F.W. Johannpeter agus 1883 Teagmhas Barra

Frederick William Johannpeter (1839 – 1915) Ba é mo dhara sin-seanathair ar thaobh mo mháthar. Fuair ​​sé bás 4 mhí roimh bhreith a gharmhac, Gilbert P. Ellis, who was my grandfather.

Ó fuair sé bás sular rugadh mo sheanathair, Bhí eolas an-teoranta agam air, nuair a thosaigh mé ag déanamh taighde ar stair an teaghlaigh. Grandpa didn’t have any verbal history on his grandparents. He lived with F.W.’s widow, Johanna, nó “Hannah”, after Grandpa’s father died but she passed away when Grandpa was five years old.

I did have one picture of F.W. and Johanna in a window behind my great grandparents William and Caroline “Lee” Ellis on their wedding day in 1912. My mother had this picture in a group of family pictures she had from Great Grandma Lee, F.W.’s youngest daughter Caroline Leah “Lee” Johann Peter Ellis nee. Everything I know about F.W. is from official sources and a few newspaper articles.

F.W. Rugadh i Bielefeld, An Ghearmáin ar Eanáir 7, 1839. He married Johanna Grieve on December 23, 1866. F.W. was 27. Johanna was 23. Bliain ina dhiaidh sin, their oldest son Gustave was born in Germany.

In 1868, the family moved to the United States and settle in St. Charles, Missouri. Their remaining 8 children, including Great Grandma Lee, the second youngest, were born in St. Charles between 1869 agus 1883.

It appears F.W. went by Frederick, Fred, William and most frequently in official documents and one of the two newspaper articles, F.W. Johannpeter. Cúpla bliain ó shin, I found a reference to a F.W. Johannpeter being involved in a political brawl in 1883. The article didn’t have enough information to confirm it was my second great grandfather, so I initially dismissed it. Unfortunately, I cannot find the original article.

Mar sin féin, I recently found a St. Louis Iar-Seolta newspaper article, which contained enough information that I feel comfortable it was F.W., who was involved. In 1883, the 44-year-old F.W. was running for St. Charles City Council from the 3rd Ward. While attending a local tavern, he began arguing with another unnamed “prominent politician”. It was not one of his opponents.

The prominent politician offered several opinions, which were not well received by F.W. A heated exchange occurred between the men until F.W. decided things had gone far enough. F.W. ended the exchange by bringing his beer mug down on the prominent politician’s head.

F.W. decided not to wait for the local police to intervene and exited the premises. The man didn’t press charges but the bad publicity couldn’t have helped F.W.’s campaign. One of his two opponents won the election. F.W. withdrew from politics and managed to avoid this type of publicity for the remainder of his life.

Most of the Johannpeters moved from St. Charles to North St. Louis in the early 1910s. F.W. died of heart disease while living on North 19th Street on February 21, 1915. F.W. was 76 bliain d'aois.

People often tell you not to argue politics or religion. Now you know why.

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Source: St. Louis Iar-Seolta, Aibreán 2, 1883 edition, p. 8

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