Francis Maxmillian Dametz


Francis Maxmillian DAMETZ

Francis M. Damtez, a veteran of the Civil War, is one of the most skillful of the practical, enterprising farmers of Washington County, and he has one of the most valuable farms within its bounds, comprising the northeast quarter of section 21, Washington Township, and he has besices another good farm of 160 acres in Coleman Township.  He is of German birth and antecedents, born in Zeitz, near Leipsic, a city of Saxony, June 1, 1834.  His father, Samuel Dametz, was born in Greensburg, in the Province of Silesia, Germany. 
He followed the shoemaker's trade and also farmed, and spent his entire life in the Fatherland.  The maiden name of the mother of our subject was Caroline Meltzer, and she was also a life-long resident of Germany.  There was five children born to her and her husband: Robert Morris, Julius, Henrietta and Francis, all of whom but Robert are still living.

He of whom we write was the only member of the family to come to America, though three of his nephews have since come: Francis Julius, who lives in rooks County, Kansas, Francis M., in New York and Paul, in Connecticut.  Our subject gleamed a substantial education in the excellent schools of his native land, which he attended quite steadily till after he was fourteen years old, when he commenced to learn the trade of a butcher, which he followed until 1854.

In that year the stalwart, wide-awake, capable youth, ambitious to see something of the world and to make something out of life more than he could do at home, determined to emigrate to the United States of America, the goal of so many of his countrymen, to see if he could improve his fortunes here.  He set sail from Bremen the 1st of April and after a long and tedious voyage, landed in New York on the 20th of the following May, a stranger in a strange land, with only a capital of thirty-seven cents with which to begin his new life.  Nothing daunted by this disheartening aray of facts he sought and soon found employment, becoming a driver on a canal in New Jersey. A week later he went to Pennsylvania, where he found work on a farm in Northampton County at $5 a month.  Two months later he went to work at his trade in Easton, obtaining $9 a month for his wages till the following spring.

He then came Westward as far as Illinois, and the ensuing eight years was emplloyed on a farm.  After that we hear of him in Iowa, where he became indentified with the agricultural interests of Marion County, buying a 40-acre farm, which he worked profitably, and later bought more land, and continued carrying on farming in Iowa till 1873.  In the month of March, that year, Mr. Dametz came to Kansas with a team, having traded his Iowa possessions for 160 acres of wild land, comprising his farm on section 21, Washington Township.  He now has the entire tract well imporved, surrounded by a neatly trimmed hedge, and provided with a good set of conveniently arranged frame buildings and everything necessary to cary on agriculture after the approved methods, and has it stocked with cattle, horses, and hogs of excellent grades.  His farm in Coleman Township is also in good shape in regards improvements, cultivation, etc., and compares well with others in its neighborhood.  Mr. Dametz has been very successful in raising small fruit and has a choice variety in his gardens.

In September, 1856 Mr. Dametz took an important step in his life, and one that has contributed materally to his comfort, prosperity and happiness, by his marriage to Miss Lavina Horn, a native of Clinton county, Pennsylvania and a daughter of Samuel and Susan (Smith) Horn.  Her father was born in Clearfield county, Pennsylvania, his father, David Horn, a farmer of German ancestry, having spent his last years there (Clearfield, Pennsylvania).

Mrs. Dametz's maternal grandfather was a native of Pennsylvania and was of German parentage.  The children born to Mr. and Mrs. Dametz are as follows: Susan Caroline is the wife of Arthur Bissel, and they live in Washington; Lucinda Jane is the wife of Lemon D. Thompson, and they live in Washington Township; Charles married Mary E. Phillippi, and they live in Coleman Township.  Samuel married Lillie Penwell, and they live near Steele City, Nebraska; Omer A. lives in Denver; Frank E. at home; Mary married Joseph McClellan; they live in Washington Township.

Mr. Dametz is a well educated man, and has a good command of both the German and English languages, speaking either fluently.  He is a fine representative of our self-made men, as all that he is and all that he has, he owes to his own excrtions, he having been well endowed by nature with energy, (undecipherable word) and stability of character, and a good capacity for intelligent labor.  Since coming here he has (undecipherable) a valuable citizen, one whom all could trust, and with characteristic public spirit he has engaged all schemes for the imporvement of the township.  He is President of the Friend's Academy Association (Friends is the real name of the Quaker church) under whose auspices the new adcademy is being erected in Washington, and he is President of the Washington Township Sunday School Association.  He and his wife are members of the Society of Friends, and their daily lives live up to the teachings of the Quaker doctrines.  We would do scant justice to our subject did we not mention his connection with the late war in which he bore so honorable a part.  Although a believer in the peaceful tenets of the Quaker faith (strong beliefs against war), after the breaking out of the strife broke out between the North and the South, Mr. Dametz watched the struggle with intense interest, and at last his patriotism overcoming every scruple he determined to aid in fighting his country's battles, and enlisted Aug 22, 1862 in Company I. 74th Illinois Infantry,, serving with valor and credit till the expiration of his term of enlistement in September, 1863.  In the following February, 1864 he again offered his services to his country, and became a member of Company D, 36th Iowa Infantry, and did not leave the service till after the last battle was fought, being stationed the most of the time in Arkansas.  His army record was that of a brave, faithful soldier, always ready at the summons of duty, whether in camp or in face of the enemy.

Passenger and Immigration Lists Index: A Guide to Published Arrival Records of More Than 1,775,000 Passengers Who Came to the New World between the Sixteenth and the Early Twentieth Centuries. volumb 1 A-G.  Edited by P. William Fliby with Dorothy M. Lower. On page 443 shows: DAMITZ, F.: New York, NY. 1851 8660.1p9

German and Central European Emigration Monograph Number 2, Part 1.  Reconstructed Passenger Lists for 1851 Via Hamburg: Emigrants from Germany, Austria, Bohemia, Hungary, Poland, Russia, Scandinavia, and Switzerland to Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, the United States, and Venezuela by Clifford Neal Smith. Lists 4&5 / 9, 2-b shows: F. Damitz, Berlin, 043.

BIRTH: Birth record of St. Michaels Church in Zeitz, Saxony, Prussia.  Written in German I can only make out the names and dates.  child: Franz Maximillian; Father: Samuel Dametz; Mother: Johanne Caroline Meltzer