Posted 8 months ago
Militarist
(288 items)
The Milwaukee Turners were the largest most active group of German immigrants right at time of the American Civil War. They could be best described as anti-slavery patriotic socialists. Illustrated here is one of their fancy belt buckles made by C.F. Kleinsteuber who settled in Milwaukee from 1852-1885. He was a talented craftsman who produced Milwaukee's first fire and police badges. As can be seen his engraving work was first class but he did not always sign his work, so here is an example of his signature.
Militarist, Cool :-)
FRESH FREE
GOOD INTACT
STRONG FAITHFUL
Yeah, wouldn't we all wanna be that, huh?
Is that the signature on the front at the bottom?
I can't quite make it out, but it looks like the first string perhaps reads, "GEO," and the last string, "Roth."
Yes that is a name, "Geo. Ph. Roth" I couldn't find the name listed anywhere in a book about the group or on google.
Militarist, OK, Geo. Ph. Roth.
FWIW, I did a casual search, and found this:
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/197948364/george-phillip-roth
I realize the two date spans don't overlap, but there might be more than one George Philip Roth in that family tree.
Thanks Keramikos ! I think you are on the right trail. Either or both of them could have worn this buckle in their life times.
Militarist, You're welcome. :-)
I did some more noodling around the Net, and found all kinds of interesting related things. I don't want to burden this post with all of them, because I see that you already know about the typewriter connection:
https://www.collectorsweekly.com/stories/241272-civil-war-era-german-american-turners-so
There's a sewing machine connection as well, and you probably know that got my VSM nose twitching (it seems more likely that Kleinsteuber was a distributor, and associate Matthias Schwalbach was the inventor/maker):
https://forums.collectors.com/discussion/1090010/c-f-kleinsteuber-tokens-a-brief-history
No matter how I held my mouth, I couldn't seem to make findagrave dot com cough up a grave for C. F. Kleinsteuber, but I did find some genealogical information for him:
https://www.geni.com/people/Charles-Kleinsteuber/6000000016660068155
Why the name Geo. Ph. Roth is engraved on this Turner Society belt buckle remains a mystery.
Is it just a coincidence that the only Geo. Ph. Roth I was able to find in the Milwaukee area was born the same year that C. F. Kleinsteuber died?
You might contact the Oak Creek Historical Society to see if they can shed any light on it (the findagrave dot com information for George Philip Roth's grandfather was contributed by the OCHS):
https://plschu.wixsite.com/ochistorical/contact-us
Or perhaps the Milwaukee Turners organization:
https://www.milwaukeeturners.org/contact-us
Thanks keramikos, you really know how to search the net!
Militarist, You're welcome. :-)
Hey, I WISH I really knew how to search the net. :-(
Some days my Google Fu is good, and other days, not so much.
I went noodling around the Net some more, but no real joy on either C. F. Kleinsteuber (on finding his grave, that is) or Geo. Ph. Roth (why that name is engraved on your antique belt buckle).
I did find a bit of refinement/variance on Kleinsteuber's place of birth and the date (Tambach in the district of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha in Thuringia, Germany, on November 12, 1821.):
https://oztypewriter.blogspot.com/2011/09/
Kleinsteuber did have at least one patent to his name:
https://image-ppubs.uspto.gov/dirsearch-public/print/downloadPdf/0212559
I also found an 1876 ad for C. F. Kleinsteuber's shop, and it provided some more clues (well, about his sewing machine connection):
*snip*
C.F. KLEINSTEUBER
MACHINIST AND ENGRAVER
Manufacturer of all kinds of
Models, Small Machinery. and Brass Castings
Official Seals in Superior Presses, Medals,
Door plates Stencils Brands etc., etc.
318 STATE ST., MILWAUKEE
Agent for the WEED and ÆETNA SEWING MACHINES
*snip*
https://books.google.com/books?id=39RGKlYqHaMC&pg=PA434
He gets quite a few mentions in this publication (however, the text version is garbled, probably because of the columns):
https://pubhtml5.com/vbuan/akec/EQM_2023_Issue_2/1
This reference makes it seem like Kleinsteuber's shop only persisted until about 1881-1882:
*snip*
C. F. Kleinsteuber, Machinist & Engraver (business pictured with occupancy from 1856 to 1881/1882).
*snip*
https://www.abebooks.com/art-prints/ANTIQUE-AMERICAN-TURNER-FOLK-ART-COIN/30219321863/bd
As to the name of Geo. Ph. Roth being on a C. F. Kleinsteuber Turner belt buckle, about all I can come up with is that perhaps his father was a Turner, had the belt buckle, and had it engraved thus retroactively in a fit of paternal pride.
It's been a bit frustrating, but it's also been quite a rabbit hole. };-)