“Tag your shovel January 30.  It will remind you to use your fuel sparingly.”  (Kinsley Graphic, January 24, 1918)

This brief item in the paper aroused my curiosity and sent me off researching.  Why would someone want to tag a shovel?  The next issue of the paper answered some of my questions.

“Wednesday was tag your shovel day, and the Boy Scouts did the work in this city.  In recognition of their willingness and efficient service Mr. Ben Ely will entertain the entire membership at the Harwood Theater (Palace Theater) this evening.”  (Kinsley Graphic, January 31, 1918)

That’s all there was in the local papers, but using the wonderful resource, www.newspapers.com, I searched and found an article in the New York Tribune (January 31, 1918) which explained the purpose of tagging shovels.

“To make each individual citizens as careful of coal as he is of his food on wheatless and meatless days is the object of the campaign, and more that 21,000,000 school children throughout the United States have joined in one of the most important thrift drives of the war….The shovel tag will be given to everybody.  Moreover, it is not to be worn a day and thrown away, but is to be attached to the coal shovel of office buildings and apartment houses, as well as private homes, to serve as a perpetual reminder of methods for coal saving. “

Even prior to a declaration of war by the United States, shortages of coal were experienced in the winter of 1916-17.  Once the United States entered the war, there was a vital need to manage the use of coal and oil in order to keep a steady supply of fuel to support military and industrial operations and for use by consumers.  In August, 1917 President Wilson established the Federal Fuel Administration and appointed Harry A. Garfield to lead the agency. Garfield in turn selected local administrators for each state, and Fuel Committees were organized down to the county level.  Ben Ely, Kinsley’s mayor who Is mentioned above, was appointed the Fuel Administrator for Edwards County.

The threatened coal shortage had become a reality in Kinsley the last week of December. Plenty of coal had been ordered for Kinsley, but it had not come.  Shipments had not been reliable as they were apt to be stopped on the way for someone else.  The shortage caused the closing of the churches and the schools in Kinsley for a time.  The newspaper stated that the schools and churches both had coal enough to carry them for some time but their supply was taken over by the Fuel Administrator who thought that there should be at least 100 tons in reserve for those who have not coal enough to carry them 21 days.

In the January 3, 1918 edition of the Kinsley Mercury, Mayor Ely made the following pronouncement:

“In view of the coal shortage it is the policy of the Fuel Administrator that the supply of coal in town shall be so conserved that there need be no immediate suffering and in order that this may be made possible it is the order of the Administrator that until 100 tons of coal is in reserve in the hands of the dealers, that:
First:  no order of coal shall be delivered to anyone who may have on hand a 21 days’ supply.
Second:  that no order shall be sold of more than 1,000 pounds in any one order.
Third:  that when reserve in hands of dealers shall be less than 100 tons, the coal in city schools,             churches and places of amusement shall be in the hands of the Fuel Administrator
And it is to be hoped that all citizens will be patriotic and assist the fuel administration in every way possible to conserve the fuel so that this embargo may be lifted at the earliest possible moment.                         BEN ELY, Fuel Administrator.”

It was reported that if the good weather held there should be sufficient coal, but in case of a blizzard or a protracted cold spell it would not run three days with the limit of 1000 pounds to each family.

 “It is up to every home, whether they have a winter’s supply or not, to save all they can during this nice weather for if it should turn cold a half ton that they might be able to spare would relieve some suffering elsewhere.”

As fate would have it, on January 9 there was a major blizzard and January would be the coldest month in memory. However, the town was fortunate when a carload of coal arrived and prevented any shortage of coal during the storm.  The item below appeared in the January 17 edition of the Kinsley Graphic

Another shipment of coal arrived in a following week, and Kinsley made it, however precariously, through the winter of 1918.

My last post introduced you to G. E. Wilson, a Kinsley business man who was appointed the Food Administrator for Edwards County.  One week after President Woodrow Wilson’s proclamation on food conservation, and two weeks after his appointment, he wrote the following article for the Kinsley Graphic (February 7, 2017).  I decided to reproduce it in its entirety as it highlights the county’s war efforts so far and explains the call to action in regard to food conservation going forth.  As you read it, imagine how your diet would change if you were being asked to support our soldiers in this manner today.

ALL SHOULD ENLIST FOR THE WAR
And All Patriots Can Help Win It by Saving Food for our Fighters.

 This is not a call to arms, but an earnest request that each man, woman and child enlist at once in the army of food savers.

 The people of Edwards County have so far made a splendid response to every demand of the war:  when the Red Cross asked you for ten thousand dollars you gave it fourteen thousand; later on you were asked to give five thousand to the Y.M.C.A., the Armenian Relief fund and the local Red Cross and you responded to this call by giving over twelve thousand.  The good women have far surpassed every demand made upon them and it is believed their work has scarcely been equaled anywhere in the country.  You have been called upon to furnish less than seventy-five fighting men and in response to this call you have sent nearly twice that number into the army and navy.  So far you have done well, but we must know and realize the grim truth: “All the blood, all the heroism, all the money and munitions in the world will not win this war unless our allies and the armies behind them are fed; and they will not be fed unless we take car.”  All our money will have been wasted, all our toil will have been useless, and all our blood will have been spilled in vain if we fail now to meet and solve the problem of feeding our allies and our army.

 New and stringent rules governing the sale of wheat products and sugar are being promulgated and will be strictly enforced.  Do not blame your grocer because he requires you to buy certain other things you may think you do not want in order to get a sack of flour, nor because he refuses to sell you but a limited amount of sugar; he is not to blame, but is simply complying with the imperative order of the Food Administration and doing his duty as a good citizen.  Under the rule now promulgated no person may buy a sack of wheat flour unless he at the same time buys an equal amount in pounds in the aggregate of one or more of the following substitutes:  barley flour, buckwheat flour, rice, rice flour, corn meal, corn flour, corn starch, feterita flour, potato flour, oat meal, rolled oats or hominy corn grits.  Many more substitutes will cost you more that wheat flour, but you must remember this:  but for the fact that your government has fixed a price on wheat and the profit of the miller, wholesale dealer and retailer, you would now be paying somewhere from five to ten dollars a sack for flour, instead of less than three dollars.

 Do not find fault with your baker if you notice a little corn meal or other adulteration in your bread; there will be more in it next week, and the following week, still more until a 20 percent adulteration or substitute is reached, when it will be called WAR BREAD; eat it cheerfully and thank God you are not eating black bread and beet jam by order of the kaiser.  The baker is not to blame for this, he is but following the orders given to him by the Food Administration; the substitutes he is using cost him as much or more than wheat flour.

 And again do not quarrel with your landlady at the hotel or boarding house, nor with the restaurant keeper, because he refuses to serve you meat on meatless days, pork on porkless days, and wheat bread, pie, cake or any other food prepared in part from wheat on wheatless days, for these too, have joined the army of food savers and are obeying orders; he will lose money by it but that is his sacrifice and service.

 Lastly, but by no means least, the great saving is to be in your homes; there you are asked to observe strictly the rules laid down on the food cards.  The consumption of wheat products, meats, sugar, and fats must be greatly reduced; every day and every meal avoid wasting food of any kind.  Do not confuse saving money with saving food.  Those who can afford it would buy the more expensive substitutes, so that those who cannot afford it may have the staple and less expensive substitutes.  Observe the rules and follow directions as a patriotic duty, we might say as you should a religious duty.  The rules were prescribed by those who are in a position to know and who do know those conditions much better than we do, so it is our plain duty, not to question, but to obey.

 United States Food Administration, G. E. Wilson, County food Administrator. 

George Edgar Wilson, 1867-1949          Wilson Building, 105-111 E. Sixth St, Kinsley, Build 1910

                                  G. E. Wilson Home, 321 E. 8th St., Kinsley   Built in 1913

The January 31 issue of the Kinsley Mercury ran President Woodrow Wilson’s proclamation urging the cooperation of all American citizens to conserve food.

“Many causes have contributed to create the necessity for a more intensive effort on the part of our people to save food in order that we may supply our associates in the war with the sustenance vitally necessary to them in these days of privation and stress.  The reduced productivity of Europe because of large diversion of man power to the war, the partial failure of harvests and the elimination of the more distant markets for food stuffs through the destruction of shipping, places the burden of their subsistence more largely on our shoulders.”
The proclamation went on to describe the nation’s food conservation plan:

• The president called for a 30% reduction in the consumption of wheat products.
• Citizens should reduce the wheat consumption by 70% of the amount used in 1917..
• Mondays and Wednesdays should be Wheatless each week.
• One meal a day should be Wheatless.
• Tuesdays should be Meatless each week.
• One meal a day should be Meatless.
• Saturdays there should be no consumption of port.
• Sugar should be used economically.
• No waste of any foodstuff.

A local business man, G. E. Wilson, received a telegram on January 24 notifying him that he had been appointed food administrator for Edwards County by the Kansas representative of the national commission.  In the months to follow his appointment, he would both encourage and enforce compliance to the rules. There will be more from Mr. Wilson in my next post.

Americans always try to keep their sense of humor and this little ditty was reprinted in theKinsley Graphic from the Kansas City Post.

The “Lesses.”

 My Tuesdays are meatless,
My Wednesdays are wheatless;
    I am getting more eatless each day.
My home it is heatless;
My bed it is sheetless;
    They’re all sent to the Y.M.C.A.
The barrooms are treatless
My coffee is sweetless
    Each day I get poorer and wiser.
My stockings are feetless,
My trousers are seatless;
    My! How I do hate the Kaiser!

“The Olympics are called off for the present.  The world is too serious.  Nothing doing anywhere until the Prussian savages are beaten.”  January 25, 1918, Kinsley Graphic

With the 2018 Winter Olympics coming up in South Korea, this little item caught my attention.  I knew that the 1940 and 1944 Olympic Games had been cancelled because of World War II.  I did not know what happened to the Olympics during World War I.  After doing a little research, I discovered that the 1912 games had been played in Stockholm, Sweden.  Before the outbreak of war, Berlin’s bid had been selected to host the 1916 games.  Construction on a new stadium was begun and continued during the war as no one expected the war would last very long.  But eventually the 1916 games had to be cancelled.

At this time there were only what we would call today the “Summer Games”.  Winter Olympic Games had never been held.  The Swedes had held the first Nordic Games in February, 1901. The Nordic Games were played about every fourth year until 1926.  There was a movement to add some winter sports to the Olympic Games held in the summer.  Figure skating was added to the program at the 1908 London Olympic Games held from April 27 to October 31, 1908

In 1911 it was proposed that the International Olympic Committee stage a week of winter sports included as part of the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm, Sweden from May 5 – July 22.  Sweden opposed this idea because they wanted to protect the integrity of their Nordic Games, and they were also concerned with a lack of facilities for winter sports during the summer.  Plans were made at this time to add speed skating, figure skating, ice hockey and Nordic skiing to the 1916 Berlin Summer Games, but these Games would be cancelled due to the war.

Digging further, I think the Graphic news item above probably refers to a controversy going on even as the war raged.  People were looking ahead to 1920 and some thought there could not be another set of Olympic Games for a great many years, certainly not within the present generations because it would require time to heal the wounds caused by the war between Germany and England.

Edward R. Bushnell wrote the following for the Pittsburgh Press on January 6, 1918:

“This sort of reasoning will not appeal very strongly to Americans for the simple reason that most persons in this country believe that when peace comes it will have wrought such radical and revolutionary changes in all the European governments that there will be more good feeling between the people themselves than most persons cannot appreciate.  It seems to be the best thought of American statesmen that the time is not far distant when Germany will be something approaching a republic that the peoples will throw off the rule of the Kaiser. Assuming that something like this does occur the common people of all the governments now at war will undoubtedly discover that they have many things in common and that there is no reason to cherish the animosities for which Prussianism is entirely to blame, particularly if this Prussianism is completely crushed.”

The aftermath of the war and the Paris Peace Conference in 1919 affected the Olympic Games because of the new states that were created and because of the sanctions that were placed on the nations that lost the war and were blamed for starting it.  The 1920 Olympic Games were held in Antwerp, Belgium, and Hungary, Germany, Austria, Bulgaria, and the Ottoman Empire were banned from competing in the Games.

Germany did not return to Olympic competition until 1928.  Instead the Germans hosted their own series of games called Deutsche Kampfspiele beginning with the winter of 1922.  This was two years before the first Winter Olympics Games were held from January 25 to February 5, 1924 in Chamonix in the French Alps. Berlin would eventually host the Olympics in the summer of 1936, twenty years after the 1916 Olympic Games were cancelled and on the brink of World War II.
    

  
Caption reads:  I may ask you at any time to strike down your own mother, sister or sweetheart.(Scene from the movie, “The Kaiser, The Beast of Berlin”)   May 2, 1918 Kinsley Mercury

 I’ve been blogging about how Germans fared in this area during the war.  With movies playing like the one advertised above, it was little wonder that people were suspicious and afraid.  This animosity was even evident with people who had lived in the area for over thirty years.

Nickolaus Oster is a good example.  He was born in 1857 in Germany and came to the Sts. Peter and Paul neighborhood in 1879. He married Gertrude Herrmann in 1881, and they had three children.   After a couple of failed attempts at farming, he made final proof of his land claim in March, 1898.  Unfortunately Gertrude died in 1910 and she was buried in the cemetery at Sts. Peter & Paul Church.

Nick Oster had many occupations over the years, from ranching to real estate, especially promoting the land around Sts. Peter and Paul.  From 1910 to 1912, he was the first president of Farmers and Merchants State Bank, located at 200 E. Sixth St. in Kinsley.  He was an agent for the new Waterbury Sanitary Indoor Closets (1915) and also sold Rio automobiles (1916).  In 1917 he bought a hotel in Macksville.

In 1916 Nick married for the second time and left Kinsley.  His son Peter and his family were still in Edwards County, and according to the paper, Nick and his wife made frequent visits back.  On one visit in April, 1917, he must have been venting to J. M. Lewis, the editor of the Kinsley Graphic, about rumors regarding his loyalty to the country.   Lewis wrote the following:

Mr. Oster returned from the Pacific Coast recently and has expressed himself as greatly surprised at certain stories in circulation here regarding his loyalty to the United States.  He says he is ready and willing to fight for his adopted country or the people who have been guilty of maligning him.  He says he was born in Germany and has been here for thirty-eight years.  He has accumulated property and reared a family and every tie binds him to his adopted country, and that any stories reflecting on his loyalty are untrue and that the story of his having been arrested for treasonable utterances against this government are malicious and without any foundation in fact.  Mr. Oster seemed very much in earnest and we believe it will be well for any who may desire to express a doubt as to his loyalty to be a good running start or they may find themselves in need of first aid to the wounded.  (Kinsley Graphic, April 19, 1917)

Nick’s son Peter registered for the draft Sept. 19, 1918, but the war ended before he had to go. Tragically, Peter died of influenza in February, 1920.  From what I can tell, Nick and his wife settled down in Wichita.  He died in 1937, just short of his 80^th birthday and is buried in the cemetery at Sts. Peter and Paul.

We’re had the privilege of recording over 80 oral histories here at the Kinsley Library.  You can read transcripts, listen to audio tapes, view short video clips, and look at family pictures from these oral histories on our website.  We try to get a snapshot of the lives of the people we interview.  At the time, we never know where the stories they tell us will fit into the mosaic of our local history.   The general standard question of “Why did your ancestors come to Edwards County” has offered some insights into our current World War I study.

When I interviewed Marilyn Froestchner Kersting in 2011, she told an interesting story about her grandfather Alvin Froetchner.

“When my grandfather was down in the Coldwater area, there was animosity against Germans.  My grandfather still had very close ties to Germany.  He had a picture on his wall of Kaiser Wilhelm II.  The neighbors said, ‘You get that off your wall!’  Well, he took that picture down and put a baby picture of my Dad (Harry Froetschner) and my Uncle Bill (William Froetchner) over the top of the Kaiser.  We have that picture!”

The original pictures (reproduced below) are large and came out of a big antique oval frame.
         
Marilyn’s brother, Jerome Froetschner, came in the library last week and reiterated this story.  He said that his grandfather Alvin left the area and moved south of Offerle because most of the people in the area were of English-Americans.  It was not comfortable to continue to live there.

I found out a little about Alvin from Julie Ackerman’s book, Offerle History:  1876-1976.  Alvin was born in 1878 in Germany.  His father came to America when Alvin was 3 years old.  He settled in Larned , worked for the railroad, and tried to make a home for his family to join him.

The following is taken from the Offerle History book:  “When Alvin was 18 years old he decide to accompany his father back to America.  But the German government changed his plans—insisting that he serve in the army before leaving the country.
At the end of two years, Alvin obtained a furlough to come to America….(in 1900) he left his home near Leipsig, Germany, not able to speak a word of English, but he made the trip without any trouble.  It took eighteen days to make the boat trip. There were 1,400 people on the ‘Boon’, a combination freight-passenger trip.  His fare was $85.”

Alvin settled in Larned working on farms and delivering ice. He became a naturalized citizen in 1904, 13 years before his neighbors thought he was a German sympathizer.  His granddaughter, Joanne VanCoevern, (her mother was Dora) sent me a copy of his naturalization papers:In 1906 he bought land and met Sophie Marting, a recent immigrant from Germany.  They married in 1907, had 3 sons (William, Harry & Carl), and built up a farm which they sold for $2,500 in order to purchase a half-section of land in Comanche County, near Coldwater.  They had two daughters (Alma & Dora) and lived on this land for nine years until they sold it to move to Offerle in August, 1918.  In December, 1919 Ernest was born.  The extended family became integral members of Zion Lutheran Church and the farming community.  PICTURED BELOW Standing:  Harry, Alma and Carl.  Seated: William, Alvin, Baby Ernest, Sophie and Dora standing.

In a previous post, I described how Edwards County had many German-Americans with some thriving German-speaking communities.   The people who lived around Sts. Peter and Paul Catholic Church north of Kinsley spoke German.  As did the Zion Lutheran Church community south of Offerle.  Cordelia Gall Froetschner (1918-2011) grew up in that area.  During an interview in 2009, she said, “Our church had German services for years, and then as long as there were some of the older members who knew German, there were German services.”

Cordelia’s niece, Marilyn Froetschner Kersting, grew up in the rural neighborhood also.  She said in a 2011 interview, “My folks (Harry and Clara Froetschner) understood German.  My dad spoke only German until he went to school.  All the Froetschner boys did.  Maybe Ernest, the youngest, didn’t because they did enough speaking of English by the time he was old enough. But the others, that’s the only language I think they knew until they went to school.”

In the February 8, 1917 edition of the Kinsley Graphic, Pastor Walter Berg of the German Methodist Church located north of Kinsley extended an invitation which points to the fact that German was the first language in that area and accommodation was being made for the English-speaking folk during their services.

“We are endeavoring to adapt ourselves to the needs of the entire community.  Among other things we have introduced some services for the benefit of those who cannot understand the German Language.  We now have two classes in the Sunday-school that are being conducted in English.  The Epworth League (group for young adults, 18-35) and preaching services on Sunday evenings are also in the English language.  This will give everyone an opportunity to receive the blessings that a church in a neighborhood brings in the individual and to the home.

Even before WWI, the German language was being taught in Kinsley High School.  It was reported in the Kinsley Mercury on January 26, 1917 that a German Club had been organized and was publishing a newspaper.  The staff was made up of first, second, and third year students with Olive Maud Stewart as the German and Latin teacher.  Ms Stewart received her B.A. from Baker University and Berlin University.  Students wrote articles in German on different high school subjects. ”They have recitations, debates, and conversations in the German language and each one of the class contributes a current event in the German language.”

Olive Maud Stewart, 1917 Kinsley High School Annual

The German language was alive and well in Edwards County before the U.S. entered the war.  After war was declared, the story changed.  At the same time that enemy aliens were being registered, there was an ongoing effort to eradicate German “Kulture” and language.  Fear was making Americans suspicious of their neighbors.  People began to worry about spies and sabotage.  Hearing the German language both reminded people of the enemy that was killing American boys overseas and also aroused suspicions because what they were saying was not understandable to the English-speaking American.  In 1918, there was a call made to eliminate the speaking of German in America.

Mary Kallaus came into the library last week and talked about her mother-in-law, Marie Schinstock Kallaus, who had grown up in the Sts. Peter and Paul area.  At the time, they had a nun who taught German in the parochial school, but her mother had said that it was stopped in 1918 and never taught again.  During those years, the women did not like to go to town because their English was not as good as the men’s who had more contact with English speakers.  Mrs. Kallaus had also said that the county attorney, A.L. Moffat, would periodically make visits to the community looking for any suspicious activity.

In January 24, 1918, the Kinsley Graphic reported:  “The Teachers’ Council in Topeka last week went on record favoring the expulsion of the German language from all schools, public, private or parochial in Kansas.  Chancellor Strong of the University (of Kansas) led the fight on the German language, making an especial plea that the school where all instruction is in German shall teach the English.

It was ten weeks before the Kinsley School Board “decided to cut out the teaching of the German language in our city schools next year.”  Kinsley Graphic, April 4, 1918

That summer the Graphic wrote that the German teacher, Olive Maud Stewart, was moving to Cimarron.  The Cimarron Record subsequently reported her arrival in Cimarron where she was to take over the duties of principal.  She was no longer teaching German.

When the United States entered World War II, anti-German sentiments would be rekindled.  A look through the Kinsley High School annuals shows that Latin, Spanish and French were the only languages taught at various times since 1918.  The German Language was never again part of the curriculum.

As mentioned in the last post, female enemy aliens were required to register between June 17 and June 26, 1918 using a slightly different form called Registration Affidavit of Alien Female.  Both men and women made three sets of their affidavits with one being sent to Washington, one held by the United States marshal within the district where the person registered, and one kept in the local records.  Each enemy alien was given an identification card which had to be carried on their person at all times for the duration of the war.

German born women who had become naturalized or were married to American men before April 6, 1918 were not required to register.  But what was very surprising to me is that American born women who married German men were required to register.  In fact, of the seventeen women who registered as enemy aliens in Edwards County, eleven of them were actually American citizens.

The June 20, 1918 edition of the Kinsley Mercury set forth how registration should take place.  The instructions end with the following:

“The regulations admonish registering officials to be courteous to their treatment of the women, and to render all necessary assistance in filling out the affidavit blanks.  The photographs required must be unmounted, and ‘without hat or other head covering’.  (Kinsley Mercury, June 20, 1918

Richard Nickel’s wife, Ellen, was one of the American-born women who was required to register.  We learn from her form that she was born Ellen Collier in Stockton, Cedar County, Missouri on January 21, 1884.  Her parents were John and Mary Collier and United States citizens who lived in Kinsley.  On the female form it asks for the names of children without the age restrictions.  She lists one son, Virgil S. Nickel, who was born July 24, 1901 in Lewis, Kansas. On the female form it also asks what language is spoken and she lists English.

Following are the names of the 17 women who registered as Enemy aliens in Edwards County. The women’s names un red were U.S. citizens.

Anna Breitenbach, Lydia Neidig, Mathilda Griep, Bertha Grimm, Louisa Grybowski, Elizabeth Herrmann, Mathilde Krenzin, Ellen Nickel, Emma Grimm, Emily Scwarz, Ella Ploger, Elizabeth Ploger,  Emma Ploger, Margaret E Salm, Margaret M. Salm, Elizabeth Scholtz, and Helen Tuchtenhagen.

Below are Ellen Nickel’s registration forms.  I recommend looking for these affidavits if you are of German descent and might have an ancestor who was required to register as an enemy alien.  The information, descriptions, fingerprints, and picture (if it is good quality) are surely interesting.

“You are hereby notified that the registration of German alien enemies is to commence at six A.M. on February 4, 1918 to continue…up to and including the 9^th day of February, 1918 at eight o’clock P.M….Persons required to register should understand that in so doing they are giving proof of their peaceful dispositions and of their intention to conform to the Laws of the United States.”  Kinsley Graphic, January 31, 1918.

One hundred years ago, all non-naturalized males over the age of 14 were required to fill out a Registration Affidavit of Alien Enemy with the United States authorities as a national security measure. This registration focused primarily on non-citizen German residents, but included Italians and other nationalities, as well.  Non-naturalized female enemy aliens were later required to register using a Registration Affidavit of Alien Female form in June, 1918.

The information on these registration forms included immigration dates and places, birth and parentage, names of family members, address, occupation and employer; residents were also asked if they were sympathetic to the enemy and the names of any relatives serving in enemy forces.  Registrations included a physical description, fingerprints and photograph for the person.

According to the National Archives, most of these Enemy Alien records were destroyed by authorization of Congress in the 1920s, but some survive, including the forms for Edwards County which are on microfilm at the Kansas State Historical Society.  We borrowed the film and printed the 44 forms which we now have in our archive.

Richard Nickel was one of those who was required to register.  From his form we learn that he was born in “Somewhere in Germany” on November 15, 1873.  His father was Carl Nickel and he didn’t know the name of his mother as she died when he was young.  He came to the United States and Edwards County in 1881 at the age of 7.  At the onset of the war, he had been in this country 36 years.  He was married to Ellen .They had no children between the ages of 10-14.  He had been arrested once for playing poker.  He had started the naturalization process in 1898 but must not have finished it.

Following are the names of the men who registered as alien enemies in Edwards County:

Margan Breitenbach, John Hackenbroich, Charles Weidekind, Joseph Wolf, Henry Ditges, August Neidig, Erich Griep, John Grybowski, Herman Gutsche Sr., Herman Gutsche Jr, John  Havas, Henry Herrmann, Julius Krenzin, Richard Nickel, Oscar Grimm, Frank Mauler, Herman Scwarz, John Haas, August Munchow, Erich Munchow, Henry Ploger, August  Ploger,  W. C. Ploger, Henry Salm, John Salm, Frank Scholtz, and Willie Tuchtenhagen.

Below are Richard Nickel’s registration forms.

My next few posts will look at some newspaper articles which reference German-Americans in Edwards County during the war years.  Many Germans immigrated to the United States during the second half of the nineteenth century.  By 1900 German-Americans were the largest ethnic group making up about 8 million of the 76 million total population.  At the turn of the century, one-third of the foreign born population in Kansas had been born in Germany.  Some Germans had come to America fleeing religious persecution, some were avoiding being conscripted into the German army, and some, including the Volga Germans, were seeking better economic opportunities for their families.  According to Erik Kirchbaum in his book Burning Beethoven, “German influence in the United States was more dominant than Hispanic influence is now.”

In 1900, Edwards County had many German-Americans living within the county including 176 persons who were born in Germany.  Offerle, Belpre and Kinsley all had citizens of German origin.  A thriving German community south of Offerle was centered around Zion Lutheran Church (founded in 1878).  Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church (1893), Salem German Methodist Church (1891) Church and Peace Lutheran Church (1906) were all founded by German immigrants and located northwest of Kinsley within two miles of each other.

    
Zion Lutheran                  Saints Peter & Paul          Peace Lutheran

The German immigrants were very proud of their German ‘kulture’ and language. They spoke German in their homes, churches and communities.  This pride is detailed in Kirchbaum’s Burning Beethoven which is the title chosen for February in the High Plains Radio Reader’s Book Club and our Kansas Humanities Council Book TALK series here at the library.  It is an interesting book and encourage you to read it.

When President Wilson declared war on Germany on April 6, 1917, many German immigrants had not been naturalized.  Wilson warned aliens living in the United States that they must keep peace and “refrain from crime against the public safety…and from actual hostility or giving information, aid or comfort to the enemies of the United States.  All who fail to conduct themselves properly are liable to restraint and other penalties…”  Wilson outlined that aliens could not have a firearm, weapons, or implements of war, aircraft, wireless, signaling devices or codes.  Among other things, “An alien enemy shall not write, print or publish any attack or threat against the government.”

The Herrmann family is one German family that found themselves labeled “enemy aliens”.  They had begun coming to Edwards County in 1879 and settled in the Sts. Peter and Paul perish area. Henry Herrmann (seated left) was born in Germany in 1889 and immigrated to the United States in 1911 after his Uncle Nick Oster had visited in Germany and encouraged him to do so.Henry was not a naturalized citizen by the time war was declared.  In February, 1918, he was required to register as an enemy alien.

Pictured above are Elizabeth Lobmeyer and Henry Herrmann on their wedding day on June 6, 1922. The bride’s brother and sister, George Lobmeyer and Anna Lobmeyer Weiss, stand behind them.George Lobmeyer seved in the 353^rd All-Kansas Regiment 89^th Division in World War I and fought for 99 days in France and Germany.

The treatment of Germans-Americans will be continued in my next post.