The dapper young fellow in this photo is my Gr-Gr-Uncle, Karl Lueders. I was given this picture nearly 20 years ago by Carol, a distant Lueders cousin and fellow genealogist.

Recently, I met Skip, another Lueders cousin; that’s his Gr-Grandfather in the picture. As I prepared to share this photo with Skip, I decided to examine it closely and see what else it revealed about Uncle Karl.

I already knew his name, of course, and it is also written on his shoulder; which is how we know that it is him. At the time the photo was taken, he was apparently still close enough to his German roots that he went by “Karl”.  Later in life he adopted the more Americanized version “Carl” which people frequently did. But that change did not come easily for everyone. His mother, “Katharina” is frequently listed in records as “Catharina”, or even “Catherine”, but her grave marker still says “Kath. Lueders.”

His last name was also different than his father’s had used in the old country, but that change happened more quickly and universally. The Germanic “Lüders” became the American “Lueders” practically as soon they stepped off the boat. There is no umlaut in the English alphabet. Nor is there one on our typewriters. Of course, those devices were not even commonly available until the 1880’s

What interests me most about the picture though is the appellation “Turnlehrer” below his name. Germans like to run their words together to make bigger words and this one was formed from the noun “lehrer” which means “teacher” and the verb “turnen” which means “to do gymnastics”. He was a gym coach. Sometimes they were called “Turn Teachers”.  What is so interesting about this?  Well that requires a brief lesson in 19th Century European History.

In the late 1700’s there was no German state. Just a loose bunch of clans, tribes, and city states that happened to speak a similar language. Just after 1800, however, much of what is now Germany was conquered by Napoleon and ruled by the French. (This came up in an earlier post when I found my German ancestor birth record and it was written in French.)   Just imagine how the locals would have felt about being ruled by foreigners.

Nationalistic thinkers and strategists sought a way to unite the Germanic peoples in order to oppose the French. One man who thought he had the answer was Friedrich Ludwig Jahn (1778-1852). He was Gymnastics Instructor. He figured that the best way to elevate the spirits of his country men and increase their physical, mental, and moral power was through the practice of gymnastics.

Hence, in 1811 he open his first Turnplatz, or open air gymnasium in Berlin. The Turner movement spread rapidly and soon there were Turnvereins, or Gymnastics Associations, in many cities and towns both large and small. The movement may have had some effect, as the French were soon overthrown, but it was another 60 years before Germany was fully united.

Meanwhile, German immigrants to America in the 1850’s brought the tradition with them and in 1890 we find Paul. A. Lueders (Karl’s father and my Gr-Gr-Grandfather) as a signatory to the Article of Incorporation for the Humbolt Turnverein in Milwaukee. The stated purpose for the Turnverein was to:

“Associate themselves for the purpose of development of the bodily and mental powers by gymnastic and other exercises and the establishment and maintenance of a reading room and library….”

So it makes perfect sense that Karl would have been a Turn Teacher at the Humbolt Turnverein. But exactly how and when that happened is still a bit confusing.

Notice the logo on the picture frame. “S. V. Courtney; McKinley Block; Canton, O” According to City Directories, this photographer was in business from 1881 – 1906; making Karl somewhere between 12 and 37 years old in the picture. That’s not very helpful.

What really muddies the waters though is the location: “Canton, O”.  So far as I knew, Carl Lueders was born in Chicago but lived his entire life in Milwaukee, WI until 1953 when his wife, Rosa, died. Then he moved to California to be near his daughter. Is this really him in Canton, Ohio?  What was he doing 500 miles from home, other than posing for a portrait.  At one point, I nearly discarded the picture thinking it must be somebody else.

But a careful study of City Directories has painted a picture that I can accept.

In 1887, Carl Lueders, age 18, was living at home with his father and working as a photographer
1888, he was still living at home but working as a Turn-Teacher.
1889, Carl Lueders, then 20, disappears from Milwaukee Directories.  And, at that same time, a Carl Lueders suddenly appears in the Canton, OH directory. And, he is a Turn Teacher at Turner Hall. He continues to be listed in the Canton Directory for a few years but then in 1892 he disappears from Canton and, at the same time, he reappears in Milwaukee where his occupation is listed as Teacher, State Normal School.

Whoa!  What is a “Normal” School? Is there such a thing as an abnormal school?  Some would argue that there is. But in 1892, the phrase was understood to mean what we may call today a Teacher College. This was where high school graduates were taught the “norms” of Education, pedagogy and curriculum and such.  Mind you, Carl had never even started High School much less finished it. But he was a Teacher at the Normal School so I assume he must have been teaching Gymnastics.

This particular institution, which was founded in 1885, has since been folded into the University of Wisconsin.

Carl may have continued teaching, part-time, at the Humbolt Turnverein, but after about 1896 his primary occupation was as a merchant in the family business of Scholler and Lueders Feed and Flour.  Later in life he worked as a Payroll Clerk for the American Railway Express Agency.

Carl Lueders lived a long life, and, no doubt, did and experienced many things. But his claim to fame was well established at an early age, as decades later, his obituary leads off with…

Carl Lueders Dies; Gym Instructor

Services for Carl Lueders, 95, a gymnastics instructor at the old Humbolt-Turhall W. Center & N. Richards Sts. will be at 1:30 Saturday….

1958, Carl Lueders and his daughter standing in from of my Grandparents house in Rosemead, California

Previously, I posted about the pictures that hung in my Grandma & Grandpa Lueders’ living room and how I was able to identify who they were.  According to Grandma, they were Keith’s (and my) Gr-Gr-Gr Grandparents and they were buried in Germany.  But that was all they knew.  I learned, among other things, that their names were Heinrich and Caroline Lüders and they lived in Mecklenburg near the Schwerin Sea in northern Germany.

This time, I would like to talk about the portraits themselves.

I began this adventure by trying to determine a date for the pictures based on the style of clothing the subjects were wearing.  I contacted Liza Shade at Washington County Museum.  I knew she had curated an exhibit in Hillsboro on the history of lady’s fashion and had some knowledge on the subject.  She, in turn, forwarded my email to two expert seamstresses that had helped her in the past. They all agreed that the clothing worn in the portraits was: 

“definitely mid to late 1820’s because the waist on the black dress is not as high up as in earlier periods. However, the neckline and sleeves, along with her hairstyle are very much 1820s.”

That was exactly what I was hoping to hear!  I knew from church records that Heinrich and Caroline were married on Oct. 13, 1826.  The portraits could well have been made at the time of their wedding.  They may be the only portraits ever made of them.  Remember, this was before Smart Phones; before Instamatics; before Brownies; before Daguerreotypes even.  If you wanted a picture, you hired an artist.

So how did these pictures get from Mecklenburg to Oregon?  Here’s my theory.  Heinrich and Caroline both died before 1854, when their son, P.A. Lueders, emigrated to America.  It makes sense to me that he, as the eldest son, would have brought the pictures of his parents with him.  I assume that he, in turn, left them to his eldest son, August Lueders, who left them to his only son John Lueders (Grandpa had 5 sisters, no brothers).  My grandparents were from Milwaukee, WI but later moved to California which is where I grew up seeing the portraits hanging in their living room.

Now for the physical condition of the artwork.  First of all, they are not oil paintings as I previously assumed.  They are pastel on paper.  Very thin, very fragile paper.  As soon I opened one of the frames I realized that I was going to need the services of an expert paper conservator.  After a brief search I made an appointment for a consultation with Elizabeth Chambers.  She works out of an upstairs studio in SE Portland and is a delightful person with a wealth of experience dealing with anything made of paper. 

Once out of the frames, we found that Heinrich’s portrait had the beginning of another face sketched on the back.  Perhaps the artist did not like the way it was going so he turned the page over and started anew.  The paper is so thin that the finished pastel image on the front can be seen in reverse from the back.

The edges of the paper are glued to what we assume is the original matte which had a rectangular opening.  That is a problem because the paper is not free to move with changes in temperature and humidity.  Furthermore, the matte and backing are not acid free or archival material.  Unfortunately, being so fragile, Chambers thought it unwise to attempt to separate them.  The oval matte that was used when Grandma & Grandpa had them re-framed in the 1950’s is not much better as it has also left its mark.

At some time, probably also in the 1950’s, someone attempted to fix a small tear by gluing it down to the cardboard backing.  The technique looked OK for 60+ years but it resulted in an even larger tear when disassembled.  That is the big gaping hole you see above.  Fortunately, the entire fragment survived intact.

In spite of all this, the color and brightness of the pastel images is very good.

The two images appear to have been drawn by different artists and they were, in fact, done on different materials.  The paper for Caroline’s portrait is noticeably thicker and stronger than Heinrich’s.  Some people, including me, have described the portrait of Caroline as “amateurish” because the proportions are not right.  Others, who know more about art that I do, say that it is the more interesting of the two because, they say, some artist today are trying to emulate the look and feel of these older portraits.  If that’s the  case, we have the real deal; an authentic, old, portrait of someone who also happens to be a relative..

The artwork stayed with Chambers for a few weeks while she removed as much of the harmful materials as possible, de-acidified everything, and replaced the backing with archival materials.  She also put the fragment back in place and did some very minor re-touching.

While she was doing that, I brought the frames home, built them up to make room for thicker matte and backing material, and refinished them.

The next step, when I got the portraits back from Chambers, was to have some good quality photographs taken while they were still out in the open.

Finally, I took everything to Framing Resources for reassembly.  The existing mattes with the oval holes were discolored but could not be removed so we opted to place a new matte over them with a slightly larger hole.  This provides a clean surface and also adds another step and more space between artwork and glass.

I also chose to use “Museum Glass” which offers UV protection and is so clear and non-reflective that you want to poke it to see if it is even there.

So here is Heinrich and Caroline hanging on the wall again.  For now, they are on my wall.  The treatment plan I have implemented would not be adequate for, say, the Declaration of Independence.  But hopefully, it will keep our treasured family heirlooms safe and secure for another 190 years.   

I have talked about Barbara Lauer before.  She was my Grandpa Lueders’ mother.  But now I am ready to talk about her parents and siblings.  Turns out, she came from a very large family that had a long and full life in Germany before coming to America.

Her parents were Johann Lauer and Catharina Kuhn.  Catharina was born in Weierweiler, which is a small village in southwest Germany; about  20 miles from the French border.  In fact, when I finally found Catharina’s birth record it was in French!  How could that be?  I have always said I was half German because all eight of my gr-gr-grandparents on my mother’s side came from Germany around 1850.  But here it was, instead of Johann Peter Kuhn, as I expected, her father’s name was recorded as Jean Pierre.   But, not to fear, I am still half German.  If I had stayed awake in history class I would have remembered something about Napoleon and the French occupying parts of Germany after the collapse of the Holy Roman Empire.  Well, that occurred right around the time when Catharina Kuhn was born in 1808.  Earlier and later records are in German; but her birth record is in French and much easier to read. 

In 1826, Johann and Catharina were married, also in Weierweiler, and over the next 25 years, they lived in that community and had 11 or more children.  Several of them died young, but still, they were a large family and I believe there was extended family in the area as well.

For whatever reason, in 1851 Johann, Catharina, and 6 of their children, ages 3 to 23, left their little village and made their way some 200 miles to Antwerp where they boarded the passenger ship Atlantic and set sail for America.  They landed in New York on May 5, 1851.  Upon arrival they most likely took a river boat up the Hudson River and through the Erie Canal to Buffalo, NY.  From there they would have boarded a steamer ship that made its way through the Great Lakes to Milwaukee.

Unfortunately, the New World did not treat them as well as they had hoped.  In July of 1852, a year or so after arriving, 17 year old Maria Lauer died of cholera.  Less than a week after that, 4 year old Wilhelm Lauer died;  also of cholera.

Milwaukee was hit very hard by cholera from 1849-1854;  and in the midst of that epidemic, Catharina was about to have another child.  Barbara Lauer, my Great Grandmother, was born in September of 1852.  Weeks later, Catharina Lauer also died.

So Barbara Lauer never knew her mother.  She only knew 2 or 3 of her siblings.  And Johann, her father, died when she was a 13.  As far as I know, she never went to Germany, so she knew little of her family’s previous life.  She was born into a large family, but she was never really part of it.