Webmaster's
Note: The two articles below were originally published
by The Cullman Times in
1998 as part of a special issue commemorating Cullman's
125th Anniversary. The article
by Stanley Johnson, Col. Cullmann's great-great nephew,
was edited for that issue by Rich Partain and based upon
a paper Johnson presented to the Alabama Historical
Society
in
1967. Both are used here with The Times' permission.
Johann Gottfried Cullmann
By
Stanley Johnson
There
are many famous people from Alabama. But one
settler to this state was overlooked
until recently even though he was a remarkable man. He
brought more immigrants to this country than any one
individual and he founded a leading city and county in this state singlehandedly.
The
adventures of this pioneer are very interesting. We hope to make this evident by what is said here.
The early life of Johann Gottfried Cullmann
John Cullmann (the Americanized version
of the name) was born in Frankweiler,
Canton Landau, the Rheinpfalz, Germany. At the time of
his birth, Frankweiler was in the
state of Bavaria. It is now in the Pfalz. He
was born on July 2, 1823. His father was the geometer
and teacher for Frankweiler. For over
200 years the family lived in a large home in the center
of town, next to the church. His father was principal of
the local school where Cullmann graduated at an early age.
This brilliant
young man entered the Polytechnic Institute at Zweibrueken when
he was 13. This necessitated his leaving home while still
quite young. He studied civil
engineering and obtained a degree similar to our junior college.
He returned to Frankweiler, expecting to take the place
of his father but left when he
was not promised a raise from what his father had made. He
had met Josephine Low at Zweibrueken and they were soon
married and moved to Neustadt
an der Haard, where he entered he export business and
quickly became successful.
John and Josephine
had four children: Theodore Gottlieb, Otto Gottfried, Maria
(later Mrs. Ludwig Richard), and Alice, who died at age
two. In Neustadt, John Cullmann
became acquainted with many American businessmen who told him of their wonderful free country across
the Atlantic, probably
planting the idea for his later immigration and colony.
Revolution and flight
The revolution of 1848 developed in the
Germanic states when John Cullmann was
25 years of age. He was an enlightened young man who
felt his homeland was ready for
democracy. The Hambach Castle of
Neustadt was the center of this revolutionary activity,
and John Cullmann seems to have been thoroughly involved
in it. But, the monarchy in Bavaria
was saved by the intervention of the Prussian army,
thus giving John Cullmann ample reason to hate the Hohenzollern Princes of Prussia and their minister, Otto von Bismarck.
Cullmann lost a
considerable fortune in this war but was able to overcome this.
However, later in the Dano-Prussian War, he again lost
his investments on the side of
the losers. It now became obvious that all of Germany
would soon fall under the oppressive rule of Prussia, and the
freedom which John
Cullmann coveted so much would be an impossibility.
John Cullmann made
several attempts to re-establish himself in business,
but he had become well known for
his revolutionary activities, which had caused his
bankruptcy. It became obvious that there was no future
for him in his homeland and he
had no desire to go to prison. By
1864, he had made definite plans to leave Germany. His
wife came from a wealthy banking
family in Zweibrueken, and she had no desire to leave Germany
with her small children, so she returned to live with
her family. John Cullmann thus
left his family and first went to London, as his ultimate destination,
the U.S., was embroiled in the Civil War. He knew that immigrants
were often impressed into the army and he had no desire
for further military activity
in his life. But, he seems to have been formulating
the idea of a free German colony in the U.S. where his
friends, who loved freedom as he did, could come to live in
peace.
Arrival in America
He probably came to the U.S. around 1865
and entered the port of New York, but
soon found himself working as a clerk in Philadelphia.
When he heard there were a large number
of Germans living in Cincinnati, he moved there and
began working in a bookbinding business while studying
law on the side. He was admitted to
the bar after less than a year and began practicing among the
Germans in Cincinnati, who were delighted to have one of
their own to whom they could entrust
their legal problems.
During all of this time, he was
in constant contact with his wife in Germany, whom he
urged to join him. However, Josephine
came from a wealthy and cultured family and she was not willing
to leave all of this for what she considered the wilderness
of the U.S.
Having amassed
sufficient funds, Cullmann now began looking for a site
for his colony so his friends
still in Germany would have a free place, similar to
their homeland, in which to live. We know he visited
many states, often looking at
German colonies already established there. These included
Texas, Wisconsin, Missouri, the
Dakotas and other states. But all were too cold and unsettled for his purposes.
Alabama bound
On his travels, he had made the acquaintance
of former Governor Patton of Alabama,
who urged him to establish his colony in the Florence
area. The Tennessee Valley reminded
Cullmann of his native Rhine valley, and he soon decided that this was the perfect place for his colony.
The first attempt at
settlement was made in an area no known as St. Florian.
This occurred sometime near the end of 1871 or early 1872.
It might be noted
that this was just a short time after Bismarck had defeated
the French and proclaimed the German nation with the
Kaiser as ruler. Before this time
Germany had been a collection of small states dominated
by either Prussia or Bavaria. Now everything was totally controlled
by Prussia. Germany became a militaristic state under
autocratic control,
which would eventually fight two disastrous world wars.
This state of affairs undoubtedly
increased pressure on John Cullmann to found a colony for
his dissatisfied friends in Germany to come to and escape
this government they hated. It
is interesting to note at this point that had John Cullmann
and his colleagues been successful in 1848, Germany may have
become a democratic state and thus prevented two world wars.
Unfortunately,
the colony at St. Florian met bitter opposition. The
people there refused to sell land
to "foreigners," probably
because of ill will created
by the aftermath of the Civil War. For whatever reason,
John Cullmann failed in his
first attempt to found a colony. A lesser man would have
been discouraged long before this, but John Cullmann
was not discouraged. He immediately resumed his search.
Through Gov. Patton,
he had heard that the Great North South Railway (later the
Louisville and Nashville) had just completed a line connecting
Nashville and Montgomery. This
line passed through a largely unsettled area of North Alabama,
and the railway was very interested in settling the area
to gain business for the rail
line. Gov. Patton arranged a meeting in Decatur between
Louis Fink, the land agent and later vice president of
the railway, and John Cullmann.
Soon the two men were exploring every mile of the line between
Decatur and Montgomery. John Cullmann was nearing the
end of his search.
Cullmann narrows his search
The area most interesting to John Cullmann
lay along the western end of what was
then known as Brindley Mountain. It was actually the
western end of Sand Mountain. This
land was thought to be largely unproductive, and for
the most part had been bypassed
by early settlers. During the Civil War, it was largely
a haven for Unionists and deserters and the poor, hardworking settlers
who had been there for many years were hard put to survive
during this era.
It had been visited
by the Union Col. Streight and the Confederate General Forrest,
who pursued him. They fought several skirmishes in what
is now Cullman County, but at
the time, it was part of "The
Free State of Winston,"
Walker County and Blount County. The
hardy farmers who had settled this area lived under the
most primitive conditions. The
only difference was there were no Indians, an aspect
that greatly appealed to Cullmann
as most of the areas open to settlement in the U.S. were occupied by hostile Indian tribes.
A small group of
black men and women, the descendants of freed slaves,
lived on the southwestern edge
of the county in an community known as Arkadelphia. The
black population of the area was sparse in the years
following the Civil War as no
plantations had previously operated in the area. Contrary
to some reports, early settlers
did not "run the black people
out" as, in fact,
there were very few black residents who historically
populated the area. The actual
spot selected for the colony lay two miles south of
Milner's
Station, now Vinemont. It was at the foot of a beautiful
wooded ridge, now known as Richard¹s
Hill and presently occupied by the American Legion.
It is near the highest point on the rail line between Cincinnati and
New Orleans. Lewis Fink had John Cullmann appointed land agent for
the railroad for all of the territory between Decatur and Montgomery.
He was given the title of Colonel by the railroad, symbolic of his
authority to act in their stead. This was a common practice in the
U.S. at the time. For his colony, John Cullmann purchased several
thousand acres on each side of the line in the present day area of Cullman. He did not own 10 miles on either side of
the
railroad from Decatur to Montgomery as it is often reported. But he now
had sufficient land to found his colony and to allow for future growth.
The founding of Cullman
Col. Cullmann now returned to Cincinnati
to begin a series of lectures concerning
his plans for establishing a colony in North Alabama.
There was great interest and he
was encouraged by this. His oldest son, Theodore, had graduated
from University and completed his military training as
required in Germany. He joined his
father in the U.S. and immediately began working with him
on establishing a colony. he was a very handsome, capable
young man who proved to be a tremendous
asset to his father. Unfortunately, he contacted typhoid
fever and died at age 25, only a few months before Cullmann
was to come south. The father was crushed by this circumstance,
but he buried his
young son in Cincinnati, and, as he had done so many times
in the past, he turned from adversity
and lost himself in his work. When
time came to leave in April of 1872, only five families
showed up to make the trip to Alabama
with John Cullmann, a total of 10 people in all. But
the next year, this group had grown to 125 families, and
the colony was actually becoming a reality.
Much hard work
had to be done upon the group¹s arrival
in Cullman. A few old abandoned
section houses, formerly used by railroad construction
crews, were all that greeted the
group. But, they quickly went to work, using these houses
for temporary shelter. By the next year, this group had
grown to 125 families, and so
much building was going on in the town that a saw mill
was opened for lumber.
The early years
Businesses quickly sprang up to serve the
growing population. The railroad was
their only contact with the outside, so all activity
revolved around it. Times were very
hard, but land sold for $1.25 an acre so everyone could afford a little plot of his own and renting was unknown.
John Cullmann built
his house, which was exactly like the present Cullman museum
building, on a half-block lot at the corner of First
Avenue and Third Street SE. A
hotel was built next to it at First Avenue and Fourth
Street SE. A person arriving at
the first depot immediately saw these impressive
buildings on leaving the train. Though times were hard,
no one seemed to notice as they
worked at building their homes and businesses. The
blocks were laid out in perfect squares with streets
wide enough to "drive four teams of horses abreast along
their course." Present
day citizens have had good reason
to appreciate this foresight by John Cullmann, but
his contemporaries thought this was wasteful. These streets
often became rivers of mud, and
paving them took much more labor and material than was necessary
for narrow streets. Indeed, for many years only the middle
two lanes of many streets were
paved and large grass shoulders were left on each side.
Little could be said about Cullmann¹s plans
as he owned all of the land and could do as he saw fit with it.
The engineering
experience of Col. Cullmann played an important part
in the city plans. Not only were
the blocks and streets drawn to his specifications,
but land was donated for parks on each side of the railroad. Later
in 1913, it was hidden from view by lowering it several
feet below ground level. This
is something Col. Cullmann always wanted to do. Religion
was not neglected by Col. Cullmann. he donated the land
for the Protestant and Catholic
churches, as well as a city park and the city cemetery.
He planned the city well and developed a set of zoning
laws, which was unusual in that
time. They were written in such a way as to allow shopkeepers
to have their businesses and small craft shops on their
property and live there too, as
is often done in Europe. Each block was divided into four lots to allow plenty of room.
German was the
main language spoken, and this made the settlers who
had come to the area earlier even
more distrustful of the outsiders. This distrust was
eventually dispelled, but not before one of their number
tried to assassinate John Cullmann
with a large bowie knife, which struck him in the head
but did not penetrate his skull. This caused a large
scar, which he carried the rest
of his life.
A reporter from the Alabama Beacon of August, 1874,
found the colony to be prospering
and stated, "We only wish there were twenty
colonies in our state like
Cullman." A reporter from the Bibb Blade
issue of Dec. 1880 tells of a personal
visit to the Colonel, who was described as a very
cultured and enlightened gentleman
who was a very genial host and lived in a Swiss-style mansion
across from the train station and a pretty park.
he was described as being
impressive and courtly in manner. The correspondent
found the beautiful garden
surrounding Cullmann¹s
home very interesting, especially
since it contained several exotic animals not usually
found in this area. His home
and garden were always open to all people, many of
whom rested there when in town.
Colonial success and personal despair
Col. Cullmann¹s most consuming passion
in his latter years was finding methods
of livelihood for citizens of the city and county to
pursue as well as increasing immigration.
His ideas ranged from wine making to coal mining and tourism. Vinemont was settled as a wine colony, but
became a tourist
destination when wine making did not succeed. he never
rested from finding ideas to make
life in his colony safer and easier. He was very popular
with the people but refused to hold
public office because he felt his influence was
great enough without it. he loved democratic ideas and
felt the people should be included in all decisions.
Through the considerable
influence of Col. Cullmann, the city was incorporated
in 1875 and the county was formed in 1877 by the Alabama Legislature.
It was the next to the last county formed in Alabama.
Though Col. Cullmann had accomplished
so much, he continued to work for his people as
a benevolent father figure and enlightened leader. He
was very popular with them.
Other events occurred
which were a bitter disappointment to Col. Cullmann, including
his aforementioned assassination attempt. But the greatest
blow of all was the death of his
second son, Otto. Otto Gottfried Cullmann had followed
his father to the U.S. in the late 1870s. He became a
valuable helper to his father
and took several recruiting trips back to Germany to bring
in new immigrants. He could be called the first president
of the Cullman Chamber of Commerce.
John Cullmann financed these trips by selling land
to the settlers, sending the money to Germany to pay
for more immigrants, selling them
land, then repeating the process. In this way he had
three successful immigrations directly from Germany to
Cullman. Many others came from
all over the U.S. and Canada. The
last cruel blow to John Cullmann was the death of his
son, Otto, who died of a fever
soon after one of his trips to Germany. He was a young
man of only 29 years of age when
he died. He is buried in the same plot of land in the center of the Cullman City Cemetery as is his
father.
By 1890, the Cullman area was booming. Its growth had
exceeded John Cullmann¹s
wildest dreams. By his efforts he had brought over
10,000 immigrants to this country.
Even though not all of these people settled in Cullman,
this accomplishment makes him one of the foremost colonizers
of our great nation.
John Cullmann¹s final years
It was now time for John Cullmann to spend
his last days in peace for he was 68
years old. It seems that he did slow down a bit, but
he did not cease his activities
on behalf of the people of Cullman. He
was pleased in his last years to have his lovely niece,
Julia Cullmann Hartung, and her husband,
Dr. Gottlob Hartung, join him. He found they were interested
in raising their family in the free atmosphere of this
country, so he built them a home with
Dr. Hartung's office
attached to the front at
the corner of Fourth Street and Second Avenue SE. They
lived here and were very active in
the life of Cullman for over 40 years.
Julia Hartung was
imbued with the "Deutsche Kulture" in
which John Cullmann
had spent his early life. Now she brought this spirit
to the colony and reminded it
of its German heritage. She was an outstanding musician,
having studied with the masters
Liszt and Wagner in her hometown of Bayreuth and gotten her degree at the Wagnerian Conservatory.
Dr. Hartung received
his degree from the famous University of Heidelberg. Julia
was the daughter of John¹s brother, Jakob Cullmann.
She and Dr. Hartung had eight
children, four of whom were lifelong residents of Cullman. The
Hartung family was very active in Cullman for over
120 years. Dr. Hartung became
the community¹s first German doctor
and Julia taught music there
for nearly 40 years. Her two daughters and granddaughter
continued this tradition for
over 60 more years. The sons were businessmen, doctors and
teachers. All were active in the affairs of Cullman.
The last of the original Hartung
family members died in 1990, and there are no descendants now living in Cullman.
By 1890, Col. Cullmann
had become a very successful businessman. he still had
his land holdings, was publisher of the local German
language newspaper, and was a
director of the first state chartered savings and loan association. This organization still exists today
as Cullman Savings Bank.
The death of Col. Cullmann
All of the people looked to Col. Cullmann
for advice, and he was like a father
to the settlement. He knew everyone by name and formed
several associations for the benefit
of the people. He was very active in those last years
and was even making plans for a new round of immigrations,
which he did not live to complete.
On Dec. 3, 1895, at the age of 72, Col. Cullmann died of pneumonia.
The city and county
were well established by this time, but they and the whole
state of Alabama were still shocked by his death. The
great leader was gone and many
outstanding people came to his funeral, which was the
largest ever held in the area.
Even the Governor attended. It
was unfortunate that everyone was so busy continuing
the work of the colony that Col.
Cullmann soon became only a memory, and the only tribute
to him was the simple name Cullman
which had been given to the city and county. The
two great wars intervened and the German flavor of Cullman
was lost or hidden. Little had
been written about Col. Cullmann and he lived on only
in the memory of his people. But
very few of those knew even the barest facts of
his life. Aside from a few written facts known by a small
group, nothing was done to remember him until the city prepared for
its centennial in 1973.
However, Col. Cullmann
was a most interesting man, and the story of how his memory
and Cullman¹s German heritage was revived is
an unusual tale in itself. As
we tell the story, let us review a few facts from the
life of Johann Gottfried Cullmann.
In Bavaria and
the Pfaltz, John Cullmann had many disappointments. he
made and lost two fortunes before
he was forty years of age. he and his friends were
completely unsuccessful in their revolutionary activities
and attempts to form a democratic
government for the Germanic States. He had lost his youngest
child and was forced to flee to a foreign country just
after his fortieth birthday, leaving
his entire family and all of his friends behind. We
could well have expected that he would give up and live
out his life in the comfortable
situation he made for himself in Cincinnati. But, he re-educated
himself and set out on a completely new life, even more adventurous
than before. But, as we know, his bad luck had not left
him. His first attempt at settlement
was a failure. Both of his sons died at an early
age after joining their father in this country. Even
an assassin could not stop him.
He continued in the face of all this adversity and we
have only to look at Cullman today
to measure his final success. Cullman can be truly
proud of their great founder and all that he accomplished.
We can also again be proud of
our German heritage and celebrate it for all to see.
It is a happy fact that, after
two world wars, Cullman finally re-awoke to her German heritage.
Cullman's
German roots are re-discovered
After John Cullmann¹s death, Cullman
went into a sort of slumber. The city and
county did not grow of bring in any industry until after
World War II. The returning servicemen
and businessmen formed a Chamber of Commerce and began
to seek industry, as John Cullmann had done in the beginning.
They wanted to expand the agricultural
base which had been Cullman¹s
livelihood for so many years. Their
success raised the spirit of the people, and as the 100th
anniversary approached, the Cullman Historical Association
was founded to plan a celebration.
This effort culminated in the building of the Cullman Museum and Chamber of Commerce Building.
For the dedication
of this building in 1976 the Mayor of Frankweiler was invited,
and Cullman again re-established its contact with the
fatherland. In 1985, John Cullmann¹s
great-great-granddaughter contacted her cousin, the author
of this paper, Stanley Johnson, who was a descendant
of the Hartungs and was a school
administrator in Cullman. Ellen furnished many of the
facts found in this paper and
came to Cullman in 1986. In 1987,
she and Stanley paid a visit to Frankweiler and the Mayor,
Gunter Steiss, asked them to carry a message to the mayor of
Cullman, Jack Sides.
In this way, the
Cullman-Frankweiler Partnership exchange was founded.
Over 250 citizens of Frankweiler
have visited Cullman on this exchange, and over 300
citizens of Cullman have visited Frankweiler. Efforts
at reviving our history have been continued with the
erection of the statue of John
Cullmann and the restoration of the Cullman Depot. More research
is being done on the Cullmann family in Germany, and
we have learned that they lived
in the same spot for over 200 years in Frankweiler. The
Cullman Platz has been established on this spot to remember
John Cullmann in his home town. Clubs
have been formed in Cullman and Frankweiler to continue
this exchange, and many personal
friendships have been formed between the citizens. Cullman now
has an annual Octoberfest to celebrate her German background
and a German Club at the high
school and adult levels. Four years of the German language
are now taught in the high school, which also has a German
band. German is also taught in
several county schools. Cullman now has a Frankweiler
Platz at First Avenue and Third Street SE to commemorate
John Cullmann's home town.
We cannot help but believe that John Cullmann would be very
pleased by all this. His efforts have now truly come
full circle.
Cullmann's German descendants
After John Cullmann's death, his
will was read. It directed that all of his holdings
should be sold at auction and the proceeds sent back
to Germany where his wife and daughter,
now Mrs. Ludwig Richard, were living. The only things
saved from his home were the pieces of furniture given
to Dr. Hartung for his services
during John Cullmann¹s final illness.
Some of the pieces sold at auction
are still in the hands of Cullman families. The house was made
into two apartments, and one of them burned a few years
later. The other half was torn down
and the land was sold for business.
Cullmann's
descendants in Germany were quite successful. His daughter married
Ludwig Richard, who was a pharmacist and the official
pharmacist to the Kaiser and his
family. Their only child to have children was Theodor, who
became an engineer and eventually the president of the
German National Railway. He died
in 1942. His only daughter, Herta, married Warner Renaud, who
headed the Sleeping Car and Hotel section of the German
railway system. Their only daughter,
Ellen, married Dr. Dietrich van der Linden and had three
daughters.
Two are still living: Marina, who has a daughter, Maj;
and Angela, who has a son. Ellen
is retired, Marina is a teacher and Angela is a lawyer.
So, ironically, John Cullmann's
family lives on in Germany, not in the colony he founded
in the U.S.
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