Curious Exploits: A Family Seeks Success in Nineteenth Century America

By James A Magner MD

Martin Metzger is a German farmer who travels with his wife and eight children in 1846 to settle in mid-America. They are nearly trapped between the Mexican and United States armies in Texas. Based on actual events, the family travels from New Orleans up the Mississippi River by steamboat while gradually learning how to work and live in America where slavery exists in some states, multiple paper currencies circulate, opportunities abound, love beckons, and dangers lurk. The successes and challenges of three generations of the family in Illinois are chronicled (Martin, his son John, and his son Arthur), as national historical developments become entwined with events in the family. John is bright and draws the attention of prominent politicians, including Abraham Lincoln. John must decide how best to contribute to the Union’s war effort, and he becomes a wealthy businessman and co-founder and president of an insurance company. His son, Arthur, faces challenges growing up in the shadow of his illustrious father as he must navigate disruptive changes in the family and the Depression. In 1901, fifteen-year-old Eilish knows vital clues (left in the family Bible by her mother) to the location of a valuable treasure. Trusting no one, she must solve the clues to recover the treasure while avoiding violent criminals, resolving police suspicions about her, and completing her education at the University of Chicago. The saga of the Metzgers proves that truth may be stranger than fiction, while the tale of clever, kind Eilish illustrates the challenges faced by bright, young women in the first decade of the twentieth century.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Archway Publishing
• Release date: Apr 13, 2023
• ISBN: 9781665740685

James A Magner MD

James Magner, MD is an endocrinologist and scientist who is an expert on the hormone TSH. He has worked in academic medicine and in the pharmaceutical industry. He loves chess, poker, astronomy and paleontology. He was born and raised in Quincy, IL and lived on campus at the University of Chicago when he attended medical school there, so he writes with authority in this book about those settings. Dr. Magner is married and has two adult daughters.

Book preview

OTHER BOOKS BY

JAMES MAGNER, MD

Chess Juggler: Balancing Career, Family and Chess in the Modern World

Free to Decide: Building a Life in Science and Medicine

Seeking Hidden Treasures: A Collection of Curious Tales and Essays

The Legacy of a Steamboat Cabin Boy

CURIOUS

EXPLOITS

A Family Seeks

Success in Nineteenth

Century America

JAMES A MAGNER, MD

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Copyright © 2023 James A Magner, MD.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by

any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying,

recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system

without the written permission of the author except in the case of

brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Archway Publishing

1663 Liberty Drive

Bloomington, IN 47403

www.archwaypublishing.com

844-669-3957

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or

links contained in this book may have changed since publication and

may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those

of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher,

and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are

models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Cover images:

Abraham Lincoln by Preston Butler, 1860, public domain

Wharf at Quincy, Illinois, Wilcox and McCarl, published 1919, public domain

Other cover images are the property of James Magner

ISBN: 978-1-6657-4069-2 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-6657-4070-8 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-6657-4068-5 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2023905008

Archway Publishing rev. date: 04/12/2023

CONTENTS

Dedication

Introduction

Rural Württemberg, Germany, May 1, 1844

On to Texas: An Inauspicious Start

A New Plan

A Productive Morning in New Orleans

Heading North on the Mississippi River

John Learns to Read

Tragedy: Time to Move Again

John Reflects on Slavery

Bridging the Mississippi

Metzger Family Marriages and John Questions a Blacksmith

August 1857: Meeting John Wood

The Breakfast

The Lincoln-Douglas Debate

John’s New Appreciation of Elizabeth Küter

Developments in 1859

The Most Astonishing Occurrence in 1859

Land for Settlers

Troubled National Politics in 1860

The Civil War Years

York Street

Family Struggles

Notable Advances

Quincy Fire Department

Becoming a Prominent Citizen in Quincy

July 1892, Cairo, Illinois

Disaster

Bad News

Arrangements

The Holy Book

The Telegram

The Letter

Time to Think at Home Alone

Eilish Matures

Arthur Metzger

Visiting Quincy, July 1900

Visiting the University of Chicago

Returning to Cairo

Back in Cairo for the Search

Life Returns to Routine for Harvest Time

Back to Chicago in 1901

Entrance Exams and Classes

Meeting a Strange Man in July

Why not Niagara Falls?

September 6, 1901

Answering Questions

An Important Visitor to Cheer a Jailbird

Metzger Milestones and Tragedies

Assistant Professor Eilish MacCarthy

Epilogue # 1: Uncertainties about the George J. Metzger Family

Epilogue # 2: Women in Science in 1900 – 1940

Key Sources

Appendix I. List of Nonfictional Persons Mentioned in the Book

The Day Remington Confronted a Monster

About the Author

DEDICATION

To the most recent hundred generations of my ancestors.*

They managed to find shelter, food, mates, and purpose.

They took risks, and at least early in their lives, they mostly

succeeded. They struggled and endured and raised children.

They contributed to the future.

And to my grandchildren, Beverly and Remington,

who I hope will read this book and think about these

people who gave them some of their DNA.

*Note that it is assumed that 40 generations occur over about 1,000 years. Of course, dear reader, if one goes back far enough, some of these persons being honored by this broad dedication are also your ancestors!

INTRODUCTION

The people who braved an ocean crossing and the total uprooting of most things in their lives to take a chance on settling in North America were heroic. I wanted to honor them as I wrote this book.

I first conceived of this project after I had published in 2020 a nineteenth century fictional novella, The Legacy of a Steamboat Cabin Boy, that I felt deserved a sequel. I considered inserting into the sequel a few actual historical persons of German ancestry who were my ancestors who immigrated to the United States in 1846. So, I planned that a few real persons who had lived would interact with numerous fictional characters who would carry forward a compelling story about a lost and recovered strongbox full of gold coins. As I started writing, the opposite occurred. As the manuscript took shape, it turned out that a few fictional characters would be knowledgeable about or interacting with more than two-hundred historical persons who had actually lived. An appendix gives a list of names of nonfictional people who are mentioned in this book, and I mean to honor these many persons (except for a few nefarious persons, of course). So, if while you are reading you want to clarify whether a character was a real person, you can just consult that appendix to check.

Importantly, readers who want to know how a large treasure was located, recovered, and buried on the farm will need to read the prior book in the series to get the background.

To be clear, Niall MacCarthy, his wife, his two children, his farmworkers in Cairo, and some persons with whom they interact are fictional, and the publisher’s boilerplate disclaimer stating that characters do not represent actual persons applies in this book just to those few characters. But most of the characters named in this book were real people who lived when and where I describe, who made decisions and performed actions just as I describe, and who had conversations very similar to the words that I use as dialogue, though their exact words are lost forever. This book is historical fiction, but it is heavy on the historical and light on the fiction.

I had a background well suited for this project. I was born and raised in Quincy, IL, a key setting in the book, so I am intimately familiar with Dr. Eells’ house, the John Wood mansion, the site of the Lincoln-Douglas debate, the Mississippi River, and nearby bridges. As a youngster my family toured many historic places related to Abraham Lincoln, including the site of his birthplace in Kentucky, the home where his family lived in Springfield, IL for more than a decade, the White House and Capitol, the Lincoln Monument, Ford’s Theater, numerous Civil War battlefields, and Lincoln’s tomb. I also lived on the campus of the University of Chicago for four years as a student, and then served on the faculty of the medical school there for several years while working at Michael Reese Hospital. I’m also very familiar with New Orleans, St. Louis, and other cities in Missouri and Iowa. Finally, after relatives died a trove of old family materials and photographs became available for review.

Several important sources are listed, but I did not prepare an exhaustive inventory. Regarding credits for figures, the two puzzle figures related to the buried treasure are my own creations. Many photos in this book were published in 1919 by Wilcox and McCarl, and because that publication occurred more than seventy-five years ago, they officially are in the public domain. One photo of the Quincy House is reproduced with permission of the Historical Society of Quincy and Adams County which I obtained because, though this is a very old photo, it was used recently online in an article by that organization. The several newspaper clippings were all published more than seventy-five years ago. The remainder of the figures are old photographs taken by my ancestors and are my own property.

This book highlights my German ancestors, but my ancestry is fifty-percent Irish, and I previously have outlined briefly some facts about those ancestors in a memoir, Free to Decide: Building a Life in Science and Medicine.

Finally, I had written a short story a year ago that also had a German theme, so I decided to add that as a bonus feature of this book. The young, male protagonist in that story was named Remington in honor of my second grandchild; I have previously published a short story with a character named for my first grandchild, Beverly.

I intended this book to be interesting and fun as well as informative. So, it may appear to some to be an odd collection of dramatized vignettes interspersed with didactic sections. But this unusual structure seemed to me to be the simplest way to say all that I wanted to say. Please don’t be too critical. You should just relax and enjoy this book, and you should also be astonished by the courage of many of these people as well as by the actual events that in many ways are stranger than fiction.

                                                                       James Magner, MD

                                                                       Woodbridge, CT

RURAL

WÜRTTEMBERG,

GERMANY,

MAY 1, 1844

I t was a chilly late afternoon for the first day of May, and Martin Metzger, who had just turned fifty-three, was looking forward to resting his sore back by sitting in the little tavern with his neighbor, Gerhard, to have a beer and discuss the possible sale of three pigs. Since Martin had a wife and sizeable family to support, he hoped his weary bones would allow him to continue the hard farm labor for a few more years. As soon as he walked through the door, Martin caught sight of the familiar face; he sat down with his friend on the long bench at the table that was nearest the small fireplace. As he greeted Gerhard, he noticed that Crazy Wolfgang was sitting alone in a dark corner. Bombastic and frequently unpleasant, it was unfortunate that Wolfgang was drinking beer here this same afternoon.

Johanna, the young bar maid, welcomed Martin with a grin, I’ll fetch a beer for each of you.

Gerhard looked sad and tired, and he remained silent for a moment, then ventured, It’s a sign of these times, Martin. Our beers today will each cost another copper because our good King William just declared that there will be a beer tax!

Martin was genuinely astonished, A beer tax? It immediately worried him that this extra expense, which would continue for months or years, might cause Gerhard to refrain from purchasing the pigs.

Yes, on top of all the taxes we already pay. King Ludwig in Bavaria had the idea, and now King William will try it, too. The devil take them!

Martin spoke calmly but with some concern as he looked over his shoulder, Gerhard, we shouldn’t speak ill of the king in this tavern.

But I’m angry! What’s next?

The beer mugs arrived, and they both took a taste.

Taxes are high, I agree, Gerhard. But we can still manage since our farms are very productive. Martin lowered his voice as he continued, But I’m worried about the king’s agents being around. Lots of men have been thrown in jail, and I don’t want to go there!

Just then six noisy farmworkers burst into the tavern and took seats at a nearby table.

Martin, I can barely pay my taxes now. Sorry that I won’t be able to buy your pigs.

Martin slowly sipped beer as he considered how to reply. We’re good friends, Gerhard, so I could take half-payment tomorrow and get the rest at the end of the year. Will that work?

Gerhard seemed lost in thought for a moment, then nodded. It’s fair, Martin. I’ll come by for the pigs tomorrow morning, and I can pay half. But then his face flushed as he continued, The king is pushing too hard, and stronger men are not going to like it!

Taxes are too high, I agree. But I imagine the king is wisely investing to improve Württemberg. He’s been planning to develop the railroads. Commerce should improve.

But Martin, nothing has been improving. I can’t even afford to buy three pigs! Instead of thirty-nine feudal German states all with different coins and tax rates and rules, things would be much better if there were one united German nation!

Martin was astonished and concerned. He had never heard Gerhard talk this way. That’s dangerous talk, Gerhard, he whispered. People can’t just tell these many ruling princes to give up their incomes and disappear like puffs of smoke. Don’t forget what happened after the Hambacher Festival in 1832. Twenty thousand people assembled at a fair, but many speakers addressed the crowds with radical ideas. Journalists spoke about freedom of the press and elimination of intimidation by the police. Many merchants spoke for the formation of a single united Germany. One speaker even had the crowd raise their hands and take an oath to swear to be free of abusive princes and instead form a united nation – better to die trying to be free than to die in slavery! They were waving black, red and gold banners which they proposed as the colors of a new Germany. But a few weeks later the army cracked down on agitators, and freedom of speech was severely restricted. Gerhard, such opposition to the princes is dangerous and just hasn’t worked.

Gerhard nodded and smiled, I understand now, Martin. You’d like to support liberal and republican ideas, but you’re worried about your family. How old is Margaret now, and how many children do you have?

Margaret was born in 1800, so she’s forty-four. Two children buried, as you know, but seven living.

I thought it was five!

Our twin girls, Margaret and Catharina, are twenty-two. They’re a big help to their mother.

Of course.

Mary is fourteen, Crescentia ten, Johanna seven, Helena four, and little John is two. And you have five children, right?

Yes, five. But we all are working hard to keep body and soul together.

Martin smiled and put his hand over Gerhard’s. My friend, let’s keep our spirits up.

Yes, Martin, but let me tell you some news. My brother heard last month in Stuttgart that America was trying to get more settlers into Texas to strengthen claims against Mexico. There are almost no people in Texas! Someone said that if you go to Texas, you can be given large amounts of land for a very low price – or even free!

Martin had been astonished earlier by Gerhard’s radical talk. But now his jaw dropped. Who could imagine so much land that it was practically free? But he quickly suppressed his surprise and remained determined to keep both feet planted firmly in the good earth like the wise and practical farmer that he was. Well, Gerhard, that is surprising news. But I’m fifty-three years old, and my family is well settled here. He paused to reflect further, and then added, Unless things in Württemberg get much worse, I’d rather just stick with my farm here.

Gerhard nodded and was about to reply, but he was interrupted by men yelling and the sound of chairs crashing over backwards. Martin and Gerhard swiveled to see that while the bartender was speaking to a lone uniformed policeman, Crazy Wolfgang apparently had suddenly lurched at the official from behind and now had his arms around the officer’s neck choking him!

The devil take you! Wolfgang yelled. I’m not going to pay your evil beer tax!

The six farmworkers were close to the struggle. Two of them grabbed Wolfgang, and beer mugs banged as they fell to the floor.

The excitement was over in a minute after another policeman ran in the front door to help; Wolfgang was quickly put into restraints and hauled outside, still screaming and cursing. The room fell silent; everyone was stunned.

Martin bid his friend goodnight and briskly walked toward home near the little town of Künzelsau. The sun was setting, and clouds near the horizon were both dark at the top and golden at the bottom. It was a peaceful view that was beneficial for the soul, a reassurance that nature could be good and beautiful and bounteous – that God’s hand was in control. Martin’s clean conscience usually was a comfort to him during his private moments, and he nearly always fell asleep quickly at night without guilt or regrets or undue anxieties. In the past as he walked home this way weekly from the tavern he often was tired, yes, but also cheerful and positive as he reflected on his family and his many blessings. But as he looked again at the clouds, those dark billows in the west perhaps gave warning of a gathering storm. This mixed omen seemed appropriate in view of what had just happened in the tavern. New worries had crept into his mind. Today was different. In his gut there was an ill-defined unease.

The tiny farmhouse was alive with activity, and a cacophony of children’s voices welcomed him as the young ones grabbed Martin’s legs. Margaret smiled at him as she ladled hot pork and vegetable stew into a bowl for him. She also cut him a slice of bread, freshly baked.

Margaret laughed when Martin told her about Wolfgang at the tavern. But when Gerhard arrived in the morning to purchase the pigs, he brought disturbing news that suggested that perhaps Crazy Wolfgang was not so crazy after all. Gerhard had word from nearby Ailringen that at a tavern there last night a mob angry about the beer tax had chased three policemen out of town. Then the mob set fire to an old stable next to the tavern, and it was said that they took an oath to fight the army if it came to intervene.

During the next few days news of bigger riots in other nearby towns came from travelers on the roadways. After a week the rumor arrived that police had been unable to quell widespread riots in the nearby state of Bavaria, and that the army there had shown no enthusiasm to get involved in these scattered conflicts. Even in tiny Künzelsau there were growing tensions. The number of Protestants in the town of 2500 residents had been growing steadily in recent decades, and the Catholics were starting to feel mildly uncomfortable. But when rioting in Bavaria increased, that was the point when Martin sat down with Margaret to talk about the inexpensive land for settlers willing to move to South Texas. Margaret was intrigued, which Martin attributed to her relative youth. Who would want to leave one’s homeland and familiar surroundings? Who knew anything about Texas? Who would dare to take a sailing ship for weeks over the rough Atlantic to America? And with seven children in tow? How much would the trip cost? Could they sell their farm?

After another week police were nailing up pamphlets at taverns and public buildings that announced that King William was going to respond generously to the many complaints about the beer tax. Following the example in Bavaria, the beer tax would remain in place, but the king officially decreed that for all of Württemberg the price of beer must immediately be reduced by ten percent!

Martin scratched his head when he heard this. Clearly, the king would be getting his money, but it would come out of the pockets of all the tavern keepers. He supposed that there were not enough tavern keepers to make a significant riot, so the police could easily regain control.

ON TO TEXAS:

AN INAUSPICIOUS

START

T hough the beer tax riots in early May had been disturbing, the return of peace and order to Württemberg might have settled Martin’s inclination to remain. But during the next twelve months he heard continuing rumors of meetings of men angered by the lack of free speech, the threatening police, and other abuses committed by the princes. Citizens were urging that a new unified Germany be created that would have a single coinage, uniform tax policies, and a proper constitution that would protect the rights of people. Martin sensed that the wave of history was about to crash over the many small and inefficient kingdoms in the land. When that happened there could be significant violence.

He would have sought a way to depart for America in 1845, but Margaret was pregnant again. The key decision about Texas would have to wait until after the baby had arrived. If it’s a boy, he thought, I’m going to name him after my friend, Gerhard!

A healthy baby boy arrived in late-1845. Martin made arrangements to sell the farm in the late winter, and he booked passage to America for himself and his wife, new little Gerhard, and the other seven children. He and his family would travel by wagon across the German kingdoms and then by sailing ship to – of all places – New Orleans. From there he hoped he could get passage to Port Isabel, where he could file official papers to obtain land to settle in Texas.

As their wagon rolled northward, they stopped for a minute to admire the ancient timbered Rathaus in Künzelsau; the large clock in the tower appeared to have the correct time, though Martin couldn’t check since his heirloom watch didn’t really run well and was packed in the small trunk he was sharing with Margaret. They passed by Margaret’s childhood home where her parents, Johann Wilhelm and Klara Kinzinger, had raised a family. Further north they passed by Sankt Martinus Katholisch Kirche in Ailringen where Martin and Margaret had been married on May 25, 1819. Lots of special memories there. They detoured a bit to make a final pass by Martin’s boyhood home in Heimhausen where his parents, Martin Metzger and Anna Eva Hammer, taught him how to love and be loved. Martin knew that he would never again see any of these emotionally significant places.

The long voyage was, thankfully, quite uneventful. No one in the family got seriously ill despite the rather suboptimal food on the crowded ship. Both Martin and Margaret used the time productively by learning many new words and phrases in English from a young sailor with a kind heart. It was easy to learn both the numbers and the days of the week. Then they focused on phrases like Free or low price land, I want ticket to travel, I’ll pay to stay the night, Farmland, I want to buy food. As they approached port they felt reasonably comfortable that they would be able to survive. The older children also learned a little English.

The immigration steps in New Orleans were simple and quick, and within three days they were aboard a smaller ship for the relatively quick trip to Port Isabel. Martin had been disturbed by rumors and newspaper stories in New Orleans that