The brothers Ernest Paul Shafer (1891-1964) and William Anton Shafer (1888-1954) are one of three sets of brothers who were in the Calumet German Band.(1) The others were Harry Rochel (1883-1965) and Charles Rochel (1888-1967), and John Mehrens (1889-1941) and Albert Mehrens (1891-1957). In other words, six of the 22 band members comprised pairs of siblings. In the case of the Shafer brothers, the band interconnections are even stronger (see box below).
Ernest had just turned 18 when this June 1909 photo was taken. He and his older brother William were the first two in a family of seven children of Johann (John) Shafer(2) (1864-1949) and Johanna Ernestine Bochart(3) (1865-1943). Unusually among the families of band members, the German parental heritage is not that of Schleswig-Holstein but of areas in southern Germany. Perhaps not coincidentally, upon the emigration of John’s family from Germany to the U.S., in 1882, the family settled first in Ohio, not Scott County, Iowa, as was true of so many other Schleswig-Holstein immigrant families of this era. The family moved to Cherokee County in 1883, and it was at Cherokee where John and Johanna were married in 1887. After living there for several years, the Shafer family moved to Liberty Township, O’Brien County, in 1900.
There John Shafer farmed on 320 acres immediately adjacent to the town of Calumet in Sections 21 and 22 of the township.
The other children of John and Johanna Shafer were Hermann, who died as an infant (1893-1894), Paul William (1895-1959), Elenora “Nora” Katherina (1897-1949), Olga Josephine (1900-1999), and Edwin Martin (1903-1988).
As noted above, there were three pairs of brothers in the Calumet German Band. But in a sweetheart connection that is almost too good to be true, two of these pairs of brothers married sisters. And in the case of the Shafer brothers, the sisters whom they married were themselves sisters of another bandmate, William “Bill” Eggers (1886-1968). Additionally, these sisters were first cousins of Harry Detlaf Rochel and “Charley” Rochel, the other brothers who married sisters. So the marriages of the Shafer brothers directly connected more than one quarter of the entire band. (See the box below and associated schematics for visual representations of these relationships.)
Ernest Shafer’s marriage, to Kathrine “Katie” Eggers (1889-1974), took place on 5 December 1912, in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. His older brother William had married Katie’s younger sister Ella Eggers (1892-1990) slightly less than two years before, on 25 January 1911. Katie and Ella were the daughters of Claus Friedrich Eggers (1849-1913) and Kathryne “Katie” Rochel (1849-1932), two German immigrants who had displayed a typical migration pattern for many such immigrants to Iowa at this time, stopping first in eastern Iowa and Tama County, before moving further west to O’Brien County.
As an aside to this account of the Shafer family, the father John Shafer played a role — although an unwilling one — in historically important incidents in O’Brien and Plymouth Counties that connect to national events of the 1930s: the Great Depression and the early years of the New Deal. In the years following the stock market crash of 29 October 1929, as farm land prices dropped precipitously and many farmers holding mortgages were caught in an economic vise, there was a raft of farm foreclosures. Attempts to politically organize farmers involved sometimes competing organizations (e.g., American Farm Bureau Federation, Iowa Farmers Union) and direct-action movements such as the Farmers’ Holiday Association. Another organization, active in northwest Iowa, was a secretive group called the Modern Seventy-Sixers, which took a militant stance.
Within this ferment of economic deprivation, farmer bankruptcies, and political turmoil, John Shafer in 1933 was fighting his own battle, a five-year struggle against foreclosure on the northeast quarter section of Liberty Township Section 21 (see plat map referenced above). On 27 April 1933, hundreds of local farmers, including some who were allied with the militant Seventy-Sixers, stormed the courthouse in Primghar (O’Brien County seat) in an attempt to stop a sheriff’s sale of Shafer’s land. Ultimately Shafer’s issue was resolved by his creditors, who reluctantly offered easier terms of payment, but later on the day of the hearing, the protesters traveled 40 miles to Le Mars (county seat of Plymouth County) to confront Judge C. C. Bradley in his courtroom as he was hearing arguments on Iowa’s new foreclosure moratorium law. Violence ensued, Judge Bradley was forcibly taken from the courthouse and physically abused (including an attempt to lynch him), and the governor called out the Iowa state militia. Martial law was briefly declared in Plymouth County. In the following days, John Shafer and his son Edwin Shafer were among 45 men arrested as a result of these disquieting incidents.(4)
The dramatic events that would embroil John Shafer in Depression-era financial trouble and the threat of foreclosure, however, lay two decades in the future when his sons William and Ernest married Ella and Kathrine Eggers in 1911 and 1912. In that more happy time, newly married couples pondered their opportunities and where best to settle down.
After their marriage, William and Ella relocated from Iowa to northeastern Colorado. Ernest and Katie also relocated, but stayed closer to Iowa. When they married in late 1912, Ernest had already begun farming, in Split Rock Township of Minnehaha County, South Dakota. He continued to farm there for the remainder of his life. His was a dairy operation, and a prominent one. He was among the founders of a regional farmer cooperative group, the Sioux Valley Milk Producers Association, established in 1945, and he also served as a director of the National Milk Producers Association. Other civic roles that he fulfilled included serving on the local school board for nearly three decades and helping to organize another farmer cooperative group, the Minneapolis County Soil Conservation and Weed Board.
Ernest and Katie Eggers Shafer raised four children: Allie Mae (1919-2008), Leonard Ernest (1921-1997), John Edwin (1923-2006), and Herbert H. (1930-2018). All of the children remained in South Dakota, and most remained in the Sioux Falls area for most of their lives.
Ernest and Katie Eggers Shafer are buried at the Hills of Rest Memorial Park, Sioux Falls, South Dakota.
Connection to Other Band Members
As discussed in the main text, Ernest was the brother of fellow bandmate William Shafer, and the two brothers’ marriages to sisters Katie and Ella Eggers would make them brothers-in-law to William “Bill” Eggers (1886-1968), another band member.
In addition, because Katie and Ella’s mother was Kathryne Rochel, brother of Peter Holmer Rochel (1855-1942), the Shafer brothers had in-law relationships with band members Harry Rochel (1883-1965) and Charles Rochel (1888-1967).
This relationship is more easily seen in a schematic, available here.
And the connection with Bill Eggers also created connections with John Mehrens (1889-1941) and Albert Mehrens (1891-1957), whose brother Elmer Mehrens was married to Bill Eggers’s niece, Alice Meier (1906-1982). (The connection between Bill Eggers and the Mehrens brothers is seen in another schematic.)
Through chains of relationships, centering on Bill Eggers, who served as something of a focal point for several connections among band members, the Shafer brothers would also become distantly related by marriage to three Henrys among the bandmates: Henry J. Lorenzen (1890-1976), Henry W. Mugge (1891-1967), and Henry Friedrichsen (1889-1937).
Footnotes
(1) Much of the material for this biosketch having to do with family background repeats information that appears on the bio for Ernest’s brother, William Shafer.
(2) The surname was originally Schäfer, a family name that upon U.S. immigration was typically anglicized to Schafer, Schaefer, or Shafer.
(3) Spelled Bochert in some records.
(4) Those who wish to read further about these events and the larger issue of farm foreclosures in Iowa and the nation may wish to start with several resources: (1) “Foreclosure Melee Brings State Militia,” 4 May 1933, The Sutherland Courier, available here. (2) “Farmer Riots of the 1930s,” Millie Vos, 23 November 2020, nwestiowa.com, available here. (3) “The Iowa Farmer in Crisis, 1920-1936,” Joseph Frazier Wall, The Annals of Iowa, State Historical Society of Iowa, available here. (4) Cornbelt Rebellion: The Farmers’ Holiday Association. John L. Shover. (Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press. 1965).
FAQs
Who originally settled along the Calumet River in what became Hammond? ›
The area was first settled in the 1860s by Hans Johann Schrum, a German immigrant who produced maple syrup and potatoes on his lands and owned a pickle works. Beginning in the mid-1880s, the town attracted immigrants from Germany and Poland.
What is the history of the Calumet region? ›The region was a center for the labor rights movement of the 1930s. The Memorial Day massacre of 1937, where ten steelworkers' rights activists were killed by police officers during a demonstration, occurred on Chicago's southeast side. Today, Calumet is notable as a site of many habitat restoration projects.
What is the history of East Chicago? ›The City of East Chicago was incorporated in 1893, the same year as the great Columbian Exhibition on the south side of Chicago. Born of railroad and steel, East Chicago was one of northwest Indiana's first truly industrial cities designed to meet the needs of workers and industry.
What happened to the Grand Calumet River? ›In 1848, the Calumet Feeder Canal was constructed to carry water from the Calumet system at Blue Island to the Illinois and Michigan Canal, which was suffering from low water levels. This reversed the flow of the Grand Calumet, so that it now flowed from east to west, draining out of Lake Michigan at Miller Beach.
Who were the first European settlers in the Great Lakes region? ›Some the first Europeans to come to the Great Lakes region were Christian missionaries. One of the most active groups was the Society of Jesus, or the Jesuits, a Roman Catholic religious order that first started to preach among the Iroquoian-speaking Hurons of Lake Huron in 1625.
What Native Americans lived in the Calumet region? ›“Prior to the arrival of the Europeans in the Calumet region in 1673, the area was inhabited by multiple Native American tribes, predominantly the Illinois, Miami and Potawatomi. “The Calumet region has long served as a home for tribes belonging to Algonquin groups around the Great Lakes.
What does the name Calumet mean? ›Calumet is a Norman word [calyme], first recorded in David Ferrand's La Muse normande around 1625–1655.[ 1] Its first meaning was "sort of reeds used to make pipes", with a suffix substitution for calumel.[ 2] It corresponds to the French word chalumeau, meaning 'reeds' (Modern French also means 'straw', 'blowlamp').[
What is Calumet Michigan famous for? ›The Calumet Unit of Keweenaw National Historical Park focuses on the preservation and interpretation of buildings and sites associated with the former Calumet & Hecla Copper Mining Company. The U.S. Congress determined that the Calumet area was essential to telling the story of copper mining on the Keweenaw Peninsula.
What is the oldest suburb in Chicago? ›Lyons is the oldest suburb west of Chicago, so old, in fact, that all its first settlers have long passed to their reward, and with them has gone memory of the identity of the sponsor of the place, if it ever had one.
What was the first black neighborhood in Chicago? ›The neighborhood of Bronzeville was shaped by African-Americans who were new to Chicago. In 1916, many African-Americans left their homes in the south to move to Chicago.
What was Chicago originally called? ›
The first known reference to the site of the current city of Chicago as "Checagou" was by Robert de LaSalle around 1679 in a memoir.
Is the Calumet River toxic? ›The contaminated sediment at the bottom of the Grand Calumet and the ship canal includes 100,000 pounds of lead, 67,000 pounds of chromium, and 420 pounds of PCBs (chlorine and benzene chemicals) that are extremely toxic to wildlife and humans.
How polluted is the Calumet River? ›The Grand Calumet River has long been recognized as one of the most contaminated rivers in the nation. With a history rich in steelmaking, meatpacking, and oil refining, a cocktail of heavy metals, PCBs, PAHs, NAPL, and oil and grease was discharged into the river before modern environmental controls were established.
Is the Calumet River man made? ›The Calumet river system is a network of waterways, some human-made and others transformed by two centuries of human straightening, widening, dredging, channelizing, and damming, as well as by industrial pollution and landfilling of nearby marshes.
What did Native Americans call Lake Michigan? ›An Indian name for Lake Michigan was "Michi gami" and through further interaction with the Indians, the lake received its final name of Michigan.
Why were so many French in Michigan? ›The first Europeans to arrive in Michigan were the French. Explorer Étienne Brûlé traveled through Michigan in 1618 searching for a route to China. Soon the French laid claim to the land and began to trade with the local natives for furs.
What did the natives call the Great Lakes? ›Its original name was karegnondi, given by a native tribe called the Wyandot, which roughly translates to "lake" or "freshwater sea."
What is the history of Hammond? ›The Town of Hammond was officially established on March 30,1827, formed from the towns of Morristown and Rossie. It's name was taken from a New York City merchant, Abjijah Hammond, who owned the land prior to 1814. Reportedly, he never even saw this great tract of land nestled between the scenic St.
Who was the founder of Hammond Indiana? ›It was founded in 1869 when George Hammond, a pioneer in the shipping of refrigerated beef, established with Marcus Towle the State Line Slaughterhouse. Ice from the river and inland lakes was used for packing the meat.
What is the history of the Grand Calumet River? ›The Grand Calumet River has long been recognized as one of the most contaminated rivers in the nation. With a history rich in steelmaking, meatpacking, and oil refining, a cocktail of heavy metals, PCBs, PAHs, NAPL, and oil and grease was discharged into the river before modern environmental controls were established.
What is the name of the river flowing past the Calumet Industrial District? ›
Overview. The Grand Calumet River is in one of the most heavily industrialized areas in the United States, flowing mainly through northwestern Indiana.