Recently I wrote about my 2nd great-grandfather, Henry John Dauber, and the confusion surrounding his birthplace on the American Ancestors blog VitaBrevis. It turns out Henry was not born in Marburg, Germany, but instead he was born on Pitt Street in New York City on 23 October 1834. This was during a 4-year sojourn in America by his parent’s Heinrich and Katharina (Wick) Dauber. When Henry was four the family returned to Marburg. But there is more to Henry’s story which I would like to write about here.
Heinrich (aka Henry) Dauber grew up in Marburg and became a stone mason, or mauremeister, like his father. Then, at the age of 25 he left Marburg and immigrated to New York City in 1860. Maybe it was wanderlust that spurred his leaving Germany or maybe it was dim memories of his time there before. But many Germans were immigrating to America at this time because of economic and political hardships in Germany.
In June 1861, Henry began a 3-year term of service as a Civil War soldier. He enlisted in the 41st Infantry Regiment which was a special German regiment recruited in New York. Germans immigrants were often recruited with flyers written in German and many joined out of a sense of patriotism for their new country. Henry joined Company F of this regiment, but his infantry company was soon armed with artillery pieces and became the 9th Independent Light Artillery. Light artillery batteries were known for their speed and maneuverability. Each one was equipped with six cannons pulled by horses.
Henry started out as a Private but less than a year later he was promoted to Corporal. His battery served in the defense of Washington, DC, at various forts around the city. However, he did not see any action and his battery only lost 5 men to disease during the war. Henry finished his term of service and mustered out in June 1864, in New York City.
Family stories say that Henry’s job during the Civil War was to put his finger over the hole at the top of the cannon. This was probably true. In a light artillery battery, each cannon was manned by seven men. To fire the cannon each of the seven men had a specific job. One job consisted of covering the vent hole in the back of the cannon during reloading. This was to prevent hot ash from blowing through the vent while swabbing out the cannon. Flying hot ash could set off the next load of powder. This must have been the job Henry had. He probably wore a leather “thumbstall” on his thumb or finger, but it was hot and dirty work. A well-trained crew could fire their cannon two to four times every minute!
After Henry finished his Civil War service he ended up in Cleveland, Ohio. Family stories say he travelled west looking for work and liked what he saw in Cleveland. Cleveland was already a well-established industrial town by 1864 and had a substantial German immigrant community. It is unclear if Henry knew any family or friends when he arrived in Cleveland, but he probably had heard good things about Cleveland during his time as a soldier.
Henry arrived in Cleveland in the summer of 1864 and on 28 December 1864 he married Anna Elizabeth Mohrmann. Anna was born in November 1842, in the same German state of Hesse where Marburg is located. She immigrated to Cleveland in May of 1864 when she was 22. Family stories say she came to marry her betrothed but for some reason the marriage did not occur. The family lore goes on to say “Anna met Henry Dauber, a perfect stranger, and married him after 3 days. He was 6’4” and she was 4’10” and they were an odd looking but very happily married couple.”
In Cleveland, Henry began working as a stone cutter and continued in this line of business for the next forty years. Supposedly the Dauber family have been involved in the stone trade from the time of the construction of the University of Marburg in the 1500s. Henry and Anna had three children in Cleveland. Henry J. born on 5 January 1867, William born on 23 March 1873, and Anna born on 6 March 1878. Henry J. became a carpenter and William joined his father in the stone contracting business. Anna married George Grossman in 1906.
Anna (Mohrman) Dauber died on 15 July 1907 and Henry John Dauber died on 4 March 1911. They are both buried in the Woodland Cemetery in Cleveland.
