also to receive half orphans and orphans with means provided by the surviving parent or guardian.

German Immigration, Impress of. The immigration of Germans into the United States, in large numbers, occurred at two different periods of our history. The earlier immigration beginning in 1663 and continuing until the breaking out of the Revolutionary War in 1775, populated the larger part of Pennsylvania, the Valley of the Mohawk in New York, portions of Maryland, the Valley of the Shenandoah in Virginia, and sent colonies into North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia. During the period covered by the American Revolution, the French Revolution and the Napoleonic wars, German immigration into the United States ceased altogether, and did not set in again until about 1820. The interval of nearly half a century was sufficiently long to break the connection between the earlier and the later immigration. For the purpose of this sketch, we may dismiss the earlier period with a bare reference to it, for although a goodly number of the people of St. Louis trace their blood back to this early German immigration, they are classed among us as Anglo-American. Perhaps the most prominent man of this class was Henry S. Geyer, for many years the leader of the Missouri bar and the successor of Colonel Benton in the United States Senate. He was born in Maryland in 1790, of German parentage.

German immigration into the United States during the decade from 1820 to 1830 was light in comparison to the influx that was to follow, but it brought us some valuable acquisitions, among them Charles Follen, who arrived in 1824, and Francis Lieber, who arrived in 1827. The works of the latter, written in English, are the best we have on the subject of political science. Missouri received but little of the immigration of this decade, but among those who came was Dr. Gottfried Duden, a man of education, but of no practical insight into things, who arrived in 1824 and settled on a farm in Montgomery County, where he wrote a series of letters, giving a highly colored account of the advantages of Missouri. These letters, after his return to Europe, were published in book form and were widely circulated. This book directed

attention to Missouri and brought a great many German immigrants to the State.

In 1830 the population of St. Louis was 6,694. A year or two afterward the tide of German immigration began to set in, in large volume, and has continued to flow in ever since. There must have been strong impelling causes to induce great masses of men to leave the land of their birth and seek permanent homes elsewhere. In inquiring into them, we must give full effect to the fact that men are controlled in their movements by the desire to improve their condition. In old and crowded countries the individual is constantly confronted by the difficulty of supporting himself. The promised abundance of a new country of great natural resources is most tempting. As his necessities at home grow and become more pinching, the desire to emigrate increases. If to the hope of finding readier means of gratifying his physical wants, there is added the assurance of greater personal liberty and larger latitude for individual action, the desire to exchange the old for the new is still further intensified.

The condition of the German people at the time was peculiar. Not the command of the sovereign, but the patriotic impulse of the people, had recruited the German armies in the campaigns against Napoleon of 1814 and 1815. The passionate desire of the people to drive out the foreign invader, in conjunction with the hope of securing national unity and a liberal domestic government after his expulsion, sent into the army not only every man of fighting age, but the immature youth and the gray-bearded sire as well.

Their armies were victorious, but their hopes were destined to disappointment. Immediately after the peace of Paris came the Congress of Vienna, the fruit of which was a close compact between the crowned heads of Austria, the German States and Russia to maintain kingly authority and to repress all manifestations of liberalism. Instead of German unity, the thirty-six potentates, who divided the sovereignty of the nation, were reinstated, freedom of speech was curtailed, and a rigid censorship of the press was maintained.

Cheated of the fruits of their patriotic sacrifices, a feeling of painful dissatisfaction seized the people. This feeling was exhibited most strongly by the educated classes and the

youth of the country. The ravages of war had left their deep impress upon the material resources of the people, to which were added partial crop failures for several years to heighten the cause of general discontent.

The year 1830 was a year of unrest and uprising throughout all western Europe. France had her revolution. Poland her rebellion, and in Germany the mutterings of discontent were loud and universal and resulted in various collisions between the people and the authorities. Numerous political prosecutions followed, the victims of which fled the country, wherever that was possible. The discontent at home turned their eyes hopefully to the new world across the water. The roving spirit had seized them. Many of the educated among them had come to believe that true happiness was to be found only in primeval forests, and thus the tide began to move which was destined to carry millions of men and women, with their hopes and aspirations, to new homes during the second period of German immigration into the United States.

St. Louis received its full share of this immigration. In twenty years (from 1830 to 1850) the population of the city grew from 7,000 to 77.860. Of the latter number, according to the Federal Census of 1850, 36,529 were native born, and 38,397 foreign born, and of the latter number, 22,340 were born in Germany. (Compendium U. S. Census, 1850, p. 399.) Theodore Olshausen, a painstaking writer of acknowledged accuracy, in his treatise on Missouri (page 131), places the population of the city in 1850 at 77,465, of whom 37,051 were native Americans, 23.774 Germans, 11,257 Irish, 2,933 English and 2,450 other foreigners.

According to the local (city) census of 1852 so much of the southern end of the city as was embraced in what was then the First Ward contained 13.709 inhabitants, of whom 12,058 were Germans.

According to the federal census for the respective years there were in St. Louis:

*In 1860, 50,510 persons of German birth; in 1870, 59,040 persons of German birth; in 1880, 54,901 persons of German birth, and in 1890, 66,000 persons of German birth. These figures do not include the Austrians. and Swiss of German tongue. It must also be

*The figures for 1860, above given, include the city and county of St. Louis. The figures for the subsequent years are limited to the city alone.

remembered that they do not include the native born children of German parentage. It is safe to assume that since 1860, the number of. native horn children, both of whose parents were of German birth, is at least twice as large as the census enumeration of their parents.

The figures above given show the proportion of German blood that has gone into the population of the city. What has been its influence upon the educational, scientific, artistic, business and social interests of that community? In the nature of things, a precise demonstration in answer to the question is impossible. The relations of individuals and of classes in the same community are so intimately blended that the influence of the one upon the other is hardly distinguishable; yet in a general way, we may trace results directly attributable to the German immigrant who cast his lot with us.

So a large number of people added to a community can not fail to leave their impress upon it. The immigrant brought his labor, his skill, his knowledge and his means and contributed them to the community of which he became a member. He is entitled to be credited with a fair share of its subsequent development and progress. Germans by birth or descent are found in every line of business in the city. Some pursuits may still be said to be in their hands exclusively; for instance, the manufacture of beer. This beverage is now so generally used as to have become the national drink. Having introduced it, they may claim the merit of having been instrumental in substituting a lighter drink for the heavier beverages in use before their time. The bulk of every larger immigration must necessarily consist of persons who gain their livelihood by manual labor, and so it is with respect to the immigration of which we are now speaking; but long before it began, Germany had, and has ever since had, a superior school system, so that the boy who left school at fourteen, to be apprenticed, had received a fairly good training in the elementary branches. There were few among them that could not read and write. But the political troubles of 1830, already alluded to, and the revolutionary movement of 1848-9, in both of which the educated classes of Germany were the most active participants, brought to our shores also a large number of men of high culture, university professors, stu

dents, scientists and professional men. They were possessed of the best achievements of their people in science and art and gave us the benefit of them. They were the medium through which the learning of German universities was disseminated. As tutors, they entered our high schools and colleges, and enlarged and liberalized their curriculum. Their example and precept have sent scores of young Americans to German universities. They furnished us physicians, engineers, musicians, artists and editors. They founded schools, churches and newspapers among us. The press is the potent factor in moulding public opinion and through it the permanent institutions of the people. The second oldest newspaper in St. Louis is a German newspaper, the "Anzeiger des Westens," founded in 1835, and published continuously since, with the exception of a few months in 1853. At this time-1897-St. Louis has five German daily newspapers, three of them being morning papers, the "Anzeiger," the "Westliche Post" and the "Amerika," and two afternoon papers, the "Tribuene" and the "Tageblatt." The "Tages-Chronik" was established in 1850, and continued to live until 1863. "Puck" was first published in St. Louis and then emigrated to New York. Besides these, there were many ephemeral German newspaper ventures which were of some importance in their day.

At the time German immigration began to set in, art had found but a scanty foothold in this country. The German immigrant brought with him his fondness for music and his knowledge of the art, and its rapid development among us is undoubtedly due largely to him. The first orchestra of string music in St. Louis was organized in 1845. It was called the "Polyhymnia." Every performer at its first concert bore a German name. There are twenty-six German singing societies in St. Louis at this time.

The educational advantages of gymnastics are now universally recognized in this country. The system, as practiced by Jahn, was in use in Germany from the early days of the century. It was unknown to us until brought over by the immigration of 1848-9. The first "Turn-Verein" in St. Louis was founded in 1851. There are now ten of them. No school under German management is without its gymnastic exercises. American educators are fully aware of the importance of this German

educational method, which is founded upon the thought that a healthy mind presupposes a healthy body, and so well is it thought of that there is to-day scarcely a college or school of any importance in the country without its gymnasium.

The continental European does not look upon the Sabbath as a day of prayer alone; to him it is also a day of recreation. After six days of labor, he enjoys the leisure which the seventh gives to him. The number of their churches show that the German immigrants were not less religious than their neighbors, but a Puritanical observance of the Sabbath did not seem to them a part of true religion. They make it appear that they could enjoy the day without abusing it, and thus led the way to the more liberal view of Sunday which now prevails both by custom and in the law.

In politics the bulk of the German immigrants of St. Louis belonged to the Democratic party, and after the schism, to the Benton wing of it, until the slavery question became the absorbing issue in public affairs. Then their strong anti-slavery sentiments carried a majority of them into the Republican party, of which they and their descendants have been the mainstay ever since in this city. But whatever political differences there were among them, they were, without exception, on the side of the Union during the late war. The first five Federal volunteer regiments raised in St. Louis in the spring of 1861 were made up of Germans almost altogether. So were the five reserve corps (home guard) regiments. As a result of their active and united support of the cause of the Union, their political influence in Missouri was never greater than during and immediately after the war. In 1868 General Schurz was elected to the United States Senate and Mr. Finkelnburg to the lower house of Congress. From 1875 to 1881 Henry Overstolz was mayor of St. Louis, the only German by birth who ever held that office. But whilst they were intense Union men during the war, they were opposed to the illiberal and proscriptive features of the Constitution of 1865, and cast a heavy vote against its adoption. In 1872 they led the liberal movement in the State which resulted in eliminating the obnoxious features from the Constitution. A minute inquiry into the share which the German blood of this city has in its manufacturing, banking and commercial interests, and in the arts and sciences,

if it were indeed possible with any degree of accuracy, would extend this sketch much beyond the limits assigned to it. The conclusion may be inferred approximately from the number of persons of that class among us, their culture, habits of industry, enterprise and thrift.

The white inhabitants of the United States all trace their descent back to the nations of Europe. They are all immigrants or the descendants of immigrants. And whilst for an inquiry of this kind we group them according to the nationality of their origin, they are today one people, with one common purpose and impulse. The Englishman, the Irishman, the German, the Scandinavian, the Frenchman and the Spaniard have all been merged in the American, who has received something good from each of them. To trace out this something and show its impress upon the new nation is the interesting work of the future historian.

EDWARD C. KEHR.

German Medical Society, The, known among its members as "Deutsche Medizinische Gesellschaft," is a society. formed in St. Louis in 1850, composed of German physicians. The membership is limited to twenty-five. The society has a large library and receives the leading European medical journals.

German Protestant Orphans' Home. In 1858 Rev. L. E. Nollau found on a boat a child whose parents had died on their passage to this country from Germany. This child he placed under the care of Mrs. Wilhelmina Meyer in rooms which he set apart for the purpose in the Good Samaritan Hospital, which he had just then established on Carr Street, between Sixteenth and Seventeenth Streets, in St. Louis. This was the commencement of the German Protestant Orphans' Home. The number of children in the establishment thus founded rapidly increased, and larger accommodations became necessary. Rooms were accordingly rented on the corner of Jefferson and Dayton Avenues, and to these the children were removed, though they continued to board at the Good Samaritan Hospital. On the breaking out of the Civil War in 1861 the government took possession of this building for a soldiers' hospital, and the children were removed to a house on the corner of Carr and Sixteenth

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Streets, where they remained until the close of the war, when they were taken back. In the autumn of 1866 a farm of sixty-five acres on the St. Charles Road, nine miles from St. Louis, was purchased at a cost of $23,500, and to the large dwelling on this farm the orphans, then fifty-five in number, were removed. In 1870 a wing was added on the east of this building, and in 1874 another wing was added on the west, and a tower was erected in front. The cost of these additions was $50,000. January 18, 1877, the entire establishment was destroyed by fire, and one child perished in the flames. The children were removed to the Good Samaritan Hospital again till spring, when they were quartered in temporary shanties on the farm. During the summer the present asylum was erected, and was first occupied November 18th of that year. It was a brick structure, 160 by 70 feet in size and three stories in height above the basement. Its cost was $50,000. There has also been erected a teachers' residence, bakery, laundry, ice house, all brick, and their total cost was $20,000. In December, 1882, twenty acres were added to the farm, and the cost of this addition was $2,000. On March 23, 1861, the institution was incorporated by an act of the Legislature, with Lewis E. Nollau, Frederick Maschmeier, T. Frederick Massman, Michael Voepel and Francis Hackemeier as corporators. This board has been increased to the maximum number allowed by the charter. In the asylum no sectarian distinction is made, but the children. of the Jew and Gentile, Catholic and Protestant alike are received and cared for. The asylum is not endowed, but is dependent for its support entirely on the contributions of benevolent people. It is a noteworthy fact that the first donation was made in 1858 by a child four years of age, Charles H. Hackemeier, who gave the sum of one dollar from his little savings. To the watchful care and efficient labors of Mr. Nollau the early success of the institution was largely due.

Germania Club.-A German social club in St. Louis, chartered by special act of the Legislature February 16, 1865. Among the founders of the club were James Taussig, Charles F. Meyer, Charles Enslin, Julius Conrad, Louis Holm, Charles F. Eggers, Charles Balmer, Felix Coste and others. The first president was Charles F. Meyer, the

first vice president Louis Holm, the first secretary Charles De Greck, and the first treasurer William Hunicke. In 1866 the club completed a clubhouse at the corner of Eighth and Gratiot Streets, which was fitted up at a cost of $110,000. For several years the club had a large membership, which was com posed of the leading Germans of the city, and many eminent visitors were entertained at its clubhouse, which was a beautiful example of architecture. It was famous throughout the land for a time, but the encroachments of business caused the club to pass out of existence, in 1888.

Geyer, Henry Sheffie, lawyer, jurist and United States Senator, was born of German parents in Frederick County, Maryland, December 9, 1790, and died in St. Louis, March 5, 1859. His early promise attracted the attention of General Nelson, with whom. he studied law. Another early friend was his uncle, Daniel Sheffie, of Virginia, a prominent lawyer and politician. He began practice in 1811, but entered the army in 1812 as first lieutenant, and rose to the rank of captain in active duty on the frontier. In 1815 he re-entered the legal field in St. Louis, and almost immediately won recognition. At that time the laws of the Territory were in a rudimentary condition, and the inchoate titles granted by Spain were being examined and readjusted, and the most intricate problems were involved in their settlement. Captain Geyer applied himself so assiduously to this department of law that for over forty years hardly an important land case was settled in

Missouri without his aid. But he also possessed a variety of legal accomplishments, and was perfectly at home in the subtile distinctions of commercial law, in complex details of chancery cases, and in the skillful management of jury trials, when his examination of witnesses and of the evidence was unequaled. In 1817 he published "Statutes of Missouri." He was a delegate to the State Constitutional Convention of 1820, and was five times chosen to the Legislature after the admission of Missouri to the Union, serving as speaker of the first three General Assemblies of the State. In 1825 he was one of the revisers of the statutes, and contributed largely to the adoption of a code which was at that time superior to that of any other Western State. He declined the post of Secretary of War, tendered him by President Fillmore, in 1850, and was then elected United States Senator over Thomas H. Benton, on the fortieth ballot, by a majority of five votes. He served from 1851 till 1857, and while in Washington was one of the counsel in the Dred Scott case. At the time of his death he was the oldest member of the St. Louis bar, both in years and in professional standing. In the Supreme Court of the United States he came into contact with such men as Webster, Ewing and Reverdy Johnson, who entertained the highest respect for his ability. Politically he was a firm Whig, and an ardent admirer of Henry Clay. When the party disappeared he returned to the Democratic ranks.

Gibbs.-An incorporated town in Adair County, sixteen miles southeast of Kirksville, on the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway. It has a graded school, a church, bank and about a dozen other business places, including a hotel, general and other stores and shops. Population in 1899 (estimated), 200.

Gibson, Charles, was born in Montgomery County, Virginia, in 1825, and died October 27, 1899, at Lake Minnetonka, Minnesota. When he was about eleven years of age his parents removed to Missouri, establishing their home in what was then a very new country in the western portion of the State. Educational facilities were at that time limited in that region, but Charles Gibson was a student by nature and instinct, and notwith