Friday, June 24, 2016

Where Did Clinton's Sawmill Workers Hail? Immigrants and Lumber

In the continuing resource guide, below is a collection of data and anecdotes on Clinton's immigrant workforce. 

Immigrant Profiles:
Where Did the Mill Workers Come From:
In the early years (1840s-1869), many of the lumber workers were German, Irish, and Scandinavian immigrants. By 1870 and 1880 census, in Iowa at least, most of the sawmill workers were born in the United States. For example in 1880, the US census defined that 2,481 Iowa residents were employed in the sawmill industry. 1,581 were from America and in order: Germany, Ireland, Norway/Sweden, British America, and Great Britain, were the others.
Not a surprise, many of the names in the biographies of  19th century Clinton had immigrant parents, but they themselves were American born.

Profiles of Immigrants:

Struve Family (German):
            The museum has a wonderful treasure trove of letters written between the first Struve to come to America and his family back in Germany. In 1848, many Germans fled the European unrest, an unrest that pitted many classes against each other. The letters will be expanded on in a future resource guide. 

William J Young (Irish): 
    Young's story is the classic Ragged Dick immigrant story of the supposed pull yourself up by the bootstraps from a poor immigrant to being one of the richest men in the Midwest. Young was born in Belfast, Ireland, and he came to America at the age of 19 in 1846. In reality, Young had financial support from Cincinnati, seemingly some education, and the amazing ability to convince his financial supporters to move a mill from La Crosse, Wisconsin to Clinton, Iowa. A favorite line of Young's was that "(I) began life with all the capital I required, which was good health." Like many of these stories, he combined hard work with outside financial support. With some major risk in the early years, he took complete control of the company and relied on his own capital and the shared capital of the Mississippi River Logging Company. 

Joseph Borbeck: Born in Suedlohn, Westphalia, Germany in 1859, Joseph came to America in 1884. He settled in Lyons, and he worked with his uncle and cousin, Frank Lohberg Sr and Jr, selling lumber. His lumber store proved to be quite profitable once the sawmill industry died out. He was a member of the German Catholic church and many of the local German organizations. He was on the board of the following: German Society; German Workingmen’s Association of Lyons, and Woodmen of the World. He passed in 1929. 
            Ones of interest of Joseph is that Joseph’s parents stayed in Germany…. But in reality: His grandfather and his father were hoteliers and brewers. His mother most likely died shortly after giving birth (can’t tell), and his father died in 1873, when Joseph was an early teen. Once Joseph reached adulthood,  he sold his shares and became a baker. Joseph married Johanna Temming in Germany. Johanna’s father, G.A. Temming, came to Lyons Iowa at some point. It’s apparent Joseph’s uncle also was living in Lyons and had his own lumber store. Knowing how arranged marriages happened in relation to immigration, it is quite possible that Joseph’s uncle knew Mr. Temming, and they arranged the marriage. Or, often times, you could think of immigration like a modern Sister City, an American settlement would attract immigrants from the same region.
            Interesting note, given the death of the sawmill industry in Clinton, the firm rafted lumber down from Stillwater, Minnesota. The “mill” was a finishing mill. The mill was located one half mile north of the bridge at Lyons, or roughly just down the street from the museum. The office was Main & Eighth street.
J.F.T. Stamm: He was a junior owner of Ingwersen & Borbeck, a finishing mill and lumber retailer. He was the son of German immigrants, but yet born in London, England in 1872. Raised in England until 1887, his family moved back to Eiderstedt, Germany. In 1893, J.F.T. visited America for one reason. He attended the World’s Fair in Chicago. He tramped around America and never left. He came to Clinton in 1897. Notice his company was located in Lyons, but by 1897, Lyons had been annexed. He also married the daughter of N.E. Ingwersen.

H. William Meggers:
            Meggers was born in Holstein, Germany in 1841. In 1868, he entered America through New York. He came directly to Clinton, where he worked sorting lumber for Ira Stockwell. In 1874, he became the foreman of Gardner, Batchelder, & Wells. He stayed there for the next 20 years. In his retirement years, he was a real estate man and home builder. While in Germany, he married his wife. It seems, two of his sons must have been born in Germany, prior to leaving. His son, Frederick, worked by G,B, & W, until becoming the manager of W.T. Joyce lumber yards in Galva, Iowa. Touchingly, in 1894, he went back home and visited his father, who was near 80.

George C. Smith:
            Born in Lincolnshire, England in 1831, he came to America in 1851. George first worked in Chicago, but in 1857, he came to Fulton. Shortly thereafter, he moved to Lyons to work at a gristmill. When the Clinton Lumber Company opened, he began work there as an engineer. He actually engineered the construction of the mills. In 1868 and into the 1870’s, he devoted his full attention to the Clinton Paper Company (currently the office building is Lonergan’s offices in downtown Clinton). He constructed  the pulp mills for paper, and sold his first piece of paper in 1869. The mills themselves were between 18th and 19th avenue and Fourth and 5th street.

Charles W. Dege:
            Born in Prussia, Germany in 1841, he came to America in 1860. He came to Clinton in 1865, and worked as common laborer in Lamb’s lumber yard. By  1872, he was assistant foreman. A common theme in Clinton’s lumber force was high turnover, but for those who lasted, they had long careers. Interestingly, Charles would have been part of the high turnover statistic, as he moved to Lisbon, Iowa and tried his hand at operating a butcher’s shop. He came back to Lamb, and went on to manage 175 men.  Charles also didn’t know English when he came to America. He learned through observation, and went on to be on the board of the German Evangelical Society.

Joseph Neisslie
            Born in Wurtemburg, Germany in 1836, Joseph came to American in 1847 with his father. in 1863, he came to Clinton working on the Chicago, Iowa, and Nebraska Railway bridge. He started working at Clinton based sawmills in 1872. He worked for W.J. Young’s mills for 17 years.

Arthur Potter
  Potter, a Canadian, came to Clinton in 1876, at the age of 24. His job was a unique one in the lumber industry, he was a teamster and reseller of slab wood. He would buy refuse wood for $1.35 and resell it for $2.25 per load. 

Abraham Siddle
   Became secretary and treasurer of Clinton Paper Company, as along with Hosford, Siddle was a principal owner. Born in Yorkshire England, he came to America at the age of 9. 



In comparison, a quick rundown of other lumber workers and their place of origin: 

A unique one was Captain William Nickel, born in New York in 1836, he was the son of Irish immigrants. His father, Samuel, was  whip sawyer, a very intense job. William became a steamboat captain on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. A Civil War veteran, he earned a bullet in a shoulder at Vicksburg, and kept the bullet in his shoulder forever. After the war, he dabbled in lumber yards and farming, until the 1880's, when he became an assistant foreman in Lamb Lumber Yards. 


Sources: 
https://books.google.com/books?id=pYQUAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA696&dq=w.j.+young+belfast+ireland&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiXkaOs0cHNAhVs5IMKHenPAtcQ6AEINTAE#v=onepage&q=lumber&f=false

https://books.google.com/books?id=c1E0AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA91&lpg=PA91&dq=Arthur+Potter+clinton+iowa&source=bl&ots=3pQcEGOLec&sig=uib7Jy6Of0yXTvH3B64lQGhavko&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwilgcnE0sHNAhUM3IMKHbfeDQQQ6AEIJDAC#v=onepage&q=Arthur%20Potter%20clinton%20iowa&f=false



No comments:

Post a Comment