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David Blumenfeld
1828 - 1905
1879 “The History of Jefferson County, Wisconsin”, published: Chicago: Western Historical Company, 1879. David
Blumenfeld was born in the ancient city of Creglingen, Kingdom of Wurtemberg,
Feb. 13, 1828; received a common-school education and in 1841, entered a
printing office at Stuttgart, the capital city of Wurtemberg; left that city in
February, 1848, and worked at the case as a journeyman type-setter, in the
cities of Neuwied, Dusseldorf and Schwerin.
Emigrated
to America in June, 1850, via Hamburg, and landed in New York Aug. 15, 1850;
stayed there and in Philadelphia a few weeks and came to Wisconsin in the month
of September of that year; entered, a few days after his arrival in this State,
the service of Messrs. Kohlmann Bros, who intended to publish a German paper in
Racine, and in October, set the first stickful of German type that ever was set
in that place. (See Racine
History.) The Messrs. Kohlmann are now
citizens of Oshkosh and publish a well-known German paper there – the Telegraph.
In
April, 1851, he left Racine and accepted a position as foreman in the office of
the Daily Banner and Volksfreund, at Milwaukee, published by
Morritz Schoeffler, who was well known among all the printers in Germany,
having been, for a number of years, first foreman and manager of the
world-renowned printing establishment of Baron von Cotta, in Stuttgart.
In September,
1852, went to New York to get married to Nancy Lewensen, of Schwerin, Germany,
and in August, the following year, removed from Milwaukee to Watertown, in
company with John Kopp, from Augsburg, a pressman who worked in the same office
with him in Schwerin, and afterward in Milwaukee. They commenced the publication of a
Democratic German weekly paper, called the Watertown
Anzeiger, and issued their first number Aug. 27, 1853.
Weltburger
D.
Blumenfeld has since that time continued in the printing business, since 1859,
as sole proprietor of the Watertown Weltburger.
His
family consists of his wife (with whom he celebrated his silver wedding on
Sept. 11, 1877) and seven children, of whom two are married; has been a member
of the School Board and Common Council from 1868 to 1872.
1905Watertown Daily Times, 09 29 1905
Monday
morning the older residents of this city were pained to learn that David
Blumenfeld, editor of the Weltbuerger,
had passed away as the previous night and although the end was not unexpected,
his old friends and associates for half a century, felt keenly the separation
that his departure occasioned.
The
deceased was born in Creglinger, Germany, Feb. 19, 1828. After learning the
printer's trade in his native town he emigrated to America, landing at Racine,
Wis., where he set up the first German type composed in the state.
The
following year he went to Milwaukee where he was employed as foreman on the
Daily Banner. In 1853 he went to New York, where he was married to Nancy
Lewensen and the couple removed to Watertown, Wis., where in company with a Mr.
John he established a German newspaper, The
Auxeiter, in 1853. The paper was later changed to the Weltbuerger and he
had been its editor since that time and sole owner since 1853.
In
politics he was a democrat . . . He was a close friend of Carl Schurz in the
early days when Mr. Schurz was a resident of Watertown.
Cross-References:
Father
of Ralph Blumenfeld
Father
of Moritz Blumenfeld
Buried in Oak Hill Cemetery 