HERMAN HAMMERSCMIDT/VON OVEN FAMILY

Herman Hammerschmidt (1830-1910) and his brother-in-law, Ernst Von Oven (1835-1906) were among the pioneer settlers in Naperville Township.

Their properties, along with those of Adolph and Conrad Hammerschmidt, are plotted on an 1874 Naperville Township map (page 2) of “Combination Map & Atlas of DuPage Co.” published by Thompson Bros. & Burr, Elgin, Illinois.

Herman Hammerschmidt and an elder brother; Adolph (1827-1914) arrived in Naperville on August 15, 1848.

Ernst Von Oven, his younger brother, Adelbert (1842-1929) and Conrad Hammerschmidt (1839-1918) came to the same region in 1857.

The Hammerschmidt-Von Oven connection had its roots in Westphalia, Prussia during the youthful years of a previous generation.

The elder Hammerschmidt and Von Oven were classmates at Halle University where Hammerschmidt was a theology student and Von Oven became “an Gutspachter”.

Friedrich Wilhelm Maximilian Hammerschmidt (1797-1867) who as a 17-year-old student had fought in the Battles of Ligny and Waterloo under Gen. Blucher, had been born in Schwelm, the son of an Evangelical Lutheran pastor. After his marriage, young Pastor Hammerschmidt served a church in Altena, Westphalia until being appointed Consistorial Rath in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Munster in 1846. The couple’s three sons who migrated to the United States, as well as two other sons (one a Doctor of Medicine, the other a pastor) and a daughter were all born in Altena, Westphalia.

The senior Von Oven became manager of the huge Bruch estate near Hattingen, Westphalia on the Ruhr River. He married in 1802. Five sons and five daughters were born to the couple. It was on this estate that young Adolph Hammerschmidt served “apprenticeship” as a student of agriculture. It was here also that Adolph met the Von Oven’s eldest daughter, Adeline (1829-1905) to whom he was engaged by the time the brothers Herman and Adolph Hammerschmidt were ready to leave their homeland.

“Memoirs of Youth”, authored in later years by Adolph Hammerschmidt, contains recollections of the preparation which the two young men (Herman & Adolph) made prior to departing from the Fatherland which was torn by political strife in those years. They studied the English language, they learned all they could about farming, ‘they fulfilled certain military obligations. Finally they made application for permits to leave the country and departed on the SS. HERMAN from the port of Bremen.

Enroute to New York they had opportunities of discussing various advantages offered in different parts of the Midwest. They spent some time in New York as they had letters of introduction from their father to a Rev Rauschenbusch whom they were not able to contact. They discussed at some length the possibility of going to Tennessee but were finally persuaded that Illinois offered other challenges.

In company of one Carl Brause they traveled by steamer to Albany, made rail connections to Buffalo where they boarded a lake steamer and after five days arrived (via the Straits of Mackinaw) in Chicago.

The young men rode with Brause in a wagon hired in a livery stable to “a typical American inn” in Naperville. There they met Brause’s friend, one William Preiswerk, son of a wealthy Swiss merchant who was seeking his fortune in this country.

In company of Preiswerk, Herman and Adolph Hammerschmidt explored the Naperville vicinity and in a week’s time took a position with an area farmer so as to become acquainted with American methods of farming.

They lived with Captain Morris Sleight, a large landowner; later Herman became associated with Joseph Granger working on his farm.

By the following year they acquired property of their own (section 22). They prepared the little log cabin on the farmlands so that they were able to host numerous of their fellow countrymen and relatives who were migrating to the United States seeking freedom which was not theirs since Europe was embroiled in internal strife in the fifties and sixties of the 19th century.

By the summer of 1852 the two young men had completed a farmhouse and added more barns for livestock and equipment. Then Adolph went to the port of New York where he met his fiancé who came to the country in company of a younger sister; Emma (1833-1933). The couple was married Sept 4, 1852 in Brooklyn, N.Y. and the three young people made their way back to the farm in Naperville.

Herman farmed for a time west of “Granger’s Corners” on Oswego Road before acquiring acreage on the north side of Aurora Road west of the present Route 59 where there was a farmhouse, barns and sheds and later an orchard, vegetable and flower gardens. The property on the south side of Aurora Road (present entrance to Fox Valley Shopping Center!) east to the corner and south along the West Chicago-Plainfield Road (Route 59) was planted with crops of corn, wheat, etc.

H. Hammerschmidt and Emma Von Oven were married in Naperville, May 1, 1856. They raised and educated in the nearby country school and later in Naperville Academy, 10 children. He became a naturalized American citizen in November following marriage; the following year the family was listed among the chartering members of St John’s Evangelical Lutheran Church in Naperville.

During his 44 years of active farming, Herman Hammerschmidt also served as school trustee (three daughters: Caroline, Bertha and Emma taught in the nearby “country school” about a mile east of Route 59 on Aurora Road); an assessor; and a personal counselor by assisting friends and neighbors in settling estates.

In 1902 H.H. sold the farm (to Wiesbrook) and the family purchased a home on Brainard Street (for $3,000). It brought them across the street from his old friend, B.B. Boecker, who had become his son-in-law in 1887. The home remains in the family name having become the property of M.R.&M. Hammersmith in 1962 upon the death of the last surviving member of the second generation, Bertha (1869-1962). Emma (nee Von Oven) Hammerschmidt lived until one week past her 100th birthday. At the time of her death, nine children survived her.

The children of Herman and Emma (nee Von Oven) Hammerschmidt were; Paul (1857-1937) married Louise Knox in Milwaukee where he was a businessman, banker and artist; Emilie (1859-1919) married in 1887 to B.B. Boecker (1840-1907), coal and grain dealer, lived in Naperville; Philip (1861-1959) married to Clara Hanson; business associate of his brother; Carl, in Chicago, lived in Naperville; Caroline (1865-1953) teacher in Chicago public schools until 1931 retirement, lived in Chicago and Naperville; Bertha (1869-1962) homemaker and artist, 
HAMMERSCHMIDT, HERMAN (continued)

Naperville; Antonie (1867-1960) homemaker and musician, Naperville; Herman (1870-1957) married Nellie Coxe in Milwaukee where he was a jeweler as well as watch-inspector for the Milwaukee as well as Northwestern RR.’s; Emma (1872-1961) married Roy Allen Mather of Naperville, a civil engineer; lived in Sewickley, Pennsylvania and Pittsburgh area; Elsie (18744958) married Charles Woodward Lamb, Milwaukee journalist, Carl (1878-1941) married Mabel Fitzgerald in Milwaukee; owned and operated Hammersmith Engraving Co., Chicago; resided first in Hinsdale, Illinois and after his wife’s death, moved in 1920 with his three daughters to his mother’s home on Brainard Street, Naperville.


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