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My mother Gianna recalled that her grandfather Adolphus was a
bookkeeper at a mill in Hannibal, Missouri.
Another
source reports that "William A., who married Ida K. Stobernack,
is a partner in the Empire Mill of this city" (Portrait
and Biographical Record of Ralls, Pike and Marion Counties"
(886 pages) pub. C.C. Owen Co. Chicago, 1895, revised and reprinted
by Ralls Co. Book Co New London MO 1982, out of print.)
The
inscription on the back of the photo right reads as follows: "(William)
Adolphus Schmidt (called Dolph) - Father of Bertha (Schmidt) Smith,
died at the age of 44. Was about 25 when this was taken. He was
in the flour milling business in Hannibal at the time of his death."
If Dolph was 25, then this picture would have been taken
circa 1880. The inscription is probably by Bertha, his daughter.
In
1880 the US Census found that Adolph Schmidt was a 25 year old
clerk working for the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad, and living
with his wife Ida (Stobernack) Schmidt (age 22) and her sister
Emma Stobernack (age 16) in Hannibal, Marion county, Missouri
(see census data below.)
His
father-in-law was known to be a clerk working in railway land
acquisitions, and we may speculate that his father in law worked
for the same company which was a major railroad in Hannibal, the
third largest town in Missouri.
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Son
of Margaret
(aka Margueretta) Katherine (Ruck de Schell) Schmidt
of Hannibal Missouri (b. 1830/2 possibly Baireuth or Wunseedl,
Germany, d. 1909 St. Louis Missouri ) and Carl
Herman Schmidt of Hannibal Missouri (b. 1819 "Germany",
d. 1884 Hannibal, Missouri)
One
of nine siblings:
1.
Martin G. Schmidt (b. after 1851? d. by age 20, perhaps
in mid-1870s) This is same person as Christian Martin Schmidt,
below. Children unlikely.
2. Himself, Dolph
(aka William Adolphus) Schmidt (b. 1854 - d. 1899),
Miles Hochsten's gg-gf. Would marry Ida Stobernack, sister
of the wife of his brother, below.
3. Edward Carl Schmidt (b. after 1854?), Ginger Nowling's
ggg-gf. Would marry Emma Elizabeth (aka Emma Lee or Emily)
Stobernack, sister of the wife of Dolph above.
4. Albert John Schmidt (b. bet. 1855 and 1866?), married
and living in Texas, in railroad business by 1895. Children
possible.
5. Richard Schmidt (b. bet. 1856 and 1866?) Alive in
1895. Children possible. May have become physician?
6. Matilda Louise Schmidt (b. ca 1867) Later "Louise
M." Alive in 1895, and would later marry and become
relatively wealthy according to Gianna Smith Hochstein.
7. Emma (or Emily Rosalie?) Schmidt (b. ca 1869) Attending
school in 1895. Would later marry Edwin Grant Hutchings
and publish several novels as Emily Grant Hutchings. No
children.
8. Carl Hermann Schmidt, Jr. (b. 1876) (Not mentioned in
1895. Deceased by 1895 (prior to age 20) and thus children
unlikely.
9. Henri Schmidt (b. 1878) One of three deceased children
by 1895. Highly likely had no children.
Husband
of Ida (Stobernack)
Schmidt, to whom he was married in, or circa, 1879.
Father
of Bertha
Grace Schmidt (1883-1975), Rowena Smith Carpenter (1893-1975),
Ama S. Jackson, and Ralph Schmidt.
Individuals
in bold to above may have descdendants, while those not
in bold are less likely to have descendants, and were decesaed
by 1895.
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The
pictures of Dolph Schmidt below were taken at slightly younger
ages, age 20 in 1875 (left) and age 23 in 1878 (center), and (very
specifically noted on the photograph) in the Autumn of 1879 when
he would have been about 24 (right). The picture on the right
does not include his name, but it is undoubtedly the same face,
and was found in an envelope of his daughter Bertha's photos labeled
"friends of Bertha."
Dolph Schmidt, business man and accountant
of Hannibal Missouri, 1870s and 1880s. |
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The above pictures are taken between 1875 (age 20) and 1879 (age 24), and Dolph married Ida around 1879. These four pictures are the only surviving pictures of Dolph Shmidt. Because the only pictures we have are from this period of his life, it is tempting to speculate on the role that photography played in courtship and in presenting oneself to the world.
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This picture (left), found online, is purported to be a picture of Emily Grant Hutchings, the sister of Dolph Schmidt.
Before finding it at the above website I'd never seen a picture of Emily (nee Schmidt) Grant Hutchings
I see a family resemblance to Dolph Schmidt, my great grandfather. I think the people in these images look like they could be siblings.
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The following text from 1895 describes Adolphus as a partner in the Empire Mill, four years before his death.
We learn a little about the Empire Mill buliding here.
"The Empire Mill was built in 1875-76 between Broadway and Church Streets on Front Street, at a cost of $33,000 by S.M. Carter and David Dubach." (p. 67)
"The old Empire Mill was razed in 1971 and the space used for a parking lot." (p. 289)
The Story of Hannibal, J. Hurley Hagood and Roberta (Roland) Hagood, 1976
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Adolphus is coming of age in the mid-1870s just as the town of Hannibal organizes its city government under a new charter. In the course of his short life Hannibal experiences its boom years of the 1870s, 1880s and 1890s.
Dolph's
daughter Bertha wrote:
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"My
father attended Hannibal college which no doubt was high
school and junior college combined. he taught school for
a year or two in Shanandoah, Iowa. Strange to say it was
in the same locality where your (Gianna's)
father's mother (Emma
Day Smith) taught school."
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In
the letter at the bottom of the page Dolph makes reference to
what seems to be an accounting apprenticeship or other on the
job learning experience.
His
daughter Bertha Smith also wrote to Gianna saying this of Dolph:
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"My
father was a gentle man and I loved him dearly. I never
heard him speak a cross word even though there were differences
of opinion about the bringing up of the children."
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In
another letter (K.C. Mo., 11-20-55) Bertha added:
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"My
father didn't speak German, but could understand it. Sometimes
my mother would speak to him in German when she didn't
want us children to know what she was talking about. Although
German was spoken in my mother's family, she and Aunt
Bertha and Aunt Emma all spoke perfect English as they
learned it in school, having attended the Lutheran Parochian
(sic) school until of high school age. The public schools
were not very good in Hannibal in those days."
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In
a letter from late in her life Bertha Smith, Dolph's daughter,
wrote to Gianna Hochstein. It is undated, but was found in a
pile of correspondence from the early 1970s.
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Dear
Gianna,
[...] My father [Dolph Schmidt] wrote Republican articles
for the Hannibal Courier Post. I don't think he was paid
for them. He loved to write and he loved the Republican
Party. He died when I was seventeen. He enjoyed going
over my school lessons for the next day and discussed
them with me. [...]
Bertha
Smith
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I
take encouragement from the fact that my great-grandfather Dolph
"loved the Republican Party" (this presumably in the
1870s and 1880s) because my understanding is that the Republican
party would have been the more progressive "anti-Slavery'
side of Missouri politics in the post-War period. However before
I take too much pleasure or encouragement from this fact, I'll
need to do more research to understand what the Republican party
did and did not stand for in that time and place.
Here
is another letter from the end of Bertha's life, to Gianna.
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August
26, (1972)
Dear
Gianna,
[...]
As to Hannibal. As a child I thought it too slow but now
it has awakened but maybe I'll wait too long. I (visited?)
when I was 10 or 11. I was privilleged to travel twice
with my father when he and two other young men had established
the Empire Flour Milling business and we visited Clinton
and there is where I (then?) wanted to live.
Hannibal is awakening. I've for a long time wanted to
write its story and to find out why it is called Hannibal.
Bertha
Smith
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Above, his daughter Bertha speaks of his "establishing the Empire Flour Milling" business. The building itself was constructed in 1875-1876, when he was 21, so it is just possible that he was a junior partner in the establishment of the business, but perhaps unlikely. However his daughter Bertha (my grandmother) was born in 1883, so it is unlikely that her memory is from earlier than, say, 1890.
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The
following is a letter from Adolphus Schmidt to his wife Ida. The
document I found is a copy by my grandmother Bertha of the original.
Her copy is a type written document which duplicates the original
letterhead.
It
reveals a man at the age of 26, busy establishing himself in his
career as an accountant, reciting the mundane business conversations
and transactions of his day. He is lovingly writing home to his
wife, who appears to have been pregnant, and if pregnant, would
have been pregnant with my grandmother, Bertha.
The
person revealed in this letter seems in accord with everything
I was told about him by my mother, which is almost nothing, except
"he was an accountant" or "he was a businessman."
As the letter shows, he was that, but it also provides a beautiful
window into his love for his wife and children.
1883
- Letter from Dolph Schmidt to his wife Ida (Stobernack) Schmidt
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Abbey
Coal and Mining Company --- MINERS AND SHIPPERS OF COAL
Mines on "Vandalia Line" at Collinsville, Ill.
--- Coal Mined By Machinery ---
Car Lots a Specialty
General office, 100 North Fourth St.
Local Yard, 1710 Clark Ave.
Collinsville,
Ill., June 16 1883
My
own dear Ida:
You
say you are not receiving enough letters from me. I write
at least 3 times per week. Perhaps you will get a shower
of letters when they do come. I hope you are growing better.
Be sure to keep me posted as to your condition. I know
you are lonely without me. So am I without you but this
cannot always be helped. I hope we may be together again
soon and under more favorable circumstances than ever
before.
Yesterday
evening Will Heath brought me a new ledger from the city
and today I am opening a set of books on thorough principles.
I have met with no stumbling blocks so far and do not
mind. Will Crandall helped me this morning. He seems to
approve every step I take with gratitude and pleasure.
I never will regret the two months time I put in the Lms.
Office in Hannibal as I got a great deal of information
which now proves quite useful and will in time to come.
I could not have received the same knowledge by attending
a business college.
I
like my boarding place very much. It is entirely first
class. Walter, my assistant, will board there also from
next week.
Today
is pay day. They usually pay sooner but on account of
the strike everything got so mixed that they did not get
at it as soon as usual. Hal H. worked all night last night
to get through. He telephoned over from the St. L. office
to Will H. here at 5 o'clock this morning that he was
just ready to go home.
There
is a new R.R. just opened into St. L. -- The Louisville,
Evensville and St.L. It passes through a new coal field
and the officers of the road want Mr. Crandall to be the
head of a coal company which they will help from. He intends
to look over the ground soon and if he can make a favorable
dicker with them I suppose he will go into it. He has
gained a reputation as a coal manager which reaches to
the end of the land. A short time since a telegram was
received here from New York asking Mr. E.J. Crandall,
Pres. Abbey Coal & M. Co. to give the latest particulars
in regard to the miners' strike. This shows that his name
has reached New York City. Mr. C. is the man above all
others who has successfully battled the efforts and intimidations
of the strikers and come out victorious.
Last
Friday as Will Heath and I were walking along through
East St. Louis on our return from the city he asked me
if I thought Loomis would be able to pull through. I asked
him what he knew about it. He said he had heard that L.
was hard up. The night I came down here Mr. Williamson,
the traveling man who married Miss Emma Morton, asked
me if L.&S. are sound. He said he had been selling
them a great many goods at Beiver and he wanted to be
on the safe side. He had heard that they were considerably
behind. So you see the news has got out. No one that I
have met since I have been away thinks anything of Bunker.
Mr. Ed Price told me that Bunker never was any (word omitted)
and never did do anything but sink money for the old Central.
He said in one case B. spent $25,000 in Indiana for improvements
such as a $2500 house for his brother to live in who was
to be superintendent, an expensive side track and shaft
all of which was money almost thrown away as they found
no coal. Johnie Hayward said that B. ordered a $50,000
smelter for Joplin while a $3000 one could reduce all
the ore that could be procured. He says he remanded the
order and smelter was not purchased; these are merely
two of many incidents that I have heard from these persons
as well as others. So you see what persons who know Bunker
think of him.
I
have not written you as often as I would like to have
done simply because I often failed to get my letters ready
for the train then kept them over to the next day and
finished them but I always write good long letters, don't
you think so? If I stay here I am just about sure Ed will
come also in course of a month or two. I must close, so
good-bye, my dear, darling little Ida. But I must not
forget my little ones. How is Ralphie by this time? What
does he think of his truant papa? Tell him papa sends
many kisses and will be home soon and bring him some thing
nice from the great city of St. Louis where the houses
are so high that they reach almost to the sky. I have
spent all of my money and do not know whether to get some
from the company or draw on the bank. The company owes
me $10 on account of my expenses here. If I draw on the
bank I will have to pay collection fee. I rather think
I will draw $10 from the company or present my bill for
expenses.
It
has rained a great deal here. Today it was pleasant until
3 o'clock when it just poured down. I forgot to tell you
that this is Sunday. I attended church this morning at
the Presbyterian-Congregational Church. The congregation
was a very nice, refined and fashionable one, but I did
not think much of the sermon. The minister is a handsome
man but not much of a speaker. (Another sheet finished.)
So good-bye. It is now 6 p.m.
Your
own Dolph
[On
other side, in pencil: MH]
I
have not been to Bumillers and will not get to go now
before I see you. Perhaps will go over the first Sunday
after I return from my trip to Hannibal. One week from
today you will see me If you think you would like to visit
Emma you had better write her this week. Have the folks
heard anything from Albert lately?
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I
would also add that since my grandmother Bertha Smith was born
in 1883, it is very likely that Dolph's reference to Ida's "condition"
above, is to her pregnancy with my grandmother Bertha.
Bertha
Smith adds as an explanation to the above letter:
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"The Bumillers were friends of ours who were generally
dinner guests at our house when they came to Hannibal. He
was a professor of music, I think in the public schools
and had a wonderful voice. The Ed referred to was Edward's
father; Emma, his wife, (who was also my mother's sister)
and the Albert was my father's brother.)" |
Bertha
above makes reference to the "double marriage". Two
brothers Dolph Schmidt and Edward Schmidt married
two Stobernack sisters, Ida and Emma.
Bertha
also comments:
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"From
the paragraph in which my father writes of the "very
nice, refined and fasionable congretation" at the
service he attended you might think that was the only
kind of people he wanted to see in a church but I think
that would be a wrong impression. He was interested in
all kinds of people but he was probably surprised to find
this kind in a mining center."
(4-11-1959)
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Clearly
my grandmother Bertha wished that others would see her father
Dolph as an "open minded" person and not a snob or an
elitist. I'm willing to believe that was true, and if his Republican
party affiliation can also be seen as the more progressive (in
racial terms) party affiliation in Missouri of the 1870s and 1880s,
then these facts are consistent.
A
few links on the Republican Party in Missouri in the post-war
era:
http://www.friendsar.org/postcivil.html
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Mrs.
Edwin Hutchings below is Emily (aka Emma Rosalie, nee Schmidt)
Grant Hutchings, author (of Jap Heron, "by Mark Twain",
via the Ouija board), who was the youngest daughter of Margaret
(aka Margueretta) Katherine (Ruckdeschell) Schmidt and Carl
Herman Schmidt and youngest sister of Dolph Schmidt and Edward
Carl Schmidt. She wrote the following to her grandnephew (?) Edward
(son of Edward Carl Schmidt?) who was apparently required to fill
out his ancestry for the US military.
Mrs.
Edwin Hutchings
2336 Tower Grove Avenue
St. Louis, MO
5/22/41
My
dear Edward:
Your
airmail special came this morning and I complied with
your request as fully as possible with the limited space
allowed.
Evidently
the government doesn't expect grand-parents to have long
names. Your father's name as you probably know was Edward
Carl Rudolph but he changed it at one time to Charles
Edward and dropped the third name. Finally settling on
Edward Carl at your mother's request.
As
nearly as I can remember he was born at Red Bud, Illinois
where Papa (Carl Herman - MH) was
a Methodist Minister.
Your
mother's name was Emma Elizabeth Stobernack but she changed
it to Emme Lee when she went away to school. She was born
in Hannibal, Missouri.
Your
grandfather was Carl Hermann Schmidt. He was born in Altenburg,
Sachs-Altenburg, Germany. Came to America and gained his
citizenship by serving in the Mexican War. Mamma's name
was Margaret Ruck de Schel and she was born either in
Baireuth or Wunseedl, Bavaria. She and Papa were married
in Jefferson City in 1852. I hope these facts will serve
you.
Affectionately,
Aunt Emily
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~
Finally,
we have hanging at Paul and Gianna's house a dark and gloomy and
poorly painted landscape, which bears a small testimony to Dolph
from a friend on the occasion of his marriage to Ida Stobernack.
It reads:
| Painted
1877. Repainted Dec 23 1879. For my best friend A. W. Schmidt
in honor of his marriage to miss Ida Stobernack - Perfect
happiness is the wish of your friend - C.C. Deane. "Pinx" |
It
is a small thing, but a humanizing reflection of a long ago
friendship. I wonder if C.C. Deane "Pinx" might have
been one of the two other partners with whom Dolph was in the
flour milling business?
"In Memory of William Adolphus Schmidt (and) his wife Ida Katherine Stobernack"
Back
revised
March 2006
NOTES
4
TEXT Extract: 1880 United States Census
5 CONT Census Place: Hannibal, Marion, Missouri
5 CONT Source: FHL Film 1254702; National Archives Film T9-0702;
Page 291C
5 CONT Household:
5 CONT Rel Sex Marr Race Age Birthplace
5 CONT Adolph SCHMIDT
5 CONT Self Male M W 25 MO
5 CONT Occ: Clerk H. & St. Jo R. R. Fa: GER Mo: GER
5 CONT Ida SCHMIDT
5 CONT Wife Female M W 22 MO
5 CONT Occ: Keeps House Fa: GER Mo: GER
5 CONT Emma STOBENACH
5 CONT Other Female S W 16 MO
5 CONT Fa: GER Mo: GER
In
1880 Adolph Schmidt was a 25 year old clerk with the Hannibal
and St. John Railroad, living with his wife Ida (Stobernack) Schmidt
age 22 and her sister Emma Stobernack, age 16, in Hannibal, Marion
county, Missouri.
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