Perry County, Indiana - Chapter 21: Pioneer Men and Industries of Tell City, 1916

By leaps and bounds the population increased during the first year of Tell City's existence and the three hundred people who were there in April, 1858, had grown to six hundred and twenty by June 1, and eighty-six houses had been built. At the close of the month 986 persons were enumerated, with 120 houses, and five miles of streets cut through the trees.

On July 5 (the Fourth falling on Sunday) the first celebration of Independence Day was marked by a picnic on the hill, at which three or four thousand people were present, according to the account given in the Cannelton Reporter of July 10. The steamer Prairie Rose had brought from Cincinnati a special excursion of 600 Switzers who came down the river to visit their friends and see the new town. The boat lay in port three days before returning, but many of the tourists had decided to remain, as a fresh census taken within the same M^eek showed 1,230 residents and 154 buildings.

The Swiss Colonization Society held its second general convention September 19-20-21, 1858, at Tell City and the board of the organization was then officially transferred to Perry County. The first officers of the Tell City branch were Charles Steinauer, President; F. W. Dietz, Vice-President; John Siebert, Secretary; William Leopold, Assistant Secretary; John Wegman, Treasurer ; Louis Frey, Agent and Corresponding Secretary. All these oflficers composed the Board of Directors and an act was passed authorizing loans of from $500 to $1,000 of the society's funds to worthy business or manufacturing enterprises.

To the first shingle mill, started by Jacob Loew, a loan of $300 was extended, and like amounts to Reis and Endebrock who founded the first brewery, and to Peter Schreck by whom the second was established. One hundred dollars was lent in November, 1858, to David Brosi and Henry Meyer who started the first planing mill. Prior to this time the only lumber yard was that of Hausler and Company, who had brought dressed timber, mouldings, doors, windows and shutters from Cincinnati. In the following spring a loan of $4,000 was made to the Tell City Furniture Factory. It was organized by twenty-five men, at whose head was John C. Harrer, born June 14, 1822, in Bavaria, the eldest son of George and Christina (Long) Harrer. After learning the cabinet maker's trade and following it through various parts of Germany, he came in 1846 to America, first to Pittsburg, thence to Cincinnati and finally into Perry County. Married twice - in 1847 to Eleanor Rohe and in 1864 to Susan Hannekrath - his Tell City descendants in this generation are many.

The first store of any consequence was opened as early as April, 1858, by Charles W. Reif, Sr., one of those who had come down the river the previous year to select a town site and who was active among the town's founders. He had come with his wife, Barbara Graf, in 1848 to America from Baden, where he was born January 17, 1817. John Jacob Meyer, a native of Canton Zurich, Switzerland, September 24, 1828, one of nine children born to John Jacob and Barbara (Staubli) Meyer, was a pioneer in the hardware business and tinner's trade in which he had served a four years' apprenticeship at home before coming in 1854 to the United States. One year earlier as an immigrant had come Herman Stalder, also a Switzer, from Canton Aargau, born November 26, 1833, his parents, Ludwig and Clara (Herzog) Stalder having brought fourteen children into the world. All three of these men were very early merchants who in time became veterans in the commercial circles of Tell City, and others were John Hartman, Frederick Rank, John Siebert, F. W. Dietz, John Graff, Charles Robert, Kimmel and Goettel.

In May, 1858, the original wharfboat was floated down the river from Cincinnati and rented to Frederick Steiner, a native of Canton St. Gall, August 10, 1830, who remained in control for many years, becoming a notable river man, familiar in steamboat circles everywhere and personally conspicuous from his immense size, which made him a striking figure up to his death, October 30, 1882. Facing the wharf he erected the three-story brick hotel which has long been a landmark to river travelers and attained a wide reputation, first as the Steiner House and afterward the Hotel Moraweck.

Anton Moraweck, for many years its manager and later its owner, was born August 15, 1828, in Bohemia, the youngest child of Joseph and Josepha (Philipp) Moraweck, and had been only two years in America when the impetus of the Swiss Colonization Society brought him in 1858 from Davenport, Iowa, to Perry County. By his marriage. May 13, 1856, to Claudine Kroboth, three children were born of whom the eldest became a physician of international reputation. Dr. Ernest Moraweck was a specialist whose authority carried weight in the clinics of Vienna and Berlin no less than the United States, and it was while returning from one of his frequent voyages across the Atlantic that he lost his life in the tragic sinking of the Titanic, April 15, 1912. His wife, Amelia Basler of Tell City, had died several years earlier, no offspring resulting from the marriage.

Paul Schuster was Tell City's pioneer real estate agent and lawyer, but remained only a short time before going to Cannelton where he was the founder and principal of Franklin Institute.

than four months after the earliest settlers of Tell Cityarrived that the first school was commenced, in July, 1858, with Albert Ostreicher as its teacher. His instruction was given entirely in German, and the small building available could accommodate only a limited number of those wishing to attend. A two-story frame school house was erected in early autumn by the Colonization Society, and about November it is said that regular sessions were begun, employing two teachers and both the English and German languages. The two tongues continued to be used side by side throughout the grades for some forty years, more or less, but German was finally relegated to the high school course, as an alternative with Latin for graduation, according to the Indiana scheme of study.

"Tell City is a marvel," declared the Cannelton Reporter of October 2, 1858. "There is nothing like its history and progress, and it has no precedent. It has now over eleven miles of streets, cut seventy and eighty feet wide through the forests; has 1,500 people and 300 houses. All this has been done since the middle of last April. The shareholders are coming in daily and as soon as they can find their lots, begin their improvements. Everyone seems confident that the owners of the adjacent lots will come and do likewise. By this time next year, we expect to see 5,000 people here and the establishment of sufficient branches of industry to give all full employment. This union of German and Swiss, of industry and economy, of thrift and industry, will accomplish wonders."

March 19, 1859, appeared the first issue of a Tell City newspaper, the Helvetia, whose outfit was removed from Cincinnati where it had been founded three years before by the Colonization Society, who owned it, a committee having charge of its publication. Its first local proprietors and editors were Walser and Schellenbaum, who printed it in German as a six-column folio, at a subscription price of $2. Originally independent in politics, it came out strongly

John Weber, Louis Frey, J. N. Sorg, Albert Ostreicher and Ferdinand Mengis were all in turn connected with the office, until publication ceased in 1865. Henry Meyer then attempted its revival as the Volksblatt, but without success, and for a short time later it was printed as the Beobachter.

The initial number of the Anzeiger, however, appearing September 1, 1866, was the beginning of a permanent periodical, first owned by M. Schmidt and F. J. Widmer, with an editorial committee of twelve citizens. Within a few years the controlling interest was purchased by George F. Bott, and in his family the establishment remains, though the Anzeiger was discontinued April 27, 1912, an English paper, the Tell City Journal, having been established in the same office February 18, 1891. For some time its editorial chair was filled by the late Francis Anson Evans, one of Perry County's few verse-writers, whose contributions in rime drew special attention to the Journal and were widely copied in Indiana and elsewhere. He was a native Hoosier, and wrote with pleasing and wholly unaffected simplicity of style.

George F. Bott, while not one of the very earliest settlers, came nevertheless to Tell City soon enough (1860) to be classed among the pioneer residents, and lived long enough to see realized many of its promises of substantial development. He was born July 23, 1842, in Ravensburg, Germany, the home of his parents, George and Marie (Bauer) Bott. Coming with them to Perry County, he soon afterward entered upon a printer's apprenticeship at Dubuque, Iowa, and in 1861 enlisted in Company D, First Nebraska Infantry (later Cavalry). His regiment was under Grant at Fort Donelson and Corinth, also participating in many other well-known battles, under Lew Wallace, and he was promoted to sergeant's rank in Company B. Com- ing back to Tell City after peace was declared, he married Babette Loeb and to their union seven children were born. From 1869 to 1885 he held the office of postmaster, and continued active in journalism up to his death, July 31, 1896.

The name of Ferdinand Becker is linked with that of the Colonization Society from its beginning, as he was a full-blooded Switzer, born June 22, 1827, in Canton Glarus, the eldest son of Frederick and Elizabeth (Grubermann) Becker. His collegiate education in both French and German was exceptionally thorough, and it was as a cultured young man that he came to America in 1854. Following mercantile pursuits in Cincinnati and Davenport, he left Iowa in 1858 to identify himself with the new colony of his nation in Indiana, and attained in Ferry County a degree of prominence for which his abilities well fitted him. From his marriage in 1861 with Mary Gnau, of Cincinnati, sprang a family of descendants who respect his name by honourably maintaining it.

Michael Bettinger came as a "Forty-eighter" to the United States from Wurttemburg, where he was born September 29, 1824, the son of Martin and Juliane (Grisser) Bettinger. For two and a half years after attaining his majority he wore the uniform of military service, which he was glad to exchange for civilian garb by emigrating to Cincinnati. There he was married in 1849 to Elizabeth Angst, also of Wurttemburg, and together they came to Tell City ten years later. Like many others among the pioneers, he made several changes of occupation before settling down into the woolen manufacture. Of his five children three remained in Tell City, one son making a home in Cincinnati, where his activity found wider scope, especially in advancing the natural river interests of the entire Ohio Valley, a truly colossal work with which the name of Albert Bettinger will always be honourably connected.

ized municipality was felt, so a petition with 124 signatures was presented by Louis Frey to the County Commissioners, asking that 1847 acres of the site be incorporated. June 28 was thereupon set for election, which resulted favourably, and was ratified September by the county. The first Board of Town Trustees, however, had met July 28 for organization, as follows : Henry Brehmer, Joseph Einsiedler, William Leopold, Frederick Rank, J. M. Rauscher, Charles W. Reif, Christian Uebelmesser, trustees ; J. C. Schening, clerk ; John Wegman, treasurer; William Leopold, assessor; Frederick Steiner, marshal.

Naturally the records were kept for a number of years in German, the language in which all transactions were conducted, and a historian's research work therefore demands the skill of an interpreter, while translation does not always sufficiently repay the effort. The urgent need of additional school facilities was realized, so preparations were set on foot for building another two-story frame school house, 36 by 60 feet, to accommodate increasing demands. Several vacant houses, including one of stone on Lot 129, had been used for school purposes, also a building in the market square (now the City Hall Park) where religious services had been held. All these, as well as some few private schools, were carried on in both languages and made weekly reports of their progress to the Colonization Society.

Early in 1863 one of the school houses was torn down to check a conflagration threatening serious spread, and immediate preparations were made to erect another. The Town Board appropriated $600, $1,100 being subscribed by the Colonization Society and others. The two-story brick edifice which for two-score years crowned the highest point in Ninth Street, was built at a cost which ultimately reached $9,000, furnishing - with other houses - adequate room until 1867 when the "North Building," also a two-story brick, was constructed for $11,000.

The first teachers in the new "South Building," during 1863-64, were Jacob Bollinger, Albert Ostreicher and Mrs. Nagel. Of these, Jacob Bollinger should be mentioned as probably the most profoundly educated man among Tell City's early instructors. Born March 11, 1818, in Canton Aargau, he received scholastic training in Switzerland and taught there before coming in 1855 to America, two of his brothers having preceded him. He was first a teacher of instrumental music at Fort Smith, Arkansas, afterward Professor of German in a college at Lebanon, Illinois, before accepting the first principalship of the Tell City schools. Later engaging in real estate, underwriting and the practice of law, besides serving two years as United States Revenue Collector, he stood throughout his life in Tell City as one who upheld to a marked degree the kulturkampf of Continental Europe.

Likewise a native Switzer was John Baumgaertner, born May 1, 1843, in Canton Graubuenden, the second child of Simon and Anna (Fluetsch) Baumgaertner. Educated in the excellent common schools and also at a normal training school in his home town, he taught there until a year after his majority. He came then to America and in December, 1865, settled in Tell City, where he taught German for seven consecutive years. Afterward figuring in politics for two terms as town marshal, he then engaged in the wharfboat business, until his removal in 1879 to Rockport. There he conducted the Verandah Hotel until his death, and his children are of social and professional prominence in Spencer County.

Another whose introduction to Tell City was also in the school room, but whose distinction was attained in the realm of finance, was Gustave Huthsteiner, who taught in the new brick shortly after Jacob Bollinger.

He was born April 17, 1844, in Prussia, the eldest child of Edward and Caroline (Aschenbach) Huthsteiner, who came with so many other Germans in 1848 to America, locating in Cincinnati. Here the younger children were born and all received an excellent education through the liberality of their father, a successful merchant of the Queen City. After teaching there for two years, Gustave Huthsteiner came at the age of twenty to Tell City, first clerking in a drug store for a short time before again becoming a teacher.

This experience, added to three months of military service in Company K, Fifth Ohio Cavalry, taught him to read human nature well and developed those traits of logical self-control which made him in maturer years Tell City's leading financier and a strong figure in Perry County politics, serving two consecutive terms as County Treasurer and being elected in 1878 as Representative to the Legislature. Twice married - first to Pauline, daughter of John and Pauline (Stadlin) Weber, who died December 25, 1883 ; and some years later to Louise Ludwig, also of Tell City - he left at his death, February 1, 1902, a considerable family, of whom some still live in their native town and devote themselves to her well-being, as a privilege no less than an hereditary obligation to the name of Huthsteiner.

At the time of the founding of the place and so long as incoming colonies continued to arrive, every branch of business was extremely prosperous. The newcomers invariably brought with them goodly sums in gold, laid up to be of use in their new home, and the large amounts of coin paid out of land, labour, farm products, etc., had the effect usual in new communities of raising the price of commodities.

But when the last immigrants had come and had sent their gold into the channels of trade, reaction set in, furthered by the immense influence of the War Between the States. Many failed, and returned to their former homes ; by rigid economy others pulled through until better times came again ; some few, by good judgment, skill and energy, prospered even during the most stringent financial distress of the sixties.

Truly marvellous has been the tenacity of life displayed by some of Tell City's earliest and still leading manufacturing establishments, and her prosperity reflects brilliantly upon the persistent industry, frugality and thrift of her German-Swiss people.