In the late 1950s, R.G. compiled and committed to paper a number of notes on the Kaddatz family history.  He also clipped and saved some half-dozen obituaries.  Twenty years later, in the late 1970s, Tom prompted him to write down the most important names and dates in his family's history.  To these documents we have added census data on the Kaddatz's from 1870 to 1900; some relevant affidavits from the Civil War pension file of Bertha's husband William Schroeder; several maps; and some biographical sketches of R.G.'s only uncle, Charles W. Kaddatz.

         What story emerges from these documents?

From Mecklenburg to St Paul

         It begins on the far side of the big pond.  In 1867 or 1868, Carl Kaddatz, blacksmith, age 48, his wife Louisa Kaddatz, age 41, and their six children (five girls ages 17, 14, 13, 8, and 5, and youngest boy age 3) migrated from around Grabow, Mecklenburg (north of the Elbe River east of Hamburg) to St. Paul, Minnesota.

Prussia and the other German kingdoms, 1862-1870 (from Lynn Hunt, et al., The Making of the West, vol. II (New York: Bedford / St. Martin's, 2001, p. 860).

 

          A little background on their homeland, "Germany."  Until 1871, the country called "Germany" did not exist.  Instead what is now Germany was divided among a number of German-speaking kingdoms and principalities -- including Saxony, Bavaria, Hanover, Mecklenburg, and the biggest and most powerful, Prussia.  The prime minister of Prussia, Otto von Bismarck, envisioned a united Germany under Prussian domination, and fought to achieve that vision under the motto "blood and iron."  Under Bismarck, Prussia launched a series of wars against its neighbors:  first Denmark (1864), then its main rivals Austria (1866) and France (1870).  In 1871, after seven years of war, the country called "Germany" came into being.  (Right:  the unifier of modern Germany, Otto von Bismarck)

          For ordinary people in the various Germanic kingdoms, these were times of great turmoil and strife, of relentless warfare, forced conscription, land-grabbing landlords, high taxes, and exploitive factory-owners.  Impoverished peasants and unemployed artisans swelled the cities, providing a ready supply of cheap labor for the factories along the northern industrial corridors of the Rhine and Elbe.  The processes of capitalist development and warfare undermined the economic well-being of millions of people in city and countryside, prompting many tens of thousands of German-speaking workers and peasants to leave for America each year, leaving their poorer country-folk behind. 

          To give a sense of the numbers, in the year 1865 US immigration authorities counted 83,424 Germanic immigrants.  Over the next five years more than 550,000 German-speakers poured into the country at an average rate of around 9,200 per month (554,416 people from "Germany" from 1866 to 1870).  (Source:  US Census Bureau, Historical Statistics of the United States, 1789-1945, Government Printing Office, Washington DC, 1949, pp. 33-34) 

          The eight Kaddatzs were among these massive waves of Germanic immigrants.  By the time the Kaddatz family arrived in Minnesota, the booming economies of Minneapolis and St. Paul had become magnets for immigrants from across Northern Europe.  Especially with the coming of the railroad in the 1850s, St. Paul's economy and population grew rapidly.  Jobs were abundant in the stockyards of South St. Paul and in the many businesses that sprang up alongside the city's economic lifeblood:  the river and rail commerce in livestock and grain.  Flowing first through Minneapolis before wending its way south and east along the high sandstone bluffs of St. Paul, the Mississippi River and railroads made it possible for both "twin" cities to emerge as rapidly growing nodes of commerce linking Minnesota and Upper Midwest farmers and ranchers with urban economies to the east and south.

Map of Minneapolis - St. Paul, 1881

         The Kaddatz family's social class background in Mecklenburg and St. Paul might aptly be characterized as upwardly mobile urban artisans aspiring to middle class.  Such aspirations would find fertile ground in the burgeoning urban economy of late nineteenth-century St. Paul.

         Still, for most immigrants the first years were typically very difficult.  This was also true for the Kaddatzs.  Soon after her family arrived in St. Paul, the eldest Kaddatz daughter, Bertha, a few months shy of 18, married Wilhelm (William) Schroeder, age 37, a recent immigrant from Arnswalde in eastern Prussia (at times part of Poland), and a partially disabled Civil War veteran.  The date was September 6, 1868. 

Marriage Certificate of Bertha Augusta Wilhelma Kaddatz and Wilhelm Frederick Schroeder, St. Paul, MN, September 6, 1868

 

           Nineteen years younger than her husband, Bertha met William only three weeks before marrying him, as three different family members later attested.  In a 1916 letter to the Pension Office, Bertha claimed the marriage took place three weeks after she arrived in the country.  This would mean the Kaddatz's arrived in early to mid August 1868.  R.G., however, wrote that they arrived in 1867.  We tend to trust R.G.'s scrupulous memory regarding numbers and dates.

          In either case, four months after Bertha married Wilhelm, on the day after Christmas 1868, Bertha's mother Louisa died.  She was only 42.  Her death left Carl a widower and her five minor children motherless.  Before the advent of modern medical technologies, it was common for people who died in middle age to suffer months of illness before dying.  Louisa may well have been ill in the months before her death, and declining when her daughter Bertha married William Schroeder.

          William Schroeder, a tailor by trade, was later described by his doctor as 5' 2" tall, with light eyes, light hair, and a light complexion.  His pension file shows that by 1868, at age 36, he was suffering from rheumatism, sore joints and muscles, and the ill effects of being hit in the head by a falling rafter during his war service.  In other words, three short weeks after meeting him, fresh-off-the-boat 17 year-old Bertha married a much older, physically small, weak, and ailing man.  (See william schroeder pension file)

          Given these larger contexts, it seems plausible that Bertha married William Schroeder in such haste for a combination of reasons:  (a) she loved him, or at least felt certain he was trustworthy and honorable and would do her and her family no harm, (b) her family needed the resources, and (c) as the eldest daughter she did not want take her mother's place as the family's main housekeeper and domestic laborer, a family still under the dominion of her father Carl. 

          Family patriarch Carl Kaddatz lived and worked in St. Paul for the next seven years.  He died in late August 1875 at the age of 56, the same year he was listed as a blacksmith working for Schurmeier Wagon Manufacturing Co., according to R.G.'s transcription of the 1875 St. Paul city directory. 

          Meanwhile, Bertha Kaddatz Schroeder was having babies:  one by 1870, six by 1880, nine by 1890, and ten by 1894.  Three did not live to see their fifth birthday.  Baby Bertha died the year she was born (1871); Flora lived a year (1879-1880); and Herman died at age four (1885-89).  The last surviving child, Harold, (our grandfather, b. 1894) was five years younger than the next youngest, R.G.   A full quarter-century separated the eldest, Annie, from the youngest, Harold.  Of the seven surviving children, the first three were girls (Annie, Tillie, Louisa) and the last four were boys (William, Carl, Raymond, Harold).     

          What of Bertha's siblings?  After patriarch Carl Kaddatz died in 1875, Augusta worked as a dressmaker and seamstress.  Minnie worked as a music teacher.  Charles worked as a newsboy and farm worker, and later in the stockyards, in a candy store, in a dry-goods shop, and as a news agent for the St. Paul Pioneer Press (1884-86).  He went on to become a dazzlingly successful and colorful local character, multi-millionaire, owner of a candy and fruit store and the Hotel Kaddatz in Fergus Falls, Minnesota, among other things - "the richest man in Fergus Falls," as R.G. used to say with a proud gleam in his eye.  (Right: Photograph of Charles W. Kaddatz, from John W. Mason, ed., History of Otter Tail County, Minnesota, Its People, Industries and Institutions, 2 vols., Indianapolis: B. F. Bowen & Co., 1916, p. 401)

          As a 1916 local history of Otter Tail County makes plain, Charlie Kaddatz became locally renowned as a Horatio Alger-like character whose hard work, keen business sense, and linguistic skills led him to become one of richest and most prominent citizens of Fergus Falls.  He was R.G.'s only uncle and his favorite relative, judging from R.G.'s careful research in the city directory and anecdotes on his Uncle Charlie's youth. 

     Included on this page are the following documents:

1.  Kaddatz Family Record (compiled by R.G. in Jan 1957)

2.  Charles W. Kaddatz  (handwritten mss by R.G.)

3.  Kaddatz's in the St Paul City Directory, 1875-1889  (R.G.'s research)

4.  The Kaddatz Family (more data from R.G., including a brief digression on Harry Brown and a rare photograph of the famous Harry H. Brown Mystery Cup)

5.  Bertha Schroeder & Family Letters to the Pension Bureau, 1915-1916  (from Wm. Schroeder Civil War Pension File)

6.  Obituaries of Bertha Schroeder (2), Frederick Schwabel, Charles Schroeder (2) and Raymond Schroeder

7.  Census data, 1870-1900

8.  Map of Grabow, Mecklenburg (Germany) in 1860s

9.  Map of Residences of Kaddatz and Schroeder families in St. Paul MN, 1870-1900

10.  Charles W. Kaddatz, the Richest Man in Fergus Falls MN

a.  Excerpts from John W. Mason, ed., History of Otter Tail County, Minnesota, Its People, Industries and Institutions, 2 vols. (Indianapolis: B. F. Bowen & Co., 1916) (with our commentary).

b.  Kaddatz House, Fergus Falls MN

     Who was "Harry Brown"?  Tom perceptively noted that his name appears next to Tillie's, suggesting that he might have been her first husband.  Mike has a fancy cup with Harry H. Brown's name inscribed on it, stamped "Austria" on the bottom, with a hand-scribed number, "6623," that he pilfered from R.G.'s old trunk.  For the past 20-30 years Mike has kept his pens and pencils in this mysterious receptacle, a cup that must be at least 100 years old, since Harry Brown died in 1904, and since giving someone a cup with their name embossed on it is pretty senseless when the intended recipient is dead. 

     Harry Brown:  another mystery!  Here's a photograph (actually a scan) of the mysterious Harry Brown Cup, to our knowledge the only such photograph (or scan) in the world:

Yes, another thumbnail; pens & pencils removed prior to scanning.  In keeping with the spirit of Charles W. Kaddatz, along with this photograph comes a FABULOUS OFFER!  For the RIDICULOUSLY LOW PRICE OF ONLY $100, YOU can have your photograph taken with the famous Harry Brown Mystery Cup!  Contact us for details!

5.  Obituaries

6.  Bertha Schroeder & Family Letters to the Pension Bureau, 1915-1916  (from Wm. Schroeder Civil War Pension File)

(1)  Affidavit of Louisa Zeige, age 58, P.O. address 170 East Howard St., Winona, Winona Co MN, 29 Nov 1915 in the matter of Widow's Pension Claim account of William Schroeder of Co. F, Reg't Vet Reserve Corps, Pension Ctf. No. 816, 931.

That she is a sister of the claimant and knows of her knowledge gained by such relationship:  That the claimant was never married before she married the soldier:

That she became acquainted with the soldier about three weeks before he married the claimant.  That he was known as a single man and she verily believes he was never married before he married the claimant.  That the claimant and the soldier lived together as husband and wife from the date of their marriage to the date of soldier's death:  that they were never divorced:  that the claimant has not re-married since the death of the soldier.  That she is positive the above facts are true in every particular and is certain that if they were otherwise it would have become known to her.   

/s/  Louisa Zeige  [Stamped U.S. Pension Office Dec 9, 1915 ]

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(2)  Affidavit of Charles W. Kaddatz, age 54, P.O. address Fergus Falls, MN, Nov 1915, in the matter of Widow's Pension Claim account of William Schroeder of Co. F, Reg't Vet Reserve Corps, Pension Ctf. No. 816, 931.

That he is a brother of the claimant and knows of his own knowledge gained by such relationship that:  The claimant was never married before she married the claimant.  That he knew the soldier shortly before he was married (about 3 weeks) and knows that the soldier was known as a single man.  And he verily believes that the soldier was never married before he married the claimant.  That the claimant and the soldier lived together as husband and wife from the date of their marriage to the date of the soldier's death:  that they were never divorced:  that the claimant has not re-married since the death of the soldier.  That he is positive the above facts are true in every particular and is certain that if they were otherwise it would have become known to him.  

/s/  Charles W. Kaddatz    [Stamped U.S. Pension Office, 9 Dec 1915]

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(3)  Affidavit of Bertha A. Schroeder, age 65, P.O. address 302 Fuller Ave., St. Paul MN, 29 Jan 1916, in the matter of Widow's Pension Claim account of William Schroeder of Co. F, Reg't Vet Reserve Corps, Pension Ctf. No. 816, 931.

That she has tried diligently to get some one who knew her husband before his marriage to her is unable to find any witnesses other than C. W. Kaddatz and E. C. Swaringer who knew the soldier before he married the claimant - that she was in this country from Germany just about 3 weeks before her marriage to the soldier.  That neither the soldier or the claimant (deponent) were ever married before they married each other.  That she and the soldier lived together as husband and wife from date of their marriage to the date of the soldier's death.  That they raised a family of seven children all of whom are now living.  That she is positive the above facts are true in every particular and is certain that if they were otherwise it would have become known to her. 

/s/   Bertha A. Schroeder     [Stamped U.S. Pension Office, 29 Jan 1916]

7.  Census Data, 1870-1900, St. Paul MN

The Kaddatz family arrived from Grabow, Mecklenburg (Germany) in 1867 or 1868.  In Sept 1868 Bertha married William Schroeder, and in Dec 1868, mother Louisa died.  Here is the 1870 census data for what appears to be the Kaddatz family:

 

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1870 Census, Fifth Ward, City of St. Paul, Ramsey Co MN, 17 Aug 1870

 

Corrdoth, Chas	50	Laborer	Germany
------------  Addie	17	At home	Germany
------------  Lizzie	9	At school	Germany
------------  Charles	6		Germany

(This is the closest listing we could find to "Kaddatz."  The names, ages, and birthplaces all match R.G.'s list, if we take Addie for Augusta, and Lizzie for Louise.  And, if we assume that Tille, age 17, and Minnie, age 11, were missed in this enumeration. 

(Note also that if one pronounces these names out loud in rapid succession - "Tillie Addie Lizzie Minnie Charlie" - one is able to detect a certain sound pattern that suggests that in general the Kaddatz's liked the sound of "ee" at the end of their names.  All except Bertha, whom we can reasonably doubt was called "Berthee."    The census gives no street address.)

(thumbnail)

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1870 Census, First Ward, City of St. Paul, Ramsey Co MN, 27 July 1870

 

Schroeder, William	38	Tailor	Germany
-------------  Bertha	19	Keeping House	Germany
-------------  Annie	1		Minnesota

   (thumbnail)

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1880 Census, St. Paul, Ramsey Co MN, 5 June 1880, 229 East 6th St.

 

Cadatz, Louisa	18	Keeps house	self, father, mother b. Prussia
---------  Augusta	22	Dressmaker	self, father, mother b. Prussia

  (thumbnail)

 

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1880 Census, St. Paul, Ramsey Co MN, 7 June 1880, 301 East 7th St.

 

Kaditz, Minnie

20

Servant for Wm Braden, Iron Dealer

self, father, mother b. Germany

   (thumbnail)

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1880 Census, St. Paul, Ramsey Co MN, 11 June 1880, 22 Linden St.

 

Schroeder, William	48	tailor	b. Germany
-------------- Bertha	29	wife, keeping house	b. Germany
-------------- Annie	11	daughter	b. MN
-------------- Tillie	8	daughter	b. MN
-------------- Lizzie	6	daughter	b. MN
-------------- Willie	3	son	b. MN

   (thumbnail)

(Here we see Bertha & William continuing in the Kaddatz tradition of naming their children such that their given names ended in the sound "ee".)

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1885 Minnesota Census, St. Paul, Ramsey Co, Schedule 22, Household 207

 

Kaddatz, Chs	21	b. Germany
Kaddatz, Aug	27	b. Germany
Kaddatz, Lizzie	23	b. Germany
Living in same house with 4 Koch's:  Othilie, T, Flora, and Chs

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1900 Census, St. Paul, Ramsey Co MN, 5 June 1900, 632 Linden St

 

Schroeder, William	head	68	Apr '32	Tailor	Arr US 1856, in US 44 yrs
---- Bertha	wife	49	Dec '51	keeping house	Arr US 1868, in US 32 yrs
---- Annie	dau	29	Aug '69	clerk, single
---- Tillie	dau	27	June '72	housework, single
---- Louise	dau	25	Aug '74	clerk, single
---- William	son	--	--------	storekeeper, single
---- Charles	son	19	Jan '81	RR newsboy, single
---- Raymond	son	9	July '90	at school
---- Harold	son	6	Apr '94

   (thumbnail)

8.  Maps of Grabow, Mecklenburg (Germany) in 1860s

pending . . .

 

9.  Map of Residences of Kaddatz and Schroeder families in St. Paul MN, 1870-1900

pending . . .

 

10.  Charles W. Kaddatz, the Richest Man in Fergus Falls MN

 

a.  Excerpts from John W. Mason, ed., History of Otter Tail County, Minnesota, Its People, Industries and Institutions, 2 vols. (Indianapolis: B. F. Bowen & Co., 1916).

(NOTE:  Footnotes convey our comments on and interpretations of this text.)

 

WILLIAM CHARLES KADDATZ

        The picture of C. W. Kaddatz deserves perpetuation (in water-colors) by the brush of a Bonheur or an Osthaus.  Circumstances "over which we have no control" make this impossible; hence the unborn readers of "Who's Who" herein, must gain a mental picture from this unsatisfying portrait, traced by a weak but willing pen.

        "Charlie," as he is known from Winnipeg to Panama, is an artist himself, though he doesn't paint pictures--he deals in them, and these pictures in which he trafficks are mostly engraved on the currency of the country, and have been gravitating towards him in ever-increasing volume ever since he established his bake shop and candy store in Fergus Falls thirty years ago.

        This sketch is written for the benefit of generations to come. The living do not need it, because everybody who is anybody in Minnesota knows him now.  He was born in Germany, July 9, 1864, where he lived to the mature age of six years, when he foresaw the great Franco-Prussian war and prophetically foretold the militarism sure to follow under the Bismarck regime.  To escape the results of such a dire system, he induced his father and mother, with their six children, to escape and seek refuge in America, the "land of the brave and free."¹  With the foresight which has characterized his whole career, resulting in his present fortune, he advised his parents to settle in St. Paul, the capital city of Minnesota.  There the father, by honesty and industry, provided the family with a comfortable if not luxurious home until 1876, when he died.²  At his father's death Charlie was thrown on his own resources, and fortunately he had an abundance of these, and has remained "long" on resources ever since.

        He gained his education in the "school of hard knocks," graduating therefrom as valedictorian of his very numerous class.  His first industrial adventure was on a farm, where most great men of our country start.  He saw the great possibilities of agriculture on the fertile lands of Minnesota, and doubtless would have succeeded in "tickling the ground with a hoe till it laughed harvest," had he not seen greater possibilities in "farming" the farmer; so he soon abandoned agriculture for his broader field of activity.  He remained on the farm but a short time, when he made a "trek" for St. Paul, where, coatless and shoeless, he presented himself to L. B. Smith, proprietor of a "swell" confectionary story on Third street, and applied for a position to learn the secrets of making sweets.  There was little in his appearance to suggest adaptability for dainty candy making, but Smith was a judge of human nature and could read the possibilities in the budding millionaire, and took him on.  Before the year of his apprenticeship was up he had mastered the business, and was capable of instructing the proprietor how it should be run.  Being unable to make Mr. Smith realize the inefficiency of his management, Charley quit and tendered his services to a wholesale dry goods concern, where he mastered the intricacies of that business within a year.

        He was now equipped to enter a wider field of activity, where he could apply his business knowledge and commercial experience, and study human nature at the same time.  Of the numerous occupations that presented themselves to his mind, he chose that of a news agent on the Milwaukee railroad.  In this sphere of activity he came in contact with all classes and conditions of men, from the plutocratic corporation manager to the immigrant on his way to the farther west.

        In addition to the regular articles of trade which his contract obligated him to handle, he soon "took on," as "side lines" on his own account, other articles of commerce, such as banana stalks, bibles, and ladies underskirts.  As these articles cost him little or nothing and sold at fancy prices, he soon began to accumulate above and beyond his regular salary.

        The regular price realized for a banana stock, carefully packed in damp paper, was seven dollars.  He spoke three languages fluently, German, Norwegian and English.  His largest trade in banana stalks was with the two former nationalities.  He was wont to first create a taste for bananas by giving one to his prospective customer.  After the banana was consumed, Charlie would give the "consumer" a dissertation on banana culture in Dakota or any other locality where the immigrant might be going.  The raising of the fruit was simplicity itself.  All that was required was the planting of the banana stock, with little attention to watering immediately after setting out; result, a fine bunch of fruit the first year.  This, followed by a talk on the food value of the banana, generally closed the deal.  In this way he created a demand for his product, which is the basis of all commercial success.³

        What may be called the by-product of the banana stalk was nearly as profitable.  The burlap wrapped around each banana bunch as shipped from the south, was converted into a garment and sold to the German and Norwegian girls as the latest mode in underskirts in that part of the country to which they were going.⁴

        During the six years of his work as a news agent, the most of his earnings were consumed in his generous contributions towards the support of his less fortunate sisters.  He there displayed a liberality to his family that has characterized the whole of his subsequent business career.⁵

        With what little capital he owned, supplemented by what he could borrow, he quit the railroad and came to Fergus Falls in 1886.  He arrived late in the afternoon, and the next morning, without a coat, dressed with a long white apron, he appeared as the proprietor of a small cigar, candy and fruit store, purchased during the night, located on the present site of his one hundred thousand dollar "Hotel Kaddatz."

        The stock consisted of a few boxes of five-cent cigars; a few pounds of fly-specked candy; a half bushel of rancid nuts; a half bunch of bananas hung in the window, a few lemons and a barrel and a half of apples.  Charlie commenced to arrange his "stock" to make the best display possible.  He stacked the half barrel of apples into an artistic pyramid, rolled the full barrel out to the front of the store, and advertised in the local paper the next day as the "Apple King of Fergus Falls."

        The young "Wanamaker" made friends and trade increased.  Notwithstanding Charlie's protests to the contrary, it was generally believed that he realized a profit on all he sold.  He was energetic, thrifty and honest.  If he knew how to "short change," he did not practice it to his customers.  His trade grew much faster than the nursery stock he sold on the train for planting in Dakota.  As room became cramped, he had the building enlarged.  When he tired of paying rent, he bought the store building and lot on which it stood.  As soon as his business outgrew that lot, he bought the adjoining one and building on the east, and opened up a restaurant, bakery and candy kitchen.  "Kaddatz bread" was shipped to all the surrounding towns; he supplied the home market and outside villages with fresh fruit in the fruit season; he installed the most elaborate soda fountain known in the Northwest, into which the waters of the Red river of the North flowed and came forth in the form of currency.

        From this time on, the great problem that presented itself to Mr. Kaddatz was what to do with his money.  He found use for large amounts in the care of his sisters and the education of their children, and when these were all provided for he directed his attention and sufficient funds to the schooling of some of his favorite clerks.  They all turned out well and justified the faith and confidence placed in them.  He then commenced to invest in real estate--city property; but as soon as Kaddatz got a lot, there were a half dozen others who wanted it, and he was generally obliged to let it go for about double what he paid for it.

        Then he bought a third interest in a flour-mill--the Red River Roller Mill.  From this investment money came in so rapidly that he had to seek other channels for investing it.  He conceived the idea of a candy factory in Grand Forks, North Dakota.  It was built, and was a "money maker" from the start.  It now employs about one hundred hands and pays a handsome annual dividend.  This was a new embarrassment for Charlie.  Mr. Barrows, one of his associates in the flour-mill and candy factory, built the finest residence in Fergus Falls.  This gave Charlie a pointer, and taking some of his ever-increasing surplus, he built a finer one.  Barrows bought a fine automobile; Charlie bought one twice as large and fine, and hired a colored chauffeur to drive it, though he seldom rides in it himself.  It is utilized for the enjoyment of family and friends.  If the price of gasoline continues to soar, this may be the answer to Charlie's question:  How can I get rid of my income?

        In search for how to spend his money, he bought an interest in the First State Bank of Fergus Falls and became one of its directors.  All of these enterprises having failed to relieve him of his surplus, he struck upon another plan.  He determined to build a hotel. 

        With this end in view, he razed his frame buildings, in which for years he had conducted his business, and erected in their stead, at a cost of one hundred thousand dollars, the finest and best equipped hotel in Minnesota north of Minneapolis, and called it "Hotel Kaddatz."  This has been opened about one year, and the business has outgrown it already, and he is now planning on an extension, carrying it south, clear to the river.

        No picture of the subject of this sketch would be complete without mention of Charlie at play.  It would be a mistake to conclude that he is devoted entirely to "dollar chasing."  Nothing could be further from the truth.  Notwithstanding his great success in a business career, it is his social side and fraternal activities which have contributed most to the wide acquaintance he enjoys.  If there is any society to which he does not belong, it must be of very recent origins.  However, his chief recreations are found with the Elks and Shriners.  His activities in these two organizations would require a volume to describe.  He is entertainer-in-chief at all festal functions of these orders from Winnipeg to Panama.  At each occasion he is sure to be called on for a speech, and never fails to respond.  As an orator he is unique.  He copies no one, and no one can copy him.  His vocabulary is phenomenal.  Where, when and how he learned all the polysyllabic words of the language is a mystery.  The inimitable sang froid with which he misplaces them, missing their appropriate meaning and use, affords exquisite enjoyment in his unique oratorical efforts.  His fluency in their use, and disregard of definitions, is one of their chief charms.

        His effort in his own defense in the police court of Winnipeg, where he stood charged with disturbing the peace, by ringing a cow bell at night contrary to orders from the police, is said to have been one of his most famous.  British courts are nothing if not solemn.  The prisoner declined the generous offer of the justice to appoint counsel to conduct the defense, and made his own plea.  Questioned by the magistrate as to who he was and where he came from, he answered:  "I am an American citizen, and I am mayor of Black Duck, in the state of Minnesota."  That name, unlike the water on the duck's back, has stuck to him ever since.  It was the result of an inspiration.  Charlie in defense of his action in ringing the cow bell, maintained that he was a Shriner; that the Shriners had been given the freedom of the city; that such freedom meant something in an American city like Black Duck, and he had assumed that it had meant something when extended by the city of Winnipeg to the distinguished visitors of the United States.  "Where," he exclaimed, "is your 'blarsted' liberty and boasted hospitality if an American citizen--"  At this point the proceedings were interrupted by the magistrate being called to the telephone.  The mayor of Winnipeg was on the line and inquired if there was a Shriner on trial for disorderly conduct.  The justice answered in the affirmative.  "Well, discharge him," said the mayor.  "The visiting Shriners can do anything short of murder."  This cut short Charlie's speech, but he said he would keep the balance for some future occasion.

        His next great triumph was his address made in Panama to a gang of negro workmen who could speak the Spanish language only.  The wonderful effect of that oration is traditional, as the only reporter present was unable to understand a word of it.

        Such is a picture of Charlie Kaddatz, than whom there is no man in Fergus Falls better liked or more highly esteemed.  His has been no royal path to success; it has not been flowery beds of ease; his rise in the world of affairs has been accomplished by dint of hard work and that intense application which always brings success when rightly applied.  We pay this tribute to him who has done so much for his home city--the genial host of his own hostelry--the inimitable Charlie Kaddatz. 

[end of entry in vol. I; entry in vol. II follows]

 

 Charles W. Kaddatz

         The proprietor of the hotel which bears his name, Charles W. Kaddatz has enjoyed remarkable success since locating at Fergus Falls, this county, nearly thirty years ago.

        Mr. Kaddatz was born near Stateen, Germany, in 1863, the son of Charles and Augusta (Volbricht) Kaddatz.  The Kaddatz family came to America in 1869 and subsequently settled in St. Paul, Minnesota.⁶  Charles W. Kaddatz had few of the opportunities of the average boy to obtain an education, his entire schooling having been limited to one year, and he performed his first work on a farm near St. Paul, where he worked for one year.  Later he worked one year for Smith, the confectioner, and two years in the dry-goods jobbing business.  During the next six years he was employed as a news agent on the railway trains for different railroads, and finally engaged in the confectionary business on his own account in St. Paul.  In this business he obtained a substantial start in life and in 1886 located at Fergus Falls, at that time having a little money that he had saved and some more money that he had borrowed.  He there and ten engaged in the fruit and confectionery business and carried on that business until 1896, in which year he engaged in the bakery business, which he conducted with phenomenal success until 1914, at which time he decided to build a hotel in Fergus Falls.

        Suffice it to say that the hotel was completed and opened in February, 1915.  It is one of the finest hotels of the Northwest, modern in every respect and is located in the center of the business district of Fergus Falls.  The hotel has been a success from the start.  Mr. Kaddatz also has various other interest.  He is a president of the Red River Milling Company, president of the Congress Candy Company, at Grand Forks, and a director in the First State Bank of Fergus Falls and in other ways has demonstrated his keen interest in the city's material welfare.

        By his marriage to Ida Asslen, who was born at Parkers Prairie, this county, Mr. Kaddatz has one daughter, Katherine.  Mr. and Mrs. Kaddatz and daughter have one of the finest residences in the city of Fergus Falls, located at 226 Summit avenue, west, and take a prominent part in the city's social activities.

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FOOTNOTES

1  The notion that six year-old Charles "induced" his parents to emigrate to St. Paul, Minnesota, USA, because he "prophetically foresaw" what Bismarck would unleash upon the German people, strikes us as totally absurd.  More likely, Charlie concocted this story to portray himself in the most favorable and far-seeing light, and repeated it so many times he almost came to believe it himself.

2  The actual date of Carl Kaddatz's death was 29 August 1875.  Also, the family immigrated to the US in 1867 or 1868, not 1870 as indicated here.  These small but significant errors render other dates in this account suspect.

3  The author's suggestion that bananas can be grown in Minnesota or the Dakotas is absurd on its face; if this was what Charlie told his customers, he was selling snake-oil.

4  Typical female dress at the time was comprised of cotton pantaloons and stockings as undergarments, with an underskirt worn atop the pantaloons, and an outer skirt or dress atop the underskirt.  Charlie's customers would therefore not be wearing burlap undergarments against their skin, which would render the concept at least plausible.

5  This comment, and a similar one further down in this excerpt, supports our suspicion that Charlie helped his sister Bertha and her family with substantial financial contributions.  This was probably crucial to the family's economic well-being, given William Schroeder's ill-health and incapacity for sustained labor.  The apparent affluence of the Schroeder family included home ownership and many other trappings of middle-class affluence, such as gilt-framed life-size painted photographs of Bertha and William, which sadly we tossed out when we moved out of Highland.   See William Schroeder Pension File.

6  According to R.G.'s notes, Charlie was born on 9 July 1864, and the family arrived in 1867, making Charlie three years old on his arrival.  R.G. also noted that Charlie's parents names were Carl and Louisa Volbrecht.

Originals (all thumbnails):

     Title page

			v. I, pp. 669-671
			v. I, pp. 672-674
			v. II, pp. 400-401, with photo

 

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b.  Charles W. Kaddatz House.  The following item is copied from the City of Fergus Falls (MN) website: 

http://www.ci.fergus-falls.mn.us/story.php?id=hpc-kaddatzhouse&location=mayor

Charles W. Kaddatz House - 226 W. Summit Ave. The Kaddatz House, Prairie Craftsman in styling, was designed by a Grand Forks architect named DeRemir. The exterior is of cut stone, clapboard and stucco with exposed rafters and a full front porch. The Kaddatz House has been designated as a local historic site by the Fergus Falls Heritage Preservation Commission. The wide front porch features a terrazzo floor that was installed by Italian workers. The house has two fireplaces, one in the living room and one in the dining room. The living room fireplace takes cordwood-length logs. Speaking tubes, a built-in icebox with a drain to the sewer, and a clothes chute were novelties in the construction. The floor plan features a central hall on both the first and second floors. On the third floor there was a maid's room, reached by a back stairway. Because the house has remained in the Kaddatz family, there have been no structural changes since the house was built. Kaddatz lived a life's story that Horatio Alger could have written. Orphaned at the age of twelve, with only a limited education, young Charles had to make his own way. He worked and learned from "men of worth and through close application to books." Among his early jobs were farming, helping in a confectionery, and new agent on a railroad. When he arrived in Fergus Falls, he had $100 of borrowed money in his pocket. With hard work, he built a small fruit and confectionery business into a bakery business, then into a fine hotel. He was a partner in the Red River Milling Company and was president of the Grand Forks Congress Candy Company.

 

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