THE APPRENTICE YEARS OF JACOB GROSS,
SUPERINTENDENT OF THE STIEFF PIANO
COMPANY, AS RECORDED IN HIS
AUTOBIOGRAPHY
tudents of history always find unpublished
materials exciting, even when they illumi-
nate only small aspects of the past. We were
accordingly delighted when Mrs. George Jacob
Gross agreed to share with us an unpublished
autobiographical account of the apprentice-
ship and early journeyman experience of her
late husband's grandfather, Jacob Gross, who
in later years gained widespread renown as
superintendent of the Charles M. Stieff Piano
Company of Baltimore.
The autobiography is a touching account of
young Gross's often trying and, at times,
deeply disappointing experiences as an ap-
prentice from the time he left home in 1833,
as a lad of fourteen, to learn the art of piano
building, to 1838, the point at which he had
begun to acquire abroad the knowledge and
expertise which enabled him to achieve success
later in America and especially in Baltimore.
While absorbing as a straightforward, at times
naive account of frustrations and hardships,
young Gross's reminiscences have larger
significance as a historical document, for re-
ferences he makes about the journeyman
experiences of his co-workers indicate that the
vicissitudes Gross endured were likely typical
for many who received their early training in
Germany and who then traveled as journey-
men to complete it.
Gross recorded his recollections and impres-
sions in a firm clear hand in a booklet measur-
ing approximately four and one-half by seven
inches. Attached to the volume are two state-
ments. The first, written by Jacob's son, Charles
Jacob, explains that the reminiscences are a
partial history of his father's early life. Charles
Jacob notes that his mother gave him the man-
uscript on April 20, 1896, and concludes with
the wish that it pass to his sons after his death.
As it turned out, Charles Jacob predeceased his
mother, and, according to the second ap-
pended statement, written by Jacob's grandson
George Jacob Gross and dated April 20, 1979,
the executors of her estate decided that the
document should pass to George Jacob be-
cause he had seven grandsons to carry on the
family name of Gross. George Jacob's state-
ment also contains the information that the
manuscript was translated into English by a
friend of his brother Robert's wife about the
year 1953, in Boston.¹
A reference to Bern late in the narrative in-
dicates that the inspiration to record the vicissi-
tudes of his early years came to Jacob at a time
when he was already confident of realizing his
ambition to become a master piano builder. At
that point in his development, as he explains at
the beginning of his account, he felt that it
might be useful to pinpoint moments and
events which in retrospect could be identified
as important milestones in his progress toward
mastery of his craft and in his intellectual and
moral development. "Let it be a mirror," he
says there of his narrative, "in which I can see
the things I have done wrong and the progress
I have made."
In the section following his preamble Jacob
provides a brief summary of the history of Un-
tergröningen, the town in which he was born
on July 26,1819, and a short description of the
geographical features of the area of Württem-
berg in which it is located:
The Kocher River coming from Aalen passes a
mountain slope in a very picturesque district.
On the slope is the great castle of Gröningen.
Partly above the castle and partly at the foot of
the slope is the town of Gröningen.
Jacob's father, Johann Georg Gross, had
eventually inherited the family-owned brewery
and inn Zum Adler [At the Sign of the Eagle],
which his father had built in 1800. As brewer
and innkeeper, Jacob recalls, his father had to
work hard, for he had also inherited debts. For
years his only help came from his wife Creszen-
cia, née Maier, the daughter of a burgher
farmer, and a few hired hands.
In his early years Jacob, youngest of twelve
children, was frail, and since his only brother,
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S
The Apprentice Years of Jacob Gross
Anton, wished to study for the ministry, a voca-
tion which his parents encouraged, Johann
Georg "had little hope of leaving the inn and
brewery to one of us boys," as Jacob puts it, and
decided to make his daughter Marian and her
husband his heirs. Having reached this decision,
Johann Georg drew up an agreement with
Marian and her husband providing that for the
duration of his life he retain "for himself and his
remaining children one room which could be
heated, a chamber, and a kitchen." The agree-
ment also assured Johann Georg a yearly
allowance, which he received, Jacob recalls,
"mostly in fruit, meat and eggs, and daily drink"
in addition to a small cash sum.
After the wedding, Jacob reports, his father
and mother stayed on in the inn and contin-
ued, moreover, "to work as hard as before for
the good of the young people." Jacob also had
chores, helping in the brewery and inn during
the winter and taking cows to and from pasture
in the summer. Concerning his school experi-
ence Jacob says rather little beyond lamenting
the fact that frequently changing teachers
caused lacunae in his education. He learned to
read and to write, to be sure, and he also ac-
quired some knowledge of mathematics, he
says, but he had no chance to study a foreign
language, instruction in history was erratic,
and he heard next to nothing in school about
art or other cultural subjects.
From early childhood on it was Jacob's wish,
and later also his parents' wish, that he learn a
trade. An opportunity unexpectedly presented
itself early in 1833 when a distant relative, an
organ builder named Wilhelm who lived in
nearby Gmünd and had come to Untergrönin-
gen to repair the organ in the chapel of Unter-
gröningen Castle, offered to accept Jacob as an
apprentice, with the proviso that he first "learn
a little about music." Jacob and his parents
quickly seized the opportunity, and on May 1,
1833, Jacob took his first piano lesson. Five
months later, having learned at least the rudi-
ments of piano technique, he left home, at age
fourteen, and traveled on foot to Gmünd to
begin his apprenticeship, on October 24,1833.
At that time young people wishing to learn a
trade were apprenticed to a master craftsman,
who, in exchange for a fee, offered instruction,
shelter, food, sometimes also clothing, and
medical care in case of illness. The apprentice
was expected to bind himself to the master for
a specified period of service. The terms of the
agreement were set forth in written form in a
contract. At the end of the specified training
period the apprentice could present himself
to a guild member for a practical examination,
which entailed completing an assigned project.
After having passed the practical examination
the apprentice had to stand an oral examina-
tion. By successfully absolving these two
requirements the candidate obtained a certifi-
cate authorizing him to seek further ex-
perience as a traveling journeyman and to
work for wages. The additional experience ac-
quired as traveling journeyman was considered
to qualify young craftsmen to set themselves up
as masters.
As will be seen from Jacob's experience over
the next four years, his training was lacking in
the standards considered characteristic of a
German apprenticeship. His account gives re-
vealing details of his experience with his first
master:
Mr. Wilhelm, who was still a young man, was
very good to me at first; the food also was good.
Regular hours for meals and work helped very
much to improve my health and I was always in
good physical condition. I was soon used to
being there and fortunately I was not home-
sick. Once a week I had to visit a drawing
school and Sundays I went to a school for reli-
gious education and a professional school for
apprentices. In accordance with an agreement
my brother-in-law had made with Mr. Wilhelm I
had to serve three years as an apprentice.
Board and room was included. My mother did
my washing and kept my clothes in order. My
brother-in-law had to pay 60 guilders² for my
apprenticeship fee besides 1 Thaler extra to
Mrs. Wilhelm. Half of the apprenticeship fee
had to be paid at the beginning and the other
half at the end of the three years.
Mr. Wilhelm promised to make a good organ
builder out of me; he could not keep this
promise, since he had not much knowledge of
organ building himself and he was only rarely
busy working on organs. Once in a while he
had some repair work or a refinishing or a tun-
ing job. Thus I had to be satisfied with the
things I saw and heard.
- 4 4 -
I worked in Marbach until May 30, 1837. Very few important things happened here. There
were
five other fellows working at his place. The master was a man about fifty years old, but he
would have
fitted much better in a position as pastor or lawyer than a carpenter. He did like his glass of
wine and
spent most of his money for wine. He had an only daughter of about 13 years. The meals
were mea-
ger and so was the pay. I had 1 guilder, 12 kreuzer. From here I visited my friend Gottfried
Knödler, a
printer. He was destined to become a soldier and he was at that time stationed with the 3rd
Infantry
Regiment at Ludwigsburg. It was only a distance of two hours from Marbach and I therefore
visited
him frequently. My friend, well acquainted with me, suggested that I see Mr. Walker, a well-
known
organ builder in Ludwigsburg. Knödler called on Mr. Walker and told him about me and Mr.
Walker
wanted to see a letter of recommendation about me regarding my experience and character,
etc. Un-
fortunately I did not possess a single letter of recommendation, and some means of
subterfuge had
to be found. A co-worker Wilhelm Maas wrote one for me in the name of the earlier
mentioned Mr.
Berger. This mentioned my experience in organ building, in fact, it flattered me not a little. I
had it
delivered to my friend Knödler, who in turn brought it to Mr. Walker . . . .
- 4 5 -
The Apprentice Years of Jacob Gross
A Page from Jacob's Memoirs
The Apprentice Years of Jacob Gross
Jacob could also not help noticing that the
work done in the shop was poorly paid. The sit-
uation worsened when Mr. Wilhelm fell ill.
From this time on he no longer "bothered too
much" about his two apprentices. During this
time of illness and adversity it also emerged that
he was the kind of man who, as Jacob puts it,
"thought that he could cure his troubles with
wine, which did him more harm than good."
Since Gmünd was not far from his parents'
home, Jacob could visit his family on his free
days. On one of these visits, in late October,
1834, a year after he had begun his apprentice-
ship, he arrived at home to find his mother
quite ill and was deeply saddened when the
news came the following day that she had died.
Shortly before Christmas that same year
he also lost his paternal grandmother, the
other member of the family to whom he was
especially devoted.
On May 4, 1835, Mr. Wilhelm died, and, as
Jacob writes, "things in the shop became criti-
cal." For some time, he explains, Wilhelm had
been running his business with three helpers
and two apprentices, and for quite a while Mrs.
Wilhelm had been "secretly living with the old-
est helper." After her husband's death, Jacob
continues, Mrs. Wilhelm's first plan was to
manage the business herself with the help of
her lover, whom Jacob describes as an able car-
penter. The hitch was that the latter was also
"going steady with another girl."
The changes and uncertainties resulting
from Wilhelm's untimely death prompted
Jacob's family at this point to discuss his future
with one of his former teachers. Following his
advice, the Grosses decided that Jacob should
leave Mrs. Wilhelm's shop and continue his ap-
prenticeship elsewhere. His teacher recom-
mended a piano builder in Kirchheim named
Keim, and a few days later Jacob set out on foot
for Kirchheim, carrying with him a letter of in-
troduction. Arriving in the early evening, after
a seven-hour hike, he went at once to see Mr.
Keim, who received him cordially but told him
that he could not take him on at that time. He
suggested that Jacob see an organ builder
named Walker in Ludwigsburg and even of-
fered to accompany him there. Later that
evening, however, Jacob had doubts, he says,
about following Mr. Keim's advice and accord-
ingly left Kirchheim the following day without
reporting back to him as he had promised. He
soon realized, he writes, that this impulsive de-
cision had been a serious mistake which af-
fected his entire future.
In Mrs. Wilhelm's shop conditions continued
to deteriorate and for several days Jacob was un-
certain what his next move should be. Again he
offers rather revealing insights into practices of
apprenticeship which do not conform to our
perhaps idealized concept of apprenticeship:
Someone advised me to take my examination
as a full-fledged carpenter and then try to ob-
tain work somewhere else. For my examination
I had to make a pine bedstead. I tried hard to
do the best I could. In a week my work was fin-
ished and it was quite satisfactory. Now I had to
undergo a verbal examination, to which my
brother-in-law was invited. The two of us went
to see the man in charge of the examination.
We reached his house a little late, and he was
just ready to leave for the town hall, where he
had some work to do. He said, "Why didn't you
come earlier? I have to leave now."
My brother-in-law was a smart man; he had a lit-
tle talk with this man's wife and casually he
managed to slip her some money, which
worked like a charm. The man soon returned
in a very pleasant mood. I did not even have to
be examined any more. My apprenticeship was
declared finished and a paper to that effect was
made out. The fee was not so very high: for the
chief master 1 guilder, also for the guildmaster
and the man in charge of the examination,
plus a little extra for the papers. After that the
paper had to be sealed at the town hall.
The date was August 5, 1835, and Jacob had
just turned sixteen. While his certificate, im-
properly obtained though it was, officially con-
firmed that he had completed his apprentice-
ship, technically he had not fulfilled the terms
of his contract with the Wilhelms, which pro-
vided for three years of service. Once again his
brother-in-law, acting on his behalf, demon-
strated his shrewdness in negotiating Jacob's
release with Mrs. Wilhelm.
That matter settled, Jacob and his brother-
in-law returned to Untergröningen, where
Jacob did some painting and carpentry work in
- 4 6 -
The Apprentice Years of Jacob Gross
the Eagle and visited with his family until his
Wanderbuch arrived.³
With his Wanderbuch, and "fully equipped
with a new knapsack, clothes, and 12 guilders,"
Jacob set out from Untergröningen on Sep-
tember 7, 1835 to begin the next phase of his
training, and here he depicts in rather moving
words his fond relationship with his father and
the caring advice he took on his way:
. . . My father accompanied me to Holzhausen,
about an hour's walk from Gröningen. I did
not want to have my old father walk any farther
with me. He handed me my knapsack and gave
me also much advice. He said, "Look here,
Jacob, I cannot give you any money; you know
what our conditions are at home. Believe in
God, do the right things in life, always try to be
ambitious to learn something. Take care that
you do not spend your money foolishly and
lead a decent life; try to keep good company.
Do not forget to pray, and God will not leave
you; think also about your mother and me,
wherever you may be."
My father wept when he left and I could hardly
control my emotions. I was thus left to myself.
Everything I owned was in my knapsack; the
wide world was in front of me.
Walking some fifteen kilometers, he reached
Gmünd, where Mrs. Wilhelm tried to tempt
him to return to her shop by telling him that
an organ builder would soon be coming to
work for her. Jacob had already decided, how-
ever, to try his luck in Ulm, where his sister
Katherine lived. This required another walk,
this time of about sixty kilometers. In Ulm he
quickly found work, but was dismayed when
after a few days his employer told him that he
still lacked experience and offered to keep him
on as an apprentice for a small fee.
Unwilling to accept such an offer after hav-
ing successfully passed the examinations which
qualified him to work for wages, Jacob re-
turned to Gmünd, where Mrs. Wilhelm was still
willing to hire him for a modest wage. But he
soon found that he was working only from time
to time, for business was sporadic. An addi-
tional disadvantage was that in the quarters as-
signed to him in her parents' home, where she
was then living and to which she had relocated
her shop, he had no privacy and was unable to
lock up his belongings. One day half of the
money he had left in his knapsack ("about 7
guilders") disappeared. Although he strongly
suspected Mrs. Wilhelm herself, for she was al-
ways in financial straits, he said nothing.
Shortly after this unhappy episode, Mrs. Wil-
helm rented a house where she could carry on
her business more expeditiously; soon after the
move the organ builder, whose name was Carl
von Berger, did indeed arrive from Bamberg.
Because von Berger was still unknown in
Gmünd, his arrival had no effect on the busi-
ness. To make himself known he decided to
demonstrate his skill by building a piano. With
Mrs. Wilhelm's approval he proceeded to carry
out this plan with the assistance of Jacob and
Mrs. Wilhelm's other helper. Work progressed
very slowly, Jacob recalls, because everything
"had to be made." The piano was finally fin-
ished in March, 1836, but there was no buyer
and the beautiful piano went to the pawn shop
for 60 guilders, so that some of the money
spent on materials could be recouped.
At this point in the shop's declining fortunes
Mrs. Wilhelm laid off her third employee,
and Jacob decided to leave with him. "A few
things went to the pawn broker and 2 guilders
were obtained in this manner. This was my
total capital."
Two days later they reached Aalen, where
they collected 18 kreuzer from the head mas-
ter of the carpenters' guild. In Ellwangen they
found work as carpenters, but the work was
hard, as Jacob describes it:
My hands were often swollen My new employer
liked his drink and went evenings to a local
inn, and he slept mornings till 10 or 11 o'clock
to get rid of his hangover. . . . Thus I returned
to Gmünd. . . . I longed for an employer where
I could see and learn things, but the fulfillment
of this wish was a long time off yet.
Shortly after this von Berger left to report
for military service. These developments made
it evident to Jacob that his future in the shop
was in jeopardy. The wisest course, he decided,
would be to leave before being laid off, and on
January 26, 1837 he and Sachsenmeier, the
co-worker whom Mrs. Wilhelm had just dis-
- 4 7 -
The Apprentice Years of Jacob Gross
charged, set out together for Switzerland, hop-
ing to find work there.
The sortie into Switzerland proved to be less
a work experience than a youthful adventure.
Jacob had only two guilders in his pocket. He
describes his financial plight:
I wish to remark here that Mr. von Berger in
paying me off cheated me out of 20 kreuzer on
my weekly pay. Instead of receiving 1 guilder
and 20 kreuzer, I got only 1 guilder. I had noth-
ing in writing and no witnesses. For the time I
worked previous to making an arrangement
for an increase in pay he wanted to pay noth-
ing at all. I went to see the Stadtschultheiss.a
man whose duty it is to settle debts. I received a
few guilders for this time but I lost out on my
20 kreuzer weekly extra pay.
On February 3 they reached Friedrichs-
hafen and were much impressed by their first
sight of the Bodensee (Lake Constance). As
they left the steamboat at Rorschach, they were
able to show the travel money required for
passport inspection only after a restaurant
owner lent Jacob two thalers on his watch.
In St. Gallen they had the good fortune to
be offered a three-hour ride, and then, joined
by a soap maker from the Kingdom of Sar-
dinia, continued on foot toward Wiel:
Our soap maker told us that there were two
monasteries here and that they always served
some food to passing journeymen. This
sounded mighty good to us and soon we rang
the bell at the first place. We received some
soup after the soap maker told the Capucine
monk a hard luck story. The soup looked
rather dubious and the spoon hanging on a
chain near the gate looked awful rusty. I lost all
my appetite and we soon started out for the
other place, a cloister for nuns. Here we each
received a good piece of bread, which I pre-
ferred to the Capucine soup.
In the account which Jacob kept of his ex-
penses during this winter trip it appears that
shelter and food were much costlier in the
larger towns than in the villages, a fact of life
for which he may have been unprepared.
Hurrying to reach their goal, Winterthur,
they found that there was little work for car-
Expenses during my trip to Switzerland
for my travel companion and myself:
At Donzdorf 5 kreuzer
Geiseingen 30 "
Schuserhaus 5 "
Ulm 39 "
Dorf 48 "
Biberach 5 "
Otterswang 25 "
Aulendorf 4 "
Dorf 2 "
Ravensburg 10 "
Friedrichshafen 41 "
Across Lake
Constance 48 "
Roschach 34 "
297 kreuzer
(Baden)
Elderdingen 10 kreuzer
Engin 10 "
Small village 6 "
Duttlingen 42 "
68 "
297 kreuzer
St. Gallen 10 "
Village 3 hrs.
from St. Gallen
Stayed night 45 "
Wyl 4 "
Village 10 "
Winterthur 16 schilling
Zurich 10 "
Village 8 "
" 4 "
Eglisau 10 "
Rheinau 10 "
410 kr
and 52 schilling
= total 7 guilders 18 kreuzer
and the schillings = 1 guilder 48 kreuzer
= 9 guilders 6 kreuzer
- 4 8 -
The Apprentice Years of Jacob Gross
penters in cold weather. Nor was Zürich more
hospitable:
... We did not know what to do; our money was
running low and so far we had not been able to
find any work and I did not want to leave my
friend, since he owed me some money. There-
fore our journey turned back to Germany. It
was on Feb. 5 when we left Zurich. We had two
traveling companions, a carpenter and a cop-
persmith. One of the fellows had traveled
around quite a bit and called our attention to
the monastery at Rheinau near Schaffhausen.
Thus we marched, four men strong, into
Rheinau, where a carnival was being celebrated
with music, dancing etc. We went to the
monastery and each of us received a loaf of
fresh white bread which we took to the inn and
enjoyed later in the evening.
Their search for employment in Switzerland
having proved fruitless, the two found work in
Tuttlingen. Jacob would have been willing to
remain there, but allowed Sachsenmeier to
persuade him to move on to Tübingen where
Sachsenmeier's mother was living. In Tübin-
gen the two were arrested for soliciting work
from door to door and had to spend a night in
jail. Jacob was released the following morning,
but Sachsenmeier was detained until noon be-
cause his Wanderbuch indicated that he had
been previously arrested for the same offense.
Sachsenmeier asked Jacob to wait for him, but
after his night in jail Jacob was anxious to leave
and was soon headed toward Stuttgart.
After an overnight stay in Stuttgart Jacob
traveled on to Marbach, where in an inn he
met a master carpenter named Malsch who ex-
amined him and offered him a job as helper.
Although glad to be employed again, Jacob
soon realized that his new job would be neither
lucrative nor of value as a learning experience.
Both the pay and the meals were meager, he
notes, and Mr. Malsch, a man about fifty, would
have made in Jacob's opinion "a better pastor
or lawyer than a carpenter." He also "liked his
wine" and "spent most of his money for it."
Since Marbach was not far from Ludwigs-
burg, Jacob was easily able to visit from time to
time an old friend, Gottfried Knödler, who was
fulfilling there his military service obligation.
When Knödler heard about Jacob's frustra-
tions as an employee of Mr. Malsch, he sug-
gested that he get in touch with Mr. Walker, the
Ludwigsburg organ builder whom Mr. Keim
had urged him to see during his brief interview
with Jacob in Kirchheim two years earlier.
Knödler even offered to serve as intermediary.
When Knödler called on Mr. Walker he
found him very much inclined toward hiring
Jacob but not willing to do so before having
seen a letter of recommendation attesting to
Jacob's character, previous training, and expe-
rience. Unfortunately Jacob had no letters of
recommendation, but, eager as he was to work
with Mr. Walker, resorted, as he confesses, to
"subterfuge" by having a fellow worker com-
pose a letter of recommendation and sign it
with Mr. von Berger's name. The stratagem
worked. Favorably impressed by the letter,
which praised Jacob in glowing terms, Mr.
Walker told Jacob he could start work at once.
On May 30, 1837, two months before his eigh-
teenth birthday, he took leave of Mr. Malsch
and his co-workers and went to Ludwigsburg.
When he began work in Mr. Walker's shop
two days later, Jacob felt uneasy, he says, be-
cause he realized that his meager experience in
working with organs would doubtless be quickly
detected and that he "would not last long."
. . .but things turned out all right. On the sec-
ond day I was severely reprimanded for some
work I had not done right. It was nothing out
of the ordinary and I deserved it. There were
15-20 men working at this place in several
rooms. In one section they manufactured
pipes, in another wind chests, etc. At first I
worked in a room together with an elderly mar-
ried man. After awhile I worked with another
man, by the name of Hofer, who made registers
and wind chests. He received 3 guilders per
register and 5 guilders per wind chest, includ-
ing air valve installation. The helper was paid
by Hofer himself, since he had his work on
contract. Board and room for the helper was
furnished by Mr. Walker. Thus I now made
wind chests with Hofer; it was work which re-
quired a lot of strength.
During the fall there was a considerable
amount of rush work; an organ with 13 regis-
ters for Offenbach had to be built and I had to
assist with the manufacturing of the mecha-
nism. At this time the son of an organ builder
from Freiburg in Breisgau (Baden) started to
- 4 9 -
The Apprentice Years of Jacob Gross
Jacob's Travels On Foot To Find Work:
-------------Jacob's Travels to Find Work: Jan. 26-Feb. 18,1837
_________ Jacob's Travels to Find Work: Jan. 2-10,1838
- 5 0 -
The Apprentice Years of Jacob Gross
work for Mr. Walker and we became close
friends since we worked together. Mr. Walker
had a large workshop where he could erect the
large organs. The organs were completely fin-
ished and properly tuned, then demounted
and packed and finally shipped.
Jacob admits that his attitudes toward his fel-
low-workers were not always pleasant and that
he made enemies. "Mr. Walker always liked
me," he writes, "but my enemies soon brought
about my downfall." The situation which re-
sulted in his "downfall" arose when a senior
employee named Binder reported Jacob and
an apprentice named Carl Pfeiffelmann for
having entered a workshop after hours, which
was forbidden, and for having taken there a
board on which Pfeiffelmann had made
sketches for a harmonica which he wished to
make. For this infraction, which Binder had re-
ported simply as "tomfoolery," Pfeiffelmann
and Jacob were both reprimanded. Resenting
this, Jacob overreacted by sending the errand-
boy to Mr. Binder to thank him ironically in
the presence of other workers for having re-
ported his and Pfeiffelmann's misconduct.
From his later more mature perspective as a
craftsman who was beginning to gain recogni-
tion for his work in Bern he realized that it
would have been better to remain silent, for
"the other fellows kept teasing Binder until he
went once again to Mr. Walker to report what
had happened," with the result that Jacob was
laid off.
The day after Mr. Walker had fired him, on
December 5,1837, Jacob walked from Ludwigs-
burg to Cannstadt, where two of his friends
were working for an organ builder. The older
of the two advised him to apply for a job at the
shop of an instrument maker named Fetzer in
Waiblingen, which Jacob did and was promptly
hired. Like some of his earlier employers, how-
ever, Fetzer "had hardly any orders and
no money," and he proved also to be "a real
bum, spending most of his time drinking."
Three weeks in Fetzer's shop were all Jacob
could endure.
From Waiblingen Jacob returned home to
apply for a "passbook" which would authorize
him to apply for work in Bavaria and Prussia.4
While assembling in Untergröningen the data
required for obtaining his passbook, Jacob
stayed with his sister and brother-in-law, who
had meanwhile relocated their business to
Bühlertann. He also visited his father, who had
moved to Bühlertann with them, regretfully,
the Eagle having been sold.
With his passbook in hand Jacob returned
to Waiblingen on January 2, 1838. Two days
later, with another of Mr. Fetzer's helpers who
had just left his shop, he set out for Stuttgart,
which the two reached that same day. After a
night in Stuttgart they walked to Tübingen, a
distance of more than 50 kilometers, where
Jacob looked up Knödler, who owed him
money. Knödler put him up for the night,
Jacob writes, and also bought him a meal the
following day, but made no move to repay the
money he owed.
In nearby Rottenburg Jacob stopped long
enough to visit briefly with his brother Anton,
who was just completing his theological stud-
ies. Although Anton, the only brother, Jacob
had ever known, had disgraced his family re-
peatedly with his sloth, drunkenness and irre-
sponsible conduct, they had continued to pay
his debts and to support the prodigal in his ef-
forts at reinstatement in the seminary, and
Jacob visited him whenever he could:
I often recall the day I visited Anton. There I
saw him at the end of his long years of study.
He had been the hope of my dear parents, but
how many tears and sorrows he had caused!
The black cassock looked good on him, but he
was not to wear it long.
On January 8, Jacob and his traveling com-
panion reached Obendorf, where the latter
found work. The following day, in bitter cold,
Jacob started out for Freiburg. He describes in
detail his lonely, arduous journey over the
Black Forest Mountains, through the difficult
terrain with which journeymen so often had to
contend in mountainous southern Germany:
The villages were rather far apart here and
soon I had to travel a road branching off from
the main road. This road was entirely snowed
in and sometimes hard to see. Occasionally I
was afraid I would lose my direction or meet a
wolf. Finally I crossed the top ridge of the
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The Apprentice Years of Jacob Gross
Black Forest Mountains. It was possible to rec-
ognize the road now and then again, but just
the same it was still very tiresome hiking in the
high snow. Soon I left the surrounding forest
behind me and crossed a plateau where the
road led along a mountain ridge. On the other
side was a deep valley; a farm house showed
here and there through the snow.
It was around noontime when I arrived in the
valley, and I felt full of joy in spite of a bitter
cold wind which chilled to the bone. I was
proud of my accomplishment, and no matter
how poor I was I felt happier than I do now
here in Bern where I am writing these lines
and where I have all comforts life can afford.
How often have I thought in later years of the
time when I stood with my possessions in my
knapsack in the Black Forest Mountains.
Continuing my march into the Brecht Valley I
soon met a man carrying a load, and the sight
of a human being was something joyful to be-
hold. Soon I reached a pretty village; it was al-
most in the evening, but I could not afford to
stay overnight here and kept on till late in the
evening. When I came to a small village I asked
at a farm if they could let me stay overnight.
They were very nice people and gave me a
good meal. Later the mother and the daugh-
ters sat down and spun yarns.
In Freiburg Jacob applied for work in the
shop of an organ builder named Merklin
whose son he had come to know in Ludwigs-
burg. At first, he writes, Mr. Merklin seemed
rather distant and not inclined to hire him, but
as soon as he spoke to the master of his son,
"things changed like magic. Everyone was
happy, wine and bread were placed before me,
and I was hired." The date, he recalls, was Janu-
ary 10, 1838. As required, he reported at once
to the police and deposited his passbook in ex-
change for a work permit. In order to pay the
fee for the permit he had to pawn his watch
[once again].
Although he was pleased to be working in
the shop of a well-known organ builder, his
salary was low, and working conditions seem to
have been almost austere. In the underheated
room in which he first worked, for example, he
soon developed frostbitten feet and hands
as well as rheumatic pains in his arms that
kept him awake nights. After he had seen a
physician, he writes, he was assigned to a
warmer room, where he worked on organ
parts. He also lacked friends, because his
co-workers were all older and they kept largely
to themselves.
In the spring of 1838, Merklin asked his son
to come home and also hired two additional
skilled workers to assist in building an organ for
the Protestant church of Freiburg. With the ar-
rival of these new co-workers, all of whom were
younger men, Jacob had "plenty of friends," but
soon noticed, to his growing annoyance, that
Mr. Merklin was giving them all of the impor-
tant work. When at this juncture an offer ar-
rived from an organ builder named Haas in
Murg, he accordingly decided to move on.
At this point Jacob's narrative suddenly
breaks off. From later newspaper articles and
family accounts, however, we know that after
having left Mr. Merklin's shop he eventually
traveled abroad and worked under several mas-
ter piano builders in Switzerland, Spain and
France and acquired in their shops the techni-
cal knowledge and construction skills which he
brought with him to America.
Accounts differ as to whether Jacob emi-
grated to the United States in 1848 or 1850,
and they also do not tell us where he first set-
tled. In the early 1850's he was living in Troy,
New York and building pianos there with an as-
sociate named Hulskamp. By 1857 he had
moved to Baltimore at the invitation of Charles
M. Stieff to supervise piano construction in Sti-
effs newly established piano factory. He
brought with him to Baltimore one of the pi-
anos he had built with Hulskamp. For years the
instrument was on display in the Stieff factory,
but was eventually moved to the home of
Jacob's son Charles Jacob. Many years later,
when the piano had outlived its usefulness as a
musical instrument, some of the mahogany
panels were incorporated into various pieces of
furniture. Thus it happened that the piano's
fallboard, embellished with the names of Gross
and Hulskamp, became a backboard for an at-
tractive marble-topped washstand, in the home
of his grandson, George Jacob.
Like Jacob Gross, the founder of the Charles
M. Stieff Piano Company was also a native of
Württemberg, where he was born on July 19,
- 5 2 -
The Apprentice Years of Jacob Gross
1805, and christened Karl Maximilian. A
memorial speech delivered by his son Freder-
ick Paul in July, 1892, mentions that he re-
ceived "a formal classical education" in
Stuttgart, taught music there for a time in the
Württemberg School of Music, and married
Katherine Regina Rosch in 1830. The follow-
ing year the young couple emigrated to the
United States, arriving in the spring of 1831
after a long and arduous crossing by sailing
ship. They first took up residence in Lebanon
County, Pennsylvania, but soon moved to
Wrightsville in York County, where Stieff
taught music and science in a local school.
In 1837 he received an offer to direct the
choir and teach music and languages at the
Haspert School in Baltimore. After school and
on weekends he also gave private music lessons
and in 1842 began to import pianos for his stu-
dents and other interested clients. To house
these instruments he rented a storage facility at
7 Eutaw Street in 1843. The demand for pianos
proved to be lively, and Stieff s business grew
apace. Soon he had to relocate to larger quar-
ters at 7 Liberty Street. Until 1855 he contin-
ued to import pianos, and by studying the fea-
tures that made some superior to others he
gradually became very knowledgeable about
piano building. By 1852 he had already con-
ceived the idea of building his own pianos and
traveled to Europe that year to visit leading
piano factories. In 1856 he opened a factory
on Sharp Street and invited Jacob Gross to join
him in his new enterprise as factory superin-
tendent.5 On December 19, 1857 fire destroyed
the Sharp Street factory, and production was
resumed at a new location on Baltimore Street
near Greene Street. These quarters became
cramped as sales increased, and Stieff moved
his factory to Nos. 84 and 86 on Camden Street
near Howard Street.
Not long after the move to Camden Street
Charles M. Stieff died, on January 1, 1862, and
his widow and three of their sons, John Louis,
Charles, and Frederick Paul, took over the
management of the company. When Katherine
Stieff retired in December, 1867, her three
sons became co-owners. John Louis left the
company in December 1876,6 but two years
later the Stieffs' youngest son, George, joined
the firm. During all of these changes and re-
structurings the company name remained un-
changed; and under the sons' able manage-
ment the business continued to flourish.7
During the years before and after World War
I, its period of greatest prosperity, the Stieff
Piano Company made grand pianos, square
grands, smaller square pianos, and uprights,
and, from the 1870's on, the "baby" grand in-
troduced by Charles and Frederick Paul. The
latter instrument, though smaller than the
standard grand, had a rich tone, and was much
less expensive. The popularity of the upright
and the baby grand led the Stieff brothers to
predict as early as the 1880's that those two in-
struments would be the pianos of the future
and would entirely supersede the square
piano, the former because it required less
space and the latter because its three strings to
each note and its longer bass strings gave it a
more powerful and resonant sound than the
square piano was able to produce.
In the circulars describing their pianos the
Stieffs emphasized that in building all of their
pianos they employed only the finest, thor-
oughly seasoned grain woods and also noted
that every instrument was strung with the best
"Pohlmann German steel wires on iron
frames." They also pointed out the special at-
tention devoted to balance of tone so that the
upper and lower registers were as sweet and as
powerful as the middle register and also had
the same "bell-like clarity."
At the Paris Exposition of 1878 the Stieff
Piano Company won international recognition
when the jury of awards selected Stieff pianos
for the coveted Médaille d'Argent and the
Diplôme d'Honneur. The jury of awards also ac-
corded to Jacob Gross an honorable mention
for his role in supervising the construction of
the prize-winning instruments.
In 1880 a Stieff piano won first premium at
the California state fair at Sacramento and at
the national fair in Washington, D. C. The fol-
low-ing year the company's entries were also
awarded first prizes in Boston; at the state fair
in Worcester, Massachusetts; at the North Car-
olina state fair in Raleigh; and at state fairs in
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The Apprentice Years of Jacob Gross
Jacob Gross
Richmond, Virginia and in Martinsburg, West
Virginia.
Two years later, on July 26, 1883, Jacob
Gross's sixty-fourth birthday and the twenty-
fifth anniversary of his superintendency, his co-
workers expressed their esteem and affection
by presenting to him a beautiful armchair.
Deeply touched, he invited all of them to be
his guests for what Der Deutsche Correspondent
described as "a few hours of happy sociability,"
in the course of which "many glasses were emp-
tied to his continuing good health" and the
"wish was expressed that he might enjoy many
more years as superintendent."
In 1860 Jacob had married Katherine
("Katie") Stieff, daughter of Charles M. and
Katherine (Rosch) Stieff. Baltimore newspa-
pers frequently reported happenings involving
members of their family. These clearly indicate
the family's social position and also reflect a
level of affluence and a style of living that con-
trast markedly with those of Jacob's parents
and brother and sisters as he describes them in
his reminiscences. One article announces, for
example, that Jacob's son, Charles Jacob, then
a recent graduate of Baltimore City College,
had ranked ninth among two hundred and
forty applicants and had been admitted to the
United States Naval Academy. Another reports
that Charles Jacob's sisters, the Misses Nellie
and Clara Gross, had been traveling in Europe
for three months, and had visited the principal
cities and the Paris Exposition, and had also
spent time with relatives in Bremen. A personal
notice imparts the information that a Mr. D. G.
Pfeiffer had dedicated to Miss Nellie Gross his
recently published composition entitled "Cra-
dle Song." From the later announcement of
her marriage we learn that she eventually mar-
ried the gentleman who had dedicated his
song to her. The marriage of Carrie Gross to
Charles C. Boyd, a prominent tobacco mer-
chant, also had extensive coverage, including a
description of the bridal gown, the wedding
gifts, and a list of the invited guests. The au-
thor of the article also notes that at the close of
the ceremony, which was held in the Gross resi-
dence at 143 Camden Street, an uncle of the
bride, Professor Michael Stieff, played
Mendelssohn's Wedding March on "one of Sti-
eff s instruments."
The high regard in which Jacob Gross was
held by his fellow citizens is evident in the obit-
uary notices in The Sun, The Baltimore American,
The Morning Herald, and Der Deutsche Correspon-
dent announcing his death on October 16,
1887 in the sixty-ninth year of his age. A later
article in Der Deutsche Correspondent reports that
on October 19, the day of the funeral, both
Pastor Burkhart of St. John's Church on Biddle
Street and Pastor Studebaker of First English
Lutheran Church on Lanvale and Fremont
Streets had "come to the house of mourning to
bring words of comfort to the stricken family"
and also notes that "a great number of mourn-
ers" had come to "accompany the deceased to
his place of final rest and to pay him their lov-
ing respect." Among the mourners were all the
employees of the Stieff Piano Company. The
family had requested no flowers, but so many
were sent, the article continues, "that two wag-
ons completely covered with flowers followed
the coffin." Among the outstanding floral
arrangements mentioned in the article were "a
piano made entirely of flowers" from Jacob's
co-workers, a "pillow of flowers" from Mrs.
Charles M. Stieff, and "a magnificent flower
harp" which Charles Jacob and his two sisters
laid on their father's coffin.
The spontaneous outpouring of affection at
Jacob Gross's funeral and the words spoken by
- 5 4 -
The Apprentice Years of Jacob Gross
friends and colleagues in praise of his accom-
plishments demonstrate beyond all doubt that
in the eyes of those who had worked with him
he had in the fullest sense realized the ambi-
tion that had started him on his quest for ex-
cellence. Although modest and never prone to
boast of his accomplishments, he must have
felt at the close of his life some measure of the
special satisfaction that comes from knowing
one has done one's best. It must also have been
comforting during the last days of his illness to
know that his son would succeed him as super-
intendent and carry on his fine work.8
. William H. McClain and Helen Perry Smith
NOTES
'The English translation is written on the blank pages
of the notebook in which Jacob recorded his reminis-
cences. Members of the George J. Gross family, Jean Rath-
bone, and Helen Perry Smith have typewritten copies of
this translation.
2
The guilder in circulation in 1850 contained 9.55
grams of gold and would have approximated the buying
power of 40 cents of the American gold dollar. It was
worth 65 kreuzer, the other coins most often mentioned
by Jacob.
3
Wanderbuch: a document by which traveling journey-
men could prove their identity and work experience. The
Wanderbuch was also required for admission to craftsmen's
guilds, and in it were recorded all infractions.
4
During Jacob's early years what historians call "The
German Confederation" was a loose union of several sov-
ereign states and free cities governed by a central diet or
assembly in Frankfurt am Main which had little authority
over the individual member states. Each state, for exam-
ple, could send its own representatives abroad and con-
duct foreign relations more or less as it pleased. If one
wished to work in a state other than the one in which one
legally resided, it was necessary to apply, as Jacob did, for a
passport authorizing one to take up temporary resi-
dence and to seek work in the state.
5
Three years earlier the piano builder who was to be-
come his most important competitor, Henry Engelhard
Steinway, had opened his factory in New York City, four
years after his arrival in the United States.
'John Louis Stieff s son Charles Clinton became the
founder of the Baltimore Silver Company, which was later
incorporated as the Stieff Silver Company. The firm was
known by this name until it merged with the Kirk Silver
Company to form the corporation known as the Kirk Sti-
eff Company. Among the holdings of the library of the
Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University is a
brief history of the early years of the company: The Stieff
Company: Planned and Produced by the Barton-Gillet Company
(Baltimore, 1930).
7
See: Alfred Dolge, Pianos and their Makers: A Comprehen-
sive History of the Development of the Piano (New York: Dover
Publications, 1972), pp. 291-292. A fine example of the
workmanship for which the Stieff Piano Company was
noted is a magnificent nine-foot concert grand originally
donated to the General German Aged Peoples' Home of
Baltimore in memory of Corella Lynn Seeger; it is now at
Edenwald in Towson. Its special significance is that it is
one of the few Stieff concert grands that can also be
played automatically by means of perforated paper rolls.
"We were delighted to discover, while writing our account
of Jacob Gross, that some of his descendants live in
Baltimore. One of them, Mrs. Jean Pontius Rathbone, is a
granddaughter of Charles Jacob Gross, and hence a great-
granddaughter of Jacob Gross, Her mother, Ellen Gross,
married Paul Pontius. In September, 1993, during a
reunion of the Pontius family, Mrs. Rathbone visited
Untergröningen and several other locales mentioned by
her great-grandfather in his reminiscences.
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