ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF THE GENERAL GERMAN
ORPHAN HOME IN BALTIMORE, 1863-1963
By OTTO H. FRANKE
Those who are spared great suffering must feel called upon to help to
relieve the misery of others. We all must share in carrying the burden
of misery which weighs upon this earth (Albert Schweitzer)
At the outbreak of the Civil War the German element of Baltimore
represented more than one quarter of the city's total population. The
German language predominated in a large section of Baltimore while
numerous churches, clubs, fraternal organizations, private schools and
newspapers were maintained by this large German-speaking group in the
city. This process of linguistic and social isolation from the population
at large was even fostered by the constant attacks of Nativists and Know-
Nothing elements who stood for "Americans rule America." German
Americans in Baltimore felt nevertheless very much a part of their
American homeland. During the Civil War about 3000 German-born
Marylanders, mostly from Baltimore, enlisted in the Union armies.
One of the manifestations of German American segregation from the
rest of the Americans was the founding of various charitable institutions
for the exclusive use of their own group. The oldest institution of this
kind in Baltimore is the General German Orphan Home which is now
operating in its 100th year. In 1863, Martin Kratt, pastor of the German
Evangelical Lutheran Trinity Church, appealed to the Germans of Balti-
more for the founding of an orphanage for German children who were
victims of the ravages of war. On July 12, 1863 Pastor Kratt organized
the German Protestant Orphan Association of the City of Baltimore, Md.
to manage the German Protestant Orphan Asylum. After but a few
months of preparations, the opening of the first Orphan Asylum located at
69 Pratt Street near Canal Street took place on November 8, 1863. A
large circle of friends was present. The first officers were: Johann Christian
Krantz, president, Ernest H. Moeller, treasurer and Heinrich Ohrmann,
secretary.
In a short space of time, however, it was recognized that the close
association of this orphanage with a church and the name itself would
limit and hinder its future growth. Pastor Kratt himself and other influ-
ential men among the German element recommended a change to a non-
sectarian organization. A new constitution was prepared and accepted in
September 1866 and the name was changed to: The General German
Orphan Association of the City of Baltimore, Md. to conduct and maintain
the General German Orphan Asylum of the City of Baltimore (Der All-
gemeine Deutsche Waisenverein der Stadt Baltimore, Md. und Das All-
gemeine Deutsche Waisenhaus). This change of names was very favorably
received and the entire German-American population of Baltimore, regard-
less of creed, became the friend and protector of this new institution.
The annual reports of the General German Orphan Home were printed
in German up to 1896 when for the first time the report appeared both in
German and English. The annual report of 1921 was the last one in
[47]
which the German text was used, from then on only English was used in
all reports and meetings.
The Orphan Home on Pratt Street quickly became too small to meet
the increasing demand of orphans applying for admission and it was decided
to buy a house at 69 North Calvert Street. The move from Pratt Street
to Calvert Street was made in July 1867. A great parade participated in
by a large number of German-American organizations marched from the
old house to the new one.
The annual report for the year 1867 is the first printed report on hand
and is signed by secretary E. C. Linden who served the Home as a director
until 1911, taking a very active part in all the major and minor develop-
ments during this time. He reports that of the 43 children in the Home
30 were of school age—22 boys and 8 girls. All these children went to
the school of the Evang.-Luth. Trinity Church. He also mentioned that
a Ladies Sewing Society had been in existence since the founding of the
Home and that 18 different German-American organizations were affiliated
with the Home and were giving it their financial support.
The constitution of 1866, the first of the General German Orphan
Association was superseded by the one accepted in 1867. A few selections
from this constitution deserve attention. The introduction, for instance,
states: "The purpose of the orphanage is to admit needy and deserving
orphans of both sexes, without regard to creed, of German ancestry (the
grandparents from the father's or mother's side must have been born in
Germany). This institution is to be their home as well as father, mother,
teacher and friend. Half-orphans in especially sad cases can and shall be
admitted by decree of the board of directors." Article one of the constitu-
tion says: The name of the institution shall be "The General German
Orphan Asylum of the City of Baltimore, Md. and it shall continue with
this name until all future time and shall be and remain the incontestable
property of the General German Orphan Association which is recruited from
the entire German population of Baltimore. Both languages, German and
English, shall be taught, however, German shall be and shall remain the
official language of the house."
Other articles state: "All children admitted shall be not less than two
years and not more than ten years of age. Only the Board of Directors
can make an exception. When the children are 14 years old, they are to
leave the Home and the Board of Directors shall see to it that the boys
are placed properly with businessmen or tradespeople who accept them as
apprentices and keep them in their families until they are 21 years old.
The girls may become domestics in respectable houses or choose an
honorable career for which they are specially adapted. The boys shall
stay under the supervision of the Board until they are 21 years old, the
girls until they are 18 years old."
The constitution of 1867 provides for a Board of 25 directors, the same
number as today.
One of the most interesting features of the early years of the Home
was the large participation of societies and lodges concerned with the
management and support of the orphanage. The constitution states: "All
lodges and societies which join the General German Orphan Association
'in corpore'
have the right to send representatives to the board meetings
with the right to vote. When votes are taken, only as many representatives
can vote as there are directors present at that meeting. The seniority of
an organization decides which one can vote. All organizations which are
members of the G. G. O. A. shall remit at least 5 cents quarterly for each
[48]
of their members to the treasurer. If the regular contribution of an organiza-
tion which has sent children to the home is not sufficient for maintaining
the children, this organization is obliged to remit additional amounts as
decided by the Board."
The support coming from these organzations was rather substantial.
In 1874 their total contributions amounted to $1486 and the number of
contributing organizations was 48. They gradually decreased and in the
year 1887 their contribution totalled $321 and in 1893 only $91. This was
most likely due to the dwindling membership of these organizations and
the fact that the finances of the Home had improved so that more and
more organizations felt that their support was not needed.
The committees of the Board established in 1867 are still functioning
today as the finance, inspection, purchasing, admission and school com-
mittees. Other committees, however, were added in later years. Two
directors of the inspection committee visited the Home twice a week,
alternating every month. The school committee had the duty to make a
quarterly report on all children who were apprentices, etc. and still under
the supervision of the Board.
The collection of membership dues was quite different in 1867 from
what it is today. For each political ward of the city three collectors were
nominated by the Board and directors were obliged to serve as collectors.
All those who paid one dollar or more received a membership card. The
collectors went personally from house to house (no autos at that time).
The collections were printed in detail every year in the annual report.
By 1912 the city had spread into new suburbs, hence a new arrangement
became necessary and the city was divided into 47 collection districts,
each small enough for one collector. However some years later the use of
checks became more and more prevalent and gradually the collectors were
not needed any longer. Today all membership dues are collected by mail
and a few by personal call.
The new home at 69 North Calvert Street offered many advantages
compared with the previous one. The house was bought for $16,000 and
a mortgage of $10,000 had to be paid off. An appeal was made to the ladies
of Baltimore to join the Ladies' Sewing Society in holding a Fair for the
benefit of the Home which actually took place in the Maryland Institute
in December 1867 with a financial success of $7,000 profit. By June 1868
the last mortgage was paid off. The Orphan Asylum was now free of all
debts.
In 1868 the Home received the so called Steuben Fund of $2,186 which
had originally been intended for a monument in honor of General Von
Steuben in 1858. However, the amount collected had not been sufficient
and the money was lying in a savings bank in Baltimore for nearly ten
years. In 1868 it was decided to give the fund to the General German
Orphan Asylum with the obligation that part of the money be used for
a suitable memorial to General Von Steuben. The Board of Directors
decided to have a large portrait of General Von Steuben painted by Ludwig
Encke, a beautiful frame was carved by Wilhelm Teubner and an artistic
pedestal by Joseph Sudsburg. The picture was unveiled in 1869.
One day in July 1868 the waters of Jones Falls rose very rapidly and
flooded the basement of the Home, causing some damage. A few years
later a dangerous epidemic of scarlet fever broke out in the Home.
Unfortunately the healthy and sick children could not be separated so
that nineteen children were infected and two died. In spite of his advanced
age Dr. Friedrich Hess, the doctor of the Home, attended the children with
devoted care.
[49]
More and more children applied for admission and soon there was no
longer enough room in the house on North Calvert Street. Only five years
after the children had moved into this house the Board of Directors decided
to look again for a larger place. A committee consisting of Jakob Trust,
Christian Ax, Ph. R. Vogel, Carl Sachse and E. C. Linden was appointed
to acquire a suitable property inside the city limits and on November 11,
1872 the property of the Convent of the Carmelite Sisters on Aisquith
Street was bought. Since the buildings on this property were not at all
suited to the needs of an orphan home a new building had to be erected.
Confident that the German-Americans of Baltimore would support this
undertaking generously and wholeheartedly the Board engaged architects
and contractors. The new building was to be big enough to take care of
200 children, allowing 30 sqft. for each bed. Every consideration was given
to good ventilation of fresh and clean air and to every other requirement
which would help to keep the house clean and orderly later on. The final
total cost of this new Home was $55,647. A general collection of gifts and
contributions was started and at the time of the corner stone laying on
June 22, 1873 a sum of $31,000 was available. A parade brought a large
number of friends to this festive occasion. Wm. Pinkney White, Governor
of Maryland and Joshua Van Sant, Mayor of Baltimore were present.
Pastor Scheib, who spoke in German, said: "There are days and hours of
greater import and value than others and these deserve therefore to be
underscored in red on the calendar of life. Hours like these give our feelings
a higher trend, awaken our thoughts in relation to mankind and bear evi-
dence of how much is accomplished by man, in spite of all obstacles
encountered."
In 1874 the new house on Aisquith Street was ready and the children
moved in. Again the Board of Directors was faced with a large debt, but
again the Ladies' Sewing Society helped most generously. First they con-
tributed their entire funds of $5,345 to the building fund and for the
purchase of furniture for the Home. Then they arranged another great
Fair, this time in the Concordia Hall, the gathering place of all the
German-American societies, clubs and other organizations. The Fair, the
chairman of which was Mrs. Johanna Wehr, was held in 1875 and was a
complete success with net receipts of $20,000. At the end of the year all
debts were paid and even some new capital was on hand.
This new house on Aisquith Street represented a great step forward in
the growth of the General German Orphan Association and it was destined
to serve the needs of this organization for the next fifty years.
On October 15, 1919 the following item appeared in a Baltimore news-
paper: "With the idea of moving the entire establishment to the suburbs
the executive committee of the General German Orphan Asylum, located
at Aisquith Street near Orleans, yesterday announced the purchase of the
Talbot J. Albert estate called BELMONT at Catonsville. Conrad C. Rabbe,
treasurer, said that steps will be taken shortly to remodel the buildings
as a summer home for the children to be ready for occupancy next year.
The consideration was not announced. It was said, however, that the
property was purchased September 24 by John G. Johannesen, Conrad C.
Rabbe, George W. H. Pierson and H. G. Von Heine, officials of the insti-
tution, acting in a private capacity to prevent the property from slipping
out of reach of the institution. At the Directors' meeting October 8 it was
voted to buy the property of 44 acres at the figure given for it by the
individual directors."
A building committee was formed which secured the services of Walter
[50]
Gieske as architect in 1920. In 1920 the children spent July and August
in Belmont, quartered in the available buildings. The fresh air in the
country improved their health greatly. Two cottages and the laundry and
heating plant were built. One cottage was occupied by the end of 1922,
the other early in 1923. By 1924 everything had been transferred from the
Aisquith Street Home to Catonsville.
To be able to start the building program a number of loans were
arranged, but to finance the new home a Building Fund campaign was
started on November 1st, 1922. This campaign was in charge of a com-
mittee headed by Karl A. M. Scholtz as chairman, Lewis Kurtz, as secretary
and John Lauber, as assistant chairman. Some 400 faithful women and
men worked under their guidance and collected a total of $128,000, con-
firming the confidence of the directors "that the acquisition of the 'Bel-
mont" property for a new home has served as an inspiration to all those
who have labored so earnestly for the cause of the Home during many
years."
When the children were transferred from the city to Catonsville not
all of them could be admitted to the school in Catonsville. Some were
taught in the large living room of one of the cottages and the School
Board provided the teacher.
In 1926 another cottage was added to the existing buildings. Ferdinand
Meyer, a very successful Baltimore business man, who had come as a
young man from Germany, generously gave the money to build this cottage.
There were no further additions to the Home until 1938 when Mrs. Adele
Von Heine-Wilcox presented to the Home a check for the construction of
a swimming pool for the children. Later Henry Herzinger, who had been
president of the Home for many years, provided in his will the necessary
funds for a recreational building in memory of his wife. In 1958 the
Mary C. Hax Herzinger Memorial Building was dedicated. During the
next year a new home for the superintendent and his family was built,
which completes the present equipment of the Home.
An Orphan Home should offer a child deprived of its parents the equiv-
alent of a good family home: wholesome and conscientious care, a healthy
moral and physical education, love and affection. Judge Waxter, when he
was the head of the Baltimore City Welfare Department wrote to the Home:
"Work with children is work with those who will later constitute the
citizens of the country. People should grasp the full significance of the
fact, that children who later become problems are such as a result of the
natural process of developing having to do with heredity and the condi-
tions under which they are reared."
The Board of Directors has always pursued the policy of providing the
best possible care for the children and of preparing them to become
valuable members of their community. While the constitution of 1867 pro-
vided that only orphans and half-orphans should be admitted to the Home,
it soon became necessary to grant admission, perhaps for a limited time
only, to children who still had both parents. In 1893 the Board discussed
again this question of admitting half-orphans and non-orphans (both
parents living) and the minutes of that meeting record the sentence:
"There is always the danger that the Home may take charge of children
of lazy fathers and disorderly mothers." However, the records show that
in 1894 of the 119 children in the Home 40 were orphans, 70 half-orphans
and 9 non-orphans attesting to the fact that it always was the greatest
concern of the Board to help the needy child whether orphan or non-orphan.
As stated before, the children went to school until they were 14 years
[51]
old. The boys became apprentices and the girls usually were employed
in households. A typical report of 1877 states that 13 children left the
Home during the year, seven children became apprentices or servants in
households, two returned to their parents, three were adopted and one
ran away.
There did not seem to be any difficulty in placing the boys as appren-
tices with business men and trades people until the end of the seventies
and eighties, but with the growing industrialization this became more and
more difficult. There were fewer and fewer places where they could learn
a trade and live in a family. Some of the boys went to factories, but in that
case had to live in boarding houses, which the Board did not consider a
good solution. Therefore, wherever possible the boys were taken to farms
in the neighborhood, an arrangement, which worked out very well for a
number of years, and other boys lived at the "Boys Home" or were helped
by the Henry Watson Children's Aid. For many years there were a few
boys at the McDonogh School to complete their education. The girls very
often stayed in the Aisquith Street Home until they became 18 years of
age while doing housework.
In the early years of the Home the children went to the school of the
Evangelical Lutheran Trinity Church, later on to the Scheib School con-
nected with the Zion Church on Gay Street and to the Knapp School.
After the English-German Schools were opened all children went gradually
to public schools. However, it was not until the Home had been moved
to Catonsville that any of the children completed the full public high-school
course. The first boy graduated from Catonsville High School in 1926.
Then it became customary that all children should complete their high
school education before they left the Home and that those who showed
that they were college material were helped to go to college. Even prior
to 1926 a few boys acquired additional education. In 1888 one of the boys
was a student at the Lutheran Theological Seminary in Columbus, Ohio
and in 1920 two of the former wards were attending courses at Yale Uni-
versity, two at Charlotte Hall College, one at Eden Seminary in St. Louis.
The first girl of the Home graduated from college in 1942.
The physicians who took care of the health of the children during all
these years should not be forgotten. Among them was Dr. Frank C.
Bressler who attended the children for more than forty years. Others who
contributed their knowledge and time for the benefit of the children were
Dr. Joseph I. Kemler, Dr. Wetherbee Fort, Dr. J. Fred Andreae and Dr.
Raymond E. Lenhard.
That the Board was always open for new ideas is shown by the Kinder-
garten and Turner movement. Until about the first World War the Home
always had to take care of a number of children of pre-school age. When
the Kindergarten idea was introduced to our country the Board engaged
a Kindergarten teacher who had been trained in the famous Froebel School
in Germany and another person to teach the girls handicrafts. This proved
to be rather expensive and other arrangements were made, but the problem
of taking care of the pre-school age children continued until a group of
young women formed the Ladies' Auxiliary Association in 1898 (Damen-
hülfsverein) especially to take charge of the Kindergarten at the Home.
In later years only a few children of pre-school age were admitted to the
Home. By that time the Kindergarten had become part of the public
school system.
The German-American Turner movement started in the decade before
the Civil War. Its motto: "A sound mind in a sound body" emphasized
[52]
a true physical culture for its own sake rather than encouraging competitive
sports. A special instructor was engaged in the early 1880's to give the
children instruction in turnen (physical training). This training was a
complete success not only in the progress of the various exercises and in
the improvement of the health of the children, but also by increasing the
general discipline of the children, a discipline which in former years could
not be accomplished even by means of strictness and severity. It was not
until 1898 that this type of physical training was recognized as a positive
and important medium of general education by the Baltimore public schools.
In 1924 a Boy's Band of 18 pieces was formed at the Home and the
Ladies' Auxiliary made a gift of the necessary instruments. This band was
very popular and performed well on many occasions. When the public
schools started to organize their bands, the boys joined the school band
and in 1952 the instruments were sold to a school.
Instinctively the children entering the Home in their loneliness and
insecurity turn to the house father and house mother or as we call them
today the superintendent and his wife. The influence of the houseparents
and of the cottage mothers is of great importance as they can and should
impress on the children those qualities and values which are important to
them in later life.
The Home can look back upon the work of its superintendents and their
wives with great satisfaction. Mr. and Mrs. Friedrich Gleichmann super-
vised the children from 1866 to 1879. Mr. Gleichmann was a plain, modest,
thrifty and very practical man who saw the Home growing from its modest
beginnings on Pratt Street with 43 children to the large institution on
Aisquith Street with 80 children. Mr. H. A. Lang (1881 to 1892) had an
inspiring personality and exercised a conscientious and circumspect guidance
over the children.
Mr. and Mrs. Carl Schmied took care of the children for 30 years from
1894-1924. Under their administration the number of children in the
Aisquith Street Home increased in 1903 to 160, the largest number in the
history of the Home. Mr. Schmied was a good housefather and devoted
himself to the proper upbringing and care of the children. He was a strict
disciplinarian as was customary at the time and necessary to enforce order
in such a large institution. The life of the children began at 6 a. m. by the
ringing of a bell. After breakfast the children marched two abreast to their
school, had lunch in the orphanage and then went back to school. After
school came playtime until supper, after supper was study time in the
basement until 8 o'clock, which was bed time.
Mr. and Mrs. Wiley (1935-1955) took charge of the children at a time
when new ideas of how to take care of orphan children were developing.
When in 1922 the name of the organization was changed to General
German Orphan HOME maintained by the General German Orphan Asso-
ciation of the State of Maryland it meant more than just a change of
name. It meant changing from the dormitory system to the cottage system.
It meant, following the trend of the time, a change from institutional
living to a homelike living for the children. It meant making the life of
the children at the Home as similar as possible to the normal life of an
average child. Mr. and Mrs. Wiley were successful in bringing this about.
Mr. Wiley had been a principal of a school and Mrs. Wiley a teacher,
both having a full understanding of children. The uniform dress of the
children had been abandoned. Mr. and Mrs. Wiley stressed a higher and
better education and participation in athletics in school and at the Home.
[53]
Through their efforts the children were completely accepted in the com-
munity life and some of them showed outstanding leadership in school.
Mr. and Mrs. Schmied's and Mr. and Mrs. Wiley's terms of office cover
a span of 50 years. These many years of devotion to the upbringing and
care of the children speak for themselves as a testimony of the esteem in
which they were held by their wards, by the directors and the ladies'
organizations.
During the term of Mr. J. W. Eisenhauer as superintendent (1955-1960)
the use of the professional welfare worker was increased, effecting some
changes in the policy of the Board and the management of the Home.
Since 1960 Mr. and Mrs. Harold T. McTeer have been in charge. There
were other capable superintendents at the Home at various times who,
however, were engaged for periods of one to three years only.
In the early years of the Home, charity of any kind was a private
matter of individuals or groups of people. However, the State or the
City governments were approached for contributions. The City of Balti-
more contributed first $500 and later $1,000 annually to the upkeep of
the Home, but when in 1875 a number of citizens energetically protested
against "sectarian appropriations" these contributions were stopped. In
later years financial help came from the State of Maryland. For many
years the Home received from the State of Maryland $3,750 annually
towards the support of the children. After the Maryland State Department
of Public Welfare was created in 1936, public charity and welfare work
increased gradually. A Baltimore City Welfare Department had been
established in 1934, while the federal social security act became law in
1936. In 1942 the State Department of Public Welfare gave the General
German Orphan Home a license to operate in the State and afterwards
required proof that the Home had a sufficient number of children without
financial aid who were worthy of receiving help from State Funds to justify
the expenditure of $3,750 at the rate of $44 per month per child. In 1951
the State Department of Public Welfare advised the Home that it would
no longer receive any aid from the State of Maryland and that the Depart-
ment of Public Welfare of Baltimore City would from then on distribute
the allotted amount of $44 per month per child. This department estab-
lished the policy that only those of the newly admitted children would be
certified for this financial aid who were sent to the Home by the welfare
departments of the City and Counties. Children who were brought directly
to the Home by parents or relatives and in need of financial aid could not
be certified for public aid. Another change in procedure was that a Court
would send children directly to the Home for care, but would now turn
the children over to the Welfare Board for placement.
As early as 1913 the minutes of the Board meetings report that new
ideas and theories were being advanced and that it was being advocated
to abandon all orphan homes and send all orphan children into private
homes (foster homes as they are called today). The use of foster homes for
the care of needy children has increased greatly over the years and is now
an important factor in public welfare. The question whether a child is
sent to a foster home or orphan home is decided by the respective Welfare
Boards. They purchase the care of children where they see fit and can
terminate the care at any time. There is a growing tendency toward short
term care of children instead of retaining them until they finish school,
especially for half- and non-orphan children. During the 1940's and 1950's
the Welfare Boards seemed to favor placement of children in foster homes.
However, over the years experience has shown that both orphan homes and
[54]
foster homes have their place in the social structure of our cities. Especially
when parents want to keep groups of brothers and sisters together the
orphan homes have a definite advantage.
Looking back over the years it can be said that the General German
Orphan Home was fortunate in that there were at all times men on its
board and women in the women's organizations who were farsighted and
competent to act for the benefit of the Home. Among the first directors
there were two of the foremost educators of their time in Baltimore, Gustav
Facius who took a most active part in the affairs of the Home and was its
president from 1870-1875 and Friedrich Knapp, who had founded his famous
school, the F. Knapp Institute, in 1853. He arranged for a large number
of the children to attend his excellent school for only a nominal fee.
Christian Ax served as a director for many years until 1886. He was a
prominent German business man in Baltimore and well known beyond
the limits of our city. It is impossible to mention the names of all officers
or directors from every walk of life who gave generously of their time and
means. There were men who served only a few years as directors and
there were those who were on the board for twenty, thirty and over forty
years, developing something like a tradition in the management of the
Home.
There were John Lorz (1868-1891) who was president from 1887-1891,
E. C. Linden, director from 1867-1911, and Ernst Schmeisser, director from
1875 to 1923, about as long as the Home on Aisquith Street was in existence.
Ernst Schmeisser was a prominent tobacco merchant. He served as vice-
president, president and chairman of the board. Robert M. Rother was a
loyal director from 1892-1928. With his background as president of a
savings bank he gave unselfishly of his time for the benefit of the finance
committee. When he was instrumental in bringing the three Johannesen
boys into the Home he could not anticipate the future benefits coming to
the Home from this action. John C. Johannesen and his brothers Ernest
and Niels Kristian entered the Home in 1892, because both of their parents
had died. They were born in Norway and had come to Baltimore with their
parents in 1890. John Johannesen was a good student and was admitted
to the McDonogh School in 1894 from which he graduated in 1898. Early
in his business career he joined the Southern Electric Company in Balti-
more, a subsidiary company of the General Electric Company. Soon he
showed his qualities for leadership and his great love for the Home. At
the age of 27 he was elected a director of the Home and ten years later
in 1918 he became its president. The minutes of the meeting at which he
was elected read: "Mr. Johannesen has succeeded, through his energy and
progressiveness, in establishing an enviable record in our community and
we take pride in pointing him out as one of our former wards and as one
into whose hands we can with the utmost confidence intrust the future
of our fifty years of endeavor."
John Johannesen was the guiding spirit in the purchase of the Belmont
estate in 1919 and the transfer of the Home from Aisquith Street to
Catonsville changing the life of the children from regimented institutional
living in a declining section of the city of Baltimore into life in healthy
country air on a 44 acre farm. When his business demanded his moving
to New York in 1924 John Johannesen was made chairman of the board
in 1925, succeeding Ernst Schmeisser. Coming frequently to Baltimore
he continued to partake actively in all affairs of the Home.
Henry Herzinger became the next president, presiding at the board
meetings for the next thirty years (1925-55). Henry Herzinger, originally
[55]
by profession a tailor of uniforms, retired early from his business and
devoted himself to his personal financial affairs and to the administration
of the Home. Since the Herzingers had no children, he always was very
much interested in the development and upbringing of the many children
in the Home. During his term as president the funds to finance the
increasing cost of maintaining the Home grew considerably through many
large and small legacies. His name is justly perpetuated in the Herzinger
Memorial Building.
In the meantime John Johannesen had become vice-president of the
General Electric Supply Corp. in New York and when he reached his retire-
ment age he returned to Baltimore devoting a great deal of his time to
the affairs of the Home. It was natural that he was elected president
again when Henry Herzinger passed away. His love of people, his warmth,
his strength of character and integrity gained him many friends during his
lifetime, and through these qualities he also gained many friends for the
Home, as his 80th birthday celebration held in the Home in 1961 clearly
demonstrated. When he died in 1962 he had devoted 54 years of his life to
the betterment of the Home which had given him and his brothers shelter
and care when they became orphans at an early age. No other director has
served as long.
Henry G. Von Heine, called "a friend, worker and benefactor" of the
Home was a director for 47 years until 1936. Others who devoted a long
span of their lives to the welfare of the Home in various capacities are:
John Kump, lawyer, (1913-1961), Conrad C. Rabbe, banker, (1901-1939),
Lewis Kurtz, insurance agent (1923-1961), J. Harry Garmer, who served
as secretary of the Board, (1923-1953). John G. A. Damm, a director
since 1921 and treasurer since 1935 and men like Dr. Norman B. Cole and
Dr. Vernon Scheidt, who had a great personal interest in the children.
It is of historical interest that a number of sons followed in the foot-
steps of their fathers as directors of the Home. Louis C. Schneidereith, a
printer and secretary of the Board from 1900-1920 was succeeded by his
son C. Wm. Schneidereith, a director since 1922. Fred H. Hennighausen,
lawyer, followed his father Percy C. Hennighausen, lawyer, Andrew Hil-
gartner followed his father in 1931. Henry Pierson, who came from Ger-
many, served as a director from 1900-1912 his son George W. H. from
1912-1943 and his grandson Kirvan Pierson has been a director since 1949.
The first former ward of the Home who became a director was Louis R.
Wilhelm, whose son succeeded him in 1915. Paul Yeager, who spent his
boyhood in the Home in Catonsville, became a lawyer and served as
a director from 1950-1961, when an untimely death ended his career.
Clarence Lohran who grew up in the Aisquith Street Home became a
director in 1934 and has been a devoted financial secretary ever since.
There are many more who deserve to be mentioned here, but this list
serves only to show the general trends running through all these years.
The successful management of an Orphan Home depends on the har-
monious interplay between the superintendent and his wife, the Board of
Directors and the women's organizations, with the children as the center
toward which all efforts are directed. Right from the beginning of the
Home the ladies took a very active part in its affairs as members of the
Ladies' Sewing Society providing for the entire clothing of the children
and the necessary linen for the growing household by their personal efforts
in sewing, purchasing and so on. They were ever ready and always
successful in raising money by special Fairs as in 1863, 1867, 1875 or by
the annual oyster suppers and spring festivals, later on called picnics.
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These took place in Riverview Park until 1926 when the annual picnic
was held for the first time on the grounds of the Home in Catonsville,
where it is still today an important event of the summer calendar.
As mentioned previously a group of young women formed the Ladies'
Auxiliary Association in 1898 for the specific purpose of taking care of the
small children between two and six years of age. The number of these
pre-school children decreased gradually and became very small after the
Home had been moved to Catonsville. In 1925 the Ladies' Sewing Society
and the Ladies' Auxiliary merged into the Women's Association of the
General German Orphan Home, which continued the traditional activities
of the two older societies and adjusted these to the continuous change in
our modern life. Over the years the ladies refurnished the three cottages
and bought the equipment for a hospital room in the administration
building. They continue to support extra curricular activities of the
children by paying for their music lessons, by sending children to summer
camp, purchasing scout uniforms for boys and girls, donating a deep-
freezer for the kitchen. Among the many women who worked for the
benefit of the children during all these years Johanna Wehr deserves to be
recognized as the outstanding leader of the Women's Sewing Society,
having been its president from 1870 to 1919. She was succeeded by Mrs.
Albert Wehr, followed by Mrs. August V. Eidman. Mrs. Anna L. Lillich
has been the prominent president of the Women's Association since 1937.
Here again it is impossible to mention all those capable and praiseworthy
ladies who have supported the Home since its existence.
There are probably very few orphan homes in our country which can
pride themselves on having an alumni organization as early as 1903. It
was John Johannesen who founded the Alumni Association that year.
Soon after he had gotten a start in business he saw how the children after
leaving the Home lost contact with each other. By founding the Alumni
Association he created the nucleus of an active group of young men and
women who helped each other and the younger ones leaving the Home.
They have a warm interest in the children being brought up in the Home.
John Johannesen was president of this association from 1903 to 1918 and
was succeeded by his brother Ernest Johannesen who held this office for
many years. Walter E. Price, John Dietrich and Frank Muller followed him.
The Alumni Association lists among its members merchants, industrialists,
lawyers and men of various professions, who all grew up and received the
foundation for their active years in the Home. During the last war 40 boys
and one girl served in the various branches of the armed forces.
Success of orphanages has often been measured by the number of useful
lives emerging from the years of childhood and adolescence spent in an
institution which at best can substitute in part for the environment of the
parental home. In its work of one century the Allgemeine Deutsche Waisen-
haus has not only been able to help its boys and girls to become useful
citizens but it has sent out into the world many men and women who
have led happy lives. Among the many letters which reach cottage mothers
from their "boys" and "girls" a simple note like this one has the value
of a testimony to the success of an institution which men and women
of foresight established one hundred years ago:
I came in the Army to learn something and if they are going to teach me to work
in a postoffice, I will work in a postoffice. Just as long as I can have a fine wife and
a happy home with such fine friends as I have now, I will think, God has answered
my prayers. Mrs. B. . . . at times I wonder where would I be today if I hadn't gone
to the Home and had the right bringing up and had some one to show me the road.
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The right road. Sure, at times I tried to take a shortcut but I came right back on
the right road. I don't believe there is a shortcut. Yes, I owe the Home a lot and
in years to come I hope I can do something.
Just as Baltimore's German element has grown into an integral part
of the community, its General German Orphan Home has become a truly
native institution at the service of those children who need more than
just a helping hand—who need a home. Its history and its presence, its
work for the future are a tribute "to all those who have labored so earnestly
for the cause of the Home during many years."
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