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In the first wave of German settlers who came to Washington County in the mid 1830s, many were from the village of Durkheim in the Rhine Palatinate. The small towns of Matamoras, Newport, and Marietta, located along the Ohio River, were stopping places for German settlers. In time, German farmers would concentrate in the townships north and east of Marietta. Fearing, Adams, Salem townships particularly became heavily populated with German immigrants who formed churches and farming communities.
One of the most well known stories is about Jacob and Charles Frederick Peters. About 1832, the brothers with their families arrived in Baltimore and traveled overland to Wheeling, Virginia. Charles Peters went ahead of the group to their destination of Cincinnati, a hub for German immigrants. As the city was suffering from a cholera epidemic, Charles returned to the family in Wheeling and decided to travel down river for another destination. When stopping at the Brophy Inn in Marietta, Mrs. Brophy, a German speaker from France, convinced the families that Washington County had much affordable land. With that, the families settled in Salem and Fearing townships. Word spread and in 1834, the families of John P. Peters, Conrad Bohl, Conrad Bissantz, Bernard Wagner, Christian Best, and others came to Washington County.
Briefly in this article, we will jump ahead to an event on April 7, 1888. Bernard Peters, the editor of the Brooklyn Times, was invited to speak at the city hall in Marietta as a part of the grand Centennial Celebration. By this time German businesses in Marietta were flourishing. In the speech, he noted, "I am not a native of this city, nor of this State, but a native of Germany. I was brought here by my parents, into this county and city, at so early an age that, living among the New England settlers of Marietta from youth to manhood, they made me over into quite as much of a Yankee as though I had been born on the soil of Massachusetts."
By the 1850s, it was along Ohio Street that new German families came ashore. With Bibles, musical instruments, and the language of their homeland, many set out to farm or stayed in town as merchants and craftsmen to prosper in shops along the riverfront and the newly developing Front Street. On Ohio Street, P. W. Kuhn, a cigar manufacturer, and Best Brother's grocery and boat supplies welcomed them in their native language. On Front Street, the New German Hat Store, owned by Fred Weiss, Gerd Wendelken's grocery and dry goods, and Joseph Wildt's Grocery were on the west side of Front Street. On the east side were the shops of Peter Kunz, John Holst, August Grabe, and Charles Biszantz, a businessman who would later own a restaurant and a hotel.
Early Germans came to Marietta knowing little English, and German-language newspapers found a ready audience. Der Marietta Demokrat, and Der Beobachter were the first newspapers, but it was The Marietta Zeitung (1868-1904), with a regional circulation that met the most success. "English" business advertisements would be written in German. Jacob Mueller and his son, Louis, were the publishers. Jacob was considered a "48er." This referred to the year, 1848, when many people from the German states made an exodus from the homeland.
Portions of the article were taken from the book, German Marietta and Washington County written by Jann Kuehn Adams.
Jann K. Adams is a WCHS member. To learn more about the Washington County Historical Society services and membership call 740-373-1788 or visit wchshistory.org.