences were created of wrought iron. The demand for iron increased after the fire of 1849 destroyed
the center of the city. When trees used for fuel to melt iron became depleted, coal or coke was substituted.
The demand for iron dwindled around 1900 because inferior iron was the result of not using wood for fuel
in its production.         

Steamboats that carried supplies like the iron produced about 60 miles south of St. Louis, were the major
river transportation between 1850 and 1870. At St. Louis the steamboats were reported to be anchored
three deep and in a line for a mile along the levee. St. Louis was the nation’s third busiest port until the
beginning of the Civil War. The 1874 completion of the Eads Bridge signaled the beginning of east - west
railroad commerce at St. Louis. The railroads affected river traffic and were encouraged by local
government. By the 1880s the steamboat approached its decline.

Railroads were one of the many new technologies of the day. Victorian homes featured the technology of
the late 19th century as well. Ladies were introduced to the foot powered sewing machine. Flickering
candle light was replaced with gas or oil lamp illumination, gradually supplanted in the 1880s in the homes
of the wealthy by electricity. In 1876, Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone and within a year it was
introduced to St. Louis. A staple of the middle class Victorian home was the piano. In 1898, the first player
piano was introduced to the market. Furniture underwent change. The stiff, hard wood of straight-backed
benches evolved into soft, cushioned upholstered couches.

In the 1850s, St. Louis received a large number of German and Irish emigrants.
Germans who could afford the voyage came to St. Louis to escape political unrest
in their country. They settled in St. Louis, close to the area in Mid-Missouri where
other German settlers established homes due to the geographical similarity of
Missouri and the German wine country. The City ordinances had to be translated
into German for their benefit.

The Irish came to the United States to escape a potato famine in their country.
Many Irish were poor and illiterate. One man, Joseph Murphy, learned how to build
wagons. He applied these skills and opened a business. The specially designed
Murphy Wagon could hold up to 5000 pounds of freight and was used on the Santa
Fe Trail. Murphy also made "prairie schooners" that overlanders used to follow the
trails west.

African-Americans were both free and slaves in St. Louis. One very famous national case originated at the
Old Court House, in which Dred Scott, a slave, sued for his freedom. A final court ruling by the U.S.
Supreme Court in 1857 declared that blacks were not citizens and had no rights under the law. This
decision only divided the nation further amid pre-Civil War tensions. Dred Scott eventually won his freedom
when his family was emancipated later that year by a former owner.

THE ST. LOUIS FAIR
A cultural factor in the growth of St. Louis was the Agricultural and Mechanical Fair, established in 1855 in
what is now Fairground Park. Beginning as a small county fair, it gradually grew into a large exposition of
more than 100 acres in area with pavilions devoted to the arts and sciences, a zoological garden and a
race course. Its reputation became international, and it was visited by American presidents and European
royalty. The fair was held in the fall of each year and attracted hundreds of thousands of visitor' to the City,
many of whom remained as residents.

In 1860, on the eve of the Civil War, St. Louis had become a mature City having undergone the transition
from a town entirely dependent upon river traffic to a commercial metropolis with both river and rail
connections. The City's population in 1860 was 160,733, considerably more than double that of ten years
before.

St. Louis succeeded in the most major period of growth up to 1900. New technology improved everyday life.
The city saw a shift in transportation from steamboats to railroads, and became a city of enterprising
manufacturers on the brink of a new century.

CIVIL WAR PERIOD: 1861-1865

When the Civil War broke out, St. Louis was the most important City in the West. The war brought much
hardship and suffering to the City, even though the City was not involved directly as a scene of conflict.
While Missouri was nominally a slave state, it had generally remained loyal to the Union. A convention was
held in St. Louis in January, 1861 to determine the stand of Missouri on slavery and secession; it was voted
to keep the state in the Union.

In May, 1861, Camp Jackson, which was near Grand Avenue and Pine Street, was in the hands of southern
sympathizers and the state militia under Brigadier-General D.M. Frost. It was then captured for the Union by
northern forces under General Nathaniel Lyon. In August, 1861 martial law was declared in St. Louis and
several pro-southern papers were suppressed. The U.S. Arsenal here remained in Union hands for the
duration of the War.

During the period of the war, the Metropolitan Police system was established in 1861, followed four years
later by the creation of a paid fire department. Ironclad riverboats were constructed at Carondelet by James
B. Eads, and the Courthouse at Fifth and Market Streets was finally completed in 1862, after having been
under construction since 1839.

The war caused many difficulties in St. Louis, such as the cessation of river traffic from the South. This had
a severe effect on local business, retarding the City's progress and eventually causing it to lose ground to
Chicago in its race to be the leading city of the Middle West. The war reduced the platting of new
subdivisions in the City to a negligible level and had a similar stultifying effect on building construction.

DOWNTOWN IN THE NINETIES (1890's that Is)
The north-south axis of the downtown district during the 1880's and 1890's was Broadway. It was during
this period that the first so called "skyscrapers" were erected along Broadway and Sixth Street. The
relocation of Barr's store to Sixth and Olive in 1880 and of Scruggs-Vandervoort and Barney to the corner of
Broadway and Locust in 1888 were indications of continued westward movement. A wave of multi-level
building construction began about 1890 and continued into the 20th Century. With the widespread use of
the elevator, structures of ten or more stories became common in downtown St. Louis. One of the tall
buildings built during this period was the Wainwright building, designed by Louis Sullivan in 1891 as one of
the first steel frame structures built in the nation. Two other large buildings erected about that time were the
15 story building at 705 Olive Street in 1893 and the 16 story Chemical building in 1896. The old Federal
building at Eighth and Olive Streets, which was completed in 1884, was one of the first large buildings
erected in what is now the center of the business district. During the late 1890's the wholesale district on
Washington Avenue began to take form. In 1893 the new Planter's Hotel was opened on the same site as
the old Planter's House, which had been a leading hostelry since 1841.

TURN OF THE CENTURY 1900
One of the most devastating disasters in the City's history occurred on May 27, 1896 when a destructive
tornado swept over the near south side around Lafayette Park and northeastward towards the river at Eads
Bridge.

During the late nineties the first automobiles made their appearance on St. Louis streets.
By the turn of the century, St. Louis began to demonstrate the civic consciousness and leadership which
led to the creation of the World's Fair of 1904.

The population in 1900 reached 575,238 and the year previous had seen the consolidation of most of the
transit lines here into one company. By that time, practically every line in the City used electric trolley cars.
As a prelude to the World's Fair, the City Water Department achieved success in the clarification of drinking
water during the administration of Mayor Rolla Wells.

WORLD'S FAIR PERIOD: 1900-1914

The Louisiana Purchase Exposition or St. Louis World's Fair was the greatest event in the City's history. It
has never been exceeded in size or grandeur by any other fair, before or since.  The third modern Olympics
occurred in St. Louis in 1904, making the United States the first English-speaking country to host the
Olympics.

THE WORLD'S FAIR
The fair covered 1, 272 acres in the vicinity of the western half of Forest Park and was carried to a
successful culmination under the leadership of David R. Francis. The fair celebrated the centennial of the
Louisiana Purchase and transformed Forest Park into a veritable fairyland of white palaces, lagoons, and
landscaping, attracting 20,000,000 visitors to the City. The fair focused worldwide attention on St. Louis and
caused increased construction of new hotels, office buildings, and homes, which continued until World War
I. Throughout this time, St. Louis industry enjoyed a steady substantial growth. The City became the world's
largest producer of beer, shoes, stoves, wagons, and many other products. Because of diversified
industries, St. Louis managed to weather depressions and financial panics more successfully than many
other cities.

POST-FAIR PERIOD
The St. Louis Transit Company, created by transit consolidation in 1899, was succeeded by the United
Railways Company. In 1907, this company absorbed the last remaining independent line, the St. Louis and
Suburban Railway Company. This became the Hodiamont division of the local transit system. It is
interesting to note that this line began as a narrow gauge steam railway line in 1869, running from Grand
and Olive to Florissant through Wellston and Ferguson.

Between 1900 and 1917, there was an in-filling of residential areas between major arteries, streets not so
defined because of their width, but rather because they were connecting links between small outlying
communities. A by-product of this trend was the establishment of local shopping centers along these
streets and at their intersections. The public transit system also tended to follow these thoroughfares, thus
strengthening their importance. In 1908 the City constructed the first free highway bridge across the
Mississippi River and in 1909, St. Louis celebrated the centennial of its incorporation as a town. The City's
population in 1910 climbed to 687,029, retaining the position of St. Louis as the fourth largest city in the
United States.

CENTRAL BUSINESS DISTRICT RELOCATIONS
During the early Twentieth Century, many changes transpired in the central business district. New office
structures were built such as the Railway Exchange, completed in 1914 as the City's largest.Larger hotels
were replacing the fine hostelries of the Nineties. Opening in 1904 at the western edge of downtown, the
Jefferson Hotel became the largest. It was followed by the Statler in 1917, the Mayfair in 1925 and the
Lennox in 1929. As the center of activity moved westwardly away from the Old Courthouse, old prominent
hotels in that area were closed. The Southern's long career ended in 1912 and the Planter's was converted
to an office building in 1922.

The old theatrical district of the 1890's, which centered around Broadway and Walnut, gradually turned into
a warehouse district. The famous Olympic Theater closed in 1916. Newer theaters which were built in the
new central area included the Orpheum at Ninth and St. Charles Streets in 1916, Loew's State in 1923 and
the Ambassador in 1926.
St. Louis 1854
Veiled Prophet & Parade, St. Louis version of Mardi Gras
The Beer King. Adolphus Busch, from Hesse, Germany, set up
a brewery in 1866 with his father-in-law, Eberhard Anheuser.
1870's Union of Germany
Coronation of Kaiser Wilhelm I for Unified Germany in 1888
The Kaiser Coronation Standard
Kaiser Wilhelm I cartoon after
Franco-Prussian War 1870
What Hamburg Harbor must have looked like in 1891 when
Johann Maurer and Ursula Esswein sailed for St. Louis.
Barricades in Berlin during 1848 Revolution
Old Kaiser Wilhelm I
of Prussia
M-P Bismarck and Kaiser Wilhelm I of Germany,
Bismark initiated the KULTURKAMPF
Flag of German Empire
at time Johann left Stockheim.
Germans in USA in 1872
Chancellor of the German Empire

Otto von Bismarck became Chancellor of Germany in 1871.

In 1871, Otto von Bismarck was raised to the rank of Fürst (Prince). He was also appointed Imperial Chancellor
of the German Empire, but retained his Prussian offices (including those of Minister-President and Foreign
Minister). Thus he held almost complete control of domestic and foreign policy. The office of Minister-President
(M-P) of Prussia was temporarily separated from that of Chancellor in 1873, when Albrecht von Roon was
appointed to the former office. But by the end of the year, Roon resigned due to ill health, and Bismarck again
became M-P.

In the following years, one of Bismarck's primary political objectives was to reduce the influence of the Catholic
church in Germany. This may have been due to the anti-liberal message of Pope Pius IX in the Syllabus of Errors
of 1864, and the dogma of Papal infallibility (1870). Prussia (except Rhineland) and most other northern German
states were predominantly Protestant, but many Catholics lived in the southern German states (especially
Bavaria). In total, one fourth of the population was Catholic. Bismarck believed that the Roman Catholic Church
held too much political power, and was also concerned about the emergence of the Catholic Centre Party
(organised in 1870).

Accordingly, he began an anti-Catholic campaign known as the Kulturkampf. In 1871, the Catholic Department of
the Prussian Ministry of Culture was abolished. In 1872, the Jesuits were expelled from Germany. Bismarck
somewhat supported the emerging anti-Roman Old Catholic Churches and Lutheranism. More severe anti-
Roman Catholic laws of 1873 allowed the government to supervise the education of the Roman Catholic clergy,
and curtailed the disciplinary powers of the Church. In 1875, civil ceremonies were required for weddings, which
could hitherto be performed in churches. But these efforts only strengthened the Catholic Centre Party. In 1878
Bismarck abandoned the Kulturkampf. Pius died that same year, replaced by a more pragmatic Pope Leo XIII.

The Kulturkampf had won Bismarck a new supporter in the secular National Liberal Party, which had become
Bismarck's chief allies in the Reichstag. But in 1873, Germany and much of Europe had endured the Long
Depression since the crash of the Vienna Stock Exchange in 1873, the Gründerkrise. A downturn hit the German
economy for the first time since vast industrial development in the 1850s after the 1848–49 revolutions. To aid
faltering industries, the Chancellor abandoned free trade and established protectionist tariffs, which alienated
the National Liberals who supported free trade. This marked a rapid decline in the support of the National
Liberals, and by 1879 their close ties with Bismarck had all but ended. Bismarck instead returned to
conservative factions — including the Centre Party — for support.

To prevent the Austro-Hungarian problems of different nationalities within one state, the government tried to
Germanize the state's national minorities, situated mainly in the borders of the empire, such as the Danes in the
North of Germany, the French of Alsace-Lorraine and the Poles in the East of Germany.

The German term Kulturkampf (literally, "culture struggle") refers to German policies in relation to secularity and
the influence of the Roman Catholic Church, enacted from 1871 to 1878 by the Chancellor of the German
Empire, Otto von Bismarck.

Until the mid-19th century, the Catholic Church was still also a political power. The Pope's Papal States were
supported by France but ceased to exist as an indirect result of the Franco-Prussian War. The Catholic Church
still had a strong influence on many parts of life, though, also in Bismarck's Protestant Prussia. In the newly
founded German Empire, Bismarck sought to bolster the power of the secular state and reduce the political and
societal influence of the Roman Catholic Church by instituting political control over Church activities.

The 1871 Kanzelparagraf (see below) marked the beginning of a series of sanctions against Catholicism that
Bismarck imposed until 1875. To characterize Bismarck's politics in view of the Catholic church, the pathologist
and member of the parliament of the Deutschen Fortschrittspartei (Liberals) Rudolf Virchow used the term
Kulturkampf the first time on January 17, 1873 in the Prussian house of representatives. As this conflict brought
him an ever growing political defeat, he moderated his struggle with the Catholic Church and in the wake of Pius
IX's death on February 7, 1878, reconciled with the new Pope, Leo XIII, lifting most sanctions except for the
Kanzelparagraf (which remained in power until 1953) and civil marriage.  It is generally accepted amongst
historians that the Kulturkampf measures targeted the Catholic Church under Pope Pius IX with discriminatory
sanctions.
Kulturkampf Legislation (May 31, 1875)
Pope Pius IX (May 13, 1792 – February 7, 1878), born
Giovanni Maria Mastai-Ferretti, reigned as Pope of the
Roman Catholic Church from his election in June 16, 1846,
until his death more than 31 years later in 1878, making him
the longest-reigning Pope since the Apostle St. Peter. Pius IX
was elected as the candidate of the liberal and moderate
wings on the College of Cardinals, following the pontificate of
arch-conservative Pope Gregory XVI. Initially sympathetic to
democratic and modernizing reforms in Italy and in the
Church, Pius became increasingly conservative after he was
deposed as the temporal ruler of the Papal States in the
events that followed the Revolutions of 1848. He formally
adopted the dogma of the Immaculate Conception and
organized the First Vatican Council, which enshrined the
dogma of papal infallibility.
The Long Depression (1873 – 1896) affected much of the world from the early 1870s until the mid-1890s and was contemporary with the Second
Industrial Revolution. At the time it was regarded as the Great Depression, until the more severe Great Depression occurred in the 1930s. It was most
notable in Western Europe and North America, but this is in part because reliable data from the period is most readily available in those parts of the world.
The United Kingdom is often considered to have been the hardest hit by the Long Depression, and during this period it lost much of its large industrial
lead over the economies of Continental Europe. The Depression is usually believed to have ended by 1897. The global economy grew at an impressive
rate from that year to the start of World War I. The causes of the Depression are also debated. The most immediate cause, and the date that is often used
as the start of the Depression, was the collapse of the Vienna Stock Exchange on May 9, 1873. Others have argued the depression was rooted in the 1870
Franco-Prussian War that hurt the French economy and forced them to make large war reparations payments to Germany.
Lorenz Schilly
came to St. Louis in 1854
from Fessenbach, Ortenau; Großherzogtum Baden
Victoria Birkenmeier
came to St. Louis in 1854
from Ebringen, Südlicher Oberrhein; Großherzogtum Baden
Karl Albert Ferenbach
came to Fieldon, IL in 1881
from Neukirch, Schwarzwald-Baar-Heuberg; Großherzogtum Baden
Katharina Allgaier
came to  Fieldon, IL in 1893
from Waldkirch, Südlicher Oberrhein; Großherzogtum Baden
Olive & Fourth looking west 1850 & 1917
The Irish side of the family will be addressed separately: W. Morgan (b. 1817 in Ava,
Illinois) and L. A. Cheatham (b. 1820 in Tennessee)
Dom Koln (Cologne Cathedral)
Germania
1877
31 stars in 1851
MO. Governor Sterling Price 1853-1857
Confederate Major General in a campaign
to secure Missouri for the Confederacy.

St. Louis Germans played a part in
preventing his success.
U.S. President Franklin Pierce
1853-1857