294 The Autobiography Of The Reverend Paul Gerhardt Tonsing Atchison, Kansas

Ernst Frederick Tonsing Thousand Oaks, California August 14, 2001 The following short autobiography of grandfather Paul Gerhardt Tonsing was shown to me by my father, the Rev. Dr. Ernest F. Tonsing, Topeka, Kansas, sometime in 1954 or 1955. He allowed me to copy it from the longhand pencil text written on tablet paper. My typing was rather uncertain at that time, so I am sure that I introduced many errors. Therefore, obvious spelling and punctuation mistakes are corrected here without note, as I am unable to consult the original pages. Paul G. Tonsing wrote it during a short hospital stay, but no date is given. Several blanks exist where he intended to fill in the data later. Cleveland, Ohio, the city of Paul G. Tonsing's earliest recollections, is the chief St. Lawrence seaway port of Lake Erie. Lying at the mouth of the Cuyahoga River, it lies 481 miles west of New York, 340 miles east of Chicago, and 141 miles northeast of Columbus, Ohio.1 After the American Revolution, Connecticut ceded its western lands in 1786. To promote the sale of the new properties, Moses Cleaveland led a surveying party, arriving at the mouth of the Cuyahoga River July 22, 1796. Here a city was laid out and the town founded. The name was changed to Cleveland in 1832 in order to shorten the masthead of a newspaper.2 By 1900 the population of the city was 381,768.3 Cleveland's importance as a city comes through its location where the mouth of the second largest river discharges into Lake Erie. It is also at the western end of a transportation corridor that extends from the Atlantic Ocean at New York City to the central states. A narrow plain extends east and west along the shore. Here, shipping, commercial, manufacturing and residential expanded rapidly in the nineteenth century. A two-hundred foot rise up an escarpment brings one to a flat, rolling countryside developed for farming during that century. The most prosperous of the farms were operated by a religious group of Shakers.4 Manufacturing in Cleveland, which brought it great wealth, consisting of milling grain, making of bricks, production of machine tools of iron and steel, and the quarrying 1 2 3 4

Mildred Marie Walmslely, "Cleveland," Encyclopaedia Britannica (1963), vol. 5, p. 909. Walmslely, op cit. John Samuel Still, "Ohio," Encyclopaedia Britannica (1963), vol. 16, p. 733. Ibid.

the Berea Grit sandstone formation to make high-quality grindstones and building stones for the city's municipal and domestic structures. The great development in the late nineteenth century of these industries depended upon the immigration of skilled and unskilled workers from Scandinavia, the British Isles, and, of course, Germany,6 including the Tonsing/Toensing/Tonsing family, of which Paul Gerhardt was a member. His father, Ernst Frederick Toensing, was born September 27, 1827, in Linz, Hanover, Germany, and came to Baltimore, Maryland, October 15, 1845, to work as a cabinet maker.7 He married Anna Maria Gertrude Walker (born May 5, 1835, died August 15, 1908, or, August 1, 1910) on February 26, 1852, and moved to a farm at "Newberg" (possibly Newburgh Heights, Ohio). They had eight children, twin girls, Marie Sophie and Clara Elisabeth (born December 6, 1853) who died in infancy during the cholera epidemic,8 Dora (died September 3, 1909), Minnie (born 1854, died January 20, 1925), John F. (born September 4, 1858, died February 1, 1919), Carolyn Eleanor (born October 4, 1860, died January 29, 1916), William H. (born March 23, 1863, died January 18, 1933), and the youngest, Paul Gerhardt (born January 3, 1870, died March 1, 1936). Ernst Frederick died at the age of forty-seven on April 12, 1873, in a manner noted below.10 With his death, Anna Maria married Frederick Mylander (born August 23, 1823, Germany, died August 4, 1899) and moved to Oak Harbor, Ohio. Mylander had had a daughter, and three sons from a previous marriage. To these were added a son, Lewis (born August 3, 1879, died 1926).11 While very brief, this Autobiography of Paul Gerhardt Tonsing has some charming incidents to tell about this German immigrant family in the last quarter of the now remote, nineteenth century.

Autobiography by Paul Tonsing To write an autobiography, however short presupposes that you have had a life unusual in some particular way. While I cannot alarm any except a hum-drum existence, yet there are periods of my life, which, I think, have something of special interest to my children and grand-children.

5

Ibid., p. 910. Ibid., p. 911. 7 Rebecca Chaky and Ruth Martin, Ruth Martin Family Tree 1995 (Friendswood, Texas: Neverdone Press, 1995), p. 84. 8 Katherine Ott, Trinity Lutheran Church, Cleveland, Tauf Register, e-message, June 28, 2001. I am indebted to Ms. Ott for this new information. 9 Chaky and Martin, op. cit, pp. 85-92 10 Ibid., pp. 84-5. "Ibid., p. 81.

6

My days of leisure in a hospital suggested to me, the beginning of this unimportant yet perhaps interesting narrative, interesting perhaps to only a very small circle. I am told that my birth took place at 40 Burton street, Cleveland, Ohio, Jan. 3, 1870. I'm glad that it was this year as it has always been easy to calculate from an 0 year. My father was Ernst Tonsing who came from Hanover, Germany, 18[45]12 x He died when I was 3 years old. He was drowned in a mill pond about 6 blocks south-east of 40 Burton st. and was buried in the [Monroe] street cemetery.13 He had been a cabinet maker for many years, was in business for himself and was burned out without insurance seveal [sic] times. The only recollection I have of him is the riding to the cemetery in a closed hack. This one even alone is indelibly stamped on my mind in connection with my father. My mother was Anna Maria Walker. She also came from, [Brockhausen] Hanover, Germany, 18[45]x She married my father when 16 years of age. She bore him-[eight] children, [three] boys and [five]girls. Their names follow—14 The twins died when they were but one year old with the cholera. Six grew to maturity, John who lived at 40 Burton St. until his death in 1919 from a paralytic stroke, Dora (Schroeder) died aged in 19[09]15 of a paralytic stroke, Carrie Voelzow who died of a paralytic stroke 19[16]x16 My mother was a widow 4 years. During this time she sent her younger children to school while the older ones worked. Mother at first sewed vests for stores and afterwards kept boarders. She paid off the indebtedness on her home, improved and built a barn at the alley. The things I remember of those years are of course not chronologically related. I will tell of a few incidents as they occur to me. I went to a parochial school 2 years, 1875-77, on Jersey street. A Mr. Arnold was teacher. He was a cousin of some kind.17 He gave me special attention. This made some of the boys jealous and got me a number of whippings. Mr. Arnold would hold my hand at the wrist, palm up and whip hard with a ruler. My hand some times would swell and feel as if it were cracked in the middle. This man nevertheless thought so much of me that he wanted my mother to let him adopt me. I remember when I was about 6 years old one of the boys was found with a paper of fine cut chewing tobacco in his pocket. Mr. Arnold sent me out to the toilet (out doors) with it to throw it away. Instead I hid it and after school I took it home, hid it in the barn and there is where Willie Rische and I learned to chew like pirates. Mr. Arnold was a good instructor and I learned to read and write German well. Our school was let out at 3 to let all get home before the free school " Ibid, p. 85. 13 Lot 9, sublot E-l/2, Monroe Street Cemetary, Cleveland, Ohio. Ibid., pp. 81, 85. 14 For the names of the children, see above. Ibid., p, 80. 15 Ibid., p. 85. 16 The marriage of Carolyn Tonsing and Henry Voelzow, August 8, 1878, produced fourteen children. Ibid., p. 86. 17 1 have not found the connection, however.

(public school, and the Catholic school closed for the day). A series of disastrous fights proved the wisdom of this precaution. Before this was done I remember of a broken arm, a busted head and other injuries sustained in the fights. The boarders at home led me into all kinds of trouble. I remember one Sunday morning they sent me to Mr. Freese's grocery with a note. It told him to give me all the beer I could drink and they would pay for it. I was so drunk that I was away off for a long time. My mother was told where I was and she ran down and found me lying in Freese's yard drunk. She took me home and thrashed me, not knowing that the boarders should have been punished instead. I was about four when this occurred but I remember the whole incident well. One evening they taught me a very indecent prayer. I remember it well. When I went to bed I asked my mother if I couldn't say a new prayer they had taught me. She said, go ahead. When I was in the midst of it she yanked me up and spanked me good. I did not even know the meaning of the words. I could talk only German (Plat Deutsch [sic]) until I was 5 years old and when I went to school I learned the book German (Hochdeutsch [sic]). My unmarried sisters were always chasing me to kiss me. I would crawl under the bed and under the table when they had me cornered and fight them off. I remember one occasion when I went to visit my sister Dora. I slid along the dirt street under a heavy wagon, letting my bare feet [trail?] in the deep dust. A wheel ran over my right foot and I was laid up for some time. One of our boarders was more kind and sympathetic than the others. His name was Fred Buhrweioter [sic]. He worked in some brass works and made me a fine brass top which I kept for many years. I was about 4 years old at this time, also one of the boarders gave me a triangle, which has been doing duty at chavivarees [sic] and amusing children for the last 47 years.18 At about 4 I wandered away from home and was lost. I was gone several days. The police of the entire city were looking for me and advertisements put in the paper. I was taken in by a saloon-keeper who kept me closely hidden in his house. He fed me all the beer and pretzels I could eat and drink. The back yard had a high board fence and so I was let out in this enclosure. A number [of] people in a wagon were making the most dismal noises with bells and shots and I peaked through a hole in the fence. I saw Gerhardt Jasper who was boarding at our house and others I knew and made my presence known. I was overjoyed to see them. I'm certain the saloon-keeper and his wife tried to kidnap me. Another incident I remember was when Eddie Teckemeyer and I made a fire in the upstairs of our barn in some paint pots. We were playing some game. When the fire spread we crawled under the new house [the] Dresees [?] were building near the alley and did not crawl out till night. As far as I know my folks never knew how the fire started as this is the first time I ever told it. When 5 I was nearly drowned. A larger boy of 17 coaxed me to go on the ice on the mill pond in which my father was drowned. 18

This triangle, measuring 12 inches a side, with two arms having an outward curve at the very ends, still is used to accompany group singing at my home in Thousand Oaks, California, at Christmas and other celebrations.

Unbeknown to him [the] ice had been cut and the water was slightly frozen over. I was sliding a little ahead of him when I plunged in. I distinctly remember opening my eyes when I was down in the water and seeing the sun. I came up twice and was caught by the hair by the young man who pulled me out. I lost consciousness and remember their rolling me on the ice when I cam to. They carried me to Freeses grocery and saloon where they had to thaw my clothes off before they put me to bed. They did not tell my mother till they were ready to send me home. I anticipated a glad welcome, but instead my mother had a stout stick waiting in the corner by the door, and I sure got a good whaling. Somehow I have never felt just right over the reception I received. One incident impressed me very distinctly. When I was about 4 I witnessed a strike in active operation. In the back yard of the second lot to the south of us was a shop. I often went to see the men work. Once when I went over only about half the old men, whom I knew, were at work. The rest were new. While I was talking to some of them a big crowd came and the doors were filled so I could not get out. The men out on strike had come back with clubs and attacked the new men. I crawled under a bench. One of the old men who knew me pulled me out and put me through a window, and said, "run!" Did I? I believe I did. When I was seven years and a half old a man came to visit us.19 My mother told me this was to be my new father and that we were to leave Cleveland in two days. The carpets were already taken up and they were boxing the dishes, etc. I spent the two days sitting on a pile of rag carpets in the kitchen and crying my eyes out. When they wanted to start they had a time making me go. I was promised a colt and that I could ride to and from the fields on the horses. This mollified me somewhat. When we arrived at Oak Harbor my first remembrance was seeing a large bell on a high pole. I ran and rang it and the men came in V* hr. too soon for their dinner. My mother being deaf did not hear the bell and the others were all out in the fields putting up hay I believe. After my poor mother had been in the country 3 weeks she took all the packing boxes she had brought and refilled them with her things. When she was about ready to leave step-dad plead so earnestly and vowed vociferously he would quit his drinking that she again unpacked her boxes. Her widowhood had been so...

[This is where Paul G. Tonsing left off his writing. It's a pity, isn't it, that he did not complete his project. What other captivating adventures, now lost to time, might he have related?]

Ernst F. Tonsing Thousand Oaks, California August 14, 2001

Frederick Mylander. See above.