The following article came from the "Oldenburgische Volkszeitung"
published on Saturday, January 18, 1986 in German.
This is a translation
A Lohne Resident as a Pioneer in America
180th Anniversary of the Birth of Clemens Uptmoor
by Franz-Josef Tegenkamp
On the 19th of January, 1986, the 180th anniversary of the birth of a man will occur.
This was a man who hardly left any traces on the pages of history but yet
influenced the lives and destinies of many people to no lesser a degree than the
more significant politicians or lawmakers of his day. Clemens Uptmoor was born on
January 19, 1806 as the child of Johann Heinrich Uptmoor (1771 - 1936) and Anna
Margaretha Nordlohne (1774 - 1856) in a small farmhouse, which the family leased
in return for labor performed, on farmer Bokern-Kersting's land in Bokern near
Lohne in what was then the duchy of Oldenburg. His parents, who owned no land,
were average farmers, neither particularly wealthy nor particularly poor. They simply
earned their living and survived by hard work.
The young Clemens' childhood was over by the age of ten when he often
accompanied his father to work on his yearly summer job fishing for herring by
joining the many other fishing boats out for the catch on the North Sea.
During the winter Clemens Uptmoor attended the Bokern farming community's
elementary school, where he received a basic education. The schooling
took place only during the winter months because all the farmers' children
were needed in the summer and in most cases the teachers also worked in
their own fields to earn extra money, to which claimed all of their time. So it
was that their lessons could impart only the basics of reading, writing,
and arithmetic, a problem exacerbated by the realities that the teachers
themselves often were not satisfactorily educated and that the schools
consisted of only one class. In Bokern, for example, the sole teacher in the 1835
school year had to teach 110 children.
The next few years passed in the same style until Clemens Uptmoor was called into
the military via the then current lottery and had to servethe five years as a soldier in
the Oldenburg infantry regiment.
Up until this time Clemens' life, as with most of his peers, had followed
set tracks. After his discharge, however, he left his seemingly
predestined life path and emigrated to America accompanied by his brother
Hermann Heinrich and some neighbors and acquaintances (among others, the
Hoying family from Krimpenfort, who settled later in Minster, Ohio). Of the 149 total
passengers on the emigrant ship "Everhard", which sailed from Bremen to
Baltimore, 35 came from Lohne, another 82 came from other area communities.
On September 9, 1834, the ship reached its terminal port Baltimore, and
approximately two weeks later the Uptmoor brothers arrived in Cincinnati,
the preliminary goal of their journey. Here, during the next
five years, they worked mainly as carpenters. Clemens Uptmoor had learned the
occupation of ship carpenter in his youth, which served him well now.
In the summer of 1836 Cincinnati experienced a cholera outbreak. Because of this
the Uptmoor brothers went to work for several months to Missouri. On the way
they saw for the first time the fertile farmland which lay there fallow just waiting
to be developed. At the time this was the almost completely uninhabited area of the
American Midwest. It is therefore not surprising that it was at this time that they
formulated their plan to found a colony for The atholic emigrants from Germany.
After their return to Cincinnati, they founded the "German
Land Company" or "Settlement Company" at the beginning of 1837 together
With a partner, Johann Ferdinand Waschefort, who had emigrated in 1831
From Addrup near Essen. 141 people joined the company in a short time due
To the constant stream of emigrants from Germany. They paid regular dues and
Contributions in order to later acquire a large section of land.
In April, 1837 Clemens Uptmoor, together with Johann Ferdinand Waschefort
And Gerhard Heinich Bergfeld (from Lastrup), made their way on a 15-week
Trip through the states of Indiana, Illinois, and Missouri to look for a
Suitable section of land. They finally decided on an area approximately
100 miles east of St. Louis nearVandalia, the capital of Illinois at
the time, where some former residents of Hanover had already settled.
After another trip by other members of the company to view the land, it
was acquired in 1838 (approximately 4000 hectares or 9884 acres) and was
distributed to the members in the fall of that year. On the suggestion of the
Bishop of Cincinnati the new colony was given the name Teutopolis.
In the spring of 1839 the first settlers moved to their new property.
Clemens Uptmoor married Maria Elisabeth Niehaus, born on August 23, 1819
in Laer near Osnabrueck, in Cincinnati on September 24, 1839. The wedding
took place between one of his frequent trips between the new colony and
Cincinnati. On one occasion he walked the entire way (approximately 400
kilometers) by foot. Another time he simply left his horse, which had
become sick along the way, and traveled the rest of the way on foot.
Several weeks after the wedding Clemens Uptmoor made the journey to Teutopolis
with his brother Hermann Heinrich and his brother-in-law
Clemens Vahling, the husband of his sister Maria Anna, and their families
(Clemens Uptmoor's siblings and his mother had followed him to America in
1837). The little group reached its destination on December 21, 1839.
Since much snow had already fallen by that time and there was no other
shelter to be found, they drove some sheep out of a stall which they had
run into only by chance and lived there for the first few days. On the
day after their arrival they began building a log cabin for Clemens
Vahling, where the three families lived together until each possessed their
own home.
The next year Clemens Uptmoor opened a small store with goods having a
value of approximately one thousand dollars. At the same time he began
cultivating a large farm and worked as a carpenter for 25 cents a day,
which seemed a high wage to the community at that time. In 1842 he
started building a windmill with his brother, which became operational in
1845. Since the windmill worked with a great weight, however, a strong
wind was necessary to start it running, and it stopped working in 1860.
In spite of this the windmill was quite a sensation in those days, and it
drew settlers from near and far to marvel at the structure.
In 1882 Clemens Uptmoor and his son-in-law Joseph Siemer built a
steam-powered mill which was subsequently expanded, and today the "Siemer
Milling Company" represents one of the largest enterprises of its type in
southern Illinois.
Clemens Uptmoor played an equally essential role in the construction of
the new church in Teutopolis, which was begun in 1851, and at the time was
one of the most significant church buildings in a large area, and in the
construction of the first Franciscan monastery of the United States by
some monks from Warendorf which had begun in Teutopolis in 1858.
In 1865 he built an imposing home in Teutopolis and a commercial building,
which, in contrast to the other buildings in the region, were built not of
wood, but of brick. In the same year he built a slaughterhouse in which
more than 1,800 pigs were killed in the first year alone.
From 1842 to 1869 Clemens Uptmoor worked as the first postmaster in
Teutopolis and during this time was responsible not only for the postal
station, but also for the operation of the postal coaches. There was
never a complaint or grievance raised against him. In 1868 he founded with
some others the first fire insurance company of the region, and he also
encouraged the establishment of the volunteer fire department in 1883.
As one can see, Clemens Uptmoor was active in many areas. His ventures
developed well, so that in 1889, as he and his wife celebrated their
golden wedding anniversary, he could see a flourishing small town,
booming enterprises and businesses. The fruitful development of the
wilderness by German settlers was in no small part due to his
initiative, planning and hard work, so that he can be considered one of
the pioneers of German colonization of the American continent along with
his many peers, for example, Franz Joseph Stallo from Damme, founder of
the town Minster in Ohio or Johann Heinrich Ronnebaum from Damme and
Johann Heinrich Plaspohl from Sevelten, founders of the town Oldenburg in
Indiana.
When Clemens Uptmoor died on August 2, 1898, three years after the death
of his wife, he was one of the wealthiest and most esteemed citizens of
Teutopolis. He left behind, in addition to his considerable fortune, no
small number of descendants, who today live scattered throughout the USA,
despite the fact that of his fourteen children five had died in their
youth and two daughters became nuns; the remaining descendants married
almost exclusively emigrants who also came from the Vechta area (Suedkamp,
Thuele, Hoedebeck, Lamping, Siemer, Woehrmann), and looked after a large
number of descendants.
Nancy
(with revisions by Fred Rump)26 Warren St.
Beverly, NJ 08010
FredRump@earthlink.net
609-386-6846
215-205-2841 (cell)