German-American Captains of Industry.—Kreischer, Balthasar, of Kreischerville, Staten Island, N.Y., born March13, 1813, at Hornbach, Bavaria. In December, 1835, occurred the great fire which destroyed more than 600buildings in the business part of New York City. Young Kreischer, who had learned brick manufacture, was struck with the opportunity that the disaster afforded to one of his trade. He arrived in New York June4, 1836, and helped to rebuild the burned district. Discovered in New Jersey suitable species of clay for the making of fire brick, which, up to this time had been imported from England. Kreischer began to fight against the British monopoly, and after discovering further valuable clay beds in Staten Island, drove the English fire brick from the American market. He soon established large works in New Jersey, Staten Island, Philadelphia and New York, and by a constant study of new improvements built up the industry on a lasting foundation. He was not only the discoverer of the valuable deposits of clay, but became the founder of the fire brick industry in the United States.

Seligman, Joseph, founder and head of the banking house of J.W. Seligman & Co., New York, New Orleans and San Francisco, was born in Bayersdorf, Bavaria, September22, 1819. At the age of nineteen he came to America. In1862 he and his brothers founded their banking house, which soon acquired a high reputation. During the darkest hours of the rebellion, Mr.Seligman never swerved in his allegiance to the National Government. In1863, when the National credit was in its most precarious condition, and when many even of the stoutest hearts, began to fear for the ability of the Federal authorities to successfully maintain the National integrity, Mr.Seligman introduced the United States bonds to the people of Germany. His attempt was crowned with the most gratifying success, and resulted in securing for the Federal cause not merely money, but also foreign sympathy, of which, it will be remembered, the nation had till then received but little. The Government gratefully recognized the Seligmans as government bankers.

Steinway, Henry Engelhard, of New York City, who, with his sons, became founder of America’s greatest piano manufacturing industry and inventor of the “grand piano,” was born February15, 1797, in Wolfshagen, Duchy of Brunswick, North Germany. The original spelling of the name was Steinweg. He came to this country on June5, 1850, with his family. “Steinway & Sons” were destined to become the leading piano manufacturers in this country, whose fame became world-wide, whose house was the rendezvous of the leading musicians and whose activities are felt to this day. (Encyclopaedia of Contemporary Biography of New York, Vol.II,1882.)

Starin, Hon.John Henry, ex-member of Congress, whose name for many decades was so prominently identified with New York’s railroad and steamboat transportation, was born in Sammonsville, N.Y. His paternal ancestor, Nicholas Starin (or Sterne, as the name was then spelled), was a native of Germany, and came to America about the year 1720, and settled in the Mohawk Valley, upon the German Flats. John Starin, his seventh son, fought in the Revolutionary War, being one of ten members of the Starin family who served in the American army under Washington.

William Havemeyer, founder of America’s great sugar refining industry, came here from Germany in1799, and settled in New York. He brought with him a knowledge of his business from BÜckenburg, Germany, and started what was one of the earliest refineries in New York, and has later developed into the Sugar Trust with which his descendants have been identified as leaders. (Makers of New York, Hamersly & Co., Philadelphia,1895.)

Bergh, Henry, founder of the first society in America for the prevention of cruelty to animals, was born in New York, 1823. He was of German descent, the family having come to America about 1740. Christian Bergh, father of the philanthropist, was a ship builder. (Makers of New York, Hamersly & Co., Philadelphia,1895.)

Gunther, Charles Godfred, mayor of New York in 1864, was born in that city in1822. His father, Christian G.Gunther, a German by birth, was for more than half a century the leading fur merchant in the metropolis. (Makers of New York, Hamersly & Co., Philadelphia,1895.)

Mayer, Charles Frederick, former president of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Co., was a son of Lewis Mayer, one of the first men to develop the anthracite coal regions of Pennsylvania. The father of Lewis Mayer was Christian Mayer, who emigrated from Germany and settled in Baltimore, where he became one of the leading merchants. (Makers of New York, Hamersly & Co., Philadelphia,1895.)

Ottendorfer, Oswald, was born at Zwittau and educated at Vienna. He came to New York in 1850, having been involved in the revolutionary outbreak in Vienna. He became eminent as the editor and proprietor of the “New Yorker Staats-Zeitung.” (Makers of New York, Hamersly & Co., Philadelphia,1895.)

Ziegler, William, born of German parents, in Beaver County, Pa., in1843, was the founder of the baking powder industry in this country, in which he accumulated a fortune. (Makers of New York, Hamersly & Co., Philadelphia,1895.)

Windmueller, Louis, a prominent merchant and reformer of New York, was born in Westphalia, emigrating to this country in1853. He was one of the founders of the Reform Club and of many of the leading banking institutions in the city.

Eberhard Faber, founder of the American lead pencil industry, born near Nuremberg in1820; Friedrich Meyerhaeuser, the American lumber king, born 1834 in Hessia; Klaus Spreckels, founder of the American beet sugar industry, in Hanover in1828; G.Martin Brill, largest car manufacturer, born February, in Cassel.

John Valentin Steger, for whom a well-known piano is named, came to the United States from Germany at the age of17 in the steerage and died in Chicago, June14, 1916, aged62, founder of the town of Steger and president of the J.V. Steger & Sons Mfg. Co., and of the Singer Piano Mfg. Co., the Reed & Sons Mfg. Co., the Thompson Piano Mfg. Co., and of the Bank of Steger; also vice-president of the Flanner Land & Lumber Co. In his will he left a large sum for a hospital and library for his employees.

From the earliest period of New York’s financial district, Germans and men of German blood have occupied a predominant part in the financial life of this country, firstly because fundamental banking principles are taught in Germany as nowhere else, and secondly for the reason that subjects, such as foreign exchange, necessitate such deep technical knowledge that it would appear only German minds can thoroughly grasp them. It is an actual fact that even today, the foreign exchange business of Wall Street, even that part of the business handled and controlled by Morgan & Company and the National City Bank, is in the hands of Germans.

Among the greatest of Wall Street operators of the end of the last century, the days of Jay Gould, Russell Sage, Addison Cammack, etc., Germans predominated and were triumphant victors in most of the great Wall Street speculative battles. Henry Villard, who came to this country from Germany, was the chief center of American railroad finance in the historic period from 1879 to1884. He it was who captured the Northern Pacific Railroad from the Wall Street banking groups.

Another figure of this time was the great bear operator, probably the most powerful and successful bear operator that Wall Street has ever seen, Charles Frederick Woerishoffer, who died in1886. He was born in Gelnshausen, Germany, and coming to this country, founded the firm of Woerishoffer & Company. He was connected with the famous campaigns in Wall Street conducted by James R.Keene, Jay Gould, Russell Sage, Addison Cammack, etc., for the control of the Kansas Pacific Railroad in1879. Henry Clews, the English stockbroker, says of him in his reminiscences of Wall Street: “Woerishoffer had the German idea of fighting in the open, as against the secret operations of Commodore Vanderbilt and the others. He lost some battles but won most of those in which he engaged and made millions out of the conflicts.”

Joseph Drexel came to this country from Germany in1787. He is the real founder of the house of Morgan & Company. Drexel founded the banking house of Drexel and Company in Philadelphia and Drexel, Morgan & Company, New York. He built up a successful banking business, in which his sons became interested, and at his death they inherited his fortune.

August Belmont, the elder, was born in Alzey, Prussia, in1816, and died in1890, leaving his son to manage the banking house he founded. He had been a clerk in the Rothschild banking house in Frankfort-on-the-Main, Germany, and when he came to this country, he was the American representative of that world historic firm, which position his son of the same name occupies today. The elder Belmont was the founder of the Manhattan Club in New York.

Henry Bischoff, founder of the banking house of Bischoff & Company, was born in Baden, Germany. Lazarus Hallgarten, of Mayence, Germany, was the founder of the banking house of Hallgarten & Company. Isaac Ickelheimer, a native of Frankfort, Germany, was the founder of the banking firm of Heidelbach, Ickelheimer & Company. Frederick Kuehne, who was born in Magdeburg, Germany, established the banking house of Knauth, Nachod & Kuehne. Jacob Schiff, one of the foremost bankers of Wall Street at the present time, was also born in Frankfort. He is the head of Kuhn, Loeb and Company. Ernst Thalmann, who died recently, was one of the founders of Ladenburg, Thalmann & Company. He was also of German birth. James Speyer, head of Speyer & Company, is a member of the old Frankfort family of that name, and obtained his financial education in Germany. In fact, the majority of banking houses in Wall Street as they exist today were founded by Germans.

Adolphus Busch, the great brewer and philanthropist, was born at Mayence-on-the-Rhine, July10, 1839; education at gymnasium, Mayence, and academy, Darmstadt, and high school, Brussels. Came to United States, 1857. Served in the Union army under Gen. Lyon and became associated with his father-in-law, E.Anheuser, in the Anheuser Brewing Co., and later became president of the famous Anheuser-Busch Brewing Assn. of St.Louis, largest brewing concern in the world. At the time of his death was president of five large concerns, including a local bank and Diesel Engine Co., and director St.Louis Union Trust Co., Third National Bank, Kinloch Telephone Co., Equitable Surety Co., and several other strong organizations. Mr. Busch was a high type of the self-made German-American. He gave a large sum (twice) to the Harvard German Museum, the Germanistic Society of Columbia University, and to other public institutions of science and learning, and his death, Oct.10, 1913, was universally regretted.

John D.Rockefeller and John Wanamaker are both descendants of German immigrants. The forefather of the Standard Oil King, Johann Peter Roggenfelder, came over in1735 from Bonnefeld, Rhenish Prussia, and is buried at Larrison Corners, N.J., while Mr.Wannamaker, former Postmaster General and the father of the department store, is descended from a Pennsylvania German family named Wannenmacher.