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<T368> Dr. C. Cremer, Cashton, Wis.
Dec. 10, 1898
Dear friend. Your bill gave me quite a fright. I cannot earn money that easily. You are the richest man in Cashton, but you never bought anything, even 5 cts. worth, from us, and you even took away our customers by giving vegetables to your neighbors. I have saved $5 for you. If this will pay my debt, you can have it; otherwise I want to have an itemized bill. I surely would like to know how you arrive at such an amount. But please write the bill more clearly so that I will be able to read it. You were once a school teacher so you should know how to write. Expecting a kind reply I remain your old friend, F.A.M.
Lincoln Freie Presse. Lincoln, Neb.
Dec. 27, [1898].
The Christmas edition of the Freie Presse has upset me tremendously. I subscribe to a German newspaper because I am interested in German politics and especially in the workers in the Reichstag, but the negotiations in the Reichstag were mentioned in your last issue only briefly. You fill your paper with little stories, which may be interesting to children or women, but which don't fit the character of a great political newspaper. I had considered giving up the Chicago Freie Presse at the end of the year, but if I want to find out anything directly about Germany it looks like I will have to subscribe to it for another year.
I would also like to propose another improvement to your newspaper, but I cannot see how it might be done. I would rather pay $1 instead of 85 cts. (and maybe many others would agree!) if the "Hausfreund" (Friend of the Family) would come out every week instead of every other week; and if you would put into it a good historical novel that one might find interesting to read. It would not matter if it was a reprint. <T369> The little original stories seem boring as soon as one starts to read them. What makes Walter Scott's novels so interesting? Only the fact that they are based on a historical background.
== Jan. 4 [1899]
The novel promised in the "Hausfreund" seems to already fulfill my wish. Even though the "Pinkus von Pirk" and the "Amtmann von Rapsuagen" are interesting to read, please a little bit more politics. Wishing you a Happy New Year and many subscribers, I remain your devoted F.A.M.
August Breitenfeld, Bruce, S.Dak
Jan. 18, 1899.
Dear friend. I received your letter and was happy that you still think of me and that you are doing well, as it seems. Everything is still the same with us. Of the 640 acres on which you live, how many do you own? Do you live alone in your big house? We have had freezing weather for a long time, sometimes very cold for a few days with not much snow and some sledding tracks. Now farewell, my dear friend. F.A.M.
<Written in English.> To: Adolph at Merlin
18 Jan 1899 [excerpt].
... I wish you much luck in your mining enterprise. ...
Friedrich Adolph Meissner died 13 April 1899, on his homestead north of Cashton. He had celebrated his 94th birthday on 27 Dec 1898. He was buried in a private plot on the farm.
From Vivian Foley, Dec 1989:
Dear Loren:
I thought you might like to hear about my latest discovery . . . Earl Meissner . . . the grandson of George Henery Meissner who got a leg shot off during the Civil War. He had a peg leg . . . George Henery homesteaded near Webster City IA . . . George decided to put an ad in a San Francisco newspaper to see if he could find his sister Mary Blake [sic: see correction below]. He found her in Petaluma CA. Her daughter wasn't going to let him in, but he barged in anyhow. Sister Mary was ill. To identify himself, he showed her the Medallion which he had taken off the wall as the family had left Florida with G. Grandfather F. A. Meissner . . . GH's sister got the medallion and she willed it to Duane Blake who now has it. For several years Earl had the medallion but he has sent it to Duane. Duane is Edgar Meissner's sister's son. He lives in Texas. The medallion is a portrait of a young man in court dress. It is in a frame.
= = = =.
Dear Vivian,.
I was very pleasantly surprised to hear about your recent contact with some Meissners who were previously unknown to us. As far as I can tell, the last previous contact with George Henry Meissner is hinted in the letter from Friedrich Adolph Meissner to his son Ernest dated January 2, 1879: Ernest "consulted" his "step brother" (which must have been George Henry Meissner) who evidently suggested that he go and join his uncle in Utah; Ernest was living in Tyrone (Monroe County) Iowa at the time (not too close to Webster City.) There is no record of any direct communication between GHM and F.A.M. after 1864, just after GHM returned from the Civil War. [But see references to GHM at <T201> (1882) and <T308>; also in English: 1896.].
You say "George decided ... to see if he could find his sister Mary Blake." I do not think this is quite right. Mary Blake was his daughter (according to your letter). His sisters were Wilhelmine (b. 1834; m. Ryan) and Leonore (b. 1836); they both left Florida and went to California soon after their mother died in 1853. GH (b. 1838) stayed with F.A.M.. It seems likely that GHM would try to look them up later on, and that he found one or the other of his sisters in California.
I am quite interested in the part about the medallion. Can you get from Earl the address of his cousin Duane Blake in Texas; I would like to contact him and try to get a photo copy of the medallion. "A young man in court dress" would likely be the young F.A.M.; he worked for his uncle at the court in Dresden after his father died when he was 13 (May 1817). [But no photography at that time??].
F.A.M. was some kind of a lover-note that he married his first wife 3 months after daughter Caroline was born. I would bet about 50/50 that George Henry was also his son, born when he took up with Doris Runtzler Sennewald (who already had 3 older children) after he had been married to Elise von Mithofen (Caroline's mother) for 12 years. About the only clue on this subject is the letter F.A.M. wrote to GHM in 1864: "... that you since you was a year old slept in my arm, that I carried you with me to field to work and every where, that it was only because I could not part with you that I took your Mother with me to America." GHM was 7 years old when they went to America, so F.A.M. had been "carrying him around" for about 6 years. Maybe during the first year he was too afraid of his wife to visit the other woman too often? On the other hand, he says later in the same letter [1864], "I hope you will also assume your true name and don't disgrace mine any further": if his true name was not Meissner could he be F.A.M.'s son? We will never know, unless GHM's birth record (in Germany) tells: if Doris Sennewald's husband was already dead when George Henry (Georg Heinrich) was born, it might list F.A.M. as father. [Another possibility is that Doris was unwed when GHM was born and F.A.M. took them in.]
The older son William (20 years old in 1852) did not go with them from New England to Florida. When the mother Doris died (1853), the girls were 17 and 19. Wilhelmina said "I will never leave you," and he washed her when she was sick [see letter in English to Sallie Stafford Aug 16, 1857]. My guess is that after the mother died, F.A.M. tried to start something with Wilhelmina [or she knew him well enough to fear that he would - at best he would probably have treated them as housemaids]: that is why the girls left soon afterward and went to live with the neighbors and later to California. But the girls left their little brother with him: does that strengthen the case for GHM being his natural son, or was it only because the girls had no choice? They could not get back in contact with him after that, because the lad did not know where his sisters had gone (but it now seems he must have had some idea it was near San Francisco), and they did not know where he and F.A.M. had gone (Wisconsin) . . .
Loren P. Meissner.
==
Note also that in January 1853 William wrote to his mother (shortly before her death) proposing that she and the girls should leave F.A.M. and live with him, and Doris agreed but said, "... we cannot leave Henry behind." This might indicate that William and Henry were only half-brothers. She seemed willing enough to leave F.A.M. and join William, and the girls didn't hang around after their mother died. Henry was 15 when his mother died (1853) and 18 when he went to Wisconsin with F.A.M. (1856). However, after they reached Wisconsin, Henry moved out a few months later (see letters in English to Henry, Mar and Apr 1857).
In letters from F.A.M. to his daughter Karoline Gerstenberg in Kummerfeld he mentions the children by name. One of the latest examples was written 4 Feb 1882: "Heinrich is married, lives in this State, lost a foot in the war and receives a pension; he is doing fine." So his daughter and presumably also his first wife must have known about Mrs. Sennewald and her children before he left Germany in 1845, and he assumes that Karoline would still remember Heinrich and would still be interested in him.
-LPM, 1999.
== EMAIL from Frank Teller: ==
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-----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
Von: Loren P Meissner
An: F. Teller <Frank.Teller@t-online.de>
Datum: Sonntag, 4. April 1999 02:38
Betreff: RE: More Informations > I am interested in the reference "erbittet am 24.2.1652 Privileg für sein Haus am Fastenberg" based on Johann Christian Engelschall: Chronik (Leipzig, 1723) This information you can find in the booklet "Die Gründungsgeschichte von Johanngeorgenstadt" ["The History of the Founding of Johanngeorgenstadt"] by Dr. Friedrich Francke (1854). Ursprünglich nämlich standen schon seit dem 16. Jahrhundert zwei Waldhäuslein auf dem Fastenberge, wie aus einem Gesuche erhellt, das Caspar Clauß(*) und Christoph Meichßner am 24. Februar 1652 an den Churfürsten richteten. Darin heißt es: "ihre Großeltern, Bergleute, hätten sich voriger Zeit nechst an die böhmische Grenze uffn Fastenbergk am Breitenbach gelegen gemachet, ihr Bergkwergk zur selbiger Zeit getrieben und zwei Zechenstüblein zum Aufenthalte bei wehrender Arbeit erbauet, nachmals sich ganz da zu wohnen begeben, auch zu Erhaltung ein wenig Viehes von dem damaligen Oberförster zu Burckhardtsgrün, Hanß Günthern, eine gewisse Revier, gegen einen jährlichen Laßzins, auch Entrichtung Geist- und Weltlicher Obrigkeit. Gebürhniß ins Städtlein Eybenstock abgestattet, eingeräumt erhalten." Sie wollten nun in diesen von ihren Eltern ererbten Waldhäuslein wohnen bleiben, müßten sie aber von Neuem aufbauen, und bäten Befehl zu geben, daß ihnen solche Häuslein und Laßräumlein, "weil an solchen ortten ohne daß nichts denn Stöck aus zu rotten, gruben undt hügel eben zu machen seindt, auch kein Körel getreyde alda geseet noch reiff werden kann," gegen einen erträglichen Erbzinß erblich eingeräumt, auch das Bauholz ohne Waldzinß gewährt werde. Übrigens bewilligte ein churf. Befehl d.d. Dreßden 2. Martii 1652 das Erbetene. (*) Engelschall hat den Namen Caspar Bernd. The granting of the petition of Christoph Meichßner and Caspar Bernd was the mentioned "Privileg". In the Chronicle of Johann Christian Engellschall we learn more about this. Meichßner und Bernd had to pay their taxes to the county of Schwarzenberg. But after the arrival of the Exulants on the Fastenberg, they acted like Exulants themselves. Both of them signed the petition (2 Dec 1654) of the Exulants to the saxon Elector Johann Georg I, althoug they didn´t came from Bohemia. On the 22 nd of September 1654 Christoph Meichßner took the oath of a citizen of Johanngeorgenstadt like the other Exulants. Later he didn´t pay his taxes to the county of Schwarzenberg. Real Exulants were tax-free for 23 years. The county-administrator (Amtsschösser) of Schwarzenberg brought an action against him to the Elector (06/12/1668). But Johann Georg II. dismissed this case. In this way Christoph Meichßner became an Exulant.
[LPM Note: Compare the quotations "ihre Großeltern ... eingeräumt erhalten." and "weil an solchen ... reiff werden kann" in the German version (above) with the translated quotation from Friedrich Adolph Meissner <T233> which is probably derived from Francke. There are some discrepancies.]
> Freie Presse [1998], "Von Waldhaeuslern auf dem Fastenberg": I would like to see the text of this story if it is not too long.
The Freie Presse article,"Von Waldhaeuslern auf dem Fastenberg," discusses the early settlers (Meichsner and Berndt) on the Fastenberg. After the death of Georg Meichsner, his wife and children inherited his house on the Fastenberg. Christoph Meichsner bought this house from the other heirs on 6 May 1644 for 140 gulden. As partial payment for the share of the house that he bought from his brother Elias, on 17 Mar 1647 Christoph gave Elias a small plot of ground on the Fastenberg called "Schallern". In a petition [also signed by Caspar Berndt] on 24 Feb 1652, Christoph requested a tax exemption for this house from Elector Johann George I, confirmed 2 Mar 1652.
=
Frank Teller adds that there is still a lane at the bottom of the old part of town called Schallergasse. "An old legend tells of a rich mine-owner named Schaller who was beheaded although he was innocent. On foggy nights, you can see him as a headless horseman, carrying his head under his arm." Actually there was a mine-owner, Wolff Schaller in Platten (which belonged to Saxony before 1546). Schaller protested against a new mining order made by the Elector Johann Friedrich and stirred up trouble, so he was banished from Saxony in 1536.
Über die ersten Bewohner einen Gegend, in der man 1654 Johanngeorgenstadt gründete
Von unserem Mitarbeiter Jörg Brückner Vor nunmehr 344 Jahren wurde Johanngeorgenstadt von böhmischen Exulanten auf tem sächsichen Fastenberg gegründet. Das soll Anlaß sein, aus Chroniken und Archivalien Näheres über die ursprünglichen Bewohner des dichtbewaldeten Berges zu berichten. Wie Pfarrer Johann Christian Engelschall in seiner 1723 erschienen Chronik von Johanngeorgenstadt schreibt, gab es auf dem Fastenberg nicht mehr als zwei alte Berg- oder Waldhäuslein, deren Besitzer ein Bergwerk bauten. Doch wer waren deren Bewohner? Aus einem Gesuch, daß Caspar Bernd und Christoph Meichsner am 24. Februar 1652 - also fast zwei Jahre vor der eigentlichen Stadtgründung - an den sächsischen Kurfürsten Johann Georg I. richteten, geht u. a. hervor, daß ihre Großeltern Bergleute gewesen waren. Diese hatten nahe der böhmischen Grenze auf dem Fastengerg ein Bergwerk betrieben und zum Aufenthalt bei der Arbeit dort zwei Zechenstuben errichtet. Später hatten sich die Familien ihrer Großväter ganz dort angesiedelt. Zusätzlich war ihnen vom Oberförster von Burkhardtsgrün ein Revier zugewiesen worden, wo sie ihr Vieh halten konnten. Bernd und Meichsner wollten nun offiziell in den von ihren Eltern ererbten Waldhäusern wohnen bleiben und diese baulich ernuerern. Weil aber in der Wildnis viele Baumstümfe auszuroden, Gruben und Hügel einzuebnen waren und aufgrund des rauhen Klimas kein Getreide reifte, baten sie den Kurfürsten um Überlassung von Bauholz ohne den üblichen Waldzins. Am 2. März 1652 gewährte Kurfürst Johann Georg I. diese Bitte. Es gelang, über die Familien Bernd und Meichsner noch einige weitere Daten zu ermitteln. Christoph Meichsner gehörte als Schneider der Zunft in Schwarzenberg an und arbeitete auf dem Hammerwerk Breitenbach. Das Waldhaus am Fastenberg hatte er nach dem Tod seines Vaters Georg von der Mutter und den Geschwisterm am 6. Mai 164 für 140 Gulden abgekauft. Jedoch war er nicht in der Lage, die volle Kaufsumme auf einmal zu zahlen. So gab er seinem Bruder Elias am 17. März 1647 ein Grundstück, in den Akten heißt es „einen Raum, der Schallern gewest". Nach dem früheren Grundstücksbesitzer, wohl gleichzusetzen mit dem sagenhaften Fundgrübner Wolf Schaller aus Platten, wurde bei der Gründung Johanngeorgenstadts die heutige Untere Gasse „Schallergassë" benannt. Der zweite Bewohner des Fastenberges, Caspar Bernd, lebte von 1591 bis 1679. Er war Holzfäller von Beruf und hatte im Jahre 1625 Barbara Meichsner, die Cousine seines Nachbarn Christoph Meichsner, geheiratet. Das Haus am Fastenberg hatte er 1638 der Schwiegermutter abgekauft, die er sechs Jahre pflegte und versorgte. Seine Frau Barbara betätigte sich fast fünf Jahrzehnte als Hebamme, half etwa 2600 Johanngeorgenstädtern, das Licht der Welt zu erblicken. So hat sie sich einen besonderen Platz in der städtischen Geschichte verdient. Nach arbeitsreichem Leben starb sie im Januar 1692 im greisen Alter von 92 Jahren. Zu diesen zwei Waldhäusern gesellte sich ab 1651 am Fuße des Fastenberges am Unterlauf des Breitenbaches die Mahlmühle des aus Platten stammenden Exulanten Matthäus Weigel. Oberhalb dieser Mühle errichteten sich die beiden Plattener Bergleute Johann Poppenberger und Melchoir Jorback zwei Häuser. Dazu hatten sie am 12. Mai 1652 vom Sächsichen Kurfürsten die Genehmigung erhalten. Somit war der Anfang zu einer größeren Siedlung also bereits vor 1654 gemacht worden. Knapp zwei Jahre später ließ sich dann der größte Teil der Exulanten aus dem böhmischen Platten hier auf sächsicher Seite nieder und gründete Johanngeorgenstadt.>Also the text of the 24 Feb 1652 petition if it is quoted anywhere. Sorry. I don´t know the original source of the petition and of the "Privileg". Frank [Teller]
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